Kathmandu - Week 2

Kathmandu - Week 2




Maju Deval in Durbar Square

 • I went to Durbar Square which houses many, many temples and the former royal palace. The temples were just amazing and made me wish I knew more about Hinduism. Climbing to the top of the temples wasn’t bad; it is the going down the stairs that is scary. They are narrow and high. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I took a bow and everyone still up on the temple clapped for me.

• Many of the temples are covered in all kinds of erotic art. No one really knows why. The going theories are:

o Celebrating the cycles of life

o Highlighting the roles of Shiva and Parvati in creation

o To scare off the virginal goddess of lightning.

• Major drawbacks to visiting the landmarks are the peddlers. They will follow you around for hours. I couldn’t shake them no matter how many times I said no.

• There are a lot of hippies from the West here. I think I am the only person from the West not wearing Teva sandals.

• You can pick out a Westerner very, very easily. The fact that they tend to be taller and blonder really helps.

• There are LDS humanitarian missionaries here.

• There are no addresses here in Kathmandu. The city is broken up into something like neighborhoods. For example, I tried unsuccessfully to go to church on Saturday (the Nepal holy day). Here is why I didn’t make it – the address of the church is “in Maharajgunj (the neighborhood) behind the Slipper factory off the Ring Road.” I made it to behind the slipper factory, but I couldn’t find the building after that.

• I would kill for a Diet Coke Big Gulp with lots of ice.

• My stomach is not quite used to the food here. I don’t think I caught a bug, but it isn’t going well.

• Most shopping here is done on the barter system. I am terrible at bartering. Gary is much better, so I always let him go first.


Pradin, Me, Gary and Khem



• Having a driver is awesome.

• Not having a driver because of yet another strike is not awesome.



• I took a taxi all by myself. It isn’t that I have never been alone in a taxi before. For some reason I feel a great source of pride about this minor achievement.



• Gary loves my meal of fried ramen noodles with eggs.

Meg and Gary in Thamel

• My students are wonderful. They have started calling me Didi, which means sister. It is a term of affection. They also call me Jenny.

• The neighborhood with all of the good shops is called Thamel. It was great shopping. We wandered all day looking at jewelry, scarves, knives and other religious relics. I spent a lot on myself.

Kathmandu - Week 1

Like Tracy Jordan’s column in Ebony, I am going to call this long, long overdue post “Musings.”


I have been in Kathmandu for a week now and it his been enlightening. Like most Americans that travel overseas, you don’t realize how good life is until you can’t go to a Target. Shopping aside, I am slowly adjusting to life on this side of the world. Of course, I am completely spoiled over here, so adjusting isn’t super difficult.

Here are little things that I have noticed on my trip:

• The McDonald’s at the Bahrain airport has a Big Mac made of chicken patties.

• They drive on the left side here and there are no traffic lights, crosswalks, or street signs. You could not pay me to drive here.

• I saw a monkey in a metropolitan area. A monkey!

• The people here, like people everywhere, are very friendly.

• The grocery store is an adventure, with items imported from India and Europe. It is very eclectic.

• The power is usually out at least 4 to 6 hours a day due to load sharing. Our apartment is set up to work on some reserve power. Gary and I are getting very good at recognizing the different beeps that indicate how much power is being turned on. Ordinarily this kind of thing would provoke a rant, but I am slowly learning to work around the outages.

• Walking on the street is a full on obstacle course. You are constantly dodging holes, uneven pavement, more holes, trenches, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, dogs, cows, and other pedestrians. I am probably missing all kinds of cool stuff going on around me because I am looking at the ground and trying not to fall.

• Most stores look like they were once storage units that someone turned into a store.

• Only one of my students has seen Star Wars. I have a lot of work to do.

• There doesn’t seem to be a Nepali word for “nerd.”

• A lot of people here wear masks on the streets because the pollution is so bad. Kathmandu is in a valley, but you can only make out the outlines of the mountains due to the smog.

• Homosexuality is illegal here in Nepal. Gary and I were a bit surprised to see men holding hands while out in public considering it is a crime. Men here hold hands as a sign of friendship.

• Kids love to stare at me and Gary. They wave, say hello, and can’t take their eyes off of us. I have told myself it is because I am so beautiful, but I think it might be my white skin and curly hair.

• Cows rule the world.

• Mike’s Breakfast is where we go everyday for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is really the only place where we have seen other Westerners. We have the same waiter everyday and he takes good care of us.

• It is considered immodest to show legs. I really miss wearing shorts. When Gary and I return to the apartment we immediately change into shorts.

• Indian TV puzzles me.

• The first two words I learned in Nepali are right and left, so I can tell people to either right of left click the mouse.

• I have taught my class the “thumbs up,” which they now use liberally. I love it



More to come…