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Spice it up!

I never went hungry for the first few days in Kathmandu. Not that I did later either but I was certainly well fed in the beginning. They have people who work full time in the house, cooking, cleaning, serving food and drinks, etc. I definitely felt uncomfortable having restaurant level service at my fingertips all hours of the day. I didn’t get used to it quickly.

Now, if you’ve eaten Indian cuisine in the U.S., you’ll have had the same 4-5 dishes on repeat always served with naan (a type of flatbread). This food is not very much like the actual Indian and Nepali food you get in the country. They hardly ever have naan, more often they eat paratha, which is a more buttery, flaky flatbread, sometimes filled with potato and spices. You use this paratha to scoop up the saucy dishes like dal (thick lentil soup), aloo (potatoes), curd (plain yogurt), etc. Most people eat with their hands on a large flat metal plate. It was a bit disturbing to me to watch people eating soupy foods and rice with their fingers, to be honest. The foods are also usually pretty spicy, but I think they were putting less spice since Aditya and I can’t handle super spicy food. And let me emphasize even the “non-spicy” version of what was made was still relatively spicy. But I enjoyed it.

Fruit is also a common side dish before or after you eat. Mango seems to be the most common right now plus I’m sure it’s in season. Another fruit I found to be quite good is called chiku, not to be confused with Aditya’s brothers nickname, Chiku. It’s like a pear but light brown in color, with a natural cinnamon-ish flavor. The sweet flavors they incorporate into the meals go very nicely with the heavy spiced dishes, cleansing the palette. A common dessert was rice pudding, made with fresh cows milk, super creamy and delicious, served room temperature.

Breakfast was also different then the sweet pancakes, waffles, and cereal we get used to back home. They seem to be always savory. Corn toast and mushroom toast was one notable favorite, cheesy garlicy goodness atop crunchy toasted bread. Also, if you can get your hands on the coconut chutney, I’d highly recommend. Don’t plan to be vegan I this country, almost everything is made with dairy and ghee (butter). But egg-free and vegetarian dishes are very common.

The heavy nature of all the food plus the addition of spicy chili in almost everything, had me concerned for the future of my stomach and bowels. Lucky for me, I guess I have a strong stomach. And sorry in advance for the dirty details but I feel fair warning is in order, I finally did get diarrhea about two weeks in. Not sure what I got it from ingesting, but I think that’s a pretty good track record for a “bland-food” eatin’ California girl like me. Also, keep in mind that a clean and comfortable bathroom may not always be nearby when you need it most. So plan accordingly, keep tissues or wipes on you in case of emergency!

First Impressions

We traveled via Thai Airways to Kathmandu, no more business class, but the economy was fine. I was for sure the only white person on the plane by now and I got a few stares. I think we were both a little nervous to meet his family. Getting into Nepal I purchased a 90 day visa on arrival for $100 USD. Customs was very easy but then we had to stand in line for metal detection screening as they want to know if people are bringing in large amounts of gold into the country. I had a fair amount of personal jewelry with me but it didn’t pick up as enough I suppose. I got through the line first (women and mens line was separate) and Aditya was far behind. I grabbed our massive bags from the carousel and as I turn around I’m face to face with Aditya brother and mother. They both hugged me and we were happy to finally meet. We shuffled the bags and Aditya finally came through. His mother looked so happy to finally have her son back.

Then we went outside and walked to the car. It started raining immediately and I knew I was finally there. His brother Anshuman (who goes by Chiku as a nickname) loaded my bags for me and we waited for the other two. Finally we all are in the car and we get moving, brother driving. The traffic situation was very similar to that of Bangkok, haphazard, tons of motorbikes, and narrow lanes. We first went to the house which the family has in Kathmandu to drop our belongings and meet the uncles and grandma. His grandmother has been very, very anxious to see Aditya, who is the technical favorite as it’s her eldest sons, eldest/first son. We walked in the front door to everyone waiting, Aditya touched her feet (a customary greeting to elders and respected individuals) and I followed and did the same. It’s very awkward for me but I had to do specifically for her to show respect. I then met his aunt’s and uncles, hugged the aunts, ‘namaste’ with prayer hands to uncles. I probably should/could have touched their feet but everyone kept assuring me that I didn’t “have” to, which made things more weird for me so I gave up trying and just defaulted to namaste. We sat around the living room chatting for a while, some asked me a few light questions. But the focus was obviously on Aditya. I sat there trying not to be weird but my mind was racing. Also, everyone mostly spoke in Hindi or Nepali with some English sprinkled in so I couldn’t follow much of the conversations. His grandmother doesn’t speak a lick of English so she kept trying to talk to me but I couldn’t understand, I felt really bad. It was an overwhelming situation which lasted for 2-3 days.

