Houses in the Clouds

There are houses in the clouds here in Nepal. Literally. As our plane descended early Friday morning, three other ETAs and I sat glued to our windows as the clouds broke over the mountains to reveal small clusters of houses scattered along the edge of the cliffs. It was absolutely incredible. This mystical experience has kicked off a whirlwind of sights, smells, sounds, and tastes over the past 48 hours and unfortunately my short account here and an already-growing collection of photos cannot do it justice!

Stepping out of the airport (we were carrying all our bags, I’m happy to report! They all made it, despite looking a bit worse for wear), we were thrown into the dusty, noisy Nepali traffic. The rules seem to be drive wherever you can without being run off the road (and the lack of sidewalks make for an interesting pedestrian situation, but we’ll leave that for a later post). After registering in the Fulbright office, we were dropped off at our new apartment, which will be our “base camp” for the next month during orientation before we transfer to our teaching assignments.  We stumbled through our first grocery store experience, picking up a few staple items for the next few days (read: toilet paper) and returned for an early bedtime after almost falling asleep in our plates at the dinner table. I might add that “early” here means I was sound asleep by 8pm. Oof- jetlag.

Nepalese hospitality has already lived up to its reputation and we started out Saturday morning to meet my friend Anish from PC who is back in Nepal for the summer. He took us to tour the museum in the Narayanhiti Palace Museum, which was the location of the Royal Palace Massacre of 2001 when the (then) Prince Dipendra opened fire on members of the royal family before shooting himself and dying after being in a coma a few days later. Although I wouldn’t have chosen the interior décor for myself –dark 70s-inspired wood paneling and countless animal skin carpets for the floor –I decided I could be quite content to move into the spacious garden house that overlooked the beautiful plants and fountains.

Lunch marked our first traditional Nepali meal (and as promised, I will include names and pictures of the different meals for all my fellow foodies out there!). We enjoyed vegetable momos (Nepali dumplings and already a new favorite!), bhatmas sandeko (soybean salad) and pakoda (a mix between a fried falafel and potato pancake). Mmm-mm!

While exploring Thamel, the tourist district, we turned a corner and BAM! walked into a courtyard with an amazing stupa and smaller devotionals splattered with red tikka and bits of marigold blossoms. I instantly became the photographer for a parkor/breakdancing photo shoot of the kids running around the courtyard. We ended with dinner and drinks in Thamel with Anish and his friends (one of which is a singer/songwriter and soon-to-be Nepali movie star!) and finally meeting up with the other ETAs.

So far I’ve been overwhelmed by the sense of hospitality –it seems like every time we get lost (which has happened a number of times already…) there is a helpful Nepali guide who insists on taking us to the location himself. Our impromptu guide this afternoon announced “Wow! How did you end up here?” on our journey to find Kathmandu’s famous “Garden of Dreams” and escorted us here. And here I sit, enjoying the gorgeous scenery in a beautiful sanctuary from the hectic streets just on the other side of the ivy-covered brick walls.

Starting orientation tomorrow- more updates to come soon!