This is going to be a short post although it deserves to be long considering how much I loved the country. I was not planning on visiting Nepal but my good friend Nicole Meyers had time to travel South/Southeast Asia so we decided to meet here for a week. My one week plan turned into two weeks when I discovered that I needed to stay in Nepal longer in order to get my Indian passport. This ended up being a blessing in disguise because I wish I stayed even longer.
My one week with Nicole was so much fun. We had the exact same attitude about the trip which allowed us to immerse ourselves into the culture rather than just stick on the tourist trail. The highlights to me were the festivals. There is a joke that Nepal has more festivals than they do days in a year. We were lucky enough to be there for two exciting festivals. The first one was in a village called Bhaktapur where both Hindus and Buddhists were celebrating the "5 Buddhas." There was a parade of people with 5 people dressed up in large Buddha costumes and villagers throwing rice and donating other treats. A few older women were so excited to see us participate that they had us sit with them and watch the procession go by.
The second festival was throughout all of Nepal and was called the "Women's festival". This involved women dancing throughout the streets, fasting and going to the temple to pray for their husbands and sons (ironic). We were in a village called Bandipur during one day of this festival and were lucky enough to be invited to one of the next door village's night ceremony. The young girls dancing grabbed our hands and invited us to dance with them which was so much fun. A few days later in Kathmandu we went to the most sacred Hindu temple called Pashupatinath and watched thousands of women line up in beautiful red Saris to pray for their men.
Nicole and I did so many more things in that one week but I am behind on my blog posts and have limited amount of wifi so I will have to finish writing more about it later.
My second week in Nepal by myself was also amazing. I had to spend a few days applying for my visa to India but I was able to do a 3 day hike around Kathmandu valley to a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery called Namo Buddha where I stayed for two nights. The hike was just myself and a guide that I hired who I got along with really well. The only downside to the hike was that all of the "view points" were completely cloudy so I could not see any of the Himalayan Mountain ranges. My time at Namo Buddha was peaceful and wonderful. The temple was quite modern but it was on a hill where you can get 360 degree view. I was also able to eat all of my meals with the monks. The highlight for me was on the second to last morning when I woke up for sunrise and was able to see a clear view of the Himilayan Mountains. It was a magical moment and a perfect ending to my time in Nepal.
I think out of all of the countries I've visited on this trip Nepal is the one that I have the strongest desire to go back to. I met so many people who were doing long treks to either the Everest base camp or the Annapurna range and I've decided that doing one of these treks is now on my bucket list. Additionally, I think that Nepal was the perfect transition into India. There are many cultural similarities to India along with many Indians living there, but the people are calmer and everything is less intense.
My one week with Nicole was so much fun. We had the exact same attitude about the trip which allowed us to immerse ourselves into the culture rather than just stick on the tourist trail. The highlights to me were the festivals. There is a joke that Nepal has more festivals than they do days in a year. We were lucky enough to be there for two exciting festivals. The first one was in a village called Bhaktapur where both Hindus and Buddhists were celebrating the "5 Buddhas." There was a parade of people with 5 people dressed up in large Buddha costumes and villagers throwing rice and donating other treats. A few older women were so excited to see us participate that they had us sit with them and watch the procession go by.
The second festival was throughout all of Nepal and was called the "Women's festival". This involved women dancing throughout the streets, fasting and going to the temple to pray for their husbands and sons (ironic). We were in a village called Bandipur during one day of this festival and were lucky enough to be invited to one of the next door village's night ceremony. The young girls dancing grabbed our hands and invited us to dance with them which was so much fun. A few days later in Kathmandu we went to the most sacred Hindu temple called Pashupatinath and watched thousands of women line up in beautiful red Saris to pray for their men.
Nicole and I did so many more things in that one week but I am behind on my blog posts and have limited amount of wifi so I will have to finish writing more about it later.
My second week in Nepal by myself was also amazing. I had to spend a few days applying for my visa to India but I was able to do a 3 day hike around Kathmandu valley to a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery called Namo Buddha where I stayed for two nights. The hike was just myself and a guide that I hired who I got along with really well. The only downside to the hike was that all of the "view points" were completely cloudy so I could not see any of the Himalayan Mountain ranges. My time at Namo Buddha was peaceful and wonderful. The temple was quite modern but it was on a hill where you can get 360 degree view. I was also able to eat all of my meals with the monks. The highlight for me was on the second to last morning when I woke up for sunrise and was able to see a clear view of the Himilayan Mountains. It was a magical moment and a perfect ending to my time in Nepal.
I think out of all of the countries I've visited on this trip Nepal is the one that I have the strongest desire to go back to. I met so many people who were doing long treks to either the Everest base camp or the Annapurna range and I've decided that doing one of these treks is now on my bucket list. Additionally, I think that Nepal was the perfect transition into India. There are many cultural similarities to India along with many Indians living there, but the people are calmer and everything is less intense.
No comments:
Post a Comment