Around Nepal: Scenes

I left Nepal just a little over a month ago. When surrounded by a different culture for so many months, the scenes that seem strange at first, begin to be everyday and commonplace very quickly. Once returning home, those scenes again start to fade.

I kept a notebook during my time in Nepal and jotted down some of the sights that I saw during my time in Nepal. Here are a few of the pictures in words, along with some pictures in pictures…

Street scenes

Cattle and cattle egrets. 

Charlie Custard

A dozen men squatting around a fire of burning trash and drinking a pre-dawn chiyaa (Nepali tea).

Painting a Tibetan mandala.
This is 8 months work.

Traffic three across… in one direction… on a road barely wide enough for two cars to pass.

Plowing the fields. 

In a country where the large multinational chain restaurants are rare to non-existent, I saw a KFC (Kwality Food Café).

Restaurant overlooking the lake. 

Goats tied to a bridge railing on a busy road. There was a goat market on the other side of the bridge.

Prayer flags are a common sight everywhere
in Nepal. 

Kids playing volleyball with a soccer ball, and using a clothesline (with clothes hung to dry) as a net.

A cow eating cardboard from a pile of trash that is still burning.

All the buses and trucks are brightly painted

A woman in a dirty sari squatting on the side of the road scooping trash into a bag with her hand, and talking on her cell phone.

Traditional brooms. You must stoop to sweep.

A blanket-maker pouring out the rough batting onto a cloth on the side of the road, covering it with another piece of cloth, stitching the two together, then beating it with a stick to even out the batting inside.

World Peace Stupa on the ridge.

Looking towards Lakeside, Pokhara, across Phewa Tal.

Temple on the shores of Phewa Tal.

Cloudy day over Phewa Tal. 

Phewa Tal sunset.

Four men fixing a motorcycle – 1 man working on the bike while the 3 others watched him. Some things are common to all cultures.

Selling sugar cane along the side of the road. 

Four motorcycles parked on the side of a narrow road… along with a cow.  (bike, bike, bike, cow, bike)

The gorgeous Annapurna range, as seen from a
Pokhara neighborhood.

Machhapuchchhre, or Fishtail, is the most recognised peak
in the Annapurna range. It is a sacred mountain, and
forbidden to climb. 

View of Fishtail with a traditional mud and stone house. 

Pokhara valley and Fishtail.

60 goats with long fur and curved horns being herded along a busy road.

Paragliding is big business in Pokhara.
Even the Yetis get involved.

These cigarette advertisements are hilarious. Various scenes,
but all feature this super cool guy doing super cool things
(paragliding here, also rafting, motorbiking, etc.) but looking
utterly bored as he's doing it. 

Super cool cigarette guy leading a jeep tour in Chitwan.
"Look, there's a tiger behind me." 

Harvesting rice.

Grain storage.

The party bus! At least once a day I see a bus speeding along the road with music blaring from the speakers or a live band playing from on top of the roof. Everyone inside the packed bus, and sitting in the packed luggage rack on top of the bus is yelling/singing/cheering as they go past.

Rickshaws and cars. 

Rickshaw driver taking a break. 

Difficult to see in the this photo, but the gentlemen in the
orange shirts are preparing for the annual bicycle rickshaw
races.

An old man repairing a wicker basket (the Nepali wheelbarrow). He had replaced most of the bottom of the basket with fresh green pieces, and proceeded to shape it by stomping down with his foot inside the basket, then turning the basket a fraction and stomping again.

Kids playing on the bamboo swing.

Three little girls of about 8 or 9, taking turns dancing on “stage” - the flatbed of a tractor.

A little boy carrying a severed goat head. 

Bringing in the nets.

Women carrying their vegetables and fish to
sell in town. 

A man with a bandana tied tightly around his head and covering his face, wearing a pair of sunglasses, and welding.

It's only the older generation who know how to make a
traditional thatched roof. 

A funeral procession. Two men lead the procession blowing conch shell horns. Then there are the men holding poles attached to a long white cloth banner meant to frighten away the evil spirits. The shrouded body is carried on a wooden board, and covered with flowers and offerings. Friends and family walk behind, with the immediate (male) family members dressed in plain white cloth, no shoes, and having shaved their heads in respect for the dead.

Stray cat who's found a comfy place to nap at Maya Devi.

Then there are all the unique translations and broken English that I hear and see...

A t-shirt proclaiming the wearer is a fan of Guns and Rose.

Another t-shirt from Woodstuck.

With all the restaurant options in Lakeside,
I couldn't bring myself to eat at this place.

A brightly painted bus, “Don’t Brack my Heart.”

On the back of a bus, “Hav Nise Day.”

 A common sign on the many pashmina scarves and sweaters
sold here. They're real pashmina, very soft, just feel, dear human.

A gas station called Fual Concern.

Pizza place advertising firewood pizza.

The slogan: Probably the best beer in Nepal.

And my all time favorite saying: Same, same… but different.

This gave me a chuckle. To get from the airport - the brick
building - to this plane, they put us all on a bus and drove
us around in a wide circle. When the bus stopped to let us
out, we had to walk about the same distance to the plane as
we would have had to walk from the building.

I hope you've enjoyed reading my stories and pictures. Thank you for following along!
Until next time!