Never Ending Peace And Love ...
Nepalis are BIG on acronyms. That and really corny sayings:
No Money, No Honey!
No hug? No love!
No wife, No Life!
and so on.
Yesterday, I toured the city with Sitram .. Since Ram had already taken me to the buddhist temple overlooking the Kathmandu Valley, Sitram and I visited several other temples and palace squares (durbar). It really feels as if I'm in a dream sequence, monkeys on telephone wires.. dogs freely roaming the streets, cows grazing on the side of the road .. on sidewalks .. rickety buses careening down narrow alleyways .. and all the colors! Neon green, yellow and pink, gold and silver, brown skin, light skin, black skin .. Buddhist mantra music wafting through the air, Nepali folk music chanted by locals -- Complete sensory overload.
We had lunch at a Newari restaurant in Patan (just outside Kathmandu). Bara (egg with lentil), Tibetan momos, and a disgusting barley beer from a barrel. I don't think i can stomach any more momos .. I've eaten them every day since I arrived in Lhasa .. and now in Nepal. They just like potstickers, but the ones in Lhasa were usually filled with Yak meat (mutton/goat-like).
After hearing from several people that if I wasn't wearing a bright yellow "tourist" backpack and toting a camera, I'd pass for a Nepali woman .. Sitram and I went to a fabric shop to buy me an outfit for 800 rupees (just over US$10). Then, he took me to a tailor where I was measured. Lastly, he helped me buy "lady shoes" since I've been wearing my hiking boots from Tibet. When I asked him if he'd ever helped a tourist do something like this, he replied "No, but it's good practice for my future wife!" Haha. Tonight, I'm going to attend the biggest Women's festival in Nepal at a local temple wearing my outfit. I'm so excited!
Today, my driver took me up into the mountains, Nagarkot, where there are supposed to be views of the Himalayas. Since its monsoon season, it was raining all morning and fog covered the mountain side. I hung out at a local internet cafe (slowest connection) and started chatting with the guy running the place. After my lunch of dal bhat (my right hand is permanently stained yellow from lentils), I went in search of my driver. Internet cafe guy offered to help me find him ON HIS MOTORBIKE!!!! It was fantastic! I climbed onto the back of his bike and we sped along the mountain roads in the rain.
I'm now in Bhaktapur, about 20km outside of Kathmandu. I should be walking around and taking pics .. but I'm a little tired and my feet are blistered. I purchased another pair of "lady shoes" from a local cobbler for around US$2.
Alright, signing out! I need to find a computer to upload pics from Lhasa. I've visited so many buddhist stupas here in Nepal, and learned more about Tibetan Buddhism than when I was in Tibet.
I feel like I've left my heart in Tibet :(
(OH! I just remembered something really funny about Beijing! Every man, woman and child knows John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Road". It's like the national anthem - next to anything by the Backstreet Boys. Someone was telling me that while he was in Inner Mongolia, he was at a bar and when "Take Me Home" came on, everyone there started singing along.)
No Money, No Honey!
No hug? No love!
No wife, No Life!
and so on.
Yesterday, I toured the city with Sitram .. Since Ram had already taken me to the buddhist temple overlooking the Kathmandu Valley, Sitram and I visited several other temples and palace squares (durbar). It really feels as if I'm in a dream sequence, monkeys on telephone wires.. dogs freely roaming the streets, cows grazing on the side of the road .. on sidewalks .. rickety buses careening down narrow alleyways .. and all the colors! Neon green, yellow and pink, gold and silver, brown skin, light skin, black skin .. Buddhist mantra music wafting through the air, Nepali folk music chanted by locals -- Complete sensory overload.
We had lunch at a Newari restaurant in Patan (just outside Kathmandu). Bara (egg with lentil), Tibetan momos, and a disgusting barley beer from a barrel. I don't think i can stomach any more momos .. I've eaten them every day since I arrived in Lhasa .. and now in Nepal. They just like potstickers, but the ones in Lhasa were usually filled with Yak meat (mutton/goat-like).
After hearing from several people that if I wasn't wearing a bright yellow "tourist" backpack and toting a camera, I'd pass for a Nepali woman .. Sitram and I went to a fabric shop to buy me an outfit for 800 rupees (just over US$10). Then, he took me to a tailor where I was measured. Lastly, he helped me buy "lady shoes" since I've been wearing my hiking boots from Tibet. When I asked him if he'd ever helped a tourist do something like this, he replied "No, but it's good practice for my future wife!" Haha. Tonight, I'm going to attend the biggest Women's festival in Nepal at a local temple wearing my outfit. I'm so excited!
Today, my driver took me up into the mountains, Nagarkot, where there are supposed to be views of the Himalayas. Since its monsoon season, it was raining all morning and fog covered the mountain side. I hung out at a local internet cafe (slowest connection) and started chatting with the guy running the place. After my lunch of dal bhat (my right hand is permanently stained yellow from lentils), I went in search of my driver. Internet cafe guy offered to help me find him ON HIS MOTORBIKE!!!! It was fantastic! I climbed onto the back of his bike and we sped along the mountain roads in the rain.
I'm now in Bhaktapur, about 20km outside of Kathmandu. I should be walking around and taking pics .. but I'm a little tired and my feet are blistered. I purchased another pair of "lady shoes" from a local cobbler for around US$2.
Alright, signing out! I need to find a computer to upload pics from Lhasa. I've visited so many buddhist stupas here in Nepal, and learned more about Tibetan Buddhism than when I was in Tibet.
I feel like I've left my heart in Tibet :(
(OH! I just remembered something really funny about Beijing! Every man, woman and child knows John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Road". It's like the national anthem - next to anything by the Backstreet Boys. Someone was telling me that while he was in Inner Mongolia, he was at a bar and when "Take Me Home" came on, everyone there started singing along.)
posted by charm at 2:48 AM
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