Another Break from KTM - Visiting Hetauda

So a few weekends ago, I went to Hetauda – and seriously, I really like the place. I’ve been before, but this time I did a lot more and hung out with great friends instead of attending focus group discussions. My housemate, Isabelle and I had been trying to make it to HTD for awhile (she’d never been) to visit with Sam and Nat (our Australian friends). It was a great chance for me to also meet up with my friend Jiwan (he does M&E for Equal Access out in the field). It was a great weekend… I definitely needed a break from KTM. Sometimes I forget how exhausting it is to live in KTM and then I go somewhere else and realize how nice it is outside of the valley.

our jeep before it broke. (photo by Isa)

Isa and I left on Saturday morning and had a pretty uneventful trip… except for our jeep breaking an hour and half outside of Hetauda. I had never actually seen a wheel break off of an axle until that day. I felt bad for the driver, because he was being SO careful the whole trip. Usually drivers around here are speeding around corners, honking way in advance to let everyone within range know to clear the way. Also they tend to look suspiciously young (like 12… but all Nepalis look really young, I guess). But our driver was nice to Isa and me, seemed a normal driving age and drove at an appropriate speed. And then there was a horrible noise and it was like one corner of the jeep just fell. So there we were, stopped in the middle of the road (keep in mind, it’s what we in the states would deem a one way road), with the driver jacking up the car under the running board. Makes no sense at all… but maybe he knows something I don’t. Like he’d listen to a girl tell him how to change a tire… or just how to jack a car. (I'm missing some photos... but there is one where you can totally see the bigriyo jeep!)

Luckily, jeeps were aplenty on Saturday heading towards HTD, so Isa and I had no trouble hopping into another one and finishing out our curvy, uphill/downhill, bumpy 4-5 hour journey to Hetauda. Once we finally made it into town, Nat and Jiwan came to meet us at the Motel Avocado, where Isa and I were staying – Lonely Planet says that the Motel Avocado is a quirky resort, but then again they also say there’s no reason to stop in Hetauda except to change buses. (Sam was out riding around on a 200 cc Pulsar motorbike for his friend’s birthday.) It was SOOO nice to see everyone. We walked a bit around HTD (there’s not a whole lot of town compared to KTM of course) and then went over to Nat’s house to make a Nepali dinner of daal bhat, tarkari, saag, etc. Nat and Sam are great cooks and together they would make a really good Nepali girl ;) Jiwan is also a great cook… and he surprised me by actually knowing how to cook! The food was great and it was just a lot of fun to hang out.

Cooking Nepali food at Nat and Sam's - Nat's manning the daal and Jiwan's got the saag covered... me, I'm not sure. (photo by Isa)

A typical Nepali meal (cooked with only 2 Nepalis present). (Photo by Isa)

Nat says (and like I said, Lonely Planet agrees) there’s not much to do in HTD, but there’s at least enough to get us through a weekend in town. Sunday morning, after a late(ish) breakfast at the Avocado (yum, banana porridge!), Nat, Sam, Isa, Jiwan and I went for a short hike up to Manakamana temple. All steps. Seriously, you all know how I feel about steps. It wasn’t that bad, though. And the view of Hetauda from the temple was nice… except for the foggy haze covering most of town. I’m not really much for temples (being a non-Hindu and pretty much just not being religious), but I do like a good hike. Jiwan never admits that he’s tired or needs water. The rest of us were happy to reach the top and sit for a bit. :) I like that I’ve been getting some chances to walk and hike the past few weekends. Gives me the chance to think and just not do work and enjoy Nepal more. And get ready for my upcoming trek with Sam!

Manakaman Temple - it was closed, but its not like we could go in anyway (well, I guess Jiwan could)

After the hike up, Sam and Jiwan resting for some minutes.

Enjoying snacks at the temple. (Photo by Sam)

Back in town... Isa and Nat taking a rickshaw to the hotel.

Me and a bangle cart... seriously, it's like a sickness for me. (Photo by Isa)

After getting back into town, we went around HTD again to see the market and get some snacks for lunch. Then I headed over to Jiwan’s house for tea and to meet his family. I really like meeting Nepali people and the families of my Nepali friends. I just wish I could do more talking with them. I should really practice my Nepali more, I know… It’s just so hard for me to formulate what I want to say quickly. Besides, my Nepali is bad and I hate to disappoint people that think I’m Nepali anyway. Jiwan’s family was super nice and I got see all of his photos. He’s been ALL over Nepal, so seeing his photos only made me want to stay in Nepal longer to explore all the districts. We talked a lot about Nepal and about Equal Access and SSMK. So I actually got some work done while hanging out which looks like the trip was actually thesis-related. Yay!

