goddessoftheconfluence

Missing Nepal

2012-01-22T10:46:00.002-05:00

I'm really missing trekking in Nepal this year!

I'm afraid I can't afford to go this year and that is really sad because the Shree Navavi Jayee Library that so many of you helped create in the Rasuwa district will be dedicated in a formal ceremony on January 25th, 2012. I want to let all of my friends in Nepal know that I am with them in spirit. I am honored to have been able to be a part of such a worthy project. Certainly all of the people who will be able to use this new library must be very proud of the efforts of their community. The village was able to obtain books not only from Room to Read but also through assistance from the Joy Foundation and donations from the Indian Embassy. I will be praying that the library is well used and that I will be able to see if for myself some day.

May you all enjoy peace and prosperity!

-Jennifer Gerard

Still Believing in Santa

2011-12-16T13:18:00.006-05:00

"OK, I want the truth." Our 9 year old eyed my husband and me with a most serious expression. We were trapped at the dinner table with our accuser and his 14 year old brother as a witness. I looked to my husband's guilt ridden face. He wasn't about to say a word. The 14 year old was grinning his 'I told you so' grin. So, I was tossed to the wolf cub.

"Well it's true," I said. "Your father and I put the presents under the tree.... but we are doing it in the spirit of Santa Claus."

"?" The 9 year old stared at me.

"You should have seen us trying to stuff the piano down the chimney last year," I continued.

"Nooo!" he wailed as he writhed in his chair with a mixture of frustration and delight with our playfulness. His brother and father stifled laughs. "How did you get the piano into the house and hidden behind the tree last year?!"

*Silence*

"Well," said his father, "a magician never gives away his tricks," he grinned.

"Did you and dad carry it into the house?" the boy asked.

"Hah!" I laughed. "Your father and I couldn't carry a piano into the house on Christmas Eve."

"So what did you do?" The nine year old insisted.

"We hired some elves!" I smiled.

"Arrrrrgh!" he yelled and laughed at the same time.

After the laughter died down, we told our little boy that we are all part of the spirit of Christmas and now that he knows where the presents come from, he would also be responsible for helping bring the spirit of Christmas to others.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Who's Responsible for the Poor?

2011-11-21T11:30:00.001-05:00

Andy Cook 2002
Thank you for the public image Andy

I had one of those heart stopping double takes when I was driving up an on-ramp in Memphis, Tennessee last weekend. I saw and elderly man who looked as if he was barely able to stand at the side of the road. A metal cane was clutched in his right hand and a suitcase was on the ground to his left. His brow was furrowed with deep groves in the shape of a lifetime of worry. His eyes looked directly into mine as if to say, 'How could you possibly drive by without stopping?'

I have seen some scruffy old hitch-hikers before, but this scene was all wrong. He was much too old and frail to be standing alone. His thumb was not out, no sign, and I had the feeling that he didn't know why he was standing there. I couldn't help wondering if someone had just dropped him off there only moments before. I was about to be late to my bead show and if I am late the promoters will fine me at least $100. There really wasn't much choice though, I had to pull over. Just as I put on my turn signal I saw a police car pull up to him in my rear view mirror. Thank God!

I really don't know whether it was bad luck or bad life choices that brought him to that place at that point in his life. Recently, I have heard several people argue that if we don't allow people to suffer the consequences of their bad life choices then society will have to suffer the eternal burden of their welfare. I just can't imagine myself driving by that old man and thinking to myself, 'tough luck, you must have screwed up.' For me, each of those welfare recipients has a face and a story and unless I know the story how could I say you are not worthy of help?

All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.
-Dalai Lama

May you all have a bountiful Thanksgiving!

Knowing What You Want

2011-10-22T19:08:00.006-04:00

I found this print in a used book store in Kobe, Japan. It's one of my favorites so I thought that I would share it with you.

Remember your joys! Your life's purpose is in what you love.

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. -Lao Tzu (venerable teacher)

Internet Scams and Running an On Line Business

2011-10-12T11:04:00.005-04:00

Looks like Bad Breath in the Cyber World Doesn't it?

Sometimes I think I get more deceitful email than anyone else on earth. I would guess that I get at least 4 of these a day:

Dear Partner, I am Mrs Elena, financial controller to Mikhail Khodorkovsky the richest man in Russia and owner of the following companies:Chairman CEO:YUKOS OIL (Russian Most Largest Oil Company)Chairman CEO:Menatep SBP Bank (A well reputable financial institution with its branches all over the world)  Please get back to me to give you details of the transaction.if you are interested please provide below information :  Your full names : Address : Your country : Age : Phone and fax number : Occupation : Do you own a company:

Part of the problem is that I can't block every unknown email because they may be potential customers for my business and some are my suppliers. For the most part they are easy to identify and trash.

These are some of the more common scams I've seen:
1. Are you deceased?
2. Lottery
3. Death of an unknown relative
4. Wanting to leave everything to me for my charity
5. IRS refund
6. Credit Card notice of fraud activity
7. Banking error
8. eBay concern
9. Pay Pal concern
10. Mysterious Fed Ex Package in my name (by the way what's my name?)
11. Powerful Rich man dies and I have his money, help me move it.

Here are some key words that get my Spider Senses tingling:
1. Nigeria, Russia
2. Let me introduce myself
3. This may come as a surprise to you
4. Urgent
5. Threatening legal action
6. Looking for a partner in your country
7. You have won!

(I'm sure your can come up with many more.)

The primary methods in these types of scams are greed and fear. If you always remember that you don't get something for nothing you are half way there. For almost everything else I simply ignore the email and contact the company directly. I did once have an issue with Pay Pal but it said so on my account when I looked it up. If in doubt I recommend contacting the authorities.

What brings this to mind today is a more tricky and insidious scam. I'm not even sure how it was done. I have been placing orders with the same man in Nepal for 12 years when suddenly he asked for help. This is completely out of character for him. I have helped people in the past by buying in larger quantities or fronting them money so that they can purchase materials. I have even given outright gifts. This time my friend was asking me to send money to him in China by means of Western Union to a name I have never heard before. (If you send cash, you can't get it back. Don't do it!) Oddly enough, he was responding to my requests for inventory and delivery dates and everything else seemed normal. What I didn't notice at first was that his return email address was incorrect by an extra 's.' Very tricky indeed. I did not send money, instead I sent a message to him through a mutual friend to find out if he knew that his email account had been hijacked.

Be careful out there!

The Library is Finished!

2011-09-19T13:58:00.008-04:00

Yes, it is actually the year 2068 in Nepal. The official calendar of Nepal is the Vikram Samvat. It is 56.7 years ahead of the Gregorian Calendar.

Thank you again for all of your help. This project was made possible by the many donations from family, friends, blog friends and customers. The community is grateful to everyone who made contributions and regrets that the artist could not put all of their names on the sign.

Please also note that Room to Read will be sending a package of as many as 250 books and the Joy Foundation has offered to contribute books through other sources. And, I was able to send an additional $250 for books and science equipment.

The community plans to hire a librarian and after the books have arrived and the librarian is ready they will have an opening ceremony. I really wish I could go, but I don't think there is enough spare cash for that right now.

Thanks again everyone!

The community is actively looking for English speakers that might want to spend time (even a few weeks or months) in the village teaching. If you know of anyone who is interested in this type of adventure, contact me, Jennifer Gerard at awog@erols.com. It is not a paid position.

I just heard that there was an earthquake in northern India that affected Sikkim and Nepal. Nepal is in no way prepared for a serious earthquake. Most of the homes would just rattle apart. So far they have reported 50 dead but there are many remote villages that can not be reached because of landslides. An early estimate is that 100,000 homes have been damaged. These pictures of the library must have been sent to me just hours before the earthquake. I'll let you know if I hear from anyone about the impact on the village where the library is.

The Marble Machine, my 911 account for my boys

2011-09-10T20:00:00.001-04:00

Our neighbor, Sara, called and said, "Turn on the TV! Something just happened in New York." When I turned it on the first plane had already crashed. Watching, I was in a kind of horrified stupor trying to sort out what had just happened. I kept thinking about the tourists that must have been in the building because I can remember riding the elevator up near the top of one of the towers to see the view with my family when I was a kid.

Wayne, my husband, came into the room and Josh, my son, was there. The news reporters were talking rapidly. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the second plane hit! It was absolutely unreal. Josh said, "Wow!" not understanding what he had seen because he was only 3. Later he asked his dad if anyone might have been hurt in the plane. Wayne answered vaguely, "That was possible."

For most of my lifetime we in the USA had lived in a time of peace so, I was having trouble interpreting what was happening. Clearly we were under attack, but by whom? Why? The attack was not in the middle of a war or a conflict or even a remarkable spat. It was more like a sucker punch out of nowhere.

Wayne and I were about to whisk Josh out the door to take him to daycare. So, we jumped in the car. When we arrived, no one at the daycare had heard the news yet. I didn't want to voice out loud the horrible thing that had just happened. I just said, "You need to turn on the news, right now."

Wayne and I hurried home again to watch more news. The Pentagon had been hit while we were out. That brought the tragedy very close to our home because we lived within the beltway. We didn't know until later, but some of the kids at our local school lost a parent that day. Then flight 93 went down in PA. Then the towers actually collapsed! I really hadn't expect them to fall. I don't think that many people expected that. All that day I was kind of numbly glued to the TV. After picking Josh up from daycare at lunch time, I dutifully cared for him, distracting him with toys then returned to the TV for more news.

That night was eerily quiet. We stayed home and no one on our street went anywhere. The only sound we heard was a regular circling of military Jets around the perimeter of the capitol because all of the other flights in the country had been cancelled. Everyone was afraid because we didn't know much about who attacked us or if they had plans for more attacks. Each time the jets passed over head, I felt a little bit of comfort.

The next day, I was still in shock and constantly watching for every bit of news. Most of America was watching, but there was this terrible feeling of uselessness. Most people couldn't really help, although we all wanted to do something. A lot of people prayed and lit candles.

By evening, I was beginning to realize that my obsession with the news was becoming unhealthy for me and for Josh. I wasn't playing with him anymore. I turned off the TV and started to create something. I had wood and glue and bells. Over the next couple of days the creation took form and Wayne helped me. Two tall towers of wood connected by ramps emerged. The 'escape' ramps carried marbles to the bells that tolled for those who had passed. An American flag was at the top and a cup was at the bottom to catch the fallen. And there were three churning 'wheels of life' spinning in primary colors as each marble passed through. The ramps were made so that the marbles would precariously make a drop from one ramp to the next. Sometimes they wouldn't make it and they would fall off the end of the ramp and crash on the floor.

When it was finished Josh often played with that marble machine and so did his brother, Sean, a few years later, but until now I never told them why I made it. It was my memorial.

I wish that I could give my boys that time before we talked about terrorists every day. It is sad for me to know that they cannot remember a time when our country was at peace.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

-John Donne

Postcard to Mom and Dad 1992

2011-09-01T11:54:00.002-04:00

Photo taken by self timer in Kathmandu, Nepal
the first visit 1992

Do you recognize your daughter? It's November 16th, in Bangkok. Cheryl's out roaming the street trying to find some way to surprise me for my 28th birthday. I'll be calling you tonight, but thought you'd appreciate the photo. Don't worry, the clothes are merely an expression of my dramatic self not a new religious persona. Did I tell you we flew into Nepal, flying straight past Everest and had a magnificent view. We hiked in the Himilayas for 6 days sometimes 8 to 10 hours a day, 20 lbs on our backs. We're in Thailand now and are skipping India in favor of the Philippines (less hassles). I've written to Chito and will call Jerry B., my doctor friend from Japan, so that we should have guides for the tail end of our trip. Bangkok is hot and humid and as polluted as ever but we will be heading for the least rainy beaches as soon as possible. Thinking about starting an import business but will wait to see how practical it is. (Mail sent via post-restante.) I'll be home soon.

Just found this post card and thought I would share.

Help from Room to Read!

2011-07-14T21:27:00.005-04:00

Great News Today!

Room to Read has agreed to help our library by taking donations for our Library Project at the Shree Nava Vijayee Mahendra Secondary School, Rasuwa, Nepal.

Thank you Room to Read!

This means that contributions for books made in the US can be tax deductible.

Here is what you can do.

Funds should be mailed to their headquarters office in San Francisco to the address below. Checks should be made out to Room to Read and should also have "Atlanta chapter and Nepal-LLP" written on the note line.

Room to Read
Attn: Rachael Johnson
111 Sutter St., 16th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94104

If people want to donate online, they can do so at the following link:
- https://www.roomtoread.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=184

**NOTE: To ensure that our specific project receives the appropriate funds, online donors should select "Nepal - Local Language Publishing" in the "Designation" drop down box and also to be sure to select "Atlanta" in the "I heard about Room to Read through a chapter" drop down box.

