He Said Not To Be Like A Snail,

How if you touch it's horn,
it shrinks--
not to be so sensitive.

But it's like the way I don't notice until a
droplet of sweat has already formed,
popped through skin.

Like the midday sun beating our heads--and we stalk slabs of shade--
the light throbbing through me.

He said a two pointed needle gets no sewing done,
that it's a problem with my mind.

And in the night, the army of insects advance.

Nepal!

Not only does this truck believe in fair love, but the front bumper proclaimed, "I kiss you." Hmm...Keith, Dizzy, and I saw this after climbing off our bus from Pharping and walking into Kathmandu, due to the "jam."

On the roof of the bus.

Karma Chagme before a puja for the earthquake vicitims.

Goatherder. This man had a very naughty goat who chased after Marike and I, jumping high into the air as though doing the River Dance.

Near Guru Rinpoche's Yangleshod cave.

Dizzy waiting for Marike and I at Ravi's internet shop.

Dizzy in the field. Yes, I am his official photographer.

Women carrying rocks to build Khenpo Namdrol's Shitro mandala.

Nepal!!!

Keith, Dizzy and I are here in Nepal--yay! You can find us at Karma Chagme's castle in the sky.

Koh Phagnan

Despite the Protest---Songkran--"a time for cleaning and renewal"

Despite all the sad that has happened in Bangkok the last few days, it's the New Year here in Thailand.

Gangs of kids and adults roam the streets, water guns and water-filled buckets in hand.

Groups stand on the side of roads with hoses. Pickup trucks drive by full of water and people throwing it.

And don't forget the bowls of chalk ready to be smeared all over the nearest person.

Keith and I have inevitably been getting cooled down!

Somehow Keith and I Have a Knack For Trouble

The first time Keith and I came to Asia, we narrowly missed a hurricane in the Phillipines, the tsunami in Thailand, and then were stuck in Nepal with no internet, phone, newspapers, etc--when the king was trying to capture his ministers and shut the country down. Now...here we are in Thailand with the Red Shirts...

The first night we got to Bangkok about a week ago, Keith and I were on the bus from the airport into the city. We drove by tons of people seemingly camping in the streets--red tents everywhere. "What's going on? It must be some kind of festival..." I said.

The next day, Keith and I walked over to the main street close to where we're staying, in the hopes of catching a bus to Siam Square. No such luck--the entire street was full of these camped out Red Shirts. The Red Shirts want the Thai Parliament to disband immediately--they want the previous Prime Minister back and have been protesting in the streets of Bangkok for a month...

Keith said it looked like the Red Shirts were more interested in cooking than protesting--each little group had their own makeshift kitchen and freshly cooked food was everywhere. These people are sleeping on the street--living in the streets--whole families--it's insane.

Needless to say, Keith and I were unable to catch a bus to Siam Center that day. We ended up circling around to the Chao Praya River and catching a water taxi to the subway. Little did we know that the second Red Shirt stronghold was right in Siam--the giant malls there have been shut down for ten days.

At the time, everything seemed fairly peaceful. The next day, we walked through the protestors on the way to Wat Saket to do a tsog (a temple of Buddha relics)--protestors smiled and tried to hand me red roses.

Then we left Bangkok Friday night for an island. The previous day, the Red Shirts had stormed a TV station and police had used tear gas and water canons. So anyway, we left and headed to Koh Phagnan. We ended up getting scammed and had an arduous overnight bus/ferry journey. It was lovely to swim in clear warm water--but for some reason we felt a bit sad and empty the whole time there. To make matters worse--we got charged an arm and a leg for some scratches on the motorbike we rented! Thailand has been the epitome of samsara this time around. Anyway, we made it back to Bangkok last night...

Last night we got a room with a fan and through our open window, heard protestors angrily yelling through megaphones literally ALL NIGHT long! Then when I went to get my breakfast this morning, there was a motorcycle that had been set on fire at the end of Khao San Rd. There was a really sad vibe in the air.

I just read online that the day after we left, violence broke out between the protestors and the police. 21 people were killed and 800 injured.

You can be sure I'm not going to be walking through the protest anymore...In two nights we are off to Nepal.

Backing Up

Bunk Bedding It Singaporean Style (in Little India)

Pema, J and K at the Grand Veg Dinner

A dubious Karma Kuchen?

Ice Mango Kacang in Singapore (for some reason, there is corn and beans at the bottom of this dessert!)

Keith's had enough after our hoofing it through 3 countries

The Whirlwind Tour

Keith and I left Namdroling 5 days ago...Not too too sad to be leaving India! We made our way to Bangalore on the Volvo AC and then flew to beautiful Singapore to see Karma Kuchen--yay! We'd gone to Singapore five years ago, but I hadn't remembered how great it is. Really, what a lovely, clean, green (hot!) city--with the best food I've ever ever eaten--although it's not too cheap...And the best part, was Karma Kuchen was there doing a Vajrasattva/Mahakala puja for Holiness' parinirvana anniversary. He also gave a Vajrasattva empowerment and did a Vajrasattva fire puja. Yay! On the night of the last day we were invited to the "Grand Vegetarian Dinner," and it was indeed the grandest dinner ever! The other nice thing was Palmo and Pema and her kids were there and we finally met the infamous Yab and Yum (the Singaporean couple who had lived at Namdroling for five years). Then, yesterday morning we took the most luxurious bus ever (it had lazy boy recliner chairs!) to yucky Kuala Lumpur. Somehow, Kuala Lumpur just did not have a good vibe. We were anxious to leave and eventually managed to make our way to the KL Sentral--the city's transportation hub--where we had delicious tea and from there, take an hour long bus to the crazy expensive airport where they charged 34 ringgit for deoderant! That's a lot of ringgit. Then, we finally flew from there to Bangkok last night and took another hour long bus into the city! Three countries in one day is tiring. Anyway, it's nice to be in a familiar place with delicious cheap food. In a few days we're heading to the islands before going to Nepal...We'll try and post some pictures soon...