Day 138 - Dashain Festival Laziness

It was another day of laziness as most businesses remained closed for the Dashain festival. Spent most of the day enjoying reading the Alchemist and also planning the rest of my trip. I anticipate being home by late December or early January, ending my trip in NYC during Christmas and New Years. Things change suddenly though. A couple days ago, I planned on visiting Greece and Brazil, but now those two are not a part of the plan, since I don't think I have enough time or money to visit them this time around. Tickets to South America are so expensive!

My intended plan as of today is to fly to Turkey and explore the country for a couple weeks, then fly to Prague and explore for a week, head down to Rome and Venice with my cousin, explore southern Italy afterwards, and head to Spain for my last leg before heading back to the United States. I made a rough budget of my remaining spending money, and I'll be overspending even with this plan.

At the end of the night, there was a small celebration at the top of our hostel for the Dashain Festival. People drank and played music happily. I met a fellow accountant from the UK who also quit her job and plans to move to South Africa with her husband. We all told stories about our adventures so far in Nepal, including some of the accidents and dangers we heard about. We laughed a little just at how many accidents we had all heard about or witnessed, whether it be from planes skidding off small runways, trekking accidents, vomiting on buses, and broken legs from paragliding. All before my bungee jumping trip...

Hostel Lounging

One of our wonderful chefs

Chicken Breast with Garlic Butter Rice

Buffalo Meatballs with Garlic Mayo

Day 137 - Lazy Day in Kathmandu

I've had many lazy days so far in Kathmandu, but today was the ultimate because most of the shops and restaurants were closed for the festival. I spent most of the day reading the Alchemist, which is such a fitting book for someone in my situation right now. Maybe I should just continue traveling to figure out what my destiny is...but I'm a little weary and homesick, still a little fearful of the unknown, and wanting to come back to somewhere comfortable.

At night, we decided to head up the Monkey Temple since it was right next to our hostel and we needed some sort of exercise for the day since we spent the majority of it sleeping or reading or surfing the web. We took a back way to the temple to avoid paying the entrance fee again. There were so many more monkeys on this route. Luckily I wasn't attacked. They say you should never smile at a monkey because they look at it as an aggressive action on your part and may attack you...

The views were incredible again, overlooking all of the Kathmandu Valley at night. Even the top of our hostel provides good views of the valley and the homes in the area. Sometimes that's all you need to see to admire the beauty of any city. I see photos of all the homes in Kabul or Santorini and tell myself I'd love to visit these places, but every city has a plan that is unique in it's own way, including Kathmandu.

Day 136 - Garden of Dreams in Kathmandu

The next couple of days would be lazy days, as most of the city would remain relatively quiet due to the Dashain festival. I headed to the Garden of Dreams, which was the number 1 recommended activity in Kathmandu based on Tripadvisor.com reviews.

Just outside of Thamel, the Garden of Dreams is a renovated garden area where people come to just relax, sit around the gardens, nap, have a bite to eat, and just enjoy the surroundings, a stark contrast to the noise and grime right outside. It reminded me very much of my visit to the Peace and Wellness Labyrinth Gardens in Los Angeles that I wrote about prior to my trip. Both were quiet and beautiful places to relax and reflect, right in the middle of an urban jungle. They had a photo exhibit that displayed before and after renovation pictures. Much of the garden could have been lost, had the government not done something to prevent it. The architecture of the area was beautiful with elements of symmetry throughout.

Afterwards, I headed around the commercial shopping area of Thamel, since it was the last day many of the shops would be open before a 3-4 holiday break. There were a lot of bootleg shoes, and it was hard to tell the difference between a genuine Nike vs a fake one. Even fake shoes were sold in some pretty legitimate clothing stores, but I guess you could tell by the outrageously cheap prices that they were fake. I ended up purchasing some Puma sneakers from the official Puma store. It's nice because unlike many of the other countries I'd visited, the prices here were cheaper or similar to what I'd find in the U.S.

I headed back to the hostel, but not before finding a book to read, since my Kindle decided to break down...good thing it is still under warranty, although I'd like to get my hands on one of the newer ones that were recently released. I purchased The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I heard many good things about it from friends, and it is a popular book to read while traveling.

On the way back, I saw what appeared to be the beginnings of a goat sacrifice. A group of people, including many children, were gathered around a goat that was tied to a string. They were all loud and excited, anxiously petting the goat on the head. One of the older men dragged the goat towards their village, and everyone followed, helping to push the helpless goat forward. I didn't stay to see if it was sacrificed, but I assume it was.

Late at night, a group of us at the hostel decided to head to Durbar Square to see if we could find some more slaughterings. Everyone kept telling us different times and dates to go see it, so we decided to go tonight. Of course, when we got there, the square was quiet. There was barely any activity, although we did come across a small area that appear to be where a couple goats were sacrificed, with blood spilled over the pavement.  

Garden of Dreams

Animal Sacrifices in Durbar Square

Day 95 – CS Meetup in KL

I finished my first leisurely reading book in probably over 10 years,
which is a big accomplishment in my mind. It took me over three months
to finish Pride and Prejudice, even though I had ample time throughout
my travels to do so. I think the free time in Myanmar and here in KL
helped elbow me forward in finishing the book. Hopefully this leads to
more reading... I downloaded Kite Runner on my kindle, since I'd heard
from many people that it was a good read.

I spent the majority of the day around Chinatown and KLCC again. It's
just so easy to find a place to sit and use the (free) internet or
read a book!

Later on, I joined a Couchsurfing Meetup around Bukit Bintang and we
had dinner and drinks. I met some locals there and we shared some of
our couchsurfing experiences and I got some advice on some of the
places I should visit while here, even though I'm running out of time!
I also got a little insight on the recent rally that occurred in the
city about a month ago, which lead to hundreds of people detained by
the police. The rally was to call for cleaner elections, but the
government never allowed the rally to occur in the first place because
they didn't issue a permit to the group responsible for holding the
rally. In Malaysia, any meetup with more than 5 people required a
permit (technically even if you and 5 of your friends go out for
dinner, for example). Once the rally occurred, the government blocked
many of the roads into the city center, and stopped the train and rail
lines into the city. They randomly arrested many people who were at
the scene of the rallies, even if they weren't participants. In the
end, both sides were wrong for what they did. One, the group didn't
obtain a permit, and two, police shouldn't have handled the even in
such a way because there wasn't a national security issue.

I wish I was there at the time it occurred! I might have even gotten
arrested, since I could pass for a Chinese Malaysian easily.

Hindu Temple near Petaling Street