Thursday, July 16, 2009

Guest editors

The Mighty Mighty Readership of SLNC has spoken, and we have heard all four of your voices loud and clear. You want to hear from the Nag Champiettes. Actually, no one said that, but every good piece of writing needs a catchy intro, so....

Ben says:
Let's do a describetion about the Buddha. No, don't type that in! What are you doing, Dad?

OK, um, we went to Thikse Monastery, and we saw the Buddha. It is a Maitreya Buddha. It's gigantic. Its eyes were kind of curved and long, and it has flowers growing up its arms, it has blue long and curled hair, and he has a crown which has the representing of the for [sic] buddha families. He has a conch shell tilak, he has golden skin and red unders of his feet and hands, and blue eyes.
Should we put in some pictures?
Yeah, how?
Like this:



Do you want to say anything about the pictures?

No, not really.

[ed. note: the Buddha's face is ~15 feet tall] Is there anything else you want to say about Ladakh, or your trip, or anything else that's going on?

Nope, nope nope...[walking away]

Ok, Caitlin, you're up:

Do my voice in Bold. When I'm talking, make it Bold. No, don't type that. [ed. swats hand away from delete button.]

Ummm... .... daddy, don't type this...

[dramatic sigh]

OK, type what Caitlin has to say now!

Four days ago we came into Leh. The first day we went to the Leh Palace. It was cool, but it was just basically empty rooms. We came back to Leh and had lunch. Next day we went to the little monks' picnic. It was lots of fun. I played cards with Geshe-la and the older little monks, and also I took funny pictures. Can we put in some of my funny pictures now?

Um, I dunno. Let's see. Nope, sorry, all the funny pictures of the picnic are on mom's computer. So...?

Then, at about five we went to Thikse monastery's guest house. It was ok. Then the next morning we went up to see Thikse monastery. Just very quickly, there were lots of tourists, it was pretty cool, but we've got pretty much the same stuff at our monastery.


ed. note -- please note the last sentence, which the kids have not yet adopted as a personal motto. The Tibetan above dedicates that particular prayer wheel to a soldier who died in 1999 in Kargil fighting against Pakistan.

We had lunch there, and then drove in to Leh.
This is when I was starting to get sick. We found an awesome guesthouse called Maryul, then Dad and I went horseback riding, that's where I want the pictures.


My legs got sore and the white horse which I rode for the first part, had lost one of its stirrups the day before, so I had a rope stirrup which was very uncomfortable [ed: see pic above] It was also windy and rainy, but we had a lot of fun because I just love to spend time with my dad doing just about anything No! don't type that!

Next day we hung around Leh, and I met the guest house owner's daughter. Her name is Lhandol, she's really nice, we hung around together some and had breakfast together this morning.
Then we did more important stuff like get water, drop off laundry, go shopping, etc., which isn't as fun but which I cheerfully endure because I know its important for my family. Dad!

Ben:

Here, you type in what you think I should say: My dad is awesome, I love him more than anything else in the whole world. That's what it says. When are you going to type about me getting sick? Ok, sorry.

For the last couple days I had a stomach infection. It wasnt getting better, and also the medicine was really yucky and I threw it up, so last night, Mom and Dad called a doctor. (AMA: you listening? House calls. For $11. You bout to get outsourced) Everybody done? Oh, yeah, now I'm all better, and my new medicine tastes ok.

Now I want to say something. Probably he got sick from playing in the stream at the picnic. The water was disgusting. And I saw garbage floating in it.

[He did sort of present giardiasistically, but that takes a long time to gestate, supposedly, so who knows what it was. Swimming in Indus effluvia probably didn't help. I paid my penalty in extra escorted trips to the bathroom, including in the dark and awful public Ladakhi toilets.]

Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore. Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore. Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore. Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore. Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore. Did you write in what I'm saying? Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore. Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore. Albus, Albus, Albus, Dumbledore.

So, we've had a few days off in Leh, and now that we've surveyed the varieties of Veg Cheese Kothay and had more pancakes and french fries than anyone really needs to eat in India, I am forgoing the International Association of Ladakh Studies Conference today (thru Sunday) and we'll head home after the usual raft of shopping.

Also, Dolkar now has a roof. Hooray, specially since it rained on Monday and Tuesday.

Thanks for helping me to placate the children Are you done yet? here in the Internet cafe while Maggie attends to important email. As usual, a promise of more substance to come soon, but not very soon.

PS--if you want to call us, Likir Monastery's main phone number is 11-1982-227140. Ask for KEE-REES, and then expect to wait a while. I'm genuinely not encouraging anyone to call, but it occurred to me that no one really knows how to reach us if needed. Now you do.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

many thanks to caitlin and ben for an awesome update! see you guys in lexington in a few more weeks.