Powerless in Nepal

Namaste!  Sorry for the lapse in our blogging, but we’ve been powerless in Nepal.  The primary sources of power in Nepal come from dams built in the Himalayas.  Unfortunately, in the winter and early spring the mountain snow hasn’t begun to melt and the rains haven’t started.  This leaves Nepal with about ¼ of the electricity needed to meet the power demands of the country.  The rolling blackouts leave the country without power for 14-16 hours a day.  Also, the power is usually on during the middle of the night and early morning.   Some businesses have small generators that they use to power a few lights, but other than that the entire country is dark and powerless.  This has been making communicating extremely difficult.  Worse yet, I haven’t even been able to stream any live March Madness games!  It’s really sad and frustrating; however I’m glad that they are very cautious about compromising more of the beautiful landscape by building more dams.

Kathmandu was the starting point for our Nepal explorations.  We flew in on a Saturday and needed to stay until Monday to begin the process of getting our India visas.  After two days of walking around the city, we were quite ready to get out of Kathmandu.  The pollution is outrageous and I developed a sinus infection after only a couple of days that I’m still battling.  The pollution prevents you from seeing the towering Himalayas from any point in Kathmandu.  We stayed in an area called Thamel where the incense filled streets are lined with shops of handmade clothing, crafts, trekking gear, travel agencies, restaurants, book shops, etc.  Outside of this tourist centered area is the REAL Kathmandu and we spent hours walking around to see as much as we could handle.  We came across a river that instead of freely flowing water was filled with heaps of trash and animals (pigs, cows, dogs) digging through the scraps.  The small stream of water that managed to navigate through the trash was foamy and black.  After seeing the butcher shops with slabs of meat, chicken,  and goat heads lined up covered with flies, Steph has been eating vegetarian ever since.  On a positive note, we saw several of the old temples and architecture that give Kathmandu some rich history.  On Monday afternoon, we were off to see Everest!

We took a bus ride to the small village of Sankhu and hiked 12km uphill to Nagarkot which is supposed to provide a nice view of the Himalayas to the north and south.  The hike up the countryside was filled with beautiful views of terrace farming, jungle, and remote village life.  We stayed in the Eco Home Hotel where the people and the organic food were wonderful.  On average, it took two hours to get our food after we ordered.  Atleast we knew it was fresh!  A hotel employee would serve as your alarm clock in the morning if the sky was clear enough for a good sunrise view over the Himalayas.  We watched the sunrise the first morning and it was incredible to the north, however “the mists” had already overtaken the south and we didn’t get to see Mt. Everest.  The sky was cloudy the next two mornings which prevented us from ever getting a glimpse.  Beside the sunrise over the Himalayas, another highlight of our time in Nagarkot was when one of the nights the owner of the hotel was having a family reunion where they sang and played traditional Nepali folk songs and danced around the fire.

After hiking back down from Nagarkot, we spent a couple more days in Kathmandu to finish the Indian visa process.  After getting our visas, we opted to take the public overnight bus to Pokhara instead of splurging and spending the extra $2 for the comfort of the tourist-only bus.  The bus ride was a 12 hour experience that we’ll never forget.  The total distance from Kathmandu to Pokhara is only 198km or approx. 120 miles.  That’s an average of 10 miles per hour with people jumping on and off the bus shoving water, chips and other snacks in your face.  The bus also stopped at 1am for close to 2 hours so that the Nepalese could eat their dinner of Dal Bhat (the most common and sometimes only dish in Nepal).  Most Nepali people eat Dal Bhat twice a day, everyday of their lives, and don’t feel like they’ve been properly fed without it.

Pokhara is a scenic hippy town situated on Phewa Lake.  It was 5am when we arrived and we just found the first hotel and crashed.  We woke up mid-morning and went outside and we were bombarded by COLOR.  It was a Nepali holiday and the locals were splashing color all over everything and everyone.  There were hundreds of colors covering the faces and clothing (head to toe) of both locals and travelers.  We found a guesthouse next to the lake where we negotiated a $7.40 rate for both of us in a big double room with attached bathroom.  After we put our packs in our room we went outside to join the festivities.  Before we knew it, we were covered in colors and having a great time with everyone.  The remainder of our time in Pokhara has been filled with hiking, motorcycling, relaxing, catching a local cover band, listening to our new friend play Mumford & Sons (one of our favorite bands) songs on his violin, and enjoying wonderful food.

Pokhara has had the same effect on us as Olympos, Turkey had.  We've accidentally stayed here 6 nights.  We're finally forcing ourselves to leave.  Tomorrow morning we're heading to Chitwan National Park (on the border of Nepal/India).  We're hoping to see some one-horned rhinos and other wildlife in the jungle.  After a few days in Chitwan, we'll be off to India.

We've been itching to give our time by helping missionaries or volunteering (short-term) with organizations helping people.  If anyone knows of any missionaries or groups that we could help with, please let us know.  Here is a list of countries we're planning on visiting: India, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador.  There may be more (or less) so any information will be helpful.  Thanks!