Nepal - Day 25 - Holi Festival

Today marked the first day of the end of my trip. No more work on the classroom would be done and all that remained was 2 days of festival and 2 days in Kathmandu.


The Holi festival was described to me simply as 'the festival of colour'. I don't know the answers to any 'why?' questions but I presume that the Nepali way would be to instead ask 'why not?'. One of the teachers, Ramu, told us that with all the public holidays in Nepal (92 public holidays a year) and all the strikes Nepalese people only work about half of the year!

In the morning I played non-stop table tennis and after a special 'festival edition' daal baht (it came with an omelet!) we wandered into town. Barely halfway into town we were covered in paint and water. Children and adults alike were running around the streets smearing paint on each others' faces and throwing water bombs. Guy and I, looking obviously foreign and unarmed, were perfect targets. It was great fun and a good taste of what was to come with the children the next day.

We walked home feeling as bright and cheery as the kaleidoscope of colour that covered us and anticipating that we would have a whole another day of fun to come. On the way back I vowed that before I left Nepal I would pet a goat. I think goats are great animals. They are great climbers, they can defend themselves, and they produce cashmere, milk and even eventually (*sob*) meat. Plus they look all gangly (something I can relate to) and have great beards (something that I envy). What other creature can boast such an array of pleasing qualities? None? Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway, long story short is that I like goats and am willing to risk a goat-related ailment (NOTE: The height of an average goats head - and horns - aligns perfectly with my groin) for the pleasure of patting one. Soon..... soon.


After dinner Ramu and Ramesh were keen to show us the cultural dances in celebration of the holi festival. Being a male-only event the dances were predictably fueled on testosterone. The men (myself included) danced and stomped while rotating in a circular motion. most men were also hitting a plastic bottle in one hand with a stick held in the other hand. I was told that this particular dance was a celebration of Newari culture. I'm not a macho type of guy; I don't enjoy going to the gym, don't follow sports, and have little to no interest in typically manly activivies like hunting. It's not that I consciously reject these things, it's just that they tend not to arouse in me any passion. - Tonight was different. The vibe was infectious, contagious, tribal. All that mattered at that time was complete immersion in the dancing, stomping, and chanting. I could have run into battle with these men to slay a wilderbeest - I kid you not. I felt like I'd been taken into a tribe. It was a unique experience.

The rest of the evening was enjoyable but mundane in comparison to the Newari cultural dance. We went to a small Nepalese house-party (sat on the floor, ate dry noodles, drank beer) and then went home.

 

Nepal - Day 19

After a brief interlude of good health yesterday today I was feeling less than perfect again. Thankfully it was just the sniffles so it was more of an annoyance than discomfort.

Work itself was more of the same: mixing cement and passing it to the skilled worker. We finished early today and played badminton with the children.

On my return from badminton Guy greeted me with an uncharacteristically serious tone and advised me that I should 'check my wallet'. I did so and realised that I was missing 5000 rupees. Guy was missing 2000. After a brief discussion it became apparent that we had been stolen from.

Given my tight budget I found it rather irritating (and a little stressful) that I would now have to re-budget and my - already tightly monitored - expenditure; however it is hard to remain angry when you realise the circumstances in which we (and by 'we' I am generically referring to westerners) live in comparison to the vast majority of Nepali people. I read in the Kathmandu Post (which is, by the way, a terrific newspaper) that the average Nepali lives on about $1.97 US dollars a day. This means that if our stolen 7000 rupees are put to good use it could feed a Nepalese person for a month. Given that all I lose in the equation is a) trust in my host family and the students of the school and b) some extra souvenir shopping at Kathmandu it would be hypocritical of me as a vocal consequentialist so condemn such a theft were I to be sure the money would be used in such a way.
 
Despite my initial frustrations I can't help but feel like I've been 'Robin Hood-ed'; which is something that - although it isn't the perfect means of wealth redistribution - I feel that I should accept.

Nevertheless I can't say I terribly enjoy harboring a suspicious and incessantly accusing inner dialogue. "Was it him? I did humiliate him at the table tennis. . .Nah. Or maybe it was you Ansita, I do complain about your daal baht being too spicy. . ."

     ^ This photo has no relation to the blog entry. It's the pump. Where the children wash and where the vegetables are prepared every night. Every afternoon the girls prepare the food. They spend hours chopping and washing potatoes.

Nepal - Day 18 - Parsha

I spared you the details of my illness yesterday (sort of) but needless to say I couldn't make it to work. Today, however, I was keen and chirpy.


