Oh, Kathmandu

This past week, we’ve done a bunch of random stuff in Kathmandu but have had a great time along the way. It’s weird that we only have two weeks left of our trip but if these upcoming weeks are anything like the past three in Nepal, it’s going to be great.

 

Ilam to Kathmandu Bus Ride

Locals celebrating the festival at one of the bus stops

Homes and businesses  decorated for the festival

The bus ride from Ilam to Kathmandu was everything I expected and more. It had beautiful scenes throughout the hills, we saw lots houses decorated with lights for the Tihar festival that day, it was quite bumpy, and it lasted longer than we were told (18 hours instead of 14-15 hours). While it may seem like we were disappointed by these last two things I mentioned, we definitely weren’t. Segments of bumpy roads are a given in this country and frankly, we’ve also learned that Nepalis are terrible at estimating the amount of time it takes to do something - and that’s okay. Being precise with the amount of time something will take is not valued here like it is in the US (correct me if I’m wrong, Nepali friends) and I value and respect this quality.

The bus had an added bonus because it had a big TV at the front of the bus which played Hindi music videos (many of which were quite provocative) as well as one Indian movie. The movie was in Hindi though so we couldn’t follow the story. Oh, and we were able to be on the same bus as our friend, Amol, so it was also nice talking with him at the various stops as well.

 

Shekhar showing off his inflatable couch

Our Friend, Shekhar

Once we arrived to the crowded and dirty city of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, we went directly to Shekhar’s home. Shekhar was another friend whom I met during last year’s summer course in Nepal and it was great to see him again. He is especially an incredible friend who will go way out of his way to help any of his friends. It was also nice to stay at his home because he lives in a quieter, cleaner area of Kathmandu that is actually planned well with wide streets and decent organization overall. Shekhar or his sister also cooked all of our meals for us and we were overwhelmed by their great hospitality.




The dinner set-up in Shekhar's room which was always delicious

Shekhar and Amol have been best friends for almost ten years so it’s also awesome to see them interact like brothers. In addition, we had the pleasure of meeting their friend, Chandiraj, who completed the group to make them the “Three Musketeers.” To no surprise, Chandiraj is also a great person and we were able to have some great conversations with these guys talking about our favorite things these days – Nepali governance and politics, America’s development and influence on other parts of the world, and such.

Hanging in the neighborhood




Shekhar showing off the bracelet I gave him







We joined Amol, Shekhar, and Chandiraj at this river to drink tea



Tihar Festival Dancing

The “Three Musketeers,” Stephanie and I decided to drink our first night in Kathmandu and then to our surprise, the rest of Shekhar’s apartment began dancing outside to celebrate the Tihar festival. It was quite a small space between the gate of the apartment and the front entrance, yet around 20 people still happily danced to the Hindi and Nepali music. As you can guess, it was a ton of fun and I’m super happy that Stephanie got to experience this. Last year, I was able to experience a spontaneous Nepali dance party, which I knew Stephanie would have loved, so I’m glad she could be a part of the dancing this year.

 

Having a Cold in Nepal – You Can’t Do Anything Right

Stephanie doing an aromatherapy treatment prepared by Shekhar's sister

Stephanie caught some sort of cold where her nose was seemingly constantly running. This was a great concern to our Nepali friends, especially Shekhar’s sister, because they didn’t want their guest and friend to feel this discomfort. So to help her out, they smothered her with advice: don’t drink cold water, don’t have sugar in your tea at night, don’t sit on the hard ground – sit on a cushion on the ground, don’t keep blowing your nose – it’s bad for your health, don’t have ghee (kind of butter) on your food, and the list goes on. Our friends were saying all of these things because this is all of the stuff that they all learned from their mothers but after a little bit, it was a lot of advice to handle. We did find it interesting though because at home, the first response to Stephanie’s sickness would be: “I’ll drive to the store to get you some cold medicine” and that’s that. I guess it shows how sickness are treated differently throughout the world and in the end, it was an interesting learning experience.

A delicious zucchini pie and salad

Moving to the Thamel

After staying at Shekhar’s place for three days, we decided to move to the touristy area of the city named the Thamel. The Thamel is bursting with backpackers and trekkers, oozing with Tibetan knickknacks, stuffed with Western-ish restaurants, and littered with every sort of fake North Face or other hiking equipment imagined. Sounds like an interesting place, huh?  

One of the restaurants in the Thamel

So why’d we decided to move to this crazy area of Kathmandu? Mostly because Shekar began work after his holiday break and we wanted to get out of his hair. We also could easily get some things we needed, we were able to put our dal bhat streak on hold, and it’s also an area I’m familiar with from last year so it was kind of comforting to come back to a place where I had a lot of memories.

 

Visa extension

Upon entering Nepal we got a 30-day visa for $40 USD even though we knew we would be staying for 35 days. With this, we had to go to the immigration office in Kathmandu on Monday to get a visa extension so we didn’t have any troubles with the immigration people at the airport when we leave. We had to get a 15 day extension visa which cost $30 even though we would only be using 5 days of it. This was a cheaper option than paying for the 90-day option for $100 though and we had the added bonus of experiencing a Nepali government office.

Once we arrived to the office there was plenty of stuff written on the walls with various visa information, none of which had specific information for the visa-extension application process. So after guessing what line to stand in, we discovered that we were actually supposed to begin in a different line. Then we thought we knew what line to stand in – wrong. So we waited in the proper “line,” handed our passport and application, stood in a different “line” which had no order, paid for the visa, then returned to the place where we turned in our passport and it was finally done. It was a lot more confusing than I described but luckily we were able to get it all done probably within 30 minutes or so.

