The Women in Nepal

Today was an opportunity to meet many wonderful people. My new friend Leslie from Sacramento, California that I met at Kopan Monastery introduced me to Tara. Tara and her family have a beautiful home in Baluwata, a village within Kathmandu. It always amazes me that you can have so much litter, pollution, and poverty and then walk through a door and see a beautiful garden and home.

Tara and her husband returned to Nepal after years of living in the USA. She is very involved in many of the NGOs focused on helping the people of Nepal. Tara’s sister, who I met, was the first woman high school graduate and college graduate in Kathmandu.

Tara has offered to let me stay at her home after I leave Tewa’s dormitories. It may be a perfect location to get to the bus for Tewa and still be close to the orphanage, where I will be tutoring the children in math.

On arriving at Tewa, it was so wonderful to see all my old friends. The dormitories have turned out better than I could have imagined and it really shows how much hard work went into preparing for the grand opening event. I am sitting in my room writing my blog with the smell of fresh paint. The rooms have a view overlooking the greenery of the mustard fields.

We attended a dinner hosted by the President of Tewa this evening. I met some ladies from the States and Canada, who are also here to attend the opening of the dormitories. I also met a young woman from Kenya, Caroline, who works for a non-profit out of Colorado that is similar to Tewa but focused in Africa. Caroline was giving me some tips for my trip to Rwanda later this year, but that is a whole other blog in September.

I realized that I should have purchased gifts for the staff at Tewa and all the people who worked so hard to build the dormitories. I must figure out how to go into Patan tomorrow to pick up some gifts. Unfortunately tomorrow is Holy, the festival of colors. If you followed my blog last year, you know it can be very difficult walking so as not to get sprayed with dirty water and colors, which are tar based powder that does not come out. I will have to figure this out.

On a side topic, when I arrived at my hotel in Tamal. I spoke with the travel agency and realized I could save $700 on my trip to Bhutan. I really liked the one that I had already hired, but that is a lot of money. Well…… wouldn’t you know that they made a mistake and I needed me to pay $300 more. I had to really negotiate and got it down to $180. Although I still saved money, I probably would have stayed with my original group. So much for being penny wise and pound foolish.

Well, it is very late and I am cuddled in bed with three blankets, no heat, so I better go to sleep.

Namaste, Paula

Kopan Monastery

Well it has been some time since I updated my blog. I have been in a Buddhist program at the Kopan Monastery for the last week. It was an amazing week and it will take me some time to digest all the information.

The class was definitely a melting pot from around the globe. I believe a good amount of countries were represented…. Mexico, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, UK, France, etc.…The attendees were of all ages and I believe equally split between male and female. There were approx.. 90 people in the program.

The program was “Transforming your Mind, Transforming your Life.”. I plan to do a write-up of all my notes for those interested. The class discusses good and bad karma as a result of virtuous and non-virtuous deeds.

Now I am really feeling guilty about buying the DVDs that Nepal sells. Since I only pay a dollar for a DVD on current movies in the theaters, I am sure there are copyright issues. Apparently they go to the movies and record the movie while it is playing in the theater and sell it. What do you guys think?????? One option is to watch them and destroy them and rent them at a red box when I get home. I hope that will wipe out my bad karma.

We spent our seven days in teaching, meditation, and silence. The setting was spectacular with the Kopan Monastery on the top of a hill overlooking the Kathmandu Valley.

I definitely have some issues with Meditation. I have what you would call a Monkey mind that is constantly moving…. I tried counting breadths to see how many I can count before my mind wandered… I never made it past seven. I really need practice and am not sure I will ever make it.

It is so wonderful to be back in the Nepali lifestyle, although the pollution is very bad. I just need to get use to the air. I tried wearing a mask like some of the others, but it makes me feel like I am suffocating.

I start back at Tewa tomorrow and it will be great to see everyone.

Now I am sitting in a hotel in Tamal listening to loud music, which I hope does not last all night. This is wedding season and the Nepali people really know how to party. At least it covers up the noise of the dogs barking…. I hope to get some sleep tonight.

Namaste

A Beautiful Place

I arrived at the Kopan Monastery and immediately understood why I have been wanting to come back here ever since I left over a year ago. The monastery sits on a hill overlooking the Kathmandu valley. There is only calm and peace within the monastery walls.

My retreat is six days and, to honor the purpose of the retreat, will limit my time on the computer to every few days. You may not see a blog from me during the retreat. I will journal every day and hope to put my thoughts in a blog at the end of the retreat.

The retreat is an introductory course on Tibetan Buddhism. The course combines teaching, meditation, and silence.

Namaste

Paula

I Have Arrived!!!!

After over 36 hours in transit, I finally arrive in Kathmandu. Amazingly my luggage is here with me. My panic attack was for nothing. I am hoping to learn to live in the present and not suffer over past mistakes or worry about future events at my Buddhist retreat, which starts tomorrow. I think it is a lot to ask but I am striving for peace and happiness.

