Nepal was generally awesome, and I spent several days in Pokhara - a city known for extreme sports (totally my style). Sadly, my plans for river rafting, hangliding, or any other activities were ruined because of country-wide strikes (called "bandhs"), and everything shut down. Taxis and buses all stopped running on strike days, because they were at risk of getting their windows smashed in, or the driver getting beaten up. Most shopkeepers had to close up as well, though some kept their lights off but their doors cracked open so that they could still secretly have business. Fortunately, horses were not on strike, so mom and I went on a ride around the hills and the Pokhara Valley, and got epic views of Macchapucchre (Fishtail) Mountain (jagged, snowcovered, and still unclimbed!), towering over a hillside village. We spend another day walking around to all the small hippy shops in town (selling anything from camel leather curly-toed shoes, to nettle and hemp clothing). I found some stinging nettle soup mix... can't wait to try it! Mom and I spent both evenings in Pokhara watching Nepali dance performances at different restaurants, and getting foot massages... not a bad way to spend a strike day.
Since no one knew whether or not there would be a strike until the day of, we decided to fly to Kathmandu, since the airlines wouldn't shut down on those days. Our old crickety airplane was so tiny, that I'm pretty sure a gentle side breeze would have changed our flight path, or pushed us into a spin. Maybe that's why our flight was delayed for 4 hours... waiting for the breeze to die down! Once again, our plans were spoiled by bandhs (kinda ironic, since this is "tourism year" in Nepal), but at least in Kathmandu we got to see some of the action, as hundreds of motorcycles with yelling people waving flags drove by. And when mom and I visited Patan Durbar square (with many artistic temples all around), there was some sort of political rally happening. It's because the people want a constitution to be written, but the government keeps putting it off. I hope things settle down for them soon.
My favorite sight during my trip to Kathmandu was at the monkey temple, which, coincidentally, had hundreds of monkeys running around - climbing on temple statues, hanging from prayer flags, and playfully springing from one tree to another. We found a family of three adults and two baby monkeys asleep together on a temple wall, all cuddled together and holding the babies close. Cutest. Sight. Ever.
In Kathmandu Durbar square, we had some young girls offer to be our tour guides (since schools were closed down for the day), so we got to see the historical sites from a 13 year old's perspective. Something especially unique for Nepal, is that they have Living Goddesses. In Kathmandu Durbar square the Living Goddess, Kumari, is a straight-faced 6 year old, who lives in the temple and blesses visitors through her window. She is thought to be an incarnation of the goddess Taleju (Durga), until she menstuates, and then she becomes "normal" again and another little girl is chosen as the new Kumari. The girls who were our tour guides told us that each year, there is a festival in which 180 bulls and 180 chickens are sacrificed in the main temple, and Kumari is expected to spend the whole night in the temple alone, playing with the dead animals, and she must not be afraid. I don't know if that story is true or not, but it's a horrifying thought.
I decided not to support the system by going to see the Living Goddess, and I know I missed out on a rare cultural experience. However, the concept of a Living Goddess is upsetting to me, since these little girls have no choice in the matter, and they are taken away from their families and basically imprisoned in the temple. Then, if they show fear when playing with dead animals all night, or when they start bleeding, they're no longer a goddess. So what is a failed goddess supposed to do? Can these girls ever have a normal life when they're older? I don't know the answer to these questions, but I wonder if this practice will be allowed to continue for much longer. More info here.
I got to experience some of India's infamous beurocratic bullshit (excuse my French) while trying to get a re-entry stamp. Despite already having a multiple entry visa (which means entering more than once... can someone please define that word for them?), they made me stand in line for hours, fill out redundant paperwork, empty my wallet, and then made me come back later to retrieve my passport with a fresh blot of ink indicating permission to re-enter India. They certainly don't make tourism easy. May I remind them that I'm going there to spend money that will help their country? Grrrrr.
Luckily, I had one activity in Kathmandu that made up for the stress caused by excessive paperwork and frustrating bandhs. I took a flight to see Mt Everest! It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Mom and I climbed into a tiny plane with one seat on each side (everyone had a window), and our plane proceeded to ascend through dense clouds. After 20 minutes of seeing nothing but dark gray mist, our small plane suddenly burst out of the storm clouds and into a bright blue sky, with a jaw-dropping view of the Himalayas. I'm pretty sure my jaw actually did drop as our plane flew alongside the steepest, tallest mountains I'd ever seen. The mountain ridges seemed to simply shoot straight up from the deep valleys below, and the sun brilliantly glistened off the jagged snow-covered peaks in the early morning light. As we began to approach Everest, the flight attendant started inviting passengers up into the cockpit for a better view. When it was my turn (literally standing IN the cockpit), Mt Everest was directly ahead - and I could see her icy, majestic peaks towering above me. I finally understood why Tibetans call Mt Everest the "Goddess Mother of Earth." I unabashedly had tears in my eyes for the rest of the flight, and I felt immensely blessed and completely humbled to have seen the world's highest mountain that closely. Someday I hope to make the trek to her basecamp, and get to know the Himalayan ranges better.
Even though there were a lot of lows for me during my time in Nepal, I really liked the country. I think it's understandable that after three months of traveling I'd eventually end up with some negative experiences. I'm just glad that the best of the best came directly after the worst of the worst for me during my trip. Life has a way of evening itself out.
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