This weeks work is erecting the concrete pillars. The skilled worker prepares the foundations for the pillars and Guy and I mix the cement and pass it to him. It's repetitive work but it's far less strenuous then shoveling so feels like a breeze by comparison. Often the children will come and help us in their lunch break, forming a sort of production line passing the large bowls full of cement back and forth.

The evening was fairly standard - Guy and I wandered into the village. He had some beers, I had a fanta. The power went out at 6pm (or so) and we all went to bed early. All in all it was a good - albeit a noneventful - sort of day.

Nepal - Day 21 - Chitawan

Ahh Chitawan, you and your guilty non-Nepali pleasures. I can only justify going to the undeniably touristified (Yes, it IS a word. Well it is now. . .) Chitawan because my week-to-week experience at Parsha is authentically Nepalese. Disclaimer out of the way; now down to details.

Breakfast was banana pancakes. I am salivating over the memories. Then (because Guy has a sort of 'hey-you-smoke-and-I-smoke' sort of rapport with the manager) we went to do some elephant bathing for free. I'd refused to go on the elephant safari a few weekends ago because I'd ridden and elephant in Thailand and didn't like the way that the elephant was treated. Bathing, I figured, would be a little different. If I were to imagine an elephant's life things like eating, bathing, and interacting with other elephants/animals would seem like relatively enjoyable and natural things. 

From all I could examine from the shore my suspicions were correct. The elephants didn't need coaxing into the water and I sometimes saw them do natural 'elephant things' like drinking the water and throwing dirt on themselves. Perhaps all this justification is overkill but it's necessary for me to feel at ease.

MOVING ON. . . the experience itself was incredible. The majesty and sheer size of an elephant is striking up close. With me (and some danish tourists) on it's back the elephant sprayed itself (and us) with water. Guy took some excellent photo's from the river shore.

Back at the rainforest hotel I sun-dried and read a bit while Guy talked with the manager and in the afternoon I had a nap.

At dinner we met some incredibly attractive danish travellers (and for the second time writing this diary entry I am salivating) who spoke English very well. I shamelessly showed off and broke the ice with a few card tricks (2 succeeded, 1 miserable failure) and afterwards we all went out together for 2-for1 cocktails.

My small frame means that 2 cocktails really hits me, and the joint that was passed around afterwards (offered as casually as one might offer an after dinner mint) probably didn't help my rapidly declining state either. The conversations were lively and great and I wish I'd taken photo's. We walked (ok, stumbled) back to the hotel only stopping for the obligatory late night inebriated snickers bar. It tasted like ground up unicorns. 

Nepal - Day 20 + Small Sam Harris book review.

Work was fairly casual again today: more mixing and passing cement. The skilled worker is an interesting sort of character. The first time we met him he was wearing a leopard skin patterned undershirt; today he was sporting one with butterflies on it. He also has grown his pinky fingernail really long and painted it red. I think the fingernail thing might be culturally symbolic of something but his effeminate clothing choices seem to be unique to him (and amusing to Guy and I).


I've been progressing through Sam Harris's 'The Moral Landscape' during work breaks and I've found it (dare I say it) quite good and even uncontroversial. Most accounts I'd heard of the book were negative, yet most of the people I'd talked to hadn't actually read the book. I bought the book half expecting to find flaws and inconsistencies on every page but found nothing of the sort. Sure, the book lacks philosophical rigor, but it's a book aimed at a general readership so such criticisms are misplaced. As for the alleged is/ought blunder Harris doesn't defy Hume but merely sidesteps the issue. His definition of well-being is vague but sufficient and once it is established that it is worth valuing it is not a difficult step to realize that science is best equipped to discover the 'how-to's'.


Harris essentially presents a form of Utilitarianism (or so it seems to me) but frames it scientifically, based primarily on subjective ratings of happiness as examined through neuroscience. Seeing as utilitarianism - put to best use - would require a great deal of knowledge about the external world (AKA 'scientific knowledge') the viewpoint that Harris adopts is not only justified but necessary.

^The tea room

ENOUGH BOOK REVIEWING, BACK TO THE BLOG. Ok, ok.

In the afternoon Guy and I were summoned to the tea-room. Waiting for us was the school chairman, the teachers, and our i-to-i co-ordinator. They apologised for the theft and promised to ensure that it would not happen again. The apology was sincere and heartfelt. It helped.

Afterwards Guy and I caught the public bus to Chitawan again for another the weekend.

