Even the more educated people never seem to ask how much I pay for my room in Zurich or how much does it cost to go to a restaurant in Switzerland. The truth of the matter is that although the average salary in Nepal is only 1500NR per month (about 35US), it is just as sufficient for the basic necessities there (food, lodging, etc.) as 1500 per month in the US. The straight exchange rate is very misleading. The things that are really more expensive in Nepal are the luxury items - cameras, watches, cars, air travel. These are the items that are not produced in Nepal and cost as much as they do in the West. So, for most Nepalis, these are completely out of reach.
Once the bus stopped in a big traffic jamm. I walked out and asked the ``airline expert'' what was going on. He said ``No problem, no problem! One bus a little bit jumped! No problem, no problem!'' Apparently a bus went of the road, but not quite off the cliff and had to be pulled back on the road. It took about an hour after which the traffic resumed.
When I got to Kathmandu, the bus was again surrounded by the hotel peddlers, but this time I just fought through and took a moto-ricksha to Kathmandu Guest House. The guest house was full so I started to walk around looking for another place to stay. I had to fight off all the characters trying to persuade me to go to their hotels. One of them was extremely persistent, so in the end I told him that I would look at the room at his hotel but if I don't like it he will pay me 20NR. To my surprise he said OK. At this point I was obliged to go. The room was clean, but I did not like the state of the facilities, so I told him I would look elsewhere. I did not mention the 20NR, but he suggested to look after my pack while I look for another place. I found another place, for 5/night and came back to pick up the pack. I wanted to give the guy 20NR for looking after my pack (I also felt bad for not giving him the business). I was a bit embarrassed when he did not take the money saying that he was just acting as a friend and did not want to get paid for that.
|
(Kumari; Kathmandu Bazaar; Faxing in Nepal)
In the middle of Durbar Square there is a house of living goddess - Kumari. Kumari is a young girl, selected by priests at the age of 4-5 to be the ``living goddess''. She continues to be Kumari until she reaches puberty or otherwise looses blood (cutting a finger, etc). She is confined to the special temple - house in the middle of the Durbar square and is looked after by a number of servants. During the main public activities she shows up in the window facing the square all dressed up and with special make-up. She also shows up from time to time in the window facing the inner yard for the groups of tourists or for anyone giving a sizable donation, but it is forbidden to take pictures of her. When a girl stops being Kumari, she is given a large amount of money and is free to do whatever she wants. From what I heard, the ex-Kumaris grown up in almost total isolation from other children have hard time adjusting to the normal life. It is also believed to be a bad luck to take an ex-Kumari as wife.
The current Kumari is new, she is only 5 years old. I mixed with a predominantly geriatric group of French tourists to listen to the guide (as much as I could understand) in the inner yard of the House of the Living Goddess. After the usual ``look to your left'', ``look to your right'' everyone was told to move their cameras down and the Kumari appeared on the balcony, behind the railing. She was a little girl, dressed up and with lots of make-up. An older woman, probably a servant, ushered her towards the railing in front. The girl moved closer to the railing, clasped the metal bars, and stood there watching the crowd of tourists clapping. I felt bad, because it seemed that the poor kid was definitely very unhappy and was just about to break up crying, her eyes full of tears. She run away after a few seconds. But I would imagine that the whole show is repeated all over at least a couple of times per hour for every group of tourists. I hope that she cuts her finger soon.
From Durbar square I walked along the New Road to Kanti Path, one of the main roads in Kathmandu. Across it there is a large field that serves as the largest bazaar for locals in Kathmandu. One can buy anything from clothing to live goats there. When I walked there, I saw no other western travellers at all. The market is somehow departmentalised: one part is designed specifically for clothing, another for chickens, another for fast food, etc. There is a row of tailors with old-fashioned pedal driven sawing machines. There is another row of barbers that squat on the ground and would shave you as you squat in front of them. There is a row of hair dressers where you actually got to sit on a chair and have a standing mirror in front of you. There was a raw of strange looking people selling things like rocks, pieces of wood, powders, dried plants and roots, animal bones. One even had dried bat wings. I could not figure out what was all that for and tried to speak to one of them. Immediately a crowd formed around us, all curious (I was the only foreigner on the whole market) and trying to help, but in this place almost noone spoke English. Eventually the man told me that what he was selling was ``medicine''.
