Day of Sightseeing (afternoon)

So this one is going to be a bit more slim on the pictures. I spent much less time taking photos and a bit more time just sitting and enjoying the sites. My first stop was Pashupatinath Hindu temple on the outskirts of Kathmandu. I spent a few bucks for a taxi and got dropped off at the base of the temple where there were dozens of small stands selling Hindu items. There were much fewer people coming up to me and hawking whatever they were selling; it was quite refreshing. As I reached the end of the line, I heard someone yell my name. What? There are probably 20 people in the country that know my name. It turns out it was Syunil from the morning. He and his friend had come over here to visit and see the sights. We stopped to get out of the heat in a tea shop. Why we drank hot tea I'm not sure. It was great to have company to talk to. It turns out that they were my age, despite me thinking they were around 4 years younger than I, and they thinking I was about 4 years older than I was.

After paying a quite high entrance fee, I walked around the site. The temple is along a holy river for the Hindu religion as it flows into the Ganges. Along the river there were burning piles that people were tending to. It turns out they were open air cremations. After the fire had burned down, the ashes would be washed away into the river and eventually into the Ganges. There were many other small shrines as well as many others trying to make a dollar or two. I got a good view of the temple (but turned out to be a sub-par picture) from higher up.


I walked through the woods and found, just like in the morning, a gathering of many monkeys. Lots of baby monkeys with moms being very protective.


I then continued on my walk through the suburbs of Kathmandu to Boudhanath, one of the largest and oldest Buddhist stupas. It was very impressive to say the least. There were two levels with people walking clockwise around on both.





After some sightseeing, I went up to a restaurant with a rooftop terrace so I could watch the sun set over the stupa. As the night got darker, lights lit up the sides of the stupa.

Day of Sightseeing (morning)

Yesterday I took the day to go sightseeing. I woke up early in the morning and walked the few kilometers from my guest house in Thamel to Swayambhunath, a large Buddhist stupa known as the "Monkey Temple". Once I got to the site I walked up the long and steep eastern stairs.


I was greeted by many young men trying to sell me their wares. Tibetan singing bowls, prayer flags, and other Buddhist themed objects could be mine for "very cheap". I got up to the temple itself and paid the NR200 entry fee. The stupa was very impressive to say the least. I started off wandering around the stupa in a clockwise direction seeing the sights.


The entire stupa was surrounded by prayer wheels and in each cardinal direction a small shrine guarded by lions.


As I walked around for the second time I stepped back and realized there really weren't the monkey presence I was expecting. From stories from my father and reading guidebooks I figured the place would be crawling with them, but no sign of them. The stupa attracts all sorts of people. There were a few tourists like me (it was still early in the morning ~7am, so I think most tourists were still sleeping), men wearing motorbike helmets, Buddhist monks, and everything in between. I saw this woman offering prayers and flowers at a shrine.


It wasn't all grown-ups making their rounds around the stupa. There were plenty of children running around the complex. This girl was really enjoying the extra lift so she could reach the prayer wheels.


As I spent more time at the stupa, the monkeys started to come out in force. I think I just got there before they woke up. Locals would feed them with crackers and seeds. The seeds also were for the huge flock of pigeons. There were a few fights between birds and mammals over who owned the piles of seeds on the ground. Once a monkey got a hold of a cracker there was no getting it away from them.


I also had to get a stereotypical photo of a monkey with a banana looking out over Kathmandu. I just had to, sorry.


If I even walked near a mom with a baby, she would get quite standoffish, but not so much I couldn't get a few snaps in before they ran off.


I then finished up with my circumnavigations of the stupa, spinning the prayer wheels as I went.



Then I walked back down the stairs, with Buddha's eyes watching me as I walked back towards my guest house.


As I walked down, I met up with two Nepalese kids. One's name was Syunil. They were from Dharan, a 12-14 hour bus ride from Kathmandu. We parted ways at the bottom of the stairs as I went to go look at the giant prayer wheels.