Nepal - Day 17 - Travel bug.

Eergh. eergh. eergh. eeergh. Sleep.
Zzzz.
Zzzz.
Zzzz.
    zzz.
      zzz.
         zzzz.
Eergh. eergh. Eergh. eeeergh. Errahh. VOMIT.
                                                             vomit. vomit.
                                                                     VoMit.
                                                               vomit. vomit.
                                                                     Vomit.
                                                                   Vom-errgh-it.
Eergh. eeergh. Eergh. eerggh. eergh. eergh. Sleep.


And so forth.  

Nepal - Day 27

It's about 4:50am and I'm sitting on the roof of the school waiting for the sun to rise. I woke up at around 4am and realised that today I would have to say goodbye to all the children and teachers and accept that one of the best experiences of my life was coming to an end.

I can hear the sounds of rural Nepal coming to life. Roosters are crowing and the distinct metal clank of water pumps can be heard from many directions. It just occurred to me that I've never awoken solely to watch the sun rise and I'm glad to do it for the first time in Nepal.

Nepal - Day 23 & Day 24

A good night sleep and thankfully I was in good form again. With only a few days left at the school in Parsha I'd managed to communicate to the beautiful Ansita that the daal baht was too spicy. Today it was perfect, a flavorsome curry that left my taste buds attached to my tongue!

The work was again mixing and passing cement to complete the pillars and again it was fairly easy. We finished work very early again and I was itching to play some table tennis with the kids (I have some frequent rivals now) but I had to wait for them to finish school.


It turned out to be a fairly quiet afternoon, the highlight being my now ritualistic reading of the Kathmandu Post. There is a daily editorial section that I find a thoroughly good read. The articles often fun against the current of common opinion and are always on interesting and varied topis. It puts the Courier Mail to shame.

In other news the daal baht today was good - Ansita you goddess. 

^ The pillars completed.

Day 24


Nothing of interest to report.

Nepal - Day 22 - Chitawan

You'd think that after an eventful day and a night of drinking that I'd sleep like a log - I didn't. My sleep was on and off and not in the least bit revitalizing. It was probably the sleep deprivation that made my hangover today so dreadful.

For breakfast I had a plate of scrambled nausea gulped down with a steaming cup of pain. I followed that with several hours lying about pondering self-termination and at about 3pm (when I felt almost human again) we caught a taxi back to the school in Parsha.


The evening was a little odd. I had my second bout of homesickness and it hit me hard. I spent a lot of time on the roof my myself and a lot of time whinging to Guy. In retrospect my worries at the time were petty (lost car and scooter keys/financial situation etc) but an accurate account of my Nepal experience deserves the mention of the aporia I felt this night.

It did not help that the daal baht served this evening had graduated from the class of 'uncomfortable' into 'painful' territory. I was not a happy chappy.

It's uncharacteristic for me to stay in a bad mood for long and this time it was Guy that helped to lift my spirits. He shares a similar sense of humor to me and he couldn't have picked a better night for joke telling. 3 Jokes I'll take home to Australia with me.

1) Vicious Circle (Just ask)
2) Dead Thing (again, just ask)
3) A man walks into a bar with his pet giraffe. He orders a drink and the giraffe curls up on the floor asleep. The bartender quips while pointing to the animal 'you can't leave just leave that lyin' there!' To which the man replies indignantly 'It's not a lion, it's a giraffe!'

^So maybe it doesn't work as well written down. :P

Nepal - Day #9 - AKA 'The day I ate hash and crashed a Nepalise wedding party'

I didn't plan to eat hash today. Nor did I plan to find myself pulling embarrassing bloyce dance moves trying to impress Nepalise women. But I did. And on reflection it was probably among the most memorable days of my life.

The morning ritual was the same: hear alarm, hit snooze, fall asleep again, hear alarm, get up, have tea, go to work site. This morning, however, the worksite was uncharacteristically quiet. We were soon informed that the skilled workers (the one's who tell us volunteers what to do) were taking a day off today to celebrate Lord Shiva's birthday. We were given the option of continuing work regardless or taking a day off too. In the end we compromised and worked a half-day.

After work we walked into town in search of a temple. On the way our i-to-i co-ordinator explained that Lord Shiva smoked a lot of hash and had sex with a bull. This holiday is traditionally celebrated by doing as Shiva does, but with less bull fucking. (I hope...)

