Kathmandu, Nepal - Part I

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Wednesday 2-16 to Saturday 2-19
Before taking this trip, everyone warned us that India was going to be the biggest mind blower of them all. It was the most un-Western country we could possibly visit and it’s the one place where we would experience the most culture shock. Apparently, none of these people have ever been to Nepal. Walking through the medieval streets of Kathmandu felt like the most foreign place we’ve been to so far. It was like nothing we’ve ever experienced and it was amazing. Tiny, red-brick alleyways cramped with people, street vendors, store fronts, temples, tikka covered shrines, livestock, beggars, tuk tuks and who knows what else! Thamel and the rest of the old city, was a maze of layer upon layer of buildings from various centuries and cultures all meshed together into one tiny area, nestled at the cold feet of the Himalayan mountain range (which we could see from our hotel). Some of the buildings were so old you could see the brick walls bowed out under the weight of all those years; they didn’t look like they would last much longer. [Nick Note: There was a big earthquake in the first half of the 20th century which brought down many buildings. Our friend Tiffany told us that in her VSO orientation she was told that Kathmandu is in an earthquake area and if you were there in a big earthquake pretty much every building would fall.]

Nepal is the poorest country we have visited and its poverty is quite visible, both in the city and especially in the rural areas. We were given a heads up in Nepal that we would experience a lot of mandatory load shedding – scheduled black outs to save electricity and government money. Apparently Nepal has tremendous potential for hydro power (being at the foot of the Himalayan watershed), but the new “government” destroyed most of the infrastructure during their rise to power and have yet to organize any kind of rebuilding program. So, Nepalis only have about 10 hours of electricity a day and estimates are that that number could decrease down to just 4 in the next few years.

Having recently overthrown its king in 2008 and taken over by a Maoist party, Nepal has yet to form a stable government or hold elections. We tried asking people their opinion about the state of the government but it seems Western politics and Eastern politics are very different. It was hard for us to understand that no one really seemed to know what was going on with the Maoists and no one really seemed to care that much either. When asked if they supported the Maoists or not, answers varied; it seems there are many factions of the Maoist party (all corrupt, which is accepted as a normal means of doing business), some of which are liked, some that aren’t. So you never really know which Maoist group people are referring to. When asked if women will get to vote whenever they do hold elections (Nepal is a strong patriarchal tradition), no one could give me an answer. Since no one has ever voted before, it never occurred to them to question whether women would be able to vote or not. And strikes, we were told, are an incredibly common occurrence (over 300 in a 1 year period), all organized by the different factions of Maoists as a means of paralyzing each other to bargain for what their specific group wants. They have turned violent in the past, however. In the small town of Hetauda, foreign volunteers were targeted by a group of Maoists that had demanded all shops and restaurants close down for an indeterminate period of time. After 6 days without being able to buy food (remember, very little electricity; fridges aren’t that feasible), some restaurants secretly opened so people could get some food. When the Maoists found out, they stormed the restaurant and started smashing it to bits with the owners and patrons still inside. 2011 has been designated “the year of tourism” in Nepal as an attempt to stop the crippling strikes. The idea is that fewer groups will try and strike if they realize it keeps much needed tourism dollars from reaching their pockets. For the Nepalis’ sake, I hope it works.

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