Making Do Thanksgiving (Or, How To Cope With a Baking Holiday When You Don't Have an Oven)

Thanksgiving this year just wasn't the same. I don't really mean that in a bad way. Given the option I probably would've chosen to be home for this holiday, but my friends here and I scraped together a pretty fine substitute that I wouldn't trade for anything now. Sure, it was hard, and took three days, and didn't turn out perfect, but it turned out pretty good enough and after I ate I got that too full feeling that is indicative of yummy Thanksgiving.

This endeavor began because our new American friend Sara has the same enthusiasm for Thanksgiving as I do. When we met on November 5th it was one of the first things we brought up and decided, then and there, to do it. Since, Sara and her friend Keri had to leave Kathmandu before the actual day, we had it 6 days early. The preparations began on Wednesday. Sara, Mer, and I went to Bhat Battini Supermarket - a 5 floor monstrosity of food and clothing and other goods that would only be common place in the States. There we found a frozen $80 turkey that was too puny and too expensive for our tastes. However, this was a triumph for me because no one would believe there were any turkeys in Nepal. We gathered all the big supermarket items that we wouldn't be able to find in the local Nepali stores (things like confectioners sugar, whip cream mix, peanut butter) and had two cups each of this weird perfect corn stuff.

On Thursday we started gathering more ingredients near our houses. Sara lives in Patan and has a great open air market near her. Here's James (Sara's roommate), Kumar (Sara's boyfriend), Mer, and Sara walking to this market all Reservoir Dogs Style:



At the market, Mer busted out one of her many thousands of lists. I wish I had gotten a picture of all the lists together, but basically there were about ten lists all of which had the same ingredients on it, just in different orders. Here's Kumar, Sara, and Mer (with a list) at the market:



Then we headed to Sara, Keri, and James' apartment to cook the baked items. We had convinced a bakery called Fiji to bake some of our food items at around 7pm that evening. We made a pumpkin pie with fresh cinnamon, here's James grinding it in a bowl with the bottom of a wine bottle:



Sara instructed us all on her specialty: the no-bake peanut butter squares. Here's Mer doing her special double-boil-thing to heat up the chocolate and peanut butter:



Keri doesn't cook, so she hung around and kept us company:



At night we rushed over to Fiji Bakery to bake our pumpkin pie and stuffing. There was only one available oven and it didn't even go high enough to rightly cook the pumpkin pie. We knew we were going to be there for a while. Here's the owner (who studied cooking/baking in Japan), one of his daughters, a bakery employee, Mer and blurry Sara:



While we waited, we played with the owners kids doing boring things like shooting rubberbands and making funny faces. Here's Sara being less boring and tossing them around, they LOVED it:



After two hours of waiting and the pumpkin pie refusing to be finished, we went home with the promise to come pick things up in the morning. The next day we all went our separate ways: Sara picking things up around town, Mer cooking, me picking up things around town, James cooking at his apartment. Shusila came over early to help us finish up the cooking and make some saag:



Shusila brought her nephew Netus with her, and Kumar and I started playing cards with him. I taught them how to play Spoons and they taught me a Nepali card game. Here's them playing:



Sara made some excellent home-made apple cider in a coca cola bottle. She would heat it up and you could mix rum in it. Shit, it was good:



And here's the final spread (there's salad in that red bucket)



For my own reference, here's who came:

1, 2 Lauren/Mer (USA)
3 Sara (USA)
4 Kumar (Nepal)
5 James (USA)
6 Keri (USA)
7 Bhakta (Nepal)
8 Pia (Finland)
9 Naba (Nepal)
10 Albert (USA)
11 Rich (UK)
12 Arielle (USA)
13 - 17 Shajjan + 4 (Nepal)
18 Saroj (Nepal)
19 Shusila (Nepal)
20 Netus (Nepal)
21, 22 Min + 1 (Nepal)
23 Komako (Japan)
24 Mike (USA)
25 Danielle (USA)
26 Miriam (Austrailia)
27 - 30 Landlord and Co. + 4 (Nepal)

Changu Narayan

Another great hiking place in the Kathmandu Valley is around the Changu Narayan temple. Mer and I did this hike a while ago, and I'm writing about it now because I don't want to forget it or pretend like it was any less than the other hikes we went on. Anyhow, we were dropped off about 40 minutes away from the temple and then hiked up to it along a little hill ridge. The best view was from the hike, where you could see the steeples (I know that's a church word) rising above the trees. When we got there we found only a few other tourists, which I always consider a success when visiting special places. I mean, as a "foreign resident" I think you're entitled to explore the secrets of the city and be seen as cool by the natives for being one of the few foreigners to know about those secrets. Here's Changu:



Changu Narayan is supposedly the oldest temple in Nepal. Though, I've also heard that a temple in Panuati is the oldest. When I asked my landlord if Changu was the oldest temple in Nepal he said "Yes." When I asked him if the Panuati temple was the oldest, he said "Yes." So, that's helpful.

