Travelogue Nepal
A wonderful country with friendly, happy and warm people. Very good English which makes it very easy and also a bit lazy to not learn too much Nepali.
Inexpensive and easy to go out for yummy meals. Whether local food or simply fresh and healthy choices, a solid meal for $2-4, and abundant coffee, juice, smoothie and tea options for $1-2. Some places a great masala chai for $0.25
Despite the heaving immensity of Kathmandu, it was surprisingly sublime to walk the streets. After a few days I felt very much in calm flow walking around, alive and aware of surroundings while motorcycles and people buzzed by. Lots of smiling faces.
And all through the country a prayer hand and namaste greeting was welcomed with a big smile and a returned prayer. I see your light.
The treks will be fun to come back to check out. The infrastructure of the tea houses means that you can leave with a few items and be well cared for while spending days or weeks in the mountains. I want to come back!
Religion is culturally key to life and habit. Hinduism mixed with Buddhism (after all the birthplace of the Buddha) works harmoniously. Small statues all over the cities have daily offerings and marked with red paint that you can see on everyone’s foreheads. The big stupas are literally awesome and a great place to observe the habits and piety of the people.
Hindu yogis and spirituality have spread from here and India into the west. But we get small tastes of it. To do a 2 day yoga retreat and home stay was a treat!!
We got sick a few times, and a few bad things that lingered in the belly. Is that because of the social group from the popup or the water and hygiene? Hard to say but that doesn’t really matter so much since the pace and quality of the experience compensated for that.
Now I’m excited to move onto Bhutan, a net carbon negative country that focuses on GNH instead of GDP. Gross national happiness…
