And now for something completely different

So I'm not in Nepal anymore. I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday to visit my friends Jeff and Ruthie and their kids for about a week. Here is Jeff and his beautiful 18 month old daughter, Eva, in the parking lot of the grocery store on the Swiss side of the border yesterday afternoon.

And here is Ruthie and their nearly month old son, Manny, on the walk to church this morning in old-town Geneva.

Last night after dinner we all went for a walk near Jeff and Ruthie's home. They live in Ornex, France, which is so close to the Swiss border that we actually walked right across the border through these beautiful fields on this small road yesterday evening.

Note the rockin' pack that Eva is traveling in. Well done. Happy kid.

It's very green and grey here, reminds me of home in that way. Due to the grey, though, I have yet to really see the Alps. Jeff and Ruthie tell me that on a clear day one can even see Mont Blanc from where we were standing in the above photo. Not bad. Hoping it will clear up a bit in coming days.

This morning we went to the English-speaking congregation worship service of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva. It was a lot of fun to attend the service and meet some of Jeff and Ruthie's community here in Geneva. And what a diverse community it is! Literally people from all over the world: Brazil, Denmark, Namibia, and New Zealand just to name a few. For all of these people, though, English is more convenient than French for a church service. That doesn't mean by any means, though, that they speak English as their first language. When it came time in the service to say the Lord's Prayer, everyone was invited to say it in their own language. I'd guess there were probably at least 10 if not 20 languages spoken. Moreover, we sang songs from all over the world, and Africa in particular, as we were praying for Malawi and Zambia as a part of the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, which by the way, I had never heard of before. Fascinating.

Right now Ruthie and Manny are taking an afternoon nap. Jeff and Eva are having some yogurt on the living room floor. They just finished checking out Turkey and Georgia in Jeff's world atlas. It's good to be here. My six weeks in Nepal were wonderful, and I'll have more to say about it. In a way being here feels like coming home, though. The green and grey. The Western sense of order. One chapter ends and another beings.

Symbols of Hetauda

I only have a few hours left in Nepal, but I still have lots of thoughts about all that I have seen here over the past six weeks. So much to process.

One thing that I've been thinking about a lot is symbols. I just did a quick google search. A couple interesting sites popped up that seem to merit further investigation, symbols.com and symbols.net. Also, here is the obligatory Wikipedia article.

Walking around Hetauda, where my good friend, Tiffany, is a VSO volunteer working with COSAN, a local Nepali NGO, I felt constantly bombarded by symbols. Really, this was the case all over the Nepal, but it seemed especially so in Hetauda.

I'll start simple--relatively. I saw this cross on the gate to Tiffany's neighbor's home.

They are Christian. They sing religious songs (in Nepali) in the evening, while other neighbors play guitar and sing secular songs or light candles and incense as a form of puja. By the way, according to this Wikipedia article, less than one percent of Nepalis are Christian.

A symbol that is perhaps a bit more common than the cross in Hetauda--and certainly much more common in Nepal as a whole--is the communist hammer and sickle. For example, I saw this flag hanging over Main Road in Hetauda a couple days ago.

I think it's kind of nice that there is a tractor driving down the street in the photo, as well. Kind of completes it for me. I'll write a bit more about Nepali politics later, but for now I'll just say that there are two different--and opposing--communist parties in Nepal, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). Here are their official web sites, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist). Interestingly, UCPN (Maoist) has a facebook page, as well.

A couple weeks ago I went up to the mountain with an Israeli guy named Moses or Moshe in Hebrew. Much more about this later. For now I just want to say that both he and I noticed hexagrams all over the place up there--think Star of David. It would seem that--perhaps among other meanings--it is associated with education in this part of the world. Here is an example of one on the gate to a school--on School Road coincidentally enough--not too far from Tiffany's home in Hetauda.

