Of shaky busrides, monastries and leeches in lovely Nepal
I raved about my trip to Nepal gazillionbillonhamsterillionmillion times, but never shown the pictures I took with my old Canon EOS 400D, which got broken on a elephant back through a ride in the jungle. Luckily I could save the photos, otherwise I would shed bitter crocodile tears.
Shame on me.
However, there we go.
It was freakin' AWESOME. There were so many places we visited, so many cool people we met..awww.. that I have to repeat myself. IT WAS AWESOME!
When we arrived at Kathmandu Airport, we had to apply for visa, which stressed me out a little bit like always, but finally we got our passports back and went over to our friend Monika, who was waiting outside for us surrounded by a bunch of shouting taxi drivers. Yeah. Kathmandu was a mess.
Everywhere. Simply everywhere was junk spread on the ground, the air was polluted by the incredible amount of cars and motobicycles all over the city. I can't describe you how dirty this city was. I mean, I was born in Bosnia. I know quiet well, what a polluted environment means and looks like, but this was nothing like that. However.
We arrived at a small hostel, got into a small dirty room with two beds and a toilet, that was a pain in the ass to use. Dirty. Dirty. Small. Wet. Dirty. Stinky.
We stayed there for one night and in the morning I moved to Monikas place and Karaviro went to the Drop-in Centre, where the project was located. Monika's place was a lot better, but since I got a inflamation in Dubai which forced me to visit the toilet quiet often it was a crazy, crazy pain in the butt to left the room and to go downstairs through the dark every time. I missed Karaviro and not having him with me, made the night situation even worse. So we decided to rent a small room, in Paknajol.
We stayed in Kathmandu for two weeks, worked and helped Monika in the Centre, played with the kids and taught them some basic skills during the nonformal education lessons in the morning. It was so much fun, when you realize how difficult but also easy it is to communicate with children. You don't need to talk in their language to get to know about their problems, their needs and interests. Now talking about it I realize, how bad I miss them.
After we took a bus to Pokhara, to travel across the country. Pokhara's nature was so damn beautiful..
Except the leeches. Arghh...even thinking about them makes me shake now. I hate those tiny creature, which silently grab a piece of your skin and drink your blood untill they fall off or you realize them. I remember my reaction, when I first saw the leech on Karaviros leg on our journey through the foggy jungle to the World Peace Pagoda, I scream the soul out of my body and made tiny ridiculous jumps around him. He was very calm, tried to remove it, but it was impossible to remove this little sticky monster. I grabbed his backpack, found a box with matches..and I know this part of the story is not nice and I was a badass for doing it..but i lit one match and put it at the butt of the black leechy leech. Imidiately it fell off and Karaviro started to bleed all over the place. Yeah..
When we arrived back home, I ran in to the shower, to check my whole body. Argh..
Till now I don't know where the very leech went, that bit me in my right leg. Karaviro thinks it fell off. But I don't believe him. It must have been a chameleon leech, which is now somewhere in my clothes, waiting for me to put the T-Shirt on where it is sitting in.
Yes I'm paranoid. But only when it comes to leeches.
After a few days in Pokhara we decided to travel to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. The bus trips in Nepal are very shaky, but only if you travel with the local busses. The tourist lines are just too expensive and nothing special to spend your money on. If you want to experience some funny moments you have to take the colorful small busses.
People in Nepal are so friendly and cummunicative, that you'll make friends for sure. The seats in the busses were so tiny, that sweet Karaviro always looked like a giant sitting between an old Nepali lady and a goat. Hahaha.. it was so funny!
The weather in Lumbini was subtropical, humid and sticky. If you love to visit monastries, Lumbini is the right place for you to go. There are so many, that you have to rent a bike to visit even some of them. But it's so damn worth it. In the middle of the greenest grass and a little lake you'll find white, gold, red, blue monastries and the monks are so open minded and friendly, that you can easily take part during the prayers and ceremonies. Just ask them to join.
After a long day of driving through Lumbini, we went back to our hostel and on our way back, we saw a church. Should we have a look inside?
After a few seconds, someone was shouting: Hey there! Come in! Please, come in!
