Mer had never been climbing before so this is what she thought she would be doing:
We bouldered for about an hour and I pretended I knew what I was doing. Here's Mer knowing what she's doing:
Cute.
Monday, September 29, 2008
P.S.
Today Mer and I went to this "basement" climbing gym and turns out: it's awesome. There are five bouldering walls within four rooms, some of which are connected. It costs a measly 200 rupees ($3) a day or 3000 rupees ($42) a year to climb there whenever you want. The manboy who owns/runs the place built it in his ancestral home. He must be rich because most Nepali's would need to rent or live in this space. Also, it's right in the middle of Patan (south of me) and the land value is shooting up up up there. He also said he has a "party" space upstairs and invited us to come hang out there after he finishes climbing a mountain he claims is harder to climb than Everest. Who knows.
Mer had never been climbing before so this is what she thought she would be doing:
We bouldered for about an hour and I pretended I knew what I was doing. Here's Mer knowing what she's doing:
Cute.
Mer had never been climbing before so this is what she thought she would be doing:
We bouldered for about an hour and I pretended I knew what I was doing. Here's Mer knowing what she's doing:
Cute.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Letter to Christine
Dear Christine,
I think you know that you were the person to introduce me to rock climbing. I'm pretty sure I was aware that climbing existed, but you brought it into my life, like religion or alcohol. So, thanks. I remember going climbing at Rockcreation and loving it at first fall. Then we went somewhere outdoors with your step-father, Rae, and Alexis. Didn't my parents insist on talking to your step-father about precautions and safety and all that? Anyhow, it was great being outdoors and understanding what the faux handholds in the gym were supposed to really feel like.
I went a few more times in Los Angeles and then I went to undergrad blahblahblah. But, I got super into climbing while I was in Berkeley the year after I graduated. My job gave us a free membership to a great climbing gym and I would go all the time with Abbey Gordon. Remember, Abbey? I hate waking up early and I would get up at 6am to climb before I worked. It was fantastic. I even went bouldering in the Berkeley hills:
When I moved to New York, my heart sank because seriously there is no climbing. Unless you have a car and have time to drive to the "gunks" you are subjected to small, unchanging, expensive walls. I wrote you an email recently in which I said: "In other words, no, I have not been climbing at all lately. Though, I hear there may be a good wall in Kathmandu and I will go check it out once my stupid shin splint heals and/or I grow some balls."
Guess what? I grew some balls and my shin splint healed. It took me three buses to get to Maharjgunj, where the Pasang Llama climbing wall is. The man working there said he would belay me and I did approximately three ascents on this wall:
On my last ascent three Nepali boys gathered to watch me struggle up the wall and fall midway. The best news is that it turns out someone built a bouldering wall in their basement and that basement is like 10 minutes away from me on one bus or walking. We'll see how that turns out...
Point is: thanks for introducing me to this sport and congrats on your competition and maybe I'll see you in South Korea.
Best,
Lauren
I think you know that you were the person to introduce me to rock climbing. I'm pretty sure I was aware that climbing existed, but you brought it into my life, like religion or alcohol. So, thanks. I remember going climbing at Rockcreation and loving it at first fall. Then we went somewhere outdoors with your step-father, Rae, and Alexis. Didn't my parents insist on talking to your step-father about precautions and safety and all that? Anyhow, it was great being outdoors and understanding what the faux handholds in the gym were supposed to really feel like.
I went a few more times in Los Angeles and then I went to undergrad blahblahblah. But, I got super into climbing while I was in Berkeley the year after I graduated. My job gave us a free membership to a great climbing gym and I would go all the time with Abbey Gordon. Remember, Abbey? I hate waking up early and I would get up at 6am to climb before I worked. It was fantastic. I even went bouldering in the Berkeley hills:
When I moved to New York, my heart sank because seriously there is no climbing. Unless you have a car and have time to drive to the "gunks" you are subjected to small, unchanging, expensive walls. I wrote you an email recently in which I said: "In other words, no, I have not been climbing at all lately. Though, I hear there may be a good wall in Kathmandu and I will go check it out once my stupid shin splint heals and/or I grow some balls."
Guess what? I grew some balls and my shin splint healed. It took me three buses to get to Maharjgunj, where the Pasang Llama climbing wall is. The man working there said he would belay me and I did approximately three ascents on this wall:
On my last ascent three Nepali boys gathered to watch me struggle up the wall and fall midway. The best news is that it turns out someone built a bouldering wall in their basement and that basement is like 10 minutes away from me on one bus or walking. We'll see how that turns out...
Point is: thanks for introducing me to this sport and congrats on your competition and maybe I'll see you in South Korea.
Best,
Lauren
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Friend Min
Let me introduce you to Min. Min Bham is my friend from Aarohan (the theater I volunteer for). He co-directed/co-wrote and had a bit part in the theaters most recent smash hit Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha (the Karnali River flows southward). For a muddy review that I still can't tell whether is positive or negative see here.
Min is from Mugu, which many Nepali refer to as one of the "backwards" areas of Nepal. Try to find it online - there's almost no information. They still employ arranged marriages out of necessity, have little to no education, and suffer from lack of food and medical care. On the other hand, Mugu is gorgeous and has little tourism, so it's very untouched. Mugu is only accessible by a 13 day walk or a plane. Mer and I are going there on October 1st.
We had been planning on going a while ago but Min can get a little distracted (his play is soaring to new heights: invitation to perform in India, new theater being built in Mugu) so we hadn't been able to secure a date. Plus, Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha was extended twice. Since Mer has to work hard until October 1st we told Min we needed more time before we could go. He called today and said that we (Mer, Min, and me) were leaving for Mugu at 4pm TODAY. HAHAHAHA, oh Min, no we're not.
