Smells (and your questions answered)
on Mel and Steve in Nepal (Nepal), 16/Apr/2008 09:31, 34 days ago
Welcome to our latest posting.Since our last update we have mostly been on VSO training, including 4 days in hotels on conference. There has also been a national election. This much awaited event was luckily more peaceful than many had feared. The results are still coming out.Before moving onto‘Smells of Kathmandu’ here are some more of your questions answered:- What music traditions are there in Nepal– is there modern and folk music? (Alwyn)Like many other aspects of Nepali culture, there are lots of influences. Indian (Hindi) music is popular, both traditional and‘Bollywood’ hits. We have yet to experience a cinema with a Bollywood film but apparently the whole audience joins in enthusiastically. Also, Tibetan music is commonly heard. This is mainly in the Buddhist chanting tradition and with a funky beat. More about music in future blogs.-What have you found the most challenging/surprising/interesting aspect of Nepalese culture? (Alwyn)Lots of things but if we have to choose one we would say the all pervasive presence of religion and ritual. It is not possible to walk more than a few metres without encountering a shrine or full temple of some type. There are lots of festivals and daily/weekly rituals to be attended to and nothing happens on astrologically inauspicious days. Even our well educated and informed language teachers admit that the purposes and complexities of much of the religious system are unknown to anyone. All this makes for a very colourful, confusing but fascinating experience.-How will you be traveling to your placement? (Alwyn)We’re not yet sure is the short answer! We will go by bus if possible (18 hours) but VSO don’t really like this so we may have to hire a jeep. We’ll keep you informed.-On a similar theme: When do you expect to move to your placement? (John Gould)In about a month (mid May). We’ll really be desperate to go by then and, hopefully, be able to speak Nepali to a decent extent. Before that we will have a week’s placement in a village, to improve our language and cultural knowledge.-What do you eat? (Luca Shier)We eat all sorts of food because Kathmandu has lots of tourist restaurants. When we go to our placement on the other side of the country, we will mostly eat rice and vegetables.-What animals have you seen? (Luca Shier)We have seen lots of colourful birds and butterflies. Apart from this we have seen lots of monkeys and cows and a dead snake. When we get to our new home, we hope to see camels, elephants, crocodiles and maybe deer. If we’re very lucky, we may see rhinos or a tiger.Luca’s other questions about school will be held over until our ‘school special’ in a while. We hope that’s OK Luca.And now….The Smells of KathmanduLike the sounds, the smells of this city are hard to miss and some are nice and some nasty. Here is a selection of the most obvious and if you scratch your computer screen, you may be able to smell them (We accept no liability for computer screens damaged in this manner!).Traffic fumes are all around and so the smell of pollution is hard to avoid. The usual smell of exhausts is added to the smell of kerosene, which is mixed with the petrol. The kerosene is also used for fixing patterns on clothes (especially tourist T-shirts). Infact, cars are a constant menace:In addition, one nasty smell that everyone hates is the smell of rubbish. There are no bins and, although rubbish does get collected from streets, there are piles of it everywhere, especially in the river. The rubbish piles do perform one function however, they provide food for the stray dogs (see last posting) as well as a bed for cows:Often, the nastier smells are masked by the incense sticks, which can be found everywhere, but especially next to shrines and butchers shops. Their strong aromas are common across Asia and Nepal has many incense shops.Another welcome smell is that of the cooking that wafts from many doorways and restaurants. Most Nepali cooking uses lots of spice and other tasty ingredients so the smells are enough to make your mouth water. Here is Rikes, the chef at our hotel, in full cooking mode:Finally, when we can escape the other smells, the beautiful smell of jasmine, rhododendrons and other exotic flowers can be found wafting from gardens, parks or people’s window sills:On that happy note, we’ll finish for this time. Please keep the questions coming and next time we’ll describe the ‘touchy-feely’ side of Kathmandu.