Anyways, we found a local temple, took our shoes off, and looked around. From the amount of grapes and bananas scattered around the temple I can only presume that Lord Shiva liked these particular fruits. (Perhaps they were an invigorating interlude between sessions of hash and bestiality)

A religious figure (brahman?) approached us and gave us a blessing by rubbing a red paste (tikka?) on our foreheads. He then offered us a small, white, apparently-edible ball - An offering that our guide explained is infused with hash. I was apprehensive yet simultaneously did not want to deny myself an authentic experience so I at half of the mystery white ball.

As it turns out the hash-balls were quite mild so I had a few more and waited in nervous anticipation for my digestive system to process the hash.

Meanwhile, Guy - who doesn't care for putting mystery substances in his mouth (clever chap) - had set out to find a smokable, Lord-Shiva-approved high. We found some friendly locals waving about bags of weed and making 'come hither' gestures at us. Guy asked for, and received, some weed, but on offering to pay the local said "No no, just live a good life and be happy". Pay? Don't be silly. Nepali people are very generous.

We wandered towards home - or rather, by this stage, I floated towards home - and on the way found a house that was surrounded by loud music and jubilant, dancing locals. We stopped and listened for a while before tentatively requesting to head inside. To our surprise they happily invited us in.

The atmosphere was incredible. Men, women, and children were all dancing, talking, and eating. Their attitude towards us was one of curiosity and wonder rather than the suspiciousness and animosity that we would impart of wedding gatecrashers back home.

I tried my best to act as a sort of "ambassador of dance" representing Australia but more realistically I probably just looked like a fool who'd just wandered into a spiderweb. Nevertheless the locals clapped and cheered and were as enthusiastic as we were.  I danced with the children, the high-as-kites men, and one particularly beautiful and flirty Nepalese woman. The hour or so that we spent at that party was so surreal, so vibrant, and filled with such a pure joy that surpassed all cultural differences that I'm sure  will remember it for the rest of my life.

Almost as enjoyable as the party itself was recounting the afternoon with Guy on the walk home. We were all enjoying the warm afterglow of hash and talking and really didn't feel like anything could have possibly made me happier at that point.

Nepal - Day #10

Despite having missed a day of work for Shiva's birthday we had been progressing very well work-wise. We'd shoveled gravel into 3 classroom bays and filled one of them with rocks. Today the skilled worker would arrive and give us further instruction.

The skilled worker arrived and told us that we had drastically overfilled all 3 bays with gravel. Essentially we now had to undo all of the work we'd done so far. I was angry; at the people who told us to fill the bay to the original height, at myself for not realizing the error, and - unreasonably - at the skilled worker for delivering the news.

I don't like past-orientated anger - it's pointless and childish. Yet somehow I would have liked nothing better at that point than to have had a rage; and tantrum.

Needless to say, work today was uninspired and seemed harder than usual.

Daal Baht was particularly good today, or, rather, being served daal baht was good. I am, you see, becoming increasingly smitted with Ansita, the young cook and all-round domestic goddess here at the school. She can't really speak english and probably has a Nepalese arranged marriage lined up but if you feed me delicious food and look attractive then all of that is soon forgotten.

In the afternoon we wandered into town for supplies -  my supplies consisted of a family-sized block of Cadbury chocolate - and in the evening we sat on the roof with candles and looked at the stars.

Nepal - Day #3 - Bhaktapur/Kathmandu

Day 3 began with a bread and jam and an omlette ( a worthy representation of a western breakfast). We then continued our orientation with Bal and learned about the treatment of women in Nepal. In short it's pretty awful.



Women are often forced to sleep in cow sheds when they are menstruating and are subject to a life of 'loving servitude' to their husbands. Marriages are arranged by the parents of the couple and the women's family is expected to pay the husband's family a 'dowry'. This dowry is essentially a wish-list of items that the husband (or husband's family) desires and demands.

Dowry's are generally fairly expensive items (cars, laptops, 100,000 rupees) which means that families (wanting to avoid financial stress) often hope for male children rather than females. I couldn't help wondering about the prevalence of abortions in Nepal; Bal assured me that it was uncommon, however given the information at hand it seems likely that home-abortions would occur. Despite my pro-choice position I think the choice to abort should be a least minimally rational and the procedure conducted to be safe and professional. The dowry system is archaic, dogmatic, and encourages greed.

A worse problem still is women trafficking. This involves a Nepalise man feigning interest in a woman in order to secure the families dowry before selling the woman to a brothel (most often in India). Because menstruation is seen as an 'impurity' young girls are in particularly high demand. Women, or more accurately children, are forced to satisfy 5 to 25 clients a day; some of the children being as young as 11.

