Travelling again...
So, I'm stuck in the Hong Kong Airport for 8-12 hours, depending on whether or not I gt into an earlier flight to Bangkok. And to tell you the truth, I'm not the least bit annoyed about it! There's food, water you can drink (!!!), and air conditioning. It's kind of like heaven. Speaking of water you can drink, let's talk about water you CAN'T. It was my last day in Kathmandu, and Sajju and I were back at Boudha Stuppa checking out the Monastary and some wares. The monastary is the most beautiful thnig I've ever seen...I'll upload a video fo the paintings on the walls and ceiling later. Anyway, The monks called me over to get blessed...and as we all know from Friday nights, I don't shy away from blessing no matter WHO's giving them! In any case, they said some words in Tibetan, held a thingy up against my head, said some blessings, and then poured some water out of the thingy into my hand, and uttered, "holy water. drink". Well, I'm not one to be disrespectful but what was I to do in this predicament? They knew I was a tourist, they wouldn't be offering me Kathmandu tap water, would they? Or WOULD they?
I'd found myself in this predicament before. It was in the mountains, on the way to Phaplu. There was lemonade. Or lemon water. Of course this was made with water. I eventually kept control over myself, swigged my bad-tasting-but-safe-to-drink-boiled-water-in-my-bottle and turned my lemonade over to a Nepali friend who enjoyed it in two gulps.
This time I wasn't as keen. I slurped a little, then made a pretend slurping "noise"...but still got a good sip of it in my mouth. No matter...Sajju and I ent on to a very enjoyable evening listening to Lindsey Feldmeth give an opera recital at the Kathmandu Russian cultural center, then to dinner at a nice place called the Chinese House, then to say hello/goodbye to Mariano, and then I went to bed so I'd be ready for travel the next day. Unfortunately I awoke at around 3 or 4 in the manana to a rumbling in my tummy something awful. I had the shakes, and sweats, and the good ole' Montezuma's. One azithromyecin in the morning gave me an upset tummy but at least it's not beena day and a half of travel with the shits. Sorry...but that's what traveller's do...talk about about our poo.
Anyway, on to better things. I saw the Kumari live an in person, as it was festival day. The Kumari is a living goddess, a young girl picked as a goddess incarnate. But for some reason she loses this status once she gets her period. It's weird and seems cruel to the girl, but...I'd gone to the temple to see her but foreigners aren't allowed to go to see her, and no one's allowed to take photos. So when it was festical day Sajju took me around, and lo and behold! Who were they carrying in that chariot thingy? I darted through traffic across the street like a true Nepali (although a real Nepali wouldn't dart, just mosey...) and there she was! I ran along taking photos which you can see here, along with many others:
http://picasaweb.google.com/leibolicious/Nepal2#
We also went to Pushapati, which is a holy place for Hindus as well as the place where Hindus in Kathmandu go to cremate the remains of their loved ones. It was an appropriately gloomy, monsoony, rainy day, and Sajju and I were soaked. Death is sad any way you put it, and we looked on from above, so as not to be direspectful. I expected it to smell awful like they said it smelled at the concetration camps in Germany...but after getting used to the smell of burning trash in Kathmandu, burning flesh and wood wasn't too bad. It was, however, unbelivably morbid to have ashes falling down on us, mixing with the raindrops, and standing there soaking and feeling very odd abhout being so entraced by the circumstances surrounding other peoples' grief.
After a while, we had to get out of there. But then we saw monkeys!! Macaques, actually. Note the amazing picture of the baby monkey. Might be the best photos I've ever taken.
I've not mentioned yet what an interesting juxtaposotion of experienced this has been. During the day, I'm just Kanchi, wandering the muddy streets, sweating through my clothes and getting my fingers caked with dust any time I touch anything. By night...I'm still the same (albeit more bug bitten...i learned to wear long pants finally), but I get to hang with the biggest Nepali rock stars, the ex-pats, and the elite members of Napali society. It's fun, it's interesting. I should say, when I talk about rock stars, I'm talking about the group 1974 A.D., comepletely UNarguably THE biggest thing in Nepal. When I was talking with Robyn, a lovely guy who works in a tea shop in Thamel (that happaned to be across from whre I was picking up my laundry) and also plays guitar and sings, he literally gaped when I told him I'd be playing with Nirakar and Adrian from 1974 A.D. Not only had Robyn not gotten the chance to attend a real concert, but these guys were his idols, he even played me a song of theirs. So of course he came as my guest to the concert, which I sat in on, and was super fun. I even got all the Nepalis and tourist kids up on their feet dancing! Plus they were smoking hash in the audience (I could smell it from the stage), which made ME feel like more of a rock star than a jazz one, so that fun, and Robyn seemed to really appreciate it. Nirakar is a partner with the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory, and he and Adrian literally couldn't be nicer. They are not only the nicest rock stars I've ever met, but the most genuine (of course, next to Tom and Nick, who will always be my number 1 rock stars), kind, and friendly.
Pictures of them are up as well, I'll try and label who's who now.