Min is a tiny man of 23 that dresses stylish and has small dreads. He wants to be a film director and make it big in Hollywood. He is very well educated and was married at 13. He goes to the only film school in Nepal, which is located in Kathmandu. His father is the chief of Mugu. Here's Min and Meredith acting cool:
A few days ago we went on a wild goose chase to get to the Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha cast party. They were having it in Godawari, which is a few kilometers outside of Kathmandu. Godawari is one of the places Lonely Planet says is not really necessary to visit - and this is true. It has an overgrown botanical garden and some not-so-unique/interesting stupas and temples.
The cast party was a picnic in the botanical gardens. They had already been there for five hours when we arrived and ended up staying for hours after we left. They were psyched for dancing, but load-shedding (no power) was killing their party. They half-heartedly tried to sing a cappela and did some gambling with cards while they awaited power:
Mer and I explored the gardens, saw a crappy music video being shot, picked leeches off ourselves, saw huge spiders, ate incredibly good food with the cast of Karnali and got really depressed that their were no trashcans. No trashcans mean that people throw their trash on the ground and in the river. Not so pretty.
So, we're supposedly off to Mugu on October 1st. We'll see...
Min is from Mugu, which many Nepali refer to as one of the "backwards" areas of Nepal. Try to find it online - there's almost no information. They still employ arranged marriages out of necessity, have little to no education, and suffer from lack of food and medical care. On the other hand, Mugu is gorgeous and has little tourism, so it's very untouched. Mugu is only accessible by a 13 day walk or a plane. Mer and I are going there on October 1st.
We had been planning on going a while ago but Min can get a little distracted (his play is soaring to new heights: invitation to perform in India, new theater being built in Mugu) so we hadn't been able to secure a date. Plus, Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha was extended twice. Since Mer has to work hard until October 1st we told Min we needed more time before we could go. He called today and said that we (Mer, Min, and me) were leaving for Mugu at 4pm TODAY. HAHAHAHA, oh Min, no we're not.
Min is a tiny man of 23 that dresses stylish and has small dreads. He wants to be a film director and make it big in Hollywood. He is very well educated and was married at 13. He goes to the only film school in Nepal, which is located in Kathmandu. His father is the chief of Mugu. Here's Min and Meredith acting cool:
A few days ago we went on a wild goose chase to get to the Karnali Dakkhin Bagdo Chha cast party. They were having it in Godawari, which is a few kilometers outside of Kathmandu. Godawari is one of the places Lonely Planet says is not really necessary to visit - and this is true. It has an overgrown botanical garden and some not-so-unique/interesting stupas and temples.
The cast party was a picnic in the botanical gardens. They had already been there for five hours when we arrived and ended up staying for hours after we left. They were psyched for dancing, but load-shedding (no power) was killing their party. They half-heartedly tried to sing a cappela and did some gambling with cards while they awaited power:
Mer and I explored the gardens, saw a crappy music video being shot, picked leeches off ourselves, saw huge spiders, ate incredibly good food with the cast of Karnali and got really depressed that their were no trashcans. No trashcans mean that people throw their trash on the ground and in the river. Not so pretty.
So, we're supposedly off to Mugu on October 1st. We'll see...
Friday, September 19, 2008
In Conservative Nepal, a Tribune for the ‘Third Gender’ Speaks Out
This is a New York Times article published on September 19, 2008:
SUNIL Babu Pant likes to take advantage of the frequent delays at Nepal’s newly elected Constituent Assembly. As the only openly gay member, he takes every opportunity to work on his homophobic colleagues, trying to convince them that contrary to what they were taught growing up in this very conservative country, homosexuals are just like any other people.
Mr. Pant, 35, a computer engineer by training, opens his laptop — an object of fascination to many in the assembly, who come from the rural hinterlands — and gives a PowerPoint presentation wherever he finds his audience.
“Kalpanaji, come join me,” Mr. Pant said during a break recently to a fellow parliamentarian, Kalpana Rana, inside a tent that serves as a canteen. Other lawmakers, there to kill time, began to move closer to his laptop.
“I have prepared this presentation for members of this assembly,” he said, giving them a beaming smile. The female members were too shy to join the crowd.
“There are some people on earth who consider themselves neither male nor female” he continued. “They like to be called third gender, which comprises roughly 10 percent of the total population.”
A man interrupted. “Oh, yes, I had seen this term in a medical book I have at home,” said the man, Mathabar Singh Thapa, of the rightist Janamukti Party in the 601-member assembly. “But, I have a question. Do they have genitals?”
“They do,” said Mr. Pant, trying not to giggle. “But, they don’t have natural sexual orientation.”
He then put a political spin on his presentation. “South Africa’s Constitution already has a provision that the third genders are not to be discriminated against,” he said. “Following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, led by V. I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, Russia became the first nation to legalize homosexuality.” The members listen attentively until the bell rings, summoning them back to the assembly hall.
If Mr. Pant, who represents the tiny Communist Party of Nepal (United), recognizes the long, uphill battle he faces, he never admits it. In a society where premarital sex is strongly taboo and where a leader of the ruling Maoist party, Dev Gurung, once called gay people “the product of capitalism,” it is a lonely fight.
But all is not bleak for Mr. Pant. This has been an extraordinary time in Nepal, with the declaration of a democratic republic in May, the abdication of the king in June and a new constitution in the works. Moreover, the now-dominant Maoists emphasize that theirs is the party of the poor, the minorities and the disadvantaged, and they have recognized “third gender” people as “sexual minorities.” The phrase “third gender” has been used to refer to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, the transgendered and others.
Mr. Pant, always a good student, came to Katmandu, the Nepalese capital, from his home village in hilly Gorkha district in 1990 to pursue his studies. Two years later he won a scholarship to study computer science in Belarus, where he first heard the word “homosexual.”
By that time, he knew that he was attracted to other men but did not realize that this placed him in the minority. “I thought everybody would be like me, having the same feeling,” said Mr. Pant, who has never married.
HE learned differently, particularly during a police crackdown on homosexuality in Belarus in 1994. “There were many secret police officers deployed to crack down on gays and lesbians,” he said.