They are able to keep their costs extremely low: approximately US $1 per book. Once all the funds have been received, they will work directly with their local team in Nepal to have a box shipped from their supplies. (Our goal is 250 books from Room to Read.) Any donations in excess of our goal will go to help other worthy library projects in Nepal.

Patience and fortitude conquer all things. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Also, here's a link to more info about their Local Language Publishing program:http://www.roomtoread.org/Page.aspx?pid=282

The Library Under Construction, Rasuwa District, Nepal

2011-06-27T12:10:00.001-04:00

Sorry, I can't really tell you what's going on or in what order this is happening. But I can see...

The community working together!

JR, thank you for the photos. It looks like a fantastic start. We will all say prayers for good weather.

I had better get busy and collect more money for the books.

I wish that I could be there!

Thanks again for all of the contributions and support. It's kind of amazing what we can accomplish together.

Update on the Library Project

2011-06-08T12:30:00.000-04:00

I was so surprised a few weeks ago to receive a phone call from Nepal. The English teacher at Shree Nava Vijayee Mahendra Secondary School called to personally thank me. The Joy Foundation had informed them that enough funds were sent to cover the cost of building the library. The school administrators would be arranging a trip to Kathmandu to discuss the details.

Yesterday, I received this note from the Joy Foundation:

7th June, 2011

To,

Ms. Jennifer Gerard

President,

A World of Good, Inc.

OH 44120, USA

Subject: School Library Project.

Dear Madam,

We are pleased to inform you that, today we have signed an agreement with Shree Nava Vijayee Mahendra Secondary School, Laharepauwa – 6, Rasuwa to make a library room in the school. The school has submitted a detailed cost report of Rs. 1,50,500.00 to complete the library room including cost of furniture for library room. However, we have given them 70 % of the above cost as 1st installment of Rs. 1,05,000.00 to start the construction work and remaining 30 % will be paid to them once they spent and submit all the documents to JOY. Also be informed that one of the JOY staff will visit the school in few days time to inspect the work progress in school, so that school may feel responsible and complete the work on time. I hope this information will be fruitful for you.

With best regards,

Pradip Man Shrestha

Admin. & Finance Executive

I just want to thank you all again for supporting the project and cheering me on. As soon as I have pictures I will certainly share them with you.

Any further contributions made by friends and family to this project will go toward the purchase of books. Contributions can be made to:
The Joy Foundation
Plymouth UCC (for church members, please note for use on the library project, Nepal)
We are still hoping that Room to Read will be able to provide the books. But I don't know much about the details yet.

Peace!

The Jewel in the Journey

2011-05-27T15:05:00.000-04:00

Is it a flower or a weed?

A wandering soul is either profoundly blessed or profoundly cursed. Most often, people tell me that it must be nice to live a life of constant travel. It is....It isn't. Sometimes I just want to be home. And yet, I miss the road when I sit still too long. The jewel that I seek is not in a specific place, it is in the journey itself. It is every story that I encounter.

Below is my summer schedule. In between the shows I will drive home to Shaker Heights, OH and I will be able to take my family with me on some of these adventures.

June 4,5 - Raleigh, NC
Intergalactic Bead Show

June 11,12 - Brookline, MA
Trunk Show the Pear Tree

June 18,19 - Cleveland, OH
Intergalactic Bead Show

July 2,3 - Takoma Park, MD
Happy 4th of July!

July 9,10 - Chicago, IL
Intergalactic Bead Show

July 22, 23, 24 - Virginia Beach, VA
Treasures of the Earth Gem & Jewelry Show

August 6,7 - Cincinnati, OH
Intergalactic Bead Show

August 13,14 - Ashville, NC
Intergalactic Bead Show

August 20, 21 - Atlanta, GA
Intergalactic Bead Show

August 26, 27, 28 - Columbus Ohio
GemStreet USA

*Our latest shipment has arrived. Look for the new items at aworldofgood.blogspot.com and aworldofgood.com

The Death of Silver!

2011-05-02T14:55:00.000-04:00


From the left: Newar earrings, Angel Bell Pendant,Chakra earring, Chakra pendant, Chubshi (Sterling silver prayer counters), Tibetan sterling silver earring, Tibetan sterling silver ring, Tibetan sterling silver Dragon Earrings

2001 was a terrible year for so many reasons. 10 members of Nepal's royal family were murdered by the prince who then killed himself. Not good for my business because I buy most of my product in Nepal, and really not good for Nepal. But even worse that year was what Osama Bin Laden did on September 11, 2001. This horror was sudden, but the damage is still resounding slowly and painfully. What he did set financial markets around the world reeling and baited the US into two wars.

I started my business in 1993. Back then, silver was roughly $4-$6 a troy oz. I could buy silver rings for $3 or $4 dollars and sell them to stores in the US who would retail them for $10 or $12. The price of silver stayed basically the same for the first 8 years of my business. There was a sudden jump in the price of silver in 2001, and by the end of 2002 it had risen about 25%. Our $10 ring was now $12.50. When the Iraq war began in 2003 silver started to rise again and by February 2004 this same ring was now $20. Though the price fluctuated some, the trend was still going up. Speculators making money off of the fear of others pushed prices even higher. Many in the silver industry also believe that China has been buying up all kinds of raw materials including silver because, China is growing and silver has industrial uses. China is also worried about owning so much of our debt, and they know we are still at war and in financial distress.

Silver prices fell some in 2008 when the whole financial market crashed, but silver and gold are traditional safe havens in a down market and they soon picked up again. This time the rise has been with reckless abandon. Prices doubled! Then since Autumn 2010 to April 30th, 2011, prices doubled again. Many of my colleagues and I have switched to making more brass and copper products. Last Friday silver was at $48 a troy oz. Our little $10 ring was now a whopping $120!

In my latest shipment, I ordered little bell pendants like the one that you see above dotting the 'i' in silver. The bells have always been good sellers especially the little cat bell with a mouse as the clapper. They sold very well at $18, they sold well at $32, but will they sell at their current price, $70?

According to Bloomberg today, silver futures sank nearly 12% on the announcement of Bin Laden's death. Does this mean the death of the over inflated silver market? I do predict that the silver bubble is about to deflate somewhat, but we are still at war and have jobs to create, so I would expect that your jewelry collection will hold a great deal of value for many years to come. The days of the $10 sterling silver ring are far behind us.

*Some of my customers ask why other sellers have very cheap Tibetan Silver. The quick and simple answer is... it is not silver! Beware of anything labeled 'Tibetan Silver.' Like 'German Silver,' it has become synonymous with 0% silver content. It is usually a mixture of copper, zinc, nickel and tin. On our site http://aworldofgood.com you can find 'White Metal' or 'Nickel' jewelry and they are priced accordingly. Tibetans can and do make beautiful jewelry out of sterling silver as well, so I find the recent moniker to be especially tragic for excellent Tibetan craftspeople. *Note that much of the misrepresented silver is being distributed from China or India. Truth breeds better Karma.

Mastering the Magic Eight Ball

2011-04-20T22:04:00.001-04:00

Life is magical! Scientists whittle it down to the most minute particles, and yet what animates the inert is still a mystery. It doesn't really matter from which perspective you choose to describe it, religious, philosophical, artistic, scientific. It is an incredible undeniable miracle!

There is a shop in Massachusetts where the staff makes most of its decisions by divination. They use a pendulum to choose which jewelry to buy and to find the occasional misplaced car keys. Before the pendulum they used a Magic 8 Ball to help with similar problems, until I admired it. I am now the proud owner of a vintage Magic 8 Ball which my children and I have used often to predict our fortune and fame. When I decided to build a library in Nepal I asked the Magic 8 Ball if I would be successful. I had to ask the ball 4 times before it gave me the correct answer.

In my endless hunt for the clues that give meaning to my existence, I occasionally happen upon a pattern that appears to point the way. I love these moments because a part of me has always been a magical thinker. But there is another part of me that seems to override the superstition, my firm belief in effort. Not every action succeeds, but with persistence, belief in oneself and the help of friends great things can be accomplished.

We have reached the first goal of the Library Project! In a few weeks, I will be able to send enough money to The Joy Foundation to build the Library. The next step will be to fill it with books and a couple of computers.

To those of you who have been following along and making contributions, Thank You!
And forgive me for being out of touch for a while. I have 32 shows this year and I have been making presentations to raise money for the Library and taking care of my family in between.

May you have success in all your good endeavors!

Resilience

2011-03-17T11:41:00.000-04:00

There are beautiful flowers blooming in Hiroshima. Nagasaki is a healthy thriving community. Tokyo stands proud and tall!

Many of you know that I lived in Japan for three years and have many friends between Hyogo and Osaka. You might not know that less than two years after I left Japan, in 1995, there was the Great Hanshin earthquake that killed 6,434 people in the very region where I lived and worked. Many people that I knew lost loved ones and and property. In 1997 when I returned to visit, I was amazed to see how vibrant and restored the city was. Yes, there were still many people living in temporary houses, but the city was functioning well and everyone was again looking optimistically to the future.

To my loved ones in Japan, have courage and confidence. The world sends its love and prayers and great admiration to you for all that you are able to accomplish in the most difficult times.

Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit. - Bern Williams

Monsoons in Nepal

2011-03-04T09:15:00.010-05:00

Summer in Nepal is a hot, wet blanket of humidity. It rains almost everyday with terrifying thunderstorms in the evening that reverberate loud and close throughout the bowl shaped valley of Kathmandu. One afternoon I found myself standing knee deep in filthy water in the center of Thamel, Kathmandu. There was no way of knowing what manner of detritus might be swirling around my invisible flip-flop clad feet. For the first time, I understood with clarity why all of the buildings are set up from the road on cement slabs. I did not go to Nepal again in the summer months. On that trip I learned that paper products and fabrics do not fare well during monsoon season. Even some of my jewelry arrived damp inside its packages.

A well prepared tourist would carry rain gear, mosquito repellent, something for the inevitable diarrhea, and salt or chewing tobacco to smear on their bodies as a defense against leeches during the monsoon. I have never bothered to try to hike in Nepal's Monsoon season, but I have heard some harrowing tales. Up in the Rasuwa district, my friends told me that the path to their village would be slippery with leeches. I wasn't sure if those were separate thoughts. Slippery paths I have seen. A sudden downpour can turn a former path into a river. However, I have heard tales of hundreds of leeches popping up from the ground, blindly waving back and forth as they sniff the air for their next bloody meal, or dropping from the leaves of the trees onto passersby. It is not too hard to imagine slipping on the leeches themselves.

Landslides and floods are frequent during the monsoons in the mountainous areas of Nepal. Last year I traveled a road that is closed for months every year because of the regular monsoon landslides. This problem grows worse year after year as deforestation leads to more erosion. Landslides can be deadly, killing several people every year, but even more deaths during the monsoon season occur because of the poor water quality and lack of sanitation.

The water is absolutely necessary to bring out the lush greenery and the fantastic orchids. It is what clears the winter dust from the air and makes the rice grow. But it is also an extremely difficult time to accomplish anything in Nepal. Before my friends in Nepal can begin to build their library I have to raise another $1,200. The hope is that I will be able to send them this amount by the end of April so that they have a chance of finishing the building before the rains come. I will continue to raise money for the books and the laptops after that. This Sunday, I have another opportunity to raise money for the project at Plymouth UCC. Wish me luck!

This spigot which is completely dry in the Winter will be gushing water during the summer months. The creature with what appears to be an elephant's trunk is actually an opened mouthed crocodile.

*To all of you who have donated so generously, you will be happy to know that the first $900 has already arrived at the Joy Foundation in Nepal. THANK YOU!

Other People's Bones

2011-02-22T22:45:00.002-05:00

Bone Jewelry from Nepal, these pieces are made of water buffalo bone which is a domesticated animal. The Mala, necklace, on the right is a modern tantric mala. I have seen very old tantric malas in Nepal which I have been told were made out of 108 different human skulls and decorated with coral, turquoise and silver, then soaked in yak butter. The mala above is decorated with coral and turquoise colored glass and copper or white metal rings.

Recently, a friend showed me some images of rare Tibetan relic containers. He wanted my opinion of what they might be used for. All that he could tell me was that they were very old and that the person whom he had purchased them from thought that there was part of a human femur inside one of them. Looking at the base of them, I could tell that they had been sealed and likely consecrated. Coral, amber and turquoise adorned these pieces and they were certainly real and very valuable. What was inside the vessels is still a mystery, however, because there is really no way for me to know without prying them open. As beautiful as these vessels were, they did not appear to be very old, which begs the question, 'Where did they come from and why were they made?'

On one of my early visits to Nepal about 20 years ago, someone showed me a hidden cabinet behind a silk curtain at the back of a small shop. Inside the cabinet was the highly decorated skull of a human being. The shop keeper wanted about $500 for it. I was fascinated, but not at all interested in owning someone's skull.

