Gosaikunda, 108 sacred lakes.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. Lao Tzu."

One day, a very long time ago, Shiva the ascetic was meditating on top of the world. As he was churning the sea, he drunk the poison of immortality, amrita, which made him very thirsty, and turned his throat blue.

Taking his trishula, he pounded the ground creating the Gosaikunda lakes. He drunk the water to quenche his thirst. The 108 lakes, a sacred number, became a holy pilgramage place for the Hindu/Buddhist community. Every year in August, they come by the thousand to take a swim in the holy water.

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. Lin Yutang."


With 6 people, 2 french men, Pierre and David, a guide, a porter, Bikas and I, we go for 8 days in the mountains of the Langtang national park. We walk up the hills, passing the valley of rododendrons, changing from pink, to white to purple.

We cross primordial forests, where only gods and yaks can live, the moss of the trees watching us pass in eternal silence.

Up and up we go. The land becomes more and more dry with each meter up. The clouds swallows us like aunts crawling up the hill. We climb to 4700 meters to finally see the Langtang hills, far away marking the chinese border. The lakes shine like jewels in melting snow. Here nothing grows, the land is dry and cold.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust. "



What goes up must go down says the wise man. After going up, the only way is down. On the way, we stop by Melamchigau, a quiet village sitting in rice fields. A holy village for Buddhists, where Milarepa and Padmasambava, 2 important buddhists saints, came and meditated in caves near by.

Near by the village, there are still a handfull of retreats for lamas. After a much needed rest and a chicken meal, which is a nice change from the daily dose of dal bhat, local rice and lentils meal, we descend through the rododendrons, the mossy forest, to finally get back in the brahman emerald valley of rice fields and banana trees.


Here nothing has changed for thousands of years, except for the little radios that the local villagers listen to. As usual, the government is on the news, everyone listening to the constant debate of rotten politicians and military forces.

The newly appointed president is being replaced by another one. The new government of Nepal changes his politicians like it would change socks. From far, browsing the newspaper, I watch a country trying to implement a dreamed about democracy. Maybe one day they will get a democracy, only history will tell.


Back in dusty Kathmandu, surfing in between taxis and rickshaws, I settle once again in city life, holding in my mind the sight of sublime Mother Nature, I put one feet in front of the other. Slowly but surely, got to keep on going.

It’s another day in Kathmandu…

"I have discovered that all human evil comes from this,
man's being unable sit still in a room.
Blaise Pascal."

Angel's Heaven - Photos of Children (1)

Whatever my trips may have been in the past, under the convenient mask of spirituality, and however much of that may have crumbled down to rubble, some base ideals remain. One needs to do good things in his life. Good things.

There was a time when I thought it was about saving the universe. Several recent vivid experiences of real life have given me a golden understanding of the fact that there is no universe deprived of its integral constituents. And while there's little one can do for subatomic particles, there is a world of good one can do for other sentient beings.

There was a time when welfare meant creating an abstract spiritual impulse in others — a sneaky echo of the holy name, or a tidbit of profound metaphysics — all rooted in my subjective faith. There is, however, a platform for everything — and for example in the case of these children, a sound platform is created by unreservedly extending love and care wherever it is in demand.

Yes! Contributing to the need of the moment without fruitive calculations of future spiritual profundity, another petty feather in the cap. Holy names my ass. Feed those children first.

Here are a couple of recent photos taken at the rooftop of the Angel's Heaven orphanage.

This is Aishwarya, Amrit's wife, with some of the children. Sarina, the kid at the right, is the latest addition to the family — and has sure enough had hard time adjusting to her new life. For some reason, she found a backup daddy in me... There was no going to bed, no end to tears without going to uncle first...

Two girls busy working with colorful papers....

A little toddler busy playing with an extraordinary device...

My friend Santos, president of the Universal Peace Foundation, visiting the orphanage and teaching an origami trick to the kids.

Mami, Santos' Japanese wife, playing with the children. The girl at the front is sitting on Santos' djembe, a popular Japan-made percussion instrument.