Assaulting the Senses

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"Whoa". I believe that was my first word as we approached the airport at Kathmandu aboard Royal Nepal Airlines flight RA402. The view of the mountains in the distance was fantastic, but, it was obvious we were landing in a very poor country. As we made our way to baggage claim, it was abundantly clear that Nepal has been experiencing turmoil for some time. Being the main international airport for Nepal, I was expecting something a bit larger and perhaps slightly more modern; departing out of Thailand’s slick new Suvarnabhumi airport only helped to underscore Nepal’s situation. Airport equipment was incredibly worn out, the terminal was dressed in 1950’s style décor, toilets were broken and foul, immigration desks were dimly lit and housed ancient computers that were turned off, the 1 ATM machine available didn’t work, and cab drivers with tiny, beat-up 30 year old cars scrambled over top of one another to give the incoming rich white folks a lift to Thamel. This was the first hour.

After we sorted out a cab situation (too much detail to go into), we were off on our 7 km trip into the main touristy area of Kathmandu, named Thamel. The trip into the city from the airport lasted for about 20 minutes, but, it was so visually stunning, it seemed to flash by in an instance. In our short trek, I recall seeing colorful sadhus mingling, monkey’s eating trash on the roadside, women toting vegetables on their heads, barefooted kids running in the streets with goats, cows and chickens popping out of nowhere all contributing to the weird chorus of activity that mobbed the roadway. After deftly maneuvering all of God’s creations on the streets, our cab arrived at the guesthouse we picked out ahead of time, the Red Planet Lodge. We negotiated a private room price to 750 Rupees per night ($11.54), tossed our junk in the room and began our search for dinner.

Due to an evening arrival in Kathmandu, we didn’t really have a chance to see much of anything beyond our cab ride and dinner on our first day. Our first full day, however, is probably best described as massive sensory overload to the extent we both sort of shut down towards the middle of the day, completely overwhelmed by the environment around us. First of all, everything moving about the city travels on the same roadway (very roughly paved but completely covered with dirt and devoid of any type of sidewalk) and makes its respective noise to alert all of its presence. Second, 99% of the buildings in old town Kathmandu are incredible pieces of ancient architecture that should be sitting in temperature-controlled plexi-glass cases and not being used as impromptu vegetable stands, clotheslines, or hang-out spots. Third, religion is absolutely pervasive as temples, shrines, statues, wells, etc pepper the streets and the faithful are constantly rubbing tikka, ringing bells, kneeling, praying, spinning prayer wheels to a pantheon of Hindu and Buddhist gods. Fourth, barefooted, dirt-covered, nappy-haired street kids roaming around trying to scratch a living by begging for money, food, milk for their little sister, etc. Fifth, smells ranging from mouth-watering spices to rotten meat, to choking exhaust and back again. Sixth…I could go on for a long time but hopefully this begins to paint a picture. It is captivating, it is depressing, it is exhilarating, and it is exhausting if you are not used to the buzz…above all, it is a fantastic experience with an odd magnetism about it.

Street kids, sadly, are a frequent site when roaming around the narrow alleyways of Kathmandu. Our first encounter with them was rather atypical in that they were working hard to showcase what were, in fact, quite incredible talents. For ten minutes we watched as a pair of boys, no older than 12, put on a show of acrobatics and music, utterly wowing the crowd, in their attempt to survive the streets of Kathmandu. They were amazing; individual contortion, paired contortion with rings, swinging each other in a cloth basket by their teeth, stilt-walking, singing and drumming. Hard to believe this sort of talent doesn’t generate enough income for a place to stay or even a pair of shoes.

