I meant to post about my trip earlier than this but I was in the last stages of final proofs for my new book out at the end of the year. (See below.) Also was using spare time to take Mongolian language lessons online thanks to youtube (they work, I'm gabbing away here and people can actually understand what I'm saying!). Also viewed videos and read books. So quick headlines: I am travelling as the attendant of a high Tibetan lama (see www.jampaling.org) who comes every year to Mongolia to oversee his monasteries and his charities (ASRAL, an NGO). I am also taking notes, of course, for my next book which will be a work of non-fiction about this lama and my travels with him to India and Outer Mongolia (Inner Mongolia is ruled by the Chinese, while Outer Mongolia is free and independent now that the Russians have scarpered). I can hardly describe my experiences, they are so overwhelming. I feel at times as if I am in the middle of a National Geographic adventure documentary. I keep thinking "is this really me here, sitting at this table to the right of the lama in a ger [Mongolian tent] surrounded by Chinghis Khan's people all smiling away at me?" I have to say - and this is the truth - it feels strangely like home!
No comments:
Post a Comment