Pokhara and Bandipur

This past week we visited the Annapurna region. I finally got to really see the Himals from closer up. Bandipur was awesome. It is a small Newari town on the old Tibetan trade route. There are no cars in the town and it's beautiful. I stayed with a family who owned a hotel. I had 2 sisters and a brother there. I mostly talked to my brother who was 16 but had an old soul. When he was 11 he was in a terrible bike accident and almost lost his arm. He has a gnarly scar on it. He taught me some songs in Nepali and told me that concentrating on one thing and letting everything else fade can always make your headache go away. He also said that to improve my eyesight I should plant a plant in my room and stare at it without blinking. :) I saw an amazing sunrise from the Tudikhel in Bandipur. The himals lit up pink and orange. It was gorgeous. In the evenings there was this one tree silhouetted on a ridge. It called to me so I decided to hike to it on my afternoon off while everyone else went to the cave. I went over a huge hill to get to it and saw some girls worshiping at the temple on top of the hill. Then I saw a woman herding goat on the side of a nearly vertical slope. I also saw some grasshoppers the size of sparrows (not an exaggeration). When I got to the tree a feeling of deep peace came over me and I realized the holiness of the moment. I did the same kind of worshiping as I saw the girls do at the temple. I walked clockwise around it touching my forehead to the base of it once each time. Then I sat under it meditating on the way the himals looked like they were floating and understood how the Buddha could have just decided to sit under a tree one day and wait for Truth. It was amazing. Then I climbed up in the tree and prayed. I came back the next morning and did it again. Just as the words "let your love rain down on me" went through my head a drop of condensed moisture from the thick mist that was rushing up the hill fell from a leaf onto my forehead. It was such a blessing. I still carry the sense of peace I felt from that experience with me. I decided that I have to go back there. My plan is to go with mom December 10-13. It is a very special place for me.
After Bandipur, we went to Pokhara. I visited a town of the Musician caste and interview a young man about his life there. It was fascinating and all the music was beautiful. He asked me to sing him a song and I sang Blackbird. As I tried to explain what it meant in Nepali I was struck by the significance it held for Soorjay's life. The Ghandarbha are very low caste. They used to spread news from one village to the next in song 50 years ago, but now they have been reduced to frantically selling their instruments to foreigners in Thamel. Take these broken wings and learn to fly... it was really interesting. The people seemed very happy though, despite their poverty and I really enjoyed seeing it. Oh, and Dad, I went to the little temple on the island in the lake and they were shooting a fight scene for a Nepali movie on it! We talked to some actors! It was cool.
Tomorrow, I am going trekking in Langtang National Park. It is going to be AWESOME! I can hardly wait. There is a monastary, yaks, and a cheese factory in the area!!!!!!!!! I'll write again afterwards! Love Hailey