Back in Kathmandu

Since my last post, I have traveled throughout Nepal quite a bit, in addition to taking part in some really neat happenings at the Monastary where I go to school. In the beginning of November, I had a chance to travel to both Pokhara and Chitwan, Nepal. Pokhara is about eight hours away from Kathmandu, and it serves as the base city for many treks heading off into the Himalayas, or specifically the Annapurna Circuit. Generally, my time in Pokhara was magnificent as it is a small town around a lake, with gorgeous mountain views, and much clearer air as compared with that of Kathmandu.Although I didn't partake in any trekking myself, the mountain views in Pokhara were amazing! The Himalayas are truly a breathtaking sight, early in the morning sunrise. The popular lookout point to get early morning mountain views is in Sarangkot, which is located about 15 minutes in a taxi from Pokhara. That morning we arrived in Sarangkot at around 5am, and sipped chai at tea shop just until the sun hit the mountains at a perfect enough angle to take pictures.

After out time in Pokhara, we went to Chitwan National Park in hopes of seeing some rhinos or at least an elephant. Chitwan is located in the lower terai region of Nepal. The interesting thing about my time in Nepal has been the varied topographies within short distances of one another. From Pokhara, a mountain town, we headed straight to the lowest part of Nepal, Chitwan, which borders Bihar, India. As such, Chitwan was noticeably warmer than both Pokhara and Kathmandu, and also significantly flatter. Although we didn't see any rhinos, the time spent viewing elephants was really neat and definitely worth the trip. After Chitwan, we headed straight back to Kathmandu, where I have been ever since.

I will be in Kathmandu for the remainder of my time here in Nepal. With just two short weeks left, I am looking forward to spending lots of time with my host family, and getting lots of school work done.

India!

So today I got home from India, which was really great. We went to Bodhgaya first, which is located in the poorest state of India, Bihar. Bodhgaya is a rural community, and it is also considered the most holy Buddhist pilgrimmage site in Asia. We stayed at a Burmese Monastary which was a great experience in terms of living inside a monastic community. Although the city of Bodhgaya is considered the most prosperous city within the state of Bihar, it was still shockingly desolate, even compared to that of Kathmandu. I went on a walk through the main village there, and it was unbelievable. It was essentially farmland with small homes made out of mud and cow dung on the outskirts. The situation is clearly dire, and few of the children were wearing shoes. As we walked by, everyone would just scream, "hello, money money money?" It was sad, irritating, depressing, and a lot of emotions all at once. What made it even more difficult is that this village is apparently the site of many National Geographic-esque photo shoots because while we were there, Westerners came in, snapped some pictures of the children, and then sped off as fast as they came. All of the kids chased the car hitting it screaming "money money money." Of course Kristina, the girl, and I weren't staying there and getting in touch with the life either, but just the whole scene of the photographer and the kids made me uncomfortable and represented more than just the poverty in India, but the relationship between Indians and people of the West. I'm still trying to figure out what even happened and how I really feel about it. Needless to say, I appreciated my time in Bodhgaya for both the cultural immersion as well as the chance to see one of the most holy Buddhist Stupas, the Mahabodhi Temple.

After leaving Bodhgaya, we went to Varanasi which was amazing. Varanasi is, from a western perspective, India in a nutshell: women in saris everywhere, rickshaws, the Ganges, chai stands. I know it sounds cheesy the way I describe it, but it was really quite amazing. We took a rowboat out on the Ganges at sundown. It was so interesting to see everyone bathing in the river. It was also really cool, although smelly, to see the cremation areas, called the ghats.There is only one ghat that actually still functions, although throughout history, all of the ghats were used to cremate Hindu bodies. After death, Hindus believe it is most desireable to be thrown into the Ganges, so a lot of older people go to Varanasi to literally wait until they die. It's kind of like a city of death, which is both creepy and interesting. When we were in Varanasi, there was also one sadhu with hair that was easily 15 ft long. A sadhu is a Hindu holy man who renounces everything in life and lives to die, basically. They wear yellow and gold, and meditate for a living. There are four stages to the Hindu life, the fourth one being that of a renouncer. This renouncer with the long hair was sitting on top of one of the ghats, and his dreads draped down all the way until the river.