April 30, 2014, Kathmandu
 |
| The streets of KTM |
 |
| SAARC Office |
My Indigo flight to Kathmandu landed on the bumpy runway of the Tribhuvan International Airport at about 2 pm, Nepal standard time. I had on me just one piece of luggage, a small bag. This was probably the first time I ever traveled light. It took me only about an hour and a half to get to Kathmandu from New Delhi, shorter flying time than most domestic journeys I’ve been on in India. The weather was pleasant at about 27-28 degrees C as I stepped out of the airplane. The airport looked dilapidated and worn out from the outside, it was even more unimpressive from the inside. The baggage claim area looked like a mess but not as messy as I imagined it to be, thanks to some movie from the past that portrayed Kathmandu airport as a playing field for goats and chickens. I could see suitcases and backpacks strewn around off of the belts. Us passengers waited for almost 40 min for the belt to start moving. I was a bit ticked off but this was the least of my concern as I was already in a happy mood, waiting for Andrej’s arrival in Kathmandu the following morning with great anticipation. I was told beforehand by Andrej that I should not pay more than 350 (Nepali rupees) for a cab ride till Thamel, the tourist hub we were going to put up in. I, being quite the clueless person assumed he was advising me in terms of INR and ended up paying the taxi INR 450. The Nepalis at the government registered cab booth were all sweet talkers and told me they had been to Assam and knew a lot about North East India, how nice the people are there and how beautiful and untouched the nature was. I thanked them politely, asked them to visit sometime and made my way out of the airport towards my taxi. The cab driver was a jovial young man and inquisitively inquired if I were Nepali (later I was to find that the whole of Nepal took me as one of their own) and if I were a lone visitor. He then told me what all places I ought to visit during my stay in his country and to give him a call should I need any help with managing travel and sightseeing because he had contacts with many travel agents in and around the Thamel area. We drove through the narrow and crowded streets of Thamel, lined with souvenir shops and a bunch of tourists pacing up and down the streets with their backpacks. After traversing the meandering streets of Thamel, the cab finally got me to Heritage Home, situated on a quieter street corner of Thamel, away from its noisy and busy main bazaar.
 |
| Thamel area |
 |
| Restaurant on the roof |
The receptionist greeted me with a smile and checked his
notebook to confirm my booking on their reservation list. I don’t remember showing him my passport or any other document; things seemed casual and almost lax for Indian citizens. They also readily allowed me to pay the price for two nights’ stay in INR. My room was on the third floor, Room 303 to be precise. The hotel was by and large a budget hotel but looked as good as some of the hotels I stayed at in Europe which charged no less than 35 Euros per night. Only the bathroom looked a bit scruffy but it was more than alright for a short stay of two nights. Since electricity was irregular in Nepal and the hotel utilized solar power as much as they could, it was hard to tell when there was “real” electricity or not. I didn’t get much sleep the night before even though I had gone to bed early so I wanted to snooze for a couple of hours before walking around Thamel. But before that, I went up to the rooftop restaurant to enjoy some hearty Nepali lunch and local beer. All the waiters at the restaurant were very friendly and talkative with me and informed me unapologetically how Nepal would not be able to survive on its own without the goodwill and help of India, from energy to food supply among many others. Talked to Andrej for a while and then told him I’d nap for some time. He asked me to exchange my Indian currency into NPR to avoid transaction hassle later on even though most places in Nepal accepted Indian rupees. After lunch I took a nap and dozed off soon enough. When I woke up it was already 6 in the evening, got to read a message that Andrej had sent a few hours ago informing me that he would most likely not have internet connection till about midnight, Nepal time. His very thoughtful Mom also sent a text to let me know they saw Andrej off at the airport a couple of hours ago. |
| Stray dog in KTM |
 |
| Narrow and busy lanes of Thamel |
I took a quick shower and headed out to exchange my Indian currency but none of the exchange shops were willing to accept the INR 500 and 1000 bills I carried with me. They informed me that circulating those notes were illegal in Nepal and their government could slap jail time or fine them if they were caught accepting those bills. One person was ready to exchange my money for NPR but I was going to lose nearly two thousand Nepal rupees with the rate he offered so I dropped the idea. He asked me to go to Vishal bazaar and try my luck at one the bigger money exchange places or the national banks. I got on a cycle rickshaw and the driver paddled away on the bumpy roads of Kathmandu. There was no electricity or street lamps whatsoever so the streets leading to Vishal bazaar were left in almost complete darkness, save some light emitting from the lamps and candles of street vendors. Yet, the streets were crowded with people and traffic cops on patrol. For once, I felt thankful for not being a part of a country such as this one. As much as I am used to whining and complaining about developing India, Nepal seemed a hundred years behind it in terms of civic amenities, infrastructure development and power generation. The shops were all closed at Vishal so the cycle guy brought me back to Thamel. He asked me what I was looking for and upon telling him my dilemma fired back in Hindi, “Why didn’t you tell me so before?” as if I were obligated to do so. He then took me to an Indian carpet shop and assured me the shop owners from the state of Kashmir would readily accept my INR. Indeed, they did and my problem was solved. I tipped my rickshaw guy an extra INR 100 for helping me take care of my money exchange issue. I then walked around the market for about half an hour, visited a couple of bookstores and souvenir shops, bought a map and postcards, and other little knick knacks for friends. Then, I looked for a restaurant to eat dinner at although I was not hungry yet but most places were packed with people and I felt kind of awkward to go and sit there by myself when almost everyone was in pairs or in groups. I told myself it was only a matter of a night of being solo so I went back to the hotel restaurant and had chicken soup for dinner. There was no electricity as usual and my phone battery which was at 15% could not be recharged until the wee hours of morning. Since I had to receive Andrej at the airport early in the morning, I went to bed early.
May 1, 2014
I didn’t really get to have a sound sleep in the night perhaps because I was too excited to have Andrej with me again. Also, I was worried my phone would die before the alarm could sound off. Thankfully, there was electricity around 4am, I charged it and went back to sleep for another two hours or so. Since he was to arrive in KTM at 7 in the morning, I left the hotel by 6:30 AM. The cab the hotel receptionist hired for me was already waiting outside. It was an old Indian made car, similar to the first car my father bought more than two decades ago. As I took my seat, I decided it had got to be one of the rustiest vehicles I had sat on. The Turkish Airlines flight had landed by the time I arrived at the airport. I waited impatiently to catch a glimpse of my boy from the waiting room as passengers started to step out one by one. I saw a man that I mistook for Andrej and I immediately got up from my seat, smiling. But turns out, he was a man of 40+, just had similar hair like Andrej’s. “Damn these contacts,” I said. At last, Andrej walked out. He always looked so lost somehow, but curious enough to check his surroundings. I always found that funny but adorable about him. I quickly made my way out of the waiting room and went towards the door from which he was exiting. This was the second time I was receiving him at the airport, the first being on his first visit to New Delhi in Dec’13. I don’t remember if I hugged him or not that time. This time around, I was able to give him a quick hug and kiss him on his cheeks. Any place else might be inappropriate, so I thought, keeping in mind the Nepali norms and cultural etiquette. We were both happy to see each other again, it was obvious. I warned Andrej about the condition of the cab and he was tempted to take a picture of it when he saw what I exactly meant. That was just one of the many interesting third-world features that we were to witness later on in our Nepal trip.
 |
| Our scrumptious breakfast |
We first went to the rooftop restaurant to have some breakfast. The portions were big and the price was cheap. Andrej sticks to drinking a cup of tea and/or fruit juice, while I stay loyal to my coffee and mango juice. It was a pleasure to be able to do things together again in person- talk, laugh, discuss, crib, make fun of each other, smile and look into each other’s eyes; such a wonderful feeling that always has been. Always a welcome change it is, to not have to rely on technology for communication. We had the whole day to ourselves to explore Kathmandu and it was still early in the morning so we decided to take a nap for a few hours. We probably slept for a couple of hours when we were rudely awoken by sounds of chairs being dragged around the hallways and heavy objects being plunged on the floors above us. It almost seemed like the roofs were caving in and bombs were being dropped on us. Andrej, in his sleepy tone of voice and drowsy face asked, “Is there a war?” This made me laugh so hard because I thought I assumed he was sleeping soundly and I was the only one that heard the noises. What on Earth these Nepali employees were doing? We never bothered to find out. We got ready and first walked to Thamel market. We exchanged some of Andrej’s Euros into NPR and booked our cab to Pokhara for the following day. We didn’t buy any souvenirs yet in Thamel but purchased some stuff on the way, whimsical fridge magnets and such that were representative of what Nepal was world renowned for. We lost direction for a few moments since like any underdeveloped country, the traffic was haphazard and there were hardly any road signs to let us know where exactly we were.
