Monkeys and Temples: My first impressions of Nepal

Where do I start? We were woken up by our porter this morning at 5AM and ended up sleeping in until 5:30AM.


Packing for trekking was a bit hectic giving that we are taking only 2 rucksacks between the 6 of us to put our clothes and medicines and all of our essentials in for the next 10 days. Christina, Phil and I were all using my rucksack as it’s one of those neat little ones which expands from a normal day pack into a monstrous rucksack which could fit numerous small children in it (Note: I do not know this from personal experience. The average student however, has been known to try out my bag as a comfortable means of transport.)

It took forever to everything packed as we had to get all of our malaria tablets and insect repellent packed and sorted for the day as well.

Despite covering myself from head to toe in 50+ DEET I still got bitten. Right on the face. Little b******s!!!

(Note: It is impossible to go anywhere in Asia without being bitten at some point so anti-malarias are essential.)

Phil is currently sitting on his bed playing with his singing bowl. These are neat little bowls where you run a wooden stick round the metallic side, (a bit like running your finger round the edge of a fine wine glass.) and the sound gets gradually louder and louder. The sound is surprisingly soothing which is lovely after a day filled with the sounds of the city.

After breakfast which consisted of vegetable baji we set off for the monkey temple. At first I thought it was a place where they worshipped monkeys for some odd reason but we soon discovered why it really was called the monkey temple. After trekking across the city and walking taking in the sights of the many golden statues of Buddha (I reckon these where before he became fat and jolly) and trekking up what seemed like a thousand steps to the monkey temple, we looked around to find that the place was surrounded by monkeys.

They were taking food form the tourists and although cute (especially the baby ones) they were cheeky little buggers.

For example, some poor man was walking along eating his yoghurt minding his own business when the alpha male stopped him in his tracks, puffed out his chest and gave him what Sam would have called the “Glasgow Glare” from back home. The poor man didn’t know what to do and after dropping his yoghurt and running off the monkey helped himself.

On another occasion, we saw a woman get mugged of her handbag and the man she was with had to beat the monkey off her. As I said, cheeky little buggers.

When we got to the top of the temple we looked around the little shops selling souvenirs and spun some of the prayer wheels. (This is where we got our singing bowls)
Note to future travellers: If you want to buy a singing bowl. DON’T buy the first one you see, shop around first so that you don’t get overcharged. Phil made this mistake and paid $20 for his whilst I paid 250 rupees (approx $2 for mine).

Although he won’t admit it, I reckon Phil feels like a right tube as after Phil handed the man over $20 he packed up and went home. That $20 will probably feed his family for at least a week.
After we got our singing bowls we headed for some very welcomed lunch consisting of dahl bhatt (which again, cost less than £1! I could get to like this place...) and I finally got a lassi!!*

Dahl Bhat consists of lentils rice and curry. Everything here is a mix between Indian and Chinese. Got to love Asia. After lunch (and after videoing Phil nodding off to sleep into his food) we got shown round more of the temple where Phil and I participated in some healing process where they put giant metal singing bowls on your head, lap and hands and banged them. It was so bizarre but awesome at the same time.

After we descended from the monkey temple Harri caught sight of a flaming motor bike which looked like the start of a strike. “Come quick! Come see!” he said.

At this point I thought,

“Oh s***, this is it, I’m going to be led into the middle of a Nepali strike where people get violent and my mother is going to get a phone call saying “Sorry Mrs Lees, but after 2 days in Nepal your daughter got caught up in a Nepali strike and was pummelled to death by rioters.””

However, I soon learned that strikes in places like Kathmandu are normal for a country like Nepal. Even though I did think that Harri leading us towards the centre of a strike was a tiny bit mental of him I guess he just wanted to show us another side to Nepal where strikes are an everyday occurrence. These strikes are usually responses to government tax and budget cuts within each public sector throughout the country affecting the living standards of the people who live there.

So, don’t be surprised if you are walking along and find a fire in the middle of the street. Don’t get involved, just walk on and keep safe.

Right, I’m being yelled at here to get on the bus. Talk to you later.....................................................................................................................

..................................Well, now is later and the bus has stopped momentarily so that I can write without looking like a five year old.

No idea where the driver has gone. That’s another thing about here, everything is so laid back. Our tour guide just randomly wanders off then reappears again when we are worried about where he’s gone. It’s such a laid back culture here. Probably down to all of the Buddhist Reiki healing.

Everyone in the group was laughing as Phil at one point got reiki raped and dragged into meditation but it could be an interesting and fairly relaxing thing to try. The western culture would look at you very oddly if you just started randomly meditating but here, it’s perfectly normal. Probably why everything is so relaxed here and why everything is rushing in the western society.

Plus, here, people work to be able to live etc. Back home, we are all slaves to a consumerist society where we work for countless luxuries and we are always wanting more.

Right, the bus has set off again so I’ll write more in a bit.

Laters!!

Jessxo

• “Lassi”-the most epic yoghurt shake you will ever taste. Can be salted or sweet. Some places also do it in different flavours. Must be tried at some point during your trip.