Inked

September 13th, 2012 - Pokhara, Nepal

Hello all, from Nepal!

Orion here. Sorry for neglecting you for so long; we've been busy, but we haven't forgotten you!  Here's the latest update...

We arrived in the beautiful country of Nepal without a hitch, and were instantly blown away by all of the subtle yet mind-melting differences between where we had come from and where we now were standing.  First of all, where had all the garbage gone?  Even in dirt-bag border towns, the streets were suddenly cleaner, and the rivers and streams nearby weren't even polluted!  Secondly, all of the angry staring had completely disappeared.  People might glance at us curiously, maybe even hold the look for just a second too long (in Western standards), but then they would look away and continue on with their business.  Quite the opposite of the intimidating and heinous blank stare of death that we had become accustomed to in India!  The air seemed "lighter."  We loved it from the first second. 

After crossing, we took a bus to Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha.  We were once again surprised as we dismounted from the bus and not one tout approached us.  We had arrived in a tiny town with one short strip of hotels and restaurants, and that's about it.  We quickly found a reasonably priced guesthouse and passed out after the long and excessively hot day.  

The next day we visited the actual birthplace of Gotama the Buddha!  Backed up by tons of archaeological evidence, it is basically certain that this is where he was born.  It was a nice garden area with the ancient temple where he was born, and even the sacred pool and tree under which his mother bathed before (Or was it after? I forget. Or both?) his birth.  The energy in the area was so peaceful, and we meditated in the thousand year old temple for some time.  There is also an ancient stone pillar that was placed there by the famous King Ashoka thousands of years ago.  It was pretty unexciting to look at, but King Ashoka was legit, so it's good to see that some of his "art" is still around.

While we were in Lumbini, we contacted Mohan's Tattoo Inn in Kathmandu and booked appointments for both of us.  We found them online and they looked great, so we went for it.  Mohan is world famous, and they use all of the best equipment and all that at their shop.  After appreciating Buddha, we left for Kathmandu.

Kathmandu is not what we expected at all.  It is described in our Lonely Planet as a dusty, large, overwhelming and dirty city, but seeing as we had just come from India a few days ago, we didn't notice even one of those things.  It is a city smack dab in the middle of a bunch of rolling hills and valleys, and it is wonderful to look at.  Instead of the bleak, smoggy flatness that is characteristic of so many big cities, the hills and jungliness was a nice change.  We got a local bus to Thamel, the local tourist hub, followed a tout touting instruments, hashish, treks & tours, and luckily cheap hotels, and found a fantastic little room flooded with sunlight exactly where we wanted to be.  That night, after an epic rain storm (it's the monsoon in Nepal right now), we went to Mohan's and although our official appointment was booked for the next day, we walked out freshly inked and aching.  I got an om right in the middle of my palm, and Marina also got an om, though slightly more complicated, on her forearm.  I didn't know it at the time, but apparently the palm is one of the most painful places on the human body that can be tattooed.  I realized this more and more as I was healing, when hard men covered in tattoos head to toe would come up to me asking to look at it and say, "Fuck man! Didn't that hurt?!"  It's also a bit of a sketchy spot, as the palm is made up of dead skin cells.  To remedy that, the artist used dots with a needle instead of the usual "scrape and fill in" method.  As a result, he went as deep as the needle could go, hoping that the ink will stay better that way.  According to him, it should work.  The scabs are just starting to fall off today, and it's been about 2 weeks since I got it done.  It was savage, but worth it. If it fades a little over time  I can always get it gone over in the future.  Marina's om looks as pretty as the day it was done.

In the healing time we did a lot of shopping in Thamel, enjoying seeing all of the clothes from the hippy stores in BC right in front of us in their original location (and at their original prices!).  I also learned to write with my left hand, and do everything else with it too.  And the best thing of all?  LIVE MUSIC.  The biggest and best difference between India and Nepal is that the Nepalis APPRECIATE MUSIC!!!  Wow.  What a revelation.  Every night in Thamel, pretty much every bar has a live band.  It's amazing.  Unfortunately, we were soon jaded and dissapointed because 90% of the bands played only covers.  One time we walked into a place that was empty, but the bands was seriously rocking to an amazingly tight funk jam.  Open mouthed and unbelievably happy, we sat and watched them until the song finished.  Then we heard, "Song...mm...what..play,,who..song..." and we knew it was over.  They had seen two white people walk in (us), and immediately launched into a fantastic rendition of "Summer of '69."  We left before the intro was done.

