Rainy Dasain Days, Hippie Yoga and Brilliant Bhaktapur

View from the roof at Karma Traveler's

Immediately after landing in Kathmandu, we jumped into a taxi and headed back to Karma Traveler's Hotel, our home away from home in Nepal.  We were giddy with possibility -- where to eat, what to eat, what to do, the different (clean) things we could now wear once reunited with the rest of our stored luggage.  They were all awaiting us just a few short kilometers away.  It was a wonderful feeling to come back to a place that you "know" and feel at home, even if it is halfway around the world.  We felt no unease in the ridiculous traffic full of cars, motorcycles, cows and carts, but the significantly more polluted air was definitely a slap in the face.

Busy, busy Kathmandu streets

 We arrived at Karma Travelers without incident and as chance would have it, the whole crew was at reception, including our friend Mr. Funny.  It was a very joyous reunion with lots of smiles and stories.  It felt great to be back.  Our room wasn't quite ready yet (it was only 0830 in the morning), so we dropped our stuff and headed out to our favorite neighborhood bakery where we delighted in croissants, cappuccino and newspapers.  We had heard next to nothing regarding worldly events over the previous three weeks and so it was a real treat to feast on any news at all.

Durbar Square, Kathmandu

Over the next several days we hit up all of our favorite restaurants, sampling burgers and beers as if we had never had them before in our lives.  We also had the good fortune of meeting up with Steve and his sons for a group celebratory "we all survived the Himalayas" meal at the fantastic Fire and Ice pizzeria in Kathmandu.  True to the "hiking is a small world" form, an Italian couple whom we had crossed the Cho La Pass with and seen at various other points along the trail had had the same idea and were there as well celebrating with their guide.  It was so strange to see everyone showered and in jeans and button down shirts.  We hardly recognized one another!

Flowers in Durbar Square

A woman making an offering in one of Durbar's temples

Durbar square

Not long after we arrived back in Kathmandu, a powerful typhoon hit the northeastern portion of India, and as the storm moved inland, we became engulfed in three straight days of nonstop downpours.  Unfortunately, all that happened at the height of what is the biggest celebration of the year in Nepal, Dasain.  Dasain (also spelled Dashain according to some sources) is a 15 day long festival, during which many different rituals and celebrations take place, all according to auspicious festival days.  We were able to visit Durbar square during one of the peak days in the festival, and it was marvelous!  The area was packed with people and goods with which to make offerings.  Dasain marks the victory of the gods and goddesses over the demons (essentially it is the celebration of good over evil), and so it is a very happy and thankful time for the Nepalese.  It is during this time that people often travel to their ancestral homes for special feasts.  There are also animal sacrifices, usually goats.  Giant bamboo swings magically materialize in almost every neighborhood (usually for the children, but the adults can be seen going for a ride as well).  It was most certainly a great time to be in Nepal for us.

Rainy Dasain procession in Thamel

For better or worse when the rains hit and when the festival was in full swing, everything in Kathmandu closed down.  So, we stayed put, snuggled up in warm beds, and watched TV movies to our hearts content.  We ventured out for brief excursions and meals, but the whole thing really forced us to slow down and relax, something that we probably needed to do.

Spinning the prayer wheels around Boudhanath Stupa

During this time we visited the amazing Boudhanath Stupa, which was actually quite enchanting in the rain.  As we slowly circumnavigated the enormous stupa while spinning the prayer wheels, we could hear the many monks chanting nearby in the monasteries.  Every now and then a flock of water logged pigeons would take flight and add their lowly colors to the prayer flags draped over the white bell of the stupa.  It was a surprisingly quiet place despite its popularity, and it was not hard to sense the spirituality with both the old and the young devotees walking amongst us stopping to pray or place an offering near the many statues.

Monks and some pigeons around Boudhanath Stupa

The beautiful Boudhanath Stupa

Some offerings at the Boudhanath Stupa

The Boudhanath Stupa is the largest stupa in Nepal and is commonly known as the holiest Tibetan Buddhist site outside of Tibet.  It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, and is believed to have been built in the 14th century.  The area surrounding the stupa is filled with monasteries, producing an incredibly unique feeling in this part of Kathmandu.

Me (in ridiculous hippy outfit) at the gate to HiYa

Nepal is full of spiritual and religious sites, and it is indeed a very thoughtful and though-provoking place.  It was for these, and many other reasons, that we found ourselves at the Himalayan International Yoga Academy (HiYa) out in Kathmandu's Himalayan foothills for a week.  Matt liked to refer to it as going to "Hippie Yoga," and said that he wouldn't have done it for anyone but me.  How sweet.  =)

Some lovely neighborhoods in the foothills outside Kathmandu

And so, as the rains were finally ending, we once again found ourselves in a taxi barreling through the chaos that is Kathmandu.  It didn't take more than 15 or 20 minutes and the neighborhoods began to change; houses were a bit larger and there were more gardens and green spaces.  We then began to head uphill slightly into the foothills.   The views from HiYa were awesome.  We had arranged to stay in one of the 4 tents located on the property (it's a small place) and really liked our new digs.  Our tent was lovingly called "harmony" and was next to "bliss."  We even had electricity and a couple of padded chairs on which to take in the great panorama that is Kathmandu.

