Namobuddha

Day 01 – Today we leave Nagarkot and we head towards Namobuddha. Tomorrow we will sleep there for two nights in a buddhist monastery. We are really looking forward to being there. In the meantime, we have a stop in a nearby city: Dhulikhel. It’s about 18 km away from where we are and we have a two choices: we can walk there through the forest down the mountain (but we have our backpacks and our babu who’s not feeling at his best) or we take the bus back to Bhaktapur and another one to Dhulikel (a 30 km detour because there is no bus going straight to Dhulikhel). Obviously, we’ll take option two. It seems much simpler, right?!

So we take the folk bus back to Bhaktapur. We really like those buses, the atmosphere, the smiles… When we arrive in Bhaktapur, we decide to walk around this city we like so much for a while. It’s the last day of our “pass”. We haven’t told you but we (foreigners) need to buy a 7 days pass or we can’t get inside the old town (children can go for free though). So we stroll down the streets, we hang out and stop for lunch where we spend the last of our money. Then we head towards the road where you take the bus to Dhulikhel (there’s no clear bus stop) and we stop by an ATM to withdraw some money. And that’s where things get complicated. The ATM doesn’t work. So we try another one: same results. So another one: still no money. No ATM seem to be working. We stop at a bank to ask about this issue and they tell us that today, there’s a problem with visa cards. Nothing can get through. Damn!!!! We just need 1€ for the bus!!! Julia and Doo are thinking about this 1€ hot chocolate Côme made us buy and didn’t even drink… Fortunately, Julia has a 20€ bill. We ask the woman from the bank if we can exchange it but she says no. This bank doesn’t exchange money. So she calls another bank to see if they can exchange our 20€ bill. The bank that can is “only” 200m away from where we are so Doo decides to go there alone. It’s super hot today, we have been walking for 2h with our backpacks already and we are exhausted. While Doo is away, Julia is trying to teach Côme, but their mind is somewhere else. When Doo reaches the bank, they tell him they need his passport to exchange the money. The passport is with Julia… Doo has to go back (sigh). After this back and forth and a good half an hour, 10 signatures, 30 photocopies, a retine scan, a finger scan, a DNA and urine sample later Doo finally comes back with the few rupees we need to take the bus… (All jokes aside, Doo had never seen that much paperwork to exchange 20€… they did ask him about 5 signatures and photocopied his passport and the 20€ bill… go figure.)

Then we’re on our way to Dhulikhel. We are glad it’s just a stopover. The only thing of interest there is the view from our hotel room and watching the eagles fly and hunt in the morning.

Day 02/03 – Today, we’re heading to the monastery. Once again, we take the local bus to get there. After waiting for 40 minutes at the bus stop, Côme and Doo decide to hitchhike. Unfortunately, the only peson who stops is on a motorcycle, so we can’t hop on. But then, our bus finally comes. This time around though, WE are the people that are taken on the bus while it’s already full (remember?). So during the entire ride, we are standing on top of huge bags of rice, squeezed between people and our backpacks and with barely nothing to grab on… For a complete immersion, we’ll remind you that we are driving on mountainous dirt roads with huge potholes… So, everything is great! 🙂 Côme is really, really, really unhappy with this ride and swears he won’t ever get into a bus in Nepal anymore. Julia and Doo are still enjoying Nepalese folklore though.

When we get to the monastery, we are greeted by smiling monks that offer us a piece of watermelon while we wait for the monk to show us our room. After leaving our stuff in our room, we go for a stroll outside the monastery (today, the majority of monks are out, having a pic-nic). We meet two young kids having fun with practically nothing (a piece of plastic, an old water bottle). They are full of imagination and very sociable. We spend some time with them. Côme has a lot of fun and Julia teaches them “Meunier, tu dors…” while they teach us “Tchiky, tchiky boom boom…”. These two kids will be our nicest encounter for the next two days.

When we decided to live with the monks for two days, we thought we would talk to them, share moments with them, learn from them but instead, we unfortunately notice that the monastery is very touristy and there is no communication between us (westerners) and the monks. We witness the morning prayer and eat with them, but we are always appart. The prayer is surprising. There are chants, mantras and instruments. We obviously cannot participate, but the monks don’t explain their practice either. As for the meals, we eat in the same room, the same meals, but the monks are on one side of the room and us on the other… We feel really disappointed by this experience which is impoverished by this lack of interractions. We had really hoped Côme could learn from their values and truly share their way of living.

There are few things we liked though: the magnificient 360° view from the monastery up on the hill, the monastery in itself was very beautiful, Côme got intrigued by the monks and was able to touch for the first time a gecko and we were able to experience food in a monastery (we’re definitely glad we’re not monks).

These past few days, Côme:
Did not understand: why the monks were shaved and they all dressed with the same clothes.
Learnt: why the monks shave and dress with the same clothes (to break away from appearances and personal beauty).
Liked: the big praying wheels and touching the gecko.

Julia:
Did not understand: why foreigners can stay at the monastery without any exchange with the monks.
Learnt: that the prayers were not quiet.
Liked: spending time with the two children.

Doo:
Did not understand: the praying rituals.
Learnt: that weed was growing everywhere in Nepal (even in the monastery).
Liked: the prayer room.