My mom asked me if I would feel guilty when she found out I was going to spend 7 days of in Nepal. I assumed that I wouldn’t because I was just so excited to be around a place that was clean and semi Americanized (I was thinking of Thamel’s tourist district not the rest of Nepal). Although I never felt “guilt” necessarily I realized that my way of thinking of people has changed quite drastically. I now cannot help but feel for the people that are around me because I have become aware of the hardships that people face in life.
We arrived at the home of Santu and Grace around midnight last Wednesday after our plane had been delayed 8 hours. We were exhausted and so was Santu because he had waited 4 hours at the airport for us and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. His lovely wife Grace dragged herself out of bed so that she could be a polite hostess and make us food. Although we weren’t hungry and the only thing that we wanted to do was sleep we kindly accepted the dhal bhat that she put before us. Santu kept apologizing because we had to sleep on the floor. They had no other place for us to sleep. We woke up to Santu telling us that it was time for us to freshen up and get out to the kitchen for breakfast. It became painfully obvious that this couple was making a lot of sacrifices to have us stay with them. They were very poor and had a rough time paying $20 a month to rent a room. We decided that it would be best if we found other arrangements for us despite their hospitality. After they fed us another meal of rice and dhal Santu got us a cab that would take us into the heart of Thamel. I appreciated the hospitality of Grace and Santu. They were some of the nicest Christian people that I have ever met and I’m pretty sure I have never felt such gratitude toward a person in my life. (I will write more about them in another post).
The first thing we did in Thamel was look for a hotel. It was so easy to find. We simply walked down the street a little ways, turned down this ally, walked up a million flights of stairs, and arrived at Hotel Patala. It was 5 dollars a night (can’t beat that)! We quickly threw our stuff in the room and started roaming around Thamel. Thamel is a city where all the trekkers and tourist come to spend their time. There are rows of shops that line the street level and are full of all kinds of fascinating things. The buildings are all very tall and on every level there is a different type of store. One building could contain a bar, hotel, jewelry shop, coffee shop, and a travel agent office. We literally spent days wandering around Thamel and still hadn’t seen everything. The first day was amazing and we simply just enjoyed the beauty of being tourists (by the way, one of the weirdest things was seeing white people again. Heather, Lauren, and I were flipping out).
The next day we woke up and decided to move to another hotel. Hotel Patal had a lot of cockroaches and the windows didn’t close all the way making the room unbearably cold. It was then that we found the hotel that we would stay at the rest of the time (besides when we went to Chitwan) it was called Hotel Nana.. we love Hotel Nana. An old man sat at the front desk and he was always so happy to see us he told us to “always remember Hotel Nana” when we left. How can you forget a cheap $5 a night hotel? The ally way beside our hotel had a spa on the lower level and they had a lovely package deal. So we spent about $15 to have a massage (not as lovely as it sounds). I was in the middle of getting my foot rubbed when I stopped enjoying my “tourist time” and I started thinking. I was laying on my stomach so I really couldn’t see the lady who was giving me the massage and I began to wonder what her life was like. She probably lived outside of Thamel where poverty was just as evident as it was in Bangladesh. Then I started thinking of all the shopkeepers that we had spent time with the day before. All of them were trying to rip us off but we thought it was fun to haggle with them. They were all very nice and friendly but I had already forgotten that I was in an extremely poor part of the country. Hardly any of them believe in Jesus (Santu had previously told me that there are only 9,000 SDA’s in Nepal). I suppose that is were the “guilt” started to leak in.
It honestly didn’t make me not enjoy my time as a tourist in Nepal but it opened my eyes to what was really happening around me. Instead of being the tourist that came and didn’t pay attention to the poor children running around the streets I decided to befriend them. There was this one kid who was climbing into this temple area because there was money on the ground. He was struggling to get through the gate and his pants were falling down most of the time. When he finally managed to get in he jumped and ended up landing on his bum instead of his feet. He made me laugh so hard that I decided that I should tip him. I dug in my bag for some loose coins and handed them to him. I’m pretty sure it made his day. There was another kid that I met and attempted to communicate with. He said something that sounded like the word “chocolate” (in these countries chocolate just refers to the general term of candy). I asked him if he wanted Chocolate and he smiled back at me. We skipped across this beautiful courtyard where the fertility temple was and I handed him some money. He went and bought two pieces of candy and brought back the change. I couldn’t help but smile because most kids just beg for stuff and they aren’t considerate enough to bring back anything extra.
Instead of just feeling guilty I decided to embrace being a tourist in Nepal. I enjoyed the food, spas, elephant rides, sights, and chocolate (that we probably ate to much of) but I didn’t forget that the people of Nepal are suffering and need help. Being in Nepal made me want to help the people there and show them who Jesus Christ is. I want to go back someday and help the people of Nepal. They are really deserving people.
