Never Ending Peace And Love-NEPAL

Himalayan High- Nepal
June 3^rd 2012.



Himalayan High- Nepal June 3rd 2012. So here I sit at the Kathmandu international airport, waiting for my flight to Bangladesh, which is currently delayed by four hours, for a reason I have yet to be told. I figure this is a great opportunity to catch up on the blog while my memories of Nepal are fresh.

As was part of the goal of this trip, to see the full picture of the British Raj, I felt Nepal, although never officially colonised by Britain was an important piece to the evolution of the Raj and the development of the subcontinent. I arrived in Nepal after a night sleeping at the New Delhi airport after a long haul flight from Malaysia. I did not quite know what to expect from the place, I know many people that have either travelled or volunteered here and after seeing how over touristed Thailand was, I was in no mood to see that again. I was very pleasantly surprised, as although Nepal has a massive tourism industry, tourism has not completely engulfed their society and culture and people come to Nepal for different reasons than in Thailand or other parts of SE Asia.

I have to give a big shout out to my friend Laura Battos, she put me in touch with her friend Molly and as such I was introduced to a wide range of expats from the USA and other parts of the west doing various form of humanitarian work to help Nepal. I had many interesting conversations and although I tend to be a more right wing person compared to the usual NGO types, I still really enjoyed my time with them.

Nepal was in a interesting state upon my arrival, they were in the midst of developing a new constitution, as they deposed their monarchy four years ago and have elected a communist regime. Sadly I do not know of any successful communist regimes in the world, and having just come from North Korea I do fear for the future state of Nepal, but for now things seem to be doing alright. They have these Bandah’s or Strikes that stop all transport and shops from operating during the day, allowing them to open in the evening. I could not fully grasp what their objective was, and many of the other people I talked to could not either, it seemed like the people were just hurting themselves, rather than the government. And Nepal seems to be caught between a rock and hard place, as it is sandwiched between the worlds two largest emerging economies, India and China, both competing for Nepal’s vast water resources. As some of you know, I wrote my masters thesis on the “Water-Energy” Nexus, discussing at length the coming conflict over the worlds water resources, of which Nepal will be a key battle ground. I wonder how this resource will come to bear for Nepal in the future? As even right now they have constant electricity rationing, while selling off their power to India and the Chinese are increasingly bidding to develop hydro projects of their own.

But politics and resource management aside, the people of Nepal were beyond kind throughout my trip. I left Kathmandu after the Bandah finally stopped and went to Polkara to begin a 5 day trek in the mountains. Polkhara was a beautiful town and I would love to take some of my high school students one day to Nepal to learn about the culture and enjoy the vast trekking opportunities. I trekked for five days, indulging in breath taking views and lovely people throughout. On the fourth day of my trek, due my desire to trek quite fast(growing up in Vancouver, it is kinda in our blood), I lost my guide. In an attempt to find him I met an American girl from Idaho, Kristin. We eventually found my guide and I found a travel partner for the rest of my trip in Nepal. Kristin and I finished our trek together, she scored me a solid deal on a safari to Chitwan national park, and we managed to sneak into the Patan Museum on our last day in Kathmandu.

Chitwan was a blast, canoeing down the river, spot crocs and other wild life, riding elephants, bathing elephants and soaking up some solid jungle heat was all a great experience. The last couple days in Kathmandu were a welcome respite, getting well rested before the crazy adventure to Bangladesh which is only one hour away, hopefully!

I have to say that Nepal was a welcome blessing on this trip, although a very easy country to travel in and a bit different from the usual more off the beaten track destinations I so prefer, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. I have to say that the Nepali people I met were lovely and the many expats, especially Americans I met were great people and friends I shall hope to see when I return to our continent across the seas!

So Cherie, prepare the ski hills of Utah, I shall be there! And I am sure we shall have plenty of stories to exchange come Christmas time. Thank you too all the people who made Nepal such a great experience and I am sure in the near future I shall be back!

Wishing everyone well back home and abroad. Sincerely, William Delaney