A feast of color: Nepal

Post date: Oct 02, 2016 6:40:59 PM

I was baffled by the silence and stark environment in Tibet, and Nepal was the exact opposite.

Leaving China, my bag was searched three times. I was X-rayed twice. Then, and only then was I allowed to cross the bridge that was no man’s land between Tibet and Nepal. On the Nepalese side of the river? Chaos.

A swarm of people surrounded those that were trying to leave, and tried to get us to pay them to usher us through the process. The “immigration building” was a room with a dirt floor with no lines, no rhyme and no reason. After getting my passport stamped I hired a landrover with some fellow travelers to go to Kathmandu.

The other thing about Nepal. SO. MUCH. COLOR. The mountains are covered in color. The fields are covered in color. The people wear the brightest colors you could possibly imagine. After the stark fields of Tibet, Nepal was a feast of color.

The fellow travelers I road van with to the city, I ended up staying with for four days in Kathmandu. We split two hostel rooms in a hostel that was formerly a palace. It was bizarre how much noise there was at all time.

Motor bikes, scooters, bikes, cars and pedestrians all attempted to occupy the same space in the roads. Monuments and temples cropped up in the middle of residential buildings, people using world historical landmarks to dry their laundry.

I climbed monkey temples, drank and danced with the two Spaniards, one German and two Americans I ended up hanging out with. It was a feast of color. And noise.