Our first stop was the Narayanhity Palace, once a royal palace now converted into a public museum. But unfortunately, it was closed due to some public holiday observance. So we went to go to Kathmandu Durbar Square instead. When we tried to walk beyond the police check, we were told that we had to buy entry tickets. It was a paltry among for me, a SAARC nation citizen compared to the 700 NPR they demanded for Andrej. We thought this was as ridiculous it could get. Andrej was highly amused and annoyed at the same time that any person would be asked to pay, regardless of the amount, for walking around a “Square.” We walked away after this and skipped the Kathmandu Square. There were no restaurants nearby to eat lunch at and we walked a further and reached the edge of Thamel and ate Momos and noodles at a Tibetan restaurant there. The place looked dingy and unhygienic so I made a comment about that. Andrej corrected me that I complain too much. Actually, this is true. I especially get even more particular when it comes to food and health-related stuff. The thing is, in countries in Europe or in the US for example, I wouldn’t think twice before eating street food, but here in this part of the world, I do not ever eat in such places or anything sold outside. Trust me, when you’ve experienced every possible disease connected with underdeveloped worlds from typhoid and malaria to viral fever and amoebiosis, you learn to become extremely cautious about what you intake.
 |
| Swayambunath Temple |
After our lunch, we walked to the Swayambunath Temple also known as the Monkey Temple. We passed by many houses located on the sides of crude, dirt track village roads. There was garbage and old and dilapidated homes all around us. It wasn’t shocking for me to see since I am used to witnessing such places coming from a relatively backward city myself but what unnerved me most was that almost every place in Kathmandu was underdeveloped. Even the heart of the city had nothing much to boast in terms of technological advancement and architectural marvel. It made me realize this is really what a third-world looks like. The level of poverty and lack of development was hard to miss. After about 15-20 minutes of walking, we reached the temple. It looked unkempt and unimpressive at first glance. Swayambunath was yet another ancient temple nestled atop a hill. I dreaded the idea of climbing up the fleet of stairs leading to the temple complex. Thankfully, the strong man that my man is, he has no trouble lending me a helping hand every time and pulled me up the stairs like he would pull a kid by the arms.  |
| Panoramic view of KTM city from the Monkey Temple |
 |
| Andrej and prayer wheels |
We have been to temples and Buddhist monasteries located on hill tops so many times starting with Sri Lanka…I’ve almost lost count of them all. There were not many monkeys as the name suggests but the location gave a good panoramic view of Kathmandu city. There was not much to see around the temple save Hindu devotees, tourists and souvenir shops. Andrej wanted to try out the prayer wheels that were placed around the main temple, spinning them like the devotees around him. I also noticed that the stray dogs in Nepal were all furry and healthy looking, very unlike the malnourished ones we usually see in Indian cities. We then hailed a cab to make a quick stop back to the hotel to charge Andrej’s phone or he would not have been able to take any more pictures. I changed my clothes also.
 |
| Bodhnath |
The next popular tourist site to check out in Kathmandu was Bodhnath, a Buddhist stupa believed to have the biggest ‘mandala’ in Asia. This was yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site we were to set foot on. Andrej read on Lonely Planet that we were to follow the path of the stupa or any other Buddhist monument in a clock-wise manner so we decided to do just that just like the devotees. To an unassuming passerby, we may have appeared like dedicated devotees of the Buddhist faith. The area was spacious and crowded with vendors and tourists. There were many souvenir shops and interesting looking cafes encircling the stupa. We entered a few of the shops looking for gifts to buy for people. Andrej had a shopping list courtesy his colleague who seemed to have taken a curious interest in the Buddhist faith. There were four things he asked for and we both went from shop to shop in the hope to find what we were looking for. I picked up a souvenir for home, a miniature depicting Edmund Hillary and Tengzing Norge’s first ascent to Mount Everest in 1953. Andrej found some scrolls that had motivational quotes from the Dalai Lama which he wanted to buy for the kids that he coaches, but we didn’t buy any of them eventually. I carried my souvenir in a plastic bag along with an empty bottle of Sprite and snack of Andrej’s (something he tends to do, hand me over empty packets of the snacks he’s consumed!). Unlike in Sri Lanka, the religious complexes in Nepal did not have strict codes for clothes. We could enter any temple with ease in whatever we had on…there was no hard and fast rule to cover up. We saw as much as we could and then decided to head to our next stop, the Pashupatinath Temple.
 |
| The badly polluted sacred river, Pashupatinath Temple |
Since Pashupatinath Temple was supposed to be nearby, we decided to walk again instead of spending money unnecessarily on a cab. The temple is regarded as one of the holiest sites for followers of Shiva and also serves as the seat of the national deity, Lord Pashupatinath. On the way to the temple, we walked across a path where I was “attacked” by a hungry monkey who came right at me and snatched the plastic bag that was in my hand. I did not try to resist him fearing he might scratch my face or bite my legs. Andrej stood there, standstill, trying to make sense of what just happened. We were speechless for some time and waited to see what the monkey was going to do next. It was a clever rascal who chucked away the empty packets of food and took only the souvenir, perhaps assuming it to be food. The monkey even tried to take a bite off the plaster of Paris from which the object was made. I was very pissed off by such show of disrespect. This was the first time ever that an animal tried to take me for a ride. At the same time, we were amused by the whole episode and felt rather sorry for the cheeky fellow. There was no way to retrieve my souvenir as the monkey had thrown it away on the other side of a fence. Andrej asked me to let go and said we would get me a new one. The poor simian must have been really hungry. We walked further and made our entrance through the backside of the temple. The sight was something to behold, indeed. The river considered to be holy and sacred by Hindu devotees was clogged with garbage and filth but people went on about their business, least bothered by the trash around them. It was unbelievable to think a UNESCO World Heritage Site could look this ill-maintained, even more disturbing to think that people did not care enough to clean up their own mess at a place they considered to be the most sacred. The atmosphere of the place seemed stuffy and I could smell blood in the air, perhaps from the animals being sacrificed to the gods and goddesses, a common practice in Hinduism. Andrej was least bothered by all the trash around us, he found it rather interesting and took pictures. Of all the religious sites we have visited so far, Buddhist or Hindu, I felt like this was the least sacred looking religious complex of them all despite the significance it had to its devotees. The complex was huge and the structures resembled each other so it was quite hard to tell which was the main site of worship as people were scattered everywhere performing their rites and rituals. We saw another door through which a Hindu priest entered, he was accompanied by a personal guard dressed in military gear. That could have been the main site of the Pashupantinath but entrance was not permitted for public. We walked around the complex for a few more minutes and when we realized there was nothing more to be seen, we headed to Patan Durbar Square.