In Kathmandu, it is not unusual for me to see highly decorated skulls of goats, and I have also seen monkey skulls and bird skulls. For a few years I used to bring back the goat skulls, because they were so interesting, though a bit creepy, covered in pressed-metal skull appliques and with marbles for eyes. They always attracted to my table a lot of people who were simultaneously compelled and repulsed. These goat skulls consistently sold for a few hundred dollars. Sometimes, if all of the flesh had not been completely removed, they would have a pungent rotting carcass odor to them. One day, a woman who was clearly apprehensive about the goat skull on my table asked me a question about it, and at the very moment she pointed her finger at the beast, a potato bug crawled out of its nose. She screamed in the middle of a jewelry show and I laughed, while weakly attempting an apology. Not long after that, I stopped bringing them back. They really were a bit grotesque and a pain to explain to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

Over the years several people have asked me if I could get a Kapala, a decorated human skull used as a begging bowl, or a Kangling, a femur bone turned into a horn. You can read more about these items at Kapalaculture. (You can also find several for sale on the internet if you Google these words, so you do not need to ask me for them.) I have never brought any human remains home with me for several reasons. The main reason for me is a moral position, but beyond that, it is simply illegal. It is not legal to sell human remains in Nepal or India and it is not legal to transport them into the U.S. without considerable paperwork. It is also not legal to transport them across certain state lines if you already own them.

I have asked a lot of questions about the process, because I have known more than a couple of people who have brought these relics home for profit or who have acquired them for their collections, or who would like to sell one to me. When I asked U.S. customs about transporting human remains, they say that the FBI will want to know whose bones they are and see the paperwork. When I called the Embassy of Nepal they told me very plainly, human bones are not sold in Nepal, it is not legal, and they cannot be transported. Still, several Kapalas and Kanglings make it into the U.S. every year and the customs officials who do find them on occasion simply have no idea what they are looking at.

Why wouldn't it be legal? It is really very simple. There is such a demand for human remains in the West that the price of a decorated skull can be anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000. Considering that the poorest people in Nepal and Northern India make less than $500 a year, it is easy to imagine that someone could be worth more dead than alive. It is also important to note the history of these items. Many of the older relics belonged to families and monasteries in Tibet. When the price of these artifacts became so inflated, there was an enormous incentive to steal from the few remaining monasteries to satisfy the demands of Western collectors.

On my most recent trips to Nepal I have seen skull cap bowls out in the open for sale to the tourists. What the tourists may not know is that these bowls are actually made of a kind of plastic. It looks very similar to a skull, and then it is decorated with white metal, not silver. They might cost between $15 and $20. That is another reason why 'skulls' are able to leave Nepal with the tourists and enter the U.S. However, the real skulls are still available as well, even though the export of human remains was banned in India in 1987. What the tourist usually hears is a story about the Kapala being a real monk's skull from Tibet and that it is way more than 60 years old, but what they may actually be buying is a human skull made into a bowl last year.

According to an article in The National written by Jalees Andrabi in 2009:

"20,000-25,000 human skeletons are smuggled out of India every year through Nepal, China and Bangladesh. The skeletons reach markets in the US, Japan, Europe and the Middle East, mostly for medical institutions. The price for a complete skeleton in these markets ranges from $700 to $1500 depending on the quality and size. In India a full skeleton costs around $ 350 in the open market. Young Brothers, a Kolkata based bone dealer, sells a human skeleton for $300. While the complete skeletons mostly find their way to medical laboratories mostly in the West, the assorted bones and skulls are used for religious rituals mostly in Hindu and Buddhist dominated areas. As part of their tantric rituals, many tantriks drink wine in human skulls in places such as Nepal and Assam in India."

You can read the full gruesome article about how these skulls are stolen here, The National.

What is it that makes so many Westerners feel the need to own other people's bones? Is it merely an idea that they have the forbidden item? Perhaps it is some feeling of a power over death, or a power over the sacred item of another person's culture. It could be they actually believe in its magical properties and want to use it in ritual.

My business has always been about supporting the living treasures of Nepal--the highly skilled craftspeople! These men and women do still create stunning traditional pieces of jewelry and artwork. The rewards are not only in the beauty created, but in the jobs created as well. And I know that if it were my mother's bones decorating some wealthy person's mantel in a foreign country, I would want them back.

Women's Association at Plymouth Church

2011-02-10T15:01:00.002-05:00

SCHEDULE CHANGE!

Unfortunately the Women's Association at Plymouth has had to cancel their luncheon this Wednesday.

We have rescheduled for Wednesday, APRIL 20, at 12:00 pm. I will be presenting a slide show discussing my travel and work in Nepal to the Women's Association at Plymouth Church. It will emphasize my efforts to assist education and improve literacy by raising money to build a library in rural Nepal.

If you would like to learn more about the Library project or to make a donation please click here.

Plymouth Church is located at:
2860 Coventry Rd.
Shaker Heights, OH 44120

Please join us if you can.

Peace!


Jennifer Gerard in a Bicycle Rickshaw at the front gate of the Kathmandu Guest House.

My apologies to my regular blog followers. I have been extremely busy with back to back shows in Nashville, Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland again and Richmond. My show schedule is here, if you would like to see me in person. I will get a break from the travel at the end of March. -Yes, I do drive to all of these places.

In between shows, I have been giving presentations trying to raise money for the library. Lately, most of the money I have received is from people at the shows who say, "Keep the change."

I have also been attending my children's performances, designing T-Shirts and the show program for my son's play, and at the same time laying out images and text for a children's book that I've been working on.

Today, I am cleaning house because I have invited 4 show vendors to stay with us during the Cleveland show. I will be making chicken soup and baking the "Best Bread Ever!" tomorrow. Link for the vendors at the Intergalactic Bead Shows.

There hasn't been much time to read or write recently, but hopefully, I will get back into the groove soon.

As my gift to you, I am leaving you with my "Best Bread Ever!" recipe.

THE BEST BREAD EVER!

1 C. uncooked oatmeal

2 C. boiling water

2 pkgs. yeast dissolved in 1/3 cup water

1 tsp. salt

½ c. honey

2 Tbs. butter

2 ½ C. to 3 C. white flour

1 ½ C. to 2 C. whole wheat flour

Directions: In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast. In a big bowl, put the oatmeal and add the boiling water from your teakettle, also add salt, honey and butter. When this mixture has cooled, add the dissolved yeast and the flour. Knead 7 to 10 minutes. Let it rise twice, once in the bowl and once in two pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes. (If you are in Nepal, I'm afraid you will have to make a few adjustments.) Read more: High Altitude Yeast Baking http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/brody/baking.html#ixzz1DaV6R6Gf

Visiting the Rotary Club in Shaker Heights, OH

2011-01-28T19:15:00.014-05:00

School children in Nepal's Rasuwa District

Tuesday February 1, 2011 at 7:30 morning I will be attending a meeting and giving a powerpoint presentation to the Rotary Club of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Thank you Shaker Heights Rotary!

I will hopefully be receiving support and advice about our Library Project in Nepal.

About the Library Project: Shree Nawabijayee Mahendra Secondary School is a recently constructed school in the Rasuwa District of Nepal. These students are in desperate need of reading materials. When I visited almost one year ago in March 2010, the school had only the one small bag of books that I brought to them from my blog friends and neighbors. Your contribution is going directly to the building and stocking of a library for this school. Not only will 320 students be able to use this library, but the library will also be made available to the 1500 inhabitants of the nearby villages. The Joy Foundation is the non-governmental organization (NGO) in Nepal overseeing this project.

Budget Details in US Dollars:
Cement 30 bags, cost $400
Sand 180 bags, cost $430
Skilled builders, 50 people, cost $290
2 doors and 6 windows, cost $500
Furniture, cost $500
Concrete, cost $40
The community will provide volunteer labor to assist in the construction of this building.
Once the building is complete our goal is purchase 500 books through Room to Read valued at $500. www.roomtoread.org
We would also like to deliver 2 laptop computers valued at approximately $350 each.
Total Goal - $3360

The Joy Foundation http://joy.org.np/

More information at http://goddessoftheconfluence.blogspot.com

Total contributions including PayPal are currently: $1259.49. Thank you for your contributions. We are making progress.

To see who has donated and learn more about this project, click below: http://goddessoftheconfluence.blogspot.com/2010/11/library-project

An Optimistic Future

2011-01-18T11:28:00.001-05:00

“When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.”

John M. Richardson, Jr.

Learned helplessness is condition in which a person has learned to behave helplessly because of their circumstances and experiences in the past. Martin Seligman, PhD, and others have found that even when conditions change for an individual, they continued to believe that they had no ability to help themselves to a different future. What does this mean when it is applied on a cultural level, especially in places like India and Nepal, where there are lingering caste systems, or in any country of great social disparity?

Recently, I was listening to Anand Giridharadas, who was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, telling about an experience he had while visiting India. He was at a dinner party with several guests attended to by servants as is the custom in India. Later that evening he needed to deliver a mattress to his host. When he returned to the house he was wearing shorts and a T-Shirt. The house servant thought that he was a lower class delivery boy and addressed him as such. You can hear the pod-cast of his story here. The servant clearly had an image of his place and the place of others in this world while the American born Anand could slide easily between different stations in life.

Our world is going through an amazing cultural shift right now in part because of our sudden access to global information. Chavez said, that, “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.”

Martin Seligman continued his research and found that just as you can learn helplessness you can also learn optimism. We all can. We should not allow ourselves to be limited by the expectations of others, nor should we restrict our future to imagined boundaries. Have courage and dare to dream big!

*For some very special friends.

Changing Perspective

2011-01-11T21:40:00.000-05:00

I took my place in the back seat of the rust stained white station wagon next to a nervous and foul smelling sheep dog. I had a suspicion that the brown stuff matted into his fur with burrs and small twigs was not mere dirt. Fortunately for me, he did not move about the car at all but instead was working intently on removing all of the interior plastic and foam from the door on his side of the car. The middle aged couple in front of the car was friendly even if loudly opinionated about everything and nothing in particular. Mrs. Pheasant, a gray haired dumpling of a women whose eyes rarely focused on anything but just sort of rolled around lazily, produced a paper bag containing a bottle of gin from the floor of the car. We were only 20 minutes into our hour and a half trip to the cape and already she was offering a swig to her husband who was driving. By the time that we reached the ferry in Hyannis both of them were pleasantly inebriated and ready for the jolly ferry ride to Nantucket.

When I was 17 years old and a recent high school graduate from a small farm town in Ohio, my mother dropped me off in Marlboro, Massachusetts, with a friend of her friend who owned a summer home at the far end of Main Street in Nantucket. The plan was that I would be able to live in a safe environment with cheap rent while I found a summer job so that I could make money for college. I never told my mother that the sweet couple, the Pheasants, who picked me up had 15 kids jammed into their little house all paying $50 a week in rent. I shouldn't really say that I stayed in their house, my bed was in a shed similar to one that you might find at the Home Depot that looks like a tiny little barn. Three girls shared this space. Two were in bunk beds that fit perfectly to the depth of the shed and my bed completed the L to theirs along the length. At night, my suitcase would go on the floor and in the morning I would put it back up on the bed so that we could get to the door.

I loved it! I was independent, surrounded by kids from all over the country. I worked at least two jobs a day, sometimes more, and often bathed in the ocean in between jobs because there was only one bathroom for everyone. I rarely saw the landlords, who had usually passed out cold long before most of us returned from our jobs during the day. And, I made plenty of money to take to school with me in the fall.

Flash forward 20 years. I was visiting a young woman whom I had originally met in Nepal. She was working for a hotel on Cape Cod. I was appalled to find that she was living in a hotel room with 5 other girls. Each one of them was paying $100 a week rent to the landlord who was also their employer. Just about all of the money that they made cleaning the rooms went to rent and food. After the airfare round trip to the US from Nepal, these young women would have less to take home with them than they had at the start. At first I was furious that they were being exploited this way. I was sure that it was not legal. But the young woman asked me please not to say anything to anyone. This was her chance. If she could demonstrate that she would play by the US rules, she might have the opportunity to return to a different job in the US someday. After a few moments reflection, I could understand that what she was doing was really not very different from what I had done at about the same age.

Anonymous from Nepal

2011-01-03T21:07:00.001-05:00

Ganesh, the remover of obstacles.

