I'm writing this sitting in the sunshine on the roof of the house, looking over the valley and the mountains behind it. They're incredibly clear in the morning, and tend to cloud over as the day progresses. Right now you can acually see the clouds forming and moving across them. It's like one of those videos where clouds are recorded for hours and then the movements sped up into a few seconds, but a bit slower and in real time. It really makes you think about just how windy it must be at the peak.
I don't think I've described where I am relative to the Himalayas, so I'll do it now. From the roof, looking straight across to Gorkha, you can see Manaslu behind and a little to the left. Imagaining that as north on a compass, the Annapurnas are at about Northwest. They're not visible as often as Manaslu, but we've been getting fantastic views of them in the morning for the past few days. It's mid-afternoon now, so they're entirely obscured by cloud. There's only clouds over the mountains though, otherwise its a cloudless sky, and an unbelievably gorgeous day.
Since the events with the missing stuff last Sunday the week has been quiet. Guarav came on Monday, and brought some things from Kathmandu that we had asked for. I now have maple syrup in my porridge (its the only way I can make at palatable!) and on my french toast (to the amusement of Caitlin, Kirsten and Amy, apparently you don't do that in the UK), and am ready for pancake Tuesday, because of course you can't have pancakes without maple syrup. (its not real, the bottle says 2% real maple syrup, but its a lot better than most of the other fake kinds at home) I was going to make Nanaimo bars, because you can get fresh coconut here, but Guarav couldn't find icing sugar, so thats on the back-burner for now.
Since my school's Golden Jubilee was held this past weekend, everything pretty much stopped during the week to get ready for it. There have been no lessons since Monday - for Caitlin and I this meant making the English language teaching materials (aka posters) to be part of the teaching exhibition. So essentially, we went to school to draw and colour all day - quite nice!
It has been getting very foggy in the mornings, and lasting long into the afternoons, a sure sign its going to rain, and sure enough, on Tuesday the heavens opened. I brought 2 thermos flasks with me from home, so from Tuesday Caitlin and I have been taking tea to school, inspired by the cold and wet of that day.
Because there were no classes going on, the staff room was full of people all week, making it difficult to find places with tables to make our posters. We ended up staying at school until about 12:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday, and working from home the rest of the time, where it was warm and dry. Much nicer.
And then, at last, after weeks and weeks of hearing about nothing else, the Jubilee finally arrived, and was held Thursday through Saturday, but its going to have its own post, next time I'm online.
The upside of Tuesday's rain has been beautifully clear weather since then. I mentioned the Annapurnas above, we've only really been able to see them from this week, before that it was just a mass of cloud all the time, with a little bit of mountain poking through. Now, however, we get the benefit of the full range in sharp, clear detail. Several times a day I tend to take a step back and marvel that this really is the background to where I'm living, its been a month but it still never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it is!
Although today is Sunday (and I'm typing this into the computer on Monday) because the Jubilee ran over Saturday we had Sunday off, and Monday is a holiday. Amy and Kirsten ended up having Sunday off as well, and we've spent the day relaxing and reading on the roof with a pot of tea and the view. A very relaxing way to spend the day.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Manakamana - Saturday February 6, 2010
Today Caitlin, Kirsten, Amy and I ventured further afield than we've been since coming to Laxmi Bazaar. We went to Manakamana, a famous temple at the top of a mountain. It is one of the most important temples in this part of Nepal, and is believed that the goddess Bhagwati, an incarnation of Parvati, has the power to grant wishes made there. It is somewhere that most Hindus was to visit at least once in their lives, apparently particularly newlyweds wishing for a son!
The day started slowly due to the water and money issues I talked about in the previous post, so we didn't end up leaving the house until about 10, a full hour and a half after we had planned. Luckily we caught the bus quickly, and had an uneventful trip down to Abu Khaireni, the junction town where the road to Gorkha meets the main highway. From there we caught another bus that dropped us off at the bottom of the mountain where Manakamana is. (when I say mountain, I really mean big hill compared to the Himalayas).
To get up to the town of Manakamana, where the temple is, it is either a 5-hour hike or a 10-minute trip by cable car (gondola at home). Given that it was already 11:30, we opted for the cable-car, as we needed to get home that same day in order to go to school on Sunday. As Saturday is the only full day off here, the place was packed, and the line at the bottom was LONG! We waited 3.5 hours before finally getting on the cable-car. Thankfully we brought a packed lunch with us, although the site of the four of us munching away on egg-salad sandwiches (something I'm going to re-consider liking when I get home, although that will probably go along the lines of peanut butter soup) was endlessly amusing to the Nepalis all around us. In Nepal most people eat two meals of dal bhat and curry per day, in the morning and evening. Therefore it was not only what we were eating, sandwiches not being common here, but the very fact that we were eating in the middle of the day that was amusing. At least we feel we provided some entertainment during the long wait - one person actually took a picture of us eating!
