Burning Ghats and Buddhist Monks

There's a national strike today throughout Nepal, meaning no taxis and no buses running. I'm not sure of the Maoists' political reasons for doing this, but it is a monumental time in history to be in Nepal. The communists elected to power in the first democracy the monarchial nation has known in history, the king moving out of the royal palace and the insurgents moving into the parliment, etc. (I must say I'm pretty ignorant about the whole political situation really.)

Today I really wanted to get out to Bodnath, the Tibetan Buddhist community area outside of Kathmandu City, butwith no buses or taxis I was at a loss of how to get there.

Then inspiration, well actually just dumb common sense struck. Why not rent bicycles? With all the roads empty and the sun shining it made perfect sense! Take advantage of the inconvience rather than fight against it. (Reminded me of something both my Dad and Joey would have thought of (much faster than me) and done.)

So Zak, Emily and I rented some funky mountain bikes and sped out of the city! So exhilirating to be back on a bicycle after months and months. (i think last time i was on a bike was with my Dad in south India in January!!!! YIkes!)
Swerving through the minimal traffic, we headed to Pashupati, probably the holiest Hindu temple sites in all of Nepal. Monkeys lept from one moss covered, stone temple to the next. Walking down to the river we watched a full-on cremation ceremony at the burning ghats. I have not been to Varanasi or other burning ghats in India, so this was my first experience of seeing a body being placed on the pyre. Ghee (butter) is poured onto the body and into the mouth, where it is lit on fire. When a father dies, the oldest son performs the rites; when a mother dies, the youngest son attends the fire. Females don't have much of a part in the tradition. After the body is completely burned to ashes, the ashes are swept off the raised stone platform straight into the river, to be carried to downstream, eventually reaching the Ganges and finally the ocean. Family members who participated in the ceremony shave their heads, strip down and wash themselves in the river afterwards. It was a sombre, culturally fascinating and smoky experience.

After Pushupati Zak and Emily took off for another area of Kathmandu, Patan, while I rode towards Bodnath, which they had visited yesterday. Entering the Bodnath center, I was awed by the enormous white and gold stupa with blue peace-eyes staring down at me and prayer flags radiating in all directions. Spending some time in a cafe/bookshop while it rained outside, i stepped back out into the patchy sunshine a couple hours later to find the entire community of Bodnath circling the stupa, prayer beads in hand and spinning the prayer wheels that line the base of the stupa as they walked in a clockwise direction. I joined the masses, spinning the wheels, trying to keep up with the monks in their maroon and gold robes and the little old Tibetan ladies in their striped aprons.

Sitting to the side momentarily I snapped photos as causually and unobtrusively as I could as the crowd walked by. Looking away as my finger pressed the button resulted in some missed photos as well as some surprisingly capturing ones. Contentedly I watched, participated when I felt inclined, and enjoyed being surrounded by Tibetans since I won't have the opportunity to visit their troubled country while I am on this side of the world and comparitively so close.

What a full day of both Hinduism and Buddhism I thought, smiling, as I rode back into Kathmandu, passing motorcycles and swerving cycle rickshaws.

Kathmandu

dusty antique shops full of silver and turquoise
holy men in orange robes who pose for photos
monkeys leaping from temple pinnacles
painted eyes staring down peacefully from buildings
bakeries that are half off after 10 pm
tight, twisting cobblestone streets
incense wafts and streaming prayer flags
unexpected open courtyards with small neighborhood temples providing solace
cycle rickshaws and samosa sellers just like India except not quite so insistent
little girls who attatch to you with questions of who you are leading to requests for sweets
conversations with young bookshop sellers about their villages and how Nepal is changing
haggles with crafty women selling crafts
pigeons scattering as children run with arms flapping, sending wings flapping
pomegranites bleed sweetness while mangoes melt in the mouth

what's real? what's fake? what's new? what's old? what's nepali? what's imported?
whether it's goods or temples or foods or culture or fashion... sorting through all of it is delightful chaos- stimulating and exhausting. Still, there is the space and time to connect with people and hear there story- something that seemed impossibly daunting in the madness of Delhi.