He got his first taste of sexual freedom in 1997, when he had a chance to travel to Japan. “I got to learn about gay rights,” he said. “I started visiting clubs and restaurants for gays.”
He stayed three months then returned to Nepal, determined to exercise the same freedoms. He started handing out condoms at a gay hangout in Katmandu — a daring act in conservative Nepal. “It was like a tool to initiate discussion with people,” he said. “I used to talk to people who would come there, discuss H.I.V./AIDS, ask them if they know anything about sexuality, ask them if they had heard anything about gays and lesbians.”
In short order, he had a good grasp of the city’s clandestine gay culture (“After you know two or three people, then you know everyone,” he said), and he was determined to bring its problems out in the open. Just a decade or so ago, it was hard for gay people to live a normal life in Katmandu, he said. The police were brutal. Many friends, he said, were driven from their homes, and others endured torture in police custody. “I thought nothing would improve unless we organized,” he said.
He tried to found an advocacy group to fight for the rights of gay men, lesbians, the transgendered and others. But government officials said they would register the group only if it devoted itself to converting homosexuals into heterosexuals.
To get around that, Mr. Pant said only that the group was dedicated to defending human rights in general and working on health issues and H.I.V./AIDS. Today, the group, the Blue Diamond Society, has offices in 20 districts and has 120,000 registered members.
WITH Mr. Pant’s heightened profile, it was inevitable that his sexual orientation would be revealed to his family. He said that his mother, who could never understand why he did not marry, was very upset. “But things cooled down in about a week,” he adds. “Now, my parents live with me in Katmandu and have stopped insisting that I get married.”
But Nepal remained officially hostile to sexual minorities. Mr. Pant said that 13 transgendered people were exiled to India and that two were killed in Katmandu. The Nepalese Army removed two female cadets for engaging in “an indecent intimate relationship.” In August 2004, 39 members of the Blue Diamond Society were imprisoned for 13 days.
But last December the Supreme Court ruled that “sexual minorities” were guaranteed the same rights as other citizens. Since then, at least one gay man has received his citizenship card with “both” written under the “gender” category.
Relations with the police have improved, Mr. Pant said, and the government is preparing to ask local authorities to issue citizenship cards to gay men and lesbians, transsexuals and others that recognize their preferred gender status.
Richard Bennett, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, has urged the state to respond in line with the court verdict, “to enact new laws or amend current legislation to accord equality and end all discrimination against members of sexual minorities.”
Though Nepal’s politics are in flux, Mr. Pant is optimistic that the Constituent Assembly will soon adopt a stronger and more “inclusive” constitution. “In the past, it was like ‘Don’t kill us, recognize us.’ Now, it will be like changing our livelihood. We will focus on equal justice, economic and cultural rights.”
But Nepal still has a way to go before it comes to terms with the new realities. Inside the Parliament building, Mr. Pant said, “Some male members take me to a corner and whisper questions like, ‘Why do you promote sex which doesn’t give children? What if everyone becomes homosexual?’ As if they think that this is not something to talk about in public.”
“I have found a good platform to raise the issue,” said Mr. Pant, who is already thinking of new issues to tackle, like pollution and the environment.
Not that he is about to drop his signature issue, or even that he is lowering his sights. “There is a lot yet to be done,” he said. “There is not even a single person from our community holding a high government position.”
SUNIL Babu Pant likes to take advantage of the frequent delays at Nepal’s newly elected Constituent Assembly. As the only openly gay member, he takes every opportunity to work on his homophobic colleagues, trying to convince them that contrary to what they were taught growing up in this very conservative country, homosexuals are just like any other people.
Mr. Pant, 35, a computer engineer by training, opens his laptop — an object of fascination to many in the assembly, who come from the rural hinterlands — and gives a PowerPoint presentation wherever he finds his audience.
“Kalpanaji, come join me,” Mr. Pant said during a break recently to a fellow parliamentarian, Kalpana Rana, inside a tent that serves as a canteen. Other lawmakers, there to kill time, began to move closer to his laptop.
“I have prepared this presentation for members of this assembly,” he said, giving them a beaming smile. The female members were too shy to join the crowd.
“There are some people on earth who consider themselves neither male nor female” he continued. “They like to be called third gender, which comprises roughly 10 percent of the total population.”
A man interrupted. “Oh, yes, I had seen this term in a medical book I have at home,” said the man, Mathabar Singh Thapa, of the rightist Janamukti Party in the 601-member assembly. “But, I have a question. Do they have genitals?”
“They do,” said Mr. Pant, trying not to giggle. “But, they don’t have natural sexual orientation.”
He then put a political spin on his presentation. “South Africa’s Constitution already has a provision that the third genders are not to be discriminated against,” he said. “Following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, led by V. I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, Russia became the first nation to legalize homosexuality.” The members listen attentively until the bell rings, summoning them back to the assembly hall.
If Mr. Pant, who represents the tiny Communist Party of Nepal (United), recognizes the long, uphill battle he faces, he never admits it. In a society where premarital sex is strongly taboo and where a leader of the ruling Maoist party, Dev Gurung, once called gay people “the product of capitalism,” it is a lonely fight.
But all is not bleak for Mr. Pant. This has been an extraordinary time in Nepal, with the declaration of a democratic republic in May, the abdication of the king in June and a new constitution in the works. Moreover, the now-dominant Maoists emphasize that theirs is the party of the poor, the minorities and the disadvantaged, and they have recognized “third gender” people as “sexual minorities.” The phrase “third gender” has been used to refer to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, the transgendered and others.
Mr. Pant, always a good student, came to Katmandu, the Nepalese capital, from his home village in hilly Gorkha district in 1990 to pursue his studies. Two years later he won a scholarship to study computer science in Belarus, where he first heard the word “homosexual.”
By that time, he knew that he was attracted to other men but did not realize that this placed him in the minority. “I thought everybody would be like me, having the same feeling,” said Mr. Pant, who has never married.
HE learned differently, particularly during a police crackdown on homosexuality in Belarus in 1994. “There were many secret police officers deployed to crack down on gays and lesbians,” he said.