The best part of Changu besides the requisite Kali slaughter/sacrifice temple, were the dogs going around eating the wax after the candles expired:



Then we started our hike back to the city. This is when we started realizing that if we were not specifically in a hiking zone, no one would direct us to the dirt road hikes - only the main paved roads. Luckily, we found a few roundabout dirt roads on our own that led us past farms and the like. Here's a picture to prove it:



Back on the paved road we started feeling real dorky for pretending like we were hiking when we were really just walking on the main roads. Especially when there were buses going by us every ten minutes headed to our destination. So, we hopped on one of them and headed to Bodhanath Stupa.



We hung out at the Stupa for a bit and then ate at our favorite restaurant there called Tibet Kitchen. We took my Dad to this place when he was here, too. This is our standard meal there:

Potatoes with cheese sauce (Bhutanese)
Sampa (Tibetan thing that you mix yourself: wheat, tea, butter, sugar)
Brown Flour Momo's (Nepali - large dumplings)

Not healthy unless you count the Brown Flour. I do count it.

Mer wasn't ready to quit the day, so we walked over to Pashupatinath. It started getting dark and this is where Mer and I butt heads many evenings. When it gets dark, I start walking really quick and getting really nervous. When it gets dark, Mer acts like it's light out. So, while I'm trying to get to crowded places with lots of activity and light, she is just taking her sweet.....old.....time. For her part, we've never been threatened in any way at night. However, our old landlord always warned us to get home before dark and he's old, so he's wise, and must know.

Anyhow, Mer decides that it would the most awesome if we went up the back way around Pashupatinath. The back way is kinda like a hike. Which, I mean, wouldn't really be fun in darkness, but that doesn't matter! We find the back way despite a bunch of people trying to direct us to the front entrance. As we hike around the back of the temple we see a bunch of deer and monkeys playing together which, I guess, makes it worth it. Finally we come upon the temple which is all lit up with singing and dancing and people. According to some people who were there, the jolliness happens every night, but none of the Nepali's I've ever questioned have heard about it.



After getting stared at for a while, we went home.

Better and Better

I feel morally responsible to brag about the fact that I went to temple that is only open one day a year. It wasn't that fun, I didn't intend to visit it anyhow, and Mere took more pictures of it than I though humanly possible - but nonetheless, I've been to a temple that you probably haven't been to and I wanted you to know that. This temple is on a little pool in the middle of Kathmandu - if you live here you probably have seen it and thought "that's pretty" and then promptly moved on to more important things. Here's one of millions of shots Mere took:



The most interesting part of being at this temple were the Cool Nepali girls giving tikas. I assumed that you needed to be ordained or at least sanctioned in same way by Hindu priests to give out tikas - but I doubt these Cool girls had been authorized by anyone. Nonetheless, they seemed to having fun and making money.



Just thought I'd share.

Daddy Blog #5: 1000 Places to See Before You Die

The book,"1000 Places to See Before You Die," includes Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park. What they don't tell you is that you have 1000 chances to die on the drive from Kathmandu to the park. It was the most harrowing drive of my life made worse by the thought that my daughter would die as well. (I didn't want Mer to die either.) The highway twists and turns through beautiful mountains and river valleys with picturesque villages scattered along the road. Fortunately I took a lot of photos along the way because there's no way I could appreciate the scenery while contemplating the final moments of my life. The problem is that sleep deprived and often drunk truck drivers pass each other on the winding, turning road. If they're going uphill then one truck is driving 8 mph in a valiant attempt to pass another truck going 6 mph. Its like a glacier race. Which would be so bad but who wants a head on collision with a glacier? I asked our driver (we hired a car and driver for the trip) if he liked his job. The 19 year-old young man said "No." He said the drunk, sleep deprived truck drivers make his a rather hazardous profession not to mention the cost of petrol. He wanted to complete his schooling and get a safer job. After we got to Chitwan I really enjoyed looking at all the photos I'd taken along the way.





