{"id":899,"date":"2012-10-05T10:45:10","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T10:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/?p=899"},"modified":"2012-10-05T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2012-10-05T10:45:17","slug":"yoo-hoo-kathmandu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/?p=899","title":{"rendered":"Yoo Hoo Kathmandu!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re still in Kathmandu, but we’re so close to heading out on our trek. \u00a0We met with our Nepal fixer Thomas Kelly<\/a>, and mutual friend of August Thurmer. \u00a0He and his friend Lakpah met us at our hotel to give us the rundown on our trek. \u00a0We found out that we needed to gather up a few more things before we could consider ourselves trek ready. \u00a0So we headed back to Thamel, the tourist center,because that is where all of the outdoor equipment stores are concentrated. \u00a0These are places where you can find anything from a fluffy, down North Fake jacket, some Pseudogonia fleece long underwear, or some Nullgene water bottles. \u00a0But, all the stores are bargain-able. \u00a0And if you find the right shopkeeper, you can cut a good deal, especially if you level with them, reminding them that it’s not really the brand name gear. \u00a0But there are actual brand name stores as well. \u00a0I found my t-shirt at the Mountain Hartwear store. \u00a0It turned out that we needed a lot more gear than we had expected, but we wouldn’t have been able to carry all of it anyhow. \u00a0So, we went shopping. \u00a0<\/p>\n

That day we, also, ate at two wonderful restaurants. \u00a0For lunch we went to Chez Caroline, which Thomas recommended. \u00a0We were in heaven. \u00a0Thomas told us that they were known for their salads and that we were safe eating there. \u00a0Seth and I split a BLT and we each ordered a Caroline Salad. \u00a0Man oh man. \u00a0It had been a while since we were able to eat a salad, and it happened to be a great one. \u00a0And the BLT was wonderful as well, with proper bacon. \u00a0The only thing missing was the Crystal hot sauce for the sandwich. \u00a0For dinner we went back to New Orleans, the restaurant from our first evening in Nepal. \u00a0It’s still beautiful, and the food is still delicious. \u00a0But, I don’t think they know what a smoothie is, or perhaps their blender broke. \u00a0The first time Seth ordered a milkshake, but ended up with chocolate milk, and this time he ordered a fruit smoothie, and ended up with fruit juice. \u00a0Both were nice options, but not what he had ordered. \u00a0Hmmm…<\/p>\n

The next day our planned part of Nepal began. \u00a0We were picked up from our hotel by Lakpah and taken back to Budah Stupa (maybe called Budahnath in another post), that’s the place where the Buddhists circumambulate around the stupah in prayer. \u00a0It was a very different experience from our first visit. \u00a0The first time it was nice to just take in the scenery and make conjectures on what was going on. \u00a0This time, we were given a wealth of information from Thomas who explained everything we asked and more. \u00a0And he speaks Nepali, and loves to shoot the shit, so he has a lot of friends anywhere he goes. \u00a0It’s neat to watch him interact with the locals.<\/p>\n

\"Nepal<\/p>\n

\"Nepal<\/p>\n

Very close to the Budah Stupa lives Pema, Thomas’s foster daughter. \u00a0She runs a sort of clinic where they have herbal medicines, acupuncture, and massage therapy. \u00a0Thomas had set up a massage for Seth and I. \u00a0It was so wonderfully welcome. \u00a0And we both agreed that it was probably one of the best massages we’d ever had. \u00a0Following our massage, we found our way upstairs to the kitchen where we would help to make momos. \u00a0Momos are Nepali dumplings. \u00a0The are delicious. \u00a0We made chicken momos and potato momos. \u00a0They were served with a peanut and tomato sauce that was quite tasty.<\/p>\n

\"Nepal<\/p>\n

After that, we walked with Lakpah to Pashupatinath, which is a Shiva Temple complex. \u00a0So, we were switching from Buddhism to HIndu. \u00a0The feel of both places were quite different. \u00a0At the buddhist temple there was a warm happy feeling and an overall sense of love. \u00a0Though the Shiva temple complex was pretty, it was quite dirty, filled with monkeys, and absent of people. \u00a0There were people there, but way less than at Budah Stupa. \u00a0From the Shiva temple we made our way down to the Bagmati river where there are cremation ghats. \u00a0The hindu people have a tradition of cremation, but it involves the holy river as well. \u00a0First, they wrap the loved one in a cloth and bring them to the river. \u00a0They strategically place the body on a ramp that leads to the river so that the person’s feet are in the water. \u00a0They allow the river to wash the deceased’s feet for some time before lifting them from the water to rest them on a funeral pyre, where they set a butter lamp inside the mouth where the fire will start to burn. \u00a0Once the person is fully cremated their ashes are scattered in the river. \u00a0We were able to see different stages of this ritual during our visit. \u00a0I think it is a nice way to lend some closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nepal<\/p>\n

BUT, there’s a reason why there is a problem with water contamination in India and Nepal. \u00a0HIndus use the rivers for way too much. \u00a0I’ve just mentioned what they do with their deceased, and on top of that they bathe, wash clothes, potentially go to the bathroom, and throw their trash in this holy river. \u00a0The water is horribly polluted. \u00a0That part is hard for me to digest, and that is why I will not touch a river near human habitation.<\/p>\n

After the ghats we went over to a hospice center run by Mother Teresa’s nuns. \u00a0It was a really nice place for the elderly who were not able to grow old in the care of their families. \u00a0It was very nice to see, but you should not picture an old folks home like in the US. \u00a0It was quite different from that. \u00a0But the elderly here are quite different from in the States. \u00a0They are a functioning part of the community until they no longer can be. \u00a0These old ladies are tough. \u00a0The place had good vibes.<\/p>\n

\"Nepal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re still in Kathmandu, but we’re so close to heading out on our trek. \u00a0We met with our Nepal fixer Thomas Kelly, and mutual friend of August Thurmer. \u00a0He and his friend Lakpah met us at our hotel to give … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,200],"tags":[215,216,201,213,218,217,202,214,208],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-nepal","tag-budha-stupa","tag-fire-and-ice","tag-kathmandu","tag-massage","tag-momo","tag-mother-teresa-hospice-center","tag-nepal-2","tag-pashupatinath","tag-thamel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sethandberkley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}