I am very tired but excited to be back in Nepal. I realized in just a short period of time why I love Kathmandu. The atmosphere and energy is so intoxicating and, although there is a lot of noise and pollution, it seems so peaceful to me.

I have already met so many really helpful people. The hotel did not pick me up as promised, which is not unusual, so I was bombarded with people trying to sell me another hotel or a taxi. But you can always find people that will go out of their way to help. It is what I love about Kathmandu.

Finally after one hour I was in a taxi as we both tried to find my hotel. The drive took triple the time; when they say The Backyard Hotel, they really mean it. It is not the easiest place to find.

Immediately I realized that I didn’t pack correctly. It is 75 to 80 degrees. Last year it was very cold and wet. I brought all winter clothes. I guess I should be thankful the weather is beautiful.

I finally settled into a room after four hours. Needless to say I am very tired.

Namaste,

Paula

My Journey begins for 2012

This year is a busy year with Nepal, Bhutan, India, Cuba, and Africa. I am excited to be starting my journey.

I forgot how difficult travel could be. The day started with another AA cancelled flight, which forced me to add a leg from LA to San Diego to my trip. I am optimistic that my luggage will make it with 4 stops to my final destination Kathmandu. Sitting on the plane I had a sudden panic attack because I forgot to put a nametag on the duffle bag with two Kindle Fires that I am bringing for people at Tewa.; an amateur mistake. I am sure this won’t be the only panic attack I will have on this journey.

This year I noticed that I am really getting old or paranoid… whichever you want to call it. I am carrying pepper spray and a panic button. If you followed last year’s blog, you know that I took some risks walking at night. I didn’t think they were major risks, but everyone else did, so I am now prepared to do battle if attacked. Watch, I will probably spray in my face and help the attacker.

I am sad that Razeena, my good friend in Nepal, will not be there. But I have been introduced to an American that has started an orphanage in Nepal and hope to spend time at the orphanage. I brought toothbrushes, toothpaste (donated by my dentist office), crayons, pencils, and coloring books. Although I am apprehensive that I will become too attached to the children, which is why I have not been involved in working with children in my volunteer efforts, I am excited to help in any way possible.

My primary job is to update the marketing plan for Tewa. For those new to my blog, visit www.tewa.org.np. They are celebrating the opening of their dormitory. This will mean that Tewa can offer a complete destination venue and be more competitive. The best part is seeing everyone at Tewa again.

Being home for over 5 months, I have become fat and lazy. After 6 weeks of Nepali food, I should be back to my fighting weight. I will miss watching the dolphins play while working out at boot camp, but I will definitely get a lot of exercise walking everywhere.

I am now sitting on a crowded flight to Delhi…. It has been 30 hours, since I departed from LA and this flight is 8 hours. I think it is time for drugs and a glass of wine. What do you think???

Namaste,

Paula

Wow do the Laos people know how to party!! After three days of being wet celebrating the New Year, we were off to Muang Ngoi Neua, a tiny village along the river.

Again, the minivan ride from hell. They were two hours late picking us up. When we got in the van there wasn’t a happy face in the tourist group. This was only the van that took us to the minivan bus station. We waited another 30 minutes for three more riders (or so they said, we think they were hoping to fill the bus) before our minibus left the station.

Time was tight getting to Nong Kwai to catch the boat to Muang Ngoi Neua. When we arrived a driver offered to take us to the boat station for 5000kip (less than $1), but he was waiting to put all the other people in also, so I decided (not a good decision) for us to walk. It looked close on my map!!

The minidriver (and I am sure the people in the bus) laughed as they passed and saw us hurrying down the road. We finally got there and the boat guys gave us a hard time for being late, but the boat was waiting for us.

Now the real adventure!! When I went to pay I realized in my haste I left my purse on the minibus. My purse had all our passports, credit cards, and most of the money. I begged one of the motor scooter drivers to take me back to the bus station to see if I could find the minibus. Everyone was hysterical laughing at me. Good thing I will never see these people again.

We ended up going all over town to every minibus in the village looking for our driver. We finally found my purse. I think the whole village knew about my purse by the time we found it. It was a real relief.

I paid my new best friend, the motor scooter driver, 20000kip ($2.50). He was very happy. We obviously missed the boat and had to wait for another. We definitely used the time to our advantage and sat and had a well deserved BEER!!

Mung Ngoi Neua is a beautiful village on the river. We spent the evening at a restaurant enjoying many more beers and a nice dinner. We decided to try and trek and kayak tour the next day…

The mountains and forests along the river are spectacular and even more so in this particular section of the river. We took a boat for around 40 minutes and did a two hour trek through the forest and visited a couple villages. The heat is intense so it was not an easy trek but worth the effort.

