The three girls i have gotten to know in Kathamndu decided to take a little week getaway to beautiful Pokhara, an 8 hour bus ride. Pokhara is based around a gorgeous lake with the snowcapped himalyas on one side and forested hills for hiking on the other side. We went for a boat ride around the lake the first day exploring the little coves and lakeside restraunts. The next day we went for a hike to the Peace Pogodia, a Buddhist Monestary on the top of a mountian. We happened to miss path that takes up you the hill and ended up going completely AROUND the mountain and up the hill at the steepest possible way. It ended up being alot longer and harder hike than we expected but we got to go through local villages on the side of the mountain and it was That much more fufilling making it to the top. We managed to make it down the faster way on the way back down. We have been going out to local bars with live music and good company each night, but nothing is open passed midnight. We went out For st. Patricks day and had some drinks and had to wake up at 5:00 the next morhing in order to watch the sunrise from the highest peak in Pokhara, just as well the bars close early. After 4 hours of sleep we hopped in a cab and made our way to the top of the mountain. The sun came up slowly and was spectacular but the height of the beauy was when it started to hit the tips of the mountains all around us, it was breathtaking. I have come to realize i am a mountain girl... I Love the mountains and would feel so homesick without them. We hiked all the way down the steep steps down the hill. This did not feel so good after our huge hike the day before. I found a pool to sit by and soak up the beautiful day for the rest of the day but when i stood up i felt like my legs were half paralized from all our hiking. This morning was the best day of all! Paragliding!!! I was nervous but mostly just so excited, i have done bungeejumping so paragliding was a fear that was alot easier to overcome. I got strapped in, ran a few steps and gracefully lifted up into the air! it was unbelievably surreal! Flying with the hawks higher looking down at Pokhara beneath me, as high as the mountains. My guide let me take control for a bit and steer the parachute. I got to spend about 45 minutes in the air with the biggest grin on my face the hole time. We did some minor airobatics, some crazy loops and scoops in the air before landing on the side of the lake. It was such an unreal view and expereience, Next Skydiving!
Its another scorthing day so we plan on renting the boat again and going to the middle to swim for a bit in the lake. I love Pokhara and glad i will be back for my Yoga retreat in 3 weeks! I spend a week with my kids at the orphanage in Kathmandu and Take off for my everest trek next thursday! Cant wait!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Drama Drama Drama!
I have been having quiet the Drama with hairdressers in Kathmandu... After the HOli celebrations my hair went multicoloured, bright red, orange and yellow... i pretty much looked like a clown and it was clinging to the bleach in my hair and didnt look like it was going anywhere anytime soon... so i made the huge mistake of trusting someone to dye my hair in Nepal... So first I went and tried getting it died my natural mousey brown colour to cover up the rainbow in my hair... after an hour in the chair it turned up pretty much the exact same colour that it was when I first came in but turned the rest of my hair a goldy yellow... GREAT! so I went to the nest salon.. a sketchy one at that... the guy didnt speak english but he was one of the only places that actually had bleach in his saolon so i thought i would brave it out... I pretty much had to teach him how to highlight my hair and roll it in tinfoil, almost doing his job for him While holding a candle because the power went out... after 3 hours in that salon i came out with almost normal hair but the orange red colour had now turned pink with the bleach and the places that did not have bleach were still the grungy gold colour.. I though i might just be able to suck up this awfull hair but i got too caried away into my vanity and went back a week later (yesterday) and handed him a letter written in nepalese telling him that i am not satisfied and need to get it fixed for free... of coarse this didnt work because i am in Nepal and nothing is free..
From what i understood from the little nepal and handgestures i know the hairdresser thought we should just bleach my whole head.. i thought this might just work because the blonde that came out last time was pretty nice... HUGE MISTAKE! another 2 hours sitting in the salon chair and my hair is yellow... a bright white/yellow. At first i laughed at my reflection because that was the only expression i could come up with. i am a clown. I then freaked out saying they need to fix it, dye it black or something, ANYTHING but this! i cried, called my friends in a frenzy and the manager got involved telling me his hairdresser is not an expert and its not his fualt... NOT AN EXPERT!? WHY THE HELL IS HE WORKING HERE THAN!. yes it is Nepal, i must not forget. So you may notice in a few pictures coming up that i post that i now have yellow/white hair.. and now you know the long process in how i got into this mess.
Wow that was far too long of a story about my vanity, but there it is!
