Pokhara turns out to be more dangerous as I first expected

My time in Pokhara will soon be over. At least for this visit. I'll be here again in about 21 days, 21 days I will spend walking around Annapurna. The Annapurna Circuit is a trekking that is mostly known because of the Thorung La Pass, a pass at more than 5000m. The past few days I have seen a few people that had to come back early because of hight sickness. Others did it as if it was nothing, so I don't think about it to much. I'll see what it brings for me. My partner in this operation will be Orly, an Israelian woman which I admit is really pretty, but that's not the reason I asked her to join me. She just seems like a nice and calm person. Someone with maturity and very passionated to see the mountains. In my plan to come and live here in this wonderful town, there's a new dimension. One of the restaurants on the main road at Lakeside is...To Let. Actually it's just a rooftop which they made into an outdoor restaurant, but you have a nice view from up there. You can see the lake, and the hills behind the lake. It's not like I'm going to buy it immediately, but I must admit it's tempting. Yesterday I went to have a first look, and normally today I was going back to see the kitchen and talk about the price. Inform about the price is more correct. Namk went together over there with me, not only because it's easier having a Tibetan with you to buy a Tibetan restaurant from Tibetans, but also because he and his family are kind of my contacts here. They are such anice family, and invited me for lunch the other day. For the first time I ate meat again. Meat from a Buffalo, and I think it will happen more often around here. Not that I'm so crazy about it, but I think that when a family invites me for lunch or dinner, I think it's just a matter of being polite that I eat whatever they cook. BUT, the taste was good, she made it spicy, which makes everything here even better. That day I also got to meet Sange, the 2,5 year ols don of Lhundup and Tsewang. This little Buddha is so smart, it's unbelievable. He keeps repeating every word you say, until he made it part of his brain, and after that I really belive he knows the word, and even what it means. He's also very interested in Buddhistic rituals. The fun really starts when he takes a big towel and winds it around him as if he were a monk. The serenity that shows of this little man together with the child he is, it's like a promise for an interesting future. Honest, I've never seen a child like this before. It would really be amazing if one day, maybe the family and I could be in business together. Business which will propably not be turning only around money, but business with the main purpose to help the Tibetan people to improve their situation. I'm still crazy about Tibetan refugees and their villages here around Pokhara. If you want to know why, I think you just have to visit them with an open heart yourself, and propably you will be surprised about the things that happen, or don't happen.

Pokhara, it's like coming home

Wednesday, september 19, I left Kathmandu for Pokhara. Pokhara, my favourite place in the world. Coming here didn't seem to be that easy on that day. During the trip that normally takes about 6 or 7 hours, we got held at a road block. It was a local demonstration from truckdrivers, and kept us there standing by the road for 6 hours. By the time we arrived in Pokhara, it was already dark, but the nice part was that at the roadblock I met a lot of people. One of them was Klaus, from Austria, and after we met again later that night, looking for something to eat, we got stuck on eachother and now we're walking, trekking, sitting around together for about 5 days. We're still discussing which one of us gets the other in these difficult, strange, shameful situations. Knowing me, you know he has to be the bad Karma. Together, we ended up lost in a forrest, without knowing we ended up in what has earned the name titibar already (which we left pretty quick), we ended up flying 700 meters above the ground in a paraglide, every day had something special and even amazing. As it may look like in the title of this page...Pokhara stole my heart. This isn't just now, Pokhara was one of the big reasonsm I wanted to come back to Nepal. The second day I surprised this beautiful Tibetan family with my appearence. I met them last year, because they were like family, no they are family, of one of my best friends. When they saw me again this year, it was like I haden't been away. They were so open, nice, friendly, caring, generous, they are really amazing. Every now and than I get by at their shop, and than we just talk, laugh, and enjoy a nice fresh juice. Walking around in Pokhara is also like walking in a heaven full of women. Really, the Nepali and the Tibetan women even more, are gorgeous. There is this one Tibetan girl that tricked me totally with her smile. I must admit that she tricked me, because after a while she opened up her backpack, and showed me her moving shop. After all, I'm proud to say that I didn't buy her whole shop, I didn't even buy anything (yet)! When I spend my money here in Pokhara, I mostly try to spend it on the Tibetans, because they are really people I feel close to my heart. Being self reluctant in this country, I really have a lot of respect for them, and they are also very friendly, hospital, and even generous. Anyone would open his or her house for you if they can help you with it. They try to sell you their handicrafts, but what makes it different from the millions of others that try to sell you their goods here is that they never become really pushy. Buying from them is partly like a game as much as selling to you is also like a game to them, I was told from someone who used to do it herself. They are really the nicest people I've ever met in this world. Later I will write aboput my experiences of the paragliding, and I will add some very nice pictures, but for now, I just wanted to make a brief update, because so many thing happen in one week. Hope everyone is feeling as well and happy as I do, Bodhi