He got his first taste of sexual freedom in 1997, when he had a chance to travel to Japan. “I got to learn about gay rights,” he said. “I started visiting clubs and restaurants for gays.”
He stayed three months then returned to Nepal, determined to exercise the same freedoms. He started handing out condoms at a gay hangout in Katmandu — a daring act in conservative Nepal. “It was like a tool to initiate discussion with people,” he said. “I used to talk to people who would come there, discuss H.I.V./AIDS, ask them if they know anything about sexuality, ask them if they had heard anything about gays and lesbians.”
In short order, he had a good grasp of the city’s clandestine gay culture (“After you know two or three people, then you know everyone,” he said), and he was determined to bring its problems out in the open. Just a decade or so ago, it was hard for gay people to live a normal life in Katmandu, he said. The police were brutal. Many friends, he said, were driven from their homes, and others endured torture in police custody. “I thought nothing would improve unless we organized,” he said.
He tried to found an advocacy group to fight for the rights of gay men, lesbians, the transgendered and others. But government officials said they would register the group only if it devoted itself to converting homosexuals into heterosexuals.
To get around that, Mr. Pant said only that the group was dedicated to defending human rights in general and working on health issues and H.I.V./AIDS. Today, the group, the Blue Diamond Society, has offices in 20 districts and has 120,000 registered members.
WITH Mr. Pant’s heightened profile, it was inevitable that his sexual orientation would be revealed to his family. He said that his mother, who could never understand why he did not marry, was very upset. “But things cooled down in about a week,” he adds. “Now, my parents live with me in Katmandu and have stopped insisting that I get married.”
But Nepal remained officially hostile to sexual minorities. Mr. Pant said that 13 transgendered people were exiled to India and that two were killed in Katmandu. The Nepalese Army removed two female cadets for engaging in “an indecent intimate relationship.” In August 2004, 39 members of the Blue Diamond Society were imprisoned for 13 days.
But last December the Supreme Court ruled that “sexual minorities” were guaranteed the same rights as other citizens. Since then, at least one gay man has received his citizenship card with “both” written under the “gender” category.
Relations with the police have improved, Mr. Pant said, and the government is preparing to ask local authorities to issue citizenship cards to gay men and lesbians, transsexuals and others that recognize their preferred gender status.
Richard Bennett, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, has urged the state to respond in line with the court verdict, “to enact new laws or amend current legislation to accord equality and end all discrimination against members of sexual minorities.”
Though Nepal’s politics are in flux, Mr. Pant is optimistic that the Constituent Assembly will soon adopt a stronger and more “inclusive” constitution. “In the past, it was like ‘Don’t kill us, recognize us.’ Now, it will be like changing our livelihood. We will focus on equal justice, economic and cultural rights.”
But Nepal still has a way to go before it comes to terms with the new realities. Inside the Parliament building, Mr. Pant said, “Some male members take me to a corner and whisper questions like, ‘Why do you promote sex which doesn’t give children? What if everyone becomes homosexual?’ As if they think that this is not something to talk about in public.”
“I have found a good platform to raise the issue,” said Mr. Pant, who is already thinking of new issues to tackle, like pollution and the environment.
Not that he is about to drop his signature issue, or even that he is lowering his sights. “There is a lot yet to be done,” he said. “There is not even a single person from our community holding a high government position.”
Mystery Place
Now that I’m done traveling for a bit, I’ve been able to settle down into a somewhat “normal” routine. I hate myself for using quotes, but it’s hard to consider anything I’m doing normal because it doesn’t involve a job/making money. I wish I could enjoy this (oh so) temporary life of leisure and exploration but without a next clear step, I’m finding it difficult. So, beyond looking for a job in either Nepal or South Korea or the US or Mystery Place, this is what I’ve been doing.
Studying!
Guess what sucks? Having people talk shit about you in a language you don’t understand but you still know they’re talking shit about you because they’re pointing/laughing/staring. I want to be able to have a good Nepali retort besides “hajur” – which is the formal way to say “how can I help you?” Anyhow, Saroj has been teaching Mer and me Nepali. He comes about three times a week for a lesson that lasts as long as Mer and I can concentrate (usually about ten minutes). Here’s Mer studying hard:
Wandering!
I’ve pretty much exhausted most of the Lonely Planet tourist suggestions about what to do in Kathmandu. This means I have started wandering the streets and it has been extremely difficult to do because I despise not having a plan or a goal. But it’s good for me to get out of that regimented mode or something. Plus, I end up seeing cool stuff that I wasn’t expecting. Like, boys bathing in pretty pools with water that may or may contain giardia:
I went to the Nepal Tourism Council to check out their brochures (aka I had nothing else to do) and I came across, possibly, the scariest market on earth. I decided to call it Hades because I’m snobby, but really it’s pretty accurate because you descend under these blue tarps and enter an eternal clothing/fabric/shoes/cosmetics bazaar.
Quoting People!
As Mer so brilliantly said: “You can’t go a day without seeing someone carrying something giant and heavy.” The best thing that I've seen so far, in this vein, was a little man carrying a huge refrigerator. This yellow thing is pretty exciting though:
Festivals!
I decided that I really had to see the current festival called Indra Jatra. Mer had no interest and even Shusila who has been taking me to all the festivals didn’t care about Indra Jatra. I forced them both to come with me anyways. Apparently, it wasn’t even really happening the day I said we should go (though someone told me it was!). Luckily, Meredith is trying to buy a human skull for a friend so that spiced up the evening with a little black market fun. Here’s Mer sitting among some Nepali's, the human-skull dealer, and the human-skull dealer's bodyguard. There’s a $500 human skull in that black plastic bag:
All we saw concerning Indra Jatra were some chariots (for the next day), a sculpture that’s usually hidden, people getting tikas, and candles that made for an awesome picture:
The End!
