Special Guest Star: Seth in Ghana

After many months hounding Julie for blog posts on her various Nepali adventures, it was suggested that perhaps I would submit an entry myself. While I cannot hope to compete with images of the Himalayas, I’ll recount a bit of my recent trip to Ghana.

I am conducting my internship in the land-locked country of Burkina Faso. Given the fact that all my time in Africa has been spent in the Sahel and my craving to see the ocean for the first time in 7 months, I decided to head south to Ghana for Christmas. Landing in Accra, I quickly escaped the big city (though not before seeing Baba!) for the relative calm of Cape Coast, a couple hours west of the capital. For several days I indulged in early morning basketball games with local kids, followed by late afternoon football matches on the stunning beach, all taking place in the shadow of the famed Cape Coast Castle.

Cape Coast Castle

Ocean!

I had always wanted to see the slave forts of the Gold Coast, as it was through these structures that the vast majority of slaves headed for the New World passed. Touring the dark dungeons envisioning one thousand people crammed into the small space with the stifling air reminded me of seeing concentration camps in Europe. It was a powerful experience to run my hands along the same stones that witnessed so much misery, and walking through the Door of No Return brought goosebumps despite the day’s heat and humidity.

Male Dungeon

After getting my fill of history, I could feel more justified in playing the role of dumb American tourist enjoying the beach and visiting nearby Kakum National Park. This park, 35km north of Cape Coast is famous for having constructed Africa’s first canopy walkway – a string of 7 bridges 85 meters off the jungle floor.

Kakum Ntl Park

This was a bit of a personal challenge, as I am not one that does well with heights and upon seeing the walkway, I could not help but think of the rope bridge scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...The canopy walk went off without a hitch as there were so many things to distract me from the fact that I was so far above the ground – the early morning mist rising off the trees, the calls of monkeys echoing through the air, and the incredible diversity of greenery (lush vegetation is something my eyes craved as much as the ocean after so much time in the red-brown Sahel!). I enjoyed my time in the rainforest so much, I arranged for a ranger to take me on a hike a few hours deep into the forest, a bit off the beaten trail. During this time we were able to see some wildlife, including a sizeable green mamba on the trail!

Our intrepid explorer…

Leaving Cape Coast I headed northward by bush taxi (tro-tros), through Kumasi and Tamale, towards Mole National Park. The change in vegetation was striking, as the tropics steadily gave way to the more desiccated Sahel. Along the way I encountered several other travelers – one was a clingy American woman, the rest being largely from Holland and therefore quite a bit of fun – headed in the same direction. I spent Christmas day trekking through the park for hours on end, seeing all sorts of antelope, monkeys, baboons, crocodiles, birds, warthogs, and the tracks of leopards and hyenas.

Baboons

Mole is unique in that its one of the few parks where one can walk amongst the animals. My hope was to encounter the elephants for which Mole is famous, but none were willing to accommodate my wishes. Despite this, the experience was incredible.

Kob

Christmas dinner was one of the more genuinely enjoyable and memorable holiday meals. It began with a run-in with a brazen baboon intent on winning some easy calories from the table and ended at around 4:30am after a lot of beers (tends to happen when drinking with an Irishman and a number of Dutch people) and even more laughs. In between was a truly great dinner with a wide range of people, wide-ranging conversations, and a simple but satisfying meal. All in all, a great Christmas!

Heading back to Ouagadougou I was informed that the border was closed – for those both wishing to enter and exit Ghana – because of the elections. Luckily, I was able to stay with a very sweet English girl who was volunteering not 10km from the border and the aforementioned Irishman for a relaxing two days. This was a welcome pause, as overland travel in Africa is always an adventure; ‘schedules’ are often non-existent, and hugely unreliable if they are, buses and tro-tros break down constantly. I read a book recounting Stanley’s Congo exploration during my trip, and while nothing can compare to that, it is easy to feel like an explorer as you navigate the country by land.

After crossing into Burkina, my Christmas wish of spotting an elephant was suddenly fulfilled as a large grey mass was spotted crossing the road. I implored the tro-tro to stop, apologizing to the 25 or so people crammed inside, but the crazy white guy just needed to hop out and snap a few shots of the elephant.

My elephant, finally!

A wonderful cap to a tiring but very rewarding trip.

