The Blog Hits Nepal: Monkeys, Parades, and How to Help

Warning: Picture heavy post ahead! As I finish up on the Nepal stories. Also, I forgot to take blog pictures, so sorry about that...

Because I went to Nepal a couple of days late on account of Sarit and Abe's wedding, I spent my last couple of days in Nepal catching up on some of the things that I had missed at the beginning of the trip. My favorite? Swayambhunath, AKA the Monkey Temple!

To get there, my uncle David and I climbed up 365(!) increasingly steep steps. Luckily, we were greeted with a beautiful view, an even more beautiful temple, and lots of monkeys! Including a baby, and one who was drinking a can of soda. This temple used to have a functioning monastery, but it shut down a number of years ago, even before the earthquake. As you can see in the picture above, there are a number of cracks in the dome, all from the earthquake. There were piles of rubble all around, next to the standing structures. Everywhere you go, there's a constant reminder of how much destruction there was.

From there, after some epic bargaining, we caught a cab back to the hotel, where I met my dad to go to Boudhanath. Boudhanath is the center of the Tibetan Buddhist community in Nepal, and the holiest Buddhist site outside of Tibet. It used to have a huge stupa, but it totally collapsed in the earthquake, leaving only its dome behind. Despite the destruction, it is still overflowing with people, all of whom are lighting candles, turning prayer wheels, ringing the bells, and walking around the stupa only in the clockwise direction. The monks weren't chanting when I was there, but the place itself was so beautiful that I could understand why it is was so holy. My favorite part was the room filled with candles, which reflected over and over against the copper walls. See a small taste below:

On our last morning, the rest of the group hit the road to go to India, but my uncle Joel and I stayed back in Nepal for the rest of the day and then flew back to New York that night. We decided to go to market and then to Durbar Square. It was overflowing with people because of the festival. And also, overflowing with pigeons. I have literally never seen so many pigeons.

As it turns out, it was Dewali! So we kept running into parades, everywhere we went, both in the market and in Durbar Square. What struck me most was the colors. They were so vibrant, everywhere we turned. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

Tika Powder

Finally, not to sound like a broken record, but we saw earthquake damage everywhere we went. Most of the people we met were incredibly resilient and positive, considering the circumstances, but it was impossible to ignore how bad things looked. There were constant reminders of how much was destroyed. That, combined with the petrol crisis, has made things very difficult.

So if I've inspired you to get involved, I would make the following recommendations:

First, if you can, visit Nepal! It is a beautiful country that is super affordable once you get there, and they are really hurting for tourists right now. We traveled with Sports Tours and Travel, who were so wonderful. And feel free to email me if you want to know more!

Second, there are some organizations doing great work in Nepal, rebuilding and supporting NGOs on the ground. I recommend American Jewish World Service, and my uncle recommends Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam, or Save the Children. General donations are always the most helpful, but you can also earmark for Nepal.

Finally, educate yourself about what's happening there. Nicholas Kristoff was recently there on his Win a Trip journey, and there's great coverage about that and the petrol situation here.

And finally, what might be my favorite picture I took the whole trip:

That's all for now. Thanks for reading about my adventures. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week. Namaste!