Finding Kathmandu

Just because you land on the ground here doesn't mean that you get here really. Kathmandu has a certain mental component that needs to be overcome before you can really enjoy it here, and on arrival from Thailand that took me a few days to find. While there are certainly some aspects of living here that seem like unnecessary hardships in light of what the vast majority of the planet enjoys as simple staples to modern living, Kathmandu offers its own subtle charm. The people that you meet up with and are friends with here are never dull people, you have to be at least a little adventurous to live here. These facts combined with avoiding the 9-5 grind that makes life unbearable in the west for me makes for a unique place that I am quite happy to have made my home.

For me it was settling back into that slower way of life, coming to terms with the fact that if I wanted to get groceries it does mean stopping by at least four different locations; Bhat Betini, European Bakery, my vegetable stand down the road, a stop at the dairy place around the corner, and the local butcher if I want meat. Although it sounds like a chore, it's nice to see the individual people I buy from and appreciate my business. The people at the vegetable stand were curious where I had been and wanted to hear about my trip,  and were all smiles to see me back in the neighborhood. While super markets back home do offer savings and convenience, I do enjoy interacting with the people that run each of these small stores.

It has also helped tremendously that Kim is back from the US now. After travelling by myself for over three weeks and then coming home and being stuck by myself in Kathmandu I am thrilled to have her company again. A person you love makes even the darker and colder nights in Kathmandu that much brighter and warmer just by their presence. Being able to talk to each other and catch up on our trips has been fun and I enjoy cooking a lot more for multiple people instead of just myself (french toast and fresh strawberry syrup with scrambled eggs this morning). 

Aside from yesterday when it rained for what I think is only the second time since October the sky has been so clear in the afternoon that from almost any decent rooftop in the city you can see the mountains of Langtang in the north and out toward the Everest range in the east. While I love being in the mountains, just seeing the massive snow covered peaks out on the horizon brings a smile to my face, just knowing that they are out there and waiting to be trekked around come the warmer months. Speaking of which, it looks like I may be doing the Everest Base Camp route all the way from Jiri come the end of February (god it's going to be cold) with my friend Donnie who I trekked through Langtang and Gosainkund last year and also accompanied Kim and I to Tibet. That is likely the best trek in all of Nepal and I'm looking forward to the pizza at Khumbu Lodge in Lukla!

So while arriving in Kathmandu can be a bit of a shock to the system, it just takes a moment to settle back into the flow of life and remember those things that do bring a smile to your face. It's not every day that people get to live in such a different place filled with so many opportunities for great experiences, and I count myself as a very lucky person. Having, after a few days, found that mental niche that is required to enjoy Kathmandu, I can finally say it's good to be home. 

Mr Smith Goes to Kathmandu- One Year On

So today this blog turns one year old! I had no idea what I would be writing about when I originally put this together, and looking over the posts from the last year it's interesting to me to see how it all shaped up. All in all I've had a great experience over the last year, from the final preparations to come here in December to now when I'm planning to leave Nepal for the first extended period since coming here (I'm heading to Thailand/Cambodia for a short time). While any experience has its ups and downs, this one has been mostly ups and a great experience over all that I'm glad has been a part of my life. Not everything goes as expected, but that is in an ironic way that's something we expect.

So before I left I wrote a post on Why would you want to move to Nepal, and now that it's been a year I thought it would be interesting to revisit some of those thoughts and see what I have done, what I haven't done,how reality matched up with expectations, what I'd still like to accomplish and what was just naive thinking. I'll use Italics to quote the original text.

The Road to Dunche: An Accident Waiting to Happen

I'm back from another great trip to the Langtang region, and I'll be talking about some of that trip in the following posts. Before I get to that though, I need to address something that is a very clear problem; the road to Dunche might be one of the most dangerous in the world. I do not say this in hyperbole and am not trying to be sensationalist, this road is downright dangerous, and it is only a matter of time before a number of people are killed on it. Being the only access to a major tourist area in this country makes this road even more absurd; in its precarious state it provides the lifeblood of money that sustains that region. Although the region is accessible by helicopter or very rarely by single prop planes, the cost is prohibitive and almost everyone takes the bus or 4WD into Dunche or Syrabru.

Trisuli- A typical Nepali bus scene

Feeding Frogs, 9 Bean Soup, Sacred Lakes, and Cows Leading Spirits

Nepal, I think, has more festivals than any other place on the planet. Yesterday was Janai Purnima, which is a Hindu holiday that doesn't make any sense to me. All I know about it is that it has something to do with a string that gets tied around you and on this day it is replaced. Somehow this is also associated with the feeding of frogs (yes even frogs get holidays in Nepal) and a very tasty nine bean soup. The soup seems to be the thing that most people actually take part in. It is also the holiday that attracts many people  to the pilgrimage site up to Gosainkund lake that I was trekking through recently. Supposedly a dip in the high altitude lakes during this holiday cleanses a person of their sins. A hotel owner up on the trail told me that usually some people get sick from exposure to the cold water and cold conditions up at that altitude. The presence of thousands of pilgrims at a site that normally supports around a hundred people or so can't help the sanitary conditions either. 