Teaching at Rosegarden High School

Sunday was teaching day. Unlike in Belgium, where I live officially, children go to school on Sunday in Nepal. They have a free day on Saturday and on Friday they have only a half day of school. I got into contact with Rosegarden Hig School (RHS) true Bhim, one of my Nepali friends. Both his children go to school there. RHS is a private school, and those school give a better education to children normally, because the teachers are more interested, there is more money and therefore more possibilities. As school is getting more expensive every higher year children often have to change from a private school in the early years to government schools at a later age. Me coming there on Sunday, september 16, was quiet a good timing, it seemed. Because of the second day of Teej (see my former blog), of which the first day was two days before, some of the female teachers were not present, due to a temple visit. I must admit that I was a little afraid, when they took me to the class. To be honest, I didn’t prepare anything, thinking I wasn’t really going to teach. No way out, they took me to my first class, where the principal introduced me as a guest from Belgium, and than it was up to me. Starting with my name seemed a good possibility, because, I thought, before they could pronounce my name we would have been 20 minutes further. WRONG, at the first moment they pronounced my name correctly. Even a class of students under 8, and some even 5, I think, they were already ahead of me. When I started talking about my country, the location, the amount of inhabitants, our system of education, they seemed really interested. Asking questions, didn’t seem that difficult as I suspected it would be. It was nice to see how they were listening to me, being amazed thet the highest point of my country (694 m above sea level) was lower as the city they were living in, Kathmandu being a city located at 1350m above that same sea level). When we started talking about sports they really got a grip of the talking and before I knew, we were all around a desk in front of the class, them explaning to me one of Nepalies most popular sports, of which I must say, with a lot of shame, I forgot the name. I do remember that you could play it with two people, or more, as long as you had an even figure. Propably I was more under influence of the impact of the moment as they were, because they remembered my name pretty well. Little rascals! My second class were older people, and actually the “lesson” went pretty much the same, only they got me into singing a Belgian song for them. I think my face was red like hell, but after I finished I received a big applaus, which I must say, really touched me. The questions they were asking me, were really about if I had a war in my country, or problems with discrimination. They were really interested, and had a lot of those questions I really didn’t expect. The range between the oldest and the youngest in the class was something like 7 or 8 years I think. That’s already one of the big differences with the educational program in my country, where everyone is supposed to be the same age in one class, with exceptions for people like me who are so fond of some years that they really want to do it twice. ;) If I wouldn’t have been talking to them, they would have been free to play outside, doing sports, or just talk to eachother, but even when I asked them several times they really chose to stay inside and talk. It was touching again. They stole my heart, they really did, specially that one girl saying to me; you have such a big heart. She must have been something like 12 years old, and that were her exact words. Try to keep your tears inside at that time. They must have seen the water coming up in my eyes, but I don’t mind, although I didn’t feel like crying in there. When I decided on my own to stop the class, because I wanted to visit another school at an orphanage also, standing right outside the door I took out my camera to take a picture of these wonderful people. At once, like there was a magnet in the camera, 250 children came running to me screaming; PHOTO PHOTO PHOTO!!! I got locked in and they came with this speed running up from all sides that when they reached me it was like they couldn’t stop anymore. The result was me laying down on the ground. I think I have never heared 250 people laughing that loud, while “my class” helped me standing up and picking up some things that fell out of my pockets, to give them back to me. After a photo shoot that must have taken like 20 minutes, I finally managed to get out of the fun-war zone and I was so happy. Happy that I could take this extraordinary experience with me inside my heart. Inside my BIG heart!

The start of the trip, and arriving in Kathmandu

It must be hard, travelling with a baby in Kathmandu, because although the Thamel area is filled with shops and people selling on the street, the only thing you can not find here is propably babyfood. I don't remember Kathmandu being this much madness. Last year when I was here, I was with an organised group travell, so maybe that's also different, but how often you get adressed to for trekkings (everyone seems to have a trekking agency, or at least a brother with a trekking agency.

Arriving here, I was happy to be picked up at the airport by one of my Nepali friends, Bhim. Being my guide last year we stayed in contact and there he was. A good thing as finding the hotel wasn't that easy.

After finding the hotel, it soon seemed the Belgian population was well presented at the hotel, and I don't mean only the guests. The staff also had a few Belgians and the man behind the bar, Bruno, seemd to be from the same town as I am. He left Belgium five years ago and has been country-and job-hopping ever since. At the hotel I got in touch with some other fellow Belgian people that live and work here. Very interesting, playing with the idea myself sometimes.

Being invited at Bhim's place for lunch prepared by his wife, was a very pleasant welcome on my first real day here. Knowing that I'm a big fan of Dhal Bath, I got to eat so much that I didn't need anything else that day, at risk of exploding.

Another person I met here is Govinda, a local trekking agent, whome is not trying to sell me anything, but we are talking for hours sometimes about opinions, ideas, in which we seem to be at the same level often.

Visiting Bodhnath again was one my top list when I planned coming back to Nepal, so I immediately dis the first day after having my lunch at Bhim's place. Bodhnath being the biggest Stupa in Nepal, and therefor a very important Buddhistic place. The serenity really has its impact on me.

December 14, 2007 was Teej here in Nepal. A hindu festival, also known as ladies festival. I went to Pashupatinat to see the amazing sight of thousands of women waiting in line to enter the big Shiva temple. Thousands of women is really a true figure. Women are waiting for hours, while on other places women are dancing, all on a day they are not eating or drinking anything. All this in honour of Shiva, praying for their husbands to have a long, happy and healthy life.

Meeting the Belgian people living and working here, in combination with meeting the local people after their working hours, so not commercial related, really gives a lot of extra to my trip, to my days. Govinda is a man I can talk to for hours. Last night we ended up closing the bar at midnight, agreeing on meeting again today in the mornig. We share a lot of the same ideas and our minds are in the same directions. Very nice when you're in a country far away from what you're used to. Those are the moments you do it for!

In this past days my emotions have already been true different stages. Being happy to be here, going over worries about what I'm doing here when everything seems to be different than the last time, passing real sadness seeing a man dying on the street (and I really mean this, I don't think he's alive as I write this) My emotions going true so many different stages in such a short time, it's wonderful, it's what I planned this trip for.