After a couple of cups of tea (Jiwan drinks a lot of tea… he is Nepali after all ;) ), he took me for a motorbike tour of Hetauda. He’d been telling me about all the cool things to see in Hetauda and Makawanpur district, so it was nice to get the Jiwan tour. Even though it was getting dark, he drove me up to the Martyr Memorial Park just outside of town. I just read about the park in the English social studies textbooks I’m freelance editing here, so it was cool to get to see the park. The funny thing about parks here, and also in Uzbekistan, is that they tend to be THE place to go for boys and girls to hang out alone. The park was pretty clean, though (as Martyr’s Day was coming up) and cute. At the park there’s a big rock inscribed with the faces of 12 martyrs from the conflict time. The park also a has a zoo, where Jiwan and I went back and forth on one animal that looked very much like a guinea pig to me, but which they just call a bigger rodent. I think they were guinea pigs which I LOVE, but even now, people in my office don’t know what they are called in Nepali.

It was nice to ride around with Jiwan on his fancy new bike – a 150 cc Pulsar. Nat has named it Prerana which means inspire. She’s named her bike, too – Sriste which means universe in Nepali. Gotta say, I wasn’t into motorcycles before (since Jen’s friend Carl had his accident in the states awhile ago), but seeing as it’s the fastest mode of transport around here… I’ve grown to like them. I feel a hell of a lot safer on a motorbike than I do in any car, taxi or bus I’ve ridden in here. And it is WAY safer than riding on top of a bus or microbus, for sure. Besides, I check with anyone that offers me a lift to see if they’ve had any accidents. If I was staying around Nepal longer than my 7 months, I’d probably take up learning how to drive a motorbike. For now, though, it’s just fun to ride on the back of them and see cool things.

The bikes - Sriste in front and Prerana in the back. (Photo by Isa)

And Jiwan is a great tour guide in Hetauda. Having grown up there, he knows everything about the place and he’s seen a lot of change happen. I asked him about the conflict time and what it was like. He opened up a little bit about it. I don’t really expect many people to just start talking about that part of Nepali history, but I am incredibly curious about it. I just can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to grow up in such a crazy time – bomb blasts, abductions, and curfews. As an American, we have no idea what it’s like to constantly worry about what’s going to happen next. From what I’ve heard from Jiwan and from others it sounds terribly scary. Coming out of those dark times, it’s no wonder that Nepalis have such great hope resting on this new government (even though it’s the Maoists in control).

While I was excited to spend some time with Jiwan and to get his thoughts about life in Nepal, it was also super awesome to hang out with Nat and Sam. They spent the holidays with me in KTM and I’ve missed them a lot since they went back to HTD. Nat and Sam are so much fun to hang out with. Monday was Australia Day (think July 4th for the US, but with Australian football and less of the sparklers), so we spent the morning before Isa and I had to leave eating vegemite on toast (it makes you as bright as bright can be!) and playing Australian football. It was fun to just play… made me miss playing catch at home or throwing the football (the American one). The vegemite I could do without… but I’m not Australian, so it’s not like I’ll ever really have it. :), It’s sad to think that Sam and Nat will be leaving Nepal soon. Nat’s been here living here for the past year for research for her PhD in anthropology and Sam came for the last 5 months to provide moral support. I’ll be sad to see them leave as they are SO my favorite Australians. Both are them are super sweet and just so fun to be around. I don’t think I would have gone on as many adventures as I have here if it hadn’t been for Sam.

Vegemite... yum. I think they use the stuff to brainwash Australians. ;) (Photo by Isa)

All of us after some Australian football. (Photo by Sam)

Nat and Isa on Sriste. (Photo by Sam)

Our trip to Hetauda was just a nice time to get out of the city and relax for a bit. I’ve been feeling a bit stressed lately about the thesis. I just can’t seem to concentrate enough to sit down and write the damn thing. And things at Equal Access have been hectic as well. It’s been months full of proposal writing for me, which isn’t really what I was hoping to get out of my time here, but I’ll take it. It’s definitely a good skill to have and one that all NGOs and development orgs need, so maybe someone will give me a job.

Jiwan and me waiting for the jeep to KTM to leave. (Photo by Isa)

Sushil Villa girls before Isa and I leave HTD! All that's missing is Sam (our Sushil Villa guy!). (Photo by Jiwan)

One month of Catch Up… sort of.

