Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Wait....maybe it is a multi-armed Buddha!! Posted by Picasa
Full Frontal Shiva!!! Posted by Picasa
I did not catch the name of this temple, and everything I have in print is packed or en route back to the U.S. So, I can't even research this at the moment. Well, I could online, but I am being lazy.  Posted by Picasa
These flowers were poking through the sidewalk at the Big Buddha temple on Koh Samui. Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 10, 2005

Next....a few photos of Thailand.

To finish up my Nepal trip and trek, because it worked so well last time, I thought I would spend a few days on a beach in Thailand to do a complete and total mind-dump, catch up on some journal writing, catch up on some reading (knocked out 5 books on this trip), do some kayaking, moped around the island (this time without sliding backward down the tallest hill on Koh Samui and damaging a bike), check out a few temples, and have a few massages to unkink my recently rubberized / vulcanized legs. Basically, a nice relaxing time after trekking. In the next day or so I will post some snapshots around Koh Samui. I keep thinking about vacations where people take time off of work to do nothing. I cannot imagine anything like it. To me, time away from work is the only real wholesale time you get to live, so I try to cram as much living into vacation time as I can. I try to sleep on return flights. I hope expectations when I return to work for the first day are not outrageous. That is my rest time. There will always be the golden years later to relax. Although, a two hour massage in which you are rolled up like a little ball of dough and flattened out as with a rolling pin is a pretty nice way to relax!!!!
A final shot of Nepal....prayer wheels along a temple, worn shiny at the bottom from many years of spinning. For the right Nepal chronology, maybe you should start lower in the post......maybe next time I will get the order posting right.  Posted by Picasa
I love this one. Dualing photos! I bet hers isn't blurry......but then by this time I have noticed that my beer glass keeps getting miraculously refilled. I had a wonderful meal and evening sharing with the Begale family....many thanks to them for opening their home and sharing Dasain with me! Posted by Picasa
...and here she is a practicing model!! Posted by Picasa
Here she is hamming it up for the camera.... Posted by Picasa
Later after returning from my trek, my guide and new friend Bhim, invited me to his home for a Dasain festival meal and to meet his family. His daughter is 4 and son is 9 months old. His daughter is quite a ham, and is already bi-lingual. She calls me "her tourist".  Posted by Picasa
This Lady Lama gave me a lovely blessing at Bodhnath. She has green eyes! Posted by Picasa
This Lama is making a circum-prostration around the temple. He has hand and knee cushions, and when he stands, he claps his hands together over his head, in front of his face, and in front of his chest before taking two steps forward, prostrating himself on the ground, and repeating the process. This is the equivalent to a 3 in 1 ambulation...one time on the ground and three on foot when done in this manner.  Posted by Picasa
In this shot at Bodhnath, a Lama is giving a passerby a blessing. Posted by Picasa
Another shot of Bodhnath. Posted by Picasa
The whole Bodhnath stupa. Posted by Picasa