So, first the obligatory. I knew it was Simply Not Done to travel all the way to Sydney and not take a quick squiz at the Opera House. Now, so may you; it is pretty groovy:
Me mates from L to R are Sue, who has recently become active in Australian Tibetan affairs and who greatly entertained with her enthusiastic Yorkshire accent and slang; Ani Tenzin, my indefatigable organizer; Ani Yeshe, about whom I wrote in the previous post; and Soyong, who’s the sister of Geshe Sonam Thargye, the lama responsible for organizing the extensive 2002 Australia tour of HH the Dalai Lama.
OK, enough of that. How about some fruit bats? Thought so. Way outstripping the Opera House in both excitement and interest were the many hundreds of these alarmingly enormous critters that hung everywhere like overripe fruit throughout Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens:
The light was crap, but you get the idea.
Other critters that captured my attention included a bench-snoozing Sacred Ibis, considered a rather aggressive pest throughout Australia’s parklands these days, though they didn't bother me none...
...a saucy Silver Gull in breeding plumage with an old Sydney amusement park across the harbor (I was reprimanded for feeding them french fries)...
...spewing turtles...
...and dwarf chess enthusiasts:
Now I’m in wonderfully cool Melbourne, the self-described Cultural Capital of Australia. Now I don’t want to say that Melbournians are an odd lot, but they have named one of their streets this:
I was tickled to see this graffiti Buddha...
...especially since it adorned the wall of a Malaysian restaurant. I just learned from a Chinese friend who emigrated from Malaysia that if you’re an ethnic Malay living in that country, you are required by law to be an adherent of Islam. Conversion is illegal. Bizarre, no?
We’ve just wrapped up a weekend of teachings on lineage and Guru Yoga; tonight I give my Mongolian Buddhism Revival talk; Tuesday teaching and practice of shamatha meditation; Wednesday off to bird the world-famous Werribee Sewage Farm (not kidding); Thursday is both Guru Rinpoche Day and Valentine’s Day so we’ve declared that a (nearly) all-chocolate tsog is in order; and Saturday off to Phillip Island. Bizzy, bizzy, bizzy!
Black lost the game, didn't they?
Posted by: Christian | February 11, 2008 at 02:23 AM
My son, who is 11 and very good at chess and very interested in all things Australian, is now announcing loudly that we HAVE to go to Sydney to play on the giant chessboard. :)
Posted by: jules | February 11, 2008 at 03:31 PM
Fruit bats, Sacred Ibis pests, giant chessmen, spewing turtles - you're really doing it up right! The Lunar New Year Festival was awesome!
Posted by: Palzang | February 12, 2008 at 12:53 AM
Great to hear how well things are going down south. i had no idea about Dee Why so I learnt something new (surprise) as well as laughing a lot (normal when reading this blog).
Have you got a chance to put the next Brisbane talk in the RH side bar?
And do you have any desire to see Stradbroke Island on your return to Bris? I could do this on a weekend day only. Not being a birder all I can say is that there is usually a lot of birds around as well as mantarays, dolphins etc. and there is a fresh water lake inland that might be good.
Tamara
Posted by: Tamara | February 16, 2008 at 10:59 PM