After orientation it was lunch time and I decided that I would eat it the Nepalise way. It was quite enjoyable eating with my hand even though my lack of skill proved amusing to the locals. In Nepal it is only acceptable to eat with your right hand because your left hand should be used when visiting the toilet.

In the afternoon we visited the monkey temple just outside central Kathmandu. It's a Buddhist temple atop a large mountain with a lot of monkeys. . . I guess the name gives it away a bit. I picked up a few souvenirs and took plenty of photo's.

In the evening Guy and I went back to Sam's bar in Thamel (see photo ^^), but only for a few drinks this time.

As a sidenote we discovered today that my companion Guy's name means 'cow' in Nepalise. This fact provided Bal and I with much amusement.

Nepal - Day #2 - Bhaktapur/Kathmandu

Day 2 was much better than Day 1. I met Guy, the other volunteer I'll be working with. He's really friendly, has dreadlocks, enjoys a good beer (or 12) and works as a stonemason back in Chichester in England.

The morning consisted of Daal Baht ('Daal Baht' for breakfast, 'Baht Daal' for dinner!) followed by our orientation with Bal. We learned about the caste system in Nepal (4 arbitrary classes based on blood-line), learnt some basic Nepalise, and talked about the Nepalise education system (It seems like the ability to buy an education causes the same injustices and class divides in Nepal as it does in Australia - Surprise, surprise).


In the evening things really kicked off when Guy and I decided to head into Kathmandu. After only experiencing the dusy - and rather depressing - streets of Bhaktapur seeing Kathmandu restored my hopes that Nepal could be exciting. It was. The streets of Kathmandu are narrow and crowed , filled with Nepalise locals, tourists, and drug dealers. ('hashish sir?'. .'opium?'. ..'heroin sir?')

We went first to a touristy sort of bar called 'Sam's'. At sams the walls are covered with messages written by the visitors. There are stories, quotes, tips, and pictures scribed on the walls. I added my own mark on the wall with one of the few quotes I've managed to internalise:

After a few 'Everests' (the local lager-style beer) Guy shared with me a story about a girl he'd me at a nearby bar a few weeks ago. His enthusiasm for the particular woman was revealed to me without hesitation. He gushed. It was good.

Next we went to a more traditional bar where we sat on cushions on the floor. Guy explained to me on the way there that this is where he had first met Christina (his aforementioned love interest). I think we both knew that the chances of Christina being in the same bar weeks later and the same time that we visit would have to be very slim. Yet by some miracle she turned up!

Christina is from New Zealand and undeniably attractive. She told us about a trip she took to a temple in which she meditated with monks in absolute silence and darkness for 10 hours a day for 10 days. I wondered whether I would have the willpower to do something like that. It's certainly something I'd like to attempt.


I also met a few french travelers and we all ate and drank together.(Christina is the one on the far right)

By this time of the night we'd all had quite a lot to drink and were feeling very jolly but we decided to head to more more bar before home. This last place had a small cover band that played heaps of popular western music. I bought a gin and tonic that was poured freehand to a ratio of 40% gin to 60% tonic. This cost me about $2.50AUD!

On the taxi ride home Guy gushed some more about how Christina is the perfect woman for him - I can't decide whether it was irritating, heart-warming, or amusing. Either way, drunken mumblings generally reveal a lot about a person, and to know that I'm spending the next month with a hopeless romantic means we'll probably have a lot to talk about.

Nepal - Day #1 - Kathmandu/Bhaktapur

Overwhelmed. It's been a couple of hours since arriving in Kathmandu and I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew. So this is what 'culture shock' feels like.

I was met at the airport by a young Nepalise man who took me to the accomodation that I will spend the next two nights at. The short trip from the airport to Bhaktapur was rather nerve-racking. The Nepalise have an informal road system in which there are no lanes and little indication. Instead they beep their horns a lot and spontaneous order miraculously occurs - not dissimilar (I imagine) to a bat's use of sonar.


I walked through bhaktapur with my guide and couldn't help feeling like a spectacle. My clothes, white skin, and long hair was obviously not a common sight. While we walked we talked about arranged marriages, girlfriends, university, and wealth. I felt like a promiscuous, rich, prat.






Now i'm in my room feeling exahusted and hungry but I can't bring myself to go back out there again right now.
 
On an unrelated note the weather is fine, it's about 16 degrees Celcius. Nice.