Patan Durbar Square was a huge relief from Pashupati. The Square had ancient buildings all around it but they seemed to have stood against time and appeared beautiful under the street lamps. This place seemed more like the
Kathmandu I had imagined in my head- Old and traditional looking but captivating with its bygone era charm. There was no garbage around us except for people lounging around the temples. We were there at dusk so people seemed to be in a relaxed mood, sitting around the street corners leisurely.
We found a café to eat our dinner at. We went up to the
May 2, 2014
Today was the day we both had been looking forward to- The scenic mountain flight. Andrej had booked the plane tickets in advance and the tour package included an hour flight across the main Himalayan ranges, Mount Everest and other major peaks. I was really hoping to catch a glimpse of the mountains since I am no climber or trekker, only a person take takes interest in Geography as a field of study and an ardent admirer of their beauty and magnificence. The only time I get to see the Himalayas is when I luck out with a window seat on Indigo airlines flight from New Delhi to Imphal. Andrej and I actually got to capture a few lovely shots of the Himalayan peaks during our flight to Imphal from New Delhi during his visit to India in Dec’13. The weather was fine the day before even though the skies looked a little foggy (I had attributed it to air pollution); so were not expecting any undue interference the following morning. However, to much disappointment, we work up to pouring rain and it looked like it would not stop. We knew this was bad news. But Andrej suggested we go to the airport anyway and take our chances. Kathmandu’s domestic airport appeared more like a railway station. Upon our arrival, we were told by Buddha Airlines employees that we would have to wait for an answer from the control tower/base. We were handed over our boarding passes after some time and asked to proceed through the security check. Andrej and I had a squabble like two teenagers over something very silly. Or, one could say we appeared more like married couples going through their mid-life crisis. He had asked me to carry his trash like he always does and I made a fuss about it which he didn’t like. Later on, he wanted to put his wallet in my purse and I made a face which didn’t take to him kindly and he became very upset. It was pretty crazy how one incident such as this could lead to a voluminous discussion on how one is unwilling to do anything for the other. Yes, we expect a lot from each other and we are used to being spoiled by each other; so when one party hesitates to do something for the other, it leads to momentary “silent treatment” towards each other. We sat there in the waiting hall waiting for announcement like two strangers, barely looking at each other, waiting for any developments on our flight status. The rain continued to pour outside; some flights were either delayed or cancelled and yet some passengers got to board their planes. After more than another hour of waiting, Andrej found that our scenic flight had been cancelled. It felt like a big bummer and a damper to the trip, but I knew there was more fun awaiting us regardless of this cancellation. There was no way we could reschedule our flight as we had already made plans to leave for Pokhara the same morning and onward to Lumbini. Andrej was still upset with me when we got to the hotel as I tried and persuaded him to excuse whatever oversight on my part. Then I realized the best was to leave him be and have him calm down on his own time (something I learned from before and also attested by his Mom). “We are both such sensitive beings” I thought to myself, and that my man was no less sensitive to certain things than I was. Andrej went back to sleep for another hour. I couldn’t really fall back asleep so I started chatting with my friends online, but I did get to rest for a few good minutes. We then boarded the cab that was to take us to Pokhara. The journey to Pokhara from Kathmandu was about 4-5 hours. The roads were so awful that it was hard to sleep comfortably.
We were to stop by at a town first to see Manakamana temple. When we got there, we had our lunch and went to the ticket counters to pay for the cable car that would take us up to the temple. The place was green and fairly well kempt compared to some tourist sites we had seen in Kathmandu. We also realized there was no Westerner except for Andrej among the crowd. The notice board gave a detailed pricing for Nepalis, Indians and foreign visitors. But the most curious one was the amount listed for a goat to ride on the cable car: 200 NPR. The temple allows sacrificing of live animals to appease one of the Hindu Goddesses upon which it has been named. All around us, we could see devotees dragging along with them their own goats to be sacrificed. 
There were also fowls and chicks other than goats as sacrificial offerings. As we stood in line to board the cable car, Andrej spotted a woman carrying a cock causally in her arms. Other people had their fowls in baskets on inside a bag, but this lady held hers by her arms on the side of her chest as if it were her purse. He was highly amused by this and the both of us began to crack inappropriate jokes about it, sexual innuendos and what have you. He even posted a picture of the lady and her cock on facebook with some suggestive caption. The bird was well behaved too and did not make any attempts to escape. The poor bird was oblivious to the deadly fate that awaited it, just like the rest of the goats that had been brought to the temple complex to be sacrificed. The cable car skipped a few hills before we arrived at our destination. There were many people in line waiting to catch the ride back to ground level. 
We climbed a few steps more to get to the temple, and passed by many souvenir stalls selling gifts and other ritualistic items. The temple area was as usual busy and not very tidy looking. We walked around the temple area and took a few pictures. Andrej wanted to go inside the temple but the line was too long and we weren’t sure whether entry was permitted to non-Hindus. We asked around for the sacrificial chamber as Andrej wanted to see an animal being slaughtered. I was totally not up for it. We found the spot, I stayed behind and he went and took a look and came back with pictures of what he saw. We didn’t spend much time after this and returned to the station to catch our ride back. The line was long but we got on a car soon enough. We then made our way to Pokhara.
As we rode on the cab, I could see Andrej falling asleep and nodding off, his head moving up and down because of the bumpy ride. I have this habit of checking him out and glancing over him wherever we are or wherever we go. I put my legs up on the car seat and laid my head on Andrej’s lap and fell asleep nicely for a couple of hours. I suppose because of what happened in the morning, I felt the need to get as close as I could to him and lying down on his lap gave me a sense of reattachment. I could feel his hands around me as I laid down on him; this made me feel better as I imagined he was no longer angry with me. Because of my nap, I didn’t get to see much of the country, but whatever I saw didn’t impress me much. I guess when you have witnessed the splendor of Slovenian or German countryside, the nature of Nepal could not stand up against them. In less than an hour, we reached Pokhara. It was less crowded and more spacious than Kathmandu. The cab driver took us to a hotel of his choice on Lakeside, the famous tourist spot in the city, much more modern looking than the rest of Pokhara and full of souvenir shops, cafes and travel agencies. We didn’t take the hotel as it was above our budget, released the cab driver and told him we’d find a hotel on our own. As we were walking down the road, I saw a place without any sign boards save “reception” on its door. I told Andrej we should go check it out and to our luck, it turned out to be a lodge. It was much cheaper than the previous one and after checking the rooms we decided to take it. It was called Baba Lodge and the owner of the hotel was a kind and personable middle-aged man. Andrej was in a happy mood by this time and I was glad he could joke about the little fight we had in the morning but not without a tinge of sarcasm in his remarks about it. This is something I have always held in high regard about our relationship…the good thing about us is that we get over our squabbles pretty quickly and never let arguments or fights we have on a given day linger on longer than it ought to, because we both know it’s not worth spoiling the rest of our limited time together over momentary moments of madness. Andrej has his heavy sulking habits but I am also no angel when it comes to throwing tantrums. But for sure, our experiences together have, in fact, taught me when to rein myself in and control my temper. Besides, fighting periods are usually followed by intense moments of passion and endearment so I sometimes feel they are a needed part of sharing a healthy and foolproof relationship. It makes us who we are and what we need to do, or shouldn’t do, to make one another content.
