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Published: October 17th 2007
Oh gosh, where to begin - it’s like a whole other world over here. I’ve been in Nepal for 2 weeks almost and am still getting used to the culture. I have so much to tell you all - this country is amazing!
I guess I should probably start with the details of my arrival in Nepal - what a disaster! After saying a teary goodbye to mom and Kirbi in Frankfurt, I was getting pretty excited to start the next part of my journey, alone, in Nepal.
I arrived in Bangkok around 6:30 am on October 1st after a long day of flying from Athens to Frankfurt and then on to Bangkok. I was really excited to be on my way to my last flight to Kathmandu, when the worst thing happened. I got to the counter where I was to check in for my Kathmandu flight and the flight attendant told me that I only had a requested ticket, not a confirmed seat on their flight. She told me that I would have to go standby on this flight. I guess Thai Air has been overbooking all flights in Kathmandu by about 20 seats in the months
Views of Mount Everest From The Plane
The picture doesn't do it justice, but this was an amazing view! That is one big mountain considering it stands over 28,000 feet meters and we were flying at just below 33,000 meters. of October and November because of high trekking season. There are way more people than flights into Nepal at this time of year (it's probably the most difficult city to fly into). When she told me this, I freaked. I was alone in a country I did not know and I didn’t know when or how I was going to get to Nepal to start my volunteering.
No standby passengers ended up getting on that flight beause everyone who was confirmed showed up, so I started looking at plan B options. I spent the next 7 hours in the airport looking online for other flights, going to every airlines counter trying to see who flew to Kathmandu. I was looking at trying to go through Bangladesh, Delhi or Calcutta… but it was the same story there. And to be quite honest, I would much rather be stuck in Bangkok than Delhi, that’s for sure.
I ended getting in touch with Mary Jean around 1:00pm my time and we tried to figure out what happened. Because my flights were booked through Lufthansa, from our end everything was confirmed and there should have been no problems. The communication between Lufthansa
and Thai Air is where the problem came from and somehow my confirmed seat was put aside. Anyway, we decided that I should get a hotel because I was running on about 2 hours of sleep and she would call Thai Air as soon as their office opened. She also mentioned that two friends of mine, Kim and Lindsay Millar were in Bangkok so she gave me the name of their hotel and I started on my way (after figuring out if my luggage was half way to Nepal or not… and trying to find a non-dodgy taxi to take me there). You have no idea how happy this made me... knowing that there were familiar faces nearby.
I found the girls a few hours later, so that calmed my nerves. Mary Jean spoke with Thai Air who told her that everything should be fine for the next day's flight to Kathmandu so I was to head to the airport bright and early the next morning… this was good news so I thought. I got to the airport the next morning and the situation was the same. The flight was overbooked, there was no Meghan Pitt confirmed so I
would have to go standby... again! I thought this was it… that I would have to cancel the volunteering, call Nepal quits and either head to Australia to see the Cope’s for a little while or do something else... alone. I was a mess... the emotions kind of got a hold of me... AGAIN.
I was number 17 on the standby list, behind people who had been coming every morning for 4+ days, and there was only 10 people still to check in for the flight that morning so I thought I was out for sure. After running back and forth back and forth between the check in counter and the pay phone to call mom and Mary Jean about 20 times, struggling with my enormous pack, begging people for “5 baht, 10 baht” to plug the pay phone with, tears running down my face, it looked like I had no other options on getting to Kathmandu. It was about 40minutes before my flight and I thought I would check one more time, expecting them to say “come back to tomorrow for standby... maybe you get on then”, but to my SHOCK, they told me I was on the
Cremations at Pashupati
This was quite a sight, although a little discusting as people were cremating their deceased family members and then about 10 meters DOWN river, someone else was bathing and washing clothes in it.... not really my cup of tea, although really interesting! flight!! I was honestly the last person on the plane. Somehow, someway I jumped the line and got a seat. I have never ran so fast in my life to check my pack, get through customs and call mom to tell her to spread the word. I didn’t have time to call GVI, the volunteering organization though, to have them pick me up, but that was the least of my worries. Turns out they read minds because they were waiting for me when I landed in Kathmandu, so everything worked out!
