Around

The last several days have been punctuated with (inevitable I suppose) digestive sickness. It's all for the good my digestive system, I'm sure.

On Saturday we had a tour with a really phenomenal guide, Anil Chitrakar, who isn't even a guide by profession really. He's done so much important work that I can hardly remember the bits and pieces we heard about! For one thing, he teaches at Stanford (he himself studied engineering at the University of Pennsylvania) and broadens the minds of budding inventors and engineers by bringing in history, urban planning, anthropology, architecture, and a general spirit of great compassion and unselfish goodwill. He's also the founder of both Kathmandu 2020 and Crafted in Kathmandu.

The tour was of Patan, one of the three city-kingdoms of the old Kathmandu Valley, and it was certainly far from being a touristy type affair. We saw the real guts of the city, such as is possible for two hours or so anyway, and spanned the ancient and the modern not only from beginning to end but also within each courtyard and home. That's unavoidable, since the Valley seems in a way to be nothing less than a tumultuous fusion of time periods and ethnic flavors, but he brought out the individual workings of each construction in a really enlightening way.

Anil spoke a lot about the challenges of actually managing this diverse and precious place, especially with the unending political difficulties. It was entertaining, but far more important, a really educational experience...not in the narrow sense of getting a general glimpse of where I'm staying for these 5 months--though I did get that--but in the broad sense of getting a lasting insight into the responsibilities of living in a sacred place (which everyone on Earth does) and managing its relics and resources (which everyone should).

After lunch we caught the second half of a concert at the newly opened Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory, which was nice except for the growing gloomy cold, and that I got sick a few minutes into the second set and had to run off. Still, I got to hear Mariano (the sax player) and his group playing at the Hyatt across the street on Sunday, because their playing at brunch was so amplified that all of Boudha got a free broadcast. I'm not too sorry, though, because by evening my stomach was under enough control to go to Upstairs with Yanik, which turned out to be absolutely great. We heard some of the best young jazz musicians I've encountered anywhere, and had the pleasure of hearing a visiting jazz vocalist, Beate, who's brand new to KTM as well--she'd only been in town 5 days, from Germany. The band was "hot", "jumping", every other old and new jazz term I can think of...they were vibing off each other so well, it really gave the place an atmosphere; with every track, but I particularly liked "All of Me". I hope we can see them again next week.

However...Sunday I was laid up with stomach ills again, and only had one class, which turned out to be more than enough, because I got to Tenzin's around 3 and didn't leave until nearly 7. Admittedly we spent a good two hours just talking, and she taught me how to make sugar tea, but it was a strong lesson as well. It was a wonderful afternoon. Today was the reverse--no Tibetan, but medicine; a very quick and thorough class. I really enjoy studying with the Amchi. It takes a lot of attention and review to grasp anything concrete, because the methodology and science has to be dug up from terms that can easily become vague and indistinct, or just conceptual.

It's approaching bedtime, almost 10, so off I go--like the lights will at 6AM because of loadsetting!