 |
| Pokhara Lake |
Without further ado, we stepped out of our lodge and began to carry out our sight-seeing. We were going to go see the World Peace Stupa of Pokhara. We checked out a couple of Hindu temples on the way, walked by the edge of the Pehwa Lake which was filled with empty plastic bottles and junk. We asked some locals for directions to the stupa. We saw a signboard that said “conservation area of the world peace stupa” and I reckoned we had found the place. A person pointed towards the hill in his attempt to direct us to our final destination. We climbed and climbed for about half hour in the hope to find the stupa but there was no sign of human habitation or noise that one usually hears from tourist infested areas. I was tired and sought help from Andrej every now and then to help me with the climb. We were soon inside a forested area and we began looking for a way out. There was a path that we followed but it lead us to nowhere and soon enough, we realized we were very far off from from ground. We could tell there was no sign of life and the faint voices that we heard before from the vicinity had disappeared altogether by now. I was starting to freak out as it was already evening time and darkness was beginning to fall. But I was no longer tired as the slopes were not steep anymore. I got bruises on my feet from the ballet flats I was wearing but this didn’t bother me much, I just wanted us to be safe. Despite my obvious worry, for some whimsical reason, I thought the whole episode of getting lost in the woods with your lover was something straight out of a story book and since it was the first time I ever got to experience something like this, I found it rather romantic. And yet again, I had a realization that when Andrej is with me, I have no fear of most things. I just had this confident feeling that we would make it out of the woods, eventually. So I remained calm like him and entrusted upon him the responsibility to get us out of the woods. We had a map on us and Andrej began to display his navigational skills with the help of the map and my phone calculator. We walked more and found another path which was much wider than the one we had been walking on. We followed to the left of the path and soon enough, we could tell the earth was covered with loose soil that seemed to have been freshly laid out by someone. At last, we were able see paddy fields in the distance and a tent in front of us, finally some sign of habitation. What a relief, hallelujah! It was completely dark by now. We passed by some people washing their cars by the drain. They looked at us startled, perhaps wondering where the both of us inter-racial people had appeared from, like ghosts. We then stopped by at a village kiosk to buy soda and snacks for ourselves. The lady shopkeeper told Lakeside was about 15-20 minute walk from where we were. We were tired from our “trekking” so hailed a cab instead to take us back to Baba Lodge.  |
| Homemade Nepali Thakali |
That night, for dinner, we had home-cooked Nepali thali prepared by the hotel manager’s wife and some beers. I sent a few pictures I had taken so far of Andrej and Nepal to his mom. Later on, we headed out to buy more snacks, and then watched Game of Thrones with beer and chocolate cookies before sleeping. What a day it had been, started on a low note but ended on a high. I’d take it all! And I would remember the “getting lost in the woods” experience for the rest of my life, so random, so unplanned, so out of the box and need I mention? So romantic!
May 3, 2014
We woke up to Andrej’s phone alarm’s cantankerous sound; a sound I heard for the first time last summer during our central Europe trip but still find it terrifying and not so easy to get use to up to this day. He put it on snooze mode and we went back to sleep. After a few minutes, my phone alarm too went off so both of us sleepy heads had to finally get out of bed, get dressed and head out of the lodge to start our second day tour of Pokhara. We first made a quick stop for breakfast at a café nearby. We then walked on the road and looked for a taxi to take us around town. We knew we had to find the elusive World Peace Stupa first, a monument we could not locate the previous day and because of the search for it, got lost in the woods for hours. We stopped a cab on the road and agreed on a reasonable fare with the driver to take us to the stupa and to more places in and around Pokhara. The country road leading up to the hill on which the stupa stood was dusty, narrow and winding, much like most roads we had been driving on in Nepal thus far. Our cab driver was stopped on the way by some young villagers to pay village road toll. After a few minutes we arrived at the stupa complex. There were shops and houses around the parking area but it was less crowded than most tourist sites we had been to. We had to climb a few flight of stairs to get to the stupa.  |
| Pehwa Lake and Pokara City |
 |
| The World Peace Stupa Pokhara |
The stupa was all white and looked beautifully built. The area was neat and tidy, perhaps because the authorities cared to provide trash cans and recycling bins. Being on the hilltop gave us the opportunity to see the Pehwak Lake in its fullness and also the city of Pokhara with its clusters of houses. In the horizon, we could see paragliders and other such mid-air attractions. We realized the mountain in front of us must be Sarangkot, the point of departure for most paragliding activities. This view was a far cry from Kathmandu city which we were able to see atop the Monkey Temple. The air was less polluted and thick than what we had in Kathmandu, but visibility remained low and the higher peaks in the background were still nowhere in sight. I had wanted to try out paragliding with Andrej despite my fear of heights but he was a bit apprehensive about the low visibility and felt it might not be worth spending money on it if we weren’t going to see any of the major peaks, which was the main purpose. The World Peace Stupa was certainly the tidiest looking religious site so far and the atmosphere had a certain calm and quietness. I took off my sandals and climbed the stairways leading to the temple. I went around the stupa in an anti-clockwise manner, took pictures of the scenery and then suddenly ran into Andrej who was heading from the opposite direction. Like a school teacher, he reminded me that as per Buddhist faith, religious monuments are to be circled clockwise and that I had flouted the golden rules. We spent a few more minutes soaking in the scenery, quickly took a look at a temple housing Buddhist artifacts located a few meters from the stupa from the outside and then went back to our taxi.
 |
| Mahadevi Falls |
Our next places of interest to see were the Mahadevi Falls and Gupteshwar Mahadev cave. Pokhara is not a big city and the main tourist sites were supposed to be located not very far from each other so we were able to travel conveniently from one place to another either by foot or by vehicle. We got to a main street that had shops on both sides and appeared to be a market place of sorts. We bought our entry tickets and went in to a gated area which resembled a children’s park. There were people all around, locals and Asian tourists. To be able to see the bottom of the waterfall, one had to climb down a few stairways. To me, the waterfall did not appear grand or extraordinary. It was a quite a nice sight no doubt, but I was expecting to see something more dramatic than what looked like a waterfall you could find in most tropical or sub-tropical locales. I suppose the charm of Mahadevi was that it was situated in the middle of town and it appeared to gush out of nowhere from the thick green cover behind it; its source of origin unknown, as it were. We soon made our way out after walking around the grassy lawns. We had to pass by many shops on both sides of our path. We stopped at one which sold Nepali Gurkha caps. I made Andrej try out a few of them and bought him the one that fitted him best, multi-colored and shiny. Since he already has the well-known ‘Gurkha knife,’ a gift from my brother, I thought I’d add another touch of Nepal to his memorabilia collection by gifting him a Gurkha cap. There were some ladies enticing me to check out their jewelry collection. I tried on earrings made from precious stones and asked Andrej for his recommendation. But he was completely clueless to approve any of it so I ended up not buying any of them.
