Our second attempt to fly to Kathmandu went much more smoothly than the first one. The sky was clear. Because of congestion at the airport (it's the only international airport in the entire country.), we got to do several circles. Each circle gave me a spectacular view of the massive snow covered mountains towering above the valleys. These views only increased my excitement. In a matter of weeks I would be walking in them!
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| So much excite. |
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| View of Kathmandu from the Monkey Temple |
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| Besides sharing the tiny streets with cars, motos, and bikes, I also had to watch out for the cows |
It's funny because the rest of the world doesn't really use the word hiking (at least everywhere I've been). Instead they use the word trekking. For some reason, trekking has always sounded like so much more of an intense adventure than hiking. But before I started all my trekking, I wanted to spend some time in Kathmandu. On the site WorkAway I got in contact with a host who runs a dog center. A place to stay in exchange for playing with vaccinated dogs. YES PLEASE.
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| Prayer wheels at the Monkey Temple. Always walk clockwise around the temple to spin these |
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| Money Temple. Buddha's Eyes looking in all four directons |
When I arrived and met the man and his wife, I found out that they run a dog training center, a children's home, and a daycare for disabled children. The children's home is for families who send their kids to Kathmandu to get a better education, but can't afford to move the entire family to Kathmandu. The disabled daycare is provided because a lot of families see a significant mental or physical handicap as a burden and they aren't able to seek the proper medical treatment. At the daycare, each kid gets individual attention for stretching, talking, or exercising. The dog training center serves to medicate vaccinate and train pets while also educating their owners about common causes of dog misbehavior.
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| HELLOIMAPUPPY |
I stayed in a second building that housed several dogs Janek had rescued. They are taken care of by several of the older students. In Nepal, school goes up to Grade 10. After Gr10, students can choose to continue to their +2s for Gr 11 and Gr 12. After Gr12 come exams and university. The older students were in their +2s and balancing taking care of the dogs, studying for the coming exams and entertaining me.
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| Derp dog in the front. |
In terms of actual volunteer work, it may have been the easiest thing I've ever done. You just gotta hang out with the dogs for a few hours. Several dogs that all want your attention all at the same time. Life is toughhhhh. Taking one of the dogs for a walk was actually the most terrifying thing I did. Kathmandu has street dogs. A lot of street dogs. No, more than you're thinking. Just add a few more. Now add an idiot dog on a leash, who is quasi-leash-trained, THRILLED to be out on a walk, and has absolutely NO clue that all of the street dogs want to attack it. And don't forget that dog-walking is not a normal concept in Nepal, so you get lots of weird look while you're swinging a stick and yelling at angry street dogs. It's the most exciting walk you'll ever take.
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| I love sticks!! |
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| This little fluffball had her puppies two or three days after the earthquake |
After spending a week with them, we spent my last day learning how to make momo. Momo are a delicious dumpling that can be steamed or fried, and you can find them all over Nepal. They can be stuffed with veg, chicken or buffalo. Ours were buffalo, and Jyoti let me come along with her to the butchers. We cut all the onion garlic and ginger into big chunks and took it with us. At the butcher, he opened up a big refrigerator chest, yanked out a massive chunk of buffalo (I could see the skin on the bottom side). Then he cut off the kilo that we wanted, and ground up the meat with all the veggies that we brought.
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| Buffalo and the high tech scale |
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| He thought it was really funny I was taking pictures. |
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| Cracking open some buffalo bones for bone marrow soup! |