I received this message today January 3, 2011 on a post from May 4th, 2010 The Little Children are Suffering:

I was born and raised in Kathmandu, I never had any chance to travel these corners inside Nepal. It is such a shame how imbalance the whole situation is within a same country regarding education and household. I belonged to a rich family background and I was given good education Now I left my own country and living here in one of the world's most developed country using expensive notbook trying to realize what went wrong? I believe all most everyone who are from kathmnadu as well as other cities from Nepal don't know the situation around such a country side or may be they try to ignore it. Because of the Anxiety of life, no one cares about it. And the politic and all the politicians are not capable of anything beside making money for their own. May be around 20% of population or less pays tax. And all most everyone who were given good education are already out of country as I am. But for me it was not my decision to leave my own country. Anyways I love my country and I love my children too and for there sake I cant go back. But I will do something good to those children out there I promise. May be one of them will realize about it before it's too late. otherwise the story will never end. Thank you.

There is so much grief and doubt in this message and I really felt compelled to respond.

Looking to the past can help us to understand why something is happening in the present, but I am a firm believer that the future is determined by how we choose to envision it. If we cling to a vision of the past what do we aim for? Where is the goal? We must begin with a vision of the world that we would like to live in, then make our plans and set about creating the vision by changing our own actions. Nothing happens without effort but it is only our own effort that we have any control over.

Remove the obstacles, the blame and guilt, and believe that you can make a difference. You can! You merely have to begin.

THANK YOU! to all of you who have contributed to the Library Project in the Rasuwa District. Together we are making progress. To see our progress and see who has contributed, click here.
To make a Pay Pal donations click here.

Happy New Year! The Ritual

2011-01-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

I went looking on the web to see what New Year's traditions I could find and from that I have created my own ritual:

Write on paper the vices that I wish to part with and burn them in a fire.

Write my hopes for the year on another piece of paper and tie it to my wishing tree.

Pass out lots of kisses to friends and family with warm wishes for peace and prosperity.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! KISS KISS"

And Sing a Song!

Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine;
But we've wandered mony a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidled i' the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

Peace on Earth, Good Will to All!

The Library Project

2010-12-07T19:52:00.017-05:00

Shree Nawabijayee Mahendra Secondary School is a recently constructed school in the Rasuwa District of Nepal. These students are in desperate need of reading materials. As of March 2010, the school had acquired only one small bag of books. Your contribution is going directly to the building and stocking of a library for this school. Not only will 320 students be able to use this library, but the library will also be made available to the 1500 inhabitants of the nearby villages. Please consider making a donation.

The Joy Foundation http://joy.org.np/

More information at http://goddessoftheconfluence.blogspot.com

Total contributions including PayPal are currently: $1499.64
To see who has donated and learn more about this project, click below: http://goddessoftheconfluence.blogspot.com/2010/11/library-project

A World of Good, Inc is not a non-profit organization. This donation is not tax deductible.

The Library Project, Update

2010-12-02T17:57:00.003-05:00

This weekend Plymouth UCC in Shaker Heights, OH will be helping to collect donations for the Library Project.
I have to be out of town, so my son, Josh, will be encouraging everyone to donate as an alternative giving idea for the holidays.

Thank You, for your support! Read more about the project below. I have been updating your donations. Yes, you can send your donation directly to the Joy Foundation in Nepal. Just let them know that you want to help with the Library Project in the Rasuwa District.

The Library Project!

2010-11-16T22:30:00.021-05:00

Kids in the Rasuwa District in need of Books!

I received the most wonderful birthday present today. The Joy Foundation sent the translation for our Library project in Nepal. The project has been approved! Hooray!

Now I'm going to need a lot of help. Please spread the word. The first part of the project will be building the library, the second part will be filling it with books.

I have thought of 2 ways I would like to raise money for this project.

1. Direct donations; If you are moved to help with this project, please send a check to:
A World of Good, Inc.
3120 Chadbourne, Rd.
Shaker Heights, OH 44120
All of your donation will go to this project and you can even choose what you would like to pay for. (Sorry, I still do not have my tax exempt status so there is no tax write-off.)
email: butternutsquash2@gmail.com

2. Nepal Tour; travel to Nepal, at your own risk, with me as your guide. You will pay your own travel expenses and donate one laptop computer to the library. You may deliver it yourself if you would like to hike up there with me. Contact me and we can tailor a trip for you: Jennifer Gerard email: aworldofgood@gmail.

Below are the particulars of our project.

Applicant: Shree Hawabijayee Mahendra Secondary School, Valaydada, Rasuwa.
Chairperson: Shree Keshar Bahadur Bulan
Contact Person: Balaram Dhakal (The school principal)
The Request: Though this school is quite close to the capital of Nepal, it was started only recently in BS 2019 or 1963 according to the Gregorian calendar, due to the poor economy of the community. It began as only a primary school and then added a lower secondary school very recently. The physical structure of the school is very poor and there is a lack of basic educational materials so there is a need to start a library to help the students with their studies.
Location of Project: Shree Hawabijayee Mahendra Secondary School, Lahare Pauwa-6, Valaydada, Rasuwa, Nepal.
Beneficiaries: 320 students from 250 households of the community and the library will be available to 1500 inhabitants of the area.
How the project will be maintained: After completion of this project, the school committee will appoint a librarian to open the library and allow community people to use it every day except public holidays. Any repairs and maintenance will be taken care of by the school committee.
Budget Details in US Dollars:
Cement 30 bags, cost $400
Sand 180 bags, cost $430
Skilled builders, 50 people, cost $290
2 doors and 6 windows, cost $500
Furniture, cost $500
Concrete, cost $40 (Thank you for your gift, Richard Gerard)
The community will provide volunteer labor to assist in the construction of this building.
Once the building is complete our goal is purchase 500 books through Room to Read valued at $500.
We would also like to deliver 2 laptop computers valued at approximately $350 each.
Total Goal - $3360
If we collect more than we need we will be able to buy even more books. A donation of any amount will be gratefully accepted. Thank you for all of your help!

Together may we bring peace to the world through education.

Contributions received from:
Richard Gerard- $100
Nancy Rowe-$35 http://www.naborow.com/
Anonymous Donors-$304.50 (Customers at Shows)
Elaine Maki- World Atlas, 3 volume Websters Dictionary
Eileen Black-$30
The Mac Gregors-$35 http://ofscarabs.blogspot.com/
Jan McGee -$20 http://www.janhelenmcgee.com/
Nancy Atkinson -$100 http://lifeinthesecondhalf.blogspot.com/
Plymouth Church Members -$75
M. Koutroumanis -$20
Eileen Mudgett - $100
The Love Family - $25
The Martin-Rouse Family - $75
Marja and William Blom - $50 http://dutchcorner.blogspot.com/
Dr. Sherry Meinberg - $100
J. Wanstrath - $10
J. Sisson - $10
L. Chatain - $20 http://beadroom.com
Morgan - $20
Benjamin D. - $10
Dawn Doup - $20
The Neary's - $100
The Divakarla Family - $25
SiS Jewelry - $9 http://sisjewelry@etsy.com
S. Scaparotti - $20
Marc P. - $10
Janis Z. - $1.14
Pamela and Gerald B. - $100
Scarlet Fire - $75 http://www.scarletfirebeads.com/

Current total: $1499.64

Please tell me if you do not want your name listed and I will write anonymous.

THANK YOU!

Fall Color in Shaker Heights, Ohio

2010-10-29T08:00:00.046-04:00

Red Ivy in the Forest

I heard on public radio the other morning that only about 3% of the Earth experiences Fall Color. I looked on line and found that indeed only 7% of the land on earth is in the temperate zone and this is the only zone in which we are able to experience the changing colors of the Autumn leaves. Deciduous plants that lose their leaves in the cold season of the year, and then grow them back in the warm season, cover about 3% of the earth. For all of my friends in the tropical regions, in the desserts and above the tree line, I have taken pictures of the deciduous trees of Shaker Heights, Ohio, as a taste of Autumn in the midwestern U.S. This beautiful explosion of color will only last about 2 weeks. The leaves will eventually turn brown and blow off of the trees. We will rake the leaves into large piles that our children like to jump and play in. Every week during this time a big truck with a large vacuum will come and suck up all the leaves and take them away. The trees are dark and naked all winter long, but in the spring most of the trees will grow fresh bright green leaves again.

Leaves on the Water

Lower Shaker Lake, Autumn

Deciduous Forest

The Red Carpet

Pink and Green Leaves


Ornamental Shrubs and Trees

Yellow, Red and Green Leaves

Yellow and Red Leaves

Woodbury Elementary School, Autumn

Orange Leaves

Orange and Red Leaves

Red, Yellow, Pink and Orange Leaves

Pinkish Orange Ivy

Red, Yellow and Green Ivy

Good News!

2010-10-05T08:00:00.005-04:00

From the left: Me, Mrs Neupane, Belief, Mr. Neupane, JR Neupane, Tania. Atit was up in the mountains teaching.

For the past six months I have been writing about a two week trip that I took to Nepal in March 2010. Above you can see us on our last night out before we left Kathmandu for home. The strike in the Terai lasted only one day. Unfortunately, I did not get to tie up loose ends with my suppliers before I left. I have become very flexible about the details of my orders because there are so many unforeseen situations. I had to make apologies by email to the people who were waiting for me to return. They live in this unpredictable environment, so I think they understood my dilemma. I have established ways to make pick-ups and payments even in my absence.

Recently, I heard from the young men whom we were helping to go to school in Nepal. Belief was able to get a scholarship to attend school in Finland and Atit earned entry to a business school in Nepal. Congratulations Belief and Atit! We are so proud of you.

The village school has submitted two proposals to the Joy Foundation and I am hoping that after the Autumn Hindu festivals they will have more concrete information for me. The plans for the library are going forward. It is very good news! When I have a list of their needs for the library, I will be letting everyone know and asking you and all of your friends for help.

Thank you all for accompanying me on my journey to Nepal.

Smile, you are here and this is now. Here, in this moment, your journey begins anew!

Elephant Breeding Center, Nepal

2010-10-01T08:00:00.036-04:00

Incredibly cute!

They have the longest gestation period of any land animal, 22 months.

Their caretakers make little nutritious food packets for the elephants which are useful treats during training.

Treated well, they can live into their 70's.

At about 5 years of age, they are separated from their mothers and their training begins.

Some of the young were not chained because they rarely wander far from their mothers.

It is difficult to watch the training process because you can see that the elephants are struck squarely on their heads with a fat stick if they misbehave.

The elephants are strong enough to drag a three ton tree, so it is important that the trainers have control over the elephants at all times. Sometimes the elephants will unexpectedly lose their minds and become completely unmanageable. After the elephant breeding center, we walked 2 miles into town to see if there was a cybercafe so that we could let people know that we might have some difficulties returning during the strike. Halfway to town we saw roughly 20 people standing in the street keeping their eyes on a large elephant from a distance. We continued to walk confidently toward the crowd and the elephant. Fortunately, one man stopped us. "The elephant is mad. He has already killed two men. We are waiting for the mahout to come and get him." We thanked the man and quickly retreated.

Strike in the Terai

2010-09-22T08:00:00.004-04:00

The strike only affected travel between Kathmandu and the Terai. No vehicles could travel the road without threat of violence. If I hadn't planned my trip so tightly, I would have been just fine with another day in the jungle. I had so many things left unfinished in Kathmandu. I was also very worried about the hassle of rescheduling my flights and about my husband having to arrange more child care in my absence.

But, there was nothing I could do. So, we just made the best of our extra day.

In the morning, Smiley offered us an extra walk in the jungle to see if we could find rhino.

He sent a young man ahead of us to make sure the path was safe. There is no telling what could be watching us from behind that tall grass.


He climbed trees, trying to find rhino for us.

We saw some men fishing.

They hadn't seen any rhino.

We waded across the river. I apparently committed a faux pas by wearing my shoes around my neck. Causing the locals to laugh. Criminals are made to wear shoes around their neck as a public chastisement in Nepal .

We ran into a buffalo herder.

He hadn't seen any rhinos since yesterday.

But it was another beautiful walk.

Past interesting fields.

I had to give up on the rhino photo this trip. Perhaps next time.

Night Life in the Jungle

2010-09-18T08:00:00.002-04:00

After a long day of hunting rhino and not finding any...

we stopped to relax at Sunset Beach...

and borrowed money from our escort so that we could split a beer. I didn't take money into the jungle again after my former fiasco, Honesty and Poverty.

Dinner was buffet style with loads of yummy vegetables similar to Indian style cooking.

They were still working on the Maruni Sanctuary Lodge. I can imagine a roaring fire here in the winter. It will be spectacular.

They have a cultural program after dinner. These Tharu boys are dancing traditional dances. Again, I have the ghostly orbs floating through my photos, but not every photo.

It is inappropriate for the village girls to be out after dark so they are unable to participate in these dances. However, they do have a dance that is traditionally preformed by a boy wearing a dress.


The boys are really expert at twirling their sticks. Remember that we were on our jungle walk with two men carrying sticks. I believe that they would have been quite capable of frightening off many wild creatures with the sticks, but I am still glad that we didn't run into an old hungry tiger. On one of my visits we walked past a place where a woman had been eaten only two weeks before. She was walking on a well used path through the jungle, alone.

