Sometimes even in the act of spontaneity, it’s possible to find more room to be spontaneous. A friend here in Dhaka wanted to go on a trip, and I was a bit frustrated trying to update my visa, which couldn’t be changed Bangladesh and had to be done in another country (sometimes laws here make no sense). After a brief discussion we thought - well, why not? so I okayed it with my project, booked a flight, stuffed my backpack, and hopped over to… Nepal!
Nepal is an amazing place. and by amazing I mean more than just the gorgeous temples, friendly people, and vast mountainous terrain. What stood out was the sense of pure contentment with which the Nepalis went about their lives. There’s not much there in terms of material luxuries, but you wouldn’t notice that when chatting with them. But then, with the great scenary and delicious food, I’d be hard pressed to find anything to complain about either.
After trying to understand and ‘work with the system’ to get the darn visa, we spent a bit of time relaxing in the Kathmandu valley before heading out on a short trek, which went from Kathmandu > Chisopani > Nargarkot.
Lonely Planet described the town of Chisopani as "a grubby little truck stop without the trucks." When we got there we realized that there’s no trucks because there are no roads. And that the ‘town’ consisted of three or four houses, with a backdrop of the Himalayans so breathtaking that it was worth every minute of the past few hours of trekking through pouring rain. Watching sunrise above the clouds the next morning was just as beautiful.
One of the more adventurous part of our trip happened at the end of our trek. The daily bus that was to take us back to Kathmandu arrived completely packed, with arms and legs squeezing out of the windows. There was no way we were going to stand around waiting for another bus that might or might not come, so we climbed onto the roof of the bus with a few other locals and clung on for dear life as the bus made its way to the city. The ride was a thrill, although we realized it probably wasn’t one of our safest decisions, as we ducked telephone wires and saw one of the boys get smacked by a tree branch. The picture in the middle is of us faking confident smiles before the ride - i was actually in a bit of a panic. And on the right is a picture taken a few days before - i had climbed on top of the bus to snap a picture of goats being tied to the roof. i remember thinking - why on earth would anyone think to transport goats on the roof of buses??
