 |
| Depteek, Sepideh, and Banu |
I never imagined I would ever visit Nepal. For some reason this country appeared in my mind as a magical and intangible place to reach. I was brought to the reality of being present in this country while being pushed past and nearly trampled over in the arrival terminal by those eager to obtain an entry visa into Kathamndu. Oh right, I left polite and patient Thailand for the Asia I remember from 4 years ago.
I am very fortunate that I had a friend to visit. Sepideh and I met in a Reiki class in 2010. Immediately I felt like I was among family with her, and a year later, I was. Not only did Sepideh host me for a week, but I was also welcomed into the house and arms of her parents. I had the opportunity to have some amazing conversations with her parents over tea, cookies, dinners, and walks to the nearby Swayambhu Temple.
I arrived without a list of things to do and see around Kathmandu and was on my own for most of the time, spending many hours walking around the busy, loud, polluted city; finding public transportation to be chaotically difficult to figure out, and felt awkward taking taxis everywhere.
My first real adventure was to the Thamel area, a place with small crowded streets lined with touristy and trekking shops jammed with a few good restaurants in between. My first real meal in Nepal was a banana curd lassi, a potato veg. curry, fried dal, and chapatis. AMAZINGLY tasty!
If only I had room left, I could have also enjoyed a Samosa bought from a guy and his bike. However, I found myself stuffed and exhausted and enjoyed an Ayurvedic massage, the first good oil massage I had received in MONTHS!
I took in a few sites including the Rani Pokhari ("Queens pond") located in the middle of a pond, the largest ornamental pond in the city, built in the 1670s to help the Queen grieve over the death of her son. Today, this site is shut off to the public and appears to be guarded by armed officers.
 |
| women wear red for 3 days |
 |
| Reclining Buddha at Balaju Park |
I was in contact with two girls from couchsurfing.org to show me around the city. The first girl I met was Ishu, a 19 year old student who lives in the northern part of the city. Her and her younger sister were excited to partake in the dancing part of Teej, a three day Hindu festival for women that involves fasting, dancing, and praying for their husbands long lives, or for a future husband. My new friends were disappointed to find that no one was dancing when we arrived at the park, so the next 30 minutes turned into a bit of a narcissistic photo shoot, as each sister wanted their picture taken, numerous times, in just about the same pose, and only by themselves. If anyone would like to see more same same but different photos, I have about 30 more!
After I left Ishu, I walked for about an hour from Balaju to Thamel to Chhetrapati, and finally to Basantapur where I met up with another couchsurfer, Milan and her sister. Milan has been attending a college for travel and tourism and displayed a vast amount of enthusiasm for Hindu holidays and sites in and around her cherished city of Kathmandu. She kept asking me if I had been somewhere or eaten something, and kept shaking her head in disappointment when I said I had not. (And the reason I had not was because I became extremely ill while staying at Sepideh's parents house! After visiting a clinic and deciding with the doctor that I must have had some left over bacteria from Thailand that did not want to share my intestines with the bacteria from Nepal, I was given some antibiotics and strongly encouraged by Sepideh and her mother to
NOT eat from the street anymore!) Right then and there, she bought me a samosa (hurray!), a Famous Lassi from "the most excellent curd shop,"
and Puri Puri from a street vendor. These were so silly- little fried hollow doughs that the vendor smacks open and scoops dosa like broth into it- with his bare hands of course! I didn't mind, I still had two more antibiotic pills to take- Bring it on Nepali street food!
Being the "most excellent" tour guide that Milan could be, she had me leave a sacrifice to one of Nepal's most important Deities, Bhairab, a fierce manifestation of Shiva associated with annihilation. Milan made sure to take me through Basantapur's Durbar Square without being charged the "tourist fee," and had us climb up one of the temples to watch the festivities of Teej take place. Milan was not allowed to dance because there had been a death in her family that year and Hindu's do not take part in festivals during a year of a death, however, she had no problem pushing me into the circle of women dancing and after I made my way out, she told me that I had "shaken my hips in a most excellent way!" My parents owe Milan a "thank you" as she insisted that if I want to be a good daughter, I was to buy them a red pashmina scarf, red being the color of her country.
I think my best adventure though was the one I never would have expected. My original idea for the day had been to have a pick me up coffee after visiting the Boudha Stupa and then take a taxi to a monastery nearby on a lush green hilltop. After talking to Tej, one of the new owners of Indulgence Coffee, we decided it was best that I did not walk up to the monastery. Instead, all I had to do was wait a few minutes for Tej to be done working and he would take me personally! It turns out that the monastery and its beautiful grounds were closed off to the public, which gave Tej an idea, and off we went again- to Sundarijal, home of Shivapuri National Park with its forest covered hills!
As we continued upwards, we approached the small hilly village, and drove through a festival, (literally, the crowd separated for our motorcycle) with our eyes on the heavy black brick of a cloud heading towards our destination. Sure enough, as soon as we got to the bottom of the mountain and parked the bike, sheets of rain poured down on us. After waiting for the worst to pass, we carried on and walked up the mountain, passing forgotten shoes, slippery stone steps, two mighty intense waterfalls that help create the holy river of Bagmati, past dense trees and bush, past the waterworks area, and to near the top to enjoy a well deserved Masala tea and coffee. By the time we were ready to descend, the clouds had cleared, the sun was out, and the path was still very slippery, and yet, neither of us fell- truly a magical day! A day with clear breathable air, a day of sunshine that felt refreshing rather than defeating, good coffee, a better perspective of Kathmandu and its hospitable people, and an amazingly kind new friend with a great perspective of enjoying life!
