Sorry for the disappearance . . . I've been in a small village called Dhading attending a wedding!
Not too much time on the computer so here are the highlights:
2 hour bus ride smashed with nepalis through the winding himalayas . . . 1.5 hours in woman turns her head, pukes all over the seat in front of me, my bag, and another volunteer, and then turns her head back and doesnt look at us the entire rest of the time . . . the only thing to do was to laugh :)
the house we stayed at was actually in the mountains far from the actual town of Dhading (google map it!)so we walked up, it got dark, hitched a ride on a truck filled with sacks . . . of manuer . . . sat on the top of the truck.
House: hillside, kitchen cooking by FIRE only . . . goats, bulls, ox, chickens, rice, rice, rice, rice, fresh buffalo milk, curd, adorably cute grandma,
The Bar: Bijendra . . brother of man who owns orphanage, would not shut up about going to the bar to drink . . . the bar was someone;s house . . . we sat in their bedroom . . . on their bed . . . drinking aweful nepali wine called Roxy . . . which tasted like fermented toilet water . . . im not kidding
Wedding: Sat on top of a bus for 2 hours, walked up a mountain for another house (with a train of nepalis in suits getting ridiculously dirty) . . . it looked like a refugee train. . . we arrived with the groom so thats when the wedding started . . .
Dancing, rituals, lots of tikkas (indian dot above eyes). . . played the symbols for the band, ate curried goat (the nose was on my plate, didnt eat that)
Bride leaves her village with us after wedding to start her new life in Pokhara with her husband . . . arranged marraige ./ . . last time they had seen each othe was a month ago ./ . . younger brother was looking forward to marrying next year . . . . hes 19 . . . he doesnt know who he's marrying yet, or when he will find out . . .
Bus ride back was miserable, top of the bus, dark, crowded, rails digging into backs . . but made it fun by obnoxiously singing songs that the nepalis couldnt understand :)
got stuck in the mountains for an extra day because it rained, so no buses were coming to bring people down to the main town to catch a bus back to kathmandu. rain cleared the air though, it's been extremely poor visability bc of the dust, but now its better and i saw the snowy peaks in the distance.
thats all for now, thanks so much for the comments!
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Ben-jaming, your descriptions sound so similar to adventures in Ecuador/Andes and yet interestingly different at the same time. I hope you are loving it. Post pictures. You should try goat's nose and tell me how it is :)
ReplyDeleteOk my son growing older by the second!!!!!!!! Luv ya be safe!! Ian wants to come visit you LOL
ReplyDeleteYou really think that was the goats nose, huh? Who ate the balls? Did you happen to see Andrew Zimmern there? And oh, by the way, no more Pinot Noir for you. WTSO just sold out of fermented Yak piss...damn, I knew I should have ordered that one! Well, this is getting interesting, and I am certainly looking forward to when the "really" interesting stories start get blogged...Love, Dad
ReplyDeleteBen your adventures sound unbelievable....if i was on that bus ride I would have been the woman that puked all over!!!! enjoy and be safe.... love ya....
ReplyDeleteSHERPA ?!
ReplyDeleteoy Benjamin, even after hearing this on the phone from you and then reading it again, i gag. You have a lot of patience and no maintenance what so ever! I don't know how you do it. I would have thrown up back on that woman. Glad you did not eat the nose, knowing you i thought you would try anything! I guess there are no vegetarians in Nepal!! But glad you had fun thats the most important thing. Jealous of the snowy peaks! Your missing a lot of snow here.
ReplyDeletecannot wait to hear more! love and miss you!!
That sounds AMAZING!!! I think that I shouldn't be as jealous of all the shit (literally) you went through as I am. Is it a bad thing to get excited about sitting on a sack of manure for a couple of hours--to think that it would be absolutely, hilariously awesome?!? :D
ReplyDeleteBTW, are you sure that it wasn't "Rosé"? The fancy, traditionally French, pink wine? ;)
<3 <3 <3 and I can't wait to be there with you!!!
The "Nepal Experience" has certainly helped you to develop a sense of humor, which sounds like it is just one of the survival tools that you have brought into play. I can tell you in all honesty that I enjoy your colorful descriptions.
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Grandma & Grandpa