Tuesday, April 1, 2014

My journey through the himalayas, hills and plains of Nepal!

First of all let me tell you that I am such a fail. I was going to blog regularly during the trip, and then I decided to record each place I went instead of each day but here I just went completely awol for weeks. I had started to write one last week but I didn't finish it.  So here it is: A brief post on my trip of a lifetime.

Here is my nails for the trip which lasted me less about 4 day and my nails were gross for the remainder of the time haha!

This is a rough recreation of Swayambhunath Stupa (aka Monkey Temple), which is one of the holiest site for Buddhist around the world and also one of the World Heritage Site in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Click "Read more" to know all about my trip!



This trip was offered by Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at my school as an alternative Spring Break and I jumped on this chance to go back to my country Nepal, where I was born and raised until I was 15 years old. It was not the first time I was going back since I moved to United States but the purpose of my visit was different than my previous visit. We were there to conduct a 3-day core Kingian  Nonviolence Training collaborating with the students from Conflict and Peace development Studies department from Tribhuwan University and members from several other NGOs.

Here is our team at Tribhwan International Airport after 24 hours of constant traveling. Thank goodness our flight was equipped with lots of movies and complimentary drinks!
After a well needed good night's sleep at the hotel, we explored ancient city of Bhaktapur our first day. I had been here before but a while ago. I think this time around I was more appreciative about what's around me. We made some clay pottery, and I hurt my foot from the spinning wheel thing. It didn't hurt as bad but everyone else got worried for me so I felt bad. Anyways after this fiasco, we enjoyed a lovely nepali meal and went to a singing bowl center. We finally left Bhaktapur after hanging around the square talking to local kids and headed to Namobuddha.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square 

Handcrafted designs
Singing bowl heaven

clay pottery left outside to dry in pottery square
I made the little deformed plate on the left

right before the spinning wheel scraped my foot, perks of being so tall ;)

NamoBuddha view from
our resort
It was a lovely scenic ride to Namobuddha. We even saw a statue of Lord Shiva, which is second biggest in Asia. And the resort we stayed at was the best, we had these little cabins and they were like old traditional houses in Nepal with the modern amenities inside. So cool. And we could see some mountains and the Namobuddha monastery from there. The hike next day to the monastery was cut to half since the hotel was pup in the hill already. It was my first time to NamoBuddha and it was amazing. Amidst all the prayer flags, I was in my own little world; so peaceful. It was a perfect timing, going to this place before we started our three-day Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation in Nagarkot.
cutest hotels EVER!
Prayer flags!

















NamoBuddha 

We left for Nagarkot the same evening, going back through the scenic route yet again. Since our Nepali friends from various organizations and Tribhuwan University were not going to arrive until the next morning, we just relaxed around a bonfire, sang and dance in Nepali songs. Speaking of songs, the forever fresh song Resham firiri became the song of our trip. I am sure every Nepali, from children to elderly people can jam in this tune.


Next two days, students from my University, Tribhuwan University, and members of various organizations were engaged in this intense nonviolence training based on the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King jr. Since I am already a level I certified trainer, I was part of the trainer team. Although I did not do much teaching, I had blast helping my amazing co-trainers. It was a really different experience not only because it was my first time as a trainer, but also being in Nepal kind of as a tourists and mingling with so many people passionate about making world a better place. Everyone who were part of the training had their own story and aspiration, it was such a inspirational time. No matter where you are from, although there is some obvious differences we are similar in so many ways.

Our Training team!
View from our hotel. 
First when we got to our hotel, it was a little far from the main attractions in Nagarkot but the views, Oh My God. We were training with himalayas on our backdrop for three days. And after it got dark, we would start a bonfire and dance on Nepali and English tunes. We did some Nepali dance, cha cha slide and cotton eyed joe too haha. We even woke up really early one morning to see a breathtaking sunrise. I forgot the dates but third day of our training was just closing ceremony, where we handed everyone a certificate and took pictures. Then it was time to leave, it was sad parting ways with our new friends.

The picture does not do any justice.
that smile <3
look closely, there is a crocodile.
We headed to Chitwan, for the next adventure on our trip. While I had been to Chitwan lots of time before, I had never been to the National Park before. So as you can imagine, I was pretty excited to ride an elephant. We had a whole day exploring the wildlife, canoeing down the river, riding elephant, seeing one-horned rhino, gharial, tons of crocodiles and other rare species, and visiting elephant breeding center. Being a Biology major, I get pretty excited seeing things I learned about. And also I took a ton of selfies with these animals haha. Chitwan was also warm, comparing to chilly mornings and evenings in hilly Nagarkot.

a rare sighting, no big deal!



