Nepal
- hkitchstewart
- Jun 25, 2019
- 11 min read
Months ago I made a promise to myself, that while I was this close to India, I should try to get my 200 hr yoga teacher certification. Not only to deepen my yoga practice but also because I’ve enjoyed teaching in Thailand. I want to continue to teach when I return to the U.S.A. The yoga course in India did not begin until the end of March. Therefore I had two weeks to travel between Thailand and India. I have numerous options on my travel bucket list. However, I’ve heard great things about Nepal, and I was looking for a place where I could slowly integrate into the South Asian culture.
My great uncle and namesake, Job Kitchin Savage traveled to Nepal in the 70’s and then wrote a book “ From “Tarrboro to Kathmandu”, a tribute to him and to my wanderlust, I decided to begin in Kathmandu.
I had originally booked a solo two-week trip to Nepal. Beginning in Kathmandu and then traveling to Chitwan National Park. I wanted to work in a conservation program and to teach English at a local orphanage. I was going to live with a local family and commute to the village every day for my lessons and work-study. However, my partner, Trevor was able to join me three weeks before my trip embarked. Trevor and I both scrambled to get him into the same conservation program and host family within Chitwan. We went through a feeder program called Global Crossroads, that then connected us to a Kathmandu host, who then connected us with a Chitwan coordinator. Trevor and I would have planned things different if we had known he was going to join me in Nepal from the beginning. Our two weeks together were a mixture of the solo trip I had planned and visiting/traveling. We were able to meet some of the connections he had made last fall when he went to Nepal.
My two-week volunteering/conversation program ended up being cut down to only 1 week, with the additional travels. However, in hindsight, I wouldn’t change a thing about our trip as we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. But we managed to enjoy it much more than our trip to Indonesia and Singapore last fall.
As luck would have it my flight was on-time and Trevor's was three hours late, which put us arriving at the exact same time at the Kathmandu airport. Entering the airport is oddly like entering REI. While it’s very small, with dirty carpet and 8 visa kiosks (that were constructed in the 1990s). The number of western tourists packed around said kiosks are all decked out in their fanciest climbing gear, most likely to go on a Himalayan trek, maybe even Mt. Everest. Trevor’s local friend Amit met us outside the airport and bartered with a cab driver in fast Nepali, arguing for the best price. Because of my journey back, to the U.S.A I have a large and inconvenient suitcase. The cab driver struggled to put this monster into the back of his cab, the cab was the size of an enclosed golf cart. Trevor handed me a very stylish face mask. We crammed ourselves into the existing space left in the cab. As the car started, Nepali music blasted, our driver threw the car into reverse and whipped us out of the airport swerving around taxis, people, and wandering livestock. Kathmandu was much cooler than Thailand, it was mid-day and in the ’60s. The air in Kathmandu is always a little bit dusty, so lots of people walk around with face-masks. The breeze whips the dust into the air and covers everything in a thin layer. The streets are crowded and there is an everlasting amount of rubble throughout the city from the 2014 earthquake. Due to a large amount of government corruption the city has not been rebuilt to its original splendor.
Trevor and I spent the next day in Kathmandu, we went to a local school performance with his friend Amit. From what I understood Amit serves as a liaison between many schools within Kathmandu and greater Nepal working for the British Council. We got to meet and chat with a variety of students, all of them were excited to speak English.
Afterward, we climbed to the top of Swaymbhunath, also known as the monkey temple. We looked out over the city and also enjoyed, mo-mo’s which are like empanadas with a delicious tangy sauce. The waiter placed our mo-mo’s, tea, and beer on the table. Followed by a long metal broomstick with a rusty jagged end and instructed in a thick accent “use this if the monkeys come.” We laughed but several minutes later, the monkeys did come. I even saw the silhouette of a tiny monkey paw on the hard plastic window behind Trevor. The restaurant waiter appeared out of nowhere with a slingshot and began shooting monkeys with tiny bits of balled up paper. He said he never uses rocks, we found that questionable.