By the way, I just asked the nice Nepali guy sitting next to me in the internet cafe what is written--in Devanagari script--in and around this particular hexagram. He said the bit in the middle is a year, the year 2016, in particular. Recall that Nepal uses Bikram Samwat calendar, and the current year here is 2067. His guess was that that was when the school would have been build, i.e., 51 years ago. The word in the top right is "golden" so it would make sense that this nice gate would have been made for the school's golden anniversary. The yellow word towards the bottom is Hetauda, the town where the school is located. The rest of the symbols seem to indicate the name of the school, but without more context it was hard for this fellow to decipher with certainty. Just an interesting little aside...

In the Hindu world, Om is a very important symbol. In fact, it's about the only symbol in Devanagari that I can recognize. You see it all over the place, for example on the sign above a little shop near Tiffany's work.

The god in the painting is Shiva, one of the most important gods in Hinduism. His weapon is the trident or trisul. Here is one of many, many trisuls to be seen in and around Hetauda.

By the way, up in the Buddhist part of the country Padmasambhava, a.k.a. Guru Rinpoche, is often seen holding a trisul. My trekking partner, Moses, thought of Lucifer every time he saw this particular symbol.

Finally, the swastika, perhaps the most challenging--for Westerners--symbol of the region. Here is one of many examples in and around Hetauda, from a small temple on Main Road.

Note the Om in there, as well. It was particularly hard walking around up in the mountains with Moses seeing so many swastikas, tatooed on peoples' hands, on carpets, etc.

What's the point? I guess it's twofold. One, symbols are very common in Nepal. And really, I bet they are pretty common at home, too. It is probably just that I notice them more being in a foreign land. Two, and much more importantly, I think, the meaning of a symbol depends on context. Take the hexagram or the swastika, for example. For my whole life those two symbols have held very strong and very specific meanings. In this part of the world, though, they have utterly, completely different connotations. It really just takes some time to integrate that. It's one thing for someone to say that or to think it abstractly, and another all together to walk down the street and see a holy temple covered in swastikas. Makes you think. Makes me think, anyway.

To the Kingdom of Bahrain and beyond!

This is a photo I took in the Bahrain airport six weeks ago, when I was on my way to Nepal. Note the sign indicating the mens and ladies prayer rooms. Wow. That was different. Call to prayer in the airport and the whole bit.

It's crazy to me that it has already been six weeks since I arrived in Nepal. It's Wednesday morning now. Today is my last day in Hetauda. It has been a wonderful visit. I still have lots of stories to tell and photos to share. Today, though, I'm starting to think about my journey west.

My travels will begin at 7:00 tomorrow morning when a Tata Sumo comes to pick me up near Tiffany's dhera (that's Nepali for apartment). We'll drive north towards Kathmandu. The journey takes about four and a half hours. It can roughly be broken into thirds. The first and final thirds are paved. The middle third is not. We will go over two ranges of hills. Somewhere in the middle we'll stop for khaja (that's Nepali for snacks). The food in Nepal is very good. Even stopping for khaja in a little hamlet on the side of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere is a treat. Likely I'll have something similar to the curried potatoes I had on a similar stop a few weeks ago. Mmmm...

By the way, here is a pic of one of these infamous Tata Sumos, as well as one of the little roadside inns where we had our khaja on a previous trip.

And then it will be one final round of Kathmandu before... Bahrain for a few hours. And then Jeff, Ruthie, and family, Geneva, Switzerland, France, CERN, and if I'm lucky... fondue!

Buddhism is a religion

I only have a few days left in Nepal. That really hit me for some reason yesterday, Monday. I take a Tata Sumo back up to Kathmandu first thing Thursday morning. And then Friday it's off to Switzerland to visit Jeff, Ruthie and family.

Today Tiffany is off with one of her coworkers in a small village a few hour's bus ride from Hetauda attending a uterine prolapse workshop. So I have a relaxing day here in Hetauda... to cook and clean, walk around town a bit, hang out at the internet cafe for a while, read.

