September 21, 2008 8:30 p.m.

Melatonin is my friend! I wasn’t tired a half hour ago and now I’m having troubles staying awake. Why am I not sleeping? Well my laptop battery died and the power just came back on.

Every day brings quite the experiences. I went by the café and they weren’t ready yet so I walked around the Stupa a bit. I got some cash. I walked past the mala place with the Bodhi seed mala I really wanted. I went in to take another look at it as I had become educated on them. I learned that many shops are trying to pass of raktu (I think that is that name of the seed) as old Bodhi seed. They look almost exactly like Bodhi. They are smaller than new Bodhi seed which the old Bodhi seeds are small and are very expensive, but the raktu are very cheap. The raktu are also more textured but have an eye just like the Bodhi seed. I also learned that they are sanding down new Bodhi seeds to age them and to make them look really small. But when they do this the eye usually disintegrates.

So I went in to see if this set was sanded in any way. They aren’t. I am almost positive they are authentic. And he immediately offered me a much lower price. Most places around here claim to have a morning price which I learned is true. Anna told me that the first sale of the day brings great luck to the shop for the rest of the day. So I purchased it and a gift or two. Spent more than I wanted to, but feel like I finally got a good deal.

I went to purchase 2 altar cloths. The price had gone up. Since the tourists are arriving I’ve found that the prices around the Stupa have doubled and in some cases tripled. They told me 350 rupees a cloth which last time I was in they were 250 a cloth without even bargaining with them. As the other shops had already gone up to 600 rupees I wasn’t surprised. I was able to talk the guy down to 300 rupees each when the store manager came in and I told him that they were 250 rupees each last week and he agreed to that price. Woo hoo!

I thought I might have luck at the carpet place but they weren’t open. I went to the café and got online. The manager offered without my asking to credit me one day of internet since they weren’t open yesterday. The power went out and their backup battery died. I went and took a look at the statues. The one place finally brought in the statue but it wasn’t Yeshe Tsogyal, no matter how much he tried to tell me. The other place, while the statue will be gorgeous once the mould is done, is too much for me to spend right now. And he also decided that no matter how hard he pushed it would not be ready before I left. So maybe I will order it or purchase it the next time I come.

I made it back to the carpet place. Ha! He still isn’t willing to come down on the price at all. He is asking 4,000 rupees and I am almost certain I can get it for 3,000 rupees so I told him I would come by daily and harass him until he comes down in price. Yes, that’s only $13 U.S. difference in price, but a lot of money here. But now I am even more certain that he can come down to 3,000 easily since the Tibetan woman with him bawled him out for letting me leave with a decent offer on the table. Maybe she’ll be watching the store the next time I go in, hehehe.

Anna and I went to the thankga place. I purchased my small (very small) Medicine Buddha thankga. As we were leaving a demonstration (riot) was kicking into full gear. The Newari (not sure of the spelling) people, who are the oldest of the tribes people if I remember correctly, are very upset. The Nepali government is telling them they need to cut back on the animal sacrifices or stop all together at the upcoming festival. They have been celebrating in this particular way for over 2,000 years. There was a big bonfire of tires just outside of the shop. Anna and I quickly scurried off to a restaurant for lunch.

I ran back to Boudha when I got back to try to upload more temple photos but the internet wasn’t the greatest so I did Kora for a bit.

Almost as soon as I got back and began to relax I was called downstairs. Tom had arrived. We learned that Betsy’s cat just had surgery so she wasn’t able to come as she needed to stay home and help him recover. Anna, Tom, and I chatted for a bit. Then Tom invited us out to dinner. We went to a restaurant near the Stupa. It was wonderful. A rainbow even appeared over the Stupa and was so gorgeous! My dinner was not the greatest. I ordered a prosciutto pizza which was really like a very sweet dish on bread with spam covering it. Hrmm… and now my stomach is very gurgly and acidic.

Anna and Tom chatted and chatted. I zoned out for a good portion of it as they were talking all about people that I had no clue who they were. I missed the evening puja as we didn’t return till it was a quarter through and by the time I had put my stuff away they were finished.

Lama-la is supposed to return tomorrow. I will be happy for it. Maybe my sleep cycles will regulate. I do not want to sleep away the rest of my stay here. Tom leaves for Pokura (?) in 2 days for about a week. I am sort of lonely today. Anna is one to ask questions to, but not really one to converse with.

I don’t know what the plans are for tomorrow. I hate to continue to bother Anna, but I should take my other thankga that she gave me and have the brocade put on. My other thankga will be ready to pick up by the evening time tomorrow, but I will have to wait a bit in order to pick it up. I think I have a bit of money for a couple of other small things. Maybe a couple of dvds, that sort of thing, and if I have any leftovers maybe I will pick up an inexpensive mala or two for the shop.

Coming home soon babies and sweetheart! I have 7 full days here left and on the 8th day I will be on a plane home. Wish me luck!