More Kidnapping Stories

Upon entering the airport the security guards blocked my entry because I didn't have a ticket. I tried to explain that they needed to let me in so that I can buy a ticket. The guard then explained to me that I needed to leave the airport compound into the city to an agency to get a ticket that I am not allowed to enter without a ticket. We went back and forth. Then finally I asked o ne of them to escort me inside to the counter so I can buy a ticket, so that I can have a ticket to be in the airport so that I can get onto a plane. After I passed the initial x-ray check, the guard did not follow or try to continue to explain how I can not enter without a ticket.

As I approached the counter lines, I was clear that I wanted to go to the right line but my body moved toward the left line with one person in line. It appear to be the shorter line and indeed it was. But it turned out to be the longer line because this person had trouble with her reservation and she was there for a long time. I moved back to the right line where there were lots of people but at least the line was actually moving.

When I approached the counter, the man told me the flight was full. My only chance was with Royal Nepal after 2:30pm for the after 5pm take off flight. I explain to him that such an arrangement was no good because I as a single female should not enter Delhi in the evening without housing arrangements etc.... He assured me that my safety was not a problem and of course I insisted it was. I told him I would appreciate it very much if he could find a way to arrange a possible seat for me that I didn't mind sitting and waiting.

So I sat opposite the counter for the next two hours and recited with my beads. All the airport security thought I was Nepalese and would approach me in Nepalese in attempt to move my bag incase it was suspiciously dangerous. As they approach they would see my Buddhist recitation beads and back away. Others would point to my clothes and show signs of approval after discovering that I was not Nepalese.

During the wait I met an Indonesian family who wanted to know how it was for me to travel alone. I responded by saying, " It can be scary at times and there would be be no one to talk things over." The reconmended that I visit Indonesia but warned me about getting kidnapped and sold as a single female traveling and no one would know you have disappeared.

Right before the counter closed I approached the counter and the man let me on with a seat. I had one hour before departure for boarding. This was new for me, usually it's twenty minutes before departure when boarding is called. I later learned why this was so. There were two other security checks after baggage check in one to enter the gate and one to board the plane. So in total there were three security check in this airport. Everytime there was a check, everything was rechecked top to bottom. The security took the battery out of my flash light but allowed me to keep my bottled water and all my lotions.

Mr. Gupta

Went to the tailor to pick up my outfits. The skirt was three inches too wide. The blue saraware was not cut to order. I asked for pockets but none was provided. Despite all that, it is really nice to have things tailored to my size and especially my height. Stopped at Mr. Gupta's for somosas. I really like his samosas.

Lunch it was more or less the same thing cooked by Anuja's mom. It's still the same weird feeling of full and hungry the same time. Even in my dreams I dream about being hungry. Afterwards we exchanged gifts. I handed them cards I made. Anuja gave me a friendship bracelet she made and Anar handed me beaded bracelets. Juno handed me 20 rupees just incase I needed it for the airport, I accepted it because she really wanted me to have it.

Suraj and Juno walked out to the street with me to get a cab. A cab was negotiated for me for 100 rupees. We parted for good.

Back in Chabhil

I took the a taxi back to Chabhil where the house is. I was happy and ready to go to India despite all of the missing and death stories of foreigners from Li Wei. Due to the Fog delay, I missed the option of taking the two Saturday buses to Delhi from Kathmandu, an insane ride of over 38 hours. So I think I will try for a flight out of Kathmandu into Delhi tomorrow.

Since it being a Saturday today, all the shops were closed here so I could not pick up my tailored clothes. I will wait to pick up my clothes first thing in the morning.

I took a luke warm shower and sat to wait for my hair to dry. Everyone in the house came into my room to chat with me to figure out what was going on and what my plans were. I am waiting to pick up my sarawa and then the flight. I ate three samosas, I was very hungry it was all I had all day except for tea.

I watched the "Pianist". It's just so hard to believe that was not that long ago that in our human history such suffering existed. It was such an irony, another one of life's twists. The people who killed his entire family ends up saving him in the end. The pain causer also became the pain healer. I am amazed he managed to stay sane through it all.

I think when I go home, I should really dedicate some time to learn the guqin. I really like that instrument. I feel it wakes up the different basic elements in my body.

Anuja seemed to have returned to her lovely self and so did the rest of the family. Whatever that weird bug was that was going around went away. Sometime people don't know how to duck and cover and get all caught up in the wind of habits. Anuja complained of feeling physically ill. I see that she is detoxing from all the craziness that happened. She's the stress sponge for the house.

Juno had packed and taken all her things and moved into Lotus Hotel Guest House in Boudha for 275 rupees a night including a private hot shower, toilet and towel. She really likes her mentor named Chris who did not select her to go on the India pilgrimage. She looked much more stable and happy. I am glad for her.

