My Nepali friend in Thailand summed it up perfectly when he drove me to the airport. I was on my way to visit his home country of Nepal and mentioned my expectation of having to be flexible and "go with the flow" while there, especially if Nepal is anything like my visits to India. He quickly confirmed, "you will only be allowed to do what Nepal allows you to do."
Take the traffic, for instance. You may only want to travel 5 km across the city but the constant stream of pedestrians, carts, bikes, motorbikes, cars, buses, trucks and even cows – all vying for an open space on the road – can make this a prolonged journey. There are no lines on the road to indicate lanes so wherever one can fit is fair game.
Some interesting facts about Kathmandu and Nepal:
- The city of Kathmandu stands at an elevation of approximately 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) in the bowl-shaped Kathmandu Valley of central Nepal.
- It is surrounded by four major mountains: Shivapuri, Phulchoki, Nagarjun, and Chandragiri , a popular destination for spiritualists and trekkers alike.
- Nepal is the country in the world with a time zone that is set apart by a 15 minute interval. Sure enough, I had to adjust my watch by 1 hour and 15 minutes when traveling between Bangkok and Kathmandu.
- The supply of electricity is shut off 10-12 hours a day! That seems like a lot for a city this size but the use of individual fuel or battery generators make up for this inconvenience.
I have come to know Kathmandu as an old city with lots of history – spanning nearly 2000 years! But Kathmandu remains a vibrant center, as I noted when coming across a performance of modern dancing and wrestling in the oldest part of town.
Turns out I was in Nepal during an important festival called
Diwali, a five-day Hindu festival of lights that celebrates new beginnings, the emergence of light from darkness and the triumph of good over evil.
According to British
World News, families often light small painted earthenware lanterns half-filled with oil because, as tradition suggests, leaving them outside houses overnight helps
Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) find her way safely into their homes. The more lamps a family lights, the easier it will be for
Lakshmi to find her way to their home. Modern celebrations also make use of bright electric lights and fireworks, as I saw throughout Kathmandu at night with hosts of Christmas lights strewn on buildings and fireworks in public areas.
Sushil, a friend who lives in Kathmandu, graciously played tour guide during my stay in Nepal. He informed me that people worship dogs and adorn them with flowers during this festival. I found this particularly interesting because, only the day before, I watched a news segment on a Malaysian law that prohibits its population from even touching dogs (let alone worship them) because they are considered unclean. Quite a difference between beliefs in the Muslim and Hindu faiths and between practices in Asian countries!