I went to at least 3 different aunts houses and probably met 30 people, uncles, cousin’s etc. They all served me juices and fresh fruits, and all the food I could eat. All of which, may I add, are super delicious, savory, and spicy, with multiple courses always. Two Aunts also gave me gifts, one they call a suit, a dress with pants, and the other a scarf. I was grateful in taking the gifts and saying thank you. I probably enjoyed the food the most, contrary to socializing, the city, and the bathrooms being at the root of my anxiety.

Bangkok

This was my first experience really being in a crowded city in Asia. My mind was soon to be blown many times but this was the first major occasion. The airport was super busy and crowded upon arrival, and we had to retrieve our four huge bags from baggage claim. They dragged on the ground on either side of the relatively small carts they have. We took out some Thai Bhat currency so we had cash to pay the taxi driver and buy food with. The minimum atm transaction was 5,000 bhat which translated about $160. We ended up spending almost all of it. We loaded up a taxi van and set off for our hotel in central Bangkok, which was about an hour drive since it was rush hour with traffic. I thought Los Angeles traffic was bad, this is next level. There are way more vehicles in a cramped area, plus the addition of motor bikes weaving throughout.

The driver was nice, his English was fair at best, but we got by. I liked him anyways. An hour later through Bangkok rush hour traffic we arrived at our Hotel, Asoke Residence. On the way I was highly entertained by the tons of motorbikes piled high with passengers, and the haphazard flow of traffic, I saw a few stray dogs that looks pretty sickly, and cats with nubs for tails. I small boy splashed about in a large bathtub, in a very comical way. Our hotel room was freakishly large, especially for the $40 it cost. Much bigger than our old apartment in Los Angeles, fully equipped with kitchen. But of course the toilet got clogged almost immediately, apparently you can’t flush the toilet paper down.

I took a nap and woke up extremely irritated and un-rested. I’m sure I haven’t gotten a proper nights sleep in the right time frame for days now. But we had to get up and go find another duffel bag and some luggage locks. We weren’t supposed to bring more than 30kgs checked luggage on the flight to Nepal, half of what we had currently. So the plan was to leave two big bags at a hotel nearby for Aditya’s family to bring back with them upon returning from Thailand in a week or two. We called our same cabbie from the morning to arrange for him to pick us up in the morning. Then we set off the mega-mall down the road a few blocks. It was super hot and smelly outside, but we braved it anyways and arrived at the biggest most stuffed with stores mall I have ever been to, Terminal 21. Had I not been in such a terrible physical and mental state I would have totally loved it. But, not only did we not find any reasonably sized or priced bags to buy, we also had a very hard time finding anything remotely vegetarian friendly, even for me who will eat fish. Finally we found a place where I could get sushi and Aditya could get pasta. The trip was mostly an epic fail but at least we got food and a few locks for our bags, and got to see the town a little bit. I definitely want to return to visit. It seems like a fun and interesting place with cool people there. 

The morning we both awoke at 4am, due to the jet lag again ruining our sleep schedule, so we ate some Pocky in bed and then got up to reorganize our bags. Next stop, Kathmandu. 