Day Time Soap

Last night I found a way to keep my kidneys warm. I layered up and rolled up my sarongs to create extra padding between my back and the cold floor. It worked well, I slept well and stayed warm.

I tell the dirty, malnurished, sick looking sad dogs in the yard, "I'm just passing through, I'm just passing through." I was not interested in petting them or playing with them, but I do sympathize them.

Anar took me to brunch at an Indian restaurant. I really like the food we had. Some how she needed someone to talk to and she poured her heart out and cried at the restaurant. Anar comes from and upper caste. She is educated and earned her own house. During expansion of her house Peace Corp pulled out of Nepal due to political unrest. She expressed the trauma of it all because no one would help her including her family. A friend helped her figure out how to finish the construction of her house. Anar said none of the workers in the construction industry wanted to work with her because she was female and this male friend of a lower caste taught her how to not get cheated and what she needed to do to complete her house. They were very much in love with each other. Her father, along with her sister who is Anuja's mom, and Suraj all disapproved of this relationship. They did not want the house to leave the family and go to the lower caste man. They conspired together and threatened to send the police after the man and put him in jail for loving someone higher than his caste. I guess in Nepal you can get imprisoned for it. Out of grief, Anar attempted suicide. Anuja found her and saved her. She was hopitalized for 19 days. She did not speak to Suraj for a year and they all continued to live with her till this day. Anar said to me that she would rather the building go to a charity organization than to pass it on to her relatives. She insists that Suraj is sent to Kathmandu from her father as a spy. His mother who is wife of three only visits from time to time.

Well, that was a lot of "Days of Our Lives" day time soap drama for me over lunch. I guess this is also why everyone here loves "Titanic".

When I returned to the house I packed for my trip to Pokhara and took a double shower. I can't seem to get clean enough. When I eat, I can't seem to get full. I am hungry all the time. It is such a weird sensation.

After dinner it was more DVDs. I was not interested and really wanted to get some rest because I would have to get up at 5am to catch my bus for Pokhara.

Ex-Communicated

Juno wanted to go to a Tibetan Monastery outside of town, Souymbu. I sat quietly and recited all the way on the bus. i felt something was going and I didn't want to be pulled by them. There were many steps to climb before reaching to the gates of the monastery. I was climbing with them at their pace until Anuja came across her friends and she only introduced Juno and left me out and gave me the silent treatment. In fact they both did. It was weird. So I decided to walk in my own pace which was quicker than both of them. I have been hiking the mountains of China 8 to 10 hours a day. I have built strength. I wanted to separate from whatever was going on with them because I don't want to become that. I was pretty upset at this.

Juno was not in shape to do this and she trailed far behind. At one point, someone out of no where demanded to collect money from her because she was a tourist. I passed as Nepalese and I smiled back and kept silent when I passed by the same extortion person. This person was just extorting money from every tourist. He was not an official collector. There was no fee actually but none of the tourist knew. They just handed money over when asked. Juno didn't pay she argued back.

Well the very weird the ex-communication continued through out the day. Finally her friends introduced themselves to me at the end of the day. We all went out for Pizza and some how Juno got me to split the bill with her. It was her idea, it was her thank you to Anjua. It ended up being expensive. I have no idea why it was like this and why she was demanding this from me. She's showing herself as a gracious giver and yet behind closed doors she was fighting pennies with me. It's just odd. I just went along with it because I didnt' want to fight and catch her disease. My body ached from all of this and it took me awhile to clear all of this out of my system.

We went to the internet cafe together. I was put off by the events of the day and really wanted time alone. Juno left quite early. I spent 2 hours and it costed me 50 cents.

Just Pennies,..... Really!

I really like having tea brought to my bed before I even get out in the morning. I like to drink hot water or tea when I get up in the morning. Then Juno and I had a discussion in the room. She was agitated and had issues on money. She wanted to know if I would pay for my stay there. I told her I was and I knew she wasn't. I was basically paying for the both of us. Why was that? I don't know but her distress was over money. I reminded her that I have been paying every time we share cost at things together. And really in Nepal, it comes down to US pennies. I didn't remind her that she didn't not have the proper understanding of what equal half is. That my half has been greater than her not so equal half. It was an excuse to be afflicted, fight, unhappy, and whatever else. Well, not a chance on my part. No way! It's not worth it. I like being happy and having fun to much to spoil it for myself or let others do it.

Center Stage

I dreamed this morning that I went to visit many people and hung out with them. It was fun. I even did a dance performance. My partner wanted to shove us in a corner but I was the show case peice and show case peices are not for the corner but center. I so split from him and did ended up doing solo in the center where the spot light was properly light for the show case performer, me. It was better this way anyways. He was messing up the performance all together.