I’m sure all 3 of you that check my blog have been on the edge of your seat waiting to see what I post next. Apologies for neglecting the blog… how Joy posts EVERY day, I have NO idea. The end of October/beginning of November proved to be super busy, which is great, but left me no time to blog. So here’s my post to catch you up on my life in Nepal so far… but I’m posting about my trek separately because you should have a choice on if you want to read more about how much I love this place.

Where did we leave off? Ah yes… Tihar. October’s second holiday/festival. Tihar was the last week of October and gave me 3 days off from the office (Tuesday – Thursday… yeah, you read right – Monday and Friday I had to go to work. Nothing like mid-week holidays to throw you way off track!). I spent the days off seeing little puppies and street dogs get garlands of bright flowers and tika, gawking at cows with receiving tika and having hundreds of strings tied onto their tails, watching the sky light up with fireworks and hearing screams and laughter on Laxmi Puja and experiencing Bhai Tika (more on this in a bit) with my office friend Rashmi at her family’s home.

Tihar is all about worshipping. One day they worship dogs by giving them tika and throwing garlands of flowers (malla) around their necks… even the mangy street dogs! It’s the one day a year people actually do something nice for the dogs. Even the little puppy that survived the horrible mom dog and all of his other siblings dying out in front of my house got some love. He disappeared soon after that… but maybe someone took him in (that’s what I’m going to continue to think anyway).

My little puppy (I wish!) which I named Chijbij (things in Nepali).

On Laxmi puja, Hindus worship cows by giving them tika and malla as well, so riding around town you see the random cows being attended to by passersby. Tradition goes that string that Hindus wear on their wrists are supposed to be tied to a cow on Laxmi Puja to expedite their journey to nirvana. My friends Natalie and Sam were in Darjeeling during Laxmi Puja and Nat was determined to tie her string bracelet onto a cow… so they had their taxi stop on the side of the road when they saw a cow! Laxmi Puja is also to worship the goddess of wealth – Laxmi. Businesses, offices, shops and homes decorate with malla and lights to bring Laxmi to their place. This is also the day the firecrackers, fireworks and sparklers reach their height. EVERYONE is out celebrating, it’s almost like new year’s.

Bhai Tika is the day that Hindus worship their brothers by giving them blessings with tika (which I mentioned before) and gifts. Oh yeah, the sisters get money. Gotta love these holidays with gift and money giving! Luckily, I got to experience the holiday with my friend Rashmi’s family in Kirtipur (just outside of KTM) which means I got to see how Nepalis celebrate the day and I get adopted by a Nepali family for the day. :) Rashmi, her nieces and nephews, and I were given the task to prepare the ceremony location… which meant using flour and colored powders to create an area with religious symbols. I drew an elephant (to represent Ganesh), the sun and lots of flowers (not sure what the flowers mean, but I draw a pretty mean flower sometimes). Rashmi’s mom started getting the tika ready which for Bhai Tika includes different colored powders. As the ceremony began, boys sat facing the girls and the blessings were given. After gifts and money were exchanged and all of our foreheads were given pretty, pretty multicolored tika, we ate a LOT of food. Then Rashmi and I headed to a community talent show to see young people sing and dance to hindi music and perform skits.

Drawings we made for the tika ceremony.

Me giving tika to my adopted for the day brother.

Rashmi and I during the ceremony.

My adopted for the day mom and I (thanks Rashmi for letting me borrow her for the festivities!).

After that holiday… everything at work started to get hectic. I love it, though… I’m finally doing stuff that seems important and my team is starting to really think of me as on their team. I went with the SSMK team to Nagarkot (remember… known for its beautiful sunrises) to participate in a planning workshop with UNICEF and my org. We’re developing a new project for SSMK that deals with increasing youth participation in sports and using sports as a vehicle to teach life skills. You know what I’m talking about… leadership, team-building, fair play, etc.? Those are all life skills that are important for youth in Nepal to learn to build character and become successful. And… sports kids are healthy kids who perform better academically. Interesting how my parents didn’t let me play sports… but I guess I still turned out okay! :)

Remember that Nike campaign back in middle school (well, for me anyway) that showed little girls staring directly into the camera and saying “if you let me play sports…” Yeah, that’s kind of what we’re going for in phase one of our project. Convince the parents that sports during development is a good thing. Parents and teachers around here have pretty negative perceptions and attitudes about sports, so we’re going to have really try to change their minds for this sports project to take off.

But… anyway, so the planning workshop was REALLY productive and very cool. It’s like fitting everything my P&I (planning & implementation) group did over a whole semester into 3 days. I much prefer it this way. And I got to make some contacts at UNICEF here in Nepal and from the UK. Not to mention… I got to meet Deepak Bista (a 2008 Olympian for Nepal) and Paras Khadka (winner of the Emerging Young Cricketer of South Asia award… and very cute!). I also got to finally see a beautiful sunrise in Nagarkot after seeing a foggy one with Raj earlier in the week. Yay!

