The Return to India - One Last Day in Kathmandu, the Buddhas 2551 Birthday

"India is an amazing country, full of contradictions. It is a place of beauty with warm and generous people on one hand; on the other, millions and millions of its inhabitants live in the worst poverty imaginable."

I awoke this morning dreading the day. I knew today I had to return to India. Coming back here is both intriguing and scary. It is like the first day of starting school in a new grade. India is a great teacher and I do not always want to learn. I am looking forward to Kerala and the South, as well as the opportunity to spend 6 days in one place at one of Kerala's famous Ayuverdic Spas. However, at that moment, I only wanted to stay in bed.

After alot of coaching, my mother finally convinced me to pack up and visit the local Tibetan Temple that was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. Two days earlier, she had met a Thangka (Scroll) Painter Teacher who had shown her the best Sange Mela (Medicine Buddha) she had seen.

The temple was gorgeous. It had just been painted and refurbished for the coming Full Moon Celebration marking the Buddha's Birthday with new prayer flags, incense, and candles everywhere. There was a throng of people as I made my way to the main alter to do my last proscretions to the Dhamma, Sangha, and Buddha before leaving Nepal. Next to the Stupa square was the Thangka School.

We were immediatly greeted by the teachers brother who showed us the Medicine Buddha. It was stunning and unlike any other we had visited in the last four days of Thangka shopping (about 100 stores in all, 300-400 Medicine Buddha and Medicine Mandala Scrolls). My mother showed her negotiating ability and walked out the door with a delivery to our hotel in an hour with 60% of the asking price. Strong work, mom.

The rest of the morning was spent shopping for a lighweight sleeping bag and raincoat. We only visited about 16 stores for this purchase before finding a Tibetan proprietor who had 500 gram (about 1.1 pound) sleeping bags for $60.00 USD and a Northface Chinese Knock off for $70.00 that would be $300.00 in the US. We then headed to the airport to catch our flight to New Dehli and then on to Kochi, Kerala Province via Bangalore.