meeting the parents

I assured mum and dad that 10 days would be enough time to get a taste of Nepal.  And we did rather well I would say considering I have been here for now over 8 months and there still much to see, discover and experience.

After an 18 hour hike via Hong Kong and Bangladesh (as you do...), they arrived safely in the 'Land of Mt Everest', though tired and with understandably swollen ankles.  Thus they seemed nicely surprised to see we have running water, a considerable amount of power, beds and a western toilet...Somewhat different to what mum met 44 years ago, when she married dad and 3 days later finished her honeymoon in PNG.

After unloading the masses of requests and deliveries from Australia, including a lamb shoulder, ricotta cheese and an assortment of Darrell Lea goodies (thank you sooo much Kerry and Marc, the chocolate bullets seriously made my day!), we said goodnight.  I felt like a child again in the warmth of knowing my loving parents were nearby.

'Blooming Kids'**

The next day eager to soak up the surrounds mum and dad woke fairly early, and I, eager to soak up the time with them, pulled myself out of bed and commenced our 7 month catch up.

It seems in the years living in Leichhardt (Sydney's Inner West, and cafe epicentre) we have grown like-minded when it comes to good coffee and good conversation (which is often dependent on the former)...Thus our first excursion out of Arniko Marg, Battish Putali* (our street) was to Thamel for coffee.

After an exciting corolla-meets-4WD-taxi ride avoiding 'jam', we arrived. No sooner had we settled into our cappuccinos at New Orleans^, mum and dad had whipped out their iphones, connected to the wi-fi and I was left looking pitifully at my prehistoric sonyerricson with a scratched up screen and a semi-broken back.  I could not help but smile thinking that the 72 year olds of this world can been so technologically savvy.  The waiters and baristas also appeared impressed.

It was so good to talk tete a tete.   I have decided that my parents are not just my parents but they are great people and great friends.  They make me laugh (not always intentionally) and they stimulate me spiritually and mentally.

After a double-sitting^^ Alana and I tore ourselves away from the folks and hot-footed it to college.  On arrival, Mukundraji was upset I had not brought the parentals with me, as he was the subsequent days when I also came parentless.   Ke garne?

That night I cooked up the lamb and we introduced 'ma n pa' to some of our congregation over a semi-traditional Australian/English roast dinner.  We had met Bro and Sis Tachikoa (two Japanese missionaries) in PNG last year at the branch dedication so it was nice to hear from their perspective the difference in assignments.  Before he was married Bro Tachikoa had served in a beautiful place in PNG called Lae, but despite the fresh fish, he found it comparatively hard.  Dad now ponders had Nepal been open in the '50s when he left Australia whether he would have chosen to come here instead?!

Left to right:
Nachuiko T, Misa H, Margarita, Papito, Ai, Lynn, Rumiko T, Alana, Yoi

The next morning mum, dad and I left this town behind us and took a bus to the muchly anticipated, beautiful Pokhara...When Alana first mentioned the idea of coming to Nepal to me, it was with the intention of living in Pokhara, not Kathmandu, so I was eager to see what all the hot fuss was about...

This is what the fuss was all about...

Phewa Taal

It is amazing how water draws me...be it a river, a lake, a pool even, or my beloved Pacific Ocean...it truly calms me.  So when I see scenes such as the images below, Isaiah 48:17, 18 holds so much meaning...

Our first morning in Pokhara, dad woke me to show me Machaapuchure (the 'fish tail' mountain) peaking through the clouds from the rooftop of our hotel.  I become overly excited these days when I see snow-capped mountains, so even though the mountain was visible for little over an hour, it was a definite highlight!

'how's the serenity...'

Dad and I were not the only early risers that morning.  A couple were also on the rooftop, reading together.  At first in my dazed and confused semi-awake state I did not take any notice.  But when I my masala chiya kicked in, and I registered something in their low tones about 'Paul' and 'persecution', I turned around to peer at the book in hand.  It did not look familiar, but having tuned into their Australian accent, we realised our suspicions were correct, they were in fact, reading the Bible...'Nice way to enjoy you daily Bible reading', I commented.  They were from Yass (NSW) of all places and had been volunteering at an orphanage for a couple of months.  It is amazing the diversity of people you meet travelling.

Phewa Taal from our rooftop

We did not get too far that morning, about 200 metres down the street to the Black and White cafe.  Their couches, cappuccinos and masala omelettes kept us occupied for another good few hours - as did our conversation...hmmm in this respect I definitely take after Margarita!

When we did finally shift back into first gear, we decided to head to the 'International Mountain Museum'.  If you per chance find yourself in Pokhara, it is worth a visit.  Mum reminisced over her childhood encounter with Sir Edmund Hillary, back in Teranaki (insert Kiwi accent here), whilst dad and I climbed the replica of Mt Manaslu (c 10 metres).  Good times.

That night we were the sole guests at a traditional Nepali restaurant: 'The Boomerang Bar'...sadly there were more dancers than we were patrons, so it was not the most passionate of performances.  Poor dad barely got them to smile despite his enthusiastic clapping and photo snapping...

In the wee small hours of the next morning, dad and I ventured up to Sarangkot for the sunrise view of the Annapurna mountain range.  Unfortunately Machaapuchare had stage fright and would not show her face...

a thousand and something steps later,
I was glad I was wearing my 'DALBHAT 24 HR POWER'*** t-shirt 

view of Pokhara from Sarangkot

After one last Black and White cappuccino we left Pokhara and the Himal nestled behind in the clouds and set out for the plains...

