Riding elephants

31 July 2010                             2:04pm                       Kathmandu

I am now at the end of my journey. It has been one crazy, incredible, unbelievable ride! First, a continuation of how I got to this point…

Hiking back from Pokhara. After a few hours of hiking, we reached the outer limits of the city. First though, we had to cross a river. Unfortunately, the bridge was washed out some time ago, so we had to cross the river. Like, wade through it. Honestly, though, after all that walking in the heat, it felt so refreshing to be in the water. The river wasn’t too deep, coming up to just above my knees, but some parts were fairly fast flowing, so it became a little difficult to walk through. I was one of the first across, so instead of standing on the bank of the river I just stood in it. It felt so nice.

At that point we were nearly at the Tibetan refugee camp, so as tired as we all were we went to visit/walk through it. It was cool, although nothing like what I expected a refugee camp to be. The whole place was open, with stable houses. It was a little difficult when leaving to demarcate the boundaries of the camp itself. After that little jaunt we all caught cabs back to the hotel where I enjoyed a nice, long hot shower that felt oh-so-good. I spent most of the day in my room, as I apparently missed out on the spa trip.

That night I went out to dinner with Keesler, Dee, and Ashe at some restaurant along the lake that was playing live music. It was fun, with some good conversation. Mostly though, it felt nice to relax with friends.

The following morning we got up early in the morning to depart for Chitwan. Again, we loaded up the bus and piled in. It was a long drive to Chitwan, although luckily we didn’t run into any landslides, bandhs, or anything else that would impede our travel. About time! The driver kept the A/C on most of the way, which made it a shock when we finally got out of the bus and were metaphorically bitch-slapped by the humidity (heat too, but mostly humidity).

One thing I must say- Chitwan was so much different from the rest of the country that I’ve seen so far, or at least seemed that way. Houses were still pretty basic, but larger than what we’ve seen in passing through villages. Also, they’re spread out. A final thing is that it’s so flat. I’ve been so used to being in the mountains and hills, it was a shock to get to the Tarai and have everything smoothed out.

So, once we unloaded the bus the hotel staff loaded it into a boat, which we had to take across the river to get to the resort. I was a little concerned as the wall of the boat didn’t come high enough up for my tastes. A couple of times I thought we were going to tip so far that water would start coming into the boat. Thankfully, though, we made it across without incident.

The Chitwan trip was so relaxing, I don’t think I opened my computer once (ok, I opened it twice, but just so Ashok and Kashish could read over my article). We had things planned, but didn’t officially have to do any of it. And in our free time we mostly hung out at the bar, talking or sleeping or playing cards (once someone found a deck).

A little while after we arrived at the resort, we met to go on our elephant ride. Nearly everyone went- it was so much fun. I will admit though, it got a little crazy at times. Our elephant driver took us through a lot of dense jungle areas with some very prickly bushes/trees/etc. I got a number of scratches, not to mention a nice tear in my pants. At least I made out better than Martin, who lost a shoe. I’m starting to think Nepal is just a shoe-killer. I think the loss of Martin’s shoe was the 4th or 5th one that we as a group lost, plus the number of shoes that we found in the river during rafting. We should have kept them all to ensure a steady supply, just in case.

Martin's lost shoe

Dinner was soon after we returned from the elephant ride, and a little while after that we had a cultural program- Tharu dancing.  The program was short – only 3 dances – but it was really good.  It’s amazing, the dancing reminded me a little of Morris dancing, that I did research on in high school.  I think it’s true that dance is the universal language.  Common factors in cultural dancing are seen in places as far away as Nepal and England.  Towards the end the dancers invited the audience up to join them- of course Dee was the first one out from our group.  I even got up for a little bit, although it was a little too long and tiring for me.  Plus, I just felt stupid.  It was a fun time altogether though.


The next morning we had a (very) early jungle walk, followed by boating.  Before the walk our guide gave us a safety briefing on the 3 different types of wildlife we may see- rhinos, sloth bears, and tigers.  So, at least now I know what to do in case I ever run into any of those three animals.  I think the guide’s description of the sloth bears is the best: “They don’t like human faces so they will maul them.”  So reassuring.  I think I’d rather have a run-in with a tiger.

