NEPAL: Kathmandu and Chitlang

After our trek, we spend a little more time in Sikkim enjoying, as the Israelis say, "Da Nature". Sikkim is a wonderful place full of Israelis. Actually, India is full of Israelis. I have met more Israelis in India/Nepal than I met in Israel. It is a shame I didn't do this India trip before the internship in Israel because I would have had so many more Israeli friends. "Why like dis?"

Moving on, after Sikkim we spent a few more days in Darjeeling and then headed for the Indian/Nepal border at Kakarvita. The trip to the border was uneventful, just a few shared jeeps and a unpleasant stop in Siliguri. The bus ride from the border to Kathmandu is where the real fun lies.

There is no "tourist" bus from that border to Kathmandu. Tourist bus means that you pay a little more and the bus has mostly tourists and stops less. Oh, it also doesn't have bags a rice piled up in the aisles. Our bus was considered a local bus. We were seated second row from the back. Never sit at the back of the bus in Nepal and India. The buses and the roads are so poor they combine to an extremely bumpy ride. More bumpy than any bus ride you have ever taken. The bus was really dusty, we had a argument about our bags been locked under the bus, the bus stopped all the time, bags of rice in the aisles that Randy used as a foot rest because he is a giant in this country and can't fit and more and more. The distance between the border crossing at Kathmandu is 600 KM. They tell you the bus should take 12-14 hours which is already twice as long as it would take us in Canada to go that distance. We were stuck on the dirty, smelly bus for 17 hours. Travel takes forever in Nepal. At one point the bus stopped and a family came on. This old, skinny man sat next to me. After a bit, the owner/manager (?) of the bus came to the back to discuss something, probably money. They got in a big argument with yelling and some arm pulling. I have no idea what the problem was but it was all happening right beside me. Then, after the lights were turned out, I saw the old man reach across me with a bottle full of liquid and pour it out the window. I know for a fact he had finished the water out of the bottle earlier. Unfortunately, my mind went straight to urine being poured out the window over me. I still think that's what it was.

We finally made it to Kathmandu and we were greeted with a mob of hotel owners and taxi drivers trying to get us to go with them. This happened when we got to Pokara too. It is extremely unpleasant especially after 17 hours on that bus. They just keep bothering you to take their hotel or taxi. It is one of the worst things about Nepal. We ended up leaving with someone to get out of the mess of people.

Kathmandu was a surprising relief from Indian cities. It is still dirty, noisy and dusty but there are a lot less people. Somehow it felt calmer. Also, there is so much to buy in Kathmandu. There is trekking gear, crafts, jewellery, clothes, counterfeit musc/movies, and anything else you can think of. It is overwhelming to the point where I bought very little. They also have live english music every night with a few places offering live Nepali bands. This was exciting at first because we were used to the 9 o'clock curfew in Sikkim. It soon became a bit obnoxious as the set lists did not change and all the bars were close enough that you could hear competing music trying to overpower each other.

After too many days in Kathmandu we decided to go to this small village we had heard about from some other tourist. It was almost a secret Israeli tourist spot as they all tell each other about it. Anyway, this village is called Chitlang and the man with the home-stay has a goat cheese factory. This Israeli girl, Raya, who we had been running into all over on our travels, accompanied us to the village.

It was a small farming community up in the mountains but within a valley. When we arrived, they were just finishing a week long religious celebration. A holy man was in the village to celebrate and the entire village along with neighbouring villages were all together. We were quickly ushered into the big tent where people were dancing and the holy man was chanting. We were urged to dance and had a nice time trying to copy the Nepali dance while being stared at by 300 people many of which don't see many white people.

After a little time, we left and went for a nice walk through the fields and hills. We found ourselves in wheat fields that sparkled with the sun. The whole area was beautiful. We had a lot of fun wondering around.


We returned to find that the party had moved out of the tent and there was a dance circle outside which we got dragged into. The girl dancing with Randy is his future wife.


Although it was a lot of fun, it was nice that it was the last day of the festival so we could have some quiet and do other things.

We were only there two nights yet we managed to experience a lot. The man, Oshuk, who invited us into his home was amazing. That first night, after a bit to drink, I suddenly experience something I have never done before. I became really dizzy and upon my trip to the bathroom I fainted. This man came running when he heard the bang and carried me into the room to lay me down. I was completely fine once I was lying down but he was so caring. He kept hugging me and kissing me like a father and not like a person I had met 10 hours before. It was suggested that I have some sugar so he went running and came back with a handful of sugar. I politely refused putting a handful of sugar in my mouth but accepted the cookies and water he brought. It was such strong love for a stranger that really blew me away.

As mentioned, Oshuk has started a goat cheese factory through a cooperative with a French organization. One of the tastiest things we ate was a platter of fresh garden vegetables covered in soft goat cheese. I don't normally like tomatoes but when this platter came out I could not resist. I now will eat tomatoes.
The factory was very simple. Only four rooms with little inside. The family made the cheese everyday. We ate a lot and he even made us some Lavne, Israeli soft cheese spread, which tasted more like cream cheese but was exquisite. He even had Zatar from some Israeli visitor. Most of the cheese was sold to expensive hotels in Kathmandu. I don't think there is another goat cheese factory in Nepal.

The second day, we had another unique experience for city kids. Oshuk brought over a goat and tied it to a post next to the house. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw them sharpening the knife. They brought the goat over to a log, one person held its back legs, the other held the rope around its neck, and Oshuk held the knife over his head.

Randy took some very graphic photos of the whole event. Some of the less graphic ones can be seen on Facebook. We watched the entire process from the beheading, to the draining of the blood, to the cleaning and sorting of the meat. They eat almost all of the goat in some way or another. We were treated to some of the fresh goat meat in our next meal. Some of the meat was tough and we had no idea which part of the goat we were eating. I don't eat meat much but after watching the whole slaughter process, eating the goat was essential. At the same time, watching the process and truly realizing the complete disconnect we have from our meat has made me even less interested in eating meat. That goat was alive just a few hours before I ate it. I watched it annoyingly poop on the porch where it was being tied. And then I ate it. That connection and realization to our meat has been lost in our society and there is something wrong with that.

Anyway, the next morning, Randy and I went on a long walk to see a lake in the area. It was about a 3 hour walk both ways and we were planning on going back to Kathmandu when we got back. The walk was nice. We walked through villages then forest, then next to rivers. We eventually made it to this spectacular lake.

While we were sitting, we noticed that a group of school children were canoeing across the river. This must have been there daily route to school. We spent too much time sitting and wondering around this lake that we had to hustle back.

Chitlang village with certainly remain in my mind, not just for the different experiences, but for the warmth that was shown to me as a guest. A truly magical place.

Avidan