Stuck in Kathmandu

Tuesday March 8, 2011

8:02PM

The last few days really haven’t been all that eventful and, consequently, my journal entries sparse. We have, essentially, spent the last 2 days packing and attending meetings to go over the logistics and in particular the finances of making the clinic operate. 

Today was our originally scheduled day of departure, but after spending 6 hours in the airport watching Japanese tourists wearing matching pink jackets and hats take pictures of each other with the airport staff the airport, our flight was, finally, officially cancelled due to cloudy weather in Lukkla. Our clinic manager told us that this is not an uncommon occurrence, and in the fall, it took the group 6 days of waiting for the weather to clear before flights resumed. As much as I like it here, I would prefer to not hang out in Kathmandu for another 5 days.

In an effort to get out of Thamel and away from the majority of the tourists, my colleagues, Allun and Lauren, and I decided to spend the remainder of the day in Patan, another district of Kathmandu on the opposite side of town. There we hired a guide, Junga, who toured us through the old city and gave us quite a bit of additional history on the area as well as explanations of the Hindu and Buddhist relics there. When I refer to it as being old, I mean like 16th century old. Along the way we were witnesses to a traditional Hindu wedding and met the 10 year old high priest of the active Buddhist temple. 

The wedding was quite an elaborate affair in comparison to western unions within the Christian faith. All of the women including the bride are dressed in brightly colored sari’s adorned with gold embroidery. The actual ceremony was taking place across a large courtyard and we could not hear anything being said. After a period of time, during which I presume the marriage was being blessed, a band consisting of several drummers and a variety of horns would start playing and the bride would be paraded around the temple. Then it was back to the original spot for more blessings before a repeat parade.

After wandering amongst the temples, we, ultimately, finished in the shop of a Thanka artist and teacher. Thanka is a Nepali art-form that consists of oil or acrylic paintings depicting some aspect of Buddhism that is usually then sewn into a silk tapestry. We were able to watch the master artist practice his craft for several minutes, which required painstakingly meticulous work. He told us that it typically requires 10-12 days of continuous work to produce one scroll. I decided that this would be a great wall decoration back home, although without the accompanying 5 foot tapestry,  and so purchased a painting depicting the Eyes of Buddha surrounded by a Buddhist mantra - Ohm, ma, ni, pad, me, hum. 

After leaving the artist’s parlor, we grabbed a little Indian curry and lemon tea, and now it’s back to the hotel for bed. Tomorrow is another early day and one that will, hopefully, lead us into the mountains. After a 45 minute flight to Lukkla, we’ll be traveling on foot for 4-5 days to the outpost in Pheriche. Our gear is going up in front of us by yak. Along the way we’ll likely spend 1-2 nights in Namche Bazaar at around 11,000-12,000 feet acclimatizing, so I’ll try to send another update then.