That evening we enjoyed a nice dinner with Amit and family at his home. We had a smattering of Nepali snacks and dinner, which is by far Trevor’s favorite food. Dahl Baht—meaning rice and lentils is traditionally severed for every meal. Nepali only eat two meals a day, but they have several tea times in-between meals. Amit helped us make arrangements to go to Kavrey, a small village northeast of Kathmandu. The next morning, we moved my monster bag to a hostel, that was in connection with our Chitwan volunteering program and then took a 2-day trip up into the Himalayans. Trevor had previously connected with the Kavrey’s local principal and organic farmer Keshav Sir. I could tell Keshav was extremely excited to hear from Trevor again. I could hear his joyful bellows as him and Amit chatted in Nepali over the phone. Keshav arranged for his son to meet us in a neighboring city, Bhaktapur. Our travel to Bhaktapur was my first Nepali bus ride experience. Trevor and I wandered over to the bus area, which was a dusty street with several unmarked buses. Bus attendants were hanging on the side of buses yelling, almost like an auctioneer, the destination city. This yelling was over, over, and over. The buses continued to creep down the street and people motioned for the attendant to stop, then crammed themselves onto the bus. Trevor and I were lucky, we were the first people on the bus and were able to get seats. As we drove the bus continued to pick up more and more people. Slowly, people were crammed in every cranny of the bus. I saw other packed buses, where the bus attendant/auctioneer was hanging onto the outside of the window on the bus. All while continuing to advertise the destination. During this bus ride Trevor realized his affinity for my pink pineapple scarf, really he uses it as sun protection, but I could also tell he probably had fashion intentions behind his choice.
We arrived in Bhaktapur and met up with Keshav son’s, Gri Bendra. The three of us crammed into another small taxi and began the uphill drive into the mountains. The roads throughout Nepal are poorly constructed and maintained. This is common everywhere, especially because Kathmandu is prone to earthquakes, things become damaged and then no funding remedies the situation. Majority of roads are dirt paths. Think massive potshots, erosion, steep cliffs, livestock, villagers walking, and a slew of other cars. Everyone is honking. Non-stop. The drive took us about 2.5 hours to reach the destination. We then had to travel on foot down into the village. The walk was another hour and a half. While I thought I had packed light and was physically ready for this hike. My shoes were cheap converse knockoffs my bag was about 25 pounds and the terrain was that of a mountain cliff slip-in-slide. Trevor was having a blast with is 3-pound bag and mountain boots. I, however, was extremely slow, yet determined not to ask either of the guys to carry my bag, even though they both begged for me to hand it over. Eventually, as the sun set, it became extremely dark on the “short cuts” we were taking down the mountain. Gri-Bendra kept making jokes about how at sunset it became “tiger time” in an effort to speed me up. Yes, there are wild tigers in this area. When we finally arrived it was almost 8 o'clock. Keshav and his wife welcomed us with open arms. They brought us into their home which was built right into the side of a mountain. We sat down and enjoyed our first dahl baht and buffalo milk.
The next morning, I could really see the beauty of the Himalayans. Keshav wakes up at sunrise and goes to milk his cows, he then will walk up to the village shop and sell the milk. His wife walks through the house blessing it with several chants, water, and red pigment. Keshav’s mother and father live next door and we could hear the peaceful chants from his parents, as the sun shed light over the mountain valley. We sat outside with chai tea and cookies for breakfast, around 9 we had our lunch, dahl baht, and then we took off for the 45-minute uphill hike to the school where Keshav is the principal. The hike to the school was more of these “short cuts” which really were carved into the side of the mountain. I felt a bit ridiculous with my hiking struggles. As I saw several 60 plus Nepali women making the same climb with a large bag of hay balanced on their heads.
We reached the school, which had a spectacular view of the Himalayans. A new section of the school was being constructed. Trevor and I went into several classes, where children were working on their morning lessons. These classrooms were open air with dirt floors, there was a chicken that was walking in and out of the classrooms. The kids were excited to see Trevor as last year he had brought several of the city kids from Amit’s school in Kathmandu to the tiny mountain village.
That afternoon we headed back down the mountain. Taking less short cuts, because I was still having a hard time adjusting to the steepness. Trevor and I were lucky! We were invited to a Nepali wedding ceremony, we joined in on the 2nd day of the celebrations. As the first day is dedicated to preparing the bride as well as the vowels. The 2nd day is the celebration. We enjoyed delicious food inside a large multicolored tent and listened to the live Nepali band which had several trumpets, flutes, and clarinets. There was also some intense drumming.
We spent the evening back at Keshav's house and I was able to paint one of the many natural rhododendron flowers that were blooming around the mountains. Trevor and Gri-Bendra had climbed a tree to pick me one. On the hike back down the beautiful flower became quiet beat up, from my constant falling. That night we enjoyed another dahl baht and then we both fell asleep. I went to sleep from “short cut” exhaustion but Trevor passed on in an open mouth slumber from the jet lag he was still experiencing.
