So after a frenzied few days in Delhi, I cabbed it to the airport and headed up to Nepal. It was a cloudy day in northern India, and combined with the smog I couldn't see anything out the exit row window after we headed up into the sky. That said, it was a different story on the way down. As we crossed into Nepal the clouds grew from flat grey ones to huge towering nimbus formations. And descending into Kathmandu was like coming down into heaven. Green and lush, the landscape gave way to the signature brick buildings and I smiled a happy smile.
The acquiring of a visa in Nepal is cheap, but not without its challenges. They won't allow you to pay for it with Indian Rupees and the exchange place won't exchange Indian Rupees, so you have to actually leave the airport to get Nepalese Rupees at an ATM and then come back into the 'departures' area to change your money into US dollars or Euros. Jeezuz. And how do you get out of the airport without a visa or without going through customs? Well, they just let you. They hold your passport and you just leave. I made it through the guantlet and got a ride into town to a guesthouse where I had a reservation...or I thought I did and they thought I did, but I didn't and so I got to stay at the neighbors the first night.
I will preface this entry by saying I have nowhere near enough time to explain the things that have happened in the last few days. Let me just say that this place is so incredibly deep on the cultural level...it has stunned me. Tomorrow I am heading to Pokhara and then into the wild, so I will not have the time to write down the stories until after I get back to Kathmandu from the trek.
But it is amazing here. I am kind of overwhelmed with how much there is to take in...to see and smell and feel. There are Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam everywhere, and it is such a mixed group of people living here together. Nepal has had its political problems with the Maoists and others...and now may be a lull but it is not perfect by any mearuring stick. Saying that though, it is a very peaceful mix of ideologically varied people. They are just as curious as the Indians and I have spent a lot of time just talking to people in the shops and restaurants and streets. This is where the Buddhism really starts...and heads north. The Hinduism goes south into India from here. But in the temples you see the dharma wheels of Buddhism along side Ganesh, the elephant-headed God of Hinduism, beneath the domed roofes of the Muslims. It is quite a thing.
Today was Saturday and I spent the day visiting temples across the valley. It is a holy day so I saw all the people in the process of their worshiping. Got to see a goat get sacrificed. A lot of incense burning. A lot of smiling and a lot of prayer wheels spinning. I love it. That is all for now.
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