Susan's NGTAW Blog: Slices of life in Nepal

Pickup ping pong game on the side of the road, complete with brick net

Tuesday, February 20 Nepal

After landing at Kathmandu’s airport and negotiating customs, we were out and onto our busses, by about 2:30 PM.

We were divided into different busses, depending on which optional activity we chose, and headed out for the afternoon. Michael and I were on our way to visit Bhaktapur & Durbar Square – a UNESCO heritage city which has been unchanged since the 17^th century, with many temples, palaces and squares. The city is especially famous for its intricate wooden architectural features.

Under the trees, women sell food and water to workers and other passers-by

Views from the bus as we drive to our sight seeing destination

Major construction projects are underway - here workers are redoing the infrastructure of the water system

The drive from the airport to Bhaktapur was supposed to take about 30 minutes – due east of the airport by about 20 KM. It took longer – in part because the roads are torn up – with work crews digging deep trenches,and lining them with stone and cement, as they are completely redoing all of Kathmandu’s water system. And the main road that travels to Bhaktapur is also being widened –currently it’s a 2 lane road. Nepalese drivers follow the British tradition and drive on the left side of the road.

Talking outside in front of a store

Monks waiting - was he calling Uber on his cell phone?

It was grand looking out the window and seeing an amazing slice of life go by. Nepal is the size of Tennessee and has three major regions – the Himalayan Mountains in the North, the high hills in the middle and the green bread basket in the South, which is where the elephants and tigers can be found. Avash, our local tour guide, was full of great information to help us better understand his country and culture. He told us that at the 2011 required census, there were 27 million people living in Nepal: 81% are Hindu, 9 % are Buddhist, 4% are Moslems and 1% Christian. Agriculture is the biggest industry: more than 70% of Nepalese work plots of land or raise animals, 23% work in the service sector, and 11 % in industry.

Traffic was complicated by road construction projects - widening, improvements and earthquake repairs

In less congested areas, more plots for vegetables became the predominant scene

Nepal's version of hay bales on the left of the photo - our guide said this is dried rice straw

Bringing home the cows

There have been 2 tragedies in recent history that have complicated the lives of the Nepalese. In 2001, the 10 members of the royal family were massacred by the crown prince, before he shot himself. This led to a complicated 10 years of political strife with a rejection of the monarchy and the establishment of a Maoist party government. Our guide tells us in more recent years, he is hopeful that elections are bringing a more stable, democratic government. And there was a severe earthquake in Kathmandu in 2015 - and they are still recovering from the after effects.