Unfortunately (and I think I was the only one that thought so), we didn’t get to see any animals on the walk, which I felt defeated the purpose of it.  At least we saw rhinos the day before, and got to see tiger footprints while walking.  The boat ride was nice, although basically the same as the ride to the resort.  After we got back we ate breakfast, and then went to rest for awhile.  I finally got to talk with Ashok and Kashish about my article, so I can work on getting that (finally) published.

After our resting time, we set out to bathe elephants!  It was really just more like bathing with elephants, as we didn’t actually do any sort of washing.  We went two to an elephant.  Eugenia and I were on one elephant.  When we got on, the elephant tipped to the side, where I promptly fell off.  Eu managed to stay on like a champ.  After the elephant stood back up, I was still standing in the water wondering how I was going to get back on.  The elephant driver saw me, and motioned that I should get on by grabbing the elephant’s ears and climbing up its trunk.  I felt so bad, but the guy was insistent so I did it.  The elephant actually boosted me up once I put my front on its trunk.

After that I became a human shield for Eu as I was in front and the elephant started shooting water out of its trunk at us.  It was absolutely crazy, but so much fun.  After he got tired of that, he tilted over again to wash his head, and we went flying off.  It was so much fun.  Who’d have thought I would ever go swimming with elephants!

 Me and Eu on the elephant

Watching everyone else was absolutely hilarious.  Martin and Ashe went together, and made absolutely ridiculous elephant trunks for themselves (with their arms, of course).  Everyone was screaming, laughing, and having a good time.  We hung out in the water for a little bit after the elephants left (and once the piles of elephant poop floated by), where Ashok (who else?) started a splash fight.  I think that was the most fun I’ve had so far.

The rest of the day was spent showering, playing cards, and relaxing.  After nightfall Dee brought out a couple bottles of wine, one from the resort and one she bought in Pokhara.  The wine from Pokhara was quite interesting.  The label was all in Nepali, so Kashish translated for us.  It was so crazy- about having a juicy and moist heart, and some other crazy stuff that had absolutely nothing to do with the wine.  It may be for a reason- to distract the person from noticing just how weird the wine is.  Everyone had their own opinion, but I think it smelled (and tasted) like a combination of apples and barbeque sauce.  Weirdest wine ever.

Village life

16 July 2010 6:26pm Chitwan

...When we got very close to the village, we had to get out and walk. There was still a small landslide area that hadn't been cleared yet. The walk wasn't too bad, although it was hot. When we got into the vilalge, we were greeted by a nice welcoming ceremony. Everyone got tika and a flower wreath (I can't think what else to call it) around their neck. They also prepared lunch for us in one of the houses along the street. After we ate, as it was Suniti's birthday, we had a nice surprise for her- chocolate crumb cake brought from Pokhara. Although it wasn't that special. I think the students ate more of the cake than she did.

After lunch, we hiked up to this observation tower that is in the process of being built. It's named after a British actress named Joanna Lumley, who was a big advocate of the rights of Gurkha soldiers, granting them resettlement, pensions, etc. As just about everyone in the village is a former Gurkha or has a father that was, they really love her there (well, all over Nepal, really). The tower is meant to be a tourist attraction to get them to come to Maitikhan, and the whole village raised money to build it. However, the rest of the money came from the government, and the project has been put on hold for now. It does offer a great view, though.

Once we got back from that venture, we were shown to our host families to get settled in. We were paired up according to our mini-project in the village, so I roomed with Keesler. Our host family was really nice, and we learned a lot during the family genealogy we did. One thing we learned was that GUrungs are really into cross-cousin marriage, so you're supposed to marry your father's sister's kids. Of course, marrying your father's brother's kids is completely out of the question (well, it's ok if the father doesn't have a sister or if she doesn't have kids to marry off). I know that this still occurred in some Southeast Asian tribal groups that are kind of remote, but I was surprised that this was still occurring in a fairly modern country. Our host father actually married a Rai from Darjeeling (he didn't tell his family until 3 years later when his first son was born), but planned to marry his son to his sister's daughter, who lives in the UK. The family is also Christian. We found this out after asking about a huge picture of Jesus hanging in the room (I did notice it was a strange thing to see there). Apparently they're only 80% Christian- the missing 20% is because of the cross-cousin marriages.