Hopefully this wasn’t too painful of a departure from Julie’s posts, but something is better than nothing…ahem, ahem! Julie’s turn now!

Excuses, excuses.

I *WILL* post about my trek... and my rafting trip. My computer crashed and my drafts got lost. Stay tuned. :)

Here's a couple of pictures to get you geared up...


And this one from Sam...

We Interrupt Our Regular Programming… Julie on the Radio!

I'm still working on my post about my trek in Nepal... but since I'm back at work a lot of cool things have been happening. I've been writing proposals for the past 2 weeks and going back and forth with UNICEF staff over the sports project. In the meantime, Equal Access, my organizaiton has thrown together an exciting charity event for this weekend - a football match to benefit children living with HIV and AIDS. This is also a great way to gear up our listeners for our new sports development project. To get the word out about the match, the SSMK team recorded a PSA/event announcement to be broadcast on FM radio here in Nepal. They recorded an English and Nepali version and asked ME (!!) to record a couple of lines for the English version!! :)

It was my first time in a recording studio (we have one here in-house) and to be honest, I was a bit nervous as I don't like my voice in real life and didn't want to hear it on playback. It took all of about 20 minutes to record... most of which was spent with me messing up and being asked to deliver "more energy". These guys are complete pros, though, and I'm happy they asked me to be a part of it. Thanks to Binayak (the ultimate and coolest radio techie), Kaustuv, Ayush, and Rabindra and the rest of the SSMK team for letting me play!! :) And thanks to Equal Access and the SSMK team for letting me post it... if you're in the KTM area this Saturday (29 Nov 2008), come to the match!

English.mp3

Yes that's me saying "Teaming up to fight AIDS!" and "Tickets available at all..."

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. :)

Check Rhino Off the List… But Still in Search of That Tiger

So also over Dashain because we were already in the neighborhood, Raj suggested I head over to Chitwan National Park. The park is a major tourist attraction in Nepal (coming after Everest and the other big mountains of course) and apparently THE thing to do in the park is an elephant ride through the jungle. Because I’m technically still a tourist (though don’t tell people… I’d rather they all think I’m Nepali!), of course I would go to the park and ride an elephant.

Without sounding like a guide book, Chitwan has lots of good wildlife-seeing. It’s one of the last refuges for the endangered one-horned Indian rhinoceros. And… it supposedly has tigers, leopards, and other big game animals like sloth bears. I say supposedly because it’s very rare to see any of those animals… which means of course I want to see them. My friend Seth who’s interning in Burkina Faso and I have spent a lot of time discussing the possibility of seeing a tiger (I’ve promised to name the first tiger I see after him). I REALLY want to see a tiger much like my sister Joy REALLY wants to see a bear. So off I went, into the jungle (seriously… it’s a jungle) atop a sad elephant with 3 other people and the mahout (elephant driver) in search of a tiger named Seth.

The elephant ride was jostling 2.5 hour experience through the jungle. I saw deer, peacocks (not sure where they came from), and yay! Rhinos! And… more points because I saw a baby rhino, too! I’m pretty sure the rhinos I saw were the same two throughout the ride, but I’m okay with that. Have you seen a one-horned Indian rhino in the wild? Alright then. :) I’m pretty happy with my elephant ride experience. I would recommend it to all of you who come to Nepal (and visit me… who’s up for it?). Sadly, I did not see a tiger… but I’ve already decided that I’m going back to Chitwan before I leave and I will stay the night in the jungle (it’s like 500 NRS to stay in a wildlife viewing tower overnight) so I can find a tiger. I just want to see one… it’s not like I’ll take it home. This must be what Joy feels like. Grrr.

My rhino sighting(s)


The night before the elephant ride, Raj’s teenage nephew and I took in the Tharu cultural programme. I’m usually not into cultural programmes for tourists as it brings to mind the Growing Pains episodes where they vacationed in Maui and went to that just-for-the-mainlanders-luau. However, the Tharu cultural programme was pretty cool. I’m a sucker for stick dances (tininkling anyone?) and drum beats… and I was taking in by this as well. I think it’s great that the Tharu people are striving to preserve their culture. Sure they are dancing for the tourists, but… the performers are doing traditional dances that might’ve been forgotten otherwise. And come on… a guy was twirling fire! And the crowd was full of mostly Nepali tourists. So again, I’ve rationalized it and I’m okay with it. I'll post videos from the show soon.