It was a relief to finally get onto the cable-car. I was the only one from the four of us who had been on one before, so it was amusing to see everyone's faces when it started moving, and swayed a little. I was more pre-occupied with how nice they are to ride without skis in the way of the view and only 6 people inside! Its Austrian-built and exactly like the gondolas on ski hills, just without the bracket on the outside to hold skis. It was definitely the first time on one for the Nepali woman sitting next to me, who had a death grip on my arm the entire time!
After such a long wait, the 10 mins up the mountain flew by, and we were finally there. It is clear that visitors to the temple are the main trade in Manakamana. The road from the top of the cable-car to the temple itself is lined with stalls selling necklaces, bracelets, snacks, photos, cheap toys and everything else you can think of. There are also countless hotels and guest houses for whoever wants to stay overnight (what I would suggest doing if anyone reading this ever goes, that way you will have much more time there, instead of spending so much time in lines).
The temple itself is the typical small square building (roughly 15'x15') with a 2-tier sloping roof. It is situated in a large square, which also has 2 places for small fires (fire is sacred in Hinduism) and 2 rows of priests giving tikas. The temples is surrounded by bells, which are rung after saying a prayer to send that prayer to the gods. It is forbidden to wear leather in the temple, so there was also a building along the outside of the square dedicated to holding shoes while people go inside to pray.
I mentioned earlier that people go to Manakamana to make wishes. In order to do so you must sacrifice an animal, usually a chicken or a goat. There are even 2 special cars on the gondola for the animals to be taken up, and carcasses brought down. While we were waiting in line we saw countless goats and chickens being taken up, and many bloody bags with legs sticking out coming back down. Hopefully lots of people's wishes came true!
By the time we actually got to the town it was almost 3:30, and there was another long line to get inside, so instead we wandered around the town a little more (it gets dark around 6, and we wanted to be on the bus from Abu Khaireni back towards Gorkha by then) before heading back down the mountain.
Getting a bus home took a while, and by the time we walked in the door it was almost 8. It was a long day, but tons of fun. It was especially nice to really get away from home and go somewhere. We felt like tourists again!
The day started slowly due to the water and money issues I talked about in the previous post, so we didn't end up leaving the house until about 10, a full hour and a half after we had planned. Luckily we caught the bus quickly, and had an uneventful trip down to Abu Khaireni, the junction town where the road to Gorkha meets the main highway. From there we caught another bus that dropped us off at the bottom of the mountain where Manakamana is. (when I say mountain, I really mean big hill compared to the Himalayas).
To get up to the town of Manakamana, where the temple is, it is either a 5-hour hike or a 10-minute trip by cable car (gondola at home). Given that it was already 11:30, we opted for the cable-car, as we needed to get home that same day in order to go to school on Sunday. As Saturday is the only full day off here, the place was packed, and the line at the bottom was LONG! We waited 3.5 hours before finally getting on the cable-car. Thankfully we brought a packed lunch with us, although the site of the four of us munching away on egg-salad sandwiches (something I'm going to re-consider liking when I get home, although that will probably go along the lines of peanut butter soup) was endlessly amusing to the Nepalis all around us. In Nepal most people eat two meals of dal bhat and curry per day, in the morning and evening. Therefore it was not only what we were eating, sandwiches not being common here, but the very fact that we were eating in the middle of the day that was amusing. At least we feel we provided some entertainment during the long wait - one person actually took a picture of us eating!
It was a relief to finally get onto the cable-car. I was the only one from the four of us who had been on one before, so it was amusing to see everyone's faces when it started moving, and swayed a little. I was more pre-occupied with how nice they are to ride without skis in the way of the view and only 6 people inside! Its Austrian-built and exactly like the gondolas on ski hills, just without the bracket on the outside to hold skis. It was definitely the first time on one for the Nepali woman sitting next to me, who had a death grip on my arm the entire time!
After such a long wait, the 10 mins up the mountain flew by, and we were finally there. It is clear that visitors to the temple are the main trade in Manakamana. The road from the top of the cable-car to the temple itself is lined with stalls selling necklaces, bracelets, snacks, photos, cheap toys and everything else you can think of. There are also countless hotels and guest houses for whoever wants to stay overnight (what I would suggest doing if anyone reading this ever goes, that way you will have much more time there, instead of spending so much time in lines).