 |
| Gupteshwar Mahadev Cave entrance gate |
The Mahadev Cave was situated right across the Mahadevi Falls. We crossed the street and entered a gate with a welcome message. We were greeted by friendly vendors and numerous souvenir shops, the entrance to the cave nowhere to be seen. After passing by the shops, there was a small ticket counter. We got our tickets which were similarly priced with the amount paid by locals. We descended down some stairs to get to the cave. The walls outside were painted with pictures showing almost naked ‘apsaras’ or fairies (common iconography in Hindu traditional faith). The quality was poor, appearing more like a poster sketch for some Bollywood movie and lacked aesthetic beauty. As we made our way into the cave, Andrej was asked by a man if he would be interested to milk an artificial ‘holy’ cow. I thought this was quite bizarre and funny at the same time, and had to remind myself that bovine creatures are considered sacred by Hindus. The passageway was small and the roof low that Andrej had to watch his head most of the time. It was dimly lit, the floors were damped and the walls of the cave had water dripping from random corners. When we reached the main area of the cave, we saw a small temple with gold plated iron bars around it. There were two temple guards lounging leisurely on their chairs; one of them reprimanded a visitor for taking pictures of the temple. We moved pass this temple area and arrived at a more spacious opening which received a bit of natural light from a tiny, elongated opening between two adjacent rocks. Somehow, this scene took my memory back to the time Andrej and I visited the massive and magnificent Postojna Cave in Slovenia last summer. I had such an amazing time with him that day, and even though the ticket prices were quite expensive at Euro 35 per person, I felt every penny was worth it taking into account the huge effort made by the authorities to preserve the cave in its natural, pristine condition and also to conserve and breed pre-historic animals like salamander that dwells in the darkest corners of the Postojna cave. Mahadev Cave was a religious site and had nothing much to boast except for its underlying sacredness. It wasn’t deep under the earth, barely had the characteristics of a cave such as stalagmites and stalactites and could not escape the problem of trash like almost every place in Nepal. After walking out of the cave, Andrej and I decided to shop for souvenirs- specific Buddhist items that his colleague had requested him to bring from Nepal. We stopped by at a shop and purchased a few items; as usual, I bargained the items for a good price. At another shop, Andrej bought a Buddhist prayer bowl. The lady shopkeeper was very keen on speaking to us in her broken English and demonstrated the correct way to use the bowl by running a wooden stick gently across the mouth of the metallic bowl so as to create a haunting and lingering sound.
 |
| International Mountain Museum |
After Mahadev, we were to head to Old Pokhara. Andrej had read on Lonely Planet that this old and ancient part of the city was a must see because it had yet to come under the influence of tourism. We were excited about this as we don’t always want to go to the touristiest spots. We wanted to experience the old Nepali way of life and ancient Newari settlements, remnants from before modern tourism became a booming industry in Nepal. We hired the same cab driver and asked him to take us to Old Pokhara. He insisted that we must go see the International Mountain Museum first before heading further up north. We agreed. The museum was located in a quiet corner surrounded by nature and greenery. As we stepped into the building, I was surprised to see it was much bigger than what I had expected. As we began our tour of the museum, we spotted two mannequins in Slovenian traditional clothing along with pictures of the Slovenian countryside and its nature. Andrej had mentioned to me previously that Slovenia had to have some connections with Nepal just because Slovenes are avid mountain climbers and hikers and most of the highest peaks in the world have been first scaled by Slovenian nationalities. I believed him knowing how active of a climber and hiker his parents are too, having been on every possible mountain peak of Slovenia and its neighboring countries.
I asked Andrej to stand on the corner and took a few pictures of him with two Slovenian dummies. The Museum housed plenty of artifacts relating to climbing and trekking- shoes, clothing, gears, instruments, pictures, weapons etc. There were also photos in color as well as in black and white showing the faces of famous mountaineers whose nationals had scaled the mountain ranges of Nepal the most, from Mount Everest and Annapurna to Kanchenjonga and Mount K2. Slovenia seemed well represented on the ground floor as well as above, with the Slovenian national
 |
| Gurkha Museum, Pokhara |
Next, our driver drove us to the old part of Pokhara. We wanted to see the Gurkha Museum and a couple of other things. We were dropped off by the driver outside the Gurkha museum, paid him for the day and hired his services for the next morning to see sunrise from Sarangkot. Our cab driver looked inebriated but he was a jolly good fellow who never complained once, always patiently waited for us at every place we wanted to see and also introduced us to the mountain museum. While purchasing entry tickets for the Gurkha museum, the lady at the counter was about to hand me a ticket meant for Nepali locals, obviously mistaking me to be one of their own nationals. Andrej noticed this in time and told the lady I was Indian and not Nepali. We were all amused by this. By now, I had become quite used to being spoken to in Nepali by random locals at the places we had visited and being assumed to be a Nepali girl as I didn’t look much different from them, I fitted right in. Gurkhas are Nepali soldiers known for their guerilla warfare skills, bravery and commitment to serving in military regiments around the world, including Britain, India and the UN peacekeeping force.
They are well known in India too and have had their own military regiment since the time of the British colonial era. The museum was a tribute to their history, their contributions and loyal services rendered not only to protect their own homelands but also the national integrity of other nation states. There were about three floors and Andrej and I went from floor to floor to know and learn more about these brave and selfless humans. There was hardly any visitor at the time of our visit except two male Westerners. The museum was a beautiful tribute and honor shown to men who deserved nothing less than that. I picked up a small gold plated Gurkha toy soldier for home before leaving the museum.
Andrej was starting to get hungry and so was I. We were going to look for a place to eat our lunch at but not before seeing a gorge which was only a few steps away from the Gurkha museum. The entry tickets were cheap here too. As we approached the gorge, the thing that struck me immediately was the color of the river flowing by, absolutely milky white. The gorge was deep and gave me a little bit of migraine as I looked down to take a few photos of it. The surrounding areas were slopes on which houses had been built and garbage was scattered all around it. There was nothing else to see other than the deep gorge. This was one of the rare places in Nepal that was devoid of visitors. We then walked down the street to get to the old Pokhara proper. We went into every other restaurant but somehow there was no food available except snacks and tea. We finally found a restaurant that served noodles and momos; we ordered for two plates of chicken momos. A little further down, we stopped by at an internet café and paid a paltry amount for 15 min usage of wifi. Then rain began to pour but we did not seek shelter. We both continued to walk down the street in the drizzle, inviting stares from the locals nearby. There was another Hindu temple that we wanted to check out but weren’t quite sure about its exact location. Andrej is amazing with maps and is very efficient in finding the places we want to go to but sometimes we do not hesitate from asking the locals for directions. We asked two traffic police guards where the temple was and we were told where to go. So we made a detour and walked through residential areas, a Gurkha training school and market places until we got to the temple. Like most temples, this was also built on the top of a small hillock and staircases led us up to the main area. 
We walked further ahead and came across a travel agent that looked more legit. It was called Buddha travels. After letting him know of our travel plans, the agent helped us book our tickets on a tourist bus for Lumbini. We couldn’t be happier that this problem was taken care of, finally. We also realized we needed flight tickets back to Kathmandu for the day after our Lumbini trip and figured it would be best to book with the same agent. The flight tickets on Yeti Airlines from Lumbini to Kathmandu were cheap for me but not so much for Andrej. I booked my ticket there and then in cash but Andrej did not carry his credit card on him so we went back to the hotel to get the needed items. By this time, the first travel agency was already closed and our lodge manager too had not heard back from any of his travel agents. We thanked him nonetheless and told him we have everything taken care of. We got Andrej’s credit cards and some money for dinner. We saw some nice looking restaurants on the way and thought we’d enjoy a nice meal for our last night in Pokhara. Back at Buddha travels, we waited a few minutes as the agent had some server problem. Andrej paid for his plane ticket and we were all set for the entire duration of our trip. 
 |
| The famous Nepali Gorkha beer |
We walked into a cozy looking place to eat our dinner. We first ordered for some drinks- Andrej went for Nepali whiskey, and I for a Gurkha beer. My mind was fixated on Nepali food so yet again, I ordered for Nepali thali. Andrej had rice and chicken in some weird looking sauce. My phone was already dead but luckily the restaurant had electricity unlike most places in Kathmandu and there was a plug point right behind our table so I was able to charge my phone. We talked so much that night. We hardly ever categorize our dinners such as this one as a “date” since most of the times, we are by ourselves and technically, one could say, ever on a date. This was one such “date night” for us although we didn’t declare that to each other. It was one of those rare moments out of our busy travel schedule where we had nowhere else to be, where we could take our own time and enjoy each other’s company in a relaxed environment, where we could just communicate with each other and spend quality time together. It had all of those elements. Andrej ordered one drink after another, whiskey, then rum, and finally beer. It was fun to see him this way because usually I am the one craving more and more alcohol on our night outs. I was starting to worry a little as I thought it might hurt his training or something but he told me everything would be fine. After all, it’s not every weekend that we get to enjoy moments such as this, so I let him be. I do not know if it was the effect of alcohol but he certainly became all affectionate and starry-eyed towards me. I bet he would deny this but it was all very clear to see. I went for another bottle of Gurkha and asked for the check. We didn’t hold back and we spent quite a lot on our food and drinks that night, but it was all worth iBefore bedtime, we watched another round of Game of Thrones as Andrej reeked of fiery whiskey breath the whole night!
