I have been in Kathmandu 2 days no. I miscalculated my time here. I have too much time. So I take it slow. I could go somewhere else for a couple of days but I am lazy ;)
It's been nice so far tho. I bumped into Dasha yesterday. I saw Nabim again, and this morning I had breakfast with Cristina and Jordi, the Spanish couple from Chitwan. They are also staying at Tibet Peace Guesthouse.
To fill my day I walk through the streets of the city and observe life around me. The days start very slowly here. Shops open late. There is a lot less traffic which is nice. Less noise from the constant honking and also less dust in the air, not like at 5pm when it is complete chaos with cars, people, motorbike and cows fighting they way around.
Because Nepal is very poor, the roads are in a bad state, half broken and filled with potholes.
Kathmandu is a lot closer to India than the rest of the country. Outside of Thamel, the tourist area which is fairly clean with pavement, poverty is visible in all corners. Some streets are very dirty. Yesterday, as I was coming back from a visit to the Monkey temple ( I stopped by a very nice Buddhist monastery on the way where the monks were chanting: beautiful and so peaceful), I decided to start taking pisctures of the ugly side of the country. Crossing a bridge I took pictures of the river bank covered with plastic bag. The water is so polluted no fish can live and the smell is very strong. Yuk!
This morning I passed by a very skinny and dirty woman sleeping on the road by a temple. This is not what the whole country is but it is there and I want to show the true version of this trip. It is fantastic, but it is not all pretty.
Still we don't reach the levels of dirtiness you can find in a lot more places in India.
Since I am in a more descriptive mode today, I should mention certain facts that I learned from the Nepalese people I met.
Again people are poor here and they often have to go work abroad for a few years and send money back home to support their families. This is the case for the 2 guides I had in Chitwan and the great waiter of the guesthouse there.. They worked in India and Malaysia for a while. The waiter explained to me that in Malaysia he had to leave for 5 years and was only allowed to return to Nepal once during that time.. On the other end he was able to visit Bangkok for pleasure.
It is interesting that even with the hardship, they mostly talk about the positive side of things. It seems to be the way people look at life in Nepal. Always positive. Most of the people involved in tourism seem to really enjoy it. They love meeting foreigners. Twice I heard them saying "It's OK if we can not travel the world, because the world comes to us". I like this line :)
I learned also ( that only applies to Hindus) that most people's first name are not their "official" names. 15 days after they are born (I think), the Lama (priest) comes to give them a name which will be their registered names for birth certificates, passport, etc.. But the name that every body uses to call them is given by the community they live in. It is a more simple one and most of the time nobodies knows your "registered" name.
Another thing I learned is that in case of the death of one parent, the first son becomes responsible for the whole family, the education of their siblings, etc.. So they have to start working and earn money for the rest of the family. This is the case for Nabim, the waiter and the manager of Chitwan Gaida Lodge. This is also why they often have to go work abroad. This is a very big responsibility they have and accept as part of the rule of their culture.
One last thing. Like in India, when 2 people get married, the wife moves in with the husband family (parents and sibling all under one roof).
There is also a cast system in Nepal, but it is rapidly changing because of modern ideas , but also because the government majority is Maoist and they do not recognize the cast system instated by the monarchy before: Nepal was a monarchy until 4 years ago in constant conflict with the Maoist the decade before.
Nabim is from a lower cast than his wife, and they had to run away to get married. For 2 years after, his family in law didn't want anything to do with them anymore. But it changed with the birth of their daughter. She is 14 now and they also have a 9 years old boy. Nabim is 35 and his wife younger.
OK, that's it for today, I have to go meet Nabim for dinner and see him play with his band later.
It's been nice so far tho. I bumped into Dasha yesterday. I saw Nabim again, and this morning I had breakfast with Cristina and Jordi, the Spanish couple from Chitwan. They are also staying at Tibet Peace Guesthouse.To fill my day I walk through the streets of the city and observe life around me. The days start very slowly here. Shops open late. There is a lot less traffic which is nice. Less noise from the constant honking and also less dust in the air, not like at 5pm when it is complete chaos with cars, people, motorbike and cows fighting they way around.
Because Nepal is very poor, the roads are in a bad state, half broken and filled with potholes.
Kathmandu is a lot closer to India than the rest of the country. Outside of Thamel, the tourist area which is fairly clean with pavement, poverty is visible in all corners. Some streets are very dirty. Yesterday, as I was coming back from a visit to the Monkey temple ( I stopped by a very nice Buddhist monastery on the way where the monks were chanting: beautiful and so peaceful), I decided to start taking pisctures of the ugly side of the country. Crossing a bridge I took pictures of the river bank covered with plastic bag. The water is so polluted no fish can live and the smell is very strong. Yuk!
This morning I passed by a very skinny and dirty woman sleeping on the road by a temple. This is not what the whole country is but it is there and I want to show the true version of this trip. It is fantastic, but it is not all pretty.
Still we don't reach the levels of dirtiness you can find in a lot more places in India.
Since I am in a more descriptive mode today, I should mention certain facts that I learned from the Nepalese people I met.
Again people are poor here and they often have to go work abroad for a few years and send money back home to support their families. This is the case for the 2 guides I had in Chitwan and the great waiter of the guesthouse there.. They worked in India and Malaysia for a while. The waiter explained to me that in Malaysia he had to leave for 5 years and was only allowed to return to Nepal once during that time.. On the other end he was able to visit Bangkok for pleasure.
It is interesting that even with the hardship, they mostly talk about the positive side of things. It seems to be the way people look at life in Nepal. Always positive. Most of the people involved in tourism seem to really enjoy it. They love meeting foreigners. Twice I heard them saying "It's OK if we can not travel the world, because the world comes to us". I like this line :)
I learned also ( that only applies to Hindus) that most people's first name are not their "official" names. 15 days after they are born (I think), the Lama (priest) comes to give them a name which will be their registered names for birth certificates, passport, etc.. But the name that every body uses to call them is given by the community they live in. It is a more simple one and most of the time nobodies knows your "registered" name.
Another thing I learned is that in case of the death of one parent, the first son becomes responsible for the whole family, the education of their siblings, etc.. So they have to start working and earn money for the rest of the family. This is the case for Nabim, the waiter and the manager of Chitwan Gaida Lodge. This is also why they often have to go work abroad. This is a very big responsibility they have and accept as part of the rule of their culture.
One last thing. Like in India, when 2 people get married, the wife moves in with the husband family (parents and sibling all under one roof).
There is also a cast system in Nepal, but it is rapidly changing because of modern ideas , but also because the government majority is Maoist and they do not recognize the cast system instated by the monarchy before: Nepal was a monarchy until 4 years ago in constant conflict with the Maoist the decade before.
Nabim is from a lower cast than his wife, and they had to run away to get married. For 2 years after, his family in law didn't want anything to do with them anymore. But it changed with the birth of their daughter. She is 14 now and they also have a 9 years old boy. Nabim is 35 and his wife younger.
OK, that's it for today, I have to go meet Nabim for dinner and see him play with his band later.
This the making of momos, some sort of ravioli stuffed with veggies, meat or cheese. Then there are stimmed or fried.