Stunning view of Kathmandu from just outside the yoga academy

Matt and our tent "Harmony"

We settled in quickly with the help of the wonderfully friendly staff.  It was nice to have a well laid out routine and was somewhat reminiscent of our trekking pattern; early to rise, busy during the morning, relaxing in the afternoon and early to bed when the sun went down.  It suited us just fine.  For much of the week, we were the only two clients (Dasain was still in full swing so many places were still closed, etc.) and thus we were treated to personalized yoga and meditation courses.

Our breakfast table in the garden -- so lovely!

Our days started at 0700 with what was called "yogic cleansing."  This, we found out, was a fancy title for using a Neti Pot.  It you have not heard of this contraption (it's big out in Pittsburgh), please do Google it.  I promise that you will get a chortle.  One of the other guests early on in our stay mistakenly thought that this process was called "yoga Kleenex," which was brilliant given the mechanism involved, and we quickly took to calling the first task of our mornings just that.  This was followed by mint tea in the garden (delicious) and then an hour and a half of yoga.  I wasn't too keen on all that exercise without breakfast first, but it turns out it was actually quite tolerable.  And it made breakfast at 0900 that much more amazing.  We would sit in the garden, our bodies stretched and rejuvenated, and feast on delicious food and good, strong coffee (usually it was tea, but I had put in a special request keeping to my vow to never again go for long periods of time without my coffee.)

Really oily hair after oil therapy =)

Mid-morning was filled with various "therapies".  We sampled Reiki healing, massage, oil therapy, and steam baths.  It was an education.  The most interesting one was probably the benign sounding steam bath, which was antiquated (maybe even prehistoric) and housed in a very small room.  It was an old brown person-sized wooden box with a little door on the front that opened slightly to reveal access to a well-worn bench (that many a naked bottom had previously rested upon I'm sure).  When this door was closed, all that was left was a small round opening at the top of the box for your head.  You could only fit inside if you were seated.  I'm not gonna lie – the first time I saw this thing the thought "torture device" came to mind.  =)  However, it turned out to be quite pleasant and as the eucalyptus scented steam filled your nostrils you could almost forget that you were locked in a scary looking wooden box with your head sticking out and towels wrapped around your neck.

Therapy rooms -- steam bath not pictured =)

After therapy, there was usually some down time which we easily filled with reading, sitting in the sunshine, or a shower.  Next came lunch, an across the board tasty affair.  The remainder of the afternoon was yoga nidra, also known as "yogic sleep" and then free time.  Yoga nidra was one of my favorites as it involved deep relaxation.  It is not technically sleep, in fact to perform it correctly you must not sleep (which they repeatedly tell you during the practice), but boy is it tough not to drift off.  We would lie on our mats in the yoga hall with the warm afternoon sun streaming in with full bellies of Nepal's finest food that would inevitably begin to beg us to just take a nap already.  It was actually far more work trying to stay awake than I ever thought possible.

How we spent most of our fabulous afternoons

Some neighborhood puppies

The foothills of Kathmandu are a great place to walk as there are very few vehicles on the small and not-so-great roads in the area.  One afternoon we accidentally found ourselves in the midst of a Dasain (we assume) procession, so we let ourselves get carried along with the crowd for awhile before turning back to take in some more views of the valley.  We also visited a local stupa and took a stroll through the village.

In the late afternoon we practiced meditation.  I can now say that I have chanted "Om" for 30 minutes straight, and it was wonderful.  We learned all sorts of breathing exercises and participated in a few talks given by the doctor at HiYa.  After this, we took our supper in the little dining room complete with the local gecko population and our one very timid spider (he was always found hiding with only a few legs exposed behind one the signs in the room.)  Supper was followed by a brief Tratak session, which is the practice of staring intently at an object, usually a candle.  Matt was really good at this, I was not.  My drive to blink is apparently quite strong.  It was then off to bed, and the process would begin anew in the morning.  It was an exceedingly pleasant and restful 6 days.

Temples in Bhaktapur

Before departing for our next encounter with the Himalayas (a week in Pokhara which Matt will tackle in the next post), we spent a lovely day exploring the beautiful neighboring area of Bhaktapur.  Bhaktapur is an ancient city near Kathmandu full of temples, craftsmen (particularly metal works and pottery) and small markets.  Once again, the sky was threatening to open up and downpour, but this time it held off (and made for some pretty pictures).  We wandered through the many stupas and temples, down the colorful backstreets filled with vegetables and flowers, and passed a good hour having masala tea in the main square.  One can climb up the stairs to a few of the temples, which afforded us excellent views of the surrounding hills and villages.  It was a great way to help begin to close the book on our truly meaningful and wonderful time in Nepal.

A street in Bhaktapur

A view from the top of a temple

Life along the streets of Bhaktapur

Tractors and temples =)

As we bumped along in the taxi van back to Karma Traveler's from Bhaktapur, I found myself feeling so incredibly grateful for the powerful experiences to which Nepal had allowed us access.  The gratitude was mixed with an already growing sense of nostalgia for this beautiful land filled with even more beautiful souls.  We had ventured up to see the highest point on this planet, slept for three weeks in partitioned plywood rooms, sweated out our impurities in what seemed to me the world's oldest steam bath, laughed with the nicest people, eaten more rice than we deemed imaginable, and basked in the warmth and hospitality radiating from the inner strength of this incredible place.  It really was a journey like no other.

Click on the link below for more photos!