After a six day trip to Rinpoche’s Monastery we have returned to the mountain sanctuary of Kala Rongo. The first days were spent filming scenes from early childhood–a predawn scene of Rinpoche’s sunrise birth and simultaneous unannounced arrival of three siddhas, romping in the fields, messing about with sheep and yaks, and making model monasteries out of mud. With over 200 monks and nuns on hand, tasks like casting, making props, and positioning massive crowds of extras in timeless settings has worked itself out with the ease of a much bigger production. Various sicknesses, injuries, and stresses notwithstanding, Norlha Rinpoche’s classic forecast of “no problem” seems to be holding true. Of course, our last day of filming was interrupted by a spontaneous picnic with the Korche monks and we spent the rest of the afternoon hosting a talent show (Christopher did a fantastic “Ave Maria”, I did a contortionist display and taught a hatha yoga class) and playing duck duck goose. So now we have some space again and will pick up the story in the coming days.