Nepal part two
Nepal was great. We had a good ending to the trip there. I felt a lot there. I worked through a lot there. I enjoyed a lot there. I recommend going there- under these conditions: you are physically able to climb 600 stairs that are steep, you are willing to be uncomfortable, you have planned for hiking and are excited and happy to do physical exercise, you are willing to travel locally on very dangerous busses that are likely the most bumpy ride you will have ever taken. (I'd compare the bus ride to the wooden roller coaster at Kings Island in the Nati'....) and also, you can deal with a minimal language barrier and eat food that you are not always comfortable eating, or choosing to skip meals when the food seems like it will make you sick.
These are my conditions for recommendations, but please don't let me thwart you if you feel pulled there and don't feel up to these things.. I bet there are ways around some of them...you'll have to figure that out for yourself. I hope you make it there. I hope you hike for months there. I hope you feel the joy I felt.
Here's the "best of" list...According to my experience: Little Tibetan guesthouse in Pokhara, Nepal. Taking scooters around the Nepali countryside, the Buddhist monastery near Pokhara Nepal in the Tibetan refugee camp, Moondance Restaurant in Pokhara (touristy but great), and Trekking.
To elaborate: We got lucky and I'll also say a thank you to Lonely Planet, because this was one of their suggestions, but we were thrilled with our stay at the Little Tibetan Guesthouse in Pokhara. It was beautiful, our rooms were so cute and simply well decorated with lots of windows in little guesthouses on the grounds away from the street, and it was in lakeside, so we could walk around easily and manage a lot on our own. It was clean and well maintained. Like- really clean and really functional. It was cheap! Super cheap, compared to almost all the other places we stayed in India and Nepal. The owners lived there with their family. Three generations! And they were so kind and gave us better pricing on everything than the tourist companies and they recycled! Seriously rare and unheard of in this area. They provided clean water for refilling water bottles to reduce waste. They were some cool cats. And they served good food. We felt so happy and so lucky. We stayed there for a week- the longest we stayed anywhere.
Another great thing we did was take scooters to explore the countryside. It was so great to get out there on the bikes, not reliant on anyone else for the first time in these countries. Free! To go when we wanted and not be told what we had to do or how we'd have to do it at someone else's pace. We didn't have to feel like WOMEN IN INDIA. Although Nepal in general had improved our feelings about how women are treated, we still felt the slight and the rush at being released to have freedom from sexual discrimination as we zoomed around the streets on our own free will. We felt the cool air settle as we rode out of town. We saw intimate gatherings of women sitting in the fields together chatting in circles. We saw the farms in their quiet, intimate glory. We navigated the bumpy, roads with their alternative rules and drove on the left side of the road with ease. We saw a lot, very quickly, paid a lot less than we would have in a car and enjoyed it far more. That day on the bikes, we went to a small Buddhist Monastery in a Tibetan Refugee camp just outside of Pokhara. It was easy to get to, really welcoming and a great experience as the sun set. Somehow, one of the younger monks decided to befriend us and take us on a little tour around the grounds. He spoke really good English, and showed us the school, which was so quaint and seemed very serious about the studies. He explained objects on the grounds, welcomed pictures, answered slews of questions and took us on a mini trek up to the hills surrounding the monastery. It was a beautiful day as we stood on a hilltop, next this sweet monk and watched as the sun lowered in the sky....
Here's the "to mention" to or the "to be infuriated by" list:
Elephant business in Chitwan.
Culture clash in Chitwan
Roadside hemp
To elaborate:
Really, the only thing to be infuriated by, well, aside from like a million other things, like no standards on car exhaust, the scam we got sucked into, etc... was the treatment of elephants in Chitwan. I think I can speak for all three of us that we were really really really uncomfortable visiting the elephant breeding center and felt compelled to "DO SOMETHING" about it! Here's how the elephants live- they are kept with their two front legs tied together and tied to a stump or tree about 3 feet away from them... for something like 16 hours a day!!!!!!!!!!!! "This is crazy!" I cried! "There are so many other options here... how can we figure out other options for these people... can't they have this business and not abuse the elephants to this degree???? Can't there easily be a better solution????" We bantered about coming out to release the elephants... sneaking in with bolt cutters and freeing our abused friends... but really, what would that do? What WOULD the repercussions be? We didn't know and honestly weren't willing to find out what a Nepali jail looked like.. but who knows.. something should be done... The elephants showed lots of signs of abuse. As we watched them lunge backwards and forwards, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, we got more and more sad. "Look at that one!" Some were more extreme than others, some would stand and pull continually on their chains with their trunks. The few that were left attached just by one leg (the younger ones) would pull continually on their chains as well, but by tugging their leg again and again and again.
So, if you are EVER thinking about going to Chitwan to visit the Elephants, either wait till I've figured out how to raise money to fund a program to get in with the country and the government and provide proper homes and treatment for the Elephants, or DON'T GO!
If anyone out there reads this and thinks that this is just fine treatment, I'd love to hear your viewpoint. I'd love to hear that there is evidence that this isn't that abusive, that it's really not that stressful or cruel for the animals, I'd love to hear your side. Please email me or comment on this post.
Two other quick things to mention are that there is roadside hemp along all the roads, lots of leaves, a funny sight, something we didn't inquire much into, but would be interested to know how big of an industry this provides in Chitwan. The last being that Chitwan has a large Hindu population, which came over from India, trying to escape the religious DIVERSITY there! (Ha! Ok, well not quite HA, but well, really??!!) They live in small villages, and drink lots of rice wine and eat lots of garlic to keep the mosquitos (malaria) away. A problem that used to be actually a problem, but is no longer a problem. (From what we were told- and we didn't get more than 5 bites each give or take during the three days here, so it definately didn't seem like there were lots of mosquitos, malaria or not.)
One last magical night to mention: A night of reading and rain, smell of rain and thunderstorm peaceful, contentment
Last, but not least, I need to mention this wonderful night we spent in Chitwan. It rained ALL NIGHT. The fan was blowing. We were relaxing, laying in bed as our eyes slowly closed, each reading a novel and breathing in the warm, but cooling, rainy air. We were coming to terms with the closing of the trip together, and the beginning of the end of Anne and Monica's trip and the end of the period where I delayed the future and was suspended in the comfort of procrastination. Daunting futures awaited us all, the beginnings of new things, of open doors, of closing doors. I am thankful to have spent this time with such beautiful, talented, loving women who I hope I will always know.
Thank God for all of these things.