Procession for the Deceased over the Last Year

One festival just isn't enough, so today was another festival known as Gaijatra, which is a festival to help lead the spirits of those who have died over the last year to the God that judges the dead. Or at least that is what I was told. Now in the past it use to be that families bought a cow and donated it to a priest and that cow pulled a chariot for that person, and it was believed that by the spirit grabbing on to the cows tail that the cow could help him find his way through the challenges of the after life. Personally I'm not sure I'd trust a cow to be my spirit guide, I'd be worried about just hanging out in a field with grass or something, but then again I'm not Hindu.

Now despite the historical use of cows I didn't actually see any cows being used today. Instead cows were represented on many of the float like things that were carried through the city of Bhaktapur, the city we went to in order to observe the festival. Also on the floats were a picture of the deceased and lots of other ornamentation including an umbrella on the top of the floats.

Young People Dance and Bang Sticks

All around the city the processions were lead by bands and many children and young adults that were dancing and banging sticks together. Supposedly the meaning of this ritual was to ward off the evil spirits. That may, or may have been the case, but very clearly today it was an excuse to have a good time. Many western tourists also had joined in some of the processions and along with some of the locals had put on body paint and danced and banged sticks together to the rhythm of the music. 

Drums and Costumed Youths

Th squares of Bhaktapur were packed with onlookers, mostly locals. The parades on this day seem to be a big event and lots of people gather to watch the processions. Like parades back home bands are mixed in, again with the purpose given that the music wards off the evil spirits. Young boys are occasionally dressed up as Shiva or cows and young girls are dressed in some traditional attire, that if it was supposed to represent something, was lost on me. 

Boy Dressed as Shiva and a Costumed Girl

Onlookers watch the Processions in front of the Old Palace 

We mingled with a multitude of people in Bhaktapur's Durbar Square for a while, just watching the processions go by. Really a great place to watch and experience the festival if you happen to be in Nepal during this time period. Nepal seems to have a festival or holiday for everything, and hardly a week goes by where you can't see some kind of event somewhere in the country. This one was really a lot of fun to witness first hand though and stands out above many of the others I have watched while I was here. It was also nice to watch a festival that took an event that can be as sad for people as death and turned it into something that was a celebration. 

Monsoon Trekking: Gosainkund

The trail up to and through the Gosainkund area was by far my favorite part of this trip. We got some stunning views, and the trail itself was a real joy...though Donnie may disagree with me on that last part. When I left off in the last post we had spent the night at the Landslide Hotel, named I guess for the large landslide coming down the valley face on the opposite side of the river. After a good nights sleep and some breakfast the next morning we were ready to go..kind of. Donnie, on top of his cold and bum ankle, was now also experiencing some gastro-intestinal distress. Being the task master I am, I told him it was a mere 6,000 vertical feet to Singh Gompa, a spot I hoped we could have some lunch at before pressing on to Laurabina Yak, where I hoped to spend the night.

Chorten in the Forest North of Singh Gompa

After leaving the guest house we quickly came to the split in the trail with the right path leading to Syrafru Besi and the one on the left heading to Thulo Syrafru, where we were headed. The trail almost immediately became steep, turning to switchbacks. Some Nepal gray langur monkeys played in the trees at the edge of the trail, though they were a bit too shy for pictures. After about a thousand feet or so of climbing the trail leveled off a bit, we passed a seasonal tea shack and rounded the mountain to a suspension bridge. As I was crossing the bridge I was lamenting that we were five days into this trip and I had not seen a single leech....I mean I didn't want to really deal with the things, but to go a whole trek in the monsoons and not even have an opportunity to brag about fending them off and such was disappointing in some strange, possibly masochistic way. Well, as they say be careful what you wish for.

The Big Monsoon Lie

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom."
-Thomas Paine


If you read any guidebook, trekking book, or talk to almost anyone in Nepal, both foreign or local, about trekking during the monsoon you will get the same answer; don't. Many books and people will advise that you only trek in places where you are in the Himalayan rain shadow, but many of these places require expensive permits like Mustang and upper Dolpo. Others like the Nar and Phu valley, which has a cheaper permit still requires that you use a guide and sign up through a trekking agency. Eventually this will be something I will do personally, but many people (including myself in most cases) enjoy independent trekking and like to be able to hit the trail on their own terms. The result of this common knowledge about monsoon trekking creates a complete lack of tourists through the summer months; Thamel has only a trickle of tourists and the trails are all but empty. You can go entire days without seeing another foreign  trekker.


Why is the trekking so bad during the monsoons?

Monsoon Trekking, and Random Thoughts on Nepal

So now that I'm finally done blogging about our recent trip in Tibet I can get back to writing about Kathmandu and Nepal, except I'm going to be heading into the mountains again. Apparently a little over 4,000' just doesn't do it for me any more and I can't resist the call of the mountains. After all what would all this time in Nepal be without a monsoon trek? I mean who can resist the idea of travelling on roads with landslides, hordes of jungle leaches and skies so full of clouds that one can't see the 25,000' peaks above them?  I can't.

Monsoon Trekking: Langtang, Gosainkunda & Helumbu
So Donnie, our friend that we went to Tibet with found out he was going to have some additional free time and wanted to go into the mountains, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to find out first hand what monsoon trekking really is like (I'm willing to wager it is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be). I mean the rain here is warm, it's not like New England where the rain and cold just suck the heat (and it feels like your soul) right out of you. We plan on starting up in the Langtang valley, go up to Kyanjin Gompa, turn around and then head south to the Gosainkunda Lakes and then head south through Helumba and back to Khathmandu via Sudarijal.

The most frightening part of this hike will be the bus ride tomorrow.