Destination:  Chitwan National Park

The drive to Chitwan was really pleasant, mostly mountainous with a post-monsoon luminous green sheening the landscape.  We followed the Trishuli River, spotting white-water rafters, locals washing their clothes and occasionally even themselves.  

About an hour out of Chitwan everything suddenly flattened out.  We immediately felt the presence of a lot more bicycles, and animal-drawn carts.  It is surprising in such a short distance how everything changes in Nepal.  Even the people are different.  Coming from Pokhara where the native people are have more Mongolian features, the people of the Chitwan region are a mixture of the Indian Brahmin and Chetri castes, and Tharu people, who have an almost Amazonian look about them...

   

stolen from Big Jim

also stolen -> nice work dad!

At our lodge our 'program manager' was shocked to hear that we would not be doing the elephant safari, and proceeded to plead with me to reconsider.  Being partial to the idea I broached the idea with Margarita, and was surprised to learn that while dad and I had been hiking in Sarangkot she had been convinced by a local that the elephant safari was a 'must-do', and had thus decided to go...

And that was that...

the three amigos (or two and a half...
dad is the hat in the background)

Sadly my camera took a hard hit when I dropped it from the top of the elephant (insert slow motion 'nooooooooooo' here).  My photos of our safari were thus reduced to sonyericsson quality, thus will not be appearing in any upcoming issues of National Geographic...

that there is a rhinoceros!

Our elephant-driver (if you would call him that, I am not sure what the 'technical' name would be) mahout^^^ was a character.  It seems he came over from India with the elephants.  When I tried to speak Nepali to him his standard reply was, 'ok' (in a 'whatever you say' manner...he he), although he was pretty fluent when it came to his numbers (wink wink).  The elephants also only understood Hindi.  When the Nepalis drivers (?)mahouts gave commands, they had to speak Hindi  - I know, amazing right?!  It reminded me of that movie, 'Water for Elephants', the elephant only understood the commands in Polish...beautiful!  Our drivermahout was very gentle with the elephants, making sure that we were balanced so that we would not hurt our beautiful chariot.  It was nice to see that his years of experienced had not made him impatient and cruel with the animals.

isn't she pretty with all her make-up???

That night we met up with a local sister, a friend of mum and dad's friends from Melbourne.  Sis Laxmi had been in Melbourne for several months when her daughter-in-law gave birth.  Though she does not speak much English she apparently had a real trans-lingual connection with the sister.  Another example of how love for Jehovah breaks down barriers...She made us a lovely traditional 'daal-bhat' and would have made us stay (like Lydia) had we not been committed to a 6:30 am start the next morning...

Sis Laxmi

Next on the agenda was a morning 'Jungle walk safari'...

river crossing

We spotted another rhino which was exciting, but a little unnerving considering we were no longer safe in the height of our elephant perch.  The guides were both local, Tharu, and had an incredible knowledge of their land and animals.  They pointed out all kinds of birds I had never heard of, except for the 'Kingfisher'...alas, all of our cameras except the iphones and our guide's mobile phone were dead by this stage so we were not able to capture the royal blueness of the little bird...

mum spots the rhino

shot on a mobile through binoculars->
how did we get to this point?

After the safari came Chitwan's highlight:  Elephant bathing -> 'ananda lagyo' (joyous)

elephants having a bath...

me having a bath...

Being this close with the animals, and such incredible animals, made me think, I am an 'animal person' after all...Hands up whose looking forward to this new system????

And then it was time to say goodbye...back to Kathmandu.  

We had kept our driver waiting for a couple of hours so in an effort to make up the time he had lost he made us fully aware on the journey back that it was in fact a 4WD  not a corolla he was driving...

In true Smithy-style we managed to jam-pack the next few days with public talks, studies, colds, monkey-temples, witnessing, bethel, Durbar squares, an earthquake, a 44th anniversary (insert applause for Big Jim and Margarita), slide-shows, communal baking, life-experience swapping and then...after one final trip out to the airport, as quickly as they came, they were gone...

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mum and I at Swayambhunath

Swayambhunath Stupa

aka the 'monkey temple'

"let's go fly a...'changa'"

dapper locals

and the token sleeping dog to make the scene complete

Tea with Bro Kenji and Sis Hiroko (Japanese bethelites)
I like this photo...nice and candid!

mum and dad's 44th anniversary...about an hour after the earthquake

'happy anniversary! and yay! we're alive!'

outside Dwarika's...

*  'Battish Putali' - Nepali for '32 butterflies'.  Apparently Nepal is home to over 800 varieties of butterflies, 32 of which must have been present one day in our neighbourhood...
^ 'Blooming Kids' - a local school.  Nepali school names are hilarious.  My personal favourite is 'Kangaroo Kids'
** New Orleans - a local cafe; not the city -> although the city gives the cafe a kind of magnetism and they do have live music every Wednesday night...NB I wrote this post under its shelter and under the influence of its cappuccino
^^A 'double-sitting' strictly occurs at a great cafe with great friends and requires two great coffees in succession.  A 'triple-sitting' is a rarity these days but is an even more beautiful experience.
Caution: only the experienced coffee drinkers should attempt this.  The less experienced may experience sweaty palms, heart palpitations and extreme loss of time.
*** 'Dalbhat 24 hr Power' - this is my most favourite purchase in Nepal thus far. 24 hour power does not exist in Nepal, unless you eat daal-bhat (lentils and rice) apparently...
^^^ 'Mahout' - Courtesy of my Nepali girls, Amreeta and Solinar, I can now give you the official name for the 'elephant driver'