My team leader Binita and I at one of the best hotels I've had a conference at (the views definitely put it up at the top).

That weekend was the EA International Directors’ Meeting in KTM, so I attended that as well and got to meet with all the country directors from my org. It was a great time for me to meet them and find out more about what types of projects they are doing in their own countries. It looks like video might be our next big step so that will be very interesting.

So that was my crazy October/November. After the Directors’ Meeting, I went on a week long trek with Sam (an Australian that’s come to live here for the next 5 months). This post is *already* way too long, so I’ll post separately about the trek. And congrats if you read all the way down to here!

October is for exploring...

So... as I mentioned before, October is THE month for holidays/festivals in Nepal. Something else I noticed? October is high season for the tourists. Which means they are everywhere. Having spent the last week going back and forth between Patan and Thamel (not that close of a distance, but when you've got friends either staying there or working there or meeting up for dinner there, it's hard to say no), I'm definitely over the tourists overrunning the city and the country.

It's been a busy time here in KTM for me lately. Work has definitely picked up, which I'm very excited about. It looks like November could be just as busy, but with no holidays. :) Aside from work, I've been having a lot of fun seeing a little more of the KTM valley area.

Yogi, a coworker of mine, took a bunch of us on a great day hike near his hometown of Bhaktapur (you might have heard about this town in the news because of the recently picked Living Goddess). It was a fun, easy hike with great views of the valley and yay - mountain views! It was nice to get outside and hike and not breathe in KTM air. Whenever I leave KTM, I'm always amazed by how noticeable the difference is in the air. KTM is so polluted and everyone's constantly coughing and spitting (ew). You leave KTM and it's like all of a sudden you can breathe easy. It was nice to go with Yogi, though. He's named the hike Hanging Valley, but it's somewhere between Sangaa and Bhaktapur. He's a great guide and I'm trying to convince him to join me on my Mt Everest Base Camp trek in April (as well as you, Seth!). Here's some pics from the hike.

View of the mountains from our snack spot. Look there! In the clouds... those are mountains!


A Nepali woman harvesting.


Rice and the tiered paddies.


Tiered farming.


The valley we hiked through.


I explored Bhaktapur and Bhaktapur Durbar Square a different day with Natalie, Sam, and Luke (3 Australian friends - Nat and Sam are in Hetauda and Luke was visiting them and came for a trek). Now that I've seen all 3 Durbar Squares (Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur), I have to say that Bhaktapur's is very nice. It's really clean and quiet (or at least more quiet). I love Patan Durbar Square just because it's always bustling with people and it's fun to just people watch there. The four of us were undecided on if we should pay the 750 NRS (approx. $10) or sneak in, but then our crazy taxi driver dropped us right in front of the gate and so there was no chance to sneak in. However, I did get a marriage proposal. A guide who wanted us to use him told me I look Nepali (never gets old, does it?) and that I should "make Nepalese marriage". Luke, being the funny guy he is, asked the guy if he meant I should marry him. Thanks, Luke. And the guide said that he would, but he is too poor to offer me anything... implying that if we paid him to be our guide he'd have enough to marry me. Awesome. Sadly, I am unable to "make Nepalese marriage" since I've already got Gordon back home. Obviously, we chose to do without a guide and left my Nepali would-be fiance back at the main gate. :)

Bhaktapur Durbar Square is a great place for photos. Lots of really cool architecture and locals running around doing their thing. Since it's so frequented by tourists (told you... high season, folks), the locals now charge 2 NRS if they see you taking pictures of them. Sam and I discussed the fairness of this and I guess he's right. Would I want randoms taking pictures of me everyday and all day long? I'd probably ask for cash money, too, if people wanted to take pictures of me all the time while I'm just trying to work or something. Or... you can take photos of people while they aren't paying attention, which is what I chose to do because I don't want them to pose or smile at me. So here's some photos of Bhaktapur Durbar Square.

A woman organizing her pottery to sell.


View of Taumadhi Tole with the tallest temple in Nepal - Nyatapola Temple (left).


I think this might be the Siddhi Laxmi Temple with statues of animals along the steps.


A building along Bhaktapur Durbar Square.


A cool statue outside of the National Art Gallery.


Pottery in Potter's Square - these are actually piggy banks.


Women in Potter's Square.


Enjoy... next post will be about Tihar or 3 days of lights and fireworks. :)