After the mess in the salon and having a good laugh at my new hair, my nepalese friends, the girls and I went out to a live rock concert in Durbur Square. All eyes were on us as we let loose a little throwing in the odd air guitar dance and head bang. It was huge, and everyone was just loving the music. When we left to head back to our guesthouse There was a huge bang that came from behind us that sounded like gun shots. I looked behind to find the massive metal barricades that were holding everyone in the concert were falling down in a domino effect and crushing people as it came down. Everyone was screaming and running, terribfied that they too weill be crushed, if not from the baricades than from the other people running. We all latched on to eachother and Bolted as fast as we could through the crowd. It was quiet scary and although not as catastrophic in any sense, reminded me of when i saw people running away as the twin towers were falling down on th news. We got out of it safely but i have yet to find out the damage, i am sure there was a few people who would have been crushed...
This morning We woke up at 5:30 to catch our bus to Pokhara and just as we sat down on our bus we were told that we cant go today because there is a strike on the roads and we cannot pass.. So just as well we got breakfast and now you all get to hear the details of my rediculous hair drama.
:)
From what i understood from the little nepal and handgestures i know the hairdresser thought we should just bleach my whole head.. i thought this might just work because the blonde that came out last time was pretty nice... HUGE MISTAKE! another 2 hours sitting in the salon chair and my hair is yellow... a bright white/yellow. At first i laughed at my reflection because that was the only expression i could come up with. i am a clown. I then freaked out saying they need to fix it, dye it black or something, ANYTHING but this! i cried, called my friends in a frenzy and the manager got involved telling me his hairdresser is not an expert and its not his fualt... NOT AN EXPERT!? WHY THE HELL IS HE WORKING HERE THAN!. yes it is Nepal, i must not forget. So you may notice in a few pictures coming up that i post that i now have yellow/white hair.. and now you know the long process in how i got into this mess.
Wow that was far too long of a story about my vanity, but there it is!
After the mess in the salon and having a good laugh at my new hair, my nepalese friends, the girls and I went out to a live rock concert in Durbur Square. All eyes were on us as we let loose a little throwing in the odd air guitar dance and head bang. It was huge, and everyone was just loving the music. When we left to head back to our guesthouse There was a huge bang that came from behind us that sounded like gun shots. I looked behind to find the massive metal barricades that were holding everyone in the concert were falling down in a domino effect and crushing people as it came down. Everyone was screaming and running, terribfied that they too weill be crushed, if not from the baricades than from the other people running. We all latched on to eachother and Bolted as fast as we could through the crowd. It was quiet scary and although not as catastrophic in any sense, reminded me of when i saw people running away as the twin towers were falling down on th news. We got out of it safely but i have yet to find out the damage, i am sure there was a few people who would have been crushed...
This morning We woke up at 5:30 to catch our bus to Pokhara and just as we sat down on our bus we were told that we cant go today because there is a strike on the roads and we cannot pass.. So just as well we got breakfast and now you all get to hear the details of my rediculous hair drama.
:)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Orphanage
I breifly gave you some information on the orphanage i am staying at now in Kathmandu but ill give you more of the scoop.
There are 50(ish) kids here, its hard to keep track of them all because there seems to be new ones arriving on a dialy basis. I have only been here a week and there are already 4 new kids. A family runs the Orphange, started by a woman called Beina, her two sons, sister, brothers, mom and dad all help out. Rachana, Beina's sister is in her mid twinties and when other people her age are going out and socializing and going to colledge she pretty much dropped her life to help out with the home and be with the kids, she works so hard i dont know how she keeps going! They struggle with money all the time, the kids are not getting a nutritious diet only eating rice and a mixture of cabbage and rolled up flour as dumplings for their meals. I have been eating their meals for the last week and can already feel a difference in my body, i am weaker, and more tired and really craving flavour! I have had to buy a bunch of fruit because i just cant eat any more starch!
There are about 20 kids who are going to school now but the new kids are going to be starting up the following year. I want them to and from school most days and it takes a good 45 minutes to get there. On the way to school we pass through the temples and river where they burn the bodies. Each morning we guess how many dead bodies we will see for the day taking them to and from school. Their school is actually right near the cremation sight, where all the tourists are so they have an open school room for the young kids for tourists to walk by and donate to their school. There is alot of down time here, when the volunteers and I get tired we just hang outside in the sun chatting with eachother, picking out lice from the kids heads... other times we teach them english and math and than spend the rest of the time just making them smile, playing games and keeping them occupied.
There is one little kid who at first i thought was a girl, but on shower day found out was a little boy. He is always sitting in the corner alone, looking down at the floor, no expression, no energy. People just ignore him and the kids a mean to him but he kind of goes unnoticed in a house full of rambuncious kids. He never talks and never smiles, so he became my project for the last few days. I took a liking to him and tried to give him attention, with no success, he would just keep looking at the floor no matter what i tried. The other day, after a week trying with him we were all downstairs watching the loud kids dance, soaking up our attention. Amongst all the noise and excitement he came and stood infront of me, head down, no smile, but almost testing me seeing if he was allowed to have attention too. I grabbed him with a huge hug and put him on my lap and cuddled him. He usually would push away from such affection but he melted in my arms. I felt so good! To top it off, the next day i saw him again quiet, sad and sitting in the corner i picked him up twisted him around and he had the biggest smile on his face ever! just those little things like making the quiet, non affectionate kid who never gets any attention to smile and feel comfortable with me makes the whole experience that much better.