Now we just have to make sure this whole fiasco doesn’t happen again when leaving Nepal, because that is a Thai Air flight as well and I do not trust that airline. I’m sure it will all get sorted in the next few weeks though.
So enough of that drama… my first week here was spent touring around Kathmandu visiting all the famous Buddhist and Hindu temples. During my time in Kathmandu I stayed with a host family - it was there that I had my first “Dal Baht” experience. This is the traditional Nepalese meal made from rice, lentil stew, curry and vegetables and if you’re
Your Basic Nepali Powder Room
..or better known as a "squat toilet". This one was one of the better ones actually. If it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger right? lucky, some buffalo. It is eaten by mashing it all together and scooping it up with your right hand (because the left is used for other “things”) and flicking it into your mouth with your thumb - quite difficult actually, and messy! Dal Baht is traditionally eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner... so I was pretty “Dal’ed” out, although it is very delicious.
From there we took a bus (more like a broken down painters van jam packed with about 30 people sitting on each other’s laps) out of the city to a farmhouse home stay for the night. The house was completely rat and bug infested, not to mention the moldy bedding we got to sleep with (I was mummied in a hoodie and pants tucked into my socks). There were actually rat holes that lead onto our beds... I ended up stuffing plastic water bottles in them to keep the rats from cuddling up for the night…. eeew! Not all bad though.. it was really nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu. It is so noisy, dirty and dusty.. it was such a treat to breathe in fresh air and not be bombarded
with pollution.
The next day we did some trekking through in countryside, through beautiful rice patties filled with people in harvest, we rafted for 2 days down the Trisuli River which feeds into the Ganges in India and then it was time to say goodbye to the other volunteers before heading to our placements. Rafting was so much fun... our guides were so wonderful and we hit a series of some pretty big rapids, level 5's!!
I am currently stationed in Chitwan, a region of the jungle in Southern Nepal. It’s pretty amazing actually - elephants roaming the streets everywhere, rhinos in the nearby fields, crocodiles, tigers... you name it. Oh and mosquitos… no malaria though. As you all know, the mozzy’s LOVE me!
Chitwan is an extremely rural area… with mud houses, thatched roofs, kids with no clothes bathing from the water pump out front, and horse drawn rickshaws (like a carriage). Everyone is so friendly and happy - all I hear is “Namaste sister” or “Hello Miss” when I ride down the road.
So my placement… I showed up in Chitwan with one other volunteer, not really knowing what I would be doing. We
Village on the way to Chitwan
This is on the side of the Trisuli River, where we rafted. Yes, that gravel road is the Interstate 5 of Nepal.. the main road down south! went and met the kids at the children’s home (orphanage) and oh, they are adorable. There’s 9 of them aged 1.5 to 14, living in a 3 bedroom house. At first you feel really bad for them, but they are happy and they actually have it much better than most kids in Nepal. Their “mom” is amazing, they all go to the local boarding school so they speak wonderful English and are getting a really good education. They have a huge yard to play in and enough clothes to last weeks and they constantly have volunteers around spoiling them with presents... that is the problem! They expect a lot now and are always asking for things. It’s really the kids I’m teaching English to at the public school that I feel for. They are so eager to learn. Right now we are in the middle of the biggest festival in Nepal, Dashain (similar to Christmas for us) so the kids are off school for 15 days, but they still come to see me every morning and are so happy to show up.
The whole teaching English thing came as a shock though. I showed up at the public school
My Little Village of Sauraha, Chitwan
elephants roaming the streets in the distance and the principal goes “okay, here’s your class”. “Uh, excuse me?”. They have me all alone with 35+ kids teaching English. I really have no idea what I’m doing, but they seem to like it because they keep bringing their friends and my class is growing everyday. It’s difficult coming up with lesson plans though because a) I was given nothing to go by and b) there are absolutely zero resources available. It’s basically some rundown desks, a beaten up chalk board and chalk. There aren’t even lights in the classrooms so on dark rainy days school is cancelled.
