These are more rambling, babbling thoughts I have collected after three months in Nepal:
- I have never seen more motorcycles than in Kathmandu. These are not scooters or bikes we are talking about, but actual motorcycles. At the same time, I have a feeling there are no Hell’s Angels in these parts. These people are too much into peace for that.
- There are more swastikas in this city than I have seen in Schindler’s List. Needless to say, it doesn’t mean that the skin headed monks here secretly wear steel toes, march in goosestep, and lynch people who never dated their cousins. It is merely a religious symbol that has predated the Nazis by, oh, about a few thousand years. Swastika in Hinduism can be traced back as far as the Neolithic age, ca 10,000 before Christ. Supposedly this symbol denotes good luck. Even the Maoist government can’t deny the irony.
- I have yet to witness a cool day here, let alone a cold one. It is still rather warm here, but I am certain the temperatures will drop come winter. It would be scary if they didn’t.
- Last week, I discovered a fully functioning traffic light. One problem. This was a light for pedestrians only.
- Anybody who wants to see something truly hilarious (more about that later) must see Indian infomercials. And I always thought Bollywood movies were the most ridiculous thing on TV...besides infomercials on AFN, of course.
- In October, the month of festivals, you hear so many fireworks at night you are convinced there’s a civil war going on out there.
- I have never seen a more beautiful sight than the mountains on a clear day. In Kathmandu, we are locked in the valley, surrounded by peaks of anywhere between two and three and a half thousand meters. On a clear day, like these past Saturdays, you can see the real monsters in the background. They are so high up there you are convinced they are clouds.
- Boy oh boy, these merchants are tough. Once you’ve shown a minimal interest in their stuff, you will have an easier time getting rid of the entire Nepali pigeon population than one Nepali merchant.
- A few months ago, we were already treated to animal sacrifices for a car. Only a week later, it was the animals’ turn. However, this time they were not sacrificed, but praised. A thika is that third eye, the dot you will see painted between the eyes of a Hindu woman. During the animal festival, there were dogs wearing thikas everywhere.
- This falls under the ‘How many clowns fit in a beetle?’ category. Yesterday I saw a man on a small Honda motorcycle. His son was sitting in front of him, his daughter behind him, the mother behind the daughter and another daughter behind her. No safety belts, no helmets? No problem for these guys.
-The funniest thing I have yet witnessed in Nepal was on a busy street during a Saturday Evening. It took us thirty minutes to travel one block by car. In front of us was a minivan, where somebody seemed desperate. The door opened, an arc of urine came out, and the door shut again.
- I have never seen more motorcycles than in Kathmandu. These are not scooters or bikes we are talking about, but actual motorcycles. At the same time, I have a feeling there are no Hell’s Angels in these parts. These people are too much into peace for that.
- There are more swastikas in this city than I have seen in Schindler’s List. Needless to say, it doesn’t mean that the skin headed monks here secretly wear steel toes, march in goosestep, and lynch people who never dated their cousins. It is merely a religious symbol that has predated the Nazis by, oh, about a few thousand years. Swastika in Hinduism can be traced back as far as the Neolithic age, ca 10,000 before Christ. Supposedly this symbol denotes good luck. Even the Maoist government can’t deny the irony.
- I have yet to witness a cool day here, let alone a cold one. It is still rather warm here, but I am certain the temperatures will drop come winter. It would be scary if they didn’t.
- Last week, I discovered a fully functioning traffic light. One problem. This was a light for pedestrians only.
- Anybody who wants to see something truly hilarious (more about that later) must see Indian infomercials. And I always thought Bollywood movies were the most ridiculous thing on TV...besides infomercials on AFN, of course.
- In October, the month of festivals, you hear so many fireworks at night you are convinced there’s a civil war going on out there.
- I have never seen a more beautiful sight than the mountains on a clear day. In Kathmandu, we are locked in the valley, surrounded by peaks of anywhere between two and three and a half thousand meters. On a clear day, like these past Saturdays, you can see the real monsters in the background. They are so high up there you are convinced they are clouds.
- Boy oh boy, these merchants are tough. Once you’ve shown a minimal interest in their stuff, you will have an easier time getting rid of the entire Nepali pigeon population than one Nepali merchant.
- A few months ago, we were already treated to animal sacrifices for a car. Only a week later, it was the animals’ turn. However, this time they were not sacrificed, but praised. A thika is that third eye, the dot you will see painted between the eyes of a Hindu woman. During the animal festival, there were dogs wearing thikas everywhere.
- This falls under the ‘How many clowns fit in a beetle?’ category. Yesterday I saw a man on a small Honda motorcycle. His son was sitting in front of him, his daughter behind him, the mother behind the daughter and another daughter behind her. No safety belts, no helmets? No problem for these guys.
-The funniest thing I have yet witnessed in Nepal was on a busy street during a Saturday Evening. It took us thirty minutes to travel one block by car. In front of us was a minivan, where somebody seemed desperate. The door opened, an arc of urine came out, and the door shut again.
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