Free College Night: Himalayan Buddhism

Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly; Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

Buddhist prayer flags flutter in the Himalayas (Bhakti Omwoods/facebook.com)

College Night is an evening at the Museum just for college students. 

Meet the curators, attend tours, and listen to gallery talks with exclusive behind-the-scenes information about favorite paintings and sculptures. 

Learn about the 20-foot-tall Tibetan Buddhist silk thangka in the special exhibition In the Land of Snow: Buddhist Art of the Himalayas.

Lamayuru gompa, Ladakh (DT)

et inspired by the photography exhibition Face It: The Photographic Portrait, and then channel that inspiration as by drawing in the galleries and enjoying music, food, and drinks with fellow art lovers in the Museum’s sculpture garden.

Students receive 25% off all food for sale in the Garden Café. Visit the Norton Simon College Night page for more information.

• Friday, April 25, 2014, 7-9:00 pm
• Open House, FREE with valid college I.D.
• Registration recommended but not required

Nepal: pregnant, working the fields (video)

Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; Sonia Narang, The Ninth Month,  PRI's The World,  Feb. 23, 2014

Machermo Range reflected in Dudh Pokhari, Gokyo, Himalayas, Nepal (peterwestcarey/flickr)

VIDEO: She's seven months pregnant -- and still working in the fields in Nepal

 

Second most sacred peak (Amazing Nepal)

Januka Rasaeli lives in a rural village in officially Hindu (ethnically Buddhist) Nepal, where women do strenuous chores all day long (as in neighboring India and throughout much of Asia). Heavily pregnant, she worries her work will put her baby at risk. In recent years, Nepal has made a big push to improve the health of pregnant women, and the country has seen a drop in the number of women dying during childbirth. Yet, expectant mothers often do backbreaking work that can harm their health and that of their unborn children. As she toils all day, Januka Rasaeli, 28, shares her hopes and fears. VIDEO

Farming and tending animals in unspoiled, rural Nepal, which has five climactic zones.

World travelers find beauty in Nepal (photos)

Adventure traveler Alex Saurel; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Stupa, Buddhist reliquary, Himalaya, Nepal (Raimond Klavins/artmif/flickr.com)

Day 37: Alex self-portrait, Kolyma road, Yakutia, Siberia, Russia (AlexSaurel/flickr.com)

Children looking and laughing and asking for money "Baksheesh!" "Why?" I ask. They laugh again. Nepalis are very cool, friendly, and take things in stride.

 
It was Day 166 of my World Tour 2013-2014. I was in Kathmandu, Nepal, in the Bhaktapur neighborhood, one of the main tourist centers around the ancient city.

It is worth a visit. Since navigating south through the Tibetan border crossing, I have been amazed by the beauty of Nepali girls. So every opportunity I got became a good time to take a picture.

• Lonely Planet guides: Against the high wall of the Himalaya, Nepal is a land of snow peaks and Sherpas, yaks and yetis, monasteries and mantras.

The Kumari Devi, living goddess, with redhead

The incredible thing -- and it may just be the result of being a man on a long journey -- is that an unattractive Nepali girl is extremely uncommon in the city. And it is non-existent in the villages.

Alas, after giving birth to their first child, most of them let themselves go and gain weight, as I remember happening in Cape Verde and Tahiti.

Durbar Square, Katmandu (Amazing Nepal)

Day 160 of the adventure, I crossed the Nepalese border via the Friendship Bridge. It crosses a major Himalayan river coming from Tibet, a gateway to the Himalayan range. The river of melting ice marks the border between the two countries.
 
Since I made an oath to travel progressively, I decided not to follow such a scenic journey by entering spectacular Kathmandu right away. I stopped over in the small village of Dhulikhel, from which I could easily explore traditional old town neighborhoods with traditional Newari architecture and meet local families.

Alex, let's walk to the Buddhist temple!

My new friend and her sister, standing in the background, and I visited a Buddhist temple, which meant a walk of considerable distance through the countryside. At the first sign of a little monsoon rain, they donned their veils. More

 

Tibetan Vajrayana novices undergoing monastic training (AlexSaurel/flicker.com)