They are goofing around with me more and more these days and i am getting more of a feel of living with them.
Volunteering like this is a great expereince for me, its forcing me to come out of my comfort zone with giving affection and dealing witht he kids, and is really testing my patients. Its Grea to be able to live like the real Nepalese do, eat their food, sleep on their bed.. PLywood, and partake in their daily lives. No tourist who comes and stays at the top end guest house would ever see this side of Nepal. I am blessed!
tomorrow we are ordering a bunch of Momo's (dumplings filled with meaty goodness) for the kids as a surprise. Friday Pemba, and Faba, the two sons about my age are taking us girls to an outside concert all day where some hip bands are playing, that should be fun and exciting:)
There are 50(ish) kids here, its hard to keep track of them all because there seems to be new ones arriving on a dialy basis. I have only been here a week and there are already 4 new kids. A family runs the Orphange, started by a woman called Beina, her two sons, sister, brothers, mom and dad all help out. Rachana, Beina's sister is in her mid twinties and when other people her age are going out and socializing and going to colledge she pretty much dropped her life to help out with the home and be with the kids, she works so hard i dont know how she keeps going! They struggle with money all the time, the kids are not getting a nutritious diet only eating rice and a mixture of cabbage and rolled up flour as dumplings for their meals. I have been eating their meals for the last week and can already feel a difference in my body, i am weaker, and more tired and really craving flavour! I have had to buy a bunch of fruit because i just cant eat any more starch!
There are about 20 kids who are going to school now but the new kids are going to be starting up the following year. I want them to and from school most days and it takes a good 45 minutes to get there. On the way to school we pass through the temples and river where they burn the bodies. Each morning we guess how many dead bodies we will see for the day taking them to and from school. Their school is actually right near the cremation sight, where all the tourists are so they have an open school room for the young kids for tourists to walk by and donate to their school. There is alot of down time here, when the volunteers and I get tired we just hang outside in the sun chatting with eachother, picking out lice from the kids heads... other times we teach them english and math and than spend the rest of the time just making them smile, playing games and keeping them occupied.
There is one little kid who at first i thought was a girl, but on shower day found out was a little boy. He is always sitting in the corner alone, looking down at the floor, no expression, no energy. People just ignore him and the kids a mean to him but he kind of goes unnoticed in a house full of rambuncious kids. He never talks and never smiles, so he became my project for the last few days. I took a liking to him and tried to give him attention, with no success, he would just keep looking at the floor no matter what i tried. The other day, after a week trying with him we were all downstairs watching the loud kids dance, soaking up our attention. Amongst all the noise and excitement he came and stood infront of me, head down, no smile, but almost testing me seeing if he was allowed to have attention too. I grabbed him with a huge hug and put him on my lap and cuddled him. He usually would push away from such affection but he melted in my arms. I felt so good! To top it off, the next day i saw him again quiet, sad and sitting in the corner i picked him up twisted him around and he had the biggest smile on his face ever! just those little things like making the quiet, non affectionate kid who never gets any attention to smile and feel comfortable with me makes the whole experience that much better.
They are goofing around with me more and more these days and i am getting more of a feel of living with them.
Volunteering like this is a great expereince for me, its forcing me to come out of my comfort zone with giving affection and dealing witht he kids, and is really testing my patients. Its Grea to be able to live like the real Nepalese do, eat their food, sleep on their bed.. PLywood, and partake in their daily lives. No tourist who comes and stays at the top end guest house would ever see this side of Nepal. I am blessed!
tomorrow we are ordering a bunch of Momo's (dumplings filled with meaty goodness) for the kids as a surprise. Friday Pemba, and Faba, the two sons about my age are taking us girls to an outside concert all day where some hip bands are playing, that should be fun and exciting:)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Kathmandu
What a way to spend my 19th birthday, arriving in Kathmandu, a city bustling with character. We went out to a nice bar where they played live music and the singers dedicated a song to my as the cooks brought out free drinks and cake for my table. It was alot of fun and also a great way to end my group trip with Intrepid. It was so weird to be on my own again after the tour ended.
I just recently decided that i am no longer going to go to Europe. I dont really know what i was thinking when i decided to go there in the first place, when there is still so much to see in Asia. I am in the groove here, loving the culture and the people I cant even imagine leaving here yet and going to an whole new world in Europe. I can save that for another time in my life, but for now my heart is in Asia. So along with being alone in Kathmandu I now have to cancel all my plans in Europe and my plane tickets and begin planning my next adventure, which was a little stressful for me.
