Merry Christmas!

We are about to leave this wonderful country of Nepal, back to Hong Kong and then to the Philippines.

But lets back up a bit since it has been a while. Our blogging has been stopped a number of times due to power outages and just technology problems (three times). But enough excuses we will be updated more in the future but with less pictures since that seems to be the real crux of this blog.

Since we last typed we have explored the Kathmandu valley. We visited the monkey temple with of course has adorable, monkeys running around (they have red butts). Then we headed to Chitwan National Park and took a jungle hike looking for Rhinos (we found three, one charged us and we had to climb a tree to keep from getting trampled to death!, While in the tree Leah got attacked by ants and the bites are just now going away)! During this hike we must have a guide in front and behind us to keep the poor helpless tourists from dying (bad for public relations).

After the forest we headed to the "monastery." Leah and I took a Vispasana course on meditation. This thing is hard core! 4-wake up, 4:30-6:30 meditate (wake your body up with some pain), 6:30-8 rest/eat, 8-9 meditate( easy one), 9-11 meditate (like running 10 miles without shoes) , 11-1 rest/eat, 1-2:30 meditate (you start shaking while you sit), 2:30-3:30 (easy because it is short) meditate, 3:30-5 meditate( OH GOD the pain !!!!, you want to run and hide but you can't even shift your weight, your butt begs you to stop), 5-6 tea (fruit and crisp rice, you do not get full), 6-7 meditate, 7-8:30 class on meditation, 8:30-9 meditate, 9-9:30 (talk to the teacher if you can stand to look at his comfortable painless face) 9:30 sleep like a dead man/woman, wake up and do it again... oh by the way, during all this, no eating meat, no talking to anyone, no looking at any one, no drinking, boy/girls segregated with no contact.

So now that you are all ready to take the course, it is FREE after all, the meals are all you can eat but only twice a day. You can not leave the course for ANY reason ( one guy had to due to visa problems, another person had to leave with massive stomach cramping and fever). But this is a life changing course, like running a marathon twice a day for a week with no training. Plus after obtaining full enlightenment you can start your own cult/sect and make good money writing books.

Christmas, we woke up and left the "monastery," Leah and I had not even talked for 10 days. It is hard to put into words the 10 days and returning the "the real world" of Nepal. But dinner was at a french restaurant, drinking Chilean wine, and wild boar, with fellow meditators, then heading home (the hotel) for our first group meditation session without teachers. Talk about a great Christmas gift!