I’d like to conclude this post with my least favorite part of Nepal. Unfortunately and sadly, there’s a lot of people begging and a lot of people aggressively and overwhelming hocking their goods at you. I came across this shirt that so succinctly summed everything up:
If you can't read it, it says: No Rickshaw, No Hashish, No Tiger Balm, No Change Money, No One Rupee, No Problem.
Studying!
Guess what sucks? Having people talk shit about you in a language you don’t understand but you still know they’re talking shit about you because they’re pointing/laughing/staring. I want to be able to have a good Nepali retort besides “hajur” – which is the formal way to say “how can I help you?” Anyhow, Saroj has been teaching Mer and me Nepali. He comes about three times a week for a lesson that lasts as long as Mer and I can concentrate (usually about ten minutes). Here’s Mer studying hard:
Wandering!
I’ve pretty much exhausted most of the Lonely Planet tourist suggestions about what to do in Kathmandu. This means I have started wandering the streets and it has been extremely difficult to do because I despise not having a plan or a goal. But it’s good for me to get out of that regimented mode or something. Plus, I end up seeing cool stuff that I wasn’t expecting. Like, boys bathing in pretty pools with water that may or may contain giardia:
I went to the Nepal Tourism Council to check out their brochures (aka I had nothing else to do) and I came across, possibly, the scariest market on earth. I decided to call it Hades because I’m snobby, but really it’s pretty accurate because you descend under these blue tarps and enter an eternal clothing/fabric/shoes/cosmetics bazaar.
Quoting People!
As Mer so brilliantly said: “You can’t go a day without seeing someone carrying something giant and heavy.” The best thing that I've seen so far, in this vein, was a little man carrying a huge refrigerator. This yellow thing is pretty exciting though:
Festivals!
I decided that I really had to see the current festival called Indra Jatra. Mer had no interest and even Shusila who has been taking me to all the festivals didn’t care about Indra Jatra. I forced them both to come with me anyways. Apparently, it wasn’t even really happening the day I said we should go (though someone told me it was!). Luckily, Meredith is trying to buy a human skull for a friend so that spiced up the evening with a little black market fun. Here’s Mer sitting among some Nepali's, the human-skull dealer, and the human-skull dealer's bodyguard. There’s a $500 human skull in that black plastic bag:
All we saw concerning Indra Jatra were some chariots (for the next day), a sculpture that’s usually hidden, people getting tikas, and candles that made for an awesome picture:
The End!
I’d like to conclude this post with my least favorite part of Nepal. Unfortunately and sadly, there’s a lot of people begging and a lot of people aggressively and overwhelming hocking their goods at you. I came across this shirt that so succinctly summed everything up:
If you can't read it, it says: No Rickshaw, No Hashish, No Tiger Balm, No Change Money, No One Rupee, No Problem.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Story Time
My friend Pia may have told me the best story in the world yesterday. You can be the judge (my words, her content):
Once upon a time Pia worked in an insurance company. Her boss was a woman, and she said this was a time when it was still rare for women to be in positions of power. One day her boss told her a story about a dream she had. In the middle of the night she had suddenly woken up because she had figured out the secret to World Peace. She knew that she would forget it in the morning if she didn't write anything down, so she quickly got a pen and paper and scribbled some words that had the power to create World Peace. In the morning she quickly remembered her epiphany. She scrambled for the paper and when she found it, she read this: Brooown.
Once upon a time Pia worked in an insurance company. Her boss was a woman, and she said this was a time when it was still rare for women to be in positions of power. One day her boss told her a story about a dream she had. In the middle of the night she had suddenly woken up because she had figured out the secret to World Peace. She knew that she would forget it in the morning if she didn't write anything down, so she quickly got a pen and paper and scribbled some words that had the power to create World Peace. In the morning she quickly remembered her epiphany. She scrambled for the paper and when she found it, she read this: Brooown.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Bandipur and Pokhara
I’m back in Kathmandu and in my pretty little apartment! Yes, yes, yes. Mer and I got back from our mini trip to Bandipur and Pokhara yesterday afternoon. The trip was really awesome overall; beautiful landscapes and nice people. However, we had some major issues with Pokhara and came back early because of them.
We got up early in the morning last Saturday to take a bus from Kathmandu to Bandipur. I was psyched to be leaving the Kathmandu pollution and chaos for the natural beauty promised to me by my Lonely Planet guide. Here’s some of the first views I saw:
It’s pretty well known that the cheaper Nepali tourist buses are not the best in the world (New York – Boston Chinatown buses are luxury style comparatively). We had paid around $11 for a 6 hour trip on this bus. We got what we paid for: the engine on our bus had to be sporadically pumped when we were going uphill. I reassured myself by saying “better a faulty engine than faulty breaks.”
At the first rest-stop we got to see a new delicacy of Nepal: gross fish.
It’s really impossible to describe how ridiculously gorgeous Bandipur is. Definitely the most prettiest mountain landscape I’ve ever seen. Lonely Planet said Bandipur had “gob-smacking” views. I don’t know what that means, but I totally agree anyways. Here’s a picture that can’t even begin to infer the true beauty of this place:
Mer and I settled into our $5/night hotel room, which was in a classical Newari building. Bandipur is known for being preserved really well as an old Newari town and you can really tell how hard the townspeople have worked to keep it maintained and unmarred. Our room was bathroomless and small but had a gobsmacking view that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. Here’s me in a new $.60 shirt in the village:
After a short rest, we took a huge uphill hike to Thani Mai, which, not surprisingly, has a gorgeous view. From here we could see the village of Bandipur:
Mer has a new camera that I wanted to impress, so I got crazy and climbed a tree:
One of the highlights of the entire trip was holding baby goats. I think I might start a goat-baby-holding hobby because it was so fun. There were tons of farm animals in Bandipur that Mer and I took great advantage of: Buffalo, goats, chickens, pigs and of course cow and dogs roaming the streets like they owned them – because they do. We took a lot of pictures of the various animals but I will only subject you to two of them:
, 
We were planning on going to the largest cave in Nepal which is about a three hour (one way) hike, but due to the monsoons the water was about knee deep inside of them and you had to wade through it to see the caves. This wouldn’t be so bad, but there were leeches in the water and that’s one animal I did not want to pet. Instead, we went on a little hike to go see worms make clothes. There’s a silk-worm farm in Bandipur that we decided to check out. The man who ran it gave us the tourist explanation of the silk-making process.