After doing the genealogy and eating dinner, Ashok (who had come to translate) and Lucia (who came with him) left and Keesler and I got ready for bed. It definitely wasn't the best night's sleep- it was very hot and the bed was too short for me to sleep on.

We got up fairly early in the morning to eat breakfast and then met up for some millet planting. I think the hardest part for me in planting millet was the crouching down to plant. I had to take a break every so often, because my knees and legs hurt. It's times like this that I really hate my old lady joints. A lot of people quit halfway through, but some of us stuck through the whole thing. We were quite muddy afterward; luckily there was a place nearby to wash. It was naturally flowing water, but they channeled it into a spout and pool. That was cool to see how they channeled and used their naturally occurring resources.

Once everyone was all cleaned up, we went back to the center of the village to re-group and prepare for our mini projects. While we were doing that we had some snacks, as most everyone was hungry after all that planting. In our downtime a few people started kicking a soccer ball around with some of the village children, which was fairly amusing to watch.

After that I left with Keesler, Ashok and Lucia to investigate Keesler's and my project on health and sanitation. Unfortunately, the health clinic was closed so we set off to find the head of the water committee, who was somewhere by one of the water tanks grazing his buffalo. We wandered across (and up) the whole village, looking for the tank and this guy. Eventually we found him and had a nice talk with him about the water system in the village, briefly interrupted by me finding a leech on myself. He was kind enough to get it off me and kill it. I appreciated it. After, he took us to the top of the hill to see the radio station that was built a few years back.

We took a different way back, seeing different parts of the village. When we got back we met up with the rest of the group and then headed out to play volleyball. Now, that was fun. We ended up playing two games, one to 50 and one to about 20 or 25 or so. I really think that it was the most fun I've ever had playing volleyball. Plus, Dambar and Ashok- surprising on the volleyball court. Unfortunately, we eventually had to end our games to go home, eat dinner, and clean up before the cultural program.

The cultural program was over at Dee and Eugenia's house, where Dee ended up dressed as a Gurung for the dancing. Once we all got there Aya ended up getting roped in, too. It started off with some Brahmin dance and music, which started off good but quickly became boring as all of the songs were exactly the same. Once the Gurungs finally started dancing it became a little more fun (they had a boom box). I was so tired by the end, so I was very glad to go to bed.

The following morning we got up early, packed, and got ready to head out back towards Pokhara. We loaded up the jeep with our stuff, said good bye to those driving back, and set off on our hike back to Pokhara. I was hardcore, hiking in sandals and a dress. On our way out of the village, we met our goodbye committee who tika'd and wreathed us. As soon as we got to the top of the hill we left our flowers at the temple (those things are so itchy!), and as soon as we found some water we washed the tika off.

The hike was mostly the same, although there were a few highlights. Various shortcuts down crazy paths. Ashe singing children's songs and listening to Aya's commentary on the songs. Watching Dambar step in a giant mud pile and hearing him yell 'fuck'. I also got to talk to Ashok about my project, which made me feel more comfortable with it.

Packed in like sardines... again

15 July 2010 3:44pm Pokhara

Soon after that we got back on the bus to Pokhara. As my skirt was completely soaked, I took it off and hung it off the back of the seat in front of me, sitting there in my bathing suit bottoms. After we stopped for a bathroom break, I took the shirt off to get the rest of that dry. Luckily, I had a shawl with me so I wasn't sitting in just my bathing suit on the bus. We still had a ways to go, but it didn't actually feel that long.

We finally arrived in Pokhara after dark and promptly got settled in our hotel. A little while after we arrived we all met downstairs to go out, as they had arranged for a place for us to watch the World Cup final. On the way to Pokhara on the bus some of us took out some bets with Ashe, who was rooting for Spain. If he won, he would win Rs 50 from 3 people, plus a sandwich from Katie. Nice betting.

Unfortunately, it was a long time until the game. The staff ordered appetizers for us, as we were going to be there a while (we got there around 8 and the game didn't start until 12:15am). Some people ordered drinks, a few ordered coffee, and Ashe got Red Bull- that was probably the best decision. Around 10 or so we ordered food as the kitchen was about to close.