Kathmandu- what will I discover in you tomorrow?

(Kirstin is having incredible experiences on the navdanya farm in dehradun, India. Emily and her boyfriend Zak are here in Kathmandu with me, but we lost eachother earlier today at the "monkey temple". Laura, our german friend has arrived in Kathmandu just today, i heard from her hippied-out 50 something year old friend Robert who i met in a jewerly shop randomly- i'll try to meet up with all of them tonight. Adventures, adventures!)

15 Days of Wonder

Kirstin, Emily and I finished the Annapurna Circuit!!! We really did it! it took us 15 days to complete our trek in the Himalayas and it was awesome! I'll have to get back to you about the exact mileage, but I know it was over 250 kilometers or 150 miles. We hiked everyday, with only one half-day rest. We kept quite strong and I was awed afterwards that non of us got ill or injured, only minor blisters really! The landscape made us speechless - both from awe and elevation gain! we went from tropical lowlands with waterfalls to high desert plateaus, to mountain passes all admist colorful tibetan prayer flags and spinning prayer wheels. Incredible! We reached Thorung La Pass, the highest point on the trek (at 5417 meters, or 17,772 feet by far the highest I've ever been) one morning at 10, snowflakes started to fall as we snapped pictures and built our own rock cairn from which to string our little line of prayer flags. We passed mule trains carrying loads of rice and squawking chickens. An adorable little Nepali boy grabbed my leg in a hug as i walked by. We were asked for countless times for "schoolpensweetsphoto". Said Namaste to porters lugging incredible loads up the mountain passes. Got blisters and got lost. Ate way too many Snickers bars (which are available along the entire trek at increasing prices the further into the mountains we were). Tried Yak Butter tea which is filling, warm, buttery and salty and is much better to regard as broth than as a sweet tea. Met up with other individual trekkers, Laura from Germany, Riki from Pennsylvania, Sam from Australia along the way to make a great team of 6. Together we made it past sketchy landslide areas to reach Tilicho Lake- the highest lake in the world- where we skinny dipped in crystal blue glacial runoff in and quickly redonned all of our winter clothing. During another section of our trek a friendly black dog followed us for the whole day. We named him Bhagaaya for "luck" in Nepali, since the late Tensing Norgay, one of the first to climb Everest, considered it good luck to be followed by a black dog in the mountains. We got attacked by leeches on the last day only of the trek- i looked down while we were in the tropical forest to see blood seeping through my pants at the knee- pulled up my pants to find the leech, but he was already gone. Kirstin went shreaking out into the rain when she found one on her shoe. We all sighed in appreciation when we reached guest houses at the end of long days and ordered Dal Bhat (typical Nepali meal of rice, lentil dal and potato vegetable dish). the best part about Dal Bhat is that your host keeps re-filling your plate! We experienced so many different ecosystems, local communities, and amazing views that it's impossible to record them all here. But I have kept a detailed journal of all the days and can tell you many more stories when I see you in person, which hopefully will be soon!

I fly back to Colorado next week, arriving on the 26th of June.
Will be in Colorado, Santa Barbara, Indiana, and probably some other places too this summer before school starts at the beginning of September.
For the next week I will travel with Emily, her boyfriend Zak and Laura from Germany to one or two places in Nepal before I fly out of Kathmandu (not sure exactly where we'll go yet).

It has been wonderful for me to be able to communicate through this Blog to everyone back home about what i've been up to for the past 5 months. I am thankful for all of you faithful readers who made it worth it! Even if you just checked the blog a few times when you had a chance I really appreciate you making the effort and for your replies and unspoken thoughts and best wishes! I could feel them from across the globe. A strong consciousness of love and strength supporting me even from so far away.

I will post more pictures when I get back to the States!
And perhaps a story of the coming week.