After our lovely day in the jungle we received some very distressing news. It was the very thing that I fear the most when I travel to Nepal. A strike was called in the Terrai for the following day. Strikes can be violent, but not always. My biggest concern was that I had only one more day to finish all of my business in Kathmandu. I had made promises to finalize orders and pay several craftspeople. They day after that, we were supposed to leave Nepal. If the strike continued, we would miss our flights home. This was the very reason that I skipped my trip to Nepal several years in a row.

The Great Elephant Flip-Flop Rescue!

2010-09-16T08:00:00.077-04:00

In January, when I normally go to Nepal, it is relatively cold and there are few tourists in Nepal. This means that down in the jungle my guests and I are treated to private elephant rides, boat rides, and jungle walks. In March it was a vastly different experience. Tourists were all around us and a herd of elephants followed us into the jungle.

Loading up with tourists and preparing to depart.


I did spend some time worrying about how tightly the crate was cinched.

The mahout steers with his feet.

Some of the elephants were very nervous about crossing the river. They were up to their shoulders in water, with five people on their backs.
We lurched forward and backward when the elephant slipped on the mud as it climbed out of the river and up the opposite bank into the jungle.

We looked all over for the rhino.

Do you think the rhino might have heard us and moved out of our way?

A man sharing the elephant with us lost his flip-flop shoe.

The mahout behind us was able to direct his elephant to find the man's flip-flop in the muddy stream and return it to him. You can see it in his hand. Everyone was astounded. The flip-flop was covered in mud and sloshing around in muddy water.

We did see a lot of deer.

It is amazing that on an elephant you can come right up on a deer even though you could never do that walking.

If you have a little extra time and money, you can arrange to camp over night in this building in the jungle.

Thank you for the excellent ride. Here are some bananas. Maybe we will catch up with the rhinos next time.

Hunting for Rhino

2010-09-12T08:00:00.007-04:00

I have been to the jungle a few times now and have seen rhinos up close and wild elephants, crocodiles, several kinds of monkeys and at least 50 different types of birds. Until this trip I had no photos from the jungle at all. The first time I traveled to Nepal my camera broke before I got to the jungle. On my second trip to the jungle, both my father and I ate something that gave us diarrhea. My dad cleared his system just before we got on the bus back to Kathmandu, but I didn't know I was going to have a problem until we were about an hour up hill. I wasn't exactly sure how to stop the bus, but I knew I had to do something urgently. So I walked up to the front of the bus and told the bus driver that he must stop because I was having 'female troubles.' I thought that might keep the situation discreet. The driver swiftly pulled over to the left and I exited into the tall grass on the side of a very steep cliff. Unwisely, I had chosen to wear bib overalls that day, that meant that I would have to basically undress from my shoulders to my knees with a bus load of people above me to my rear. In order to hide myself a completely as possible, I scooted as far to the edge of the cliff as I could safely manage so that when I unbuckled my bib and let it drop forward all of the rolls of film that my father shot of the jungle went bouncing out of my pocket and careened over the edge of the cliff. It was very sad... we had some great shots of mother and baby rhinos that were standing only 20 feet from us while we rode the back of an elephant. Adding to my embarrassment, several other passengers exited the bus and relieved themselves in the grass as well. Then when we all returned to the bus my father told me that the bus driver had stood up when I left the bus and announced to everyone that I was having female troubles. So much for trying to be discreet.

The time that I went to the jungle with my uncle, I didn't have a camera, so this time I was determined to get some good pictures of rhinos for my boys!

Heading up from the river past the tall grass and into the jungle.

Rhino poop, we are getting closer.

We spotted a rhino in the distance lying on its side. It was too far away to get a good picture for you.

We were a bit on edge knowing that if a rhino smelled us our only recourse was to climb a tree.

We followed elephant tracks to the river hoping to see either wild elephants or bathing rhinos.

There were only birds.

On the way back to the jungle we found the shed skin of a cobra but luckily we didn't run into its former owner.

We walked for about two hours, but I didn't find a good rhino shot for the boys.

We took a nap when we returned to the lodge.


In a few hours we went out searching for rhino again, this time on the back of an elephant. To be continued...

Early Morning Boat Ride, Chitwan

2010-09-09T08:00:00.002-04:00

Early in the morning, everything was still and dreamy. Just imagine that you are with us. We are taking a river ride to the jungle.

Smiley the manager has come too. We had one man to pole the boat and another with a strong short stick to protect us from wild animals.

The sun was slow to burn off the morning mist.

I wish I knew the names of all of the birds that we saw.

I know these birds, they are wild peacocks.

Serene

These are bird nests in the sand.

Wave and smile boys.

At last, the jungle where we will look for wild beasts. Click to see the bird in the tree.


Good Morning Mr. Crocodile, we will get out a little further down stream so we don't disturb you. Click to see how close we were. When we left the jungle, we came down the path to exactly this spot where the crocodile had been resting just hours before. This is where our boat was waiting for us.

An Oxcart Ride, Southern Nepal, part 2

2010-09-06T08:00:00.047-04:00

Houses in the Terrai

Water Buffalo

Hay Stack

Planting Rice

Bananas

House in the Terai

Villagers in the Terai

Footprint decorations on a house

Spring flowering tree in the Terai

The Terai is the forested flat low land in the southern part of Nepal. It has always had people living in it, but relatively few until after 1950 when it was liberally sprayed with DDT. Before that it was malaria infested, so the animals had the place more or less to themselves. The population exploded from 8 million people in 1950 to 20 million people in 2000. Today there is a lot of discussion about creating more useable farmland out of the Terai which means encroaching even more on the forest. Although there is a great effort to maintain the Chitwan Jungle for its extraordinary wild life, the people who live there have to put up with wild rhinos, elephants, crocodiles and tigers and now ox carts full of tourists. It's quite a balancing act to accomodate them all.

An Ox Cart Ride in southern Nepal, Part 1

2010-09-03T08:00:00.009-04:00

Tourists Preparing for Departure

On these trips it is very hard to tell who is on display. Are we looking at the villagers, or are we on parade for them. I have been told by guides that they walk the ox along a different path every time so that we don't disturb anyone in the village too much.

The stone structure on the right was built as a platform from which you could mount an elephant. The last time I was at the lodge it wasn't built yet, so we climbed the elephant's hind end using his crossed legs and his tail.

That ox is wondering how many tourists are going to be crammed onto his cart.

Wow, the heavy wooden yoke on his neck looks uncomfortable. Our Ox cart driver also races elephants, check out his T-shirt

I guess everyone is a little crammed together in Nepal.

No hands! The water buffalo behind her is looking a very thin.

Looks like fun!

The Terrai in the south is flat land unlike most of the rest of Nepal. There is none of the amazing architecture that you would see up in the Kathmandu, valley. The people here look thinner, their animals look thin and their homes are very simple mud and stick structures. I'll show you more soon.

My Glamorous Life on the Road

2010-08-28T08:00:00.275-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself with a dilemma. I had a show in Chesapeake, VA, and the following weekend in Atlanta, GA. I live near Cleveland, Ohio. That would mean traveling for four days, being home for two, and then away for another four or five. More than that, I would be exhausted from all of the driving and useless for the two days at home. Wayne and I decided that, rather than hire baby sitters for the duration of my absence, the boys might be old enough to travel with me. They are now ages 7 and 12. With a vague plan of inviting ourselves to stay at friends' houses somewhere in route from Chesapeake to Atlanta, we packed the van. As an afterthought, I threw in some sleeping bags and a tent.

Day 1: Drive to Chesapeake. The boys sang Jason Mraz tunes. They are very good. They also sang several raps that I'm not sure I approve of. 13 hours later, after some very bad traffic, we arrived. I had the boys in bed by 11:30 pm. (The plan was 9 pm.)

Day 2: Woke the boys up at 6:15 am. They helped me load in and set up the show from 7:00-10:00am. Underneath the table, we created a nest for the boys with computer games and DVDs. It was a new location for the bead show, unfamiliar to both buyers and sellers, and the show was slow. The power gave out several times. A customer's child joined my boys under the table for a couple of hours while his mother shopped. We covered the tables at 5 pm and went for KFC. In the evening, at our hotel, there were small children crying outside our door. Then we heard criminals talking about smashing heads and beating people senseless and discussing all of their friends in prison. They were having this conversation by shouting, one from the parking lot and the other up on the balcony in front of our room. The kids wanted to call the police, but the men weren't actually doing anything, just talking trashy. I decided not to confront them. Too scary. By 11:00 pm they left with their crying children to "get the kids some dinner."

Day 3: We slept in until 8:30 am. The boys played Roller Coaster Tycoon under the table and I did my best to sell beads and jewelry. Sunday was twice as active as Saturday and still it was a money loser. We had to pack everything out in the evening. I promised to take the boys to the beach, so we drove to Virginia Beach at 6:30 pm and swam until after dark. I left a big salty wet spot on the seat at the IHOP where we had our dinner. On the way back to the hotel, we got lost and a policeman pulled me over for a broken head light. He gave me directions but no fine.

Day 4: We fixed the headlight and drove to the Outer Banks. Gorgeous! We set up our tent and went swimming. Yeah! Pizza for dinner, Whoo Hoo! It was a great day.

Day 5: We got up and swam early then visited the tallest lighthouse in the US, Cape Hatteras Light House.
It was hot, but the scenery was breathtaking; so were the stairs. That evening, I drove the boys up to Roanoke Island to see a production of "The Lost Colony," at an outdoor amphitheater. It was absolutely fantastic, a very exciting and professional production. We brushed teeth and climbed into our sleeping bags at 12:30 am. (Bed time is going in the wrong direction.)

Day 6: More swimming. We showered and vacated the camp site by 12:00 pm. Having not heard a reply from our friends who might have taken us in, we decided to go to Asheville, NC, on the way to Atlanta, GA, and see Biltmore. North Carolina is a big state to cross! We had a leisurely drive, but not too far after Raleigh, NC, I realized that we were not going to make it to Asheville by nightfall. We set up our tent at a private camp ground south of Raleigh and an hour later there were loud cracks of thunder and it started to pour.

Day 7: It was a loud rainy night but we stayed dry until about 8 am when I felt water trickling below me. The kids helped me quickly roll the sleeping bags and we moved the entire tent to a shelter where we shook off the water and packed the tent. We bathed and were were ready to go by 10 am.

Biltmore was incredible! We got the MP3 player tour and the boys listened to everything and were absolutely fascinated. We stopped at the end of the day for ice cream on the grounds of Biltmore, where two young women tending the ice cream shop went online for us and got the directions to Sliding Rock. We arrived at the Pisgah National Park campground in time to make a camp fire. I had to use the inside of a roll of paper towels and a Cheerios box to get it going.

Day 8: We woke late about 9 am. There were tons of kids at the camp ground. The children borrowed inner tubes from the camp hostess and rode the creek downstream to the swimming hole over and over again for two hours. Then we headed up to Sliding Rock and slid down the rock for another two hours. Yes, I did it too. We left directly from Sliding Rock for Atlanta, GA.

Day 9: Up at 6:15 am again, the boys helped me load in and set up the show. I bought them Internet access and a creative game called 'Spore,' which kept them fully engaged the entire day. The show was packed and sales were great. We celebrated with other vendors at the Cho Won Korean Buffet. The kids loved the octopus. (Really.)

Day 10: We got up late and missed the morning vendor meeting. It was slower paced but still a very good day. The kids played with other vendors' children and customers' children. I had a lovely discussion with a woman who was going to a Dalai Lama seminar. I told her how to present him with 'khata,' a scarf blessing. It was a very good day until the very end when someone stole 3 of my pendants. We did not catch the culprit. We packed out by 7 pm and had to drive 3 hours toward home before we could sleep.

Day 11: At breakfast, the boys got to meet two teenage mothers and their infants who were living at the Comfort Inn where we stopped. Josh, age 12, said he didn't think they were very well educated because their speech and manners could have used some improvement. Hmmm. I think my boys may have learned a great deal on this trip.

We drove from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Day 12: First Day of School.

Smiley

2010-08-26T08:00:00.003-04:00

Madhav Gautam, the manager at Maruni Sanctuary Lodge, remembered me from an incident that happened in 2006. Click here to read, Honesty and Poverty


Smiley the Manager, Madhav Gautam


Here is picture of an Elephant carrying tourists in the jungle that I didn't have pictures of when I wrote Honesty and Poverty.

Hunters in the Jungle

2010-08-24T08:00:00.006-04:00

Maruni Sanctuary Lodge

I'm glad they are not hanging real animal heads a la 'Hemingway.'

"Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter. You will meet them doing various things with resolve, but their interest rarely holds because after the other thing ordinary life is as flat as the taste of wine when the taste buds have been burned off your tongue." (from 'On the Blue Water' in Esquire, April 1936) - Hemingway

OKALI DOKALI!
What a scary thought.