The game was intense, although I'm sure by now everyone's heard about it or seen it. However, it was ridiculously hard to stay awake through the whole thing. With overtime, we ended up staying out until about 3am- this was on top of meeting at 6:30am and rafting/walking for a good chunk of the day. Needless to say, I was pooped before the game even started. I managed to stay up for most of it (I dozed off a couple of times), just to see the Netherlands lose, and for me to be out 50 rupees. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

After the match was when things started to get really interesting. We were in between two tables of some fairly boisterous guys who were yelling and banging things all through the match. As soon as Spain scored their goal, the whole place exploded. A couple of guys whipped their shirts off, and one of them dumped beer over himself, then started shaking the bottle around. Of course this splashed onto our table. The guys on that side also kept trying to burn a cigarette on their friend. How fun. On the other side, there was a lot of yelling, and quite a few sounds of glass breaking. After that, I was pretty keen to leave.

Thankfully, the following morning breakfast was open a little later than usual to accommodate the people who had been up all night watching the game. We had a free day for the whole day, so most of us who didn't have meetings went out shopping for supplies for the village and for Chitwan. The shopping went pretty well, I think everyone got just about everything they needed. The only thing I didn't find was a pair of Tevas (I found my size the following morning). After a brief rest period back at the hotel, some of us met Ashok for lunch at the Boomerang Cafe, which had a huge lawn overlooking the lake.

After lunch, as I was still feeling terrible (I was sick for about 2 weeks by that point), Ashok dropped me off at the health clinic on the way to his sister's house. The doctor was nice, although I was concerned with his less-than-thorough exam. I was also concerned by the fact that everyone kept walking in and out of the 'exam room', which was basically the reception hall with a curtain pulled across the entrance. He gave me some antibiotics, cough medicine and cold medicine, and told me to come back in a few days for a check-up.

I walked back to the hotel from the clinic, which actually wasn't that far. I was surprised, the cab ride made it seem like it would be much longer. On the way back I passed by one kid who yelled 'hello' as I passed by (like many children do when they see any of us). Being tired and frustrated, I didn't respond. Well, that wasn't good enough for him. He kept shouting 'hello' in an increasingly angry voice until I finally responded back. Sheesh.

On my way back to the hotel I stopped to get a few things, and then went to relax for a bit. I met up with others later and headed off to dinner at Once Upon a Time, which was a pretty decent restaurant. Most of the staff was there too. We stayed there for quite some time, and we ended up closing the place (as usual).

The following morning we got up fairly early to head to the village, Maitikhan. Luckily we got to drive most of the way, as the major landslide had been cleared out. We had 2 large jeeps. I rode in the back of mine with Martin, Dee and Aya. It was very cozy back there. And by cozy I mean pretty tight- maybe enough room to swing a cat (who the hell thinks of these phrases anyway?).

Rafting!

15 July 2010 8:24am Maitikhan

To continue...

We finally arrived at the rafting place, which was a storefront in the middle of a village. It was such a relief to get out of that truck. There was a water tap close, so we all rushed towards it to wash the mud off of our hands and feet. Once that was done we were given some cold drinks and then were outfitted with life vests, helmets, and paddles. Some kind man also donated another flip flop to Aya, so she actually had a complete pair of shoes to wear. After we got down to the river there was a briefing about how to paddle, instructions, the river, etc. We were then split into two boats- the safety boat (for people uncomfortable with rafting) and the other boat (or as I called it, the adventure boat). Dee went straight to the safety boat with Eugenia, and some more people joined her there.

I went in the other boat (where else would I be?) and got to be one of the captains (Martin was the other)! I figured I was probably one of the stronger paddlers so I went to the front. It was awesome! We were right in line for all of the huge head-on waves. One of them, if I didn't have my foot stuck in the strap I would have gone flying backward.

Further down the river we stopped at this restaurant for lunch (it looked a little fancy for how we were dressed and appeared), where we got to see Martin's article in the Kathmandu Post. That was pretty cool. I'm still waiting for feedback on my article; I'm frustrated at how long it's taking.