We met the most friendly people in the middle of nowhere. A pastor and his wife from India, who held a school for indigent children. After a long talk, they invited us for dinner. Walking back the other day something happened to me I can't describe with proper words. Karaviro do you remember the big tree? Do you remember how it was illuminated by thousands, thousands of fireflies? Last time I saw a firefly it was in my early childhood. It seemed to me, that they don't exist anymore. But then, in this starry, starry amazing night..
It was the most beautiful moment in my whole life. I'm so grateful for having shared it with you.
Our next destination was Chitwan National Park. Both of us had the desire to meet some hairy buddies. Elephants, baby, Elephants!!!
It was so much fun, watching these fascinating creatures, the look in their eyes, that tells you thousands and thousands of stories.
Back in Kathmandu, we went out a couple of times. Got drunk. Very drunk. Met awesome people from all over the world. Ate. Saw chicken riding a bike with their head upside down. Burning people. Monkeys. Red powder on foreheads. Music.
I hate and love this fascinating country. Next time I'll be in Asia, I'll stop by in Kathmandu for sure, to visit my friends and pray in a temple near Boudha.
People tell you, that the culture shock is big, when you arrive in Nepal. It wasn't actually. I was very shocked, when I got back in Switzerland. I can remember how every little thing people do here on a daily basis, seemed so wrong to me.
After I saw what real poverty means, after I saw children sleeping on garbage, after I saw them beaten up by the police, after I saw the houses families outside the city live in, problems that people told me back home, seemed so simple and ridiculous to me. I wasn't understanding at this time at all. My trip has changed me a lot.
Then on the second day after my arrival I got ill. Karaviro and I went out to the movies to watch Planet of the Apes. I was terrified, after the film, sweating all the way down. He had to grab me on the way to the car and drive me home. High temperatures and enormous headaches, aches all over your body that you can't take anymore, made my parents drive me to the hospital. They couldn't do anything. I had to wait. Wait. Wait. After two weeks of aches, the temperature got lower, the aches disappeared. Finally.
Maybe it was Malaria. Maybe Dengue Fever, caused by a night full of the most agressive and annoying mosquitos in the sticky air of southern Nepal. However. It was a pain in the butt. Nevertheless I didn't regret anything. I love nearly everything about Nepal. And I can't wait to get there again. Climb the Annapurna.
Namaste, my dear friend.
It was freakin' AWESOME. There were so many places we visited, so many cool people we met..awww.. that I have to repeat myself. IT WAS AWESOME!
When we arrived at Kathmandu Airport, we had to apply for visa, which stressed me out a little bit like always, but finally we got our passports back and went over to our friend Monika, who was waiting outside for us surrounded by a bunch of shouting taxi drivers. Yeah. Kathmandu was a mess.
Everywhere. Simply everywhere was junk spread on the ground, the air was polluted by the incredible amount of cars and motobicycles all over the city. I can't describe you how dirty this city was. I mean, I was born in Bosnia. I know quiet well, what a polluted environment means and looks like, but this was nothing like that. However.
We arrived at a small hostel, got into a small dirty room with two beds and a toilet, that was a pain in the ass to use. Dirty. Dirty. Small. Wet. Dirty. Stinky.
We stayed there for one night and in the morning I moved to Monikas place and Karaviro went to the Drop-in Centre, where the project was located. Monika's place was a lot better, but since I got a inflamation in Dubai which forced me to visit the toilet quiet often it was a crazy, crazy pain in the butt to left the room and to go downstairs through the dark every time. I missed Karaviro and not having him with me, made the night situation even worse. So we decided to rent a small room, in Paknajol.
We stayed in Kathmandu for two weeks, worked and helped Monika in the Centre, played with the kids and taught them some basic skills during the nonformal education lessons in the morning. It was so much fun, when you realize how difficult but also easy it is to communicate with children. You don't need to talk in their language to get to know about their problems, their needs and interests. Now talking about it I realize, how bad I miss them.
After we took a bus to Pokhara, to travel across the country. Pokhara's nature was so damn beautiful..
