by Bruce Kirby
This is a memoir by a BC adventure traveller from Kimberly BC. The man takes his wife and two young sons, one of whom is autistic, on a very challenging journey to stay for several months in a monastery in the Himalayas. First they canoe to Kamloops, or somewhere near there, to catch the Rocky Mountaineer Train to Vancouver. There they board a container ship to sail across the ocean to Korea. After that they eventually trek up some steep and dangerous paths, with the man carrying one of his sons a lot of the time, til they get to the monastery.
They spend six months or so living with one of the monks and trying to teach the young buddhist trainees English. Their host is quite a character and the man and his family are welcomed into the monastery. They are pleased at how their sons thrive, even sitting still to do some meditation.
The book talks a lot about their interactions with the locals, the changes that have occurred and will occur and what impact this will have on the valley and the monastery. The trip was life changing for them in more ways than they expected.
One of the sad things is of course how the world is encroaching on the monastery, but also in the past the monastery used to provide the young buddhist monks with an excellent education, this seems to have declined so what future will face them.
It was a fascinating story with a lot of engaging stories and great description of the people and the country.
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