Yesterday I also started teaching two computer classes at the boarding school - they have about 8 computers of which 6 works - most of the time (providing the power isn’t out). This could be a challenging class.
My days have been starting around 5:00am, when Radha and some other the other staff at the hotel and I go for a run. It’s pretty cool running in complete darkness through the fields, with thunder and lightening overhead. This morning we had a Rhino scare - you don’t want to run into one of those at that time of the
The Kids at the Orphanage
dancing and singing away as usual! morning!
Then around 6:30am I have breakfast and get ready for the 2.5 km bike ride on a 1 speed bicycle to the public school to teach my English class. The road (I guess you could call it a road) is so worn down, rocky and painful on the bum - it makes the ride seem about an hour long. Not to mention, the sweat pouring down my face and coming from parts I didn’t even think could sweat… the kids love it when I show up dripping with sweat. It’s so hot (about 35 degrees… hopefully getting cooler soon) and humid that you never cool off. I constantly have a sticky, dirty film on my body… nice huh? Oh well, can’t complain too much. I couldn’t exactly expect an air conditioned Mercedes to escort me to class… this is Nepal!
From 8:30am to 10:30am I teach the two computer classes (if there’s power) and then I head to the children’s home to play games or do crafts or whatever.
Then I ride back to the hotel for a couple hours break…spent eating lunch, checking email, reading, chatting with the locals to try to pick up some
A Local Woman From Chitwan
...doing the washing at the pump out front of her home. new Nepali words or preparing lessons for tomorrow’s class.
Around 2:00pm I head back to the children’s home on that lovely road again and we play some more. Sometimes the girls like doing my hair, decorating me with tikkas and eyeliner and painting my nails of course (thank god I brought that nail polish remover!!!). It always makes for an interesting ride home.. people staring at the white girl all decked out in Hindi fashion. I’m a sight... that’s for sure!
Then we have dinner around 7:00, maybe partake in the local “stick dance” performed by the local tribes who come to entertain the other guests at the hotel, or have a drink with the staff before heading to bed, to do it all again the next day.
All in all though, life in Nepal is becoming more normal - you just kind of have to go with the flow and now worry about things to much. Everyone is so laid back… plans always change. Just to give you an idea of life here…
- Power outages happen about 4 times a day - I’ve gotten really good at showering in the dark.
- Internet is slower than slow and the power outages don’t help when you’re about to hit send and the lights go off.
- Forget having a shower in your house, let alone a toilet. Those are luxuries. We showed up at this one home stay, completely filthy from trekking and were like, “uh, where’s the bathroom?”, Oh yeah, it’s just in the neighboring house.. so off I go trekking next door with toiletries in hand (that was my first power out shower).
- So forget fixing things properly - why not just sacrifice a goat for the gods and they’ll fix it for you. This actually happened on the runway before the Royal Nepal Airways flight to Bangkok took off last week. The plane had been grounded due to “mechanical difficulties” for a while, so it only makes sense that a goat sacrifice would be the fix… the plane did actually take off though.. I think?!?!
- “Mind your head” if a phrase used a lot - Nepali people are so short .. so are their doorframes. My forehead is getting sore!
- When the buses are full, more people still get on - on the roof that is. I had one extremely uncomfortable and dusty 2.5 hour bus ride from Trisuli down to Chitwan on the roof - my tail bone was so bruised. Don’t worry mom and dad, I’m alive and won’t try that again. When is Nepal I guess!
Anyway, all those things keep life pretty interesting, I’m actually in a pretty nice hotel, I have a “western” toilet (rare), the food is really good and the staff are so friendly and hilarious. Hopefully I will be able to keep you all updates now that I’ll be in one spot for a couple weeks. I miss you all - let me know how things are going!
xoxox Meg
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Tom
non-member comment
Nothing improves your running speed like a charging rhino!
Hey Megs, that sounds like an awesome experience (well, not the flight bookings part). Must be such a change coming from touring in Europe too! Enjoy, Tom.