Nepal and Tibet

Once back in the Jokhang, we crowd into the main assembly hall, where about thirty monks are seated in rows on their platforms. We look forward to hearing the chanting again. This time, though, we are disappointed because the chanting is nowhere nearly as entertaining as that which we heard at Bodnath in Kathmandu. The monks all seem to be playing up a bit. The oldies look like they are nodding off and some of the young ones are fooling. We see two of them talking because they are sitting behind a pillar out of sight of the master. They are normal teenagers, I suppose. One old fellow looks for all the world like the Dalai Lama. Another one, just near us, has a bag of what looks like soft wool, which he is teasing and rolling into candlewicks. They certainly must go through lots of them in a normal day.

We stroll back to the hotel in the cool of the evening. The markets are still open. Now we feel like browsing and browse we do. We buy two beautiful bronze incense burners, one for us and one for Kyra, our daughter-in-law for her birthday. I know she'll love it. We head back to the hotel. What an exciting day we have had! No doubt tomorrow will be exciting too because then we will explore the Potala Palace.