I was trying to meditate at the base of the stupa when I heard someone come up to me and stop, I opened my eyes to a teenager taking my photo, I told him he could take my photo if he took one with my camera.
Well Let me first tell you all the joy to be sitting at a computer with a new keyboard and fast internet, I'm streaming music and finally getting photos uploaded onto flickr for everyone to see. I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Boudha, a suburb of Kathmandu, the name refers to the largest Buddhist stupa in the world. A stupa is a Buddhist place of worship. a stupa is basically a mound after Buddha was cremated his remains were spread between 8 original stupas. I've decided to come here to soak up the vibe, relax, write and heal. I have a systemic infection after wandering the mountains. A Nepali tour guide diagnosed it as a fungal infection, I'm taking medicine, that if it doesn't work it'll be another round of antibiotics. In 8 months I've taken antibiotics 4 times already.
There is so much to write about, but I seem to keep on having amazing, mind-blowing experiences faster than I can write about them. As much as I want to delve into my epic in the mountains I think I should write about the amazing experiences that have been happening to me in my last week in Kathmandu.
I've been staying with my "Aunt" and "Brother" in law in their small room. In the past week I've taken their 3 year old son to school, baby-sat him, picked him up from school, and this is good enough for my resume: I made egg fried rice for him and the neighbors daughter while they played together, kept them from leaping out the windows and narrowly avoided disaster when she had to go pee. I now know how to say pee in Nepali kid language :D Living with them in the City is an amazing opportunity to live like most Nepali's in the city. They live in one room and share the bathroom with the neighbors. An apartment in Kathmandu really will almost always refer to one room. My didi and binaju have been so nice to let me stay with them in their small "apartment." But it was time to move on.
In my first days in Kathmandu I got to experience a whole other side of Kathmandu. I ended up bumping into a young Nepali who's friends were hosting a Dance/pool party in one of the cities 5-star hotels. He gave me an invitation and I met another friend the next day to go to the hotel. Tearing through the city in a car with a leather interior, listening to gangster rap made me feel almost made me feel like i was back in the U.S. except we passed by a temple that had a drive in! We passed through praying to the many gods facing the drive through. I had a really good time, dancing to some loud music for the first time in ages. The bass was all lined up along the ground rather than stacked which was a disapointment but I had a good time. I was the only foreigner, and one of three people who wore swim trunks, and the only one to get in the pool. The best part of the experience was meeting the headlining DJ who studied in the U.S. and meeting the members of the Curious Crew. I had a good talk with DJ Girish about Nepal and he told me that there's money in the country, referencing all the kids with designer clothes and iphones, but that they lack a good tax to retrieve it. The Curious Crew is a b-boy crew who's been dancing for two years. Their all in high school, and they dance so well together, I was super impressed by how they've gone for it in a place where there are no resources except the internet. The whole experience was a trip after I'd just returned from the mountains, nice to experience the other side of things and dance some.
My mother's friend and co-worker, Deepak Pandey's parents live in Kathmandu. I went to visit them on Monday with my adopted family. The idea was to go and visit them and then go to the Swyambu stupa nearby. We were running late and I wanted to go to the stupa since the sun was shining and everything was lit in the late afternoon sun. L.B, Deepak's dad quickly told me that I could spend the night at their home. Once again an amazing example of the warm-hearted nature of the Nepali people. I had a wonderful time at the stupa, the sun was setting and the golden sides were almost blinding. I got into the stupa half off because of my Nepali! I'm now officially at the "dangerous" level, I can defend myself well and even with L.B. who can speak very good english, we spoke a good portion of the time in Neplali. The connections that span the globe are amazing, I had great conversations with L.B. about Ashland and Nepal.
The next day was great, I wandered around the city, bumped into some friends I met while trekking, got my sickness "diagnosed" and found out I didn't have a place to stay that night. My didi went to spend the night at a sick relatives house for the night and binaju works until 12:30 AM. I could find a hotel room, no problem. As the sun was setting I was feeling really good, I played a little frisbee with a new friend. I decided it was time to go to a Temple and give some thanks to the divine. It just so happened that the Ganesh temple was nearby. Ganesh is the Hindu God who clears the path and helps opportunities happen. Perfect, I practically skipped to the temple, performed puja and saw that Bojan, devotional singing was happening in one of the temples rooms. I went in and joined as best as I could, by clapping my hands. There were a number of main men who were taking turns singing, playing the harmonium and tabla. A little boy who was there as well began to speak to me in English, which was quite good, after some minutes he asked me if we could be friends. i told him "of course," after bojan he introduced me to his grandmother and invited me to come to his house so I could see where he lived. His mother quickly invited me in and we began talking, next thing I knew i was invited for dinner and to spend the night in their small room. I told his mother how much I loved Nepali food especially lentils, she said that they didn't have any lentils because of how expensive they were. I offered to buy them and I had another amazing, filling Nepali meal. The kindness of the Nepali people is just astounding, the openess and warmth to a total stranger continues to swell my heart and remind me how blessed I am. I slept in the same small bed with Rajeev, my new friend.
These are really only some of the amazing experiences that have happened to me since I've arrived back in Kathmandu. I feel like now I've unlocked the city in a whole new way. I've found how to walk on the back streets where people look at me and say to each other, "Look a foreigner" and I smile and ask them how they are.
I've found the best Nepali Lassis which makes me happy, the perfect drink for any hot muggy day. I've also begun to explore in earnest the old city, age old wood carvings and gods abound in these courtyards linked by doorways that I've got to bend double to get through. There's still so much to be discovered.
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