Friday

Friday began with a lecture at the Shanker Hotel. This hotel used to be a palace. It was beautiful inside. The lecture was on sustainable architecture. Most of the architects work had been in Afghanistan but many of his concepts could easily be used in Nepal. There is a fascinating group of people who attend these lectures. Many of them are expats of the US or Britain. They are very involved in the cultural preservation of Nepali society.
After the lecture we went to Betty's for lunch. She has a lovely apartment and she is really remarkable. Everywhere we go she runs into someone she knows. Of course she has lived here many years.
After lunch we went on a three hour walk through a marketplace. There were may temples that we stopped at (too many for me to remember the names).
One area of the marketplace is called the bead market. There are many shops all filled with strings of beads of many colors. You can choose the colors you want to be made into a necklace. The beads are from Czechoslovakia and Japan. At one temple there was a large group of Newars having a meal together. They had pounded rice (eaten dry) with tea. The Newars native dress is the bright red.
One of the temples had prayer wheels around it. These wheels have prayers written inside and when you spin the wheel, your prayers are sent to the god.
You could find anything at the market. The white bags are filled with many different kinds of beans. There was also a huge selection of mushrooms.
As it was getting dark, it was time to grab a taxi and return to our apartment. The sun, dust, and pollution were washed away with a hot shower. Supper was a simple fried egg and bread.
Sister LaDonna Olson, M.A.
Deaconess Community of the ELCA