I like to hunt with my binnies, binoculars.

Arriving at Maruni Sanctuary Lodge, Chitwan Jungle

2010-08-22T08:00:00.001-04:00

We arrived at Maruni Sanctuary Lodge, had our welcome drinks and crashed, after the long bus ride.

Cable Car, Nepal

2010-08-20T08:00:00.001-04:00

Click to Enlarge

Somehow, I am not too excited about the cable car in Nepal.

click to enlarge

But rafting down the river in an inner tube, that, I would do in a heartbeat.

Crossing the River in Nepal

2010-08-18T08:00:00.016-04:00

See the cage on the wire.


Here it is again.


See the little blue cage, this one is in use. Click to enlarge.

I'm grateful that I have not had to cross the river this way yet. Sometimes I see animals crossing over with the people in those cages. This one appears to be mechanical. Some of them are wooden crates dangling from ropes with pulleys, the people pull themselves and their belongings across hand over fist. My adopted nephew said that he lost control once and the wheel ran over his fingers. His fingers are OK now.

Journey to the Jungle

2010-08-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

I hadn't ridden the bus to the jungle for many years. There were good reasons not to take the bus but it had been such a long time that I had forgotten. It was not just that the ride is so bumpy that more than once I have slammed so hard into the roof of the bus that I thought I might have done permanent damage to my neck and spine, it is also the constant terror of what might tumble into the road in front of the bus at any time. Chickens and dogs wander into the roads. Sometimes the dogs just lay smack dab in the middle of the road and don't bother to move, even with vehicles passing them on both sides. Cows will also lie in the middle of the road. The cows are particularly bothersome because if the bus accidentally hit them and killed the cow, the passengers could all be held responsible for the death of the cow which might send us to prison for as many as 12 years.

Large rocks barely attached to the mountainside hover over the road; blind curves yield goats and goat herders; narrow passages at the edges of cliffs are always where other trucks and buses are encountered; and when I look into a ravine, that is where I see the remains of a bus that didn't make it. Then I have to worry about the buses that we encountered coming up from the jungle carrying people, goats, sacks of potatoes, bicycles, women with vegetables and bananas on top. What if they bounce too hard or take a turn to fast and spill off of the top?

On this trip, a little girl playing too near the road tumbled into the street in front of us. Our bus screeched to a stop while blasting the horn. Terrified by the noise the 3 year old began to sob at which point her mother ran out of the house grabbed her up by one arm and gave her a good whack. Shortly after that, our first pee stop was a dirt hill where men and women squat within view of one another. It took me a few minutes to work up the courage to bare my bum on the hill. I had to stake out a place, out of view, where I wasn't also stepping on fly covered human feces. Fortunately, at the following stop, there were squat toilets with doors and an attendant to keep them from getting too filthy.

It was a significant drop down to the river. I was hoping that no one had been riding on top.

Next time I think I will fly.

On the Road Again

2010-08-14T08:00:00.001-04:00

I am still on the road. The boys and I are traveling from Cleveland, OH to Chesapeake, VA to Atlanta, GA for the next couple of shows. I don't usually take the kids with me, but they are 7 and 12 now and I think that they can manage to occupy their minds with books while I am working at the beads shows.

Between Chesapeake and Atlanta, we will try to visit friends and see some of America. I am planning to take them to Biltmore in Ashville, NC. The rest may have to come to me as we travel.

While I am away, I will leave you with images from my trip to Chitwan Jungle in Nepal.

Forgive me if I can't explore your blogs much while I'm away. I will try to drop in from time to time.

Learning Patience

2010-08-12T08:00:00.075-04:00

We are used to instant gratification in the west. Some people become hysterical when the red light does not change quickly enough or if their fast food order does not arrive in under one minute. Did you see the woman who smashed the window at a McDonald's drive-through because she couldn't get her McNuggets for breakfast when she wanted them? In many developing countries people are used to waiting for things. I remember waiting to have breakfast on the top of the roof of my hotel in Nepal. My order was taken, drinks appeared, and about an hour later a boy came back from the market with a bag of materials to cook our breakfast. Breakfast took two hours, but we had a good view while we waited.

We were only in Kathmandu for three full days before we left for the jungle, yet in that short amount of time we finished most of our business in Patan and Kathmandu and met with the Joy Foundation founders, who treated us to a fantastic dinner of rice and dal, vegetable curry, spicy potatoes, okra, spinach, and for desert papaya, oranges and then vanilla yogurt with pomegranate seeds. You have to try putting pomegranate in sweetened yogurt, yum! We were also introduced to Chang, Tibetan beer, which was kind of sweet and yummy and deceptively powerful.

At the gathering we met several people from Australia who had been working with the Joy foundation for more than 10 years. They were there visiting the sites of some of the projects that they had helped to create. They did a lot of work with schools and prisons. I was horrified to find out women are sometimes jailed with their children in Nepal and they might stay in prison past their release time if they can not pay their fine!

The day before we left for the jungle we were able to get everything arranged for the school so that they could submit a proposal for their library, and we were able to establish contact people for the school. Now, five months later, we are still waiting for the school to submit their proposal. There isn't much more I can do but hope that someone in Nepal will steer the ship. When they do, I should receive a list of items that they need, with price tags for books, shelves and other equipment. I will be asking everyone I know to help us donate what is required at that time. Until then, we wait.

Searching for Customers

I would like the library to happen very quickly, but there are some things that I simply have no control over.

Freak Street

2010-08-08T08:00:00.004-04:00

I am endlessly blown away by the loads people carry.

I think I'm going to Katmandu,
That's really, really where I'm going to.
If i ever get out of here,
That's what I'm gonna do.
K-k-k-k-k-Katmandu,
I think that's where I'm going to.
If i ever get out of here,
I'm going to Katmandu. -Bob Seger

In the early 1970s Kathmandu was the destination for hippies, celebrated in songs by Cat Stevens and Bob Seger and probably several others. Back then it was an almost traffic-free city with seemingly unlimited supplies of hashish or marijuana. Cannabis is said to be Shiva's favorite herb and it grows wild all over Nepal. It is used by sadhus as part of their normal religious practice. Kathmandu was a veritable Shangri-la for the hippies. Drug-seeking foreigners created a thriving trade here. Even today one can hear the whispered offers of all types of drugs when they walk down the streets. When I took my dad, who was in his late 60's, he kept asking me, "What did they say?" It was a little embarrassing to have to constantly tell my dad, "Just keep walking, you don't want any."

Freak Streat near Kathmandu Durbar Square used to be the center of the hippie drug culture. Today, I see more Hindu and Buddhist religious paraphernalia for sale here than anything else, but the cheap hotels are still plentiful in this area. On my first visit to Kathmandu I found a nice clean hotel for $15 a night in Thamel. One of my traveling companions was not satisfied with this rate and found a cheaper $3 a night bed in a room on Freak Street. He woke up covered in bed bug bites. I guess you get what you pay for.

Friends

2010-08-07T08:06:00.001-04:00


Kathmandu, Nepal

Look at the open window. Click to enlarge.

Friends on a bench in Kathmandu, Nepal

Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.
Virginia Woolf

Wearing Masks

2010-08-06T08:06:00.002-04:00

Kathmandu, Nepal

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. e.e. cummings 1955

Love

2010-08-05T08:06:00.005-04:00

Kathmandu, Nepal

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.”- Henry David Thoreau

Kathmandu, Nepal

Being Busy!

2010-08-04T08:06:00.001-04:00

Kathmandu

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing. - Lao Tsu

Examine Your Beliefs

2010-08-03T08:06:00.003-04:00

Thangka Shop, Kathmandu

After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto. ~Buddha

Thangka Shop, Kathmandu


Thangka Shop, Kathmandu

Click on these and examine them deeply.

Practice

2010-08-02T08:06:00.003-04:00

Thangka Shop, Kathmandu

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
- The Dalai Lama

Thangka Shop, Kathmandu

Beauty

2010-08-01T08:06:00.003-04:00

Kathmandu

Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.--Confucius

Patience

2010-07-31T08:06:00.002-04:00

Waiting, Kathmandu

Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.- Chinese Proverb

The Path of Pleasure

2010-07-30T08:06:00.002-04:00

This is a calf, not a dog, Kathmandu

Katha Upanishad 1:2:1

There is a path of joy and there is the path of pleasure. Pondering on them, the wise (one) chooses the path of joy; the fool takes the path of pleasure.

Meet Your Neighbor

2010-07-29T08:06:00.003-04:00

Mark 12:28-31 (King James Version)

The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
³¹And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. -Jesus

Making Wishes

2010-07-28T08:06:00.002-04:00

"In the present circumstances, no one can afford to assume that someone else
will solve their problems. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction. Good wishes are not sufficient; we must become actively engaged."-- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Holy Baba

2010-07-27T08:06:00.012-04:00

Holy Baba in Kathmandu. Always click to see the details!

What person can give me the wisdom I am seeking?

True knowledge is never covered by super impositions. One's practical life will necessarily mirror such pure knowledge. -Param Pujya Ma

What knowledge do you reflect?

I will be in Oregon for a week but I am leaving you with daily quotes and original photos. I'll check in if I can. Peace!

The Remover of Obstacles

2010-07-24T06:00:00.053-04:00

There are some things that I haven't told you, things that I shouldn't tell you, but at least I have to try to help you understand why there are omissions. Eighteen years ago when I was traveling in China, I met an interesting artist who had very nasty things to tell me about the Chinese government and the Cultural Revolution. When I asked him why he had a picture of Mao on his wall he said, "Mao was so scary that I kept his picture to frighten away the evil spirits." When he saw that I carried a journal with me everywhere I went, he cautioned me not to write anything that he said in a public place because it could be very harmful to his health.

I love Nepal dearly, but it is going through some growing pains. It would not be good for me, my business, or anyone that I do business with, or anyone that I am trying to help, for me to discuss my uneducated political views about Nepal. I will only say, and I think that all parties concerned would agree, that corruption is a bad thing especially when it is paired with violence.

When I offered to help the Shree Nava Vijayee Mahendra Secondary School to build a library, I didn't consider how that could affect local politics. My immediate thoughts were: How much would it cost? and Who do I give the money to? But it took very little time for me to understand that there was no one person or group that I could give money to. It simply wouldn't be healthy for them. What was needed was an NGO (non-governmental organization) with established practices. So, of course, I said, "Just tell me who and I will work it out with them." But there was no reply.

Ganesh, the remover of obstacles. He is prayed to before other deities because he helps to clear the path for communication with the other deities.

As I wandered the streets of Kathmandu, I was puzzling how to make good on my promises to the school children. I talked with my suppliers, and the other Nepalese people that I knew, and some other foriegners that I didn't know, asking them all about how one establishes an NGO in Nepal.

Kathmandu

In the end, it was the man that I have known the longest in my travels to Nepal and who has helped me the most with my business who had the solution that I needed.

Kathmandu

Raju, is a remarkable self-made man. I knew him when he had a small shipping business that operated out of a second floor office on a side street in Thamel. It had a dirt floor and I had to climb a wooden ladder to get to the office. He now has his own building, several vehicles with chauffers, and a multitude of business ventures including a network of ayurvedic medicine shops attached to free yoga centers. It is my personal opinion that he has acquired all of this wealth via his rakish good looks and superior smile. It also helps that he is considered extremely trustworthy and well connected. I have known him to be quite generous both with his customers and with his staff in providing regular parties, good advice, and loans in dire situations. Once, when I was in Nepal he got a phone call from another importer like myself who was going to jail because his taxi cab driver accidentally hit a cow. Raju sorted things out and got the foriegner back home safely. But his success has not come without drawbacks. Because he is well known and has money, his family has been threatened and his brother beaten. In fact, while Tania and I were in Nepal, he received a phone call demanding a million rupees. It was an insane demand with no specifics, and no follow-up. He has lived a remarkable life, and some day someone will write a book about this country boy who grew up to receive awards from the King of Nepal.

Kathmandu, click to enlarge

When I mentioned to Raju my intention to build a library, he knew exactly where to begin. He and several businessmen in Thamel had set up the Joy Foundation, years ago, for just this kind of charitable donation. They had all of the accountability and the follow-up worked out and they had years of practice building schools and training teachers. He even offered to make a donation. Without hesitation, he made phone calls and arranged for Tania and me to be invited to a dinner where we could meet with the founders of the Joy Foundation. I will tell you more about the dinner soon.

I haven't told you anything that isn't well known in Nepal, and Raju, unlike many poorer people in Nepal, does have the resources to protect himself and his family.