Bollywood

When I returned to the house, I was informed by Juno that Anuja was upset that I left the heater on all night. Actually if I had done so I wouldn't be cold but I was so I didn't. Juno blamed me and I asked her to translate and clarify. Somehow that did not carry across and Anuja looked at me like I was a criminal. No one seemed to care for the truth. It has only been four days and things are falling apart here. It was too good to be true. The politeness is evaporating and the competitiveness is showing up and destructiveness is surfacing. I don't want to be apart of this drama. Ah...... professional lodging would be better. I would be warmer and eat whatever I want, when I want, how I want, etc... Oh yes, access to hot water.

After dinner we watched "Himalya" but there was DVD problems so we watched Dhoom II. It's a Bollywood film in Hindi. It was cheezy for me. I wasn't all that interested in it. Glad I was able to get to bed early. It was a rough and very weird day for me.

Christmas in Nepal

Merry Christmas.

My back was cold last night and I shivered the whole night. It made me very tired this morning. I did not feel rested. I stayed in bed till 9am. Anar treated us to butter sugar biscuits that Juno brought from the US and tea. We watched the film "The Caravan".

Juno, Anuja and I left for Christmas shopping at 10:20am. Juno has interest in a male friend here and we went shopping. She also got bangles for his parents who are visiting him in Nepal. We went to check out fabrics to see what things we could get custom tailored. I finally got samosas and pokras. It was delicious samosas. This one sells the best samosas. The crust is perfectly spiced and so was the stuffing. I have decided that I am going to have samosas every day from this particular stand. They are cheap too.

I came back to Dalba at the house at 12pm I knew Anar would be waiting to eat together. I went for a hot shower at 1:30pm. The water is solar powered here so there is only hot water during high noon. I was so happy to wash in hot water. Past few days I have been washing in cold, cold, coooooooooooooold water because I didn't know about how the system worked. I gave myself a double shower in attempt to clean myself out of all the pollution etc...

I watched Anuja cook and she used tumeric, mehti, cumin powder, salt for all her dishes every meal. I did laundry and followed everyone in hang drying. I just don't see how it will get clean blowing in the smogy wind. I'm like,... I just washed this and by the time it dries, it will be all dirty again before I wear it.

In the afternoon I went shopping for tailers to make a few sets of sarawas. These are are modern saris. I actually find it more conservative than classical saris, more skin is covered. But somehow modern to some people means bad so they don't agree with this attire. Weird.

I bought color pencils and white spiral pad. I miss doing art. I can't believe I went so long without doing art other than photography. Then Juno and I met up late afternoon to get together to make Christmas dinner for everyone. Everyone was excited about it. I made basil eggplant and fried king oyster mushroom. Since people here are used to using their hands to eat, and my cooking was made to be eaten with utensil, they really had a hard time picking up the food. The normal mashing, slushing, and running the food all over the plate didn't work. The hit was the fried mushrooms. They all commmented on how it doesnt' taste vegetarian, it's more like fried chicken to them.

Since it was a holiday, Anar had the BBQ grill used for our bon fire to keep us warm.

Old Wood Carvings

I was invited by Anar to go with her on her errands but I was also invited by Suraj and Anuja to Durba Ma, New Road, and Themel. I wanted to go into town and try to venture on my own so I ended up choosing to team up with the siblings. I enjoy their company.

We went to an area where there were lots of tourist agencies. Anuja has an uncle who is a manager at Royal Nepal Airlines and she was hoping to get a job at the agency. I went to check out prices and options for going to India incase I decide to go. I was also reconmended to go to Pokara to check out the Annanpurna view of the Himalayian Mountain Ridges.

Afterwards we went to Themel to do the tourist shopping. I was given the tourist price on everything and I didn't buy anything. We walked by the Royal Palace and I didn't think much of it. I really came to Nepal in a good time. The civil unrest all over the county had been going on for years with the Maos until mid November. I checked out where I could of end up staying if I had not been taken in by Juno's host family.

New Road area had lots of old buildings with beautiful wood carvings. This area is where the locals go for tailering and vegetable market. I saw beautiful King Oyster mushrooms and all sorts of other mushrooms that I liked. I miss my own cooking. I love to work with small farm grown produce. They are usually beautiful and delicious. It's just so much better than Safeway and even Berkeley Bowl. It was just like when I was in Italy and there were people on the street with a basket selling only amazinly beautiful fresh giant size Procinis for cheap. And Italian tomatos are delicious and sweet, it's why pasta tasts better in Italy with just plain tomato sauce.

Boudha

I still haven't figured out the bus system here. I actually feel better about venturing out on my own even though I have yet to. Going to Pokhara will be a learning experience. But here anyone who is a bit educated are all trilingual in English and Nepalese and Hindi. The school are bilingual with English and Nepalese.

