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Kathy and I spent much of 2005 traveling in Asia. We started in India, stopping first in Dharamsala to visit H.H. Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the17th Karmapa. We arrived during the long life ceremony for the His Holiness the Dalai Lama and although his temple grounds were packed we were able to catch a brief glimpse of him as he walked through the crowd. We stopped overnight at Tashi Jong and were fortunate enough to visit with Togden Amdin and receive his blessing shortly before his death, one month later. We also visited with Tsaptrul Rinpoche and Khamtrul Rinpoche. Traveling north over the second highest pass in the world we arrived in Ladakh. We had timed our visit to photograph the Hemis Festival. We were also able to visit the monasteries of Tiksey, Alchi and a few others. Outside of the Hemis festival we were surprised that the monasteries of Ladakh were, for the most part, more like museums than the living monastic practice centers we would later find in Tibet. From Leh we flew back to Delhi and continued on to Kathmandu. We stayed there for one month at Tsoknyi Rinpoche䴜s monastery Oser Ling, above the Swayambhu Stupa. The steep climb to the monastery helped us get in shape for the trip to Tibet. Towards the end of July we traveled with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Brady, Fionnuala and Lama Chuying to Tibet (China) where we met up with Tashi Gyalsen Rinpoche and the rest of our group in Xining. The rest of our gang included filmmaker Victress Hitchcock and her crew, Josh Kinney, Barbara Green, and Amber Bernak. Also traveling with us were Julie Green and her daughter Emily, Jean Chang, Mei from Malaysia, Tsewang Gyalpo and our translator Tsolha.
India, Ladakh, Nepal, Tibet
H.H. the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa
Maitreya Buddha,Tiksey, Ladakh
Lama Dancer, Hemis festival
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