Bead District in Kathmandu

2010-07-22T11:34:00.000-04:00

Beads are an important part of a woman's attire in Nepal. Hindu women in Kathmandu go to a small alley in Indrachowk called the pote bazaar. Pote, pronounced potay, are worn by married women. A wedding pote might be very long, worn like a sash that hangs to one's hip.

The different ethnic groups of the Kathmandu valley have different beliefs about how one should wear their pote. Some women believe that they must wear it 24 hours a day lest their husband should unexpectedly pass away. Ethnic groups outside of Kathmandu have very different traditions, but wearing loads of jewelry seems to be the norm throughout the Himalayas.

A golden tilauri bead in the middle of a pote necklace is a symbol very much like the gold wedding ring in the west. It is always a spiky bead, but it does vary a little in length and design. Below is a sterling silver tilauri bead that we sell on our web site aworldofgood.com

Surprisingly, although Muslims don't wear pote, most of the shopkeepers selling them in the pote bazaar are Kashmiri Muslims. When necklaces are almost finished, the bead stringer will have several threads between his toes and something that looks like a little drop spindle in his hand. So quickly that my eye can not comprehend, he winds a thread around the several threads between his toes and finishes the necklace making a button hole loop on one end and attaching a brass button carved with a lotus on the other end.

I brought Tania here because they make beautiful woven bracelets for a fraction of what they would cost to produce in the USA and because it was on the way to Kathmandu Durbar Square. I will show you that square next time.


The pote bazaar at Indrachowk

Leaving You with a Smile!

2010-07-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

I am on my way to a show in Virginia Beach, VA. I won't be able to post for a little while.
Have a great week! Peace.

The Artisans of Patan

2010-07-10T09:00:00.005-04:00

After the long hike down the mountain, we had a still longer drive out of the mountains. At about 11 pm after 9 hours of rattling along in the land cruiser on unpaved roads, stopping briefly to return Atit and JR to the village, we arrived back at the Kathmandu Guest House. The next couple of days were a whirlwind of meeting with my suppliers and trying to show Tania around Kathmandu. During this time, still ecstatic about my trip to the mountains, I talked to everyone that I knew about how to help create a library for a rural school in the mountains of Nepal.

Tania and I visited an area of Kathmandu called Patan where most of the craftspeople's families have lived for centuries. When I walk up and down the narrow streets, I literally trip over masterpieces. Even the gutters have carvings of open mouthed celestial beings that spout water. All day long in this area you can hear the hammering and chiseling of statues, prayer wheels, door handles, window frames and all manner of handicraft items. The craftspeople live in districts where many of the neighbors are related and everyone seems to have the same vocation. There are entire blocks of silversmiths, stone cutters, metal workers, or painters. This is not a tourist show, this is art as work and worship intertwined-- life as it always has been in Patan.

Here are the ordinary dwellings of Patan!

This is an inner courtyard. There was a little cafe back here where we had lunch behind the apartment homes.

Below is Patan Durbar Square, or Patan King's Square. What I love about this place is how alive it is. I have been to beautiful town centers in the USA that are virtually empty. This square is 500 years old and much more than that in spots. It is composed of temples, museums, homes and shops. It is also the playground of children, the market place for merchants, the holy place for believers, where women separate the wheat from the chaff, and the meeting place for old men who smoke and swap stories. It is a place to think, to work, or to beg. Life happens here!

Please double click on these so that you can see the detail and the exquisite beauty that I saw.

Even in the city, many people get their water from, and bathe in, the public taps.

Monkey Bites and Crocodiles, a letter exchange

2010-07-02T09:42:00.001-04:00

This is skipping ahead of the story a bit...

You may remember that I was presented to an assembly of students at the mountain school that had 400 students and no library. Searching for something to say in my impromptu speech, I made a promise of a letter exchange between my son's school in Shaker Heights, Ohio, USA and their school, Shree Nava Vijayee Mahendra Secondary School in Nepal. This is without having any real plan in place or any advance discussion with the teachers in the US.

When I returned to the states from Nepal, in March 2010, I was surprised to learn that the writing teachers in my son's school were asking parents to come in and talk about their passions. It was perfect timing! Two weeks after I returned, I gave a Power Point presentation about education in Nepal called 'Monkey Bites and Crocodiles.' I asked my 6th grade audience to write a letter about a day in their life and mailed the letters to the students in Nepal.

Yes, I did tell stories about monkey bites and crocodiles with photos. I'll show you these in later posts.

The return letters were slow in coming because, once again, political problems closed the school for weeks. Also, the English teacher in Nepal had to wait until he had the time to take a 5 hour bus ride to Kathmandu to mail the return letters. But they are here!

Archana Neupane gave me her permission to publish her letter. It is very well written and also very typical of most of the letters we received.

You should be able to read this if you click on it.

My son's English teacher will continue the letter exchange in the Fall.

Why the exchange? Our kids in the US need the awareness of other cultures as much as the kids in Nepal. Most of the students in our neighborhood have a very limited understanding of poverty in developing nations. The Shaker Heights sixth graders' thinking was so stimulated by the presentation that I had to limit their questions in the end.

If you would like me to come talk to your school or community group, let me know. If I'm traveling close to you, I'll come with the Power Point and a pile of Nepali art objects.

Posters Needed!

2010-06-28T13:16:00.002-04:00

We stopped for milk tea beneath the flowering tree to rest and take in the view. Next to the path, a small stone building with several children playing outside caught my attention. I don't know at what point every child in the world became my own. Perhaps it was at the birth of my first son. I just know that when I see children now, I can only see my boys at that age. 'What if that were my child? What if we were born into this situation?' These are the questions that are always on my mind.

I have a feeling that JR and I are similar in this way. We walked over for a closer look. This building was the school, the post office, and the home of the teacher. While the children were outside playing games, an older man, who looked like he had just awoken, was inside making tea for himself. By virtue of his ability to read and write, he was both the teacher and postman. JR suspected that not much education actually happened in this facility for lack of resources. The teacher may have tried to teach the fundamentals of reading and writing but not much else. Clearly, there was no education happening at the moment that we arrived mid-morning on a school day.

The man was very accommodating, allowing us to photograph his bedroom/office and the classroom and students.

This is where we stopped to rest. It didn't look like a restaurant, but they were certainly prepared to take care of the needs of those traveling along the path.

The school and post office was directly in front of us next to the path.

Outside, the children were playing.

Here is the teacher on his bed in his office.

In the corner of his room was his source for heat in the winter time, and his means to cook his food.

My camera provided the light for the photos. The only other lighting in the school was natural light from the windows. Here is the teacher's desk.

Look how beautiful these students are. They posed for the camera and then raced over to see their pictures.

Sometimes at these high altitudes, which can be very dry and cold, I see mothers take the mucous from their child's nose and rub it on the child's cheeks to protect them from getting painfully chapped cheeks. It makes them look a bit grubby, but there is a reason behind the dirt.

Benches to sit at and tables to write on. This is very good.

But the condition of the chalk boards, not so good.

And the posters...

Abysmal!

If you are feeling touched, and inspired to help, here is the address.

Write to:
Gonggang Primary School
Gonggang Chilme VDC
Ward No. 6
Dist. Rasuwa
Zone: Bagmati
Nepal

They have no posters, books or teaching materials of any kind. They may also not have any tape to put up the posters. They do not have the organizational capacity that the other school I am helping has. In this case there really is no better way of helping. We can only send a package of materials and cross our fingers that it arrives safely. These children would certainly be happy if we tried.

I did send a package of printed material to rural Nepal recently. It was clearly marked 'printed mater' and it arrived safely in about 2 weeks. I would not send money, or other valuable items for political reasons. It is also against the law to proselytize in Nepal, so no religious materials please.

If you are teacher, or a parent, or you have some posters or light weight educational books to send, please do. It could be life changing. Feel free to pass the word.

Peace!

Going Down

2010-06-25T09:00:00.006-04:00

Click on all of these twice.

Meditate deeply.

When you take flight in your dreams.

You can meet us here.

And we will soar together!

When you wake, please write to me about what you saw.


The journey down, was a quiet meditation. I concentrated only on placing my feet on stable ground. Peace!

Morning Prayers

2010-06-21T09:00:00.003-04:00

Modern sleeping sacks are very constricting. It is impossible to roll over without taking the whole sack with you. When I crawled into my sleeping bag, I was fairly toasty and ready for sleep. A few hours later, I realized I was not sleeping well at all. My feet were very cold. It is also true that it can be very difficult to sleep at high altitudes if you are not acclimated and we were high enough that I could have been suffering a little altitude sickness. In any case, I was wide awake by the time Belief and Atit came politely rapping at our chamber door. It was still quite dark outside, even though I think that they let us sleep in, until at least 5 am.

I was eager to get back into the warm bath, so I jumped up and pulled on my swimming suit hastily. It was a most remarkable coincidence that I had a suit with me at all. The day before I packed for Nepal, a friend had sent me a box of books to donate to the children at the village school. She included pencils and stickers, which came in very handy, and surprisingly, she sent me a new swimming suit that she had bought in the wrong size for herself. I would normally never pack a swimming suit for Nepal. Pools are hard to come by and I am suspicious of the water quality. But the suit was there in my hand, and so I threw it into the case. I had no idea that the my adopted family would be taking me on a trip up to the hot springs at Tatopani.

Tania needed a little extra time for her morning ablutions, so the boys and I went ahead of her to the baths. As we approached, I heard the deep, sonorous harmonies of "Om mani padme hum." At the far side of the tub, beneath the spigots, were three monks each with a sacred white head covering. They chanted all the while as we disrobed, the boys stripping to their underwear. I was a little concerned that my feminine flesh would be disturbing to the monks but the boys didn't appear to have any reservations. Tania followed the chants and soon found her way to the tubs well. She peeled down to a bikini and entered the water as discreetly as possible. We stayed very quiet so as not to disturb the morning meditation. I settled in on the right side of the tub and watched enraptured as the sun, rising in concert with the melodic chants, began to lighten the sky behind the mountain peaks. As our surroundings brightened, to my amazement, I watched the monks transform completely. It was soon clear that these were not men at all but women with very deep voices. Nuns, perhaps, I thought. A few moments later I could see that the sacramental vestiments they wore on their heads were actually white plastic bags meant to keep their hair from getting wet. Sacred and holy all the same, but still a very good reminder that events are not always as they appear, especially across cultures.

The View from the hot springs


Looking at the View


I'm sitting outside our guest house in the early morning after our bath. We are having milk tea and waiting for breakfast. Here you see me writing the Lyrics to 'A Froggy Went a Courtin,' for JR to teach his students.


Our gear is packed and ready for the hike back down. Tania and JR are standing in front of the kitchen building.

This is what it looks like inside the kitchen. Actually it was very dark inside, but my camera has illuminated the view for you.

Tatopani


Goodbye, Tatopani. Goodbye, Spectacular View. I hope I will come this way again someday.

Brilliant Night at the Top of the World

2010-06-17T10:17:00.001-04:00

I had wrapped my forehead in a red bandanna to keep the sun from searing my scalp on our climb. Heat and exertion caused me to peel down to an undershirt, but soon as the sun fell below the mountain peak, a distinct chill settled into the valley. I quickly pulled my long sleeved shirt on again.

The last slow steps of our journey were made at twilight. We came to a little plateau with a small cluster of homes at its edges. Stumbling up out of a rocky field, I noted that there was no railing for the steps up to our guest house. It would have been ridiculous for a hand rail to exist at the end of such a long precarious hike, but still, I wanted it to be there.

The guest house was sparsely decorated and it looked very clean. It reminded me of hostels I have visited in the Swiss Alps. There was some concern when we were back in Kathmandu that we should have our own bedding because there might be lice and bed bugs. When I saw the place, I had no such concerns. We dropped our sleeping bags and clothes on the wooden beds, which were covered with a thin cotton filled mattress and a comforter. Then we returned to the dinning room where we spread ourselves out comfortably on the long benches. It was dark and quiet outside. Aside from the six of us, there were no other guests.

TN and JR ordered dinner for us. Butter cookies and barley wine came out immediately, followed by steamy fried puffy pink shrimp crisps! This is something like a shrimp potato chip. At the top of the world, a thousand miles from the ocean, in a place where every consumable had to be carried miles up on someone's back, I was greatly impressed by the home made shrimp crisps. After snacks, we had another excellent meal of dal bhat, which kept coming until we were stuffed.

It was an incredible high, literally and figuratively, as we were at 2,400 meters or 7,874 feet. TN admitted he wasn't sure that I would make it, but I did and I was feeling triumphant. The altitude made me feel a little light headed and, except for the ankles and knees, my body felt fantastic.

