Woke up around 7am this morning. I was awake and recited over and over again because I had time and it delighted me and I was waiting for Linda to roll out of bed so we could head out together. She later told me that while I was waiting for her she was already awake with her eyes open looking at the wall. She saw Shakyamuni Buddha.
I discovered I had a bump on my head from the bus ride. Meditation was not as focused and calm as it has been. I took a shower and massaged my feet and discovered two major bumps that required care.
We headed back to the office to request a ticket to see HHDalai Lama. We learned that he won't be back in town till January 22nd. We will both be long gone by then. We then stopped at Nick's for a full brunch. I ordered tea, gnocci, momo and carrot apple juice. I was stuffed. We spent the rest of the day walking around town looking into shops in the dark because the powers were out. I have learned what delights Linda and brings out the sparkle in her eyes was shopping. It washes all her fatigue away. I am like that at a good vegetable market. For me, it's as if I inhale the nutrients without having to cook it or eat it. The kashmire shawls here are double the price than Pokara, Nepal.
Afterwards we did the pilgrimage trail again, we both enjoy the nature walk. Then we headed back to the hotel for more momos and noodles. The noodles were uninteresting to me. I would never order it again. We both love sitting out in the sun with the view. It was all very relaxing.
Our conversations included a lot of sharing and getting to know each other better. She told me about the void she feels within that she hopes to fill up here. Linda would like to come across a teacher who she could follow and guide her. She is healing from a relationship that ended recently. Linda is also taking the time to think about the future of her work. She is a school teacher and has experienced some challenges with other female co-workers. The jealousy and competitiveness from others has brought her a lot of pain and grief. She is thinking of moving to Dubai and teaching at a international school.
I think we were both in need of rest and really took things slow here; ate, walked, shopped, napped. After watching the sunset and a little bit of rest we both got up to walk some more. We went out to check out bookstores. Linda found a mandala coloring book and journals to help her with her healing process.
Afterwards we went to check out the cinema here. Earlier we saw movie titles as we passed by and felt there were movies we wanted to watch, but when we got there all the titles were changed. So we ended up looking for a restaurant to hang out at to stay warm. It turns out this restaurant is also connected to the movie place. The movie place is owned by the restaurant owner's son. All the DVD covers decorate the walls at this restaurant. The food there was delicious.
So we hung out at the restaurant until it was time to go to bed. There is no heating system in our room. So we both had to wait until we were really tired to fall asleep in the cold.