But good music does exist also!  We saw a crazy funk-jazz fusion band shredding one night, and that was definitely top quality.  We also saw a ridiculous WOMAN sitar player playing with an amazing tabla player and an out-of-this-world wooden flute player.  Traditional music, but with a lively and very contemporary and zesty approach. We loved it. When we go back to Kathmandu to get our Indian visas renewed, we'll know a little more about how the schedule works, and how to find the real music.  Regardless, the fact that musicians are getting paid to play live is a step in the right direction.

After a few days we got the tattoo fever again.  We now had artists and a shop that we trusted, and we had a few more ideas, so we went for it.  Marina got an amazing lotus on her neck done by the Great Mohan himself, and I undertook the 10 hour ordeal of getting all seven chakras tattooed on my spine, all the way up to the crown chakra on the crest of my newly shaven head.  Marina's hurt much more this time, as Mohan's style is to gouge.  Watching him work was amazing - truly a zen master.  After she was done Vivek started on mine, and he proved to be a master as well.  For 10 hours he worked without a break on one of the hardest things a tattoo artist can do - perfectly straight lines and symmetrical designs.  He did it flawlessly.  A testimony to his brilliance is as follows: While he was working on the 6th tattoo, Marina asked him how he was feeling, expecting him to want a break after such a long time.  His response? "I'm excited to start on the next one!"  He didn't show even a little bit of fatigue and didn't even eat or drink anything the whole time.  He was in his artist's element - pure inspiration and excitement.  We only took a few 5 minute breaks to look in the mirror and for me to take a sip of water, and rather than relaxing, he inspected his previous work and sat waiting for me to be ready to go.  It was a joy working with him and I always felt safe and happy under his blades.  It's nice being comfortable with the person who cuts you open and pours ink into the wounds.  At the end of it all he gave me an insane deal and wouldn't accept the whole payment.  He only charged me 13000 NRs when it should have been 20000 NRs.  Such a good guy!  I bought him three books as a gift after the fact.  He expressed an interest in meditation, so I bought him two books on that (knowing that it would be an amazing asset to not only his life, but his profession) and one on the chakras, so he could understand a little more fully what he had been working on for so long.  For the chakra tattoos, I put myself into a little trance to make time go by quickly for me, and to remove pain.  It worked!  I only gasped two or three times during the whole session, and then I just told my subconscious to go deeper and that fixed it.  It also helped that I had gotten a palm tattoo a few days before, as the comparison between the palm and normal skin made it seem like nothing.  My head was so itchy after being shaved that the needle actually felt like a good scratching.  I let him take some creative liberty in the moment of doing the crown chakra, and I'm glad I did.  All of his suggestions throughout the process were amazing ideas and I'm glad I followed his wisdom. 

We healed for a day or two, and then headed off to Pokhara, where we are now!  We are staying across the lake and halfway up a mountain covered in dense jungle.  Our guesthouse owner is a fantastic host and a great guy, and he helped us carry our bags when neither of us could put anything on our backs due to the healing tattoos.  The view from our room is of a beautiful lake surrounded by steep foothills, and towering above it all is the Himalayan Annapurna Range.  It's amazing how high a land mass can reach into the sky!  Triangular, snow covered glaciers, poking through the clouds making you crane your neck up to see the tops of the majestic range. It's insane. Most of the time the mountains are covered because of the monsoon right now, but every once in a while we get a literally breathtaking glimpse of the splendor.  I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS.  Here is a little view from the lake's edge, where we moor our boat when we go into town.  You can imagine how much better it is from our hotel room halfway up the hill.  http://nepalaustralia.com.au/userfiles/images/Fewa%20Lake%20Pokhara%20Nepal.jpg

We're just enjoying the peace here for now, and we might get tickets to a rave music festival happening in the woods around here at the end of the month.  Besides that, we're just planning out what treks we might like to do, playing music, reading good books, and filling up with the refreshing mountain air.

Hope things are as fantastic in Canada and wherever else you all are as they are here!  Life is good!

Bo pen yang,

Orion (& Marina)