The Blog Hits Nepal: Temples, Ruins, and Family Fun

Let's continue where we left off, shall we?

Man, sometimes I wish I had a pomelo tree
in my back yard. Or that I had a back yard.

 After a relaxing few days in Pokhara, we hit the road again to go back to Kathmandu. It's about 400 km, or 130ish miles, which would take maybe three hours in the States if you hit traffic, but takes much longer if nobody has fuel efficient cars and your highway is only one lane in each direction. That, combined with the bad fuel that finally forced us off the road and into a new car, meant that the trip took basically a whole day. Certainly an adventure, albeit not one that involved many photos because we were mostly sitting on the bus. We did stop at Manakanama on the way, which is a temple in Gorka, which was at the epicenter of the earthquake. The temple was essentially just pile of sticks, but there were still many people around, praying and making offerings. It seemed there were actual animal sacrifices happening but I stayed away because, well, I'm a vegetarian for a reason.

Anyway. We all had an early night that night, and then we woke up in the morning to drive to Patan, which is one of the three original cities of Kathmandu valley. We headed to Durbar square, the main religious center of the city.

One of the things that surprised me when touring around Nepal is that none of their National Heritage Sites are roped off. You can climb on them, sit on their steps, and some people have even carved initials into the wood, which I have to assume is frowned up. It's partly about resources, I assume. In a country as poor as Nepal, there are not police resources to devote to stopping vandalism. However, I also liked that you could walk right up and admire the incredible handiwork up close. It's just a very different mindset than we have here, where all of these places would for sure be roped off in a "look but don't touch" sort of mentality.

As you can get a tiny taste of in the photo below, Durbar Square suffered very significant earthquake damage. Some of the temples were totally reduced to rubble, and most of the ones that were still standing were being supported with beams. It's totally heartbreaking to see these grand, gorgeous places that have been standing for centuries reduced to rubble. Even though we saw it everywhere, you never really get used to it.

After a morning of exploring and shopping, during which my uncle tried (not very successfully) to teach me how to haggle, we went to my Aunt Champa's cousin Mina's house. There, I made friends with her friend, also named Mina, and compared notes about our different teaching experiences. Let's just say that, teaching Nepal is not exactly the same as teaching in America. I'm sure that's shocking to you. There's Mina and me below:

After that, we went to meet more relatives-- this time, Mina's daughter Puja, her husband, and their whole family. A large and diverse clan, as you can see in the picture below. As it turns out, Puja's husband is a very strict vegetarian who has his own kitchen where no meat, cheese, or egg is allowed so... Rachel finally got to eat Nepali food! Hurrah! Big day. We got to hear more about the business world in Nepal, see their beautiful home, and share a meal together. A lovely time was had by all.

Modest travel tip: A good button down shirt, tucked into a skirt, is great for a day when you need to look a little nicer but still want to be comfortable. Choose something with a more substantial fabric so it doesn't wrinkle too much in your suitcase.

What I'm wearing: Boden skirt (past season but similar here), polka dot Toms (similar here), LOFT button down (similar here)