Namaskaar Nepal!

After living here for a month, we've had a chance to form a stronger impression of the country and it's people. We have been impressed by the warmth & chattiness of the people, especially in the villages; and the simple way of life there, where people eat what they grow and the sense of community is very strong. But there are a few things that our western brains find hard to understand and/or accept about Nepal:

1. Garbage. In fact, since we arrived in Jordan we've been a bit horrified by the laisse-faire attitude people have towards their rubbish. Here, it's perfectly normal to eat a bag of chips and throw the package on the ground as you walk. The kids are surprised when we pick up their discarded packaging and tell them we're taking it to the bin. In fact, we're not too sure what happens to the rubbish in the bin at the school...there is certainly no collection system here, and there doesn't even appear to be one in the cities. The rivers are clogged with plastic, foil and other rubbish. And about 90% of it is packaging, so it's a relatively new issue – one which is actually a problem around the world.
2. Castes. Every Nepali belongs to a caste. The caste determines how you should behave and who you should associate with. For example, Untouchables are not allowed to visit the homes of those with a higher caste – that's everyone else – and Brahmans (the priest caste) are not supposed to drink or smoke. Even if people don't identify your caste immediately from how you look, they'll figure it out very quickly from your surname. There is no escaping the restrictions or expectations imposed on you by the caste system. It seems inherently unfair, especially for people from the lower castes who will have less opportunity and suffer from more prejudice. And that leads us to....
3. Bandhs. The current series of strikes is largely due to different castes calling for autonomy for their people. This is because the new constitution is expected to create ethnic states which will be self-governing in some respects (see point #2 for some pretty obvious issues with this idea). But the actual bandh is a really weird thing – groups of men & boys gather at key points (intersections, main roads) and threaten or attack anyone who is travelling in a motorized vehicle. They also attack shopkeepers who dare to open their shops on a bandh (“shutdown”) day. Schools are often closed as well. However, government offices remain open. What exactly is this shutdown meant to achieve? It is crippling for small businesses, including the entrepreneurial groups of bus and boat owners, and generally stops local people from getting anything done...but surely it is intended as a message to the government, who are in fact the least affected!

But that's enough about our opinions, because we do understand that we are just visitors here, and every issue has many sides.  We couldn't hope to have a proper understanding of Nepali life after a few brief weeks!

Our last few days were spent in Kathmandu, awaiting the outcome of the Constitutional Assembly's decisions - we didn't want to risk getting stuck somewhere if it all kicked off and there was an extended bandh.  It was creepily quiet in Thamel compared to our previous visit, and we read that many tourists had cancelled their trips because of the current political situation.  That came as a surprise to us - after all, we had been only mindly inconvenienced and certainly never felt any threat from the bandhs - and we wondered how it had been reported in the international news.  In the end, they couldn't agree on the final clauses of the constitution.  The federal state identities were the main sticking point - half of the assembly wanted ethnicity-based states, and the other half emphatically did not - which seemed to actually reflect the opinions of the many local people we discussed this with.  How they'll ever reach a consensus/compromise, I don't know.  And meanwhile, the temporary constitution has expired with no replacement....the Assembly is still acting as government, but with no real power to do so...and the Prime Minister called an election for November, which he was not actually authorised to do!  But at least the bandhs came to an end (for now!), including the record-breaking month-long bandh in the westernmost state.

Manjil was still at his father's house in Kathmandu - apparently working hard on writing & publishing a book! - and we had the great pleasure of going with him & his dad to Mahesh's family restaurant.  It's a good thing they were driving because the place proved practically impossible to find!  It's tucked into a residential neighbourhood and we had to ask several times for directions, and in the last stretch Manjil led us there on foot.  Well, Mahesh did say that his dad had spontaneously decided to open a restaurant in their house and that's exactly what it looked like!  It was a great set-up, with small rooms off a courtyard, and was perfect for a group of friends or business colleagues to have a gathering.  And the food was absolutely DELICIOUS - a perfect goat curry cooked in a small pot, plus a range of salads & nibbles to go with it and a tasty yogurty drink to wash it all down.  No rice (which seemed odd) but it was so filling that we didn't need any, and we could better appreciate the flavours without the rice to dilute them.