I have my plan sort of figured out now; After doing my Yoga Retreat for a week i will fly to Beijing and start a China/Tibet Adventure for a month. Starting off by seeing the Great wall and Terra Cotta Warriors than experience the colorful culture of Tibet. The change of plans makes me more excited for whats to come of my trip.
I Stayed a couple of nights in Thamal, The crazy, backpacker's heaven of Kathmandu. The roads are lined with different shops and pubs selling everything you could possibly need. I really got the hang of living in Thamal, starting off with language lessons in the morning, walking around and enjoying the energy during the evenings. On my Second day of being in Kathmandu, there just so happened to be the most crazy festival of the Year, Holi. Originally, on this holiday boys would throw powder at girls that they liked to "claim" them but now its just a huge party in the streets where people throw water and colored powder at anyone and everyone. There is no way you can walk the streets without being attacked by people with powder, covering your entire body. I went to check out this holiday and immediately got attacked by two kids smearing bright blue powder in my hair and on my face. I got into the spirit of the holiday and bought some water balloons, filling them with water and powder and throwing them for defense. I ran into a group of young backpackers who were really getting into Holi, and tagged along with them all day. We ran around the streets and at one point led a group of about 50 Nepalese guys celebrating through the streets. We took cover in a Closed convenience store, the store manager feeding us junk food and alcohol from his shop. It was one of the best days so far but the fun ended when me and the other girls i was with all got 3 raw eggs cracked on our heads and mobs of guys would try to "feel us up" and got aggressive. We had some drinks and than cleaned up but i STILL have orange yellow and red hair from the powder after 3 days... It was fun to be able to meet some fun young travelers and join in the celebrations together..
I am learning a little bit of Nepalese but its been a little challenging. Today I got dropped off at my next volunteer home, an orphanage housing 50 kids. I am defiantly going to need to practice more Nepalese because most of them just look at me like i am stupid when i try to talk to them. The orphanage is not very structured or organized.. the kids basically run around with no rules or people watching them. I am lukcily with two other voolunteers so i have some people to hang out with aswell.. I well keep you posted on how its going, the computert is about to shut off....
I just recently decided that i am no longer going to go to Europe. I dont really know what i was thinking when i decided to go there in the first place, when there is still so much to see in Asia. I am in the groove here, loving the culture and the people I cant even imagine leaving here yet and going to an whole new world in Europe. I can save that for another time in my life, but for now my heart is in Asia. So along with being alone in Kathmandu I now have to cancel all my plans in Europe and my plane tickets and begin planning my next adventure, which was a little stressful for me.
I have my plan sort of figured out now; After doing my Yoga Retreat for a week i will fly to Beijing and start a China/Tibet Adventure for a month. Starting off by seeing the Great wall and Terra Cotta Warriors than experience the colorful culture of Tibet. The change of plans makes me more excited for whats to come of my trip.
I Stayed a couple of nights in Thamal, The crazy, backpacker's heaven of Kathmandu. The roads are lined with different shops and pubs selling everything you could possibly need. I really got the hang of living in Thamal, starting off with language lessons in the morning, walking around and enjoying the energy during the evenings. On my Second day of being in Kathmandu, there just so happened to be the most crazy festival of the Year, Holi. Originally, on this holiday boys would throw powder at girls that they liked to "claim" them but now its just a huge party in the streets where people throw water and colored powder at anyone and everyone. There is no way you can walk the streets without being attacked by people with powder, covering your entire body. I went to check out this holiday and immediately got attacked by two kids smearing bright blue powder in my hair and on my face. I got into the spirit of the holiday and bought some water balloons, filling them with water and powder and throwing them for defense. I ran into a group of young backpackers who were really getting into Holi, and tagged along with them all day. We ran around the streets and at one point led a group of about 50 Nepalese guys celebrating through the streets. We took cover in a Closed convenience store, the store manager feeding us junk food and alcohol from his shop. It was one of the best days so far but the fun ended when me and the other girls i was with all got 3 raw eggs cracked on our heads and mobs of guys would try to "feel us up" and got aggressive. We had some drinks and than cleaned up but i STILL have orange yellow and red hair from the powder after 3 days... It was fun to be able to meet some fun young travelers and join in the celebrations together..
I am learning a little bit of Nepalese but its been a little challenging. Today I got dropped off at my next volunteer home, an orphanage housing 50 kids. I am defiantly going to need to practice more Nepalese because most of them just look at me like i am stupid when i try to talk to them. The orphanage is not very structured or organized.. the kids basically run around with no rules or people watching them. I am lukcily with two other voolunteers so i have some people to hang out with aswell.. I well keep you posted on how its going, the computert is about to shut off....
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