We gave him 200 rupees and then walked home. Besides baby-goats, beautiful views, and silk worms, we encountered our favorite restaurant of all time. Not only was it one of the cheapest places we’ve been to, it had the most amazing food I’ve ever tasted. We got lucky and ordered this amazing thing called a Shaslik which is a grilled kabob of cheese, tomato, and onions on a plate of rice. It’s actually a little painful to write about it because it was so good and I’m afraid we may not be able to find it again in such good form. Here’s Mer eating two Shasliks on our last day – look how sad she is that we are leaving it:
We left Bandipur after two nights to go to Pokhara, which is a city on a lake about two hours away. This is where we planned to stay almost a week – it’s a big tourist destination in Nepal. Buses from Bandipur to Pokhara left every hour and as we arrived at the bus area we were virtually attacked by locals to get on the buses that were imminently leaving. Sadly, we weren’t ushered INTO the bus, but ON TOP of the bus. This is something that Meredith has been dying to do. She did it before and was looking forward to doing it on this trip. Although I don’t regret going on top of the bus, I won’t do it again because it’s so stupid and dangerous. It’s not like one of those red New York City tour buses with railings and seats, it has a rack to tie luggage onto and that’s it. We were up there with a few locals and two Sadhus (wandering holy men). Here’s a picture of me with one of the locals holding on for dear life:
And it’s not like we were up there for ten minutes on good roads, we were up there for two hours on crappy roads that overlooked cliffs. Never again, Meredith, never again.
Amazingly, we arrived saftely in Pokhara. Taxi drivers, merchandisers, and hotel staff jumped on us as we got off the bus. Bandipur had none of this tourist-jumping and the constant barrage of sellers overwhelmed us. This is one of two things that essentially ruined the Pokhara trip. Maybe I’m being privileged and snotty and stupid, but it was frustrating to be in a city where everyone you met was trying to sell you something. Anyhow, here’s Pokhara being pretty:
Want to know what the second thing is that killed Pokhara? The cockroaches in my hotel bed. We probably should’ve sucked it up and paid for a nicer hotel room, but various (boring) circumstances prevented this decision. By the time we realized the cockroach situation was ever-present, we were too sick of Pokhara to do anything about it. Shusila was supposed to come visit, but we called her and let her know our feelings about P-town. The two fun things we did in Pokhara was go to a temple in the middle of the lake and a temple on top of a hill.
On our way to the temple in the middle of the Phewa Tal (the Pokhara Lake), we passed by this dock with these Japanese kids sitting on it:
We shouted at them to jump in:
At the temple we got a small taste of drunk Nepali homophobia, fed some insanely large fish corn, and I got a tika (the colored Hindu smudges on the forehead).
The next day, on my urging, we took a boat across the lake to hike up to the World Peace Pagoda. There are several ways to get the Pagoda, one of which is a mild up hill 2 hour hike, the other a steep 45 minute hike. I convinced Mer to take the 45 minute hike straight up. The whole way up Meredith told me about how much she hated me for persuading her to go up this way. It was horribly steep and took us much longer than 45 minutes because we are not in shape. On the other hand, it was totally worth it to go up there:
A bunch of monks were coming there in the next few days, so there were some people cleaning the steps of the Pagoda. We conducted almost a full conversation in Nepali with one of the cleaners. Here’s a good picture I took:
We decided to take the long way back down and I promptly got a shin splint which made it take twice as long as it should’ve. We had planned on taking a full day hike the next day, but with cockroaches, sellers, and shin splint it was time to leave.
We got up early in the morning last Saturday to take a bus from Kathmandu to Bandipur. I was psyched to be leaving the Kathmandu pollution and chaos for the natural beauty promised to me by my Lonely Planet guide. Here’s some of the first views I saw:
It’s pretty well known that the cheaper Nepali tourist buses are not the best in the world (New York – Boston Chinatown buses are luxury style comparatively). We had paid around $11 for a 6 hour trip on this bus. We got what we paid for: the engine on our bus had to be sporadically pumped when we were going uphill. I reassured myself by saying “better a faulty engine than faulty breaks.”
At the first rest-stop we got to see a new delicacy of Nepal: gross fish.
It’s really impossible to describe how ridiculously gorgeous Bandipur is. Definitely the most prettiest mountain landscape I’ve ever seen. Lonely Planet said Bandipur had “gob-smacking” views. I don’t know what that means, but I totally agree anyways. Here’s a picture that can’t even begin to infer the true beauty of this place:
Mer and I settled into our $5/night hotel room, which was in a classical Newari building. Bandipur is known for being preserved really well as an old Newari town and you can really tell how hard the townspeople have worked to keep it maintained and unmarred. Our room was bathroomless and small but had a gobsmacking view that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. Here’s me in a new $.60 shirt in the village:
After a short rest, we took a huge uphill hike to Thani Mai, which, not surprisingly, has a gorgeous view. From here we could see the village of Bandipur:
Mer has a new camera that I wanted to impress, so I got crazy and climbed a tree:
One of the highlights of the entire trip was holding baby goats. I think I might start a goat-baby-holding hobby because it was so fun. There were tons of farm animals in Bandipur that Mer and I took great advantage of: Buffalo, goats, chickens, pigs and of course cow and dogs roaming the streets like they owned them – because they do. We took a lot of pictures of the various animals but I will only subject you to two of them:
, 
We were planning on going to the largest cave in Nepal which is about a three hour (one way) hike, but due to the monsoons the water was about knee deep inside of them and you had to wade through it to see the caves. This wouldn’t be so bad, but there were leeches in the water and that’s one animal I did not want to pet. Instead, we went on a little hike to go see worms make clothes. There’s a silk-worm farm in Bandipur that we decided to check out. The man who ran it gave us the tourist explanation of the silk-making process.
