spring

Spring is just around the corner, or winter has gone.

Jesus' Invitation

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. "
(Photo taken in front of Myeongdong Catholic Church in Seoul, Korea)

around a temple

One of the rooms in the Buddhist temple. People have to take off their shoes before entering rooms. A dog is looking at me in the Buddhist temple. Warm sunshine melts the snow and lower parts of rice on harvested field show up. 

small star restaurant

There is a famous Tibetan restaurant named Small star near Thahiti tole in Kathmandu, Nepal. Delicious, simple, cheap, friendly, warm... Who can properly describe this Tibetan restaurant? Many Koreans, Japanese, as well as some westerners, love this restaurant so much. Thunba is a traditional Tibetan hot beer. Once tasted, you will never forget !!!

You will not see the same restaurant as this picture anymore, because the Tibetan owner pulled down this old Newali building in 2003, and constructed new concrete building instead. Many foreigners remembering the romantic atmosphere feel sorry to see the new westernized building.

The sketch on the right depicts the interior of the restaurant. The room has simple ceiling made of bamboo and bare ground. Thunba jars are on the tables. They usually use bamboo straws to drink Thunba 3 minutes after pouring hot water into the wooden jar filled with fermented cereal from the Himalayas. Customers are advised to repeat this 3 or 4 times. I had difficulties to draw this one because of crowded customers and dimly lighted room but tried to describe the interior in detail.

Can you look for owner's license, electric rice cooker, vacuum bottles, electric fans, Dalai Lama's photo, freezer, clock, coke bottles, menu board, kitchen, towel, calendar and momo & chowmin(Tibetan food) with chopsticks?

Small star restaurant was newly rebuilt at the site of the previous one in 2003. The room is very clean, light and tidy. Local people and tourists love it as it used to be. The warm-hearted owner and her family are as busy as ever. Her big and bright smile is the same as usual.

Kalinchowk

Kalinchowk is little known and rarely visited by tourists, compared to the other famous mountains in the Himalayas. It is located at an altitude of 3,842 m( 12,605 ft) and 18 km(11.2 miles) north of Dolakha and Charikot where my Nepali friend Udhav lives. On the top of Kalinchowk is an open-air Hindu temple dedicated to Kali, wife of God Shiva. A small pond, numerous Trishuls(tridents) and small bells are also seen around it.

While looking from the peak, panoramic views of the Himalayan range leave one speechless. The picture above is the view from Kalinchowk. The highest peak in the middle is Choba Bamare(Udhav called it "Sumeru", a holy mountain) and Tibet is located behind it.

There are two peaks on Kalinchowk and an iron ladder connects one peak to the other one. You can see a broken house across it, which had been used for Hindu pilgrims. A small hill is behind it. Udhav and I meditated and danced there.

White clouds were approaching from the distance and passing by continuously.

Jiri is a small and remote mountain village in the middle eastern Nepal. But it is familiar to climbers and mountaineers to trek to eastern Nepal, including Mt. Everest. Jiri is one of the terminals which can be reached by bus from Kathmandu.

On the way to Jiri, there is so peaceful Charikot Bazar located at an altitude of 1,300 meters or so. This old village had a prosperous period in its history as a key post for trans-Himalayan trade between Nepal and Tibet. The highest one above is Mt. Gaurishankar (7,134m), and Tibet is located behind it !!!

Dolakha sits nearby to the east. Bhimsem is a well known Hindu temple. There is a tall pillar made of stone in the front of the temple which was dedicated to Bhimsem, a Hindu god. People believe that the God sure helps them make more money. People praying and offering in the temple are seen from the outside. Hindus are only allowed to enter it.

I happened to meet Udhav, a Nepali teacher at a meditation center in Kathmandu in 1995. He was a simple and cheerful man who lived in Dolakha in the middle eastern Nepal. He is the first Nepali friend that I have made in Nepal. Dolakha and its neighboring village, Charikot were the ancient trading towns which had flourished trans-Himalayan trade for long.

I have been to Dolakha and Charikot several times. We used to go to a hill near the site of old Dolakha palace to relax, meditate, dance and shout, looking down the spectacular and breathless scenery of Rorwaling valley and the magnificent Mt. Gaurishankar.

The panoramic view of the Himalayas from Dolakha is beyond description and always left me speechless. Rorwaling Valley, known as one of the seven hidden valleys in the Himalayas, lies below Mt. Gaurishankar, south of Tibetan Border. They thought for a while Mt. Gaurishankar was the highest mountain in the world until they found Mt. Everest is the highest one. Gaurishankar means Lord Shiva and his wife Gauri (Parvati).

Udhav, one of the Nepali friends is a secondary school teacher in a remote mountain village named Dolakha, located somewhere in the breathtaking panoramic Himalayan range. The above drawing shows the entrance of the village, Dolakha. He loves joking, dancing, laughing and meditation so much.

Nepal is one of the materially poor countries, so rich countries have supported and assisted Nepal in many ways. Once a Japanese volunteer visited Dolakha and met some members of Red Cross. Because Udhav was also a leading member of Red Cross, the Japanese came to see him.

The Japanese asked Udhav "Is there anything that I can do to help you and your community?"

Udhav didn't answer the question for a short while and said: "Are you happy in Japan?"

That's when the Japanese got confused at the unexpected question and hesitated what to say.

Udhav said "You are not sure that you are happy in your country. If so, why do you want to help us with anything that is not happy in your country? We are happy without anything you have."

Money may buy happiness. It is not happiness but the delusion to be named as happiness though. Its name is only happiness.

... and then what is happiness?