Team Shanti!
flat tire!
Finally coming back to Kathmandu for last two days of our trip, we went rafting on Trishuli river which was a last minute plan. I was so scared before but I decided to do it anyways (so glad I did). And then we also experienced a flat tire, my first and hopefully the last flat tire experience. We actually had fun hanging out on the side of a narrow road, waving to every vehicle that passed by. After this short hiatus, we got to Kathmandu.




YUM! 
I had missed the chaos in Kathmandu this time around because we went out of city the very next day we got to Nepal. And I hadn't had any good mo:mos, panipuri or chatpat yet. During our stay in Kathmandu, we mostly went around Thamel for shopping. We had a whole day of exploring Swayambhunath aka Monkey Temple, Boudhanath and Early Childhood Development Center Butterfly Home. Visiting the children of ECDC has to be my favorite thing in the trip. ECDC is a organization founded by 2013 CNN here of the year Pushpa Basnet, who had devoted her time taking care of children with incarcerated parents. These kids were the happiest kids, and welcomed us to play with us in a heartbeat. I loved when I asked them to sing something they happily sang for us. It was such an emotional moment for me, and I can't even describe what I went through. I finally had the best mo:mo this day too.
LOVE!
Check out that full moon behind the Boudhanath Stupa.


Holi re!
Finally,  last day of the trip was something I was looking forward to since I found out our traditional festival Holi fell on this day, After breakfast some of us went around Thamel playing Holi with people. The crowd on street were crazy, we were soaked in color within five minutes of leaving our hotel. It was the best Holi I had in a long time. Since we had some more last minute plans in Nepal, some of us left without a shower. It was my group's last day in Nepal and some of my friends went back to airport covered in Holi colors haha. For me, I had extended my trip for one more week so I would have some time too see my friends and family before I go back to US.

I am terrible at writing, especially expressing my feelings but to be honest this trip was so much more than I imagine. This post might seem like a itinerary of what we did, but really everything stood out for me. I was really excited to come back to Nepal and experience it in a different way but I did not expect it to have so much effect on me. It had changed me in ways I can't describe. Moving to United States when I was just 14, there were so many things I didn't know about my own country.

One of my friend asked me, "Is everyone in your country so nice?" during the training and I just had the biggest smile. There was this small fear that what if my friends visiting from US don't like something or have a bad experience but everyone seemed to have such a great time. This made my trip even better, feeling proud of my country and especially the people.

My favorite place in Kathmandu, my school.
Siddhartha Vanasthali Institute


I spent the extra week visiting some of my friends and relatives. I went back to my beloved school Siddhartha Vanasthali with my friends and met one of my old teacher who surprisingly recognized me. That place is literally where I grew up as spent six years (grade 4 to 10) there, so many memories. The highlight of the week was definitely seeing the new baby (my cousin's son) of the family and being part of his naming ceremony. My families back in Rhode Island and California are jealous haha. Now I am back to cold in Rhode Island, catching up in classes and of course internet. Also excited to take care of my nails and draw on them after what felt like a really long two weeks.

I have left my heart in Nepal, YET AGAIN but i'll be right back <3




MORE INFO:

We have a big International Summer Institute in Rhode Island every summer like the one we conducted in Nepal. People from all over the world join us for this two weeks intense yet fun training. Learn more about it here: /http://web.uri.edu/nonviolence/summerinstituteinfo/

Learn more about Early Childhood Development Center: http://ecdcnepal.org/newportal/






4 comments:

  1. yes i m jealous about ur trip ;)
    u will get jealous when its my turn to have fun there :D
    anyway u did awesome job sister (y)

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    1. Thank you love <3 and when its your turn next time, I'll be there to make it more fun haha

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  2. I am so glad you wrote this narrative of the trip down Sanju! This is the most detailed account I have read, I enjoyed every bit of it and am truly appreciative because I am curious about Nepal. It is genuine and heart-felt. Thank you dear Sanju !!

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    1. Thank you Indra! I hope you get the chance to explore Nepal someday <3

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