10 Reasons I Love Nepal
Nepal is the holiest place on earth. Why?
Because it’s the rooftop of the world, home of Mount Everest and the Annapurna Mountain range but what keeps me coming back is the people. The kindest people I know live there.
Nepal breaks my heart and makes me cry and laugh within the same minute. How?
Well my favorite Grandma in the world lives in the Terai in Inawura.
90 years old but she never complains. Her lilting girlish voice resonates with wisdom even though I don’t know what she’s saying because I haven’t learned Nepali but we do understand each other.
One day we found ourselves alone with no others around and we were chatting after I made her a hot drink with peppermint and she would say what she wanted to say in Nepali.
I would listen to her then I’d talk to her in English and she carefully listened to me. We understood each other but not so much with language.
My son who has stunned me with his generosity and beauty got me here.
Suddenly I found myself flying to this little town I never heard of, from Kathmandu on a prop plane.
He discovered this village of Inawaru, when his friend brought him here to meet his family and now they are my family too.
Wolf Price is funding education and wifi for the girls who live here so they don’t have to get married as teenagers and live a life of servitude.
He’s also making a documentary about it all. You can find his YouTube here.
I met many wonderful ladies and taught them yoga in the bamboo grove. Courageously they tried it out. After saying they had aches and pains.
It was a non-stop love fest from morning to night.
Mom would wake me up with chai every day. Her smile made me never want to leave.
But then…
Discovering the Sacred Places in Kathmandu Valley was the new path of exploration.
Invigorate your soul and go to Namobuddha Monastery
Then go to Bahktapur just outside of Kathmandu.
Then go to Kopan Monastery on the edge of Kathmandu
And You Will Fall In Love with Boudha, the largest Buddhist stupa in the world.
Wolf brought me to a dance recital he was shooting so I took some photos too. I loved the girls expressions and their enthusiasm.
Go to Lumbini where Buddha was born.
He was not born in India as most people think he was born here in Nepal and you’ll be overjoyed to be in the sacred garden. Lumbini is far from Kathmandu and if you don’t hire a car you’ll have to take a public bus. Or you could fly.
It’s worth it.
The14-hour bus ride back from the village of Inawura to Kathmandu:
Driving over rocky dirt roads on a night bus will not feed my sanity or give me easy access to a toilet. Wasn’t feeling lovestruck on this journey.
So I will leave this type of transpport to the youngsters who can stomach it; as I noticed there were no other people on the bus over age 30.
Perhaps this is a sign.
Are going Nepal?
Do you want to do something other than trek? Check out the sacred places of Kathmandu,
Go to the jungle and play with elephants,
Stop and go meet some Nepali women,
Maybe you can come to the picnic next year on Women’s Day March 8. Here is me on the bus to the annual picnic Wolf Price puts on for the ladies.
We had a blast and my face hurt from laughing all day. Games, prizes, and dancing.
Busting out some amazing moves while dancing right here.
Do you want to escape the USA? Or just take a break and feel free?
You can travel all the time on a low budget and a high level of fun and adventure. You can work while you travel so all your costs are covered.
I’m in India now and am head over heels happy I photographed the Dalai Lama here in Dharamsala where he lives. If you want to see photos click here
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