After this, I'm in Bangkok for a couple of nights, then off to Cambodia and then back to Thailand, where I'll probably catch a train to Chiang Mai, as I LOVE it there.
See you in SE Asia!
Love,
sara
p.s. Rodney, I got you the trinket you asked for from Nepal, don't worry. It's being sent in a box to my folks house, so I'll give it to you in person when I get back. :)
I'd found myself in this predicament before. It was in the mountains, on the way to Phaplu. There was lemonade. Or lemon water. Of course this was made with water. I eventually kept control over myself, swigged my bad-tasting-but-safe-to-drink-boiled-water-in-my-bottle and turned my lemonade over to a Nepali friend who enjoyed it in two gulps.
This time I wasn't as keen. I slurped a little, then made a pretend slurping "noise"...but still got a good sip of it in my mouth. No matter...Sajju and I ent on to a very enjoyable evening listening to Lindsey Feldmeth give an opera recital at the Kathmandu Russian cultural center, then to dinner at a nice place called the Chinese House, then to say hello/goodbye to Mariano, and then I went to bed so I'd be ready for travel the next day. Unfortunately I awoke at around 3 or 4 in the manana to a rumbling in my tummy something awful. I had the shakes, and sweats, and the good ole' Montezuma's. One azithromyecin in the morning gave me an upset tummy but at least it's not beena day and a half of travel with the shits. Sorry...but that's what traveller's do...talk about about our poo.
Anyway, on to better things. I saw the Kumari live an in person, as it was festival day. The Kumari is a living goddess, a young girl picked as a goddess incarnate. But for some reason she loses this status once she gets her period. It's weird and seems cruel to the girl, but...I'd gone to the temple to see her but foreigners aren't allowed to go to see her, and no one's allowed to take photos. So when it was festical day Sajju took me around, and lo and behold! Who were they carrying in that chariot thingy? I darted through traffic across the street like a true Nepali (although a real Nepali wouldn't dart, just mosey...) and there she was! I ran along taking photos which you can see here, along with many others:
http://picasaweb.google.com/leibolicious/Nepal2#
We also went to Pushapati, which is a holy place for Hindus as well as the place where Hindus in Kathmandu go to cremate the remains of their loved ones. It was an appropriately gloomy, monsoony, rainy day, and Sajju and I were soaked. Death is sad any way you put it, and we looked on from above, so as not to be direspectful. I expected it to smell awful like they said it smelled at the concetration camps in Germany...but after getting used to the smell of burning trash in Kathmandu, burning flesh and wood wasn't too bad. It was, however, unbelivably morbid to have ashes falling down on us, mixing with the raindrops, and standing there soaking and feeling very odd abhout being so entraced by the circumstances surrounding other peoples' grief.
After a while, we had to get out of there. But then we saw monkeys!! Macaques, actually. Note the amazing picture of the baby monkey. Might be the best photos I've ever taken.
I've not mentioned yet what an interesting juxtaposotion of experienced this has been. During the day, I'm just Kanchi, wandering the muddy streets, sweating through my clothes and getting my fingers caked with dust any time I touch anything. By night...I'm still the same (albeit more bug bitten...i learned to wear long pants finally), but I get to hang with the biggest Nepali rock stars, the ex-pats, and the elite members of Napali society. It's fun, it's interesting. I should say, when I talk about rock stars, I'm talking about the group 1974 A.D., comepletely UNarguably THE biggest thing in Nepal. When I was talking with Robyn, a lovely guy who works in a tea shop in Thamel (that happaned to be across from whre I was picking up my laundry) and also plays guitar and sings, he literally gaped when I told him I'd be playing with Nirakar and Adrian from 1974 A.D. Not only had Robyn not gotten the chance to attend a real concert, but these guys were his idols, he even played me a song of theirs. So of course he came as my guest to the concert, which I sat in on, and was super fun. I even got all the Nepalis and tourist kids up on their feet dancing! Plus they were smoking hash in the audience (I could smell it from the stage), which made ME feel like more of a rock star than a jazz one, so that fun, and Robyn seemed to really appreciate it. Nirakar is a partner with the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory, and he and Adrian literally couldn't be nicer. They are not only the nicest rock stars I've ever met, but the most genuine (of course, next to Tom and Nick, who will always be my number 1 rock stars), kind, and friendly.
Pictures of them are up as well, I'll try and label who's who now.
After this, I'm in Bangkok for a couple of nights, then off to Cambodia and then back to Thailand, where I'll probably catch a train to Chiang Mai, as I LOVE it there.
See you in SE Asia!
Love,
sara
p.s. Rodney, I got you the trinket you asked for from Nepal, don't worry. It's being sent in a box to my folks house, so I'll give it to you in person when I get back. :)
posted by sara leib at 8:58 PM
1 Comments:
I am ready to be your rock star jazz star back up singer anytime. I love that story. fame is really is so relative and dependent on context, easy to forget at home. I am so loving the pics too. the baby monkey!!! and the painted faces. overwhelmed by the beauty and adventure found in your words and photos.
XO
kg
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