Happy 2064!
Happy Nepali New Year! Today is the first day of the year 2064! Woohooo!!!
At the moment I am in Bhaktapur, which is a small city/large town outside Kathmandu. Supposedly, this is the place to be for the New Year. Last night we were still in Kathmandu because we saw that the giant musician that we saw at the wedding was playing at a nearby restaurant, so we stayed to watch him play. He was pretty good, but not as good as the wedding when they were just improvising. Apparently, he's the head of the oldest rock band in Nepal. I call him The Giant from Nepal, because he's huge. Like six feet seven or something like that.
This morning we tried to wake up early to catch all the different ceremonies in Bhaktapur, but I think we got here too late to catch the main stuff. But it was still awesome to walk around the city with the brown brick fronts and clay tiled roofs. We kept coming across different squares with pagodas and temples. We walked all around town until we ended up where we started and found a nice guest house.
Since we had already seen most of Bhaktapur, we went to Thimi, which is also another town outside Kathmandu. We walked down the main street and passed all the different temples and palaquins that they were preparing. They were tying the palaquins to large sticks so they could be carried around town and decorating them with everything imaginable. We stopped to watch them prepare a palaquin and to listen to a bunch of boys drumming. They reminded me of my kids from Tejgadh so much. Then it all started with an innocent tikka when they took some bright orange power and did a streak on our foreheads. Then they threw some powder on us and then a man came and just poured the powder all over me. Well, the boys thought it was unfair that Vera was so clean, so they started throwing powder all over her and then the man gave me a whole bag of powder, so Vera and I took our revenge on the boys. We were running around the stupa, lingams and the temple throwing powder all over each other. Vera even followed a boy into his house where his grandfather was taking a nap.
So even though I didn't get to have my Holi with the kids of Tejgadh, I got to have a second Holi with a buch of Nepali kids. But I don't think they normally throw powder all over each other for New Years. I think they just did it because we were foreigners and they thought it was funny. Vera and I were walking through Thimi and Bhaktapur covered in orange and everyone else was looking normal and staring at us. On the way home, we rode on the roof of the bus because there were no more seats and because we always wanted to.
It's beautiful here in Nepal. The mountains with the fields and fields of bright green rice... It's a shame that my stay here is so short. I think if I stayed for six months I could definitely fall in love with Nepal and would have to marry a Nepali man. But at the moment, Tibet is calling!
At the moment I am in Bhaktapur, which is a small city/large town outside Kathmandu. Supposedly, this is the place to be for the New Year. Last night we were still in Kathmandu because we saw that the giant musician that we saw at the wedding was playing at a nearby restaurant, so we stayed to watch him play. He was pretty good, but not as good as the wedding when they were just improvising. Apparently, he's the head of the oldest rock band in Nepal. I call him The Giant from Nepal, because he's huge. Like six feet seven or something like that.
This morning we tried to wake up early to catch all the different ceremonies in Bhaktapur, but I think we got here too late to catch the main stuff. But it was still awesome to walk around the city with the brown brick fronts and clay tiled roofs. We kept coming across different squares with pagodas and temples. We walked all around town until we ended up where we started and found a nice guest house.
Since we had already seen most of Bhaktapur, we went to Thimi, which is also another town outside Kathmandu. We walked down the main street and passed all the different temples and palaquins that they were preparing. They were tying the palaquins to large sticks so they could be carried around town and decorating them with everything imaginable. We stopped to watch them prepare a palaquin and to listen to a bunch of boys drumming. They reminded me of my kids from Tejgadh so much. Then it all started with an innocent tikka when they took some bright orange power and did a streak on our foreheads. Then they threw some powder on us and then a man came and just poured the powder all over me. Well, the boys thought it was unfair that Vera was so clean, so they started throwing powder all over her and then the man gave me a whole bag of powder, so Vera and I took our revenge on the boys. We were running around the stupa, lingams and the temple throwing powder all over each other. Vera even followed a boy into his house where his grandfather was taking a nap.
So even though I didn't get to have my Holi with the kids of Tejgadh, I got to have a second Holi with a buch of Nepali kids. But I don't think they normally throw powder all over each other for New Years. I think they just did it because we were foreigners and they thought it was funny. Vera and I were walking through Thimi and Bhaktapur covered in orange and everyone else was looking normal and staring at us. On the way home, we rode on the roof of the bus because there were no more seats and because we always wanted to.
It's beautiful here in Nepal. The mountains with the fields and fields of bright green rice... It's a shame that my stay here is so short. I think if I stayed for six months I could definitely fall in love with Nepal and would have to marry a Nepali man. But at the moment, Tibet is calling!
posted by Jenna Furley | 4:50 AM
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