Kathmandu, Balgram, Itahari, Dharan, Birtamod; Nepal

One day after the office, while I was waiting for one of my colleagues to get his flat tire fixed on his motorcycle, then I was playing with some children in the compound. They were fooling around, while I was taking photos of them, making funny facial expressions. I really enjoy these kind of short moments in my daily life, just being with people for short times, in unexpected places.

March 26 – After work all of us from the office attended a party in celebration of a colleague’s daughter’s rice feeding ceremony. The party was held in the army headquarters in Kathmandu and I had a really nice time this evening; great chats with people, great snacks and food and the environment in itself gave a really relaxed party feeling. There were more than 600 people at the party and I was there for about three hours.

A few days later, on my day off from work, I was invited to a neighbor’s house for lunch (just across the street from my home). As the sun was shining and the weather was sweet I preferred sitting in the garden with a few other people just relaxing and enjoying the delicious Nepali food and then rounding it up with ice cream. We all chatted and enjoyed ourselves, I really had a nice time at this lunch.

Two weeks ago I went out two evenings after work to spend time with some of my friends from work, one of the evenings we were four people who went to a restaurant called Zest, which had a very cozy ambiance. We chatted and laughed while having nice food and drinks.

That same week on Friday, the weather conditions really changed. All of a sudden it started falling hailstones from the sky, and when I saw the hailstones lying on the ground, then I got a feeling of winter.

Trip to Eastern Nepal (8-13 April)
On Tuesday (last week) after finishing the work in the office, my colleague Shankar and I went to take our bus to Itahari in Eastern Nepal (we were also accompanied by his uncle). The bus journey started from Kathmandu at 5 pm and the bus in itself was ok, except for the fact that I had insufficient room for my legs, which made the 11 hours and 30 minutes of traveling quite uncomfortable for me. It was only in the beginning, while we were driving just outside of the Kathmandu Valley, that I could enjoy the scenic views of the nature. Then the darkness came.

The bus arrived in Balgram at 4:30 am the following day, Wednesday (9 April), and when we got to Shankar’s family house Gyanendra (Shankar’s brother), mother and grandmother welcomed us. After ten minutes or so we went to bed, and it felt really good to sleep in a bed after sitting on that bus for so long. I only slept for a few hours, but it was enough. When I got up in the morning I chatted with Shankar’s family members, relatives, friends and neighbors. I also had a very refreshing bucket shower before having “lunch” (here in Nepal they use the term “lunch” for the meal in the morning as well). In the afternoon I, Shankar and two of his friends visited the city Itahari (which lies about 3 km east of Balgram), I felt it was a very peaceful town with a slow traffic movement made up by rickshaws, buses etc. The temperature there was much hotter than in Kathmandu, during the daytime it was +30 degrees Celsius and above. Later that same afternoon Gyanendra was showing me around in their village (Balgram). This whole day I was laughing and enjoying my time enormously. In the late afternoon I spoke with two very intelligent 15-years old boys (living in the same compound as Shankar’s home), one of the boys was using an English language that amazed me, he was talking about how “the world is dynamic”, both of the boys were really enlightened. While we were discussing, another group of people were talking to each other close by us, and according to the boys the group was chatting about “how friendly and handsome I was”. It felt nice hearing the good words about me after such a short time in the village. In the evening I was having dinner with Shankar’s family, and his mother cooked every meal with Nepali food deliciously, I really liked the food. At the dinner we were laughing and Shankar’s grandmother was laughing and happy, she also told that she already felt like I was grandson. Imagine hearing that after spending less than 14 hours in a home for the first time.

The 10th of April was a big day; it was time for the Nepalese people to vote in the Constitution Assembly election. So, in the morning when Shankar, his brother Gyanendra together with friends and relatives went to vote, then I relaxed and chatted with the same young boys I was talking with the day before. Because of the election I spent most of this day around the house, except for in the afternoon when I went along when it was time to buy vegetables in the market. In the early evening Shankar and I together with a couple of his friends went to the SOS Children’s Village, which is located in Balgram. It was interesting to see, and I got a small tour by an officer. The environment there is very child-friendly, with an enormously peaceful atmosphere. Almost all evenings after the dinner when I was in Balgram I sat outside of the house and looked at the stars, it was so nice watching the universe while being in these peaceful surroundings on earth.

The next day we were all together six people who went by bus to Bhedetar to have a view of the hills. While we were standing on the top of a viewing tower I got sand in one of my eyes, which really hurt and it stayed in my eye for one hour. Hehe, I know someone who will find this information about sand in my eye quite important while reading my diary (he has enjoyed uncountable Double Rosannas with extra onion). We continued downhill towards the city of Dharan and along the way we visited a couple of Hindu temples. Dharan is a city with a lot of green vegetation around itself, to me Dharan was more beautiful than Itahari. This whole day’s trip was really nice and I enjoyed seeing different views the whole time.

The following morning Shankar’s brother Gyanendra took me by rickshaw to the school where he works and gave me a tour of it. When we got back it was time to get ready for a motorcycle trip towards east. Just before 11 am Shankar, I and his two friends started our journey as Shankar and I was supposed to deliver a condolence letter to a family in a village about 85 km east of Balgram. We did a few short stops along the way, we stopped at a lake, tea gardens etc. The ride there took about two hours, and the whole time the nature kept on changing and many of the parts, which we passed by was very beautiful. After delivering our condolence we started our journey back towards Balgram. We stopped in the city of Damak and had lunch, the motorcycle I was on also had a flat tire there, which we had to get repaired. Our two motorcycles kept on riding and after some time, our other bike got a nail in its rear tire, so once again a flat tire. Although we had flat tires, it was a great trip. That evening the lightning and thunder started and it was followed by a forceful rain and stormy weather. I got a bit chilly, but I like coolness while sleeping.

Yesterday was my last day in Eastern Nepal, it was also the first day of the Nepali New Year (2065). I got up as the sun was rising, had my tea and inhaled the fresh countryside air. I packed my things and made myself ready, as I was taken to Biratnagar for a short tour of the city, before getting dropped at the airport. I flew from Biratnagar to Kathmandu with Buddha Air, and it was very comfortable traveling between these two cities in less than an hour. I got home to my apartment around 5 pm and when I look back at my five days in the Eastern Terai than I’m not only grateful and happy that I got the chance to be welcomed into a great family, but also that I got see a completely different environment compared to the one I’m used to here in Kathmandu.

Today is a holiday and tomorrow our work will resume.

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