Seven years ago in September, Little Moon opened its doors for business here in the Lark Street neighborhood of Albany, NY. We started with a humble inventory of goods that we had purchased during our first family trip home to Tibet in the summer of 2004. Tashi had just become a U.S. citizen that Spring and as soon as he received his passport we applied for visas and permits for travel to his hometown in Kham, Riwoche. We flew into Lhasa and did most of our purchasing around the famous Barkhor, a sacred pilgrimage spot that circles the Jokhang Temple in the heart of Lhasa, Tibet’s capital city. We then drove overland to Kham, the eastern region of Tibet, in the family’s run-down Jeep that barely made it there in one piece. What an adventure that was! In any case, those goods made it safely back Stateside with us and were the seed money for our new business venture. Our opening day was on LarkFest, Albany’s last festival of the summer. Tashi sold goods from a booth at the street fair while Jessica ran the shop. It was an auspicious beginning. Now seven years, three children, and four more trips back home to Tibet later, Little Moon has grown and prospered. Our inventory has expanded to include items not only from Tibet but Nepal, India, China and Thailand as well.
We named Little Moon after Tashi’s family, “Da Chung Sang,” which means “Little Moon family.” With our first year’s earnings we were able to return back to Tibet to help fund the construction of a family owned and operated hotel in Tashi’s hometown. When the family all sat around to decide on a name for the new building and business, we told them the story of our Tibetan gift shop and how we’d used the family name. This gave them such pleasure that they decided it should be the name of our hotel. We named the hotel “Little Moon Hotel.” Coincidentally, the shape of the Little Moon Hotel is that of a crescent moon when viewed from above. The land we purchased is on the corner of an intersection at the center of town. The building stretches down half a block on either side of the street corner and rounds at the center. Tashi’s brother Tsewang, Tashi and I painted a sign board together that reads “Little Moon Hotel” in three languages: Tibetan, Chinese and English. With the profits from our hotel we have been able to sponsor the elders of Tashi’s family and village, annual Buddhist ceremonies for purification and pacification, the studies and prayers of monks and nuns, and the construction of Stupas and Statues. The hotel currently houses retail shops on the ground level; a hot pot restaurant, mahjong parlor, tea house, and bar on the second floor; and rooms on the third floor. Guests are commonly Tibetan, Chinese and Korean tourists. It is our wish to start and run a travel agency out of the hotel that caters to westerners so that Tashi and I can share the beauty and spirit of this region of Tibet with western friends that are unable to access this remote part of the Tibetan countryside.
This year Little Moon is now expanding into the virtual world with the launch of the littlemoonshop website. We can now share the spiritual and cultural traditions of Tibet with friends all over the world. How wonderful! Please add littlemoonshop.com to your list of favorites or become a subscribing member. We will be posting new items regularly and blogging daily. Jessica will be sharing memories, stories, photos and videos of our trips home to Tibet as well as chapters from the memoir she is writing.
Many blessings to all of you!!!!!
Love,
Amy
its good to heard this