So Far in Nepal...

It's been 17 days here in Nepal so far and my photo collection has grown substantially. Don't worry, no photos from Dashain but here are some of my favourites from the past few weeks:

Our house... Nic and I are staying in a four-floor, updated group guest house with 10 other volunteers. It's pretty fun so far but there's only 1 other guy - hmmm...

Here is a view from the Monkey Temple, one of the highest landmarks in the city. The shot is part of Kathmandu, a much larger city then first anticipated!

The monkeys at the Temple are fierce - loud, in-your-face and love to steal shiny things. I saw a woman get her water bottle taken right from her hand when she wasn't paying attention and the monkey simply sauntered off chirping away...! When Nic and I run up here it's tough to watch everything that goes on around you since there's just so many of them. Hopefully they don't jump out of a tree and latch onto one of our backs for a ride!

So this is a local butcher shop. It's not dirty, it's FILTHY! They simply chop things up right on the street corners then put them into plastic bags and sell away. You can now see why I will ask many more questions as to where and how my meat has been prepared.

Only a few more... So I'm guessing the city was built for those no taller than 5'8. I'm a mere 6' even and walking through some of the alleyways and doorways the need to duck and cover comes into play. This was a shot of one of the very old buildings and I'm not joking when I say I'm almost a story tall! My head almost reaches the second floor window! Pretty cool being a giant out here... Dave... There's no way you would ever survive being 6'7 !!

SO after finally waiting as long as I possibly could for a haircut, I bit the bullet and paid a whole $1.25 CDN for a new doo. There was a big debate with which razor to use, either a #1 or a #5, and I finally said "just do what you want... it's just a haircut!"

After a few knocks to the noggin, a scary shave of the neck and some serious pulling of the scalp, this was my new doo... I am now wearing a hat!

Well, that's it from Nepal for now. Orientation starst today and we're heading out for an afternoon on the town.

Dashain - Nepal's main festival

I've never considered myself to be particularly interested in watching animal sacrifices but since I am here in Nepal and the festival going on this week embraces them, I thought I'd grin and bare it to see what the stir was all about.

During the month of Kartik in the Bikram Sambat calendar (late September and early October), the Nepalese people indulge in the biggest festival of the year, Dashain. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the country. The fifteen days of celebration occurs during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of the full moon. Throughtout the kingdom of Nepal the goddess Durga in all her manifestations are worshiped with innumerable pujas, abundant offerings and thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual holy bathing, thus drenching the goddess for days in blood.

Today I witnessed two water buffalo get sacrificed by having their heads taken off in one fell swoop from an ancient sword by a man decorated in Nepalese clothing. A very disturbing scene (no details required) and I can honestly say that this will be a once in a life time occurrence as I felt my stomach get VERY queasy! None-the-less, I did it, I saw their ritual and have witnessed a new culture's way of celebrating freedom and life.

One thing is for sure from this point on however... I want to know where and how my meat gets prepared before I sink my teeth into it. There is a very good chance now that I will ask more of these questions and will probably need to pay more for a higher quality cut!

Nepal - Week # 1

I left off from my last blog telling you that I was going on a rafting trip outside of the Kathmandu Valley. This turned out to be no regular trip...
The launch point for rafting is located about 110km's from the city of Thamel, Kathmandu's main area for people. The river we went down was called the Trishule and it's host to class 3+ rapids with some 4+'s along the way. After a few S-bends, steamrollers and large rocks known as Upsets (flipping your boat is a 50/50 chance) we finshed the first day off with a wicked car ride back to camp. We rode in an old Isuzu pickup truck with all our gear, 13 people and some wobbly back tires a whole 18km's back to where we were staying for the night along the highway at a local village. My buddy and I had to sit on the roof of the truck as there were no seats inside the cab or in the bed of the truck, just on the steel cage welded to the box. The kid sitting next to us brought out his MP3 cell phone and started playing some James Blunt then some Bryan Adams and we began belting out the lyrics as we sped down the highway!

Speaking of the highway, this isn't like hwy 1 in Vancouver, nor is this like a fire access road up to Cypress Mountain - imagine the road to be similar to the old Sea-to-Sky highway but sharper corners, potholes the size of storm drains and nothing but dirt, all the while being no less than a 500 foot sheer drop if you fall off the edge! So with the music we tried to put that out of our minds and be at ease...

The family we stayed with cooked dinner and breakfast for the 3 of us as well, made up out tents beside the river for the night. A few bottles of beers later and off to bed. Day 2 of rafting took us down the same river but since it rained the night before, the water was heavier and faster! Each section we hit the day before was twice as big today making for a really fun ride. After the raft, we were about 125km's from Kathmandu and needed to get back to the city to the hostel. Back onto the sketchy road and off for another adventure.

As the busses in Nepal are hop on hop off, we waited on the side of the highway for one that could fit the three of us, out guides and their gear. About 30 minutes later we got one and were on our way. Fast forwarding to the people on the bus and the drive itself... If a 10/10 for scariest driving experiences meant that you crashed and were dead, this bus ride was about a 9.5/10 ! In this country their roads are like raceways - very little rules and a horn honking system that lets the car/truck in front of you know that you're passing. The bus that we were in (and all cars for that matter) pass at every possible chance they get. Up hill, on blind corners, on the tail of another truck trying to pass already, nothing stops these drivers. There were many times we had to slam on the brakes because we were about to have a head on collision or were about to take a corner too fast and go straight through the barrier, but luckily we didn't and I'm home in one peice.

So besides that driving, a drunk teenager picking as many fights as possible with those on our bus, a woman that seriously was on the verge of death and indian music that was being played at the stereo's loudest setting, the ride was one to remember to say the least.

This week my friends Ryan and Shauna have started their placement at their volunteer centre so I have the week off to explore local hikes and check out what Nepal has to offer. I've checked into my guest house where Nicole and I will be staying for the next 2 months and so far it seems like a 5 star hotel compared to what I've been living in the past 2 weeks.

Before I forget, I just wanted to throw in a tid bit about a local bar in Thamel called the "Rumdoodle." It's famous for climbers to plan out their expedition when choosing to summit Everest and has been around since the Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay summited in 1953. Inside the bar is a picture, framed for longevity, with signatures of all those who have summitted the highest peak in the world. It was kind of cool seeing this as that's a part of climbing history, something that very few people get to see first hand.... That's all !