The desolation and loss in Nepal is palpable. The choking smell of burning garbage, the debris and filth litering every streeet, the pervasive dust and pollution. Four hours of electricity two times per day, water shortages. And such a sense of deficiency and despair. I used to call India the land of the hungry ghosts. Nepal was a place of happy and fulfilled people. Not anymore. The global slow down and the grinding political chaos and corruption on all levels has turned this former kingdom into a third-world nightmare.
Arriving at the airport at 7 a.m, I got in line with over 100 people waiting to get IN to the building, as a SINGLE individual checked each passport and plane ticket….slowly! Then, once inside and further lines, I proceeded to the immigration. But before getting there, I noticed that my boarding pass was for a different passenger! I rushed back downstairs to the check-in counter, just to be told that “it’s OK, I gave your boarding pass to the other person.” Huh? OK, back up to immigration, but how to get through the process when my passport doesnt match my boarding pass? After another slooow examination of the documents, it turns out that, apparently the immigration folks can’t read. So I was stamped and approved. Forty dollars to get into the country, thirty to leave, but I know for a fact that those millions are not being used to fix the pot-holed, gutted and stone-littered obstacle courses that are called roads in Bouddha. After a 2.5 hour delay on the ground, we were off to Bhutan!
More lines, but here we are in the land of fresh air, pristine cleanliness and apparent sanity. Until I was ushered into a small room, presided over by a very officious beaurocrat, the Iron Lady of Bhutan. My visa, a special letter that allowed me to be a guest instead of a paying customer in Bhutan, was made out for a day later than I arrived: I had made an “illegal entry.” Two hours later, with Tsewong Rinpoche entering into lenghty discussions, phone calls and entreaty, it appeared he would have to drive an hour and a half each way to go to the capital of Thimpu to fix the visa error. But wait! With the payment of a $200 cash fine, the problem will all go away! I pulled out the dollars, got all the official receipts and everyone was happy with fulfilling the true purpose of beaurocracy—for the powerless to have power over those who they perceive as more powerful. So, lets get the baggage. What baggage? Since there is only one flight a day in and out of Paro, the airport is closing for the day (its 1 pm) and no bag. After much searching and discussion, its turns out it is not lost, but has gone to the cargo shed for…some unknown reason. Finally, with bags, visa and all, Tsewong Rinpoche, Pema, Rinpoche’s son and I had a good laugh as we heading out in the four-seater pick up truck. None of us had been flustered, irritated or hassled by the whole experience. “Very very small obstacle,” Rinpoche said in Tibetan as we chuckled down the road. Yes Rinpoche, I cleared out my Bhutan karma simply by anteing up $200 in cash. Not bad to clear and eradicate energetic obstacles created by me in former lives. Luckily I did not create more, but took in the experience in full awareness and open mind.
The next hours were to be some of the most rewarding and profound of my life, as I entered this pure land, a place where the vibrations of degeneration and degredation that haunt most of this planet have not taken root. It is a land free from mental cancer. Lots of problems and issues, to be sure, but not the core pathological rot that pervades both the civilized and primitive world today..
http://picasaweb.google.com/lamajinpa9/BhutanPIlgrimageMarch09
…to be continued