(this is just a part of my adventures in Nepal. Lauren, Heather, and I did so much and I probably can’t include it all but I will post a few more blogs about Nepal over the next few days. Nepal is a very cheap and wonderful place and I suggest that everyone go there if the opportunity presents itself!)
We arrived at the home of Santu and Grace around midnight last Wednesday after our plane had been delayed 8 hours. We were exhausted and so was Santu because he had waited 4 hours at the airport for us and he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. His lovely wife Grace dragged herself out of bed so that she could be a polite hostess and make us food. Although we weren’t hungry and the only thing that we wanted to do was sleep we kindly accepted the dhal bhat that she put before us. Santu kept apologizing because we had to sleep on the floor. They had no other place for us to sleep. We woke up to Santu telling us that it was time for us to freshen up and get out to the kitchen for breakfast. It became painfully obvious that this couple was making a lot of sacrifices to have us stay with them. They were very poor and had a rough time paying $20 a month to rent a room. We decided that it would be best if we found other arrangements for us despite their hospitality. After they fed us another meal of rice and dhal Santu got us a cab that would take us into the heart of Thamel. I appreciated the hospitality of Grace and Santu. They were some of the nicest Christian people that I have ever met and I’m pretty sure I have never felt such gratitude toward a person in my life. (I will write more about them in another post).
The first thing we did in Thamel was look for a hotel. It was so easy to find. We simply walked down the street a little ways, turned down this ally, walked up a million flights of stairs, and arrived at Hotel Patala. It was 5 dollars a night (can’t beat that)! We quickly threw our stuff in the room and started roaming around Thamel. Thamel is a city where all the trekkers and tourist come to spend their time. There are rows of shops that line the street level and are full of all kinds of fascinating things. The buildings are all very tall and on every level there is a different type of store. One building could contain a bar, hotel, jewelry shop, coffee shop, and a travel agent office. We literally spent days wandering around Thamel and still hadn’t seen everything. The first day was amazing and we simply just enjoyed the beauty of being tourists (by the way, one of the weirdest things was seeing white people again. Heather, Lauren, and I were flipping out).
The next day we woke up and decided to move to another hotel. Hotel Patal had a lot of cockroaches and the windows didn’t close all the way making the room unbearably cold. It was then that we found the hotel that we would stay at the rest of the time (besides when we went to Chitwan) it was called Hotel Nana.. we love Hotel Nana. An old man sat at the front desk and he was always so happy to see us he told us to “always remember Hotel Nana” when we left. How can you forget a cheap $5 a night hotel? The ally way beside our hotel had a spa on the lower level and they had a lovely package deal. So we spent about $15 to have a massage (not as lovely as it sounds). I was in the middle of getting my foot rubbed when I stopped enjoying my “tourist time” and I started thinking. I was laying on my stomach so I really couldn’t see the lady who was giving me the massage and I began to wonder what her life was like. She probably lived outside of Thamel where poverty was just as evident as it was in Bangladesh. Then I started thinking of all the shopkeepers that we had spent time with the day before. All of them were trying to rip us off but we thought it was fun to haggle with them. They were all very nice and friendly but I had already forgotten that I was in an extremely poor part of the country. Hardly any of them believe in Jesus (Santu had previously told me that there are only 9,000 SDA’s in Nepal). I suppose that is were the “guilt” started to leak in.
It honestly didn’t make me not enjoy my time as a tourist in Nepal but it opened my eyes to what was really happening around me. Instead of being the tourist that came and didn’t pay attention to the poor children running around the streets I decided to befriend them. There was this one kid who was climbing into this temple area because there was money on the ground. He was struggling to get through the gate and his pants were falling down most of the time. When he finally managed to get in he jumped and ended up landing on his bum instead of his feet. He made me laugh so hard that I decided that I should tip him. I dug in my bag for some loose coins and handed them to him. I’m pretty sure it made his day. There was another kid that I met and attempted to communicate with. He said something that sounded like the word “chocolate” (in these countries chocolate just refers to the general term of candy). I asked him if he wanted Chocolate and he smiled back at me. We skipped across this beautiful courtyard where the fertility temple was and I handed him some money. He went and bought two pieces of candy and brought back the change. I couldn’t help but smile because most kids just beg for stuff and they aren’t considerate enough to bring back anything extra.
Instead of just feeling guilty I decided to embrace being a tourist in Nepal. I enjoyed the food, spas, elephant rides, sights, and chocolate (that we probably ate to much of) but I didn’t forget that the people of Nepal are suffering and need help. Being in Nepal made me want to help the people there and show them who Jesus Christ is. I want to go back someday and help the people of Nepal. They are really deserving people.
(this is just a part of my adventures in Nepal. Lauren, Heather, and I did so much and I probably can’t include it all but I will post a few more blogs about Nepal over the next few days. Nepal is a very cheap and wonderful place and I suggest that everyone go there if the opportunity presents itself!)
That sounds like an amazing adventure, I can't wait to hear more stories!
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