A Week in Nepal

 While my 'official' time on an International Field Study may have come to a close, I am not yet done globe-trotting. Along with India, Nepal has been a dream destination of mine for years, however, it's remote location has always made it impractical (financially) to visit: until now!

For just about $300 I am able to fly from Bangalore into Nepal's capital city of Kathmandu.  Luckily, I have arranged to stay with a friend's family there (a Northeastern classmate in her second year). I'm looking forward to a more laid-back trip with the insider's perspective gained by staying in a Nepalese household.

Day 1: Kathmandu

After several hours of traveling, including a 5-hour layover in what is becoming a very familiar New Delhi airport I finally land in Kathmandu. The flight was beautiful and I'm glad I had the foresight to pick a window seat so that I could watch the terraced rice paddies and mountains as I fly into Kathmandu Valley.

The airport is tiny and would hardly pass for an international airport elsewhere. What is most shocking to me is that,when I didn't have money to buy my visa at the airport, they let me leave the airport, walk around the city for a bit until I found an ATM and then return the way I came, through the airport without a security check. This would never happen in the U.S.! I guess I don't look that threatening?

After finally handling my visa situation I meet my driver outside. He hands over a necklace of marigolds and it finally hits me that I'm in Nepal!  We bump along through traffic to my friend's home. This trip is perhaps the least planned I have ever embarked on. I'm relying a bit on the fact that my friend's family runs a trekking company: Snow Leopard Trek, and that they will help me figure it the necessary travel details.

When I arrive I'm thrilled when my friend's family offers me the option to stay at their home, rather than a hotel, for the next several days. Not only do I prefer that option from a cultural aspect, but I'll be saving a lot of money at the same time.

That night I climb four stories to my roof-top room and get settled.  I have a city tour planned for tomorrow and want to make sure I'm alert and ready for my first full day in Nepal.

Day 2: Kathmandu & Patan

Patan Durbar Square

I wake up early and, after a nice breakfast of eggs and toast, head downstairs to meet my guide for the day.  We begin our tour at one of Kathmandu Valley's three cities: Patan. We first stop at the Maha Buddha temple before making our way to the city's Durbar Square (or city center). I love it and am surprised to see so many pagoda-style buildings, having always associated those with China. I, again, get photographed by locals (it seems that will be the theme of my trip), get reprimanded for trying to enter a Hindu temple and then sit down to enjoy a lunch of water buffalo momos! I'm happy to say that Nepali food suites my palette much better than Indian food.

Despite some threatening skies, we travel on to Swayambunath. We drive up a steep road and enter into a courtyard filled with monkeys (with a designated monkey swimming pool), vendors and hundreds of prayers flags twisted into the trees.  We climb what feels like a million steps to the stupa. This is what I have been waiting for! I see the giant white stupa, painted with the Buddhist third eye and covered in gold and prayer flags. To me, this is what I had always pictured Nepal to look like and I'm so happy that it hasn't let me down.

My guide and I wander around the structure for about an hour, taking in the hundreds of memorials to families, thousands of butter candles lit in honor of lost loved ones and look out onto a panoramic view of the giant Kathmandu Valley that houses one million residents.

After dropping off my guide at her home I ask the driver if he doesn't mind dropping me on the main road for some more sightseeing. I'm not ready to stop yet! After an hour or so of getting lost I finally make it to Kathmandu Durbar Square.

I take in a leisurely walk and kind of enjoy the lack of a tour guide.  I take time to just sit and people watch, marvel at a temple that is only open one day a year and peruse the rows of vendors selling trinkets.

After I've had my fill I walk home to Naxal and spend a good while attempting  to find what I assumed would be plentiful internet cafes- not so! I finally find a computer located in a shack in the back of some guy's house. The computer is old, slow and mosquitos swarm around me, but at about 25 cents per hour for internet, I don't complain.

After that I pick up some snacks at a local shop and head home for a traditional Tibetan dinner of noodles and water buffalo before heading to bed to get ready for my Himalayan mountain flight tomorrow.

Day 3: Kathmandu, Himalayas & Bhaktapur

I wake up today to some bad news: apparently the entire city of Kathmandu is striking in an attempt to get their constitution passed. While the cause is a worthy one, I get worried about the fate of my sightseeing. Luckily, mountain flight still run, though getting a cab to airport is a whole different matter. Cars aren't allowed on the road during a strike!

My friend's family manages to convince someone to take me (for a price) and I'm glad they did! While the flight was host to some very pushy European tourists, I still loved it! I mean, how often do you get to see Mount Everest! Amazing!

I return home by around 10:00am and wonder how I will pass the rest of my day, assuming that my scheduled tour to Bhaktapur is shot as a result of the strike. But, again, the wonders of staying with a local family works miracles. They manage to get a friend of theirs with a motorbike to take me to the sights. This is even better! I love seeing a city on the back of a motorbike. But, little did I know how adventurous that ride would get.