Suraj took me to Bouda while Anuja went home to prepare dinner. We walked around the historical stupa and watched the sunset from the top of the stupa. There were Tibetan monks there, I actually don't know what to make of them.

Juno had returned when we arrived back at the house. She was a bit disturbed and uncomfortable like she has yet to fart or exhale. She wanted to know how long I was staying. I sensed competitiveness from her. It was interesting to watch. I just stepped back and gave her lots of space because I knew she was a highly capable person who is a sophmore at Sara Lawrence University who was more inexperienced with life. I also knew that she has yet to recover from not being selected to go with her Dharma teacher on the Indian Pilgrimage.

Gotta Look Good

I find it interesting here that regardless if you clean the toilets, haul trash, sell roasted legumes, or a royalty, all the women are dressed in amazingly beautiful clean, colorful saris full of golden jewlries.

It's Everywhere

This kind of push cart stall is everywhere. Roasted peas, garbanzo beans, etc... all dusted in salt. Then there is an option of different spices you can toss in there for condiment. It would be our equivalent of ketchup, mustard, mayo, ranch etc... Everywhere you go in Kathmandu, this kind of snack stall is available and everyone loves it. It's like chips for us or french fries.

Newari Square

The Newari Square is full of old buildings and the buildings are full of ornate wood carving. I really enjoy such artistry. But the streets are dirty with animal droppings and other pollutions, everything is dusty grey.

Momos

I was introduced to their uncle who owns a restaurant in Newari Square. We had tea and momos. Momos are steamed dumplings stuffed with vegetables spiced in Nepalese spice. In Tibet they were spiced with Tibetan spice. It was good and was served with a red spicy sauce. It was cheap and delicious. I was hungry and could have eaten another serving all on my own but I didn't want to trouble them because we were there on family connections. I treated them the meal and I bought Anuja ice cream. I am learning that it is a big deal for Anuja to get pop corn, roasted peanuts, and ice cream on a cone.

Living Goddess of the Shakya Clan

They took me to visit an old building with old wooden carvings and stone carving for decore. This place had an inner quad and the building was two stories. I was told there was a living goddess inside. She is only out in public during holiday celebration. She was born in India and moved or shipped or transported to Nepal like when she was three. She is still a child now. She has one adult attendent. All day long she stays within the confinds of these walls. She's not allowed to even peak out the windows. I felt sorry for her. They couldn't explain to me why she was crowned the living goddess other than this is what was said. Her family placed her here to be worshiped by everyone. She is from the Shakya clan of India. I bet she would enjoy dolls, games, and just friends. Her picture is everywhere in Kathmandu. The siblings got me a post card of her, but really, I don't know what to do with it. They also got me a Nepalese flag and I don't know what to do with it either.

No Luck Today

Paros showed me the good luck hole and how to take your chances at good luck. It is a crack in a wall on the pathway. The rules are, stand on the opposite end, put your palms together pointing to the wall and walk towards the hole while your eyes are closed. If your hands can hit the hole then you have been blessed with good luck. Paros missed the first time, tried again and missed the second time, tried again and missed the third time and so on. He even paced his foot steps backward from the hole to the start point on the other side. I tried and missed. We had so much fun with it that anyone passing by tried it after Paros instructed them. No one got it. No one was blessed with Good Luck for the day.

Cursed By A Religious Man

On the way to the deer park nearby the Hindu temple we passed by religious men who were sitting on the ground on pathways. They looked like they stepped out of past, like a 5,000 year ago past in India. One of them had dirt all over him. One of them had hair to the ground. Their faces were all painted. They all called out to us to tell us that they each wanted to tell us something. They also reached their hand out and demanded money. As Paros sped us his foot steps and politely increased the distance to avoid contact, so did I. One of them cursed us as we sped passed him. It was scary. I held my breath and crossed my fingers. I was too busy with trying to get away that I didn't have time or the courage to pull out my camera to take photos of each and every one of them. I feared for more cursing. I think such activities gives religion a bad name.

Hindu Temple

The main temple was going to charge me 250 rupees to enter the gate of the temple from the back of the temple. I was not sure what the fee was for. Was it because I was not a Hindu or a foreign traveler? And I also wasn't sure if the fee would allow me to fully access the temple inside or would it just let me get into the gate because I was a foreign tourist or because I was not a Hindu? And who was this random person who was wanting to collect money from me in the place of the temple? Was this money actually going into the temple or was this just a regular local vendor who is collecting money from me because I was a tourist? In the midst of all this confusion I decided to not enter the temple. In all honesty, I'm not into Hindu temple art. Everything was dark also. So Paros showed me the temple from as many directions as possible to view it from the outside.

Bit By Fish?

Paros introduced different alters and gods who he bowed to and then put powder on his forehead. At a nearby smaller temple, he showed me a pool of water where there was a fish swimming inside. He said that if you have a bad thought it would bit you.