OM

What is the first thing you should do after travelling for 35 hours and arriving in a small himalayan kingdom? Find a nice argentinian gentleman to drink beer with ...of course!

I am here... Namaste! What a journey...through China, landed in Lhasa. I never thought I would set foot on Tibetan soil again, but yesterday morning I did. In the airport, the vibe was strange, very quiet, whispering. Show your passport at least 5 times, and told to take a drink from your water bottle...I guess to show it was water? Have your new Irish friend almost get YOUR Lonely Planet to Nepal confiscated. I had left China behind (the country that forces me to take a yoga breath)the chaos, the lack of personal space, the language barrier, the constant low level scam.

For all the trouble it takes to obtain a permit from the Chinese for Tibet...being in transit in the Lhasa airport I had only a curtain separating me from going outside...amazing! I could feel the altitude almost immediately...like my brain was moving like a wave inside my skull.

I arrived in Kathmandu expecting chaos, but the airport was empty, it took maybe 15 minutes to change money, obtain a VISA and clear customs and collect my backpack. My pre-arranged taxi was there, driver holding a sign with my name and off we went. It is as I imagined, bustling, colourful, 3rd worldish. We arrived at the monestary in Boudha, just outside Kathmandu where Tibetans can freely pray. The guesthouse surrounds gardens and beyond the gardens a full functioning monestary. It is quiet. All I hear is birds, chanting monks and prayer bells. I left my backpack and went to the guesthouse restaurant...wasn't hungry so drank beer instead....1056am. I decided to nap. I awoke at around 1700 and decided to walk to the stupa and see the sights. Someone else looked as lost as I did, so I invited him along....we found our way to the Stupa...what a sight, pilgrims walking clockwise with their beads chanting prayers, prayer flags, mangey dogs, beggars....this was the Nepal I wanted to see. We ended up on a rooftop patio overlooking the stupa drinking beer for hours. I had my first Nepali food, a wonderful vegetarian curry. We walked some more, wandered really and made our way back to the monestary where we drank beer until the generator shut down. With my headlamp (I come prepared for the power offloading) I found my way to my room, said goodnight to my friend and sat on my bed with a candle and thought how lucky I was to be HERE, in a monestary in Nepal.

This morning I was up early....earlier than I wanted to be by accident. I thought it was 0800, but somehow I came down to the gardens to discover it was 0600! But a perfect opportunity to share sunrise with the pilgrims at the stupa. I walked with them, but my hands felt empty. I stopped and bought the requisite sandalwood prayer beads and asked the shopkeeper what prayer I should say. He said "om mani pedme hung" I said "oh, I know that one!"...like i had memorized many buddhist chants...! So off I went with my beads in my left hand walking with the crowds of pilgrims in the early morning clockwise around the stupa saying my prayer and spinning the prayer wheels. I circled the stupa for 45 minutes...probably 10 times around and then i headed back to the monestary for a breakfast of instant coffee and a nepalise omlette.

I have been told the power goes out at 1000. I am headed into Kathmandu to meet the man arranging my stay in Chitwan Park. After maybe a walk through the markets of Thamel and off to see Kopan Monestary.