The temple itself is the typical small square building (roughly 15'x15') with a 2-tier sloping roof. It is situated in a large square, which also has 2 places for small fires (fire is sacred in Hinduism) and 2 rows of priests giving tikas. The temples is surrounded by bells, which are rung after saying a prayer to send that prayer to the gods. It is forbidden to wear leather in the temple, so there was also a building along the outside of the square dedicated to holding shoes while people go inside to pray.
I mentioned earlier that people go to Manakamana to make wishes. In order to do so you must sacrifice an animal, usually a chicken or a goat. There are even 2 special cars on the gondola for the animals to be taken up, and carcasses brought down. While we were waiting in line we saw countless goats and chickens being taken up, and many bloody bags with legs sticking out coming back down. Hopefully lots of people's wishes came true!
By the time we actually got to the town it was almost 3:30, and there was another long line to get inside, so instead we wandered around the town a little more (it gets dark around 6, and we wanted to be on the bus from Abu Khaireni back towards Gorkha by then) before heading back down the mountain.
Getting a bus home took a while, and by the time we walked in the door it was almost 8. It was a long day, but tons of fun. It was especially nice to really get away from home and go somewhere. We felt like tourists again!
Life over the past 2 weeks, Part 1
The past two weeks have just flown by! The first was definitely interesting - there was lots of house drama, thankfully all caused by outside people though. I lasted posted here on Saturday January 30th. That afternoon the four of us returned to Laxmi from Gorkha to find about 30 people up on our roof, all watching the laying of the cement roof for the house next door, and just generally hanging around. It was something of a surprise to find them there, as it had not previously been possible to get onto our roof except through the house. We've gotten used to people peering through our windows, but still not quite yet to the fact that people can just show up on our roof; it certainly makes it all the more important to remember to lock the upstairs door! Since then there's only been people up there while the builders are there, and only 4-5 at most at a time.
School progressed much as it did the week before, with lessons in the morning and Jubilee prep in the afternoons. On Thursday night Caitlin and I visited some more of our students, this time 2 sisters in Class 8 named Rama and Sapana. Their house is quite a bit larger than Rupa's; it has 3 rooms, all cement plastered, with a fourth room that is really more of a patio, as it has only 3 walls. Their father is in the Indian Air Force, so it was just the girls, their mother and their sister and her baby at home. Their mother doesn't speak any English, but is very good at communicating through gestures, so that was how we conversed.
The house is down the road south from Biren Chowk, a part of the road we had previously only driven along. In the evening we walked down ever farther, visited a temple to the goddess Shiva, and took in some views of the river valley along with the sunset. Then it was back to the house for dinner - dal bhat and curry of course! As at Rupa's it tasted fantastic, and we were given so much we could hardly move afterwards. It was the same again for breakfast; if there are typical sizes (Rama and Sapana ate only slightly less), I can well understand how Nepalis eat only twice per day.
Friday and Saturday held the bulk of the house drama for the week. The water for the house comes from a 500L tub on the roof, which we refill periodically using a hose that has been strung up from the ground. The water only runs in the mornings, so every week or so we make sure its full. We filled it on Wednesday morning, and by Friday evening it was empty. We figure the construction workers next door used it to cover the roof, as concrete here needs to be kept constantly wet for several days after it is laid (I have no idea why). This was extremely frustrating, as we couldn't wash the dinner dishes, make tea, flush the toilet or generally do anything involving water, including have a drink. Added to that, we then had to spend part of Saturday morning filling the tank before making breakfast.
The water, however frustrating it was though, was nothing compared to what we figured out on Sunday morning. On Saturday morning we got up to go to Manakamana (see related post), and in the midst of cooking breakfast, realized we had run out of bread. This prompted a search for the wallet containing the house money, in order to go down to the shop to get some more, which proved fruitless. After quickly turning the house upside down (we were trying to get out at a decent time to get to Manakamana) we gave up and just went for the bread, and then headed out for the day.
On Sunday morning we noticed some more things were a little off. Some random pieces of food were missing, and some of my toiletries were somehow in the far corner of Caitlin's bed. But, we attributed this to miscounting how many bread rolls we had and accidentally moving our stuff around without realizing it. It wasn't until we wanted cornflakes for breakfast, and we realized the bag was gone, that we really thought something was up (especially because a thorough search for the house money the night before still hadn't turned up anything).
For a while we were thinking that maybe one of Kirsten and Amy's students who came by Friday afternoon had swiped the money, but we nixed that after the cornflakes were gone, because we ate some on Saturday morning.