Telephone calls from Nepal are easy to make if there is a telephone around. There are dozens of private telephone communication offices in Kathmandu and Pokhara. The only problem is that the international phone calls are very expensive. A call to outside of the east Asia would cost over 500NR for the first three minutes and 200NR for each additional minute. It is much cheaper to send faxes from Kathmandu, that costs only 180NR per minute and the faxes can be sent from almost any private communication office.
|
(Swayambunath; Dakshinkali; Stolen Valet)
In the morning I went to Swayambunath, just outside the central part of the city. Swayambunath is the most famous and probably the most beautiful stupa in Nepal. It is situated on the hill overlooking Kathmandu valley. The way to the stupa leads along the staircase through the forest on the sides of the hill. The forest is full of monkeys that will steal any exposed food if you are not careful. ``Swayambunath'' literally means ``monkey temple''. There are several huge Buddha statues at the foot of the hill protecting the temple.
Next morning I went to Dakshinkali with a tour from Kathmandu Guest House. Dakshinkali is about 20km from Kathmandu and has a Hindu temple dedicated to the goddess Kali. Every Saturday there is ``festival'' when the local Hindus come there to sacrifice an animal. It is believed that if a Hindu commits any of the 8 predefined sins during the week, he has to bring an offering to Kali on Saturday. In front of the temple there is a long line-up of people with chickens or ducks under their arms or goats on the leashes. The place is crowded, everyone is very festive, wearing the best clothes, lots of kids playing around. The people patiently stay in the line-up that slowly moves towards the altar. At the altar, each owner of the animal pours some water on the animal's head, gives a few rupees to the priest and gives the animal to the butcher. The butcher spends about 5 seconds with it after which the animal (its head separated from the rest of it) is returned to the owner. The blood of the animal is drained as the actual offering to the goddess. The owners then take the animal home and serve it for dinner.
Although there is lots of blood around, the whole procedure is not a sacrifice as one would come to expect. There is very little ceremony, the whole procedure seems very routine and the animals that are sacrificed are not wasted. The sight, however, is not for animal rights activists or pet owners.
I got quite involved taking the pictures of the ceremony and it took me a few minutes to realise that I no longer had the valet in the side pocket of my pants. It was not just lost since the pocket was buttoned with two buttons before. The thief who stole it must have been a professional - instead of cutting the buttons off and making his job easier he actually unbuttoned the pocket. I did not loose much - about $30.- worth of Nepali rupees and my driver's licence. Passport, foreign exchange etc. were all safe in my neck pouch. But since the driver's licence was lost I needed to go to the police office to file the official report. That took me two days. The police office is located on the Durbar Square in Kathmandu and first I had to file the application for the report. That involved describing what was stolen, when and how it happened. I also had to bring a passport size photo and a 1NR stamp (they would not take 1NR!). After this is done, they ``investigate'' for a couple of days. I was told to come back after 2 days and pick up the report. When I came back the report was waiting for me. I was expecting much more red tape, I was even told that some people who had their cameras stolen had to pay certain percentage of camera costs to the police in order to get the report (the police is well aware of the baggage tinsurance). I did not have such unpleasant experiences, but then I only lost my driver's licence that had no commercial value.
|
(Royal Museum; Erotic Carvings)
On the Durbar Square there is an imposing white building that used to be the Royal Palace. It is a Royal Museum now. Most of the exhibits inside are related to the life of King Tribhuvan who ruled the country from 1920s to 1950s. He was the first Nepali King ever to travel outside of the country and his visit to India in 1947 was an extremely controversial one. According to the tradition at the time no Nepali monarch could set foot on the foreign soil. The exhibit in the museum is not really exciting: the King's shoes, the King's hat, the King's desk etc. But there are lots of photographs that offer some glimpses on the Nepali history at that time. This museum is not one of the main tourist attractions and I saw much more locals there than tourists. There are wonderful views of the Basantapur Square from the upper floors. One thing that I found quite interesting in the museum is the room that had items related to the King's hobbies. There was a bicycle, a violin, a grammophone, a photo camera and a complete set of dark room equipment. I had a feeling that the King was really bored with his royal duties and tried to find other, more interesting things to do.
Every temple in Kathmandu and Bachtapur and many buildings there have some intricate wood carvings: window shutters, doors, even the wooden beams that are parts of the walls. Often the carvings have some religious nature - they depict Shiva in one of his many reincarnations, or some other religious scenes. Many temples have erotic carvings that cover all possible aspects of sex. They are very explicit and leave no room for doubts. It seems that the society in Nepal in the past had much more liberal and advanced attitudes towards sex than the western societies of the present. |
|
