Alas, with my time in Nepal just about up, I had to spend a day mostly on logistics as I was getting ready for the next leg of the trip to India and Vietnam. Nothing too glamorous but it did involve a barber, a post office, and an enthusiastic Nepalese take on making a quesadilla...
First, the shave. After such a great experience post-EBC trek, I decided to give the same place another go – I wandered in, they sat me down, and a different guy gave me a great shave. And... he didn't stop there, giving me a weird (and surprisingly painful) back and head massage.
Hm. I was thinking that this probably wasn't included in the shave price of about $1 – and sure enough at the end, he tried charging 5X the price. Uh, no. Buddy, you really have to ASK before including extra services. I gave him the cost of an extra shave but that was about it.
The rest of the day was spent checking out some good fair trade stores and figuring out how to ship all of my accumulated purchases home – carrying them for the next 2 months was not going to be fun. After learning that FedEx and DHL wanted about $150 each, I decided to take my chances with the Nepalese post office the following day.
Dinner was some spicy Szechuan food at local Chinese restaurant, complete with lots of communal slurping up tasty noodles and soups, then watching the US lose to Brazil in the Confederations Cup 3-0. Curses.
The next day was more touristy... I got up around 6:30 to head out to Bodhnath, which holds the record for being the largest Tibetan stupa in the world. It's located in the community of Tibetan refugees who fled from China in '59 on the outskirts of KTM, and an early taxi ride got me there in time to watch the locals starting their day.
First, the stupa. It's big. REALLY big, with 108 niches and 147 prayer wheels on the perimeter, surrounding a massive watchful set of eyes:
With flags. Lots and lots of flags EVERYWHERE.
The best part though – just like Nepal, the Tibetans really incorporate their religious monuments in their daily lives. In this case, this meant that the community wakes up and wanders down to the stupa for morning rituals and gossip. Each person walks around, clockwise, spinning the prayer wheels and (I guess) thinking good karmic thoughts. Then, it's a stop at the temple entrance for some more praying and bells:
The smell of the incense, delicate ringing of the bells, chanting, and even swarming pigeons and a bit of community gossip as friends walked together – it's such an exotic mix that is far outside the Christian experience I was raised with.
And a quick word about the taxi ride... on the way over, it took me awhile to find a driver willing to engage his meter for a tourist. Supposedly, it would give a price about 50% of the normal 'tourist rate'. Surprise, surprise – taxi drivers always get their money, as we somehow ended taking a suspiciously roundabout route so that the end fare equalled the normal fare. On the way back, I passed on the meter, and it was both faster AND cheaper – go figure!
Right – the mid-morning was all about sending my box o' stuff back to the US. Wow – what a friendly, but amazingly inefficient operation... take my package for instance:
*I arrived at 11am, and filled out a customs form.
*Take form and all belongings to a customs officer.
*He approves, then I find some boxes and box everything up – heavily taping the whole thing shut.
*That's not all – you then take it to two nice old ladies, who then proceed to literally sew the big box shut in white cloth... by HAND. Amazing.
*Finished? Nope. You then take the box to the wax seal guy, who proceeds to use a candle and open flame to drip hot wax on all the seals.
*Done, right? No, then you have to go to another counter to actually pay, and fill out another form for shipping.
All told? That took about 2 hours. I'm thinking that the setup still lasts due to bureaucratic inertia – it works, albeit slowly, and there's not a whole lot of competition out there for the government. I have even more respect for the good ol' reliable USPS and Royal Mail!
Oh, and yet another nod to globalization – in far off Nepal, what sports teams are popular? None other than:
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