Then we (just the two of us) walked to the west side of the city to see the Swayambhu Temple, actually a series of temples and small monasteries built on the top of one of Kathmandu's hills.  It's better to check out the pictures as words won't really do it justice!  It's a beautiful place with a stunning view over the city (worth the steep climb - clever, though, how they hide the ticket booth at the top of the stairs!), and has a wonderful air of peace & serenity despite being quite busy.  We met some cute monkeys, walked clockwise around a temple & spun some prayer wheels, and chatted to one of the local painters (who had some beautiful work - if we can find her card we'll add her name here).  On the way back down, Lisa bought some embroidery thread from another artist to replenish her supply of bracelet-making materials.

For dinner, we went to the Green Organic Cafe.  This gets a mention not only because of the delicious salad with yak cheese and cashews (big enough to share, after our filling lunch), but also because they insisted that we take their discount card.  When we had lunch at the Farmers Bar upstairs on our final day in Nepal, we got 1/3 off our bill which was a great help since we didn't have much Nepali money left!

We also took a day trip to Bhaktapur, one of the old Nepali capitals, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Finding the correct bus to get there was a bit of an adventure, involving a giant junction/roundabout and the assistance of several locals to find which side of the junction was actually the bus stop (there really is no such thing in Nepal, no matter what the guidebooks might say!).  Then the bus sat motionless in traffic for ages, with small children practically leaping through the window to get Lisa's attention - and they hoped, her money.  They may have learned a few less than polite English words that day, but one of the more insistent ones did in fact turn out to have a good sense of humour!

The bus journey was worth it though, as the city was much smaller and less crowded than Kathmandu, and it was easy to chat to people as we strolled around in the heat.  We saw another large temple complex, and stopped to try the city's famous curd (Chris had planned this trip - now we could see how he chose that particular destination!).  Lisa noticed that many of the women were knitting, often in groups, which looked like a nice way to pass the time & stock up the local shops with socks & hats for winter!  Lisa tried on one of the traditional outfits to see if it would be a cooler clothing option - but it didn't really seem to be, although it was comfortable.  Finally we took a break in Himalyan Java, the Nepali equivalent of Starbucks.  We sat at one of the two tiny tables and drank elaborate coffee shakes.  On our way back to find the bus, we passed an ancient, derelict temple with a praying statue in front of it.  Someone had tied a scarf or sheet around the statue's head.  A local person told us that the temple had been very important historically, but as different gods came into popularity it was left to fall to ruin & had never been restored.  We had noticed the same about many of the shrines in this city & others - there are so many, it's impossible to maintain them all so it's only the active ones - or those deemed important by tourists and their money - that are in good condition.

On our final evening in Nepal, we were invited to make momos (tasty little dumplings) with Manjil's stepmother and her neighbour (a momo expert  ;-)  ).  We did our best but I think our talent may lie in eating them, rather than making them!  It must take some practice to pinch dough so evenly...  We washed down plate after plate with some Nepali whiskey (finally, after seeing ads for a dozen different brands!).  Unfortunately the whiskey didn't cure Lisa's sore throat, which she attributed to too much time spent at the busy, fume-y bus station - and Kathmandu's general high air pollution.

The momo crew

A couple of things to remember:  

• one tap on the bus roof means stop, two or multiple taps means go go go!
• the kids coming in to school with chopped bits of fruit in their water bottles
• use your thumb to push the rice & food up to your fingertips to eat!
• (and maybe more added later....)

See you later, Nepal - you're in our hearts now and I'm sure we'll be back!


p.s. the airport is worth a mention, as the smallest international airport we've ever seen.  There was no running water that day, and the decor was straight out of 1970.  We all waited in the same small area, entertained by some Indian dramas on the TV (someone always dies in these, and the male hero is always impossibly perfect with flowing hair  ;-) ), bought overpriced coffee with our remaining Nepali money (useless outside of the country), and had a little nap.  Suddenly, the security guards came through and said that the waiting area was closing, and we should all go to our flight departure gates.  So we all cleared out simultaneously and they turned out the lights behind us.  Luckily it was not long before our flight, but what do they do if a plane is late??