Sunset over the Rapti River by the park. Nothing like a cup of tea and a sunset.


Stick Dancing at the Tharu Cultural Programme... they move SO fast!

Let the Festival Begin…

This month has two major Nepali holidays (at the beginning and end of October)… which means the office is closed and I get the chance to get out and explore more of Nepal and learn more about the culture. Last week was Dashain – THE holiday for Nepali people. I was told that it’s comparable to Christmas… but I don’t think so. It’s so much more… but maybe because my family’s Christmas is more about staying up after midnight mass and tearing through presents and sleeping at dawn.

Dashain is a 15-day holiday in late September/early October that celebrates the goddess Durga’s victory over a buffalo demon. So what does that translate into celebration-wise? Animal sacrifices and going home and visiting every relative you have to receive their blessings (with a little cash on the side as well). Most offices and businesses close for the last 7 days of the festival… and that meant one whole week off!

So for Dashain I headed to Chitwan region with my friend Raj to see how Nepalis celebrate Dashain in his hometown of Narayangarh. It’s a 4-hour motorbike ride from KTM to Narayangarh on one of the major highways of Nepal. Raj put his wife and baby on the bus and we headed out on the motorbike in what seemed like a mass exodus from KTM as everyone was heading to their village to celebrate Dashain. The highway was full of buses packed with people headed to the terai (the southern flat plains of Nepal) as most people aren’t from KTM, they just live there to make money. Lucky for Raj and I had the motorbike to speed past (safely, of course) all the buses with the puking-out-the-window women and children, peeing-into-water-source pit stops for men, and broken down buses with stranded travelers alongside the road.

Dashain is a big family affair… so we just hung out at Raj’s house for the most part. They slaughtered a goat (not Raj… he has no desire to do it himself) as a sacrifice… and because Dashain is also a holiday of excess, there’s enough meat for every meal for the week. We watched a lot of television and played with a lot of children (as his family has sprouted kids while still in their late twenties/early thirties). Kids love Dashain because you get new clothes, money, and there’s giant bamboo swings set up all over the place to play on. Seriously… giant.



kids at the swing by the Narayani River


Raj enjoying the swing.


The main event of Dashain, though, is the 10th day – Vijaya Dashami – which begins the marathon family visiting rounds. Everyone goes to visit their elders to receive tika on their forehead – a blessing symbolizing the third and all-seeing/all-knowing eye – which is a mixture of red powder, rice, and yogurt (to make it stick of course). When you receive tika, money is also exchanged (which I didn’t really get, but found very interesting). Sometimes you give money to the elder giving you tika, but then a lot of them gave me money and I didn’t even do anything. I felt bad taking their money… I mean, it’s not my religion, culture, or even my holiday! I was told to just take the money or they would take offense. So I got about 400 NRS (around $5). We started at Raj’s parents’ house and then motorbiked all over Narayangarh and the surrounding villages to sit and chat with his relatives and receive tika. Raj was telling me that on tika day it’s customary to visit all your relatives and accumulate tika by midnight, however because he has so many relatives, he gets 4 days to finish the marathon. That’s 4 days of family time, folks. Plus the 3 days before hanging out with the immediate family. It’s exhausting… and it wasn’t even my family! Can you imagine celebrating Dashain in the US?? It already takes like 14 hours from Boston to my hometown in North Carolina! Not to mention all the relatives out in California! No way.

Me getting tika from Raj's dad.


I was really happy that Raj invited me to his family’s home in Narayangahr. It was great to really get to experience Dashain with Nepalis. His family was so nice to me and so welcoming. They seemed happy to share their culture with me. Kind of makes me regret not living with a Nepali family back here in KTM… then I remember the pros and cons of living with a host family in Uzbekistan.

The ride to and from Narayangahr once again made me so happy to be living here. It was so beautiful. The highway travels alongside a river through the hills back to KTM valley. Here’s some pictures that don’t even do this place justice. You really have to see this place to believe it.

Me, Raj, and his little nephew riding around Narayangahr on Raj's bike.


Morning view from the temple on a hill above Narayangahr


The temple with a queue of all the folks who also hiked up... but for obvious better reasons than mine.



Views from the back of the motorbike on the highway.