Each was housed in its own little room with many drawings on the walls. As I walked out of the room I saw this little guy dressed in saffron robes coming in.


Between each huge prayer wheel there were many more small ones which wrapped most of the way around the stupa complex. Each one turned many times a day by those offering their prayers along the way.


I then walked the few kilometers back to my guest house - declining several rickshaw rides, two or three offers of hash, and about a dozen taxi drivers. I spent lunch planning my afternoon. I decided to go over to the Hindu temple of Pashupatinath and its neighbor the huge Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath.

I'm in Nepal!

So I've gotten to Kathmandu with only minor headaches stemming from my inability to tell dates apart. I was helped out quite a bit by a girl who sat next to me on my London to Delhi flight who was also going to Kathmandu. I got to Kathmandu and the Tibet Guest House sent a driver so I wouldn't have to get ripped off by the cab drivers. On the way into town we got a flat, which we luckily had a spare for. I got to my no-frills room with a shower, a few TV stations, and a fan. I did a lot of sleeping in the day because Nepal is a nice 10 hours and 45 minutes different from the east coast. After a few days I'm getting much better.

I guess I should start again where I left off in Boston.

After I finished posting, I got called up to the desk. "Oh great, I'm getting bumped" I thought, but to my surprised I got moved to an exit row window seat so they could seat a family together. Even better, when I got on the plane there were power plugs so I could waste my inter-continental flight watching bad American movies. I got a great view of the sunset on my way across the Atlantic.

Not too many hours later I looked out to see the sunrise.

I arrived in London for quite the shock. Apparently the main focus of international travel is to go shopping. I could by a $3500 camera, handles and handles of booze, or a diamond necklace all within a few feet. Instead of spending all of my money on things I really didn't need I grabbed a bench seat over in a far corner or the terminal and spent the vast majority of my 10 hours in the airport sleeping.

After I landed in Delhi, I navigated the bureaucracy of the Indian airport. All the while being looked over by soldiers with sub-machine guns. And now we're back to where I started. I've been spending my morning walking around Kathmandu, trying to get out of the touristy Thamel. I got quite lost this morning but after walking in a really really big circle I came back to somewhere I recognized and continued on my 45 minute walk up to the WWF. There are a few other interns at the WWF in Nepal, they are all doing policy writeups. I will be shipped off soon to Kathmandu University, which from what I can tell is not actually in Kathmandu. At KU I will be working on improved cooking stoves and how the work they've done there can be of help to the WWF.

I'll part with this shot I took last night from the top of the Tibet Guest House.

Silly Timezones and Dates

Whoops... Turns out that my ticket from Delhi to Kathmandu was booked a day early, not really a big deal as I was able to call Jet Airways (which took a bit of time to find a phone number) and get the flight changed for 800 Rupees total (<$20). But it was a minor panic moment when I couldn't get let onto the plane until I had that straightened out. But I have a ticket all the way to Kathmandu – my bag is checked all the way through and I have a seat on each leg of my flight. My backpack weighed a total of 25 lbs. My carry on was about 20 lbs, about 8 lbs of that is snacks. Not bad for 3 months.

Lately I have been having trouble connecting to the internet on my computer. It eventually goes but it's like my computer has to have a couple dates (connections and disconnections) before it's willing to go all the way and give me e-mail access. Not sure if that's a problem with Linux, the fact I have a $250 computer, or, most likely, a combination of both. If any Linux users have any ideas, let me know.

Big thank you to Greg and Alice for letting me crash on their floor and hang out for the past two days.

Last thing is a funny quote from the TSA agent checking ID's. As some of you know, my passport photo is of me with a very large beard that I grew for the second half of senior year of high school. After looking at me and the passport: “Don't need that mountain-man beard anymore now that you're out of Alaska?”

Okay well it was more funny in context...

Step 1

Well I made it out of Hanover. I didn't get far though. I am currently staying with Alice and Greg in their apartment near Central Square in Cambridge. I first packed up all my belongs into my truck and parked myself in behind the Ledyard Canoe Club.