Royal Chitwan is almost 400 square miles that were once the private hunting grounds of the King of Nepal and his guests. According to Wikipedia, its one of the finest protected forests and grassland regions in Asia. (That's good because King George V on one trip shot 39 tigers and 57 rhinos.) The best part are the elephants and their capable mahouts (handlers) who stood ready to take us into the jungle in search of rhinos, Bengal tigers and assorted other creatures. (I could have done without the leeches.) We weren't there for it, but one of the guides said elephant polo matches take place during one of their holiday festivals in December. I bet that registers at least a 7 on the Richter Scale.



Happy to be alive, we met one of our guides, Shiva, at the hotel and safari camp. He took us on an early evening walk as the sun was setting over the river where we relaxed and watched dug out canoes floated leisurely by. It was lovely. However, it took a while to get used to Shiva's 'instructions'. His words were friendly but his tone didn't match. He must have been in the military or a dog trainer before the hotel job. It felt like he was barking orders at us to enjoy ourselves: "Sit here!!! Watch sunset!!! Do you want lemonade!!! Enjoy!!!". Later Shiva turned up again as one of the servers in the resort dining area. I was afraid he would be yelling at me to eat my veggies. But no. He was really a great guy and after dinner made a special effort to take us to visit the elephants in their outdoor stalls. Shiva calmed down and we had about an hour just standing in the moon light with the elephants. They are truly magnificent, awesome (I hate that word) creatures and I felt privileged hanging out with them. I resisted the urge to set them free.

The next day after the three hour safari on elephant back into the jungle (we saw a rhino mommy with her cute baby in a muddy little lake) we got to help give them a bath.



After a hard day of carting tourists around the elephants enjoy cooling off in the river and getting a bath. We were allowed to ride elephant bareback into the river with them. The mahouts gave them the signal and they shook us on into the water. Then they filled their trunks with water and sprayed us. It was a childhood fantasy come true. Fortunately when they plopped over for their bath they didn't crush any tourists in the process. At least I didn't see any. I did see some mighty elephant turds floating by but I reminded myself that elephants are vegetarians. Organic poop can't be that bad.



It was reassuring to hear that the new Nepalese government has done a lot to save from near extinction the one horned black rhino. There is also a wonderful elephant breeding area which we were able to visit. Unfortunately, pollution from upstream industries is endangering the rivers flowing into Chitwan. Dolphins have dissappeared from one of their prime habitats and the main species of crocodiles are barely hanging on thanks to special efforts from an environmental group. As usual, tourists are a mixed blessing, but at least our dollars help make the animals worth a little more alive than dead from the poachers and pollution.

The end of our time in Chitwan came too soon. As we got into the car for our return journey to Kathmandu and for part two of "1000 ways to die...", we waved goodbye to Shiva and his enthusiastic approach to herding tourists.

Hiking Frenzy

Mere and I are still obsessed with hiking the entire Kathmandu Valley. However, day treks in Kathmandu have their ups and downs (wah wahh). Here’s a list that I’ve compiled:

Good Things About Hiking in KTM Valley

1. You end up getting to see beautiful, remote stupas and temples
2. There are less tourists in the hills and the temples
3. I get to/have to practice my Nepali
4. You get above the pollution that blankets the city
5. You get to see the cycle of the Nepali crops and their various beauteous versions
6. If you hike in the north part of the valley you can end up in Boudha Nath which is THE best way to end a six hour trek
7. You get to try really good traditional Nepali food, like Dal Bhaat (lentils and rice)
8. Taxis are relatively inexpensive for foreigners so you can take them to the hiking starting points

Not Great Things About Hiking in KTM Valley

1. If you ask for directions you usually are directed to paved roads instead of dirt roads – and if you’re trying to hike, then you’re not really hiking anymore or you are but it’s more of an “Urban Hike”
2. There are maybe two directional signs in the entirety of the Valley
3. If you’re a foreigner, locals like to look at you – a lot
4. You might not get above the pollution that blankets the city
5. Buses take a while to get to the starting points

Recently, Mere and I decided to hike around Dakshinkali and Pharping, which is southwest of the city. We took two buses, which ended up taking about two hours to get to the famous Dakshinkali temple. A taxi would’ve been around 700 rupees ($9) but we are trying to be thrifty.

The Dakshinkali temple is situated at the bottom of a hill and has animal sacrifices on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We happened to be there on a Tuesday - Mer was psyched and I got a stomach ache. Goats and chickens met their doom inside the temple where only Hindus can go. However, the temple isn’t entirely enclosed so tourists can view the majority of the ceremonies and headchops. Here’s a picture of the pools that lead to the temple and people waiting in line to go inside:



I watched people get their tika right outside the temple and noticed one man getting his incredibly awesome tattoo of Shiva tika-ed as well. I went to go admire his arm and as I tried to initiate a conversation in Nepali it turns out (of course) that he lives in Texas and is just visiting his parents here.



