Nepal and Tibet

I visited Kathmandu, Nepal, in the fall of 1998. I found the people delightful. This boy and girl were mugging for the camera.

Kathmandu was an insanely busy city. Tuk-tuks were three-wheeled vehicles that functioned as taxicabs and belched black smoke. The city was highly polluted and everyone who visited for more than a couple days came down with the “Kathmandu grunge.”

Domesticated animals roamed the city streets.

A goatherd brought his flock to the city.

Men did the sewing in Nepal.

Poverty made for some heavy burdens.

Wash day.

A salt merchant.

Away from the city the society was largely agrarian. This was a terraced rice field.

A field being sown with oxen.

“Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves.” (Psalm 126:6)

Hinduism was the official religion of Nepal, and shrines like this one were on seemingly every street corner.

Buddhism was also an important religion as there were many Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu. This was a “Stupa”, or shrine containing relics. You can see prayer flags, which were pieces of fabric with prayers written on them. The wind carried the prayers up to Heaven.

This crime duo was stealing empty oil lamps from the stupa.

A monastery in the Buddhist section of the city.

At the monastery I was asked if I wanted to meet the lama, who was named Tulkala and was actually an American. His mother lived in Seattle. He had a profound air of dignity about him.

Inside Kathmandu’s sole Catholic church. Notice the altar was knee-height, Hindu fashion, and Mass was celebrated seated. Catholics in Nepal had to watch their step because proselytizing and religious conversion were illegal. The church was mainly for expatriates but there was a small Nepalese Catholic community. Mass for the ex-pats was Sunday morning and Mass for the Nepalese was Saturday, as Sunday was a work day in Nepal. I attended the Nepalese Mass once and had my breath taken away at the enthusiasm and joy of the Nepali Catholics.

This is a detail of the mural that was on the wall behind the altar.

There were no pews or chairs in the church.

My takeaway from Nepal was how happy nearly everyone was, young and old, poor or rich. It seemed to me we Westerners should go to Nepal on bended knee and ask them what is their secret to happiness.

While in Kathmandu I was able to buy a one-week guided side trip to Tibet. I flew with a group into Lhasa and then we took a bus back to Nepal along the “Friendship Highway,” which isn’t a highway at all being little more than a one-lane gravel road in most places.

This was the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the home of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama (who is living now in India). Chinese repression has been a heavy burden for the Tibetans; they are not allowed to freely practice Buddhism and they must watch what they say and do.

This was the Dreprung monastery near Lhasa. A few dozen monks lived there; before Chinese occupation there were about 1,000.

Dogs were everywhere at the monastery. There were probably more dogs than monks. Since Buddhists believed in reincarnation, the joke was that bad monks came back as dogs in the next life. Unfortunately there is no way to test that.