Now, when we moved in a month ago the house next door was little more than half-built walls. It wasn't possible to get onto our roof except through our house, and therefore not possible to get to the window halfway up the stairs, the only one in the house without bars. We also didn't realized that our roof runs underneath it, creating a convenient ledge. And now that there is a roof next door, it is very easy to walk through the unfinished main floor, up the stairs, and accros the 6-inch gap between the houses. Needless to say, we've come to the conclusion that someone came into our house through the window on Friday and Saturday while we were out.
What was surprising (and VERY lucky) was that next to nothing was taken, and nothing more valuable than Kirsten's cell phone, which we have discovered missing over the past week. The house money was only about 200 rupees at the time - roughly $3. We called Dulga, our landlady, on Sunday morning, and she had bars put on the window that day. She thinks it was one of the boys who lives nearby, who apparently has a history of this sort of thing. We've been very glad we have chests to lock valuables in, and have been using them!
School progressed much as it did the week before, with lessons in the morning and Jubilee prep in the afternoons. On Thursday night Caitlin and I visited some more of our students, this time 2 sisters in Class 8 named Rama and Sapana. Their house is quite a bit larger than Rupa's; it has 3 rooms, all cement plastered, with a fourth room that is really more of a patio, as it has only 3 walls. Their father is in the Indian Air Force, so it was just the girls, their mother and their sister and her baby at home. Their mother doesn't speak any English, but is very good at communicating through gestures, so that was how we conversed.
The house is down the road south from Biren Chowk, a part of the road we had previously only driven along. In the evening we walked down ever farther, visited a temple to the goddess Shiva, and took in some views of the river valley along with the sunset. Then it was back to the house for dinner - dal bhat and curry of course! As at Rupa's it tasted fantastic, and we were given so much we could hardly move afterwards. It was the same again for breakfast; if there are typical sizes (Rama and Sapana ate only slightly less), I can well understand how Nepalis eat only twice per day.
Friday and Saturday held the bulk of the house drama for the week. The water for the house comes from a 500L tub on the roof, which we refill periodically using a hose that has been strung up from the ground. The water only runs in the mornings, so every week or so we make sure its full. We filled it on Wednesday morning, and by Friday evening it was empty. We figure the construction workers next door used it to cover the roof, as concrete here needs to be kept constantly wet for several days after it is laid (I have no idea why). This was extremely frustrating, as we couldn't wash the dinner dishes, make tea, flush the toilet or generally do anything involving water, including have a drink. Added to that, we then had to spend part of Saturday morning filling the tank before making breakfast.
The water, however frustrating it was though, was nothing compared to what we figured out on Sunday morning. On Saturday morning we got up to go to Manakamana (see related post), and in the midst of cooking breakfast, realized we had run out of bread. This prompted a search for the wallet containing the house money, in order to go down to the shop to get some more, which proved fruitless. After quickly turning the house upside down (we were trying to get out at a decent time to get to Manakamana) we gave up and just went for the bread, and then headed out for the day.
On Sunday morning we noticed some more things were a little off. Some random pieces of food were missing, and some of my toiletries were somehow in the far corner of Caitlin's bed. But, we attributed this to miscounting how many bread rolls we had and accidentally moving our stuff around without realizing it. It wasn't until we wanted cornflakes for breakfast, and we realized the bag was gone, that we really thought something was up (especially because a thorough search for the house money the night before still hadn't turned up anything).
For a while we were thinking that maybe one of Kirsten and Amy's students who came by Friday afternoon had swiped the money, but we nixed that after the cornflakes were gone, because we ate some on Saturday morning.
Now, when we moved in a month ago the house next door was little more than half-built walls. It wasn't possible to get onto our roof except through our house, and therefore not possible to get to the window halfway up the stairs, the only one in the house without bars. We also didn't realized that our roof runs underneath it, creating a convenient ledge. And now that there is a roof next door, it is very easy to walk through the unfinished main floor, up the stairs, and accros the 6-inch gap between the houses. Needless to say, we've come to the conclusion that someone came into our house through the window on Friday and Saturday while we were out.
What was surprising (and VERY lucky) was that next to nothing was taken, and nothing more valuable than Kirsten's cell phone, which we have discovered missing over the past week. The house money was only about 200 rupees at the time - roughly $3. We called Dulga, our landlady, on Sunday morning, and she had bars put on the window that day. She thinks it was one of the boys who lives nearby, who apparently has a history of this sort of thing. We've been very glad we have chests to lock valuables in, and have been using them!
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