Namaste!
We recently departed on a lovely educational tour of Nepal on a bus with 38 something seats and nearly 60 people crammed in. It was something else. There was much singing and playing the modal (a kind of drum) on the bus and even some dancing, and the buses here aren’t very large. I tried to dance, but my 6’ frame was just a tad too big and I had to kind of squat dance, which was very difficult especially considering the bus was moving.
On the tour we were introduced to joys such as riding on top of bus, which I’m pretty sure if you tried on a greyhound would result in death or a heavy heavy fine. The buses don’t really go much faster than 40 km/hr, or ~30 mph. Going uphill reduces this speed greatly; so riding on top of the bus is great fun as it is not to fast. The vistas that can be seen from the top are much better than from inside the bus as the windows are tinted and there are metal bars on them.
We visited a lot of places, but we probably spent more time on the bus than anything. We went to a hydroelectric dam in Mirmi that is the biggest dam in all of Nepal and pumps out 144 mW. The Japanese, Italians, Germans, and Indians built it. A few dozen Nepalis were killed in the process of construction. We spent the night in a town called Tansen in the district of Palpa and in the morning visited a nice Buddhist stupa and temple on the top of Srinagar hill after a very long walk up tons of stairs.
That afternoon we drove to Lumbini, and visited the Mayadevi temple that is the birthplace of Lord Siddharta Gautam, aka Buddha. The government of Nepal had also leased land nearby to foreign countries to build their own monasteries and temples there. We visited the Chinese monastery, which was beautiful, and the monks there performed a very nice song, and then we visited the German monastery. Oddly enough the German temple was lavishly decorated in authentic looking Buddhist art but ended up seeming a bit like a Buddhist Disneyland.
We stayed that night in Gaindakot and the next day we set off for Gorkha, the capital of Gorkha district. It was here that King Pirthwi Narayan Shah ruled 250 years ago and from this location went and conquered the rest of the small kingdoms to unify Nepal into one country. He had a large palace on the top of a hill with an endless amount of stairs so I guess his troops must have been in very good shape. The exterior of the palace was very beautiful with ornate woodcarvings and metal works aplenty. There were lots of bells that people could ring as well. Unfortunately Zach and I were not allowed inside because they be hating on whities. Ok, it was really because we were not of the Hindu faith. They could have said it nicer though. King Pirthwi Narayan Shah must have had some foresight as well, because to one side of his palace there was a conveniently located stone helipad, an essential feature of any pre-modern palace for heroic conquerors.
That night we stayed in Pokhara. The next day we saw Fewa Lake, which Pokhara is next to, that was beautiful. We took some small boats out to a little island were there was Barahi temple which is devoted to Durgas who is a goddess that is a symbol of power. The island was very serene and there were many pigeons that took up residence there, as well as some fish that you could feed. The boatmen became somewhat upset when Zach and I were included with the schoolchildren; I guess they figured that they were going to charge us exorbitant foreigner fees. We showed them. We went to a power station that I assume provided power for Pokhara and the surrounding villages. Our final stop in Pokhara was Mahendra Gupha (Cave), which was a neat little cave.
Zach and I were able to take lots of good pictures that I will share with all of you at some later date. The trip was a lot of fun, and it was a great experience to spend some time with the students outside of the classroom. Today was Dashain, and we both took Tika’s and Jamarra. This is red rice applied to the forehead and yellow plant stems put behind the ears. The purpose is to provide happiness.
We ate much food today, including banana’s, kurownie (a milk item), cell roti, many vegetables, goat, pickles, and lots of rice. We are stuffed silly and quite happy, as today has been very relaxing. Many relatives of the Dhakals came and visited as is their tradition and took tika and food items. We played a lot with a newborn goat kid, and Zach looks very cute when he is cradling the kid in his arms.
Hope everyone else is well, Happy Dashain! May you be happy.
Saba Tikh
David and Zach
We recently departed on a lovely educational tour of Nepal on a bus with 38 something seats and nearly 60 people crammed in. It was something else. There was much singing and playing the modal (a kind of drum) on the bus and even some dancing, and the buses here aren’t very large. I tried to dance, but my 6’ frame was just a tad too big and I had to kind of squat dance, which was very difficult especially considering the bus was moving.
On the tour we were introduced to joys such as riding on top of bus, which I’m pretty sure if you tried on a greyhound would result in death or a heavy heavy fine. The buses don’t really go much faster than 40 km/hr, or ~30 mph. Going uphill reduces this speed greatly; so riding on top of the bus is great fun as it is not to fast. The vistas that can be seen from the top are much better than from inside the bus as the windows are tinted and there are metal bars on them.
We visited a lot of places, but we probably spent more time on the bus than anything. We went to a hydroelectric dam in Mirmi that is the biggest dam in all of Nepal and pumps out 144 mW. The Japanese, Italians, Germans, and Indians built it. A few dozen Nepalis were killed in the process of construction. We spent the night in a town called Tansen in the district of Palpa and in the morning visited a nice Buddhist stupa and temple on the top of Srinagar hill after a very long walk up tons of stairs.
That afternoon we drove to Lumbini, and visited the Mayadevi temple that is the birthplace of Lord Siddharta Gautam, aka Buddha. The government of Nepal had also leased land nearby to foreign countries to build their own monasteries and temples there. We visited the Chinese monastery, which was beautiful, and the monks there performed a very nice song, and then we visited the German monastery. Oddly enough the German temple was lavishly decorated in authentic looking Buddhist art but ended up seeming a bit like a Buddhist Disneyland.
We stayed that night in Gaindakot and the next day we set off for Gorkha, the capital of Gorkha district. It was here that King Pirthwi Narayan Shah ruled 250 years ago and from this location went and conquered the rest of the small kingdoms to unify Nepal into one country. He had a large palace on the top of a hill with an endless amount of stairs so I guess his troops must have been in very good shape. The exterior of the palace was very beautiful with ornate woodcarvings and metal works aplenty. There were lots of bells that people could ring as well. Unfortunately Zach and I were not allowed inside because they be hating on whities. Ok, it was really because we were not of the Hindu faith. They could have said it nicer though. King Pirthwi Narayan Shah must have had some foresight as well, because to one side of his palace there was a conveniently located stone helipad, an essential feature of any pre-modern palace for heroic conquerors.
That night we stayed in Pokhara. The next day we saw Fewa Lake, which Pokhara is next to, that was beautiful. We took some small boats out to a little island were there was Barahi temple which is devoted to Durgas who is a goddess that is a symbol of power. The island was very serene and there were many pigeons that took up residence there, as well as some fish that you could feed. The boatmen became somewhat upset when Zach and I were included with the schoolchildren; I guess they figured that they were going to charge us exorbitant foreigner fees. We showed them. We went to a power station that I assume provided power for Pokhara and the surrounding villages. Our final stop in Pokhara was Mahendra Gupha (Cave), which was a neat little cave.
Zach and I were able to take lots of good pictures that I will share with all of you at some later date. The trip was a lot of fun, and it was a great experience to spend some time with the students outside of the classroom. Today was Dashain, and we both took Tika’s and Jamarra. This is red rice applied to the forehead and yellow plant stems put behind the ears. The purpose is to provide happiness.
We ate much food today, including banana’s, kurownie (a milk item), cell roti, many vegetables, goat, pickles, and lots of rice. We are stuffed silly and quite happy, as today has been very relaxing. Many relatives of the Dhakals came and visited as is their tradition and took tika and food items. We played a lot with a newborn goat kid, and Zach looks very cute when he is cradling the kid in his arms.
Hope everyone else is well, Happy Dashain! May you be happy.
Saba Tikh
David and Zach
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