First off, the keypads in Nepal are no good so please ingnore the typos.
We sat together in a small row boat as it banged against the hundreds of other boats full of hundreds of other people that had gathered on the Ganges River to view the nightly Hindu ceremony of prayer and offering to Shiva. Five Brahmin priests stood on seperat pillars at the bas of the ghat in front of the crowded stairs. Synchronizd th priests performed rituals to each direction. First swining chalies of smokin incns and eventually flamin torches into the night air, bowing after each rotation as the live singing and clapping grew louder and more intense. The entire ceremony lasted nearly an hour, bringing the night to a climactic close.
On the subcontinent religion is everywhere. Standing on every street corner, painted on every wall, practiced in every building. It's an essential part of every Indians life, woven into the very fabric of their existence. The involvement of religion in their lives is so anient and endowed I sometimes think th only people who truly consider it's truth or actively pursue it's relevance are western hippies who got bored with drugs. Religion is a funny thing everywhere, on most never really think about whether they practice it or not.
The next day we boarded a bus where we were to spend the next two days travelling to Kathmandu, Nepal. The bus was overcrowded and the roads were horrible so Curtis and I climbed on top with the luggage in search of a better ride. The bus bounced down the road soundingg as thouh it would fall apart at any moment. It crawled slwowly up windy roads throuh the terraced rice filds dotted with thatch roofed huts aainst the steep hills, and it careened much too fast down the same windy narrow raoads on th other side. The wind blew a breeez onto and we watched Nepal roll out behind us in shades of green, yellow, and brown under a spotless blue sky. We passed throuh villages that bustled with the busy sights and sounds of bazaars. Women in brihtly colored saris walked along the sides of the road carrying loads of grass larger than them on their backs. Schoolkids in uniforms screamed and waved at us. We stopped for herds of goats and cows to ross the road. The endless possiblities of life passing beside us was intoxicating, and it felt like we were right in the center of it.
The Hindus practice a strict caste system. What you're born as is what you will be, no way around it. So it's no wonder they believe in reincarnation, it gets them by. We need a heaven where justice is finally revealed to make up for an unjust life. But all this really only serves to undermind the only thing we really know for certain, and that is our own individual human experience. Too often we are too scared to let that be good enough. And the experience of sittin on top of a bus raving through Nepal, riht in the middle of the mystery of it all, was good enough.
We spent th next few days in Kathmandu shopping and seeing th sihts. The main center of town is similiar to Shakedown Street at a rateful Dead concer where the amount of western hippies outnumber locals three to one. But if you're willing to face th insane traffic and assault of salesman to mak it outside the city center there are beautiful examples of a cultur lost and living to be seen.
In Dubar Square we walked throuh anient Buddhist temples and Hindu statues. At the Syaumbunath Temple we watched monkeys play on holy monuments and steal offeringgs made to the gods by pilgrims. We drove an half hour out of Kathmandu to be swept up in the lockwise walk of exild Tibetan monks, murmering and spinnin prayer wheels, around th Boudnath Stupa at sunset. Life happening in so many ways.
We also did a two day white water raftin trip from the border of Tibet back down to Kathmandu. Another story in itself. Today we bathed elephants and rode on their backs through dense jungle viewing crocodiles and rhinos.
I'm sure that there's a million other things that have hapened to us that I just can't remember or can't bother relatin. Some things you'll just never know unless you experience them yourself. Happiness is a fleeting moment, not something you attain, in Nepal they seem to just keep coming.
-Chris
Hey, Curtis here!!!
So real quick, one of my favorite things about travel besides all the cool thinggs you et to do is the people you meet. Bakc home, traveling to another part of the world is made into a bag deal, and i suppose it is but the people you meet on the road make it seem nothing less than ordinary.
You may share a meal one niht with a couple from south africa and ireland, the next niht they may be from australia or england. Unlike americans, it is typical for people to travel. Europeans even have a name for the year after school that everyone takes off to o travel, its called Gap Year.
While sharin a meal with other foreingers, stories are told of past travels and experienes spent in different parts of the world. Althouh the acents can et confusing...He says potatoes, shes says pototoes, i say i dont know what the hell either of you just said!
