Muktinath was great fun. Last night a bunch of us ate dinner at a restaurant called The Bob Marley Restaurant and Rasta Hotel. It appears that Muktinath is holy not only to Buddhists and Hindus, but to Rastafarians as well.
Their featured menu item was "Bob Cake". We asked the lovely transsexual waiter/waitress, "is there a special ingredient in the Bob Cake?"
"Yes, a little bit of Bob."
We laughed--was it a piece of hair from his dreadlocks?
2300 years ago King Ashoka dispersed the relics of the Buddha to different parts of the world; now, for example, there is a Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka. In another 2,000 years there will be little bits of Bob enshrined at temples across the world.
At dinner, a Swiss guy across the table went through the most amazing ritual. First, he fingered and fluffed his Drum tobacco and placed it in a rolling paper. Then, he took his lighter and warmed his ball of hashish. He then used his fingers to crumble the hashish, again and again, into a finer and finer powder. Then he mixed the tobacco and hash with the utmost care. He then attached another rolling paper. Then he removed the scissors from his Swiss Army Knife and cut some cardboard into a filter. He then rolled all the pieces into a perfect cone, twisted it shut, smoothed out the wrinkles and licked it all over. The whole process took 20 or 30 minutes. I'm surprised he didn't take it to the temple to get it blessed by the sadhus.
I was impressed. "Wow!" I said, "I can't believe how much LOVE you put into that smoking thing!"
The whole table laughed. "What's so funny?" I asked.
"Is that what we call it now? a smoking thing?"
The Swiss guy excused himself to go smoke outside.
"No! no!" said Jibi, "you can smoke right here, at the table."
"But my friends are waiting for me," he explained, and he left. He invited us to join him, but I declined. At 3750 meters, I was high enough already.
Their featured menu item was "Bob Cake". We asked the lovely transsexual waiter/waitress, "is there a special ingredient in the Bob Cake?"
"Yes, a little bit of Bob."
We laughed--was it a piece of hair from his dreadlocks?
2300 years ago King Ashoka dispersed the relics of the Buddha to different parts of the world; now, for example, there is a Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka. In another 2,000 years there will be little bits of Bob enshrined at temples across the world.
At dinner, a Swiss guy across the table went through the most amazing ritual. First, he fingered and fluffed his Drum tobacco and placed it in a rolling paper. Then, he took his lighter and warmed his ball of hashish. He then used his fingers to crumble the hashish, again and again, into a finer and finer powder. Then he mixed the tobacco and hash with the utmost care. He then attached another rolling paper. Then he removed the scissors from his Swiss Army Knife and cut some cardboard into a filter. He then rolled all the pieces into a perfect cone, twisted it shut, smoothed out the wrinkles and licked it all over. The whole process took 20 or 30 minutes. I'm surprised he didn't take it to the temple to get it blessed by the sadhus.
I was impressed. "Wow!" I said, "I can't believe how much LOVE you put into that smoking thing!"
The whole table laughed. "What's so funny?" I asked.
"Is that what we call it now? a smoking thing?"
The Swiss guy excused himself to go smoke outside.
"No! no!" said Jibi, "you can smoke right here, at the table."
"But my friends are waiting for me," he explained, and he left. He invited us to join him, but I declined. At 3750 meters, I was high enough already.
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