Laura and Louise's Nepali Experience - Part 1
We are Laura Craig Harvey and Louise Moseley, both
aged 19, from South England, on our gap years. Coming together from home, we
were put together throughout the programme. We chose to do a 6 week
placement because we wanted long enough to get into life on our placement but
also wanted time to travel independently around Nepal, afterwards, before we
went on our other travels to other parts of Asia.
Our first night was spent in the Mandap, with 4
other volunteers (2 Aussies aged 19 and 24, 1 Canadian aged 20, and one English
aged 65). It was nice to meet all the other volunteers in a relaxed atmosphere.
The GVI and Himalayan Encounters (HE) staff gave us a quick outline of what we
would be doing, which calmed our nerves. That evening Shamila (our HE guide)
took us for our first experience of Nepali dal bhat (rice and lentils) at the
Thakali Kitchen. We were shocked to see how big our portions were, and couldn't
finish our plates (but within a few weeks we were soon use to it!).
Throughout our first week, Shamila took us sight
seeing around the best places of Kathmandu, helping us get use to the culture,
which involved teaching us how to haggle and travel local style. We had a great
adventure at the Pashupati Temple when eating our chocoloate bars didn't go
unnoticed by the monkeys- but we had to hide it quickly and run. We had a
couple of cold nights in our home stays, where the families were very friendly,
feeding us dal bhat for breakfast and supper...this was just the beginning of
dal bhat!
Nepali lessons came as a shock at 7 am, but we had
great fun with role plays, and getting to know each other better. One piece of
advice: Nepal in January is EXTREMELY cold, bring layers.
After another cold night in the scenic Valley
Farmhouse, outside of Kathmandu, we had a 3 hour hike through the rural part of
KTM valley, and got a taste of the village culture, away from the bustle and
noise of the city. Another stop was the beautiful town of Bhaktapur, with its
ancient architecture (piece of advice for here: don't go to Marco Polo
Restaurant, where we were presented with some very amusing dishes!).
Laura CraigHarvey and Louise Mosely, 2012, 6wks in Nuwakot
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