Merry Christmas from Nepal!

Love and blessings to all of you for a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

I feel truly blessed to have every single one of you in my life--my heart is full today!  Last night (Christmas Eve) I found myself on the shore of Phewa Tal, singing Christmas carols by headlamp with a group of new friends.  It was surreal, and made me think of all of you back home.

I have always believed that life has a way of providing just what you need at the right time, and I am being strongly reminded of that today.  As many of you may know, one of my major hopes for this trip was to do some trekking--specifically, to trek the Annapurna Circuit, a 21-day loop around the Annapurna Conservation Area.  The way my volunteering schedule and the course of events have unfolded, it was looking less and less like I would be able to go on an extended trek at all.  But yesterday, at the very last possible moment I could have squeezed in the three-week trek I've been dreaming of for six months, some wonderful new friends materialized and offered to let me join them on the AC!  My mind is still reeling at how, when you set an intention and stay open to opportunities, everything works out--often not how you anticipate and usually better than you could have planned yourself.  I am feeling an incredible amount of awe and gratitude right now.

So I will be leaving in two days (Thursday the 27th) for a three-week journey through the heart of the Himalayas.  If everything works out, I will cross the highest pass in the world (17,700 feet), walk 190 miles, and make some incredible new friends along the way.  I will probably not have access to Internet so I will likely be out of touch until I return around mid-to-late January.  Please keep our little band of trekkers in your thoughts and pray for good weather and safe passage!

Lots of love to you all!  Merry Christmas and Happy 2013!

Pokhara

After so many pictures of the beautiful area around Pokhara, I figured it’s time to share more about the city itself and day-to-day life there.  I am staying at the Vision Nepal Children's Home, a sweet, clean little spot just off one of the main roads.  It's a simple space, and I’ve had to get used to some things like daily 10-hour blackouts, questionable reliability of running water, showers so cold my scalp aches, doing laundry in a bucket of cold water on the roof of the building, and using my headlamp after 6:00pm.  But the volunteers’ room has beds that are comfortable enough, a lovely little balcony overlooking the neighbors' garden, and an actual toilet instead of a hole in the floor with a bucket of water—amazing what feels like a luxury these days!  

The Vision Nepal Children's Home

View from the children's home--dodging street cows and buffalo is a daily occurrence

The neighbors' place--check out the incredible garden (and monster haystack)!

The kids are great too--there are currenly six of them, ranging from age 5 to 13.  They are tiny adults in many ways and help look after each other.  But they are also still definitely kids--I've loved our impromptu Gangnam Style dance parties and Nepal football YouTube clip screenings.

The kids (left to right): Amrit, Amrita, Didi (Nepali for "big sister", the house mother), Ajay, Babu, Sanjay, Arjun

 

Welcome artwork the kids gave me on my first day at the children's home

The children’s home is a short 10-minute walk from Lakeside, the "touristy" district of Pokhara along the edge of Phewa Tal, where most travelers stay.  There you can find Baskin Robbins ice cream, shops selling "North Face" trekking gear (authentic?  probably not), and just about any type of souvenir or kitschy knick-knack you can think of.  You can rent a boat and tool around on Phewa Tal or relax at a lakeside cabana and drink mango lassis like I did one afternoon.  I find myself wandering to Lakeside almost daily, for the familiarity of seeing scrambled eggs and sausage on the breakfast menu (since I'm eating dal bhat two meals every day at the children’s home), to satisfy my craving for coffee (since I drink tea everywhere else), and to use the Internet cafes when the wireless network at the children’s home isn’t working.  As time goes on, I find myself gravitating more toward the Nepali Thakali or Newari restaurants, rather than the cafes with Western food.

Boats for hire on Phewa Tal

Lounging lakeside

One of many ways to get around town

Lord Shiva chilling at the lake

Lakeside is the site of the annual Pokhara Street Festival, a five-day affair that ends on New Year’s Day and features street food , music, and lots of vendors selling stuff.  It’s purely a tourist attraction, but I’m looking forward to checking it out and seeing how the sleepy Lakeside atmosphere will be transformed.

