Namaste, Nepal

It's been a while since I've taken such a long flight east and at times on the flight there I asked myself, what was I thinking? But the 29 hour journey, including a long layover in China, now seems like a distant memory. I'm still smiling from the incredible memories made during my 2 week trip to Nepal and know that it was all worth it. 

My trip began with those jitters of nerves and excitement we all get when entering a developing world, alone and sleep deprived. My first cab ride was a unique one. I happened to arrive on a holiday called, Holi, which is the festival of colour. In the streets everyone was throwing powdered paints at each other, along with water, and sometimes eggs. The (mostly dirt) roads were littered with Nepali men, women, and children who frolicked and laughed while dousing themselves with copious amounts of powdered paint. I felt like I was in a movie, wide eyed from inside the taxi, trying to figure out my surroundings as the colourful scenes flew by my eyes and the heat and car horns awoke me.

Not long after arriving, I met my G Adventure group. Fifteen of us and our selfless, kind, and funny Nepali leader, Raj, made up our family for the next 10 days. Our first walk as a group to Thamal, the busy backpackers area that offered hundreds of dining and shopping options, was an eye opener. I really mean that, you have to be super alert as a pedestrian as there are no sidewalks. You're darting motorbikes, honking cars, and stray dogs. The dust and exhaust are also a battle to be reckoned with. But to be honest it's organized chaos. I had to get used to walking on the left side of the street and passing other walkers on the left, but eventually, you nail the walking thing. Texting and walking would be an utter no-no.

Over the first few days we explored Kathmandu, the capital, and surrounding areas. Raj took us to several palaces and squares, teaching us about Hinduism, Buddhism, and Nepali culture along the way. We made some momos (traditional dumping) and wandered the busy streets in awe of beautiful people and curious monkeys running by Tibetan prayer wheels. I cannot compare what I saw with anything pre-2015 earthquake, but I know I saw a lot of damaged buildings with scaffolding and wooden sticks to hold them up. The places that got hit hard, such as Durbar Square (an area of palaces for their formal royal family), were a sad sight to see. I can only imagine the hurt and pain of the Nepali people who lost homes, loved ones, and century old historical sites felt. They are working to restore what they can, which is great, but there are a few issued at play; such as the cost to restore buildings and the labourers. Their economy depends heavily on exporting labour. Many young men head to the Middle East to work and send money home to their families. Who does that leave to do manual labour back home? Well, in a culture of arranged marriages, women marry young and start their families so everyone looks to middle aged and elderly people to get the job done.  I was surprised to see several grandmothers carrying baskets of bricks around on their back supported by a forehead strap. **Fun fact-instead of rings, women put tilaka (the powdered paint) in their hair crease (red) every couple of days, or when it wears off, to signify they’re 'taken'. 

Our gang headed west to a charming city called, Pokhara. With the lake, colourful canoes, sidewalks!, stores, and restaurants...it was a beautiful reprieve from busy city life. We continued to soak up more silence when heading to the foothills of the Annapurna range in the Himalayans. Everest is in the eastern part of the county, while Annupurna offers amazing peaks, excellent hiking trails, and hot springs along the way. We walked both uphill, downhill, and flat ground for about 6 hours a day. The range weaved up and down and we got to see beautiful views of the snow covered tops, sheep, small villages and farms, and experienced all of the elements. Layers were perfect for this 3 day trek. Hot, warm, cool, cold, rain, hail. We felt it all. It was so rewarding to reach our tea rooms (hotels in the mountains) and end our day with dal bhat (their traditional dish consisting of rice, lentil soup, and pickled veg) and had laughs/games of cards. One of the nights we finished our trek in a thunderstorm. Well, the only source of heat was a big stove in grandfather's room. Luckily, grandpa let all 15 of us crowd in his room around the fire to warm up and dry our shoes. This is a true testament to the Nepali people and their generosity. We had the best mountain guide, Sandip, better known as Sunny D, who cracked lots of jokes to keep us going. Our porters let me carry some of the load, and I joked around doing push ups with their bags on my back. I realized more than ever that laughing and smiling is a universal language. 

One final night in Pokhara, March 17th! Celebratory drinks and pre-purchased light up clover glasses from Dollarama, and we found ourselves an Irish pub! The fun didn't end there in Pokhara, because the following day we took a (very) unpredictable ride up a switchback mountain road to prepare for our decent ... as paragliders. It was nice overlooking the lake and all of its beauty from a bird's eye view.

