this and also this

As you can see, I am really here. The big smiling cake (aka chörten) still looks as happy as ever and its gold roof has been recently repainted. This morning I spent several hours with Martine, one of the owners of the hotel, sorting out everybody's arrivals and room arrangements, which turned out to be seriously complicated. I hope no one will be excessively horrified at the results.



Then I took a walk around the chörten with Pema Zangmo. It was much more crowded than usual but the piles of vegetables for sale looked even better than I remembered.

A huge digging project was going on in the circle, forcing us to walk in the inner ring where a tall monk wearing a blue dust mask started quizzing me. He asked where I came from and I said "New York" and asked where he came from. He said "Tibet" with a smug 'haha I win' kind of face and started quizzing me about what I practiced each day.


I decided I'd given him enough information (my teachers, lineage, school) and walked away. Then someone wanted to take my picture (I guess I am a sort of conspicuous figure) so I took his as well. That's him holding the green bag.

There were pails full of corn from which people were feeding the pigeons, there were many new buildings and shops, and the dogs looked less rabid than usual as they rested up in the sun for tonight's festival of barking.



The evil Ananda ran out of his new store to greet me and another shopkeeper shouted a demanding "Excuse me, Madame, excuse me!" but I'm not yet ready to shop in spite of wonders such as this at the Lumbini shop, where there seemed to be a concentration of Aro pilgrims.



And also this.