April 20, 2003
After breakfast Laurie and I roamed the streets. Almost everything was closed up because of the strike. It looked different because all of the stores had the metal doors closed and you couldn't see what the shops were. Still lots of people in the streets. It seemed like there were a lot more people out there trying to get my attention. Yesterday I could escape into one of the stores and now I couldn't because of them being closed.
We did find a few places to get what we needed though we had a hard time finding a place to get money. We eventually were able to get some good things, because we are leaving tomorrow.
I saw one thing that looked like it was the result of the strike. There was a truck that had the windshield smashed. I wish I had more time to understand what the situation is here and about the strike.
Laurie and I are in the outdoor garden cafe of the Kathmander Guest House, drinking and writing. Being in here we can be oblivious to the outside. It is nice.
I roamed the streets a little. All of a sudden I hear a bunch of people chanting something and it was coming closer. It was part of the strike. It was very civil. They were walking and chanting and that was it. It wasn't that large of a group, maybe 75 people. I noticed that it was all men. There were guards.
I don't know if women are allowed to participate. A few things I read sound like women are still treated like second class citizens. I picked up a book today called, Mother, Sister, Daughter, and it was articles compiled from newspapers about different women's issues. One thing I read, that when a girl first menstrates that she basically has to be isolated for 22 days. After that she needs to stay in the cow barn each time during her menstration. I also noted in my book, that there is a holiday called Teej. It is a women's festival that begins with a feast and is followed by a day of fasting. Husbands are honored and women take ritual baths to cleanse themselves from the "sins" of touching a man during menstration. People are very uneducated here. Anyway, it was a little excitement seeing the strike. Didn't do much afterwards,
April 21, 2003
Nar picked us up at 7:30 with the taxi. The taxi drove us to the bus station. There were quite a few buses. I asked Nar if they all go out. He said they did, but sometimes I don't know if he understands what I am asking. I just couldn't imagine all those buses going out and where they were going.
We met our porters, Singa and Pratik. They are only in their 20's. Singa wants to earn money to go to guide school. I think guide school is 18 months. I don't know how much it costs, but the porters only get about $4.00 US a day per person. The guides only get $7-$8 a day per person.
The porters loaded and strapped our packs on top of the bus and after everyone's was ready we were off. I wish I could describe everything, but it is one of those things you have to see. Most of the streets are all dirt and rock with potholes. The buildings that I see look like they are half falling down. People are out in the streets selling, cooking, washing. When we would stop at the bus stops, kids would jump on board trying to sell us water, snacks, sandwiches, and large sliced cucumbers. Some of these kids look about 8 years old. The villages would be scattered about and they would all have these store fronts selling food, soda (soda seems big here, except diet Coke). I just don't know how these places survive. One place I saw a large pot boiling and it looked like it had whole chickens boiling in it because I could see these stiff claws bouncing around in the pot. I saw lots of women carrying a bundle of sticks or brush strapped on their backs. They use this to make fire for cooking. There were piles of rocks, large and small, and I could hear them banging on the rocks and then I saw them sitting on the rocks. They were breaking them up. There were men and women in the rock pile. I saw men sewing on old Singer machines that used the treadle. I think they use them because you don't need electricity. Electricity is very expensive here and you can't always depend on it. We had a few short power outages while in Kathmander.
There is so much to see, my eyes were on overload. We stopped a few times to get food or use the bathroom. These bathrooms are Eastern style. I have the hang of it now. I think.
The landscape was pretty. Very green. They have lots of things planted. The land is so hilly that they have the hills set in tiers of terraces. They have to farm all of the land and it is the only way they can on the hills. The tiers did make it look pretty.
On the drive the bus driver stopped, the conductor, so-to-say, yelled something in Nepalase and all the men got off. There was an army guy that came on board. He checked the stuff on the bus, proceeded forward, stopped and then the men got on. I asked Nar what that was all about. He said they were checking for Maoists.
We finally got to the end of the bus ride about 1:30 in Besisahar. The bus ride was not as bad as I had heard. The only thing that bothered me was the diesel fumes from the bus and other vehicles and also some of the food smells.
I forgot to mention our lunch. We had daal bhat, which is boiled rice, a bowl of lentile soup and curried vegetables. There were also pieces of chicken, don't ask me what part because I don't know, but it tasted good. I didn't mind the meal, but I could not eat twice a day for 29 days.
At first Nar said we would spend the night here in Besisahar, then he said that it was full so that we would start hiking. Singa and Pratik had to strap all the packs together. They were carrying Laurie's pack, my pack, Nar's bag, and then their own stuff. It was quite a load. They carry the packs by a head band strapped around the front and let the packs hang in the back. We hiked for about 2 hours. We hadn't changed into boots because they were in our packs. So we just hiked in sandals. It was OK because we weren't carrying heavy packs and the trail was fine. It went by some homes and villages. We saw a lot of men working on the road. We finally stopped at a place that we were going to spend the night.
The place had a little kitchen where they cooked the meals, a dining room where we eat and I thik it is also a bedroom for the family, and the rooming house. The rooming house has thin slats of wood on the outside and our room had dirt walls and a metal roof. They put a plastic covering over a dirt floor. We had a nice view of the river and the mountains. I could see houses way up in the mountains. I wondered