Tiffany woke me up to say goodbye around 7:00 this morning. I got up, heated up some tea, made toast--this involves frying a couple pieces of bread in butter on the gas stove. Also, heated up some water to have with my muesli. Washed all the dishes by hand. Set another big pot of water to boil. All water has to be boiled--and filtered--here. Tiffany then puts the boiled water into used one-liter plastic coke bottles. Some of these go into the refrigerator, although there is only power for about 12 hours a day so there is no guarantee that there will actually be cold water. Quite a process, but not that bad, really. Surprising how easy it can be to adjust to these minor inconveniences.

Then I sat down for a bit to read some of the book I'm currently reading, Fragrant Palm Leaves by Thich Nhat Hanh. Tiffany read this book a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I've been thinking a lot about religion in Nepal and so took her up on her suggestion that I read it, as well. He sounds like a young man. I guess he was in his mid- to late-30's when he wrote this. It's hitting the spot right now. Sometimes the right book at the right time in the right place, eh?

Another book of Tiffany's that I read a few weeks ago was Karma Cola by Gita Mehta. I read it when I was in Hetauda the first time between my time trekking with Tiffany in Langtang and my time in the Everest region. This book really helped me through a hard time here in Nepal. I'd say it was the low point of my travels here. I think it is partially that I was sick. But mainly, I think it was that I was just intellectually and emotionally overwhelmed with the fact of Nepal. The reality of being here. Hard to express just how foreign it feels. And that can be so exhausting. When everything is a potential story. Everything. And everything is a potential photo opportunity. Everything. Gita Mehta's writing helped calm my spirit. She's a bit cynical. Very intelligent. Insightful.

My second day in Nepal I went to the Swayambhunath and Boudhanath stupas in Kathmandu. This is a photo from the area around Swayambunath.

It was very beautiful there. So many people. Some tourists, but mostly Nepalis. Just being at the holy site. Just being.

In the monastery at Boudhanath there were so many exquisitely beautiful thangka paintings. Here is an example, complete with various heavens and hells.

When I was up trekking in the mountains, I saw many, many simple altars. Here is an example from a lodge in Dingboche.

And also so many mani stones and walls, prayer wheeles, chortens... and of course prayer flags absolutely everywhere. Here is an example of a small chorten with Island Peak--the 6,189 m (20,305 ft) peak I was to climb a few days later--in the background. By the way, the omnipresent mantra Om mani padme hum is inscribed in Tibetan again and again and again in these stones.

I've been in this little internet cafe for over an hour now. I walked here through the intense morning heat. Many of the locals are smart and have umbrellas--not for the potential pre-monsoon torrential downpour, but for the sun. Walked down Bhairab Road to School Road. Picked up a cold Sprite and a chocolate bar at one of the many nearly-identical small markets. I've been having cravings for the last week or so. I was fine for my first five weeks or so in Nepal. But just recently I've been craving soda and chocolate... and coffee and Mexican food! Whew. So interesting how Hetauda is set up. There is a main road, Main Road. In different sections of town there are different types of business. For example, on School Road there are all of the cell phone places. Everything is pre-pay here. No bills. There is a place where there a bunch of hardware shops. There is the part of town with all of the vegetable markets. Everything is so personal. For better and worse, right? You get that personal touch. Tiffany knows the woman she buys bananas from, for example. It is very much not corporate, right? But then again there are open sewers and there is only electricity for 12 hours a day. You hand wash all of your clothes and all of your dishes. People don't have cars. They walk. Or ride a bike. Or take a rickshaw--tones of those around. Or if they're pretty wealthy ride their motorcycle--quite the status symbol here.

So there's something that's been on my mind the whole time I've been here in Nepal. People in the US say this thing sometimes that really kind of bothers me a bit. They say, "Buddhism isn't a religion." What could that possible mean? I suppose they are saying that perhaps it is a philosophy instead. I guess that just begs the question of what is a religion. I need to do more reading and thinking on this, but it seems to me that a religion should involve a practice, a cosmology, and likely some element of belief or faith. I'm sure many people have thought and meditated long and hard on this so I'll leave it at that for now. The point, though, is that somehow the argument is that Buddhism doesn't fit whatever the working definition of a religion might be.