Since there were reports of more landslides, we decided to just raft for another half hour and then get picked up, so that we could avoid the road with landslides. We had a couple more splashing battles between the two boats; Ashok was the real troublemaker. Retaliation came at the hands of our boat guide, as he doesn't need to get a good grade. Our boat guide was awesome- he busted out the bucket.

Very soon, we arrived at our end point, which was this hard-to-find path along the side of the river. We climbed up that to where the bridge was (we landed on the opposite side of the river from the road) and crossed that into the village we ended at. There were a bunch of children there, yelling and greeting us. I'm very sad I didn't get a video of this- Ashe started singing the first part of the World Cup anthem, and then all the kids started singing the whole thing from there. It was too funny.

We spent some time there, piling all of our rafting stuff up, finding dry clothes for people (I opted not to), changing and using the bathroom. Now, I've seen some crazy bathrooms during this summer, but I'm pretty sure this was the worst. When I finally got the door unlocked (the thing had a freaking shitty-ass padlock on it), there were only a few things in the room. A bucket of water, a jar, and a drain. Nothing even remotely resembling a toilet. Not even a hole. I first tried going down the drain, but that didn't work- it was too close to the wall and pee kept splashing on my feet. I came to the only logical solution left at that point- I was supposed to pee in the jar. I thought pooping in the hole on the train was hard; this was something else entirely. I had no idea what to do after, so I just left the jar as it was and washed myself with the bucket of water. So gross.

Bandhs and landslides, oh my!

14 July 2010 8:00am Maitikhan

So, a continuation from last time…

We had to meet the bus to Pokhara in front of Himalayan Java at 6:30am sharp, so I got up at the ungodly early hour of 4:15am to shower and finish packing. However, as that was too early I hit the snooze until about 5am, and then finally got up to finish packing, shave and get dressed. I was too tired to shower, felt fairly clean, and figured since I was going rafting anyway it wouldn’t matter.

Kaka and Kaki got up to see me off at 6am and then I left in the car with Ram (our driver whose name I finally learned). I got there in good time and dropped some of my stuff off at Blue Horizon. I left some stuff at the host family’s; I’ll pick it up when I get back from this trip. It was raining when we got there, so luckily the bus had a tarp to cover up all of our stuff on the top.

I think the bus ride out to the rafting spot was an adventure in itself. We drove for awhile, and then hit this gigantic line of cars/busses/trucks/etc. As we were sitting there for some time, we got out to see what was going on. As it turns out, we got to see how a bandh gets formed. The story of what happened as we compiled it later: the night before, a power pole crashed down onto a house and a power line snapped. The villagers called NEA (Nepal Electrical Authority) to have them shut the power off. After that, someone died. So, that morning some of the locals decided to call a bandh to demand their right to power and compensation for the victim’s family. Apparently they also wanted NEA to come out there immediately to restore power and that they would block the road until NEA did so. They put a table in the middle of the road and also threw across the broken power line and some large pieces of wood. Basically, this stuff continues because those with the biggest sticks make the rules, and here the locals had the biggest sticks.

A couple of extra-interesting things happened while we were in the midst of this bandh. First, Dee ran into our driver from the Tibet border, who drove us to Kathmandu. Second, somebody tried driving through the bandh, and then everyone started running towards the car, shouting and picking up sticks. Apparently, they were shouting something along the lines of “Let’s go get him!” because he was breaking (or trying to break) the bandh. Luckily, that didn’t go anywhere much and after about another 10 minutes or so they were convinced to end the bandh.

We got back on the bus and continued to move, so glad that it was all over and we were back moving on the bus. Then after about a half hour or so, we hit another long line of vehicles- this time way longer. Here, as we found out, there was a landslide and possibly a bus stuck in it, and there were only a few people working to clear it. We sat there for quite some time, waiting to move. In the meantime, we came across this crazy bridge that allowed people to cross the river. It was basically a chair on a pulley system. There were two large steel cables running along the top, which the carriage (thin, with two seats facing each other) was attached to. Then there was a rope for a pulley. People would sit in the carriage and pull the rope, basically pulling themselves across. Ashe went down to investigate first and took himself out there. So, of course most of us ended up trying it. It was actually pretty cool.