The next morning we headed back to Kathmandu. This included another hour walk into the village and a 2-hour bus ride. It was another packed to the brim situation, where Trevor, Gri-Bendra, and I clung to each other in a huddle. The bus auctioneer literally climbed in through the window, to enter into the bus it was so full. Then I got motion sick. In which I took a Dramamine and then passed out in a coma state until we arrived back in Kathmandu (Yes, Jovanna I tried to go to a happy place). I took the coldest shower I had ever experienced in the hostel we stayed at (it was around 50 degrees outside) The following morning we grabbed an early bus to Chitwan.
The bus ride was about 5 hours but we had paid and reserved our seats. There was even ac and plenty of other westerners on the bus. No people packing was allowed.
When we arrived in Chitwan we realized that the national park was really an hour away from where we would be working. We were introduced to our hostel family, a local farmer Birab, his wife India, and their two sons, one of the sons wives and the most adorable baby. Birab also had a daughter that was a teacher at the orphanage, she was already married and therefore lived with her husbands family. Our room was basic but comfortable, we washed in an outdoor shower and used a bucket flush toilet. There was a large hand pump sink but also an electrical component. In Nepal, the power goes out frequently.
Birabs family lived in a small but comfortable house about a 10-minute walk from the orphanage and school. Behind the orphanage was a small garden Birab had constructed. This garden provided fresh vegetables to the orphans. For the next week, Trevor and I worked in the garden along with two other volunteers Larga and Valentino. We mostly cleared out old crops, yet we did do some seed sewing. Trevor and I lived like Nepali for the majority of the week. We did sneak a few beers in town and of course some mo-mo’s. We really enjoyed this family and we both hope to return to Chitwan one day, especially because of the new cricket stadium being built in Birab’s front yard. From Trevor’s connection to the coffee trade in Kavrey, we think that Birab could open up his own shop selling his own coffee to the many tourists that are bound to come to the new stadium.
In Nepali, you are given a Nepali nickname. Birab named Trevor and I Krishna and Radha. As Krishna is the blue hindu god that is commonly depicted throughout hinduism playing a flute as he herds cows. He is the god of compassion, tenderness and love in Hindism (haha Trevor). Radha is his female counterpart, while a goddess in her own right she is a playful adventurer.
After our week with the host family. We went to Chitwan National Park for two nights. Chitwan was definitely a touristy area, but I loved it. After eating dahl baht (which is also delicious, but I wanted variety) for the entire week I was so excited to eat a salad. When we arrived for our all-inclusive hotel package, we were given two gigantic portions of creamed pasta. Trevor and I both ate in relish, but then immediately felt sick and actually asked for dahl baht for the rest our meals (except breakfast), because well…. our bodies had become used to eating it, and its really the best thing you can order while in Nepal. In Chitwan, there is very common elephant riding. Which I fully do not support, especially for tourism purposes. In Chitwan cars, bicycles, tiny tuk tuks, and elephants all shared the road.
The all-inclusive package in Chitwan included a half day jungle walk and half day jeep safari. I geared up my DSLR. Trevor and I took a 6 a.m. canoe ride around the outskirts of the national park. We saw tons of kingfisher birds and several crocodiles. Chitwan has two types of crocodiles the mugger and the gharial. The gharial crocodile has an elongated razor snout, we were able to go to a gharial preserve within the park. We learned that this type of crocodile that is on the red list for extinction. The preserve had one massive male crocodile in a large pool with about 15 female crocodiles. There were about 15 other smaller pools with tons of baby crocodiles. The crocodiles have to be around 15 years old before the Rangers can tell their sex. Right now, there are only 3 known male gharial crocodiles. One gharial is in the preserve with his 15 ladies, the other two are somewhere in the wild national park. You can tell the difference between the males and females by the male's bulbous snout.
We didn’t see much on our jungle walk, even though we did come across a tree that was malled by a Bengal tiger or sloth bear, it clearly freaked out our tour guide. On our jungle safari, we saw rhinos, sloth bears, and peacocks. It was really an amazing experience to see these animals in the wild.
After Chitwan Trevor and I returned to Kathmandu for a few days and explored the Thamel district. We searched far and wide for coffee, for gifting to family and friends. However, we had no avail. We also toured a really neat museum and the Boudha Stupa.
We then left the following day for a short trip to India. We were able to visit Agra together before I embarked on my journey north to study yoga for a month. More on India later.
New photos and sketches in the drop downs.
With love Felicia.
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