Lakeside decked out for the Pokhara Street Festival

Lakeside is a very commercial district and isn’t a true representation of the rest of Pokhara. The other side of Pokhara is very industrial, and I pass very few foreigners as I make the 45-minute trek from the children’s home to the office downtown where I teach English on Saturdays.  The stores here sell buckets, mops, and  mattresses instead of pashminas, prayer flags, and trekking poles.  The outdoor food  markets are beautiful, with food carts overflowing with produce, spices, and dry rice.  On any given day I can watch bricks being cut, cement being poured, cabinets being built, blankets being sewn, and motorcycles being repaired right on the sidewalk.

Pokhara sidewalk industry

Life these days feels pretty good--a solid mix of relaxing, volunteer work, meditation, hanging with the crew at the children's home, and exploring.  Christmas will likely be celebrated by taking the kids to the park and cooking a special dinner--I am lobbying for momos.  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Australian Camp-Dhampus Trek

Can't believe it's been a week since my last post.  Thank you so much for the encouraging comments, everyone!  I'd be lying if I said the first couple weeks here have been easy.  As I alluded in an earlier post, I have been dealing with quite a bit of culture shock which has made it hard at points to stay fully present and appreciate where I am.  But I'm trying to look at this trip as an opportunity for personal evolution, which doesn't happen all at once.  And sometimes the deepest form of personal growth comes through the toughest experiences--trial by fire.  I'll get over this hump yet!

The first few days after returning from Kaskikot were spent recovering from all the socializing (for us introverts, much recovery is sometimes needed!), exploring Pokhara, and teaching my first English class with the Gaky's Light students.  I will write more about all of these things in another post.  On Monday, I met Prem in Nagdada (a village about an hour's bus ride from Pokhara) for an overnight trek into the Annapurna foothills.

Meeting him meant my first attempt at navigating the Pokhara local bus system, something I've been dreading and avoiding.  The buses themselves aren't not standardized, so any vehicle larger than an eight-passenger van that stops at your (often unmarked) bus stop might be the local bus.  There is no way I can tell because all the writing on the side of the buses is in Nepali.  Thankfully, Gaurab came with me until my transfer so at least I knew I was on the right bus to Nagdada.

After hooking up with Prem and his client (Shu from Hong Kong), as well as another guide and his client from Tokyo, our little troupe of five hit the trail and--after an endless number of stone steps--found ourselves at Australian Camp, a guest house community perched at the top of one of the many foothills of the Annapurnas.  Our climb was rewarded with these views:

Yet another mind-blowing shot of Annapurna South

Sunset from Australian Camp

After the sun went down it got cold quickly so we all camped out around the woodstove in the dining hall, enjoying whiskey with hot water and raksi (Nepal's "local wine" made from millet, made in small batches in each individual village), and comparing travel tales.  I think raksi is an acquired taste...my first cup was pretty rough.  Don't worry Prem, I'll keep working at it.

First cup of raksi

Hot raksi and storytime

After a cozy night's sleep...

We got up in time to watch the sun rise on the Annapurnas and found a blanket of clouds covering the Pokhara valley below us. 

After breakfast we headed down the backside of the hills, through Dhampus.

All in all, a great little overnighter that restored my soul a bit and satisfied my craving to hit the trails.  Since we got back on Tuesday I've been putting in lots of time developing the Gaky's Light English curriculum, attending a great meditation class I discovered at a local Tibetan Buddhist meditation center near the children's home, and reading (for fun!!).  Incredibly relaxing and restorative, just what I've been needing.

Hope you all have been having a great week--if the power goes out tomorrow on the 21st I guess I'll catch you all on the flip side.

Love!

Kaskikot

Thanks for all the well-wishes for my GI tract, everyone!  I am feeling 100% better and will be a bit wiser about choosing fair fare next time.

Prem and I just got back yesterday from two days in Kaskikot, a small village about two hours north-northwest from Pokhara.  I had seen a picture or two (including the one in my first post), but those didn't prepare me for what a tranquil haven it is!  The past two days have been surreal.