Well I almost fit everything in there. I forgot that my guitar was sitting down in the Ledyard Clubhouse. Since I didn't want to store that in my truck for 3 months anyway I gave it to Prof. Simon Shepherd from Thayer to guitar sit for the time I'm in Nepal. He has been playing an electric guitar for some time now, but I figured a few months on a acoustic might be a nice change.

I took the Dartmouth Coach down to Boston with all my things, but leaving was not an easy task. In the packing process my wallet had fallen into a box that then got put in my truck. I couldn't find my wallet anywhere when I woke up and ran around to various places trying to find it. With about 10 minutes until the 9am bus was leaving for Boston I finally found it and Parker rushed me up to the bus stop. Not exactly a confidence inspiring departure. But nonetheless I left and showed up in Boston to fun some final errands and see some people for the last time.

Alice, Greg, and I had a fancy real person dinner. Greg just got health insurance, Alice just registered her car in Mass and got a Mass drivers license. It's like they are actual adults or something. I made breaded chicken stuffed with cheese (though must of the cheese oozed out in the oven) and Alice made a great roasted veggie salad. Then Greg and I went down to a local pizza place/sports bar to watch the All-Star game (baseball fyi). Greg, as a Yankees fan, realized it would be quite easy to get into a bar fight there if he wanted to - luckily he kept quiet when the Bostonians were making fun of Derek Jeter.

Earlier in the day I ran around Boston doing errands: mailing things, getting a water filter, buying new running shoes since mine somehow apparated in my move (yes the last Harry Potter movie is coming out soon and no, I probably won't be able to see it in Nepal).

Overall a great day! Only a day and a half left in the USA!

Shots! and preparations

After a 28 day wait I am finally about to get my second Japanese Encephalitis shot at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. I picked up my 2 weeks worth of Malarone for a trip into the Terai region (the only part of Nepal with a malarial risk). So I should be all set medication wise.

Everything is coming into place for the trip. I have a nice short packing list, consisting mostly of clothes and electronics. I have a new Toshiba netbook that I installed a copy of Linux (ubuntu 11.07) so I won't have to worry about connecting to sketchy wireless connections. With Linux I don't have an antivirus software running as I would with Windows. Let's be honest, the guys writing all those viruses are probably running Linux and they wouldn't want to inadvertently infect their own kind. I will also be taking my DSLR camera so I'll have a few pictures to post up here, on my Picasa page, and/or facebook.

Preparations have also included finding a place to stay for my first few weeks in Kathmandu. Since I don't really know my situation I figured getting a place to stay for the first two weeks would be good until I can hammer out any kinks in my three month stint there. At my father's suggestion I am staying at the Tibet Guest House in the Thamel region of Kathmandu. It was where he stayed when he was leading treks in Nepal and is in fact where my parents first met. I can get a room with cable TV, internet in the lobby, and a hot shower for around $10 a night. While it is probably not the cheapest place in Kathmandu, it's pretty close. Once I get there I might get a hot plate and a electric kettle so I can make some of my own food, but that can all be figured out once I get there.

New Destination, New Blog

Now that my time at Dartmouth is coming to a close (well it already came to a close, but I'm still in Hanover... funny how that works), I look towards my next adventure. In my time since gradu-macation in mid-June I took a semi-spontaneous road trip to Colorado (you can read the on-road tweets on Twitter), rafted the North Platte River at record high levels, and came back to Hanover to relax with friends for a bit before jetting off halfway around the world.

I've been spending most of my time in Hanover dealing with everything from camera gear to typhoid medication to insurance companies to plane tickets. Mostly serious stuff. But nothing has compared to the serious nature of today's queries. I am trying to figure out my coffee situation in Nepal. While I will either be staying in a guest house with minimal facilities (hey I'm trying to go cheap), I'll still need to find a way to get good coffee. Right now the leading contenders are a french press in a big plastic mug and a manual grinder.

Like I said, serious matter. A Big Ski Bistro french press and travel/camping mug and a collapsible Hario Mini coffee mill. Wish me luck!