 

Our Friend, Sumeer

On Monday evening we met with my friend, Sumeer, who is another person I meet during last year’s summer course. From what I remembered from last summer, Sumeer was a crazy student because he seemed to always be on the move and was quite goofy. So when he showed up that night in a business suit, it was so weird for me. I knew he was dressed professionally because he just got off work from his government job, but it still seemed weird to see this goofy guy look so put together.

Luckily, I quickly discovered that it was the same ol’ Sumeer under the professional clothes and it was great to hang out with him and his friend. We joked about the past, discussed what we’ve been up to since and also talked about other stuff. I knew Sumeer would prefer to eat dal bhat for dinner rather than some of the normal food around here, so Stephanie and I let him decide on a restaurant we could have dal bhat at which made everyone happy. Overall, it was great to see yet another Nepali friend who is like another brother.

I forgot to take a picture with Sumeer this year but this is a picture from last year that I think accurately describes him. No...he didn't actually eat the bug.

Bhaktapur

On Tuesday, we went to the old city of Bhaktapur which is outside the city Kathmandu but still in the Kathmandu Valley. A fun fact is that at one point in time, there were three kingdoms that all resided within the Kathmandu Valley, one of which was Bhaktapur, but then one day they all got taken over by the seemingly invincible Gorkha Army from outside the valley. The Gorkha Army are still known as the toughest hand-to-hand combat army and are quite interesting to read about.

Anyway, Bhaktapur is an old city with lots of old buildings, temples, and villagers. The best way I could describe it to Stephanie before we went was that it’s similar to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI in that it’s a big area with lots of historical buildings and such to look at. But it’s really not that similar as you can tell by the pictures. We walked around for about three hours, denying every offer for a tour guide, and enjoyed the sites of the old city. It was somewhat refreshing to be back in a touristy setting because we haven’t done so for so long.  

And the Staff Meetings Begin – Next Year’s EDC Course

On Wednesday, my work for next year’s EDC class (the summer course I keep talking about) began. To my delight, I was asked to be a staff member again for next summer’s course which will be somewhere in Nepal. I found this super exciting because I wasn’t sure if I would be invited again as a staff member, which I would have been okay with either way, but I’m looking forward to not only being back in Nepal next year, but also having the opportunity to try to make the course even better.

By coincidence in a way, the first coordination meetings in Nepal occurred this week in Kathmandu. The original plan was for both Barry from Colorado and Yael from Israel to come and meet for a few days however Yael got really sick and had to cancel. I was bummed by this news because Yael and I became good friends in China this past summer and I was really looking forward to seeing her again. But it’s okay, we’ll meet again next July!

The first meeting I was a part of discussed the possible partnership with NCDC to help facilitate the course in many ways. With this, it was great to be back with the NCDC family with Barry (the one who volunteered in the Peace Corp a while ago and then later conceived the idea of NCDC), Amol (my friend from last year’s EDC course), Nikkie (a new NCDC friend) and Kaji (the NCDC CEO). Oh, and Stephanie was an awesome friend and sat in all of these meetings throughout the day. We discussed a lot of logistics stuff that I don’t want to type (and I’m sure you don’t care to read) but it was nice to get the ball rolling for next year’s course.

Throughout these meetings I’ve had a key acronym stuck in my head: WWYD? – What Would Yael Do? I know Yael is very bummed she can’t be here because she’s the main course administrator, but I’ve done my best to think of the questions and comments Yael would ask to try to still keep her presence here.

Meeting With Paras

On Thursday, we were able to meet with yet another friend from last year’s EDC course, Paras. I give Stephanie a lot of credit for letting me drag her around to all the friends I’ve been wanting to meet again but she has seemed to enjoy it. Of course this is no surprise because she’s a social person and enjoys meeting new people – especially the people I talk about so much whom she’s never met.

Paras works and lives in Western Nepal with his wife and nine-year old son but he’s been in Kathmandu the past two weeks or so to work on stuff. We met at an Indian restaurant to catch up and we also were able to get a bit of advice from him about our upcoming time in Dhulikhel and Pokhara. In Pokhara, he specifically advised us that if we chose to go paragliding, we should not wear “half-pants” nor drink before going. He did both when he went paragliding there and said it was very cold at the high altitude and he also felt like he was going to puke. We found it to be funny advice but I think we can feasibly manage these two things if we choose to paraglide there.

Following dinner, Paras suggested going to a bar with live music so we decided to go. It was at a place where he knew the owner and it turned out to be a fun night. There was a live rock band that played Western, Nepali and Hindi songs and it was a great atmosphere overall. People were even dancing in the small space and people of all cultures and ages (well not kids) were there enjoying the atmosphere. I had to leave around midnight though because I had an early meeting on Friday for more EDC stuff.

This is the best pictures I could get with Paras. I learned he has an impressive skill in ruining almost every picture and therefore this is the best we could get.

Various Comments

·         Okay, it’s finally hit me. I’m getting tired of writing these blog posts. I’m surprised I’ve lasted so long writing these but I’m glad I’ll probably only have maybe three more posts or so. I’m surprised I’ve gone a whole 11 weeks enjoying writing these posts though, so I’m calling it a win.

·         Today’s Halloween but I’m so relieved I don’t have to bother with the whole costume thing and all of the shenanigans that are involved. Halloween was fun as a kid but I’m just not creative, nor motivated, when it comes to making costumes. So this is one holiday I’m happy to be out of the country for.

It'll be nice to have a washing machine soon.

Caroline’s Song of the Day

23-Oct Amazing Grace by Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corp

24-Oct Come on Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners

25-Oct Lost In My Mind by the Head and the Heart

26-Oct I’m Yours by Jason Mraz

27-Oct Ways To Go by Grouplove

28-Oct Across the Universe from the Across the Universe Soundtrack

29-Oct Creator by Santigold

30-Oct Galanton by Lura

31-Oct Red Rabbits by the Shins