May 4, 2014
 |
| Macchapuchre (Fish Tail Mountain) |
We woke up very early at about 4 AM so we could go watch the sunrise over the Macchapuchre (Fish Tail Mountain) from atop Sarangkot, one of the highest hills around. We had hired the same cab driver that showed us around town the previous day. We got dressed and walked out of our lodge; it was still quite dark but one or two cars sped by us on the street. As we waited for our cab, some other vehicles stopped by to ask us if we needed a ride. After a few minutes wait, our sleepy cabbie with drunken-looking eyes appeared. I was happy to know that he did not forget about our appointment. Sarangkot was about 30 min drive from Lakeside and since there was hardly any traffic at that wee hour of the morning, we reached our destination in less than thirty minutes. When we arrived, there were other people already, mostly Asian tourists. The air was chilly and I regretted not being appropriately dressed. I wanted to buy a shawl to cover myself with from one of the shops selling woolens nearby but even the most standard woolen was priced exorbitantly. We climbed some stairs and finally got to an open area, a vantage point from which the mountains/sunrise could be seen right ahead of us in the horizon. We waited around the spot for the much anticipated sight to come into life as more and more crowd began to pour in. There were Chinese tourists adjusting their professional digital cameras on tripods, gearing up to catch the sunrise on camera. I thanked God silently in my head for a moment like this, so precious. Andrej and I get to see and experience so many unusual and extraordinary things together; it would be a shame to take any of our experiences and moments such as this one for granted.
 |
| Faint view of the Annapurnas |
 |
| Our bus to Lumbini on the country roads of Nepal |
Andrej suggested that we rent bikes to check out the temples and stupas as they were scattered at varying distances. He asked me if I knew how to ride a bike. I found that question almost offensive and replied with a forceful, “Of course I know!” We found a renting place just across the street, bargained for cheap and got two bikes with flower decoration perched on each bike. While mine was a more feminine looking one, Andrej’s bike was a chunky bicycle mostly used by village men in India. It took my thoughts back to childhood days when being able to ride such a bike (“Humber” or so was its name) was considered a feat for little girls. The bus station, the village, our Lodge and the stupas were all walking distance from each other, but without the bikes, we would have wasted too much time on walking from temple to temple. We first went to see the main stupa commemorating the birth of the Buddha. We passed by a cemented path lined by trees on both sides. It was another one of those unusual moments where we got to ride a bike together for the first time since our travel escapades began almost a year ago. Such thoughts made me happy and cherish the moments even more, no matter how mundane looking to some. Andrej tried to show off his biking skills but I was too busy to give him compliments as I tried to adjust my purse which was making me ride my bike clumsily. We soon arrived at a monument but were asked to park our bikes on the side. From there on, we walked to the main Temple, the Fountain of World Peace that housed relics of the Buddha’s birth. We were asked to take off our shoes and we walked a few steps further to purchase our entry tickets. The place seemed peaceful and well-maintained. All of the paths were covered in blocks of sandstone.
 |
| The Ashokan Pillar erected to mark the birthspot of Lord Gautama Buddha |
We first saw the pillar erected by Emperor Ashoka, a devoted Buddhist King to mark the birth spot of the Gautama Buddha. The iron pillar was built in the same fashion as most Ashokan pillars found around archeological sites in India, but without the sarnath lions, its characteristic symbol circling the top of the pillar. Marigold flowers had been placed around the fence encircling the pillar. On the other side of the pillar, there were broken down stone walls of what appeared to be the remains of an ancient kingdom. Beside the ruins was a bathing pool which the Buddha’s mother is believed to have bathed in before delivering him. Across the pool, we saw a gigantic Bodhi tree surrounded by saffron-clad monks. There were also some tourists taking photos as well as lazily lounging in the shade. We walked back to the main building which appeared to me to be a prohibited area. But Andrej figured it was open to public and both of us went inside. Taking of pictures were forbidden but we did it anyway before any of the guards could spot us. The sight inside reminded of the ancient ruins we went to see below the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last summer. There were just remnants of an ancient civilization with broken down brick and stone walls. It was apparent to see the use of mortar to hold these bricks together. As we walked around the fenced ruins, we passed by a man meditating and chanting, cross-legged on the floor. We then came towards a shrine like structure in the middle of the ruins with the statue of a reclining Buddha. There was a donation box nearby overflowing with bank notes. I took out a small amount from my purse and dropped it among the bills. As I turned around, I realized the uniform guard had been watching us and I felt a tinge of embarrassment thinking I may have offended him by the smallness of the amount offered. After the world peace stupa, we walked further down to check the rest of the temples and shrines built by different Buddhist as well as non-Buddhist countries of the world. Since we did not have our bikes on us, we thought we would hire a cycle rickshaw to take us for a tour. But the guy charged a lot of money and we thought it was pointless to spend that amount when we could easily see every temple with the help of our bikes. So we walked back to the entrance to get our bikes and stopped at a village shop near the bus station to get a chilled bottle of water. We rode further up the main road and came into the complex again through a different gate. The area had a considerable green cover and we could hear birds chirping from the trees as we rode down the street. We were beginning to let ourselves believe that Lumbini could potentially be the cleanest place we had visited so far in Nepal. There was hardly any sight of trash and the temples were all gated and properly maintained. The complex had Eastern and Western sides, we most checked temples and shrines that were located on the Eastern side. 
We entered a monastery where young boys in their monk outfits were learning to play an enormous trumpet, a traditional pipe played during Buddhist ceremonies. The monastery had a colorful gate with intricate Buddhist motifs on its doors. The temple inside was beautiful too, overseen by a monk with prayer beads on his hands. On the outside, the grass lawns, flowers and some stone structures added to the charm of the monastery. We got on our bikes again checked out a few more shrines and temples, a memorable one was a Chinese Buddhist shrine with its beautiful gardens and traditional Chinese architecture. It was remarkable to see all of these places right in the heart of a dreary and relatively backward town like Lumbini, looking authentic and staying true to the cultural and architectural essence of the countries to its countries that build it or funded its construction. I told Andrej I wouldn’t mind living in a house like this Chinese-style house…he told me he would build one for me in Slovenia. Standing across the street from the Chinese temple was another one from the Republic of Korea. We also rode by temples from the Vietnamese, Burmese and Austrian government.
 |
| Buddhist Shrine, Republic of China |
The whole area occupied about ten acres of land and the shrines and temples were well-spaced from each other, each sounding off to the beat of drums, and sounds of cymbals and monks chanting their evening prayers. It was getting dark slowly so we tried to hurry as much as we could with our sightseeing even though there were so many shrines left to be seen. Since we had not the time to enter every shrine, we stopped outside each gate to take pictures. On our bike tour, we also saw a couple of temples undergoing construction such as one temple construction being funded by the Government of Thailand. The last stop was the World Peace Stupa which took us a while to find it. We passed by souvenir shops which were already in the process of closing and vendors packing up their goods. We finally got to the stupa whose gates were already locked since it was after 5 pm. We took a few pictures of it in the dim light from outside of the gate. On our way back, we decided to stop by at a souvenir shop to purchase the rest of the items missing in Andrej’s shopping list. Since there was no traffic, I parked my bike in the middle of the dirt road. We picked up the missing items and made our way back to the village. By this time, the workshop from which we hired our bikes was already closed. There was a sugarcane juice seller at the shop instead of the bike fellow. We told him we had already paid for the bikes and asked him if it was alright to leave them with him. He agreed and assured us he would hand them over to the bike owner in the morning. I sure hope he did.