We gave him 200 rupees and then walked home. Besides baby-goats, beautiful views, and silk worms, we encountered our favorite restaurant of all time. Not only was it one of the cheapest places we’ve been to, it had the most amazing food I’ve ever tasted. We got lucky and ordered this amazing thing called a Shaslik which is a grilled kabob of cheese, tomato, and onions on a plate of rice. It’s actually a little painful to write about it because it was so good and I’m afraid we may not be able to find it again in such good form. Here’s Mer eating two Shasliks on our last day – look how sad she is that we are leaving it:
We left Bandipur after two nights to go to Pokhara, which is a city on a lake about two hours away. This is where we planned to stay almost a week – it’s a big tourist destination in Nepal. Buses from Bandipur to Pokhara left every hour and as we arrived at the bus area we were virtually attacked by locals to get on the buses that were imminently leaving. Sadly, we weren’t ushered INTO the bus, but ON TOP of the bus. This is something that Meredith has been dying to do. She did it before and was looking forward to doing it on this trip. Although I don’t regret going on top of the bus, I won’t do it again because it’s so stupid and dangerous. It’s not like one of those red New York City tour buses with railings and seats, it has a rack to tie luggage onto and that’s it. We were up there with a few locals and two Sadhus (wandering holy men). Here’s a picture of me with one of the locals holding on for dear life:
And it’s not like we were up there for ten minutes on good roads, we were up there for two hours on crappy roads that overlooked cliffs. Never again, Meredith, never again.
Amazingly, we arrived saftely in Pokhara. Taxi drivers, merchandisers, and hotel staff jumped on us as we got off the bus. Bandipur had none of this tourist-jumping and the constant barrage of sellers overwhelmed us. This is one of two things that essentially ruined the Pokhara trip. Maybe I’m being privileged and snotty and stupid, but it was frustrating to be in a city where everyone you met was trying to sell you something. Anyhow, here’s Pokhara being pretty:
Want to know what the second thing is that killed Pokhara? The cockroaches in my hotel bed. We probably should’ve sucked it up and paid for a nicer hotel room, but various (boring) circumstances prevented this decision. By the time we realized the cockroach situation was ever-present, we were too sick of Pokhara to do anything about it. Shusila was supposed to come visit, but we called her and let her know our feelings about P-town. The two fun things we did in Pokhara was go to a temple in the middle of the lake and a temple on top of a hill.
On our way to the temple in the middle of the Phewa Tal (the Pokhara Lake), we passed by this dock with these Japanese kids sitting on it:
We shouted at them to jump in:
At the temple we got a small taste of drunk Nepali homophobia, fed some insanely large fish corn, and I got a tika (the colored Hindu smudges on the forehead).
The next day, on my urging, we took a boat across the lake to hike up to the World Peace Pagoda. There are several ways to get the Pagoda, one of which is a mild up hill 2 hour hike, the other a steep 45 minute hike. I convinced Mer to take the 45 minute hike straight up. The whole way up Meredith told me about how much she hated me for persuading her to go up this way. It was horribly steep and took us much longer than 45 minutes because we are not in shape. On the other hand, it was totally worth it to go up there:
A bunch of monks were coming there in the next few days, so there were some people cleaning the steps of the Pagoda. We conducted almost a full conversation in Nepali with one of the cleaners. Here’s a good picture I took:
We decided to take the long way back down and I promptly got a shin splint which made it take twice as long as it should’ve. We had planned on taking a full day hike the next day, but with cockroaches, sellers, and shin splint it was time to leave.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Teej
As I mentioned in my previous blog, Teej, another Nepali festival was recently celebrated. Teej is a three day festival where women who are unmarried pray for a good husband to come along and women who are married to pray for their husbands. I, obviously, had to participate because I am husbandless. HAHA. Anyways, I did actually participate by going with Shusila to two huge temples: Pashupatinath and Swayambunath. Meredith stayed home to pretend to work.
It’s amazing how many people you meet when you are constantly getting lost and have no idea how to get places. On my way to meet Shusila at Pashupatinath I ended up chatting with a nerdy Nepali guy who helped lead me to my destination and called Shusila on his cell phone for me. The frustrating part is that I always have the same exact conversations with these people I meet: “I’m from America. California. I live in Sanepa. I volunteer at a theater called Aarohan. A theater, like Shakespeare. I am here for five months. I’ve been here for me one month. Yes, I look like a boy.” Then I ask them some questions: “You live in this area. You are from this caste. Your family is from this village. You have this job. You are/n’t married.” It’s hard to steer the conversation towards anything else but these topics. Probably because of their limited English and something sociological I don’t understand.
Anyhow, Teej. Everyone wears red Punjabi suits and red saris and red bracelets and red. I stupidly wore no red, so Shusila and I immediately went to go get some red jewelry.
We then wandered around Pashupatinath. This temple is famous because it’s where Hindu’s cremate their dead. It’s right along the river and at any given time you can see smoke stacks indicating a burning body. Walking around the various temples at Pashupatinath actually requires some small hiking and Shusila showed major skills by walking around in her heels. Here’s a aerial view of some human smoke:
Hundreds of women were waiting in an enormous line to get into the temple to pray. Shusila said that these lines are hours long and people wait all day. Also, everyone is fasting on this first day of Teej, so they are waiting in a long line in the sun while hungry. The not-so-dedicated fasters will eat fruit and ice cream and the super-dedicated fasters will spit so as not to swallow even their saliva. Women in red waiting in line and fasting:
Shusila and I then took a few buses over to the other side of town where the Buddhist stupa Swayambunath is. I’m not sure why she took me over there because Teej is a Hindu holiday, but nonetheless, I was excited to see this stupa. Here’s us on the bus:
Swayambunath is known as the monkey temple for obvious/awesome reasons. The monkeys rule the area and look adorable doing it. OH, NOOOOOO:
Below is a picture of a Buddha and me. I look tired and sweaty because Swayambunath is on a horribly vertical hill with thousands of steps up to the main stupa. Luckily, there are tons of souvenirs and monkeys lining the steps to pretend to stop and look at.
