October 29, 2003
Nepal used to be an acronym of the above title. Unfortunatelly, it only used to be. With the constant horning and every children`s`ten rupeeeeeee pleeeeese` and the present political situation it is not any more.
In the past few days I had quite a challenge to stand the constant nagging of the tourist-money-hungers and the `i'm not a guide, i just want to talk to you` kind of people. Even the sadhus (kind of pilgrims or saint people), who are supposed to be happy to recieve fodd when offered to them, are a nuisance nowadays. One of them asked me to take a photo and then he wanted a 100 Rupees and when I wanted to give only 20 he angrily hit my hand! (Of course, he pulled the money when I was going to walk away!) And it did not happen only once.
I visited Pashupatinath (a hindu pilgrimage site) where they charge 250 Rs for the entry. Only, surprise, surprise!, you cannot go into the temples, since you are not a Hindu yourself. There is one thing though, you can see. Cremation by the holy Bagmati River, which flows later in the Ganges.
I actually was very surprised to learn that Nepal has the second largest water reserve in the world, after Brazil, but since there is no ifrastructure whatsoever many Nepali haomes still have no running water, or hot water in their homes. In terms of living standerd just imagine this: you have no phone, no washing machine, no fridge (so thy keep the meet in the cupboard, too!), no toilet, no drinking water, no shower or bathroom or any kind of heating. And no place to put your garbage! Many people still live like this in Nepal, even in the cities. In spite of this, you cannot call the Nepalis poor because everybody has their own land and they can grow their vegetables and crops on it, so they do not depend on money. (And many has internet and video games at home.)
All the investments seems to be made by forign countries: Germany, Austria, Japan, UK, China and India built the few roads, swimming pools, and renovated some of the ancient pagodas. (One of the nicest example is in the world heritage site Patan Durbar square, where you can find a retreat from the dirt and noise, and where the pagodas have no plants and grass growing on their roofs!) I was asking myself the question: Why don`t the Nepali people do something about these? The answer could be manyfold but my possible explanation, which is based on observation, is the following: People here have no extra money to invest (except the Ghurka soldiers who invest in private hotels), they possibly do not care that much and they are very bad in terms of efficiency. (On many occasions I observed people doing something in an hour that could have been done in 5 minutes in Europe. Just one example: the barber I went to cut my hair was cutting with his rusty scissors 3 in the air and 1 in my hair. Why? I do not get it, sorry. - By the way, the massage afterwards nearly killed off all my senses on my head, so if all my hair falls out its his fault!)
I saw lovely clean houses in the mountain area. I got to know from a museum explanation that the Sharpas and some other ethnic groups are famous for their cleanliness in comparison with the others. Also, the people are trapped between 3 powers: the maoist, the king and the government, (which consist of high cast Chetris and Brahmins - I was told never to trust them after being cheated by one of the trekking agency whose boss was one of them. Althogh a free massage seems to be included offered by my guide). The latter cares just about everything that is connected with their private money growth and the present king is the one who possibly caused the massacre of his brothers` family (the previous king) a few years back. Well, I feel sorry for the Nepalis. I really do.
Some interesting facts:
This year is the Newari year 1024 and it is officially 2060 in Nepal.
There are about 64 castes in Nepal and 72 languages.
Newari pagodas are the antecendent of the Chinese and Japanese ones.
Sherpa people have only one names and no family names. Though their one name is a talking one, eg: Dorje = thunderbolt god.
I met a Sherpa woman who has 5 husbands and all are brothers. (There are two reasons for this: there are more man in the Tibet area and the brothers do not want to split their land.)
If tou want to get married in Mustang, traditionally you get your wife by elopment! (It is srongly discouraged nowadays, though it is such a remote area that Nepal still recognises the King of Mustang! and it is as expensive to visit as the Everest.)
Around 1700 the Malla king, who belong to the Newari ethnicity, founded the three cities: Kantipur (Kathmandu), Bhaktapur and Lalitpur (Patan today).
I visited the above three and I liked Patan the best, especially becouse it was just Newari New Year and since I stayed for the Tika giving Hindu celebration with a local friend and recieved a sacred thread, I was not bothered by the streetpeople too much. They must have thought I was kind of living here for long becouse one of them even asked me in Newari where I live. :) (Plus the museum I already mentioned.)
The ceremony of this festival consist of a painfully long process of buying certain kind of sweets, (that is very expensive but nobody eats them they taste so , how shall I say, not good) and fruits and cooking (water buffalo is allowed, only the cow is sacred) the typical festival food: Meat, some potato curry and dry beaten rice. Curd ( a specialty here) is also served, with a kind of painted egg beforhand and everything has a time and place. I mean the actual ceremony itself is is a long process after all these preparations. You need to make a mandala, put certain things in it, then lit certain threads, etc, etc, etc... (Sorry, it is too long to describe.)
In the evening I watched Tv and the old photos of my friend`s family from the 70s. It is so strange a feeling to look at these people wearing their traditional costumes and the kind of international hair style of that time. :) As for the Tv, if you can imagine something 10 times much worse than the Brazil series, you are not even close to the Nepali popular Tv series!
In Bhaktapur (where they charge the most for visiting the main square) I just missed the 3rd folk dance demontration show for the tourists. I arrived for the last dance and made an important discovery: all the mosquitos in town seemed to exist only for me. Noone else had so many bites as I did. In fact, they had none at all! What could I have possibly done to deserve this?
I aslo visited Bungamati (a typical Newar village), Boudonath (the largest Tibetan stupa) and iPokhara (the starting point of the most favoured treks and house to many Tibetan refugees). On the way to Pokhara I was talking to a very kind 35 year old Singapori bachelor whio has been living here in Nepal for 8 years now for most of each year. I stayed on top of the hill in Sarengkot for one night. Now, this was a very interesting night: The view was breathtaking with the sun setting across the Annapurnas and underneath my feat the lake and the many lights just like in Los Angeles the city. My room opened for a garden with a blooming banan tree and there were children singing folk songs and dancing (for money, of course.) Unfortunatelly, I could not enjoy this because my pulse was soaring a million and I was truly afraid that this fever I had is going to kill me. I was so unhappy that I wuill have to die alone. On a remote hill, without any medicine. :( But no worries, I survived. Only I had no voice for the next couple of days when this horrible thing (virus?) was moving downwards from my head till my chest. (It is rather cold here and the weather is constantly changing, so the locals have all sorts of similar problems themselves.)
I think it is enought to read for now. There is one last thing I have to do. I have a confession to make: I bought too many presents, (Among them is a tibetan singing bowl, strictly for health considerations, of course!:) so I do not know how I will look tomorrow, when trying to get on the plane to Thailand with a backpack the size of an elephant baby. :)
I hope every one of you is keeping warm and dressed properly for the winter! Don`t let those viruses catch you! I try my best from tomorrow, too, I promise. (Ok Ok don`t hate me too much. :))
Love to you all and take care:
tiglis
PS: Thank you for all those kind letters and comments!