Traveling: Sept 3rd - Sept 6th

Saturday/Sunday:  After only having to turn back home once to get our probiotics, my Dad, my sister Taylor, and her two best friends from college, Dorothy and Mackenzie, and I finally left Seattle.  With us we have two gliders, five backpacks ranging from very large to very small, and one communal bag of extra stuff we couldn’t fit in our packs. Even as I said goodbye to my Mom, the whole idea of being gone for this long hadn’t hit me yet. It just felt like any other vocational trip. About an hour or two later, we board a flight to Seoul, Korea. Our plane was huge. The best part about flying a twelve-hour flight is having your own mini TV, but the worst is the food. Everything was packaged mush. After my first meal, I was prepared to just say “no” to any upcoming ones but my stomach was persistent and I ate everything that looked edible. Surprisingly, I wasn’t bored for a minute.  This was probably because I watched four movies and played a ton of games like yahtzee and solitaire. I managed to sleep for a bit less than an hour even though we didn’t land until 2 am Seattle time. It was just too weird not seeing the sun set even though it was very dark on the plane.  So that brings me to Sunday. We land in Seoul at 5pm on Sunday, Korean time, or 2 am Seattle-time.  We walk around the enormous airport for a couple hours, stopping by a couple places for food. At last, we post up in a gate that has somewhat comfortable looking couches and a couple wall plug-ins. I pop a sleeping pill and fall into a dreamless sleep for about five hours.

Monday: I woke up around 4 or 5 am Korean time and decide to walk around the completely empty airport and take pictures. Three hours later, we board our second flight to Kathmandu, Nepal. This flight was pretty much the exact same as the first except a couple hours shorter. More movies…yay. Once again, I couldn’t sleep. Finally, after hours and hours of clouds, we start seeing a few beautiful green mountains, deep valleys and quilted rice patties. We’re in Nepal! We disembark our plane and walk through an airport that looked like the exact opposite of the one in Seoul. We get our visas and pack everything into a few taxis and start to drive through the city. It is probably one of the scariest drives of my life. There are people everywhere, one inch away from our car and honking like crazy. There was so much to look at with buildings. Shops, cows, and mountains everywhere. After a while we reach our guest house that we are staying at for the night. We meet Raj, the Minister of Ecotourism, owner of the hotel, and friend of a friend of my Dads who offered us a traditional Nepali meal at his home with his family. Needless to say, we accepted. What better way to be introduced to Nepal than a good meal and conversations with someone who specializes in the country? The other girls and I decide to do some exploring first so we walk through the city’s streets which is pretty much just shops on all sides of you and people trying to get you to come inside. We met some friends, including a guy named Raz who we had a good conversation with while trying to haggle the prices for a sleeping bag. This is when the everything started to hit me. The hustle and bustle of the city was so incredibly different than Seattle, I had a weird mixture of sadness and complete excitement. I had made it! Wait…what am I doing?? It was a pretty overwhelming place to realize all of this, but trying to not get hit by motorcycles and cars eventually took over and those feelings were pushed aside and I was purely excited now. Eventually we walk with Raj to his home where we met his 87 year old mother, two sons, wife and dog. They serve us delicious curries, rice, lentils, cauliflower, chicken and popcorn. By the end I am so stuffed I almost fell asleep. Raj gave us a presentation on Nepal, including facts about religion, Everest, etc. It was really amazing how welcoming they were and it was such a great opportunity to see how a Nepali (albeit a well-off Nepali) lives. Later, we went back to our beautiful hotel and pass out.

Tuesday: We woke up at 6 and get ready for our bus ride to Pohkara.  We asked a guy with a bike taxi to take us and our stuff to the bus stop because there is no way we could carry it all that far. He looked at it, hesitated, ran off, and came back with three or four of his bike taxi friends. They started to pack up their bikes with all our stuff and we piled on top of it. This ride was even more terrifying than the car ride because every time we turned, which was a lot and not very smoothly, it felt like I was going to fall off and get hit by a bus. My bikers name was Muno and I think he was trying to scare me on purpose and would laugh as I screamed a little.  We boarded our bus at 7 am and while we waited, I tried to trade a muffin for a twix bar from one of the guys selling candy from outside but I don’t think he understood me so I just gave him my muffin anyways.  We drive through the seemingly endless city until finally we are high up enough and can see through the valley back at the city.  As we go over the first mountain, everything opens up. There is just vast space with beautiful neon green rice patties and intense “hills” on every side.  I got a bit picture-hungry and was constantly snapping away. I should have realized it would look like this for eight hours, but I was in awe. My personal heaven. Lush beauty everywhere, everything was perfectly picturesque in an imperfect way.  We made a few stops at some restaurants in the villages and ate some delicious Nepali food. I know I’m going to get sick of it, but for now it is amazing. My favorite is the momos which are like little dumplings. After forever, we reached Pohkara city, which looks a lot like Kathmandu except smaller. When we got to the bus stop we take another taxi to our new “base camp”, the Buddhist Meditation Center Guest House. It is incredible with a beautiful view of the lake and a really cool yoga center upstairs. We got some dinner and later play some lacrosse in a dry rice patty field that the town had turned into a soccer field. Finally we ended up back at the guest houses, where I am now, writing this, even though there is no internet for me to post it. Next few days we plan on getting acquainted with the area and people, while gathering information about volunteering and traveling. After that, my sister and I are going to be at a three day meditation/yoga/buddhist teaching retreat, and the next day my Dad and I plan on going back to Kathmandu and starting our three week trek to Everest Base Camp. I am so excited to see those mountains! Until next time, 
Namaste,
Emily