Chapter 9: In which Shantzy Pants briefly enjoys some Nepali jazz before heading home early due to Maoist activities

Well, again I have used a good opening line as my title and so find it mildly awkward to begin my post. So basically yeah, that’s what happened. I'm safe and sound at Faris' house but we did have to make a quick exit from the jazz club (cool to hear Nepalis playing jazz although these particular guys weren't super heavy) when Faris and the other embassy guys got calls telling us to just go home and not risk any encounter with the rowdy Maoists. The Maoists had an ideology once but now are just thugs basically (so I'm told). It seems they are both a cause and expression of the general frustration that many Nepalis feel due to the things I mentioned in my last post.
But I've began at the end of the day. First thing I did was visit Pasupathinath which is the holiest Hindu sight in Nepal. It is a steep river valley with a large main temple and many smaller temples almost all dedicated to Shiva who is the destroyer/recreate in Hinduism. It is also where Hindus from the surrounding area bring their dead to be cremated. Hindu practice is to burn the deceased’s body within 24 hours of death. We (Sandesh and I) saw one cremation from about 30 feet away and ended up breathing in some of the smoke which I thought later was weird. But breathing strange smoke has been par for the course so far on my trip East. We then followed our tour guide (who I paid way too much at the end) clockwise throughout the part of the site where non-Hindus were allowed. I'll post some pictures once I can siphon them out of my camera.
Next stop after lunch was Patan Durbar Square where one to the past royal families lived when Kathmandu was divided into three kingdoms. From the highest part of the square you could see down its length with the Himalayas in the back ground. Fortunately it was a very clear day with a great view. Again in this square was a series of temples dedicated to various Hindu gods and one to Krishna. There are Kama Sutra depictions carved into the facades which out guide told us were intended as instructions for the very young newlyweds of that time. The scenes are really wild and carved in stone as part of a holy temple, which is a concept completely foreign to the kind of religion I'm used to. But hey, no judgments from me, we're all people trying to understand things much bigger than ourselves.
I stocked up on winter gear on the way back for my hike tomorrow. Fleece hat, gloves, shirt, long undees (with designer labels, maybe made in the same factory as the real brands) and wool socks for 18 bucks. So I'm all set. I hike up to Nagrakot, a city on a ridge with an unobstructed view of the real mountains. Then I stay overnight and head down to Bhaktapur the next day. I got a new compact flash card since my camera was running out of dubious pictures to delete.
love,
Andrew

Cahpter 8: In which Shantzy Pants goes to Nepal

Warning: Spell check is currently out of commision. The following post will assuredly contain spelling errors. This stems from a disinterest is spelling during my formative period that has crippled my subsiquent efforts in this regard. Becoming a good speller currently ranks number 724 on my list of things to do in life with little prospect of increased priority. Hence I will just take the lazy way out and apologize up front.

Hello, I am now in Nepal. Kathmandu. I'm being enthusiastically hosted by my good friend Faris who hosted our jazz group in Yemen in 2006 (on behalf of the American Embassy there). He is now stationed here and its just a 45 minute flight from Kolkata so here I am. Tomorrow Faris' driver will take me around to see the sights. Faris made a list of things to see in the morning (which he has already seen plenty of times) and then he'll join me at lunch time to visit some other spots that would be of interest to him.
My first impression of Nepal and Kathmandu is that the people are a very interesting blend of ethnicities and appearences. Many look quite Indian and many look quite North East Asian (aka "Chinese" for those less inclined to polical correction).
And everyone else is somewhere in between.
Nepali is apparently similar to Bangla although I don't speak enough Bangla to fake speaking Nepali. Hindi is also widely spoken but I don't speak enough Bangla to fake Hindi to Nepalis either. Faris' driver Sandesh is Nepali so he'll be able to help me out.
Faris is in charge of visa applications to the US so he's told me a bit about the visa scene. Its really difficult in a lot of ways since so many people want to get to the US, often despirately. There is -a lot- of tension here. Maoist rebels (rather unpopular but still able to cause trouble), not great infrastructure (frequent power cuts) its tense, but no violence in the steet (I knocked some wood just there).
In two days I'll hike of to Nagrakot and Bhaktapur. Nagrakot is up on the rim of the valley where Kathmandu sits. I'll most likely hike up there, stay over night and hike down to Bhaktapur. The next day. Faris says Bhaktapur is and old city with mountains, which sounds pretty killin to me.
I running out of camera space so I'm contemplating buying another compact flash card (for those I haven't told, which could be all of you I guess, I managed to leave my camera's usb cable in the US so I can't off load the photos until I get home). If I get completely stuck I'll just have to bite the bullet since the super small usb cable that fits this has proven impossible to find so far.
Other upcoming highlights: Tibetan New Year celebrations in the Tibetan neighborhood of Boudha.
take care y'all,
Andrew