Almost 2 weeks ago now, Veena, Janene, Mathanke, and I finally got out of Kathmandu Valley. Just in case it hasn't come across my previous posts yet, Kathmandu is not one of my favorite cities. While Nepal has lots of natural beauty, it gets lost in Kathmandu. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of history here and the intersection of Buddhism and Hinduism is beautiful, but there are some issues that drive me nuts.
Public health, sanitation, street cleaning, social welfare, hygiene, and respect for pedestrians in addition to many other things are scarce. Crossing the street is a competition against cars, taxis, motorcycles, rickshaws, and sometimes even animals. There are no crosslights or sidewalks. Cross lights were put in years ago, but no one seems to recall why or when they stopped working. Given the load shedding, they'd be a problem even if they were working. Vehicle maintenance isn't regulated and the city is consistently polluted, so I wear a scarf over my face on my way to work. People don't use trashcans or bags, they throw their trash on the streets and the garbage men come with shovels and throw it into a truck. The trash falls back out into the streets as the truck drives away. Some people choose to burn their trash, so on our way home we'll often pass street fires.
Meat markets seem to be on every corner, and the smell of dried, old, fresh, buffalo, and chicken blood permeates the air. Hordes of dogs rule the streets, but they sleep all day, so at night the packs wake you up at night as 1 bark triggers an all out war among the homeless dogs. Like in India (or so I am told), people drive with their horn. It's so annoying as it never stops. I especially hate when they honk in my ear. It doesn't do anything, but everyone does it. If it's not a honking horn or a dog you hear, then it's a man or a woman walking by, hacking, and spitting. EVERYONE from the lil old grandma to the 10 year old boy does it.
So, you get an idea of why I was excited to get out of the city. I still love the people and the experience, but I also wanted to write about the daily annoyances, as I overlook that when I talk about all the other fantastically awesomeness of Nepal.
In search of fresh air, peace, quiet, space, and relaxation we took a 7 hour bus to Chitwan. We arrived at Island Jungle Resort and were greeted with wet towels to wipe the dust and a cold lemony concoction we quickly inhaled. About 30 min later, we were on an elephant safari. The rest is history. We went on jungle walks, bird walks, and jungle safaris. We met some amazingly awesome people. There was this great British couple who I hope to see again in Spain. We met up with them again in Kathmandu and they took us out to dinner! There was a Vietnamese lady and her daughter who had just come back from Everest after not being able to completely finish because of altitude sickness. There was also a Chilean couple traveling through India and Nepal as they head to London for Masters degrees. I'll let the photos tell the stories about Chitwan, but I truly enjoyed my time there.
Since heading home things have been good. I feel like I know the city better and have places that I love to go to. My favorite restaurant is in Thamel and it's called OR2K (Light to Kathmandu). It's a Mediterranean veggie place that I love because I can eat veggies and other yummy goodness.There's this awesome yoga studio I only recently found which has been a great outlet given that any sort of outside exercise is a no no due to traffic and pollution. We've become great friends with each other and some of the residents so things at the hospital have been a bit better. There are some really awesome things people are doing here, from teaching in rural areas, putting toilet in schools, and teaching blind people to be amazing masseuses (seeinghands.org). I've very been much an observer of what everyone else is contributing and have done little. I've learned that I need to speak the language if I want to be independent and a leader and really contribute something that'll result in positive changes.
After Chitwan, I've explored the Kathmandu Durbar Sq, Pashupatinath, and Boudhnath, but I'll tell you about those later. I have to go to sleep now though, as I wake up in 4 hours to catch my flight to Lukla, where I'll be hiking Everest Base Camp ;) Enough venting. Back to positive Marlene.
Public health, sanitation, street cleaning, social welfare, hygiene, and respect for pedestrians in addition to many other things are scarce. Crossing the street is a competition against cars, taxis, motorcycles, rickshaws, and sometimes even animals. There are no crosslights or sidewalks. Cross lights were put in years ago, but no one seems to recall why or when they stopped working. Given the load shedding, they'd be a problem even if they were working. Vehicle maintenance isn't regulated and the city is consistently polluted, so I wear a scarf over my face on my way to work. People don't use trashcans or bags, they throw their trash on the streets and the garbage men come with shovels and throw it into a truck. The trash falls back out into the streets as the truck drives away. Some people choose to burn their trash, so on our way home we'll often pass street fires.
Meat markets seem to be on every corner, and the smell of dried, old, fresh, buffalo, and chicken blood permeates the air. Hordes of dogs rule the streets, but they sleep all day, so at night the packs wake you up at night as 1 bark triggers an all out war among the homeless dogs. Like in India (or so I am told), people drive with their horn. It's so annoying as it never stops. I especially hate when they honk in my ear. It doesn't do anything, but everyone does it. If it's not a honking horn or a dog you hear, then it's a man or a woman walking by, hacking, and spitting. EVERYONE from the lil old grandma to the 10 year old boy does it.
So, you get an idea of why I was excited to get out of the city. I still love the people and the experience, but I also wanted to write about the daily annoyances, as I overlook that when I talk about all the other fantastically awesomeness of Nepal.
In search of fresh air, peace, quiet, space, and relaxation we took a 7 hour bus to Chitwan. We arrived at Island Jungle Resort and were greeted with wet towels to wipe the dust and a cold lemony concoction we quickly inhaled. About 30 min later, we were on an elephant safari. The rest is history. We went on jungle walks, bird walks, and jungle safaris. We met some amazingly awesome people. There was this great British couple who I hope to see again in Spain. We met up with them again in Kathmandu and they took us out to dinner! There was a Vietnamese lady and her daughter who had just come back from Everest after not being able to completely finish because of altitude sickness. There was also a Chilean couple traveling through India and Nepal as they head to London for Masters degrees. I'll let the photos tell the stories about Chitwan, but I truly enjoyed my time there.
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| 1st of many times @ OR2K |
After Chitwan, I've explored the Kathmandu Durbar Sq, Pashupatinath, and Boudhnath, but I'll tell you about those later. I have to go to sleep now though, as I wake up in 4 hours to catch my flight to Lukla, where I'll be hiking Everest Base Camp ;) Enough venting. Back to positive Marlene.
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