May 5, 2014
Although we had only a few hours to conduct our tour of Lumbini since we spent more than half of the day on the bus from Pokhara, we were happy that we managed to visit the main attractions- the Sacred Garden and the International Monastic Zone consisting of stupas, monasteries and shrines constructed by various countries to promote Lumbini as a center for world peace. It was time to leave Lumbini and head back to Kathmandu by air. The kind hotel receptionist had hired a cab for us which arrived right on time to take us to the airport. The cab driver was a feisty, impatient old man that honked non-stop at every other vehicle throughout the ride from our hotel to the airport. As if his earsplitting honking habits weren’t enough, he had the foulest mouth to boot and cursed at the other drivers as our taxi drove pass them. He played the most comic sounding old Bollywood tunes with screechy female back-up voice which greatly amused and entertained Andrej. We reached the airport in about 30 min. It came as a surprise to me to see that such a sleepy, old, backward town would be connected by air. I suppose the carriers do fairly well since the place attracts not only Buddhist pilgrims and monks but also international tourists like ourselves, albeit in limited numbers. As we entered the airport, we were asked to open our bags since there was no X-Ray facility. The guards at the gate took a quick glance into our bags and let us pass. The airport was very small and looked almost deserted. The counter for Yeti airlines was still closed at the time of our arrival so we decided to wait at the seats nearby. Soon after, we had our bags checked in and got our boarding passes. We waited a few minutes more assuming the flight was on time but were informed that it had been delayed for 2 hours. This was not some happy news to say the least but we weren’t bummed out knowing we still had the whole day in Kathmandu as it only takes about 35 minutes to get there from Lumbini. We walked around the rundown airport (broken floors, washed out walls and water dripping from the ceiling at odd places) to look for snacks but the canteen/café did not have anything except some packets of chips and candies. We were again told by the Yeti officials that the flight was further delayed due to technical problems. They were unable to give us a definite “yes” or “no” on the status of the flight and asked us to wait for further announcement. Andrej was most worried about his flight which was scheduled for 6 AM the following morning. I was in a better position as my flight back to New Delhi was scheduled later in the afternoon; besides, were I to miss the flight, I wouldn’t lose much since the tickets were cheap. We both obviously had no intention of messing up our schedules and spending an extra day in Nepal especially because of the incompetence of the local airline authorities.
Most people had left the building either out of frustration or to utilize the wait time by doing something else other than sitting around. I asked a couple of people what the heck was going on but none of them were able to give me any reliable answer. All of us passengers were agitated and confused. Andrej and I asked around from other local airlines if they had any tickets available to get us to Kathmandu the same evening but everything had been booked and sold out. We were getting really hungry by this time and decided it would be best to head out of the airport for a while to find a restaurant and eat some proper food. We walked from shop to shop in the hope to find cooked meal but to no avail. The streets looked almost deserted except for a few houses and shops. We walked down the street but all we could see was the empty main road stretched out before our eyes with no sign of commercial activity. We inquired from a local if there was any place nearby where we could eat. He asked another lady and the lady told pointed to the direction from which we came. We backtracked and went back to the shops to try our luck one more time. Finally, I spotted a sign board with misspelled “restaurant,” we seemed to have missed it earlier as the board was facing the opposite side. We were warmly welcomed by smiling faces into the little shack. We told them we were starving and looking for something to eat. The guy said he had no rice but could make us some noodles with chicken. We were more than fine with that. As we waited for the food, I recognized the face of the man sitting in front of us as another Yeti passenger from the airport. He was busy enjoying his whiskey and chunks of meat. To our right sat another man and a lady, both were beaming with smiles on their faces and began to engage in a passionate conversation with us. As usual, they thought I was Nepali so I had to correct them politely and told them I was from north-east India. They asked Andrej where he was from, how brought him here, how did he find Nepal and many other questions. I had assumed the two to be married to each other but later came to know that they were just enjoying drinks together. The lady told us she had two kids and her husband was abroad, working for a cruise ship company. She openly drank whiskey which alarmed me a little because we were in the middle of a traditional looking village. I realized Nepalis were much more liberal than most Indians, alcohol was freely available at shops and restaurants all across Nepal and ladies such as this one had the freedom to enjoy her drinks with a man other than her husband without attracting social stigma. At last, our food arrived and we began to feed our hungry selves. The people around us were very friendly and suggested that Andrej should also drink some whiskey. Now, I was not too keen about this at first since I wasn’t up to keep up again with his stinky whisky breath but I saw how excited Andrej seemed so I let him have his day. The other passenger sitting across us kept on insisting that the whiskey was “100% Nepali” but I was all too aware that most of the hard drinks they stocked in the fridge were not only 100% Indian but also the most commonly consumed whiskeys in India. But I didn’t want to embarrass the man and refrained from contradicting him. This incident reminded me of an episode Andrej and I had in Prague last summer with an Asian lady at a store who told me that the popular Milka chocolate was “100% Czech.” Andrej disagreed with her and kept on arguing with the poor woman to prove that Milka was not a Czech product. He pissed off the lady so much that she lost her cool and gave him the most scornful look. It was all very hilarious! We ate our food, Andrej finished his drinks and we said goodbye to the friendly strangers we so randomly ran into at a small shack/restaurant here in Lumbini. Such moments in life, so small and seemingly insignificant but I feel when we look back in ten or twenty years, memories of such light-hearted moments would linger on. I still recall the face of each and every person we met at the tiny village restaurant that day, just as I recall the face of many other people we have met during our travels in other countries.
