I had a few days to catch up with friends and with everyone at One! International after Randy left and before my older brother Bryan arrived in Mumbai. Once again returning to the Sea View Hotel, I first picked Bryan up at the International Airport, fighting my way into a small group of angry cab drivers until I elbowed up to the window and arranged for a pre-paid taxi. I'm pretty sure my brother wasn't prepared for me having to yell and throw elbows straight off the plane, but it's India, and it was necessary.
We did a whirlwind tour of Mumbai the next few days, following on the footsteps of what I had shown Jessie and Randy when they were here, though this time around we were able to witness an army of monkey balloons flying over the beach as the sunset.
The next day we made it downtown eventually, but I first gave Bryan a quick tour of the school where I volunteered at and the area surrounding it. As my latest guest, I again went to Leopold's, then walked to Gateway of India. The next morning brought my second journey to Elephant Island, where we met a fellow American named Thomas who was in India for work but also touring around a bit. This monkey was especially impressive with his corn eating skills.
After touring the caves at Elephanta, the three of us hit up lunch, then drinks, then bowling, then dinner—it was so hot, indoor activities were preferred. I was somehow under the false impression that Indian bowling would differ from back home, but really it was the same, except for that they played even more bad hip hop music (loudly) and we didn't need to wear shoes or socks.
The next day, again swelteringly hot, we made it back up to Juhu from downtown, ran some necessary errands, and I introduced Bryan to Shiv Sagar, my favorite veg fast food chain, where he for the first time had pani puri, sev puri, and masala dosa, proof below:
Finally early Thursday morning we began our journey to Nepal; I had forgotten when I booked our tickets that there was both an International Airport in Delhi and a Domestic one, thus we had to leave Mumbai at the domestic airport and transfer to the International Airport in Delhi. However, all went well and though we had not heard from Pema Sherpa (our scheduled guide in Nepal) he did not let us down as he met us at the airport in Kathmandu with a sign bearing my name (one of my most favorite things is to be greeted by someone holding a sign with my name; this was starting well!)
Pema navigated us over to my friend Amber's place in Boudha (bow-duh), just a short distance from the center of Kathmandu. I had met Amber in Mumbai; she's a film editor from Massachusetts. We settled in, and Amber had to go wrap up some work, but her mom was visiting from the U.S. so she took us to a rooftop cafe near the Stupa in Boudha.
I welcomed the calm.
I had not realized just how intense Mumbai could be, until I sat sipping tea at the rooftop cafe in Kathmandu watching all sorts of people, including monks, walk around the large stupa in a clockwise direction. Despite Kathmandu's pollution, it truly was a breath of fresh air to sit there. That night we also witnessed a peaceful protest in support of Free Tibet and the Dali Lama, and I captured the two images below, a few of my favorites from the day.
The next morning we left Amber and her mom and got a taxi for Thamel, the touristy area of Kathmandu. I was tired, and gave in when the cabbie said that he had a “great suggestion” for a hotel for us. It turned out to not be half bad (though it was a cold shower) but for US $10 a night, it worked just fine. After a tasty breakfast at the small cafe Gaia—bacon croissant—the best one I have ever had, I must admit—we spent the next day using our trusty Lonely Planet—Nepal book to do a walking tour of Kathmandu, including seeing a Toothache God, the main Durbar Square as well as the Swayambunath Temple, better known as the Monkey Temple, which was a good precursor to the amount of stairs we were going to climb once our trek started. Durbar Square had tons of temples, as well as a few babas who befriended me, and the Swayambunath Temple also had shrines to Saraswati (Goddess of wisdom and learning, many students come and pay homage to her before their major exams) as well as an expansive view of Kathmandu.
That night, we filled up on a substantial meal at Fire and Ice Pizza not far from our guest house. Note, we take our training seriously.
We left early for the city of Pokhara the next day and after a long bus ride, we settled into an extremely relaxing day in Pokhara, enjoying some steak, beer, and Bryan purchased some knock-off Northface gear. We had our first meal with our group that night, and my first Dahl Bhat, traditional Nepali food of dahl, rice, and veggies. The highlight was that we got to celebrate with Jean from Germany, who was part of our trek group the first three days, as it was his 50th birthday. Starting off with a party—this seemed exactly like my kind of gig.
No comments:
Post a Comment