To get their you go to the Tibetan refugee camp, Tashi Palkhel, about 10 minutes north of Pokhara. I had chatted to many of the Tibetan women in Pokhara as they carry their backpacks of handmade jewellery around and try to sell it to you. One old lady told me what a good man the Dali Lama was, and how her mother had carried her on her back as a child from Tibet to Nepal. She thinks Nepal is a great country.
The refugee camp is bleak with its shanty style homes.
We were allowed to enter the Monastery and sit to the side while the monks undertook about 1.5 hours of their daily prayer. No photos until the ceremony was over. Their were about 100 monks, ranging from old ones to tiny kids of about 6, the youngest of which kept falling asleep!
It is very ornate, and lots of symbolic offerings and gestures that I didn't understand were made. Each young monk had a richly embossed three sided pencil case which contains the sutras that they memorise and chant. So when it is sat on the bench in front of them and opened its a holder for the paper they read, and then the third side is wrapped over at the end.
They chanted, blew the big deep horns, and beat on massive drums. The young teenage boy monks fidgeted and pulled faces at each other, just like any kids in church! Most moving was an only Tibetan man who came in during the ceremony, prayed and left an offering. It felt a little weird to be watching what is a very personal moment.
Afterwards they all headed outside
And grabbed a packet of chips
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