According to our hiking map there was a little uphill hike from the Dakshinkali parking lot to Pharping, which is a little town with a “Pilgrimage Route” through various Buddhist and Hindu temples. The 45 minute “hike” consisted of a short dirt path straight up hill and then the main road the buses go on. On the main road we came across Sekh Narayan, which consisted of little pools and temples:



After walking a little further down the paved road and trying to weave through the various villages to make things more interesting, we came upon some women dealing with their rice harvests. Mere took a great picture of the rice on the woven mats:



Finally, we came to Pharping and the “Pilgramage Route” route. My favorite part was this strange monument of Padmasambhava in a glassed box:



Neither Lonely Plant nor my our hiking map was specific enough to get us to the “true” hikes of the Pharping area so at 3:00pm we started making our way home. Although we were unsuccessful in terms of hiking the hills of nature, we managed to see nearly 10 different temples and stupas and get pretty tired.

Tika Galore

This is a brief interlude from my fathers blogs.

Right after my dad left, Nepal got ready to celebrate Tihar. This is the festival that everyone describes as "my favorite festival." Now I understand why: there are pretty lights everywhere. It's basically a combination of Christmas and Fourth of July.

Anyhow, Tihar is five days long and the following things are worshiped on each succeeding day:

1. Crows
2. Dogs
3. Laxmi the Goddess of Wealth
4. Oxes
5. Brothers

I had question about the crows: Don't crows eat crops, and since I know that's true, why would you spend a day worshiping them? I got a good answer, but still I feel this is a valid question that shouldn't go unasked.

The best part was day two when every mangy dog in Kathmandu had a tika on their forehead and a garland of marigolds around their neck. Like this pretty pup:



Even Changba, the horrendous dog at my apartment, had one. Which was awesome because his attempt to be fearsome was thwarted by the ridiculousness of the red mark on his forehead and the flowers around his neck.

On the Laxmi day, Nepalis took really pretty vermilion colors and made pathways to lead the goddess of wealth to their abodes. Here's Prajjwel, our landlords son doing just that:



At night on Laxmi day everyone lights candles to brighten their vermilion pathways and sets of fireworks because they're fun. Groups of singers and dancers go around to houses to perform for rupees. Everything is lit, everyone is awake until late.

On brothers day (which is really brothers AND sisters day but only called brothers day - yes this is indicative of Nepali culture) siblings give each other the most extensive tika in life. Seven colors of vermilion are applied to each others foreheads and garlands of flowers placed around their necks. They also exchange money, clothes, and other presents. Below is Prajjwel and his nephew who have both been adorned with their tikas by their respective sisters:



I'm jealous there's no U.S. holiday to celebrate the bond between sibling. Right??

Dad Blog #4: Ashes to Ashes

Today we hit a few 3000 year old Buddhist and Hindu temples including Pashupatinath (pronounced,posh-potty-not). It's the holy of the holies for Hindu followers of Shiva (she-vah). Shiva isn't a she, she's a he and no one to mess with: God of Destruction. I learned from our guide that Hindus have literally millions of gods and are coming up with new ones almost daily. I'm okay with that because there's a holiday or festival associated with most of them. Nepalis don't get a lot of work done but they're incredible partiers. Posh Potty is an amazing enclave of temples, shrines, half naked sadhus (wise men - most of them extremely colorful, hash baked con men beckoning to be photographed for a few rupees). According to legend Shiva supposedly discovered the transcendental powers of ganja (marijuana) which grows wild in Nepal. With each hit the sadhus chant "I am Shiva".

Advertisement for one of the most famous Sadhus: Milk Baba.



Then there are the cremation ghats. These are concrete platforms next to the river. After they burn the body down to ash someone sweeps whats left into the river. The sight and smell of public cremation is pretty raw. If its a dead parent the process begins with the oldest child placing a burning stick into the mouth of the deceased. (My mother died less than a year ago making all of this a bit overwhelming.) Then the man in charge gets the pyre going like a huge backyard bar-b-que. (At this point I made one of my many broken vows to become a vegetarian.) Adding to the atmosphere are wild monkeys just hanging out and grooming each other. We were warned to keep a safe distance from them. They reminded me of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. I wanted to click my heels and go back to Kansas but had to settle for a wonderful balcony dinner with Lauren and Meredith at sunset overlooking the city as it quieted down for the night.

Pashupatinath: