Blogs from Nagarkot, Nepal, Asia
November 6th 2010
A twenty-one kilometer bus ride from Katmandu, Nagarkot is a sleepy village, famous for its views of Sagarmatha- the highest peak in the world. Padraic and ChinaMark arrived in the early evening and lugged their backpacks away from the village center to a specific guesthouse on the very edge of the settlement, recommended by a friend. Carrying all his material belongings in the continent of Asia, Padraic noticed a particularly dark-skinned middle-aged dreadlocked sadhu - a man with no permanent home, often naked in public, constantly stoned, and who likes to talk about God: a “bum” in the primitive West. In the more civilized nations of the Subcontinent, he is a holy man. ChinaMark and Padraic checked into their room and then joined a Nepalese-French couple for chai and spliffs. While smoking his low-quality scored-in-Kathmandu grass, ... read more
July 24th 2009
Nagarkot was wonderful! We drove about 2 hours up and up and up into the mountains to a beautiful mountain town. Our hotel, The Hotel Country Villa, was perfect. It is perched up on a cliff overlooking the Himalayas and the stunning view was visible from our beds!! The clouds would roll in and out and we were literally in them when we stood on our room balconies. When the clouds cleared again, it was breathtaking. We were able to watch the eclipse from our balcony! When it was happening it got really dark and the temperature dropped 15-20 degrees very quickly. It was eerie, but very cool. We could see the sun through the clouds, but couldn't see the actual blackness of the moon covering the sun, so Blaine took a picture of the TV ... read more
June 2nd 2009
Chris and I rode through the backstreets behind Thamel, weaving in and out of wall to wall pedestrian traffic, searching for the main road. After making it out to the first intersection we were free. Chris rode up beside me and I gave him the thumbs up signal as we both smiled at one another, this was so much fun! We rode back home and picked up Celeste, as she would ride pillion on Chris’ bike whilst I took the lead. After refuelling, we rode out to the ring road and began our ride. It was quite muggy and the dust and pollution in the air from the many trucks, bikes and cars on the road did nothing to add to the comfort factor. I signalled to Chris to follow me left down a side road ... read more
March 17th 2009
I've learned that, in many years, the first several Saturdays after the Tibetan New Year are spent going on pilgrimages (Saturday is the only day off in the Nepalese work week). This year, one of those Saturdays fell on March 14, which in 2008, was the day that many Tibetans in Tibet were killed during demonstrations/protests regarding China's rule of the country. (I can feel my chances of getting a visa for Tibet slipping away . . . ) A demonstration was planned in Nepal, at the Chinese Consulate in Kathmandu, for the 14th. As happened on March 10th, the Nepalese government was interested in ensuring that such a protest did not occur (although, reportedly, some of the police asked resident Tibetans why the 14th was a significant day for protest). Many people from the village ... read more
September 24th 2008
Day 3 - 23rd September 2008 The day started with us visiting a Hindu Temple outside of Kathmandu, and this is the other main religion of Nepal. At the Pashupatinath temple, we could see into its courtyard where there is a golden bull, but as non-Hindus, were not allowed in. There was also a festival taking place where a "Holy Man" was blessing his followers, and there were tents set up for followers and worshipers to come and visit. On a very morbid note, on the banks of the Bagmati river, cremations were taking place. There were a couple of funeral pyres burning, and a couple being cleared for the next ones. All they did was push all the ashes into the water, which further down people are washing in. There was even a body waiting ... read more
April 28th 2008
Na de culinaire veertiendaagse met de familie Philips werd het voor ons tijd om de herwonnen vetrolletjes weer weg te werken. Onze eerste expeditie was een mountainbiketocht van 70km vanuit Kathmandu door de bergen en Shivapuri Nationaal Park. De rit klom en klom en klom, 29km lang stegen we "rustig" en na uren klimmen (en zweten...) bleek dat we nog maar eens 4,5km steile klim voor de boeg hadden. Dan zouden we volgens onze reisgids de fietsen nog enkele trappen moeten opdragen om zo het hoogste punt te bereiken, maar de weg (ondertussen een pad door het bos in het nationaal park) bleef maar stijgen. Pas tegen 16.30u konden we eindelijk aan de afdaling beginnen, maar die was even extreem als de steile klim. Het bospad liep bijna recht naar beneden en twee uur voor het ... read more
Riots, clouds and a ridiculous amount of walking!
Published: February 19th 2008Asia » Nepal » NagarkotFebruary 19th 2008
Hello everyone! Finally I have had the chance to get onto the internet again. I thought I would just let you know what I got up to over the weekend... This weekend, I went to Nagarkot with a few other volunteers. Nagarkot is basically a region out of the city where you get amazing views of the Himalayas- there is also fresh air, which is something I have been missing for a while! It was such an adventure! We planned to travel from Kathmandu and intended to stop over in Bhaktapur, where we would be able to catch a tourist bus to Nagarkot. But when you make plans in Nepal, they rarely work! We got to the bus station in Kathmandu to find only one bus left going to Bhaktapur, and it was stuffed with people- ... read more
December 14th 2007
The drive to our hotel was spectacular once we got out of Kathmandu. The winding drive up the mountains offered some wonderful views of the surrounding countryside. The hills are cut into layers for farming mainly rape seed (for oil), vegetables and potatoes are grown according to our driver. The climb up the hills was a little scary at times as the roads are very steep in places and also very close to the edge of the cliff!!!!! After around 2 hours we arrived at our hotel atop a massive mountain at least you call it a mountain until we got the first view of the himalayas from the patio area. WOW! WOW! WOW! the sky was relatively clear after the morning fog lifting and we were surrounded by those beautiful mountains we had flown next ... read more
September 2nd 2007
My last day in Kala Masi, Yalamber returned with a check for the money we had raised at Casino Night as well as money raised by Crooked Trails ($4600 in total, with donations still being received). We went to the school for a small ceremony so I could give the check to the committee chairman and all the kids could give me flowers and sing songs. Just as an FYI to all you donators, KEEP (the Nepal NGO Crooked Trails works with) draws up an agreement with the school committee, requiring them to submit a budget and timeline for the project to be approved before giving the funds to the committee. They plan to start building the school after the rains stop (Oct- Nov) and plan on adding a 6 room school house. They asked me ... read more
September 1st 2007
Sabina asked me if my mother can read and write. She was impressed when I said that she could. She said that her mother cannot. Sabita, who lives next store, also said her mother cannot read or write. Sobito (FYI, I have no idea why, but it seems that girls of a similar age in this village also have similiar names) Nepal who lives down the street, said her mother went to school until grade 7. When their mothers were growing up, their parents reasoned that since the girls would grow up to be wives and work in the home, there was no reason to teach them to read and write. I was surprised to learn the girls I am teaching are the first generation of girls in which the majority of them will be able ... read more
