Kathmandu holiday

A couple weeks ago I took a break from work and the heat of Pokhara to visit Kathmandu. I'd not really had much of an opportunity to explore Ktm yet, and it gave me the chance spend more time with the really interesting ex-pats who work for INF in Ktm, including several other Canadians.

Kathmandu is higher than Pokhara, and correspondingly cooler and much less humid. It was enjoyable to be outside doing things again (other than swimming), and it cooled off nicely at night. It was amazing to see the difference in energy level a few degrees made – suddenly I had the energy to do things, instead of wanting to sit at home under the fan!

Sunday August 17^th was Gai Jatra, the Cow Festival, and a great day to go down to Darbur Square in Kathmandu. There were people everywhere watching or being involved in the parades. In Gai Jatra, the cow's role in guiding people to the underworld is celebrated, and anyone who has lost a family member in the last year parades through the town. Pictures of the loved ones are carried on a placard, children and some adults dress up in costumes, bands of all sorts of instruments (and tunings), and cows parade through the streets. It was busy, noisy, and fascinating to be downtown to experience it all. Ali (another INF ex-pat) and I took many pictures, some of which can be seen here. I also put up a video and some sound clips here.

After we were exhausted by the people and noise, we headed up the stairs of Swayambhunath, a Buddhist stupa on a hill near downtown. It was a bit of a climb, but we were distracted from the effort by all the monkeys who live on the hillside around the temple. There was a great view from the top, as well as an impressive Stupa. We then walked down the other side of the hill to the huge Golden Amitabha statues at the other side. I've posted pictures from this, as well as the rest of my Kathmandu visit, here.

Monday morning Gillian, a Canadian physiotherapist I was staying with, and I took a bus ride out of town to some Newari villages nearby. The Newar are the people group who live in the Kathmandu valley, and their traditions and building styles are very different than in the mountains around Pokhara. We were fortunate in our timing, as it was chili drying season, and there were lovely strings of red chilies decorating all the houses. From the first village we walked down into the river valley, through the brilliant green rice fields, and up to a neighbouring village. It was a lovely day to be out walking in the countryside.

Wednesday I visited Bodhnath, one of the world's largest Buddhist stupas. It has a very strong Tibetian influence, and was very impressive. There were also several gompa's (monasteries), where worship was going on, and where Tibetian monks were being trained. I've posted a sound recording of the chanting and bells from one of them.

Thursday I visited Anandaban, a leprosy hospital just outside the city. I cycled out with another ex-pat, which and it was lovely to go through the green countryside and small towns on the way. Going there was hard work as it was mostly uphill, but coming back in the afternoon was wonderful. The hospital itself was really interesting as well. It is bigger than Green Pastures, and sees more leprosy patients than we do. However GPH has more rehabilitation resources and staff, and does more work with other rehab patients. Anandaban has a really extensive biological research lab, where they do basic research on how leprosy is spread, and why the body responds the way it does to the disease. Despite having a treatment, there is still a lot of basic information that is not known about leprosy. Nepal is one of the places that this research is being done, because there are still enough cases around to allow it to be studied. I found this all really interesting.

Thursday night there was a party among the INF ex-pats, so I got a chance to see everyone, and then Friday I was in at the Ktm office. I spent much of the rest of my week visiting people. It's nice to touch base and get to know the INF staff in the capital city better.

Sunday, I flew back to Pokhara from Ktm – it was my first time flying instead of busing. For 10 times the price, you get there at a tenth of the time (35mins instead of 6 hours). It also had the bonus of providing a glimpse of the mountains far off, something that we haven't seen much of lately. I arrived back to the rainiest week in Pokhara I've experienced yet – one day I literally had to wade down the street to work. But this week it's been much nicer, less rain, and also less hot. And on Thursday the mountains in all their splendor were visible again – the first time in several months. It seems monsoon is on its way out. Very good news indeed.