Next we embarked on a relatively long drive to the south of the country to a village that is close to India. Chitwan is a UNESCO heritage place that really showed us the rural side of Nepal. It has fertile land so we saw a lot of rice and other patties along our bike ride through the village. It was the first time we'd seen stars since we'd arrived. We were able to walk around freely outside of the protected park, and Gita (my darling roommate and UK friend) and I took a stroll with 2 stray doggies. We ended up following 2 female farmers and with all of us speaking different languages, we just walked along the dirt road together like 6 peas in a pod. It wasn't until we reached the wooden arrow signs that pointed to the jungle, that we realized we should probably bid farewell or ‘namaste’ to our farmer friends. On the walk home (still with dogs in tow) we chanced upon some elephants walking the same path as us. Not your average nature walk, but definitely an exciting one! Later that day we entered the national reserve on 4x4 trucks and spotted several rhinos. We were in the lookout for Bengali tigers and leopards, but given that they're nocturnal, we didn't have any luck. On our final night in Chitwan we got to enjoy a traditional dance routine by the local teenagers and of course we all joined in. I even grabbed a baby from a mother who looked on with big,  curious eyes. The baby made it one rotation around the big, dancing circle with a smile before coming to the realization that I in fact did not at all resemble her mother.  It was time to hit the road. What was supposed to be a 7 hour drive including a lunch break across the only highway connecting east to west, turned into a great opportunity to play some games of ISpy and giggle our silliness away.  Ten hours later and no lunch we finally arrived back in Kathmandu for our final group dinner. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to my new German, Danish, English, and American friends.  Gita and I spent one final day exploring more palaces, gardens, and the Bouda Stupa (the largest Buddhist stupa in the world that contains Buddhist relics inside).  We took photos, gave offerings, and enjoyed a couple of tasty meals together before parting ways.

Part two of my trip: Papa’s House Orphanage http://www.nepalorphanshome.org

I was a little anxious about leaving what I knew to be a familiar group and entering a whole new realm and experience. But, by the time I arrived to the orphanage (north of Kathmandu) I psyched myself up and arrived to a whiteboard reading, “Welcome, Rebecca”. It’s funny how the simple acts of kindness can really go a long way. **A gentleman, Michael, aka Papa, a carpenter from the States volunteered his time in Nepal over a decade ago. He went home, sold everything and returned to build an orphanage from the ground up. Now there are 4 boarding homes of approximately 25 kids and a school, as well as a centre for women of the community to learn and spend time together. This orphanage also has connections with special needs schools and a baby orphanage.** I spent my first evening getting to know some new friends who were also volunteering. We shared a dormitory style bedroom and got close pretty quickly. Fortunately and unfortunately the students of Papa’s House school was in the midst of exams so I did not get to attend class with them. However, this opened up the opportunity for me to spend my time holding and playing with babies at the baby orphanage, I spent one day delivering apples and bananas to kids at a hospital in the oncology ward, and a day at a special needs rehab/school centre. I loved this! I got to make beaded necklaces with the kids (after which they sold them in a small store on site), play soccer with kids who had physical disabilities, push kids on the swing, play with building blocks and assist some in math, and just watch the day go by in this lovely facility.  In the evenings I spent time with the children in the orphanage home and connected with them right away. I brought pen-pal letters that my students from Mentor had written and watched them read aloud with excitement. Luckily for me and my students, the kids replied and were able to share information about life in Nepal and ask burning questions about Canada. I played camp games, read them a picture book about Canada that I’d brought, and danced, of course, danced! It’s good for the soul! “Thank you, sister”, still rings in my ears; what a lovely group of individuals who will never truly know what it’s like to have an immediate family but will always have several brothers and sisters who are now family. One of my student's mom lent me a book called, Little Princes. It's a true story of a young American man who did something similar to Michael. He embarked a trip around the world and just had to return to Nepal to help. I won't spoil the ending, but he did a lot of humanitarian acts and made a lot of kids safe and happy. It was a perfect read during this trip. 

My 15 days had passed. I successfully checked off country 37 from my list and felt happy leaving, knowing I’d made the most of my journey. I spent one final night in Thamal, just to fit in among the backpackers and flew out for a very, very long journey back home. My heart, is happy. Nepal, dhayabat (thank you).