Other street kids we saw were perhaps not as “lucky” as the first pair of boys we happened upon. Specifically, we passed by three blackfooted, dirty street kids wearing nothing but threads, and showing obvious signs of violence (one boy had bruises and cuts on his face while another had both arms covered in bloody scabs). After walking past them, I looked back and saw them openly preparing what I had read about in the news a couple of years prior…plastic bags with a squirt of carpet glue in each used to huff in order to get high. I stood in disbelief of what I was looking at…a six year old homeless boy huffing carpet glue out of a plastic bag while passersby walked past without a second look. Much to my shock, the boy then stumbled over to me, laughing, and begged for 20 rupees. The gravity of the moment made me freeze in my position while the boy laughingly returned to his friends as if to mock his own dire situation. Ashamed of my privilege, I returned to central Thamel to the sounds of live bands, beer chugging Westerners, hash dealers, souvenir hawkers, and trekking agents.

Hmmmm, what next? We strolled around the old town and into Durbar Square gazing at the architecture for hours. Literally everywhere you look, intricately carved wooded bas reliefs, columns, doorways, and windows adorned the streets. Sometimes these amazing carvings were worn beyond recognition of the gods being depicted, other times they were reasonably well preserved with metal grates surrounding them. The level of detail and the concentration of the carvings (especially in Durbar Square) was hard to fathom and each tiny alleyway and hidden square seemed to outdo the previous one. Little old ladies and shriveled old men would walk by tiny, ancient shrines containing statues of Ganesh, Shiva, Buddha, etc (even if worn to a nub) and bow to it, rub it, ring bells, wave incense and throw grain in a medley of devotion that constantly baffled and intrigued Rozy and I. The Newari seem to be incredibly faithful and integrate a constant flow of worship into their daily lives (or, perhaps they integrate a steady flow other activities into their worship?).

Strolling around Durbar Square, a group of young girls (ages 9, 11 and 13) approached us and struck up a conversation. We talked with them about school, life, where they lived, etc. The older girl was definitely in charge and she would occasionally provide what seemed like instructions to the two younger girls in Nepalese every now and then. They told us about the Kumari (A 8 year old girl who is revered as a living goddess…I’m not kidding) and that we should go see her at 5pm at her house as she would be making her regular appearance. We went with them, saw the Kumari (incredibly weird and sad!) and the girls continued along with us as we strolled the square. As we began to depart the square the reason for their interest in us became clear…they wanted us to purchase sweets for them. We struggled with the moral dilemma of reinforcing negative behaviors (begging) versus doing something nice for a few young girls who come from a poor family. In the end, we decided that it was best not to contribute to a growing culture of begging and Rozy, quite brilliantly, did her best to play the role of older sister, scolding the older girl for obviously egging on the younger girls, and, reinforcing the notion that the girls needed to focus their energies on school and not trying to swindle tourists. A tough decision to make especially when it is so easy to spend a couple bucks to put some temporary smiles on their faces. Life in Kathmandu (and greater Nepal, I imagine) is rather unforgiving for many, yet these people are proud and strong and still manage to smile through all the pains of living in a society ripe with hugely corrupt leadership and widespread poverty.

Much to say about the experiences in Kathmandu over the course of just a few days, however, we must take a break to head to the Himalayas.

ATTENTION: The next blog entry is a good high-level overview of what a trekker might expect hiking from Lukla to Tengboche. If you happen to be interested in a much more detailed series of blogs which go through all the necessary planning and packing for a trip all the way to Mt. Everest Base camp, check out my more recent blog here: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/danielshortell/1/tpod.html


STATISTICS

• Flights taken = 5
  
• Intercity trains rides taken = 9
  
• Intercity bus rides taken = 29
  
• Times lost = 11
  
• Total instances of diarrhea = 3
  
• Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel = 2
  
• Total megabytes of pictures taken = 15,235
  

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Photos

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Comments

[Jo]

I knew I should have...
I knew I should have stuffed myself in a suitcase and made my way to Nepal!! Danny your writing is captivating and I love to receive your blog posts. Best wishes to the both of you and I hope to see you when you return to the states!.

[Harriet]

like so much your words!!! a very good way for me to study English.