The landslide situation seemed like it wasn’t going to change so Ashok had us grab water and our cameras so that we could walk to the rafting place (only 3km!). As we got to the landlide they seemed to be letting through some vehicles, as half of the road was cleared by then. We climbed over the landslide, which was just a gigantic pile of mud and grass. Past the landslide there was a rock wall along the side of the road that we climbed on to avoid a lot of the mud on the road. Eventually we had to get off the wall and crossed to the other side, where it was so hard to avoid the mud. I think just about everyone fell in the mud (my flip flops were filled with rocks and mud), but poor Aya lost both her flip flops. She found one, but it wasn’t hers. Luckily, there was a truck meeting us just past that point, so she didn’t have far to go one-shoed.

The truck was another one of those things that was an adventure in itself. First, the truck was tiny. Second, there were about 15 of us. Third, the back was covered in a tarp. So, most of us managed to squeeze in the back of the truck, and the rest rode on the tailgate. Oh, and that 15? Just our party, not including guides, helpers, or anyone else (and there were more than a few of them). I ended up way in the back, not even sitting on an actual seat- it was a bar. It was so incredibly hot I was literally dripping sweat. I don’t think I’ve ever been that hot in my life.

I'm slacking

13 July 2010 8:31pm Maitikhan

It’s been too long since I’ve last written. For the first part of last week nothing much happened, but then everything seemed to happen at once and I had no time to write at all. Tuesday we met with Gagan Thapa, a Nepali Congress member who is in both the parliament and the constituent assembly. Unfortunately I didn’t get to ask him anything as it wasn’t ‘my’ meeting, but I still got some useful information. The rest of the answers he gave to people’s questions were really good as well.

After the meeting most of us stayed behind at New Orleans restaurant to work and wait for news about another potential meeting. That meeting did take place, but was very short as our interviewee got lost on the way and had another meeting soon after. The woman we got to meet is Manushri Bhattarai, who is the leader of the Maoist student union and also the daughter of Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, number two in the Maoist chain of command. Only 4 people got to ask questions as she needed to leave. Unfortunately, it was even worse because she is ridiculously soft-spoken and was very hard to hear.

The following day Cecilia, Katie, Jakub and I met with Pasang, the chief of the PLA. I was expecting some buff, intense, angry guy just because of who he is, but he’s actually an average-looking guy, and incredibly nice, too! He only spoke the party line, but that’s to be expected. That discussion was good, and I finally got to ask some questions for my own project. We got signed copies of his book, a photo op, and even his permission to visit a PLA cantonment (we still have to get UNMIN’s permission for that last one).

In the evening I met with Dee and Eugenia to discuss our India plans, and had an experience with one of the worst cab drivers ever. I used the meter, and when I finally got to Pulchowk it said around 120. I gave him that, and he said no, it was 300 because he had an old meter and it didn’t charge enough. I told him that I didn’t care, I was giving him what the meter said, and that if he had an old meter that he should get a new one (in his defense I think he did have an old meter, but he should have disclosed that at the beginning). He kept arguing with me so I eventually put the money on the seat and got out. He was pissed, he kept looking at me from out his window and stayed there for quite some time. Eugenia and I had to go inside while we waited for Dee to get away from him. On the bright side, we mostly figured out our India plans.

I had another bad cab experience, although neither Keesler nor I can remember where or when this happened. Wherever we were, we caught a cab back home at night and negotiated a price beforehand. Keesler got dropped off first, and after I repeated to him that I was going to Purano (Old) Baneshwor, he started muttering angrily to himself in Nepali. I think he thought I was also in New Baneshwor. When we got to the main intersection by my house, I told him where to go. He started yelling at me, that the way I pointed was actually Battisputali and that it was more expensive. I let him take me the way he insisted (as there are 2 ways I can go from the intersection), but when I pointed the way after that he got angry and started swearing (I’m assuming from the tone) in Nepali. He was mean the rest of the way to my house, and tried charging an extra hundred rupees. I got into an argument with him and eventually ended up just leaving the money on the seat and getting out as quickly as possible. Damn cab drivers…

