Goodbye Nepal!

It’s 5:45am and I’m awake not to catch the sunrise, but only because I couldn't sleep. The sunrise was nice, but I would have preferred a couple more hours of quality sleep. Tossing and turning and being unable to ignore the sounds of the world waking up – barking dogs, rising shutters and muffled chatter – I decided to succumb to the increasing noise and join the 'uprising'. Better to get going early than prolong a seemingly fruitless attempt at obtaining some decent sleep.

I am going back to India this afternoon. Oh India! A part of me wishes I had one more day, just one more day to assemble all my thoughts and process the past month, which has gone all so very quickly and in such rapid-fire succession.  It blurs together in my mind already. But today there is supposed to be a strike, a sure thing they said, as Nepal is rewriting their constitution. I could be wrong as I haven’t read or seen the news for the past 10 days, but that was my understanding.

I could pack my things and take a taxi now, but I’m not ready. They say the streets will be empty later and taxis, if available, will be quite expensive. So, for that reason alone, I’m glad I’m leaving today. I think I’ll have to walk to the airport, but arriving at 7am for a 3pm flight at an international airport with rather inadequate facilities (i.e. probably no wifi and squat toilets) didn’t appeal to me. I prefer the 45 minute walk even if it means arriving in India a bit dirty. I’ll fit right in. I’m going to hell.

I’m not sad to be leaving Nepal, I just need time. A part of me wishes I was going back to Thailand so I could just unwind on the beach and eat some good food at last and look at pretty girls at last. But I sealed my fate two weeks ago by booking that ticket. It's ok though, that other part of me is not ready to conclude this portion of this adventure just yet. I wasn't ready, two weeks ago when I clicked the confirm button on Jet Airways website, to just go back to relative normalcy. Kind of sounds good now though. However, I'd still like to give India a second chance.

More has been learned in India and Nepal than just traipsing blindly throughout Southeast Asia like I normally tend to do. I couldn't tell you precisely what, but trust me. It all began with the overturned bus nearly six weeks ago and will conclude with a walk to the airport in approximately six hours time. Hopefully protestors won’t block my road or throw stones. That might leave a bad impression.

I’m done with Nepali food. Can’t write home about it. For the most part, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I haven’t eaten this much western food in years and that is no exaggeration.  The people as well, are rather unmemorable in my opinion – neither here nor there you might say. That’s not to say there are not friendly people it’s just that they don’t do much for me in general. And I’m not just talking about lack of beautiful women, but rather people who appeal to my personality.

Kathmandu isn’t a place you’d want to spend a great deal of time. I should say more specifically Thamel, the backpacker whorehouse of Kathmandu, is not a place you’d want to spend a great deal of time. It has its charm for a minute or two, but it quickly wears off as you realize everyone you run into is either a  foreigner, someone selling hash or a taxi, motorcycle or rickshaw heading in your direction, honking their horn as they try to avoid that pothole. That is exhausting.

Bouda, on the other hand, a short drive into the Kathmandu valley is quite appealing. Home to a giant white stupa with numerous pious Tibetans moving clockwise around its enormous base. They’re not all Tibetans of course, it just seems that way. Rolling their malas through their fingers, turning the prayer wheels, touching and bowing their head to various deities, making offers, ringing bells or prostrating as they make a wish circumambulating the stupa at least three times.

I do wish I had another day here to fully take in the vibe, but as the strike is happening, I’m probably luckier I had booked my ticket today rather than tomorrow as it’s supposed to last. Until when I’m not sure, but rewriting a Constitution doesn’t seem like something that gets taken care of in a day. Oh Nepal, I’m not sure if I’ll be back anytime soon, but thank you for not taking my life as I’m not ready to go yet. Thank you for the trekking, of which I’d love to do more and thank you for the meditation, even if I can barely pause the motion picture in my mind for more than a few seconds.

And thank you as well for taking my mind off of food and women. I’m not really sure if I should thank you for that – consider it appreciation for something else I may have forgotten to say. I still only know one word in your language, which I find rather pathetic, but what can I say? Don’t ask me to say sorry because I’m not. I bid you farewell and wish you good luck with future infrastructure improvements, included but not limited to smoothing out your roads, reducing the daily power cuts and perhaps obtaining some new buses. In time, in time. With that I say Namaste!