A personal PhotoChallenge matching a story to a photo every day for 30 days with short tales of travel, mountaineering, Nepal, art, and a few personal ones too!

4. When I first met Buddha

I awoke at around 6am, Kathmandu time, the previous 36 hours a blur of flights, emotional family greetings with Dr C’s family, a Buddhist welcome ceremony, food then the oblivion of a very deep sleep. I had only a vague recollection of glimpsing from the taxi the BIG “thing” I most wanted to see in Kathmandu …. the Buddhist temple complex at Swayambhu. This was August 1983 and Dr C and I had been married for 11 years and had two young children, Michael and Sharon, all of us on a cultural adventure of a lifetime.

I got dressed leaving everyone else sleeping, walked to the end of the lane, and found thousands of people singing and playing drums, cymbals and horns as they ceremoniously walked up the hill to Swayambhu. I joined in, couldn’t speak a work of Nepali, no idea what was happening, but it seemed like a joyous, Buddhist, family affair. It took about an hour to get to the top of the hill, walk once around the stupa then back down to the house where we were staying. Nobody knew where I had gone, but it was a magical experience I eventually discovered was the Newari people’s festival of Gunla occurring every day across August. Guess what, I went up that hill every morning to meet with Buddha again!

Categories: Photography

Tags: 30 day blogging, 30 day challenge, Buddha, Buddhism, Gunla, Kathmandu, memories, mountain tales, Nepal, Newar, Newari, personal challenge, personal life, photochallenge, Photography, photostories, Swayambhu, themindfulcamera, travel tales