Most people had left the building either out of frustration or to utilize the wait time by doing something else other than sitting around. I asked a couple of people what the heck was going on but none of them were able to give me any reliable answer. All of us passengers were agitated and confused. Andrej and I asked around from other local airlines if they had any tickets available to get us to Kathmandu the same evening but everything had been booked and sold out. We were getting really hungry by this time and decided it would be best to head out of the airport for a while to find a restaurant and eat some proper food. We walked from shop to shop in the hope to find cooked meal but to no avail. The streets looked almost deserted except for a few houses and shops. We walked down the street but all we could see was the empty main road stretched out before our eyes with no sign of commercial activity. We inquired from a local if there was any place nearby where we could eat. He asked another lady and the lady told pointed to the direction from which we came. We backtracked and went back to the shops to try our luck one more time. Finally, I spotted a sign board with misspelled “restaurant,” we seemed to have missed it earlier as the board was facing the opposite side. We were warmly welcomed by smiling faces into the little shack. We told them we were starving and looking for something to eat. The guy said he had no rice but could make us some noodles with chicken. We were more than fine with that. As we waited for the food, I recognized the face of the man sitting in front of us as another Yeti passenger from the airport. He was busy enjoying his whiskey and chunks of meat. To our right sat another man and a lady, both were beaming with smiles on their faces and began to engage in a passionate conversation with us. As usual, they thought I was Nepali so I had to correct them politely and told them I was from north-east India. They asked Andrej where he was from, how brought him here, how did he find Nepal and many other questions. I had assumed the two to be married to each other but later came to know that they were just enjoying drinks together. The lady told us she had two kids and her husband was abroad, working for a cruise ship company. She openly drank whiskey which alarmed me a little because we were in the middle of a traditional looking village. I realized Nepalis were much more liberal than most Indians, alcohol was freely available at shops and restaurants all across Nepal and ladies such as this one had the freedom to enjoy her drinks with a man other than her husband without attracting social stigma. At last, our food arrived and we began to feed our hungry selves. The people around us were very friendly and suggested that Andrej should also drink some whiskey. Now, I was not too keen about this at first since I wasn’t up to keep up again with his stinky whisky breath but I saw how excited Andrej seemed so I let him have his day. The other passenger sitting across us kept on insisting that the whiskey was “100% Nepali” but I was all too aware that most of the hard drinks they stocked in the fridge were not only 100% Indian but also the most commonly consumed whiskeys in India. But I didn’t want to embarrass the man and refrained from contradicting him. This incident reminded me of an episode Andrej and I had in Prague last summer with an Asian lady at a store who told me that the popular Milka chocolate was “100% Czech.” Andrej disagreed with her and kept on arguing with the poor woman to prove that Milka was not a Czech product. He pissed off the lady so much that she lost her cool and gave him the most scornful look. It was all very hilarious! We ate our food, Andrej finished his drinks and we said goodbye to the friendly strangers we so randomly ran into at a small shack/restaurant here in Lumbini. Such moments in life, so small and seemingly insignificant but I feel when we look back in ten or twenty years, memories of such light-hearted moments would linger on. I still recall the face of each and every person we met at the tiny village restaurant that day, just as I recall the face of many other people we have met during our travels in other countries.
We were back at the airport and waiting for further news on our flight status. The officials kept beating around the bush and could not give us a final answer still. Rain was starting to pour heavily and we could see engineers struggling to fix the plane that supposedly had been stranded in the airport runway for the past two days. I was attempting to compose a short message for my parents, to rectify whatever miscommunication/misunderstanding I had with them the previous night but I just couldn’t bring myself to creating a final draft. Andrej and I were wondering what to do should the flight be cancelled. It was all very frustrating but we tried to stay calm as much as we could. After a few moments, we finally got the awesome news that the plane had been fixed and we would be boarding soon. This was a huge relief and a timely stop from having me label Nepal as possibly the most useless country in all of South Asia. We soon proceeded through the security check and boarded the small aircraft. Andrej tried to scare me from time to time with ideas that I did not need to hear at all, especially when I was already freaking out and being highly distrustful of the functionality of Nepali aircrafts- “What if the engine crashes in mid-air?” “Are you sure we’ll make it?” etc. I requested him to keep his mouth shut and pray we make it alive till Kathmandu. I was just very thankful that we did not have to board a bus or a cab again. The journey to Kathmandu was a short 35 minutes. When we got out of the aircraft, the skies were foggy and we got some light showers, but the weather was pleasant. The baggage claim area was out in the open air and we had to collect/manually lift our bags from the trunk of a transport vehicle. Andrej found this whole set up to be of epic proportions and made sure he captured the scene on camera for posterity!
After collecting our bags, we got on a cab to Thamel and went back to the same hotel we had stayed in, Heritage Home. This time, we were put on the sixth floor, right below the rooftop restaurant. I wanted to see the Garden of Dreams which I had read about on Andrej’s Lonely Planet, a place just two kilometers away from Thamel market but Andrej wasn’t too keen about flowers and gardens so we skipped. We rested for some time in our hotel room before walking to the market. Thamel, as usual was packed with people and busy as ever. The both of us went into several bookshops to check out whatever collections they had. We were both amazed by the wealth of books that some of the stores had. Every possible genre you could imagine of was available. Never had I seen such well-stocked bookshops in all of my travels abroad before, perhaps Prague and Paris being exceptions. But then again, the stores were either smaller or even if they were gigantic in size, didn’t seem to such a varying degree of publications under its roof. The bookshops here at Thamel were just as good or even better because they also sold many other interesting things apart from books. Nepal being world renowned for some of the world’s highest mountain peaks naturally had many selections of books and encyclopedias on trekking, hiking and mountain climbing. I picked up a few gifts for my mom, sister in law and Andrej’s mom. Andrej was looking for story books on the abominable snowman/Yeti. We got him a book on the Yeti and also Nepali folk tales. Before heading out of the shop, he came across another object of his affection, a book on Sanskrit for beginners. His face lit up when he found this book he had been searching for, he could barely contain his excitement. Andrej found other books on Sanskrit, encyclopedias which were more than reasonably priced but unfortunately, he had no space in his small carry-on luggage. At another store, we overheard a foreign tourist telling the shopkeeper about having scaled the Mount Everest. At this, the shop owner took out a book which seemed to have a collection of the names and signatures of all the people that had been on the Everest and who had visited his bookshop. The tourist put his signature across the scrapbook. Some more people gathered around him and all we could hear was talks about who climbed which mountain and when.
All these times, I considered Thamel to be just another overrated tourist hub: a place only teeming with hippies, backpackers, cool cafes and souvenir shops that reminded me of Indian flea markets. However, after browsing through the bookstores and their pretty amazing collections, I began to respect the place much more and took delight in it. We did not do any sightseeing that evening. Our visits to these bookshops took up all our time and we felt like we couldn’t have spent the evening any better than we did. After this, we looked for a place to eat our last dinner together here in Nepal. Andrej was craving some continental or Thai but somehow he knew my mind was set on the same old food I had been going for since day 1- Nepali thali. We checked out a few restaurants that served the above but did not go into them. I remembered one of the cab drivers we had hired asking us to go check out a restaurant that was popular with couples. I was hoping it to be a cozy cabin because from the cab it appeared to be so; however, when we reached the place, it turned out to be a hookah bar! Andrej hates hookahs, I don’t hate them but I don’t smoke so it was no good for us. Finally, we walked into an Asian place where I ordered Nepali food and Andrej went for some nan and chicken. Andrej, the sweet-tooth boy then ordered some flavored yoghurt for dessert. Our evening went by superbly even though we had been disappointed in the morning due to long flight delays and what not…we didn’t even realize that happened the same day because we were having such a good time wrapping up our Nepal sojourn, relaxing and being in our elements. When we got back to our hotel, we watched a few more shows of Game of Thrones. I realized that I was beginning to get used with our nightly schedule of watching this show before bedtime and would miss it badly after our vacation ended. We didn’t stay up too late and fell asleep soon after.We woke up early at 5 or so in the morning for Andrej to leave for the airport. Andrej was to leave first and then me much later in the afternoon so I decided to check out of the hotel at noon. I had some distasteful dreams about him- it’s been a recurring theme since last summer. I was actually perplexed and wondered why they came flooding back after a considerable gap. But the other half of the dream was good so I consciously tried and let my mind dwell on the good part and let it drift away. We walked out of the hotel to look for a cab. The streets of Thamel were empty. We found one at the crossroad in the market where cabs usually stand. Andrej got into the car to keep his bag and got back out to hug and kiss me. I walked back and turned around to wave him goodbye as his cab made a turn and disappeared from my sight. And like that, we parted again after a fun and memorable vacation in the foothills of the Himalayas. About two and a half months ago, we experienced together one of the lowest points on Earth- Maldives. This time around, we had the pleasure of creating another round of amazing memories on one of the highest places above sea level. And every time we say our goodbyes, it’s never too sad. We communicate every day no matter where we are and there usually isn’t any threat of separation anxiety for us. I guess that’s how much comfortable we have grown with each other’s being. We always know that we will see each other again sooner than we want to imagine, and we always do.