TN and JR had been telling us as we climbed the mountain that the hot springs were medicinal. 'People came from all over Nepal to be cured of many ailments, including arthritis and all manner of skin diseases,' they said. JR told me that his wife, who had stomach problems, made a pilgrimage to the hot springs once a year. She felt much better for about 8 months, and then she would start to plan another trip. Any arthritic person who was able to make the climb to the hot springs would certainly think themselves cured simply by virtue of their arrival, I thought. As for Tania and myself, the idea of jumping into a public bath with skin diseased people, possibly lepers, wasn't all that appealing, but we decided to see what the situation was before we got too worried about it.

After coming all that way, I was eager to see the hot springs, even in the dark. To my surprise everyone else was willing to wait until morning. Tania was so tired that she decided to go to bed even though it was only 8 pm or so. JR, TN, Belief and Atit accompanied me over to the baths.

The night sky took my breath away. It was a moonless night, filled with billions of dazzling stars. Even in the southwestern US, I have never seen so many stars so clearly. The last time that I saw stars that clearly was when I crossed the Tibetan Plateau. Though it was dark, there was enough starlight that we could see where we were going. JR offered his arm so that I wouldn't trip on the stones and in a couple of minutes we arrived at three stone baths with stone spigots in the traditional shape of an open crocodile's mouth. Far above us was where the natural hot springs originated. By the time the water traveled down the pipes to the spigots it was steamy but comfortable enough to stand under for a short period of time.

Similar Crocodile Water Spigots

No longer concerned that skin diseased people might have just recently vacated the bath, I decided that I wanted to soak my ankles and knees in the hope that my legs would be able to carry me down the mountain the following day. I removed my shoes and socks and rolled up my pant legs and climbed the icy cold steps to the bath. No one would climb in with me at first, but then Atit decided to wade a little as well. The water was a muddy yellow color. I could not see through it. My feet stepped carefully on the smooth stones while I held on to the wall. All was quiet except for the sound of water spilling into the bath. The brilliant stars reflected in the steaming water. I could have stayed for hours! Alas, I decided that I could not to make everyone stand out in the cold waiting for me. So, after ten minutes, I climbed out, dried my feet on my shirt and put my shoes back on. When I got back to our room, Tania was already breathing deeply. The boys said they would knock on our door at 4 am so that we could really take a bath.

Climbing to Tatopani

2010-06-11T08:06:00.000-04:00

About 2 hours from Dunche, and 9 hours from Kathmandu, we finally reached a place where vehicles could no longer travel. Ahead of us were rocky treeless mountains and beyond the mountains the radiant snow covered peaks of Tibet.

From the road a dusty path took us to a hanging bridge that must have been very recently created. I have been across bridges that had no netting and wooden slats rotted through. Where there were holes, a flat rock bridged the gap. This bridge however was very sturdy. At this time of the year animals could be herded through the river below, but in the rainy season, the bridge would be the only access to trade with civilization.

Just beyond the bridge we encountered an old chorten. It was inscribed with prayers for the deceased. The proper way to show respect is to pass the chorten to the left circumambulating clockwise just as you would travel around a stupa.

Suddenly, the path took a sharp, steep turn to the right and we began to climb the rocky steps. It wasn't too difficult at first. I took my time placing my feet carefully so that I wouldn't slip. But soon I felt unstable in my knees and ankles. Even though I was carrying nothing but a walking stick, the climb was very difficult for me. I am at least 40 pounds overweight, which everyone in Nepal generously offered to cure with vegetables, herbs, work and yoga. I stopped often and about a half hour into the climb I decided to take my pulse. It was 170 beats per minute.

About 10 years before this journey, I broke my ankle in three places. I still have a metal plate with screws holding it all together. When I broke my ankle, it was on a most ordinary hike in the Maryland woods, nothing like these gravel covered rocky steps clinging to the side of the mountain. A simple misstep and I had to have 4 people carry me out of the woods strapped to a board. "What would happen if I broke a leg up here?" I wondered out loud. JR told me that if I broke my leg on the mountainside that they could not help me in Dunche, they would have to take me all the way back to Kathmandu. He said that they would call for a helicopter. That would be fine for me, I thought, somehow we would figure out how to pay for the rescue, but what of the thousands of people who lived up in these hills?

I know that everyone was concerned about me. They never raced ahead even though I think it would have been easier for them to climb more quickly. They were especially worried when I began to feel dizzy, and they asked if I wanted to stay with one of the families living on the side of the hill. Could I do it? Could I climb all the way to the top? Yes... yes, I was doing it. One step was not too much to bear and what is a journey but one step at a time? JR sang folk tunes behind me and I focused on the glittering rocks and the beautiful terraces, and in that way we climbed. Although it was difficult and painful, the pain would be but a moment and the beauty would be just as fleeting. I was being honored by my extended family with this most precious gift of seeing a place that only a tiny fraction of the world will ever see first hand.

It takes a native 1 and 1/2 hours to climb that mountain. It takes a fit young American 2 hours to climb to the top. It took me 4 hours, but I did it. Life is not a competition, not even with ourselves, it is a journey made up of precious moments, each one to be savored as it is presented.

The village by the river at the center of the picture is where we began our climb.
By the time we arrived, it was already dark.

Blue Sky, Clear Water

2010-06-03T22:51:00.003-04:00

Heading for the Tibetan Border

Dunche

Dunche

I tried very hard to take a good picture of Dunche for you. It is the largest village in this region, the one that you can find on a map. Our vehicle was shaking so violently that this was the best I could do.

It really isn't a very large village, but it is an important one. There is a military check point there where we had to show proper permits to enter the region. Not far away we saw policemen on training exercises running uphill in formation carrying their guns. There is a history of political conflict here. It is also very close to China, formerly Tibet.

Long past Dunche, there were many smaller villages. At the confluence of streams, wherever there is water and a bit of flat land, you will find people trying to eek out a living. If it does not have a house on it, it is because a home was not sustainable there. The power lines that you see are bringing electricity to these tiny villages from the hydroelectric plants. They actually have more reliable power up in the hills than they do in the capital of Kathmandu.

Water is the key to life in this terrain. As the glaciers disappear from the Himalayas, there is less water for the terraced farms. Without the vegetation the terraced fields turn to brown dust and erode. I saw hundreds of abandoned fields. There were whole sides of mountains that had turned brown and barren dotted with empty broken dwellings. In one area, I saw a brown abandoned mountain that faced a lush green productive mountain. Viewed from the valley, it was a very striking contrast. The difference between these two mountains was irrigation.

One of the best projects that I have seen in Nepal were little fish hatcheries. I saw several large concrete ponds on the mountainsides. All they need is a good spring to feed the pond and they could raise a Japanese variety of rainbow trout to eat and to sell. Many of the hatcheries had restaurants right next to the road serving the fish they raised.

Speaking of fresh fish, after 4 hours of bouncing around, it was time to stop for brunch. We were getting very near the area where we were going to begin our hike. There was no fish for us though. We had the usual: milk tea, lentils, rice, vegetable curry and eggs.

Tania, Belief and JR are above, I think TN is sitting behind his younger brother.

The housing and clothes were much different in Langtang. They had a more Tibetan flavor to them. There were Buddhist symbols carved on the doors, and prayer flags and chortens were all over the village. Neat rows of clean houses decorated in primary colors lined the streets.

Tania found a Cyber Cafe all the way up here with a good connection and sent a quick note to her employees in Brookline, MA, about what they need to do for an upcoming sale. We don't really get away from work any more, do we?

This whole area looks newly built.

A Chorten; you really need to click on these photos to see the details.

The buildings that you see across the river are a Tibetan Refugee camp.

A better image of the camp.

More beautiful children looking for something to do by the side of the road in the small village where we had brunch.

We were getting very close to the beginning of our hike up to the hot springs. That will be in the next post.

Get Up and Get Moving

2010-05-29T20:00:00.022-04:00

We had a big day planned! Tania, JR, TN, Belief, Atit and I were headed up to the highest hot springs in the world. We got up early, rolled our bags together and headed for Tatopani which means (hot water) in the Langtang district of Nepal. (Tato = hot, Pani = water.)

Remember me suffering down the side of the mountain? Well, I was surprisingly not nearly as crippled as I thought that I would be the next day. Clinging to Aama's walking stick. I slowly hiked back up to the road with Tania, TN, JR, Belief and Atit. The men carried my belongings. Along the way we saw several hairy little calling cards from the leopards. It was the furriest poop I've every seen.

This image is from later in the trip.

The hillside was bustling by the time we left. People were carrying heavy loads up and down the mountainside. I had promised one of my customers in the USA that I would take a picture of a mule train on this trip. The mule trains are highly decorated with bells and pompadors. I was surprised that I didn't see any in this area of Nepal. TN told me that no one in this area used mule trains because the mules took jobs from the local people who can make money portering loads on their heads.

Our driver was waiting for us with the land rover to take us north toward the Tibetan border. The road we traveled was under construction. We saw hundreds of people in small groups of 6 or 10 working on various parts of the construction. Some of the people were chipping and assembling rocks to be bailed and used for reinforcement at the side of the road. You can see a bit of the wire at the bottom of the image above. I didn't know until this trip that the chicken wire used to bail these rocks was hand woven. In a few places, I saw great "looms" made of pegs in the ground and enormous spools of wire. A man or maybe a couple of men would be wrapping the wire around the pegs to make a net. The net was then used to make a rectangular cage for rocks which could be used as building blocks to support the road.

Four the next four hours we rattled up the side of the mountain over the gravel and pot holes. Rarely did we achieve more than 15 miles per hour. Our spines were constantly pounded up and down and side to side. TN said, "It's like getting a massage."

My eyes were fixed on the goal for most of the ride.

In many places the road it was so narrow that we had to back up quite a distance to let another bus or truck pass. We would be perched so precariously at the side of the road waiting for the vehicle to pass that we would have suffered a serious fall had we chosen to open our car door. At times we could neither see around the bend nor over the rise, making the horn an essential part of our equipment.

Landslides were a real potential hazard. The section of road that I have photographed here is usually closed about 4 months in the summer every year. When the rains come, it washes the rocks and mud over the road and it takes people months to dig it back out again. Even with modern technology, it is hard to imagine how human beings might ever overcome erosion on this massive scale.

Yes, this is the road that we drove on.

Beautiful, Dramatic, Soaring, I need better words...

The Land rover rattled so much, I'm amazed that it didn't rattle apart. Most of my pictures were very fuzzy. I hope you will click on these so that you can really grasp the vastness of the scenery.

Happy holiday everyone!

Kids and Leopards

2010-05-18T19:26:00.005-04:00

Aama: 'Mother' This is the most esteemed matriarch of the Neupane family. She is a mother of 15 and has already out lived 8 of her children. Sitting here with her eldest son, I thought she looked most dignified. Although we could not speak directly to one another, I was honored by her presence and welcomed by her impeccably raised and generous family. Many, many thanks to Aama and to her family.
If you look to the left of Aama, you will see a rock. This is a pestle. The mortar is the stone beneath it. It is where Aama grinds her spices. We accidentally sat on the mortar, but we were forgiven.

After our meeting at the school, we were taken back to our host's home. Normally, I would offer to help in the kitchen, but in this case, I was exhausted and I allowed myself to be cared for. Uncle JR, an English teacher, and his wife worked on the dinner together. They picked spinach from their garden. At the edges of the garden were nettles which can be used for making cloth. We also saw marijuana weeds which grow all over Nepal.

We chatted and sipped milk tea while several people from the village stopped by. Aunts, uncles and cousins dropped in to say hello.

They had an out house with running water, it was cold, but you could still take a shower if you wanted. We met a young woman named Mary who was a doctor from Texas volunteering at the local hospital for a couple of months. She had come up the hill to the Neupane's home for a shower. Dr. Mary told us that the prevailing illnesses at the hospital were a mystery rash and parasitic dysentery. In Nepal, diarrhea is the leading cause of death for children under 5.

At the far end of the house was a stable for cows and goats.

The cow had just had a calf, so we had fresh milk for our tea and I was able to drink a cup of raw milk. I thought the cooked milk tasted a little sweeter.

Uncle JR's twelve year old son was home playing with the goat. My other adopted Nephew, Atit, came up from another school a few miles away. He has barely graduated from high school himself, but he is already teaching.

Our first course was boiled salted potatoes. We peeled them with our fingers and ate about 4 potatoes each.

JR's wife did a tremendous job of feeding so many guests. She spent a long time carefully picking through and cleaning the rice. We sampled a rice wine made by a neighbor, and we had stewed spinach. She made spicy potatoes with home made butter out of the left over potatoes from earlier. There were even a few cubes of spiced goat meat for everyone.

After dinner JR played the drum for us and sang. Belief and his cousin danced and we were well entertained until we could barely hold our heads up any longer.

Before we turned in, JR carried the kids (baby goats) and the calf inside a storage room, put them under baskets and barred the door. This was to keep the leopards from eating them at night. Apparently the leopards usually leave the larger animals alone. I made certain that the bar was down on our door before we turned out our lights and climbed into our sleeping bags, just in case.