Now the one thing I was not looking forward to… the kayak. If you don’t know my reputation on a kayak, you are lucky; it means you never had to be on one with me. I only go in circles. I have tried to figure out what I do wrong. To me I look like everyone else, but they go straight. Eric has his bad shoulder, so he was in pain trying to do all the paddling. When I tried to help, I only made it harder because we would start to go in circles.

The other couple from Israel was very patient with us. In fact we ended up hanging around with Ranie and Ronie from Israel the rest of the trip. They are really great people and we had a lot in common. Since we had such a good adventure kayaking, we all decided to go to the waterfall the next day.

Again, nothing is as it seems. We decided that we did not need a guide to find the waterfall, because our book said everything was well marked. Who writes these books!! We got lost at least three times. We found a sign half way through, after being lost for over an hour, that the waterfall was 10 minutes away “upstream”. No one really read the upstream part of the sign. We again took the wrong path and walked up a very steep hill. We had to hold on to branches to get up. Finally, I mentioned that there was no water in the area and I did not hear a waterfall…. We had been walking 60 minutes (remember the sign said another 10 minutes). We decided to go back down and give up.

On our way down Ronnie noticed a path through the stream. We finally came upon some small falls. We all decided that this was the falls and we are sticking to our story. I have made a decision that perhaps I am not meant for Amazing Race, since I cannot read signs and really hate the stress.

We couldn’t even find our way through the small village to find our boat driver, who had been waiting for us. I am sure he realized we were lost, since we were gone over two hours longer than it takes to get to the waterfall. I would love to see a picture of the falls to see if we were even close.

We took a boat for what was supposed to be 4 hours back to Luang Prabang (anything not to get in another minivan). The water is very shallow, since we are in the dry season, so we had to get out and walk and had major problems in the very low areas. The boat ride took 6 hours but the scenery was spectacular.

We are heading back to Luang Prabang to take our flight to Cambodia. Next time you hear from me I will be in Siem Reap.

Namaste.

Laos

This is really going to be a tourist blog, but I can’t resist. Laos has been spectacular. We started in Vientiane, which is a very nice capitol city. Most of the time we spent sightseeing, since we only had a few nights there.

The contrast of Laos with Nepal is amazing. Everything is clean and the people seem to keep themselves clean in Laos, although more people speak English in Nepal than Laos. I am not sure which country has more spectacular landscape; the Himalayans or the Jagged Mountains. The people are just as friendly in Laos as Nepal and the food is very similar. The religious fervor of Nepal is not as noticeable in Laos.

The first day we arrived, we went to a carnival. The carnival had balloon darts, kids car rides, food booths, etc. It reminded me of the festivals we used to have when I was growing up; our church had a festival every year. We ate off the street and really enjoyed the food, including an avocado frozen juice. I am definitely making them when I get home.

We took one day to see a National Forest, which I think was the wrong forest and there wasn’t much to see other than swimming at the falls and beautiful butterflies.

The next day we zip lined down the mountains of the National Forest outside of Vang Vieng. It was spectacular. Ironic, but all the other people that signed up (5 people) were from California. We had seen few Americans and now we have a car full. After zip lining, we took a truck with another group from California… weird… and headed for Vang Vieng.

Van Vieng is a village with jagged mountains and spectacular caves. We spent the day on a Motor Scooter and toured the caves. One cave was over 1km inside and at the end we could swim in the dark; a little scary, but really wonderful water. To get to the end many times you had to crawl on your hands and knees and it was very slippery.

After the caving we headed south to eat and came upon a local party area where they had tables in the river and the restaurants would walk through the water to deliver the food. We sat there for a long time and watched the tourists go by on their inner tubes. Of course, Eric was throwing water at them.

I will say that the place we stayed at in Vang Vieng was our least favorite. The owner Joe, who was suppose to be this expert on caving, was really obnoxious. He talked to us for 15 minutes and for 10 minutes was criticizing the US. A real loser from Australia (although he is from the UK and Irish heritage), who dropped out 11 years ago and married a Lao women, and does nothing. His wife does all the work. He doesn’t even speak the language yet. I think this may be my first trip advisor poor rating.

We had the minivan from hell ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. It was six hours of windy, bumpy road and NO air conditioning. The van over heated once and the driver stopped to buy watermelon, pick up his wife and baby, and have a cigarette. You can imagine how tired we were when we arrived.

Well we woke up fast. It was the first of three days of New Year and Luang Prabang celebrates this holiday with tossing water on everyone. I mean buckets of water. The Tuk Tuk, which is an open truck, took us from the minibus station to our hotel. By the time we arrived, everyone was completely soaked, including our purses and hand baggage. Thank goodness our big luggage was on top of the truck. Since we were soaked already, we went out and partied with the locals and tourists throwing water.

The New Year is a three day celebration with water throwing every day. Today and tomorrow are parades. Although it is really fun, we are trying to miss the colored water and the black tar that they put on you. I am currently sitting in my room and enjoying the AC and taking a break from the commotion of the water tossing.

Namaste