Today is hike day! Hari told us of a few hikes around Bhaktapur and the shortest one (about 10 km) goes into a forest and then to a village in the mountain. We decide to give it a try. First, we obviously take care of our morning routine: feeding the chicks. In this street, we always get barked on by a racist dog. We say he’s racist because he only barks on us. Weird thing though? He’s white! He even has a third eye painted on him. Isn’t he supposed to be spiritual? Anyway, on our way to the countryside. Right from the start it starts to pour and we’re soaked. But that’s alright. It’s tropical rain so we’re not cold.
Just before getting into the forest, we here chants and instruments coming from a temple on top of a hill. We decide to take a detour and go check. You gotta be athletic when you’re buddhist here! When we reach the top, many young people are celebrating dressed in the traditional attire. We had seen the same kind of celebration yesterday. Hari told us they were high school student celebrating their diploma. Then we’re off through the forest but we don’t stay there for long because there has to be 50 mosquitoes per square inch. So we walk on the road to the village in the countryside.
Once we’re there, we go to a small restaurant. Julia has her best momos of our entire stay and Côme eats his first ice cream of the trip. The setting is really nice, we get to see our first rice fields and everybody is saying namasté with a smile when they see us. An old lady is even trying to have a conversation with us so we “chat” with hand gestures and the few words we each of us know. We continue our walk to the mountain. There is another temple on top. When we reach there, there is a group of teenagers hanging out and a very old sadhu meditating. Once again the teenagers are really nice to us. They even tell Doo he has been bitten by a leech and indeed there’s a blood stain on his ankle. He didn’t even feel it. The guys say: “Don’t worry, it only sucks bad blood!” Doo is not worry.
We then go back to Bhaktapur. Côme is giving two thumbs up to everyone who is working hard. For the past few days it’s the way he found to show his appreciation for people’s work. He tells us: “This way, they know they are not hard working for nothing.” It actually works miracles because every time he gives his thumbs up, the worker faces are illuminated with an earnest smile. We arrive in Bhaktapur through the clothes market. There’s a lot of people. Doo is amused by a salesman who is screaming things and holding lingerie in front of a group of women then saying “woooow!”. Before reaching our house, we stop at a kite store. Here, a lot of children are playing kite on the rooftops. So we buy one and go to our rooftop to try it. The first try is a complete failure. Doo rips the kite appart. So we go buy another one, in plastic this time, not paper. Hari helps us attaching the kite to the thread and we’re back on the rooftop. Second try, not conclusive either. Our neighbors are also on the rooftop next to ours, flying their own kite. They try to teach us from afar. Third attempt, Julia then tries to make it fly. And it works!!! Côme’s kite soars high into the sky. We are all happy and smilling. When there’s no more wind and it’s time to eat, we go enjoy a last meal with our family. Tomorrow we’ll head to another place. We had a great time in Bhaktapur.
Today, we:
Did not understand: how to fly a kite.
Learnt: how to fly a kite.
Loved: to fly a kite.