The Real Nepal

We've just returned back to our hostel in Kalanki after 2 nights in the village of Lamatar, where they sent us to experience "real Nepali culture" outside Kathmandu. Since real Nepali culture seems to involve fresh air and friendly people, I've decided I like it quite a lot. We stayed with a farmer named Sulav way up in the hills South of the capital who, along his 10 family members, has 4 cows, 7 goats, an orange tree, papayas, tomotoes, a small rice field, an abundant vegatable patch and a pear tree. Basically everything they need to live very happily day to day. Our first 24 hours there included a village walk along skinny dirt tracks past rice fields and duck ponds, a visit to the orphanage and plenty of time spent with the children, and a 4 hour hike up 1000m higher to enjoy noodles at the top and what would be phenomenal views of all of Kathmandu valley as well as the himalayas far to the north if it weren't for all the mist, fog and rain clouds all around (still it was very beautiful just looking at the tops of the green mountains). I really enjoyed the hike despite the leeches. Markos, from Finland, was my hero that day as he always was quickest with the matches to burn the blood-suckers off when needed. I made a point of walking close to him all day. The coolest part was the odd temple we'd come across hidden away in the hills somewhere. I think the idea is that the harder you have to work to get to a place for worshipping, the more appreciative the God will be and therefore more likely to hear your prayers.

On our second night, a group of girls and a couple of the women performed some Nepali dances for us. They were very spirited and entertaining and we enjoyed the glimpse further into their culture. It ended in a large dance party, where we managed to wow them with how pathetically awful our dancing was and they continued to bounce and spin in perfect rhythm and well-coordinated movements. They were quite taken aback when Ben (Ohio) busted out his "robot" moves. The looks on their faces made it clear they weren't sure whether they should jump in and help show this guy (again) how dancing is supposed to look or whether they should run for the nearest doctor, preferably one trained in dealing with seizures. Luckily, they stuck around long enough to see that he wasn't having any sort of weird medical fit and the dancing continued. It all amounted to a great deal of fun and laughter.

When we awoke this morning we were taught how to make the traditional dish, daal bhat, which is always a heaping mound of rice, always lentil soup, and then usually some small dish of vegetables and a small either spicy or sour clump of "achar" (meaning pickle, but possibly containing almost anything). Speaking of the food here, it seems the goal each day is to make us believe we will never eat a full meal again by starting us off with just a cup of tea then 20 minutes later maybe giving us a piece of bread, and then perhaps after climbing uphill for 2+ hours serving up a bowl of noodles that might equate to 1/4 of a packet of Ramen or Ichiban back home. Then for the rest of the day they force so much food upon you that you start to think it would be good if maybe you never did eat again. For example, yesterday I was happily munching on a pear around 2pm and content to not have anything else again before dinner when all of a sudden massive plates of daal bhat started emerging from inside the house. And then of course seconds were heaped on top of that before I'd even hardly made a dent in the first serving. I tell you, it's difficult eating this much delicious food at all kinds of unexpected times.

There was a Nepal-wide "banda" (strike) on Sunday, the day before we were to go to the village, so for a brief moment we weren't sure we'd still be able to get there. Bandas usually are politically-driven ploys, quite famously common in Nepal, where all the shops are forced to close, no traffic is allowed on the roads, and schools, hotels, restaurants etc. aren't allowed to let anyone in. It is announced beforehand whether it will be for a defined period (often just one day) or unlimited (will not end until certain terms or conditions are met). Luckily for us, Sunday's was just a one day strike, and anyway wasn't much of a serious one at that. It was put on by some of the smaller political parties in Nepal rather than the Maoists, so people didn't feel it was quite as risky to be found disregarding it. By noon shops were open, 2pm there were motorcycles on the road and even taxis could be found if needed. It appears anybody can call a strike almost any time they feel like it, and now that a prime minister has failed to have been named after at least 4 or 5 elections the instability may be causing some anxiety amongst some of the people or parties.

I've got some great pictures that I'm dying to share, but they'll have to wait at least until next week when I've arrived at my host family's and can dig the computer cable out of the very furthest depth of my backpack. I'm concerned if I tried it now there'd be no hope of fitting it all back in again and I'd rather not arrive on the doorstep with overflowing plastic bags containing all my bits of miscellaneous gear.

We've got 4 days in the jungle starting tomorrow, which according to other volunteers is a whole lot of fun, and then our time as tourists will come to an end and we settle into our separate projects on Monday.

Namaste!