Spotlight on Nepal

We spent November 5-17 in Nepal, staying in Kathmandu, Biratnagar and surrounding villages, and a teeny little community called Samitar.

Isaac and Kirstie in the basmati rice fields in southeast Nepal. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

This post has a LOT of pictures, so please click to read more and be patient as things load!


Things are Different Here
Here is a photo journey of some of the ways life in Nepal differs from life in the U.S.

In Nepal, as in many Asian countries, it's polite (and expected) to remove your shoes when entering someone's home, some businesses, and many schools, such as this school, Tara Elementary. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

A woman in Amgachhi village wearing a Nepali saari, weaving a decorative rug. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Seats here are low to the ground. We really liked these round little woven stools. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

A pile of threshed rice in a home in Amgachhi village. Farming here is still very much a family thing. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

A mosquito net. Malaria, dengue fever, and other mosquito-borne diseases make their home across Asia. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Airports and Airplanes
Airports in Nepal were an adventure all to themselves. We have memorable (unfortunately haha) experiences from all three of the airports we went to: Kathmandu international, Kathmandu domestic, and Biratnagar. They tend to be dirty, crowded, and lacking any useful flight information. There were some good, quirky, fun things we saw there, though.

Old-fashioned scales at Kathmandu's domestic terminal. They unfortunately didn't tell us our fortunes. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Prop planes! Also, the airline is called Buddha Air. Over the intercom it sounds like "Gouda air." (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

A flushable squatty! That didn't work... It was still a better option than the western toilet which was just so icky that Kirstie wouldn't even go in, and she can handle some pretty nasty bathrooms. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Religion: Death Rites and Holy Cows
The major religions in Nepal are Hinduism and Buddhism, though most people don't differentiate much between them, being that this is where Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) was born. From our observations though, most people we met seemed only nominally Hindu or Buddhist. Even when we visited a temple, many of the people we saw were there to make a buck off of the tourists (non-Hindus are not allowed inside the temple, so the areas we visited were probably not an accurate representation of Hindu religion).

Holy cow! Or maybe it's an ox, in which case it's not holy. And Kirstie. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

 The temple we visited was Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, dedicated to the god Shiva. One of the most important jobs of temples is cremation. In Hinduism, when someone dies, their body is to be cremated as soon as possible, usually within hours of death. In the cremation ceremony, the five elements (earth, air, fire, water, and sky/aether) are removed from the body, releasing the spirit. The ashes are put into the holy river, which eventually connects with the Ganges.

Cremation plinth at Pashupatinath (currently empty). The men in the water are searching for remains of gold jewelry. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Tasty Food
A lot of food in Nepal is similar to well-known Indian curry dishes. Most things are spicy, even the tomato soup we had at a European cafe.

Lentil soup and tomato soup. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

The Nepali staple food, however, is daal bhat. Daal refers to a lentil soup (not like the one in the picture). They serve it with tarkari, meaning vegetables, and achar, which they call "pickle" in English. The achar we had ranged from slices of fermented vegetables to something more like salsa, which we really enjoyed. Many people eat daal bhat twice a day, every day, with two other light meals, usually having something to do with rice. Nepali food is now on our list of favorites, even daal bhat, which many Westerners get sick of pretty quickly.

Vacation
We took our second week in Nepal "off," and we decided to do some village tourism through Nepal Face to Face. More about Face to Face and our time in the village later. Here is a little preview:

Isaac threshing rice. (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Kirstie playing with baby goats! (C) Isaac and Kirstie Bickford

Quiz Time
It's time for our quiz about Nepal. Post your answers (whether they're well-researched, guesses, or just plain lies) in the comments section. The winner gets to share a pie with Isaac and Kirstie (winner will have to buy said pie with their own money).

1. What exactly is an ox? (Yes, this is totally relevant to Nepal's Spotlight.)

2. How many languages are spoken natively in Nepal?

3. What does bhat mean?

Answers to the quiz will be revealed soon!

..Kirstie and Isaac..