One of the many reasons why I am back in Nepal to attend the course, is because of the course teacher this year. Her name is Venerable Robina Courtin. An Australian nun who has been ordained since the late 70’s. I have been to a couple of her one hour “talks”. Probably better described as “full on, in your face, rapid fire, no nonsense, get to the point, honest” rant, than a talk. If you ask her a question at the end of one of her “talks” that doesn’t have a yes or no answer, you better be very prepared for what follows. I have heard she calms down some for her longer teachings, like this one. It should be interesting to see if this is true. No mater what, she is a good teacher. Her Buddhist backgound is very varied. She has been an editor, author, teacher, teacher in prisons and regularly leads groups to Buddhist holy sites to raise money for her many charities.
Below are some photos from Kopan.
My shared room. My room mate hasn’t arrived yet.
View from room.
View from the other window in the room.
View from the roof of my building.
Kopan nunnery down the hill, with a new stupa being built to the far right in photo.
New stupa being built at nunnery. When finished, it will be a replica of the very famous one in Bodhgaya India that marks the spot where Buddha became enlightened. The scaffolding you see is all bamboo. Said to be stronger and lighter than steel.
Boudha stupa with the airport in the background. Kopan is on the flight path of many of the planes that leave the airport. The noise can be very annoying at times.
While I was on the roof of the building taking photos, I kept hearing small boys laughing and making a whole lot of racket. This video shows what they were doing.
Inside the bag that they are trying to carry, are the cushions that will be put on the floor of the new gompa for people to sit on. If they weren’t having so much fun trying to move the twenty or more bags that they moved, you might have thought that it was forced mini monk labor.
This is where all of those cushions ended up. The new Chenrezig gompa. I have heard that there will be 280 students this year. But they haven’t confirmed that yet.
This will probably be my last post for a while. Since the course starts today and my room mate arrives today. I won’t be taking many photos or posting them. The best time of the day to get any type of internet connection on my phone that I use as a hotspot, is eary in the morning from 1am to 5am. I brought an old phone with me and purchased a pay as you go sim card here for $1.50, just in case Verizon didn’t work here. Which it does sort of and when it does, it’s very expensive. I paid $20 for 16 gigs of data. Verizon charges $130 for 2 gigs and roaming charges for a month!
Mixed vegetables
Rice
Salad
Homemade potato chips
Every sharp turn has a guard to watch for any oncoming traffic that may have turned around. The road is a combination of dirt and a little gravel.
Steps to the temple.
More steps.
View from the top.
Monk giving blessings.
And a lot of street vendors. Fried bananas anyone.
Or bbq chicken.
Natural medicine.
1000 carved Hindu symbols.
Waterfall #1.
#2
I’m not sure why this type of can is allowed here. They are banned in most of the rest of the world. The flip top comes off and separates from the can!
This is the preferred type of Tuk Tuk here. A modified motorcycle that tows a trailer with seats. They also use scooters in stead of motorcycles.
4am and not much traffic. I questioned why I needed to get up at 4am to see the sunrise that doesn’t start until 6:30. I was soon to find out why.
These are the early birds just after the ticket booths opened at 5am. There are 2 main types of tickets. 1 day cost $37, 3 day costs $67. In this part of Cambodia the US dollar is the preferred cash. But your bills better be almost perfect or they won’t be accepted.
Angkor Wat and some of the thousands that got up early to watch the sun rise. It was like a thousand human ants headed to a temple for food. And most of them, like me, had no idea where the best spot to watch from was.
I left Angkor Wat before the sun came up just to beat the hoards that were headed to these other sites. And I’m glad I did.
All of the temples were made from sandstone blocks and then carved. Originally they were Hindu but most were modified into Mahayana Buddhist.
mini Tiger
I thought my Tuk Tuk driver was stopping to get some alcohol. Nope. Thats gasoline in the bottles.
All of the temples had overgrown trees and brush hiding them until they were re-discovered.
Paper from Elephant poop? I didn’t see any otherwise I would have bought some. Paper that is, not poop.
Leaf or a bug? You decide.
The view from my veranda.
The back side of my bungalow with the rock area being my shower.
Out door shower!
View from the restaurant
Typical Lao style house that is across the river from the resort.
Cleaning lettuce that is grown on the small farm across the river.
All of the walkways, steps have low level lighting.
There are many birds here but they don’t hold still long enough to take photos of.
No Corona, no Coors light and no Bud. None needed this beats them all.
I don’t usually eat ice cream while traveling. But I made an exception. This is homemade banana ice-cream. Made from local bananas. Yesterday I had coconut ice cream made from local coconuts. Tonight I will have mango from local mangos.
My view this morning. Misty river view.
The friendship bridge between Thailand and Laos.
The mighty Mekong River
Similar to the boat I am on.
Yes full. And mainly backpackers. After this trip was over I learned of another one that I probably would have preferred to be on. This one cost $25. “Smile Mekong” cost more but there is more room. Tables, food, western toilets (this one had squat toilets and nothing to hang onto) and they stop at a cave with Buddhist statues in it. This one only stopped to pickup more passengers.
Yep. It’s a real river with some minor rapids.
Restaurants on stilts.
Many places with sand built up. And some with water buffalo on them.
This is a high speed boat that takes people between villages. They probably go 50 mph and very hard to take photos of. Most of the captains/pilots/aimers wear helmets!
Engine trouble. Some of the westerners voiced their concern so I went and checked it out. The belt driven water pump that cools the engine had moved and one of the hoses came off. No big deal. Fixed within 15 minutes. So I passed on my findings and we were off again. “Anything possible Laos”. It’s a saying I hear whenever I travel to 2nd or 3rd world countries. “Anything possible Nepal, India, etc.”
New bridge being built. Old ferry soon to be out of business.
Overnight at Pakbeng, Laos. Of course no reservations. Just find a hotel you like. I chose one overlooking the river. I am sure there were cheaper but at $55 it beat motel 6!
Grey things
At one of the stops children came down to the boat to sell items that they had made.
The “drop off street”. The black spot in the road is a dog scratching his back.
View from my room.
Just checking my text messages
The whole pool area was lit up at night with neon lights every where. And the music was so loud, I’m sure they could hear it in Thailand.
The “river” view from my room! Is actually a pond. And at night the bridge is lit up with neon lights all night long.
Peru - The Amazon 