The trip started out with Prem working his magic within his seemingly-infinite network of contacts to get us a taxi to Kaskikot after we discovered the bus was full.  After a lot of body shuffling, I found myself wedged into the back of a VB Beetle-sized taxi with five other Nepali men.  One of them, Tika,  kept me in stitches the entire 45-minute ride with descriptions of his desire to find a nice American woman with a "big butt and a big wallet." The problem is that the consulate seems determined to keep him from coming to America.  His experience with trying to get a U.S. visa made me realize just how easy we Americans have it when it comes to travel--we don't (usually) need a sponsor and proof of assets just to travel for pleasure.  Anyway, despite Tika's colorful humor, the conversation was also peppered with his wise comments ("we are not rich in money, but we are rich in friends").  At the end of the bus ride Prem, Tika, and I stopped at a roadside stand for a cup of milk tea before starting the hour-long hike the rest of the way to Kaskikot.  We were joined by two other men--I had no idea who they were (this was to be a frequent occurrence over the next two days).

After tea we hit the road.  The road is so rough it's faster to walk than take the bus.

We arrived at Aamaa's (Prem's mother-in-law) just before dark.  It's an incredibly beautiful, serene homestead tucked into the mountainside amid terraced farmland with the Annapurna mountains as a backdrop.

The kitchen, complete with indoor cookfire

My bed--shared with the resident "mouse" (read: rat)

Hauling water for Aamaa

After a dinner of water buffalo milk (!), daal bhaat, spinach, and pickle, we tumbled into bed early.  When the power goes off it’s pitch dark and sleeping is the best option, despite the resident rat who made a nightly appearance on my bed.  Prem and I woke up early the next morning to hike to the top of the hill behind Aamaa’s house to watch the sunrise.  I FINALLY caught my first real glimpse of the Annapurnas, which had been hidden by smog and clouds of the past week.  There are no words.

Machhapuchhre (Fishtail)

Annapurna South

The rest of the day was spent visiting, drinking tea with new friends (five cups that day), and wandering the main road through Kaskikot.  Mid-day we stopped at one of the primary schools in town and watched a program of the Kaskikot Oral Health Care Project (KOHCP), another initiative of Eva Nepal and its partner organization, VisionNepal.  The theater was top-notch, the kids were adorable, and it was great to see a public health prevention program in action!  KOHCP has resulted in every kid in Kaskikot brushing their teeth at the beginning of every school day, and doctor's visits due to tooth problems have decreased since the program started. 

The school, with Annapurnas as a backdrop

The actors

Pre-game entertainment

After the program, Prem, Bibak (one of many new friends), and I struck out to do some hiking in the hills above town.  We saw some great (albeit hazy) views.

Prem and Bibak

Catching our breath

Sweaty but happy (note the Carrboro Bicycle Coalition shoutout)

We also explored a few Hindu temples...

Shenanigans with Shiva's Trishul

Temple to Lord Shiva

...and finished the day back at Aamaa’s.  The next day before heading back to Pokhara, we participated in Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival during which those wishing for blessings in the next life toss corn, rice, and marigolds into the woods to feed Lord Shiva (who took the form of a deer).  After the long, grueling hike up to the mountaintop just outside of Kaskikot,

 the afternoon was spent decorating and praying at the temple, playing and dancing to music, visiting, and watching a performance featuring none other than Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh, Krishna, and other Hindu gods.  

 

 

Shiva, Ganesh, Parvati, and Krishna gettin' their groove on

Watching the gods dance

Bibak, Prem, and Gobinda

I got my first scam-free tika, and even got a mention over the loudspeaker as "Emily ma amaarica."  Who knew being the only foreigner at this event would have been so noteworthy?

After the festivities Prem and I hit the road for the walk back to Pokhara--a trip that usually takes 4-5 hours but that we accomplished in just over 2 because we were practically running down the mind-bendingly steep hillsides.  My legs are yelling at me today for it.

I'm still trying to absorb everything from the past few days.  Kaskikot is very special place and I can't wait to get back there soon!