A cold day in Kandze

I woke up early thanks to my noisy room companion! I spent about a
hour on the Powerbook typing my previous long post then connected to
the telephone line of the Guest House. I must reckon that they are
quite nice to let me connect without charging me anything.
Then we had a filling Chinese breakfast for 2,5 RMB (0,25 euro!) for
both of us. It was still snowing when after that Khenpo went for some
errands while I headed for a hot springs bath. As expected I really
enjoyed it. The room itself was quite cold but the water was very
warm. A real pleasure! I washed some clothes too. I better do it
there than at the guest house with cold (and I mean really cold)
water. Then I did some shopping and had a warm vegetable thukpa
(tibetan noodle soup) for lunch. After that Khenpo and I called Ringu
Tulku in Ireland to let him know about the latest news from Rigul.
Then Khenpo took me to a Thangka painting shop. I was offered a White
Tara statue by Yeshe Cheutso & Kaga's brother in Rigul and I wanted
to have it's eyes opened (i.e. painted). Only the students were in
the shop and they called the master to do the job. It turned out that
he had spent some time in India studying the art of thankga painting.
His work was quite long as White Tara has seven eyes! After an hour
of precision work he presented us a splendid statue. When Khenpo
asked for the price he said that his was happy to offer his work for
free! It really took me by surprise, what a kind man! It had stopped
snowing when we left his shop with big smile on our faces. My clothes
were less wet but far from dry. The bus to Yachen is not sure to
leave tomorrow morning because of the snow on the way. We'll have to
wait and see at 7 am. So I hope that it will not snow anymore during
the night. Tonight I'll call Brussels and hopefully speak to all my
family. I'll probably stay in Yachen (and offline) until next
thursday. My plan is to take the bus back to Kanding/Dartsedo on
friday. Since the living condition in Yachen are even more basic than
in Rigul, I really hope that the bad weather will soon be a bad
memory. So, if you have any connections with the weather man, please
use them. Thanks!