Practicing Tibet

The last two weeks were spent in the Boudha neighborhood of Kathmandu, an area of Tibetan refugees. Mornings began at 5:30 with the drums, horns and chanting of the Monks. They circle the stupa in morning and evening, prayer beads slowly clicking off to the Om Mani Padme Hum chant that is always present. Women still wear the colored aprons, turquoise and coral jewelry and tie their hair in braids. Some have been gone for years, and the only way home is a one-month walk if they don't have a Chinese passport. Many have never gone to school and most will never go home. Teens are without parents, living with extended family if possible. There's not many jobs, so they learn English, badmouth China and hope. I hope with them.

In the morning I'm off to Tibet myself to see if the stories are true. Is the culture gone? It's also taking Asia full circle, looping around again into the Orient, technically leaving the Indian sub-continent, crossing the Himalayas and back to the country I started from. Or is it?