July 20, 2007 – We Become Tourists

Chris and I forced ourselves to wake up at 5:30 this morning to catch a bus. As a background, one of our team members (and incoming Yale med student) Bibhav Acharya invited us to come visit him in his hometown.

Pokhara, which is one of the Top 5 tourist trekking destinations in the world, is certainly deserving of its title. Whereas Kathmandu is loud, polluted, crowded, and smelly; Pokhara is peaceful, clean, and pleasant. Though it’s not as urban the capital, it’s actually nicer since we get all the benefits of electricity, running water, and internet without the annoying city byproducts.

One of the most notable parts about trip thus far, however, has been the ride there. Chris and I took the tourist bus for seven hours through many small mountain hamlets. The landscape is absolutely stunning, with huge cliffs, gaping gorges, and rushing rivers. Residents primarily grow rice in jagged paddies on the mountainside for subsistence, but supplement their income by catering to the bus passengers that stream by between Kathmandu and Pokhara. One of things that encouraged me the most about them, though, was seeing that children were still managing to go to school. Everywhere we stopped, there were uniformed kids of various ages marching (often long distances) down the mountain to go to school in the valleys below.

Once we reached Pokhara, Bibhav took us to Gupteshwor Mahadev, an awesome limestone cave with a long-hidden shrine. The lingam, which people are not allowed to take photos of, is actually a stalagmite that bears a likeness to Shiva’s “terrifying” or “great” form. There I paid tribute to the manifestation, and dabbed some red paint on my forehead (tika). That actually allowed me to get the local rate at the next attraction, Devi’s Falls (a huge waterfall that apparently swept a Swiss couple away in 1961), since I totally pass for a local (Bibhav’s dad noted that I looked just like the guy who used to do IT for his hospital). In fact, when we were on the bus to the central town square, a woman asked me to move aside since she wasn’t uncomfortable about sitting next to the “American” (Chris). I awkwardly had to explain in bad Nepali that I was from Korea. Chris did his best in the opposite direction as me and bought a brilliant hat which, coupled with his camera bag, made him the ultimate tourist.

Before returning to the Acharya residence, we spent some time wandering around the heart of the city, which was just urban enough to be pleasant. When I ducked into a music/movie store, I was surprised to find tons of Korean movies, an entire section by themselves! I had a great time translating some of the more hilarious titles for Bibhav. Again, small world…