Except the leeches. Arghh...even thinking about them makes me shake now. I hate those tiny creature, which silently grab a piece of your skin and drink your blood untill they fall off or you realize them. I remember my reaction, when I first saw the leech on Karaviros leg on our journey through the foggy jungle to the World Peace Pagoda, I scream the soul out of my body and made tiny ridiculous jumps around him. He was very calm, tried to remove it, but it was impossible to remove this little sticky monster. I grabbed his backpack, found a box with matches..and I know this part of the story is not nice and I was a badass for doing it..but i lit one match and put it at the butt of the black leechy leech. Imidiately it fell off and Karaviro started to bleed all over the place. Yeah..
When we arrived back home, I ran in to the shower, to check my whole body. Argh..
Till now I don't know where the very leech went, that bit me in my right leg. Karaviro thinks it fell off. But I don't believe him. It must have been a chameleon leech, which is now somewhere in my clothes, waiting for me to put the T-Shirt on where it is sitting in.
Yes I'm paranoid. But only when it comes to leeches.
After a few days in Pokhara we decided to travel to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. The bus trips in Nepal are very shaky, but only if you travel with the local busses. The tourist lines are just too expensive and nothing special to spend your money on. If you want to experience some funny moments you have to take the colorful small busses.
People in Nepal are so friendly and cummunicative, that you'll make friends for sure. The seats in the busses were so tiny, that sweet Karaviro always looked like a giant sitting between an old Nepali lady and a goat. Hahaha.. it was so funny!
The weather in Lumbini was subtropical, humid and sticky. If you love to visit monastries, Lumbini is the right place for you to go. There are so many, that you have to rent a bike to visit even some of them. But it's so damn worth it. In the middle of the greenest grass and a little lake you'll find white, gold, red, blue monastries and the monks are so open minded and friendly, that you can easily take part during the prayers and ceremonies. Just ask them to join.
After a long day of driving through Lumbini, we went back to our hostel and on our way back, we saw a church. Should we have a look inside?
After a few seconds, someone was shouting: Hey there! Come in! Please, come in!
We met the most friendly people in the middle of nowhere. A pastor and his wife from India, who held a school for indigent children. After a long talk, they invited us for dinner. Walking back the other day something happened to me I can't describe with proper words. Karaviro do you remember the big tree? Do you remember how it was illuminated by thousands, thousands of fireflies? Last time I saw a firefly it was in my early childhood. It seemed to me, that they don't exist anymore. But then, in this starry, starry amazing night..
It was the most beautiful moment in my whole life. I'm so grateful for having shared it with you.
Our next destination was Chitwan National Park. Both of us had the desire to meet some hairy buddies. Elephants, baby, Elephants!!!
It was so much fun, watching these fascinating creatures, the look in their eyes, that tells you thousands and thousands of stories.
Back in Kathmandu, we went out a couple of times. Got drunk. Very drunk. Met awesome people from all over the world. Ate. Saw chicken riding a bike with their head upside down. Burning people. Monkeys. Red powder on foreheads. Music.
I hate and love this fascinating country. Next time I'll be in Asia, I'll stop by in Kathmandu for sure, to visit my friends and pray in a temple near Boudha.
People tell you, that the culture shock is big, when you arrive in Nepal. It wasn't actually. I was very shocked, when I got back in Switzerland. I can remember how every little thing people do here on a daily basis, seemed so wrong to me.
After I saw what real poverty means, after I saw children sleeping on garbage, after I saw them beaten up by the police, after I saw the houses families outside the city live in, problems that people told me back home, seemed so simple and ridiculous to me. I wasn't understanding at this time at all. My trip has changed me a lot.
Then on the second day after my arrival I got ill. Karaviro and I went out to the movies to watch Planet of the Apes. I was terrified, after the film, sweating all the way down. He had to grab me on the way to the car and drive me home. High temperatures and enormous headaches, aches all over your body that you can't take anymore, made my parents drive me to the hospital. They couldn't do anything. I had to wait. Wait. Wait. After two weeks of aches, the temperature got lower, the aches disappeared. Finally.
Maybe it was Malaria. Maybe Dengue Fever, caused by a night full of the most agressive and annoying mosquitos in the sticky air of southern Nepal. However. It was a pain in the butt. Nevertheless I didn't regret anything. I love nearly everything about Nepal. And I can't wait to get there again. Climb the Annapurna.
Namaste, my dear friend.
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