Monday, August 30, 2004
Saturday, August 28, 2004
While I was in occultation I got an email from Sevgi, my friend in Istanbul, announcing that back in early June she had successfully completed the 30-mile long Khora (circumambulation) around Mt. Kailash in western Tibet. Sevgi, Ms. Dao from France, and I had been in a group which had gone to Mt. Kailash back on 2002, but Sevgi was unable to actually do the Khora at that time, so she went back and tried again. The 30-mile walk around Mt. Kailash is not easy, including as it does a traverse over 18,500 foot Drolma (Tara) Pass, but Sevgi was able to complete it. She also sent a photo of the Potala in Lhasa.
Sevgi’s Photo of the Potala
This got me thinking about the trip I did to Tibet last December, again with Ms. Dao. This was my fifth time in Tibet. We visited a plethora of places including Samye, the first monastery ever built in Tibet.
The inner courtyard at Samye
Ms. Dao (lower right) and the Leshan Buddha (upper center) in Sichuan Province, China
Ms. Dao
This got me thinking about the trip I did to Tibet last December, again with Ms. Dao. This was my fifth time in Tibet. We visited a plethora of places including Samye, the first monastery ever built in Tibet.
OK all you people who apparently have nothing better to do than barrage me with a torrent of email asking why I have not blogged for over a month now. As I have explained many, many times in the past, I usually spent the month of August in strict occultation. Since the month is drawing to a close I have decided to start posting again. So, to catch up a bit . . .
For photos of my July trip to the Baltic Region see Lithuania.
For photos of New Delhi, India, which I visited last Spring, see the Tomb of Humayun and the Qutb Minar and Quwwat-al-Islam Mosque.
One view of Humayun’s Tomb
Also see Onon Hot Springs, a great hot springs complex on the upper Onon River in north-central Mongolia which was often visited by Zanabazar, First Bogd Gegen of Mongolia, and which I have visited twice now. The hot spring are accessible, at least in summer, only by a three-day horse ride.
The main reason I have come out of occultation, however, is to inform everyone that on the 30th of August there will be a Blue Moon, which, as the saying goes, occurs only once in a blue moon, although actually there are an average of 41 a century. Still, don’t miss it!
Doomsday Alert #392: You know the end is near when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been sighted playing Polo in Texas.
For photos of my July trip to the Baltic Region see Lithuania.
For photos of New Delhi, India, which I visited last Spring, see the Tomb of Humayun and the Qutb Minar and Quwwat-al-Islam Mosque.
Also see Onon Hot Springs, a great hot springs complex on the upper Onon River in north-central Mongolia which was often visited by Zanabazar, First Bogd Gegen of Mongolia, and which I have visited twice now. The hot spring are accessible, at least in summer, only by a three-day horse ride.
The main reason I have come out of occultation, however, is to inform everyone that on the 30th of August there will be a Blue Moon, which, as the saying goes, occurs only once in a blue moon, although actually there are an average of 41 a century. Still, don’t miss it!
Doomsday Alert #392: You know the end is near when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been sighted playing Polo in Texas.