Anyway, Thursday was uneventful and Friday was spent finishing the editing I had to do for Martin Chautari. After work on Friday I first went to Bishal Bazar to pick up my kurtas from Bharati. They fit pretty nice, but not as nice as the one Kaki bought me (which she gave me Thursday night). The only bad part of the experience was Bharati trying to charge me Rs. 400 more than she originally told me when I ordered them. I was pissed and eventually gave her the money, but thankfully she could tell I was mad and agreed to 4600 rather than 5000. Oh well. After that I met Dee and Eugenia to start booking our tickets for India. We only got as far as the plane ticket to Delhi on August 1st as the train ticket place in India was already closed. We still have to concretely plan that out anyway.

We ate dinner at the Northfield Café after, which was actually really nice. We decided to change things up a bit and try something new. The food was ok (I think it was just what I ordered, though), but they had a live Nepali band playing which was cool. The atmosphere of the whole place is great. Luckily, the cab ride home was uneventful. Saturday I went with Dee, Jakub, and his girlfriend Hana to the palace museum. It was pretty cool, although I was sad that we weren’t allowed to take pictures. I think the worst thing about the palace is that it totally screams “Florida retirement home.” Once we found out the place was built in the 1960’s by an American architect, it didn’t seem as surprising anymore (still ugly, though). The front entranceway has one of those awesome double staircases, which I thought only existed in movies. Apparently, not. The staircase was also flanked on both sides by giant stuffed tigers rearing on their back legs. Pimpin’. We got to see receiving rooms, bedrooms for visiting dignitaries, personal offices of the king, dining rooms and even the king and queen’s bedroom. It was surprisingly small and not ostentatious- exactly the opposite of what I was expecting.

We got to see the garden (which was horribly overgrown and just ill-maintained) as well as the remains of the building where the royal massacre occurred, as the building itself was destroyed by the government soon after the massacre. Because that’s not suspicious or anything.

We met the whole group at Fire and Ice for lunch. They had already ordered a bunch of pizzas for the table, all but two of which had mushrooms on them. Eww. After was a free day, where I finally got to get a picture frame and print the photo for my host family. I hung out at OR2K with some people for a while after, until I went home for what I was hoping to be one last dinner with the family, and to finish packing. Unfortunately, when I got home only KFC was awaiting me. I was pretty disappointed. When Kaka and Kaki came home they said they were hoping that I would join them for dinner on King’s Road but I never came. They had called earlier and said they were on King’s Road, but didn’t say anything about dinner. If they had I would have went.

Holiday abroad

4 July 2010                           10:20pm                               Old Baneshwor

Happy birthday, America!  This was the first year that for the holiday, I’ve done absolutely nothing.  Well, nothing celebratory anyway.  I did do other stuff.  Today was the continuation of yesterday’s conference, thankfully starting later than it did yesterday.  The first part was great, it talked a lot about victims which was really fascinating.  I missed most of the second half as I had an interview to conduct.  I must say, I got a pretty good overview on Nepali newspapers, which helps me frame everything I’ve been looking at.

After my interview and a brief stop back in the conference to catch a little bit of Rhoderick Chalmers’s talk, I left with Dee to go to our meeting at Café Mitra.  I had a meeting with one of our advisors, and was  basically told to throw out all the research I’ve already done and start at a different point in time with a slightly different focus.  I was also told that with interviews, I need to do some research before and come up with some in-depth questions.  No shit, I’m not an idiot.  I’m just getting so frustrated with getting my topics criticized (or ‘refined’) every week.  I already lost the first two weeks, which means I’m that much further behind everyone in terms of this project.  If I get it done in time it’ll be a miracle.

After that frustrating meeting I went with some people to Café Kaldi (where else?) to grab something snack-like before heading home.  Even though I missed out on all the traditional 4^th foods, I at least got some chicken fingers and French fries today.  Oh, and a delicious chocolate soufflé.

Sadly, after getting home, my idea of relaxing was reading the ICRC report I got at the conference, written by Simon Robins.  So far it’s really good.  I also worked on my op-ed article.  My goal is to get the draft done by Tuesday/Wednesday and then send it off for comments before I submit the final draft for publication.  Hopefully I can get all that done before we go to Pokhara.