I Love Japan

After landing in Narita, we took a shuttle bus to our hotel. It’s called Hotel Mystay Narita. It reminded me from something out of a movie. It was a new hotel but seems like the building had been around for years. The room was very cramped but it had all the amenities you’d expect to find in an American Hotel. Except for the bidet of course. I gave it a shot, right up Main Street. Less startling, and more pleasant than you might expect. Granted, it didn’t do the job of toilet paper, plus I’m not sure how people dry themselves after such an event, wipe again? Anyways, then we headed down to the lobby to take a look at our restaurant options. Vegetarian options are extremely limited, and Aditya doesn’t eat fish like I do, so he certainly had a hard time finding something to eat. I made proper use of the buffet, he had spaghetti. We returned to the room to change for the jacuzzi. I strapped into my red bikini and wore the pajama set in the room as my cover all. Apparently people with tattoos aren’t allowed to use the pool or jacuzzi, so, like the rule follower I am I went right in anyways. There were some Japanese people in the jacuzzi, they didn’t seem to mind. They asked me where I was from and I said “America, California,” they nodded in approval. The pool room was entirely indoors and slightly underground. There was always some strange elevator music playing throughout the hotel, we joked that we were in the Japanese version of The Shining. But all in all, it was a nice experience. I like Japanese people, they were very accommodating and polite. No tip needed either, good thing too because it’s certainly not cheap here. 100Yen is about $1.07. And everything is costing some 10,000 plus for basic things.

I couldn’t sleep very well, time change aside, the bed was very firm and so were the pillows. We woke up at 4am and watched some TV, of course I found FOX where they were playing American TV shows. But I changed it for a Japanese TV show about some old fashioned Japanese community where they all wore kimonos and had their hair done in a funny way. I couldn’t understand a single thing that was going on but I enjoyed it anyways. The shuttle left at every half hour or so back to the airport, we got on the 6am one, hoping to go chill in the lounge while we waited for our flight to leave. Turns out the whole airport and security doesn’t open until 7:30am. So we waited, then flawlessly slipped through priority security check, I’m getting good at traveling already! After much debate with the ladies at check-in desk for the Sakura Japanese Airline Business class lounge, they figured out that our ticket DID allow us access. Aditya was getting frustrated with their lack of compensation on the matter, but I stayed calm and nice, and we did get in. The buffet was really nice, I ate a lot of weird stuff that I really wasn’t sure what it was. Two glasses of Champagne and one espresso later, we made our way to gate 74. Again we were seated business, not quite the fully reclinable seat we had on the previous flight, but still pretty good. I stopped drinking as I was feeling a bit sick. Had a few green teas and nibbled at the special vegetarian meals they served. I was pretty full from the buffet, and the food was was better anyways. After we landed in Hong Kong, we almost immediately got on our next flight to Bangkok. Blowing through cultures like glasses of Brut. 

Japanese Business Lady

I am flying for the first time in business class. It is the longest flight in our itinerary over two days, 4 countries, finally destination; Nepal. We are flying Japan Air to Narita, Japan, and I have never felt so important in my entire life. I certainly feel like we’re flying first class, as I see no one in front of us. We even got priority at the security checkpoint, skipped the entire line, it was fantastic. We then attained access to the Skyspace lounge, were we enjoyed free drinks and food. Once boarded on the aircraft and settled into my little cubicle, I started to explore the goodies left for me in my seat. There was slippers, which I promptly kicked off my Nike’s in exchange for. I had my own cubby for which to store my personal items such as my laptop, a book, my neck pillow, headphones, etc. Also there is this small silk pouch containing toiletry type items including a face mask, eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, ear plugs, and tissues. The cubicle is also equipped with fully adjustable seat all the way to completely flat laying position.  And last but not least the 18” flat screen TV at the foot of the bed. Finally in the air and reclined to a comfortable position, I write my first blog about the experience, Hi! The stewardess will be bringing my champagne shortly. My tray table was just expanded for me, and a table cloth placed neatly to cover it. The women hosting(serving?) us are very beautiful with nice smiles. Obviously, I could get used to this.

A little bit about me

My name is Rachel Young, I am 25 years old, and from California, USA. I’ve recently moved to Nepal with my Boyfriend Aditya, who is originally from Nepal. He has been living in the States for the last 10 years. His entire (quite large) family lives in Nepal or India.

I’m starting this blog to express my experiences and emotions whilst making the biggest leap of faith in my young life. I hope that you will follow me along this journey so you can see what it’s like to remove yourself from your comfort zone.

My Goals:

  • To spend the foreseeable future and then some with the love of my life, no matter where that might be!
  • Inspire others along a path of adventure
  • Build a new career path in a totally different work environment
  • Broaden my view of the world we live in, and not limit it to the safe bubble that America has for so long provided for me
  • Enlighten myself and others on new cultures and ways of life
  • Focus on creating and growing my skills as a Jewelry Designer and Manufacturer

So follow my blog and let’s see what Nepal and surrounding countries have to offer us.

Namaste!

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