By the way, when I was trekking up in the Everest region, my guide, Yugal from Darjeeling, said one day out of the blue, "Buddhism isn't a religion." What!? Where did that come from!? Turns out he meant that Buddhism is not distinct from Hinduism. Of course, this is entirely different from what some of my fellow Americans are saying about Buddhism. I don't buy this either, though. I think it's pretty clear that there are large differences between Buddhism and Hinduism. Sounds a bit like saying Christianity and Judaism are one in the same.

The other thing that bothers me about the "Buddhism isn't a religion" thing is the implicit corollary, "and that is a good thing" or "and that is a strength of Buddhism" or "and that somehow makes Buddhism superior to the other major world religions." One thing to consider here is that Buddhism is not monolithic. There are many different schools, etc. Broadly, Mahayana and Theravada.

But beyond all of that, beyond all of the reading one could do on this, my experience here in Nepal just screams at me that, "No, it's not true! Buddhism is most certainly a religion!" The Buddhist people here in Nepal have a particular world view, a particular cosmology, one full of supernatural beings. They believe. I believe they have faith. The have a practice--daily, yearly, etc. How or why isn't it a religion? And why would that be a good thing? Something to meditate on.

Puja and dharma in Nepal

One thing that I have been struck by again and again in my time here in Nepal is how vibrant and alive religion/spirituality is here. Of course, it takes many different forms throughout the various regions of the country. But it feels consistent, nonetheless.

Before I came here I did a little reading about religion in Nepal, about Hinduism, Buddhism, even Bön--fascinating! In particular, I read a book called The Snow Leopard, which I highly recommend. Really gives a sense of rural Nepal. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that reading this book helped convince me that this whole adventure was a good idea.

Anyhow, in spite of that reading I really didn't have any understanding of what Hinduism and Buddhism are all about. What is the point? But then I arrived in Nepal. This self-portrait is on my second day in Kathmandu. I walked over to Swayambhunath. A holy man gave me a tika as I started my way up the stairs to the stupa.

Once I finally got up to the stupa--it was hot, and there were a lot of stairs--there was so much going on. People walking around the stupa, always clockwise with your right shoulder to the stupa. Incense, etc., etc., etc... I don't really even have words for what all was happening up there. I like the word puja (also, here). My understanding is still very minimal, but to me puja seems to mean practice, worship, whether it's on a daily level, a yearly festival or a once in a lifetime event. It's so strong here. There are always bells ringing to waken the gods, people making small religious gestures as they pass temples. It's really beautiful, actually.

Up in the mountains, in the Solukhumbu, for example, it looks a bit different. The Khumbu Sherpa, for example, have these small altars outside their homes. They burn juniper in the mornings to ward off evil spirits.

There is so much more than that, though. They are ever chanting under their breath as they count their mala. Their is the omnipresent mantra Om mani padme hum. Every small village has a monastery, with beautifully painted walls, idols, etc.

I'm down in Hetauda now where it is very Hindu. Again, though, there is a consistency throughout, whether in the Buddhist north, the Hindu south or the very confusing mix in between. Tiffany lives right off of Bhairab Road--which is surprisingly hard to pronounce correctly, by the way. On my first day in Nepal, I walked down to Durbar Square in Kathmandu, which is an amazing place. Stunning. Among many other wonderful temples, statues, etc. was a powerful statue of Bhairava, who as best as I can understand is a terrible manifestation of Shiva--most if not all Hindu deities have terrible manifestations--associated with justice. I guess criminals used to be killed at the idol's feet. Now people just come to make offerings. Yes, there are some tourists there. But really--and this is the point of the whole post--it is Nepalis who come, do puja, make offerings, worship. The idol. Wow. That is so different. So profoundly foreign for me. And really, really beautiful, too.