Apparently the strikers don't like motorbikes on the road either. In fact, for each of the SIX human barricades along the miles of freeway we passed, I had to smile and hope the protestors were friendly to tourists. Luckily, the strikers, once they saw my happy, visibly tourist face, would laugh, wave us by and even give me nods of approval for braving a motorbike sans helmet with a local behind the wheel.

Tallest pagoda in Nepal

Our first stop is the third city of Kathmandu Valley: Bhaktapur. I simply adore it! Because of the strike I get to see it in a nearly deserted state. I pass through pottery square, take in the tallest pagoda in Nepal and absorb the view.

 Next, my speed demon driver and I are off to Pashupati  Temple. There I experience my first cremation. While sitting by the river, I watch as six individuals are prepared for and taken through the steps of cremation out in the public eye. I am told that this happens daily. A bit transfixed by the scene, it is hard for me to move on to the surrounding temples, including one of the most sacred Hindu holy sites in Nepal. My guide and I wander for an hour or so before it's back on the bike to my most anticipated site: Boudhanath, one of the largest stupas in Nepal.

Boudhanath

It is sight to see and shops encircle the entire holy site. Monks stroll around its perimeter and children play amongst pigeons, creating a hectic, yet peaceful scene. What a way to end my stay in Kathmandu.

Day 4: Kathmandu -> Pokhara

Today starts early as I head out on my 8-hour journey to Pokhara, Nepal.  The overland journey by bus, while long, allows me to take in the landscape as it transitions for frenetic Kathmandu to rural countryside. But, the journey wasn't all fun and games. In an effort to keep my backpack from tumbling on top of my fellow travelers during the VERY turbulent ride I fall over, severely spraining my ankle in a very public fall. Ugh!

When I make it to the hotel, it's right to a rattan chair, beer in hand and ice on my ankle. What a first impression I made to the sweet hotel staff at the Lakeview Resort!

Day 5: Pokhara

Soooo... the strike has followed me from Kathmandu to Pokhara. I was lucky that the strike had lifted yesterday long enough for me to get to my new location, but now, here I am, restricted from the road. Now, this normally wouldn't be an issue in the quaint city of Pokhara, but I can do little more than hop along on one foot because of my injured ankle.

The hotel manager and I agree that a boat ride of Phewa Lake wouldn't stress my ankle too much and we rearrange my schedule to accommodate my injury and the political climate. The lake is amazing! I can even see the Himalayas in amazing clarity. Stunning! We even hop onto an island temple for a full view of the lake.

Lake Phewa

As my injury restricts me from doing much else, I spend the rest of the day experiencing a state of true relaxation that is very rare for me. I literally sit for hours at the outdoor hotel restaurant, reading, sipping Nepal Ice and chatting with the hotel staff and guests (all of whom are just fabulous!). This injury is making me quite popular here.

Day 6: Pokhara

I wake up early today (read: 4:00am) as per plans to see sunrise over Sarangkot. Alas, it is raining and the trip is cancelled. Also, there's still a strike! I do manage to snag a car to take me to the International Mountain Museum but am disappointed with it and return the hotel believing my sightseeing done for the day.

Luckily, I have befriended a resourceful guide and staff. We decide (despite my mending foot), to walk what we had previously planned to drive. That is how dedicated I am to travel!

A clothes-cleaning party at the river!

I start out slowly but my foot actually improves as the day goes on. On foot, my guide and I are able to take in local life in a way that driving couldn't. In fact, the strike was a blessing in disguise. I loved our three-hour hike that took us through a Tibetan refugee camp, Davi's Fall and Gupteshwar Mahadev Cave.

I spend the rest of the day shopping, eating out at local food joints and just loving Pokhara' relaxing vibe.


Day 7: Pokhara -> Kathmandu

In a last ditch effort to see sunrise over Sarangkot I am up for the third day in a row at 4:00am. Again, I see rain. I go back to sleep for a couple of hours before I take in my last breakfast in Pokhara, say goodbye to the hotel staff I've so enjoyed and head back to the tourist bus that treated me so poorly just a few days earlier.

Stuck in a river-road

 While I wasn't injured this time around, our bus did run into some trouble. The severe morning rains had caused part of our narrow, winding mountain road to literally wipe away. We are stuck for two hours as more than a hundred people attempt to push a different tourist bus out from a rushing river of road. It was a crazy, scary sight but luckily we all get out, albeit slightly later than expected.

I spend my last night in Kathmandu relaxing with my friend's family over dinner and reminiscing on my amazing Nepal trip.


Day 8: Kathmandu -> LAX

Crowded Kathmandu street corner

Of course my last day in Nepal would be another strike one. I manage to bribe a driver to take me to the airport for what will be a 43-hour journey home to California. Oh, but it was so worth it! This has been a trip of a lifetime.

* The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, its staff or affiliates.