Sausages

Mmmm...sausages. The smell wafts through the open window with a long finger of temptation. I'm back in London now and breaking myself back into UK life gently by staying at the Jamyang Buddhist Centre. It's part of the FMPT Group that Kopan comes under and this week is the summer retreat, lead by Geshe Tashi Tsering. There is no meat in the Centre, so the smell of sausages must be coming from one of the homes outside. There is also no food served after midday as part of the retreat, so this is double temptation for me. I did, however, go out earlier and had a cheese and pickle sandwich with a large mug of tea in a cafe at Elephant and Castle - simply English; simply delicious. And still I am wondering where the smell of sausages is coming from. The food at the Jamyang Centre is excellent ... fresh, varied, and very tasty...I am not used to this after a daily diet of porridge, Dal Bhat and noodle soup and already my digestion has solidified after 48 hours in the UK after a runny Nepali tummy for most of my time there.

Outside I hear Big Ben chiming. It's nine pm in London, which probably makes it a quarter to two in the morning in Nepal...and in a few hours the monks will be getting up ready for puja. Meanwhile it is time for me to take my jet lagged body to bed.

Photo: Last day at Kopan with the teachers from the monastery school. They each gave me a karta (a blessing scarf) and I looked like a mountain of kartas when they had finished.