Nepal Part 2

The ages of the Nepali people here are hard to understand. I had one 42 year old that looked 70 and a 32 that looked 55. We had a joke about how all Nepali’s were either 25 or 70. The younger ones looked their age, but once they hit 30 or so most looked much older. See my “guess their age” post.

So a few times each week we’d go into town. It was a 30-45 minute mini-bus ride into town. They’d pack about 30 people into a conversion-van-type mini-bus. Then you’d take a 5-minute tuk-tuk ride to Jawalakhel, which was the area we did most our eating and some shopping. The bus ride cost 10 rupees (or 15 cents) and the tuk-tuk was 7 rupees/10 cents. Not to shabby, eh? Everything is super cheap here and a decent boneless chicken meal would cost $2 and a plate of momos (steamed thin dough ball with meat inside) was $1. The pop bottles were all reused like the pictures show, but they were cleaned on the inside before being refilled at the factory. I loved to eat this bread called naan bread. It was only 15 cents for a plateful. It is thin, chewy, and slightly sweet. Just add peanut butter for a delicious snack. Near Jawalakhel most people knew English so it wasn’t a problem getting things done.

So the last week I was there I went into town by myself, which was really a non-event by that time. In comparison just yesterday, after only being here two days, did I venture into Chiang Rai. More on that later!

So on one weekend we got a change to visit Pashupathinath and Swayambhunath (from here on out I’ll call them Pash and Swym). Pash is a very holy Hindu site. It was a very dirty place, like most of Kathmandu, trash was lying everywhere. There were also loads of monkeys running around. Occasionally, we’d see a Hindu Sadu with his face all painted up. Pash has around 50 small shrines built for some of their gods with an emphasis on their gods Shiva and Kali. The river running through Pash was very dirty and litter was flowing in it. This is where they throw the ashes of the cremated bodies. There were people ceremonially bathing in it as well. Not very sanitary at all!

Swym was a bit different. It’s a major Buddhist stupa/temple. We walked up a ton of steep stairs to get to the top complex. There were lots of monkeys at this place and some nasty street dogs. It had an amazing overlook of Kathmandu. This is where we found the most prayer flags and all the prayer wheels. There was an inside building with several statues of Buddha and a bunch of monks playing ceremonial music.

Okay, onto the Gorka wedding. This was the only time I got to go outside of the Kathmandu valley. We rode for 3-4 hours in a nicer mini-bus (cost $3.50) and then got on top of another one for the last 10-15 minutes. The roads are very windy and people pass blindly. There are many accidents reported on this winding highway. It was fun to watch them pass and then quickly back off or go for it without seeing around a corner. It was a very scenic drive. The mountain photos are mostly from this drive. The village was very laid back. Not quite as dirty as Kathmandu. It was a nice change of pace. The doors were all small though. The village was on a hill (like all villages in Nepal) and just a 15 minute walk from a huge river basin.

So a week later was graduation. I got a delicious box of chocolates from my students, a few cards, and a wallet with a Nepali flag on it. It was sad to see my students leave, but it was time and six weeks of learning for 3-4 hours a day was enough for now. It was great to see them progress and learn better pronunciation.

The last stop on my Nepal trip was to a botanical garden. We actually didn’t make it to the flower part, but there are a few pictures posted of the grounds around the garden. It was pretty clean and made me feel like I was in another country.

So then was my trip to the airport! I thought it would be just a normal mini-bus ride, but an hour before I was supposed to leave as I was eating breakfast I was told that there was going to be a strike/protest at a place along my route to the airport. So my informant told the mini-bus driver to come immediately instead of in 2 hours. I quickly took a shower and finished packing up. I guess the protest happened early because about 2 KM from the airport my mini-bus stopped and I was told he couldn’t go any further! He then called Yogya, my Nepali friend who lived on the base. Yogya graciously got on his motorbike and rode out to where we were stopped. Now, I have all my luggage which is two medium bags plus my two carry-ons. I have a lot of luggage! We load up the two bigger pieces between Yogya and I on the motorbike seat and he holds my laptop case filled with books. I’m holding my 20-30lb carry-on to my side off the motorbike…..and away we go. Boy, was I praying like crazy. I could barely see over the luggage between Yogya and I and the carry-on was making my arm tremble. But we made it okay by weaving through people and on a bumping back road. I was so relieved to get to the airport.

So then I flew three hours to Thailand, waited 15 hours in Bangkok for the Chiang Rai flight and here I am in Thailand.