As best I can tell dharma is kind of the sum total of all the puja you do throughout your life. The puja are all of the small acts, the daily practice, etc. But it all adds up to something. That is what I understand dharma to be. Of course, I'm still learning, I'll want to do more reading about this part of the world when I return to P-town. But I feel like I have learned something in my time here. And I like it a lot. I'm a bit surprised by that. But I do. It's profound.

Bandh!

So again, much, much more about the mountains a little later. For now, what I returned to when I came down out of the mountains. Last Wednesday we returned to civilization, i.e., television, and heard that Nepal was in it's fourth day of a nation-wide general strike or bandh. This story will give you a flavor for what was going on. The Maoists thankfully called off the bandh Friday evening, and I was able to travel down to Hetauda, where Tiffany is living and volunteering.

First off, a couple questions about this whole bandh thing and the Maoists, in general. I know there is a whole history behind this that I should read more about, but my basic understanding is that the Maoists either are or were until recently a part of the government. Somehow, though, they still maintain a militia? They have cadres or professional revolutionaries--what on earth could that possibly mean? They do things like call nation-wide general strikes where all stores and offices are forced and nearly all transportation is stopped, including for example food stuffs into Kathmandu, with the threat of violence. Frankly, the whole thing is just very confusing to me. And it's right here under my nose. Literally.

So yesterday morning I was sitting at the nice hotel the trekking company had us in for two nights after we got back from our trek--we got back Friday, and so were scheduled to be in this hotel Friday and Saturday nights. So anyway, Saturday morning, I'm having my breakfast, reading the local paper and see that the night before--Friday night--the Maoists had just up and called off the bandh out of the blue. Here I thought I was going to be stuck in Kathmandu for a week unable to see Tiffany just 60 km to the south--I fly to Switzerland this coming Friday. So I call Tiffany, confirm that the bandh has been called off, run a couple errands, say goodbye to my trekking buddies, and catch a taxi to the Tata Sumo stop. The taxi ride seemed normal enough at first. But then we reached a more major street, and there was this huge protest/march all of the sudden--Maoists. They were waving their red flags, chanting call and response slogans. They had sticks in their hands and grim looks on their faces. Once again, I appreciated that this is serious business, no joke. I can become focused sometimes on how inconvenient this is for me. But this is a national emergency. For an entire country. Big deal.

Oh, and here is the poster that can be seen all over the place--even up in the mountains--advertising the May 1st Labor Day festivities... or something. You can see Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao up in the corner. There is another sticker on top, though, indicating that 2011 is meant to be the Nepali national year of tourism, i.e., no strikes. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.

But I made it to the Tata Sumo place. Eventually, all 13 of us piled into the nine-seater. The four and a half hour journey took more like five and a half because of a torrential downpour that caused a flash flood that backed up traffic for a bit...

But really, the jeep ride was great. It was an opportunity to hang out with ordinary, every day Nepalis. Older folks, children, business men. To meditate on comfort, something we can be so attached to, but how important is it, really? To meditate on happiness. What do we really need to be happy? What do I really need to be happy? One day before too long this trip will end. I won't be sitting in an internet cafe, listening to women speaking in Nepali, sweating even though the fan is going. I'll be in Grand Central Bakery on Hawthorne having coffee cake and a coffee reading the Economist. But will I be truly happy? Is that what I really want? Clearly, this whole bandh business--and being in Nepal, in general--has me thinking deep thoughts. Such is life sometimes, eh?

And there were fireflies as I walked to Tiffany's place in the dark last night. And the muezzin boy recited the day's final call to prayer from Hetauda's only mosque, near Tiffany's place. And the frogs were going crazy.

Oh, and Tiffany had some interesting things to say in recent days, as well, for what it's worth...

An interlude

So yes, I'm still travelling, still alive, still blogging even. I've been up in the Khumbu for three weeks, away from computers, etc. Much more about that later--for now I'll just say that it was wonderful.

One of the first things I heard when I returned to civilization a few days ago was that the company I worked for at my first "real job," Movie Gallery--think Hollywood Video--will be no more sometime within the next few months. I quit just a month and a half ago, before embarking on this journey. Turns out my timing wasn't too bad.