I enjoyed Teej and hopefully will get an awesome husband delivered to me soon.
Tomorrow, Meredith and I leave for Bandipur and Pokhara at 6:30am. I’m not sure how long we’ll be there, maybe for a week depending on how much fun it is. I’m also not sure what the internet access will be like there, so blogging may be on a temporary hold.
I salute the divine beings in you all, for now.
It’s amazing how many people you meet when you are constantly getting lost and have no idea how to get places. On my way to meet Shusila at Pashupatinath I ended up chatting with a nerdy Nepali guy who helped lead me to my destination and called Shusila on his cell phone for me. The frustrating part is that I always have the same exact conversations with these people I meet: “I’m from America. California. I live in Sanepa. I volunteer at a theater called Aarohan. A theater, like Shakespeare. I am here for five months. I’ve been here for me one month. Yes, I look like a boy.” Then I ask them some questions: “You live in this area. You are from this caste. Your family is from this village. You have this job. You are/n’t married.” It’s hard to steer the conversation towards anything else but these topics. Probably because of their limited English and something sociological I don’t understand.
Anyhow, Teej. Everyone wears red Punjabi suits and red saris and red bracelets and red. I stupidly wore no red, so Shusila and I immediately went to go get some red jewelry.
We then wandered around Pashupatinath. This temple is famous because it’s where Hindu’s cremate their dead. It’s right along the river and at any given time you can see smoke stacks indicating a burning body. Walking around the various temples at Pashupatinath actually requires some small hiking and Shusila showed major skills by walking around in her heels. Here’s a aerial view of some human smoke:
Hundreds of women were waiting in an enormous line to get into the temple to pray. Shusila said that these lines are hours long and people wait all day. Also, everyone is fasting on this first day of Teej, so they are waiting in a long line in the sun while hungry. The not-so-dedicated fasters will eat fruit and ice cream and the super-dedicated fasters will spit so as not to swallow even their saliva. Women in red waiting in line and fasting:
Shusila and I then took a few buses over to the other side of town where the Buddhist stupa Swayambunath is. I’m not sure why she took me over there because Teej is a Hindu holiday, but nonetheless, I was excited to see this stupa. Here’s us on the bus:
Swayambunath is known as the monkey temple for obvious/awesome reasons. The monkeys rule the area and look adorable doing it. OH, NOOOOOO:
Below is a picture of a Buddha and me. I look tired and sweaty because Swayambunath is on a horribly vertical hill with thousands of steps up to the main stupa. Luckily, there are tons of souvenirs and monkeys lining the steps to pretend to stop and look at.
I enjoyed Teej and hopefully will get an awesome husband delivered to me soon.
Tomorrow, Meredith and I leave for Bandipur and Pokhara at 6:30am. I’m not sure how long we’ll be there, maybe for a week depending on how much fun it is. I’m also not sure what the internet access will be like there, so blogging may be on a temporary hold.
I salute the divine beings in you all, for now.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Apartment Search Complete
Meredith and I have officially moved to a new apartment (see above – we’re on the top floor). It is a little south of Albert’s apartment in an area called Sanepa. It was actually a really random find: one day I was napping and Mer was working and this little man named Binod came in to Albert’s apartment to say hello. Turns out he delivers newspapers and is a realtor. So, we got on his motorbike and looked at five or six apartments. Two days later we got this lovely thing. It has a really awesome windowed room, an office, bathroom, kitchen, and good-sized bedroom. It had a huge layer of dust and grim on it that we spent the first day cleaning with Shusila. Meredith pretends to be a bandit while she cleans:
It’s really good to have our own place. The day before we left Albert’s, Meredith had resorted to throwing things at the next door neighbors dog to get it to shut up. She pegged it with a lemon first and then created a stock supply of tofu balls in case it started up again. Turns out Meredith is really sensitive to barking dog noise. A few times in the middle of the night a dog would be non-stop barking, and she would get up all disgruntled, run outside and shout: “Shut Up Dog!!” She did it so scarily, so I just pretended I was still sleeping. The sad part is the dog wouldn’t stop. Lemons and tofu balls were far more effective.
Yesterday we went swimming at the Hardic fitness center. We’ve gone there on a few occasions; the first time we got a massage, the second Meredith tried to do a sauna but they had lost the key to the sauna room. That gives you a good idea of their operations. This time, apparently, the four Nepali boys swimming had never seen Western women in bathing suits. We were pretty amusing to them. Let me just say, it’s creepy to have a 30 year old man in a donut floaty paddling two feet away from you in circles. Also, there was one cloud in the sky and it was right above the swimming pool. We left. Here’s Meredith, she’s psyched to be leaving Hardic.
That evening we went to Shusila’s apartment. She invited us for dinner and to see her place. Many of her family members were there because a. They live there b. it is the evening before a Hindu holiday called Teej. Shusila’s cousin and our Nepali language tutor, Sauroj, picked us up at our apartment. We took a bus to Ratna Park (the main bus drop-off and pick-up area) and then walked to Samecusi (sp?), Shusila’s part of town. Sauroj said our walk would take 20 minutes. This is funny because it took at least an hour. In our apartment search we learned that when Nepali people give you an estimate of how long it takes to walk somewhere, they leave out the words: “times three.” So, it’s good to know when someone says they live “ten minutes away”, they mean “ten minutes away times three. I live thirty minutes away.”
On our twenty minute times three walk:
I know irony is not cool anymore, but I got an ironic Christina Aguilara. This is one of three really popular shirts in Nepal, the other two have Avril Lavigne and Britney Spears on them. I will try and collect them all because they are seriously so ridiculously awesome. Here’s me so excited to have mine on (I even put on red underwear to match):
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