Finally Some Detail. And a massive storm.
Now that I have a bit more free time I can write down the craziness that was today. I'd also like to mention that it is storming like the world is ending right now. Thunder & lightning, the whole deal. I. Fucking. Love it. It's been a while since I was in a real thunderstorm.
Arriving in Kathmandu - Customs
Customs was a total mess though. It is utterly unclear what is supposed to be done, what papers are needed, and generally what information they expect (e.g. they didn't need a copy of my passport and the address where I'm staying was totally irrelevant). It made me feel better that none of the aid workers seemed to have any clue either. They were given much shorter notice than I was though. The guy I sat next to on the plane was Canadian Red Cross and was told Wednesday that he needed to fly out on Friday. Still, teams of trained problem solvers having a hard time understanding what was expected should say something about the process.
They did finally give me a visa but only after trying really hard to understand why a software developer would want to come to Nepal. I lied and said I was visiting friends since it isn't any of their damn business why I'm here. It has made me wonder what would happen if I had lied and asked for a shorter visa and then not left. Would they have come after me? Penalized me monetarily when I left? Nothing? I've had several interactions with police and army members today (more on that later) and none of them has hinted at wanting to see a visa. They've actually been even more friendly and supportive of my involvement when they hear I will be here a while (again, more on that later). I also think I'm supposed to carry my visa at all times but haven't been because this isn't Nazi Germany.
Arriving in Kathmandu - Luggage FTW!
Even though United couldn't get my bags from Seattle to Columbus in a single hop, Air Canada and Turkish Airlines could get the same bags from Columbus to Kathmandu in 3 hops. Well done, foreign airlines. United, you get an F for "Fucked if I'm ever flying you again."
It was just a matter of taking those bags and my 2 carry-ons (I acquired one in Istanbul to replace the shitty plastic bag) through customs. Given the amount of random things I had in those bags (including lots of money and food), I was genuinely worried they might cause a ruckus. Buuuut customs was literally only checking that the tags on the bags matched the ones you had from the originating check-in. I appreciate them doing it but it seems odd to call that service "customs" rather than, I don't know, "anti-bag theft service." Maybe that has less of a good ring to it though.
Arriving in Kathmandu - Wait, where am I going?
Immediately outside of customs is a large vestibule that has only a few things but the one I cared about was pre-paid taxi for hire. They say it is a safer service because you give them the money upfront in exchange for first telling them where you are going. Since I knew the city/village I wanted to go to, I chose that. The super friendly and informative (and tiny! I swear, probably not even 5' tall) driver helped me put my bags in his cool, tiny minivan (I don't remember the make sadly). The ride out of town was exhilarating; drivers in Nepal are insane and it felt like a tiny, more polluted version of Rome.
I got to see some of the damage caused by the earthquake but the most frightening thing was the damage to the main highway leaving the airport. One whole section has sunk many feet and had to be closed and others have crevasses cutting through them in places. It looks a bit like hell is opening up. That doesn't stop people from doing insane things but it might make them drive slower. It's hard to tell though because everyone seems to expect slow traffic.
The problem that started to dawn on me as we got near the city/village was that I didn't actually know where I was going. I had a general idea of the location and a name of the "retreat" in that location. I didn't have an address (duh, they don't use addresses anywhere outside of a few misc parts of Kathmandu) and I didn't have the owner's phone number. What I did have was an absurd amount of luck and the fearlessness to convince the driver to just keep driving even when it became clear I wasn't totally sure where to.
Somehow, we got close enough initially that we were able to get vague directions towards where it might be. After 2 stops for directions, we asked a 3rd guy who happened to be one of the two operators of the inn! We had been going the right direction the entire time. Note to anyone who travels with me in the future: I seem to be preternaturally able to go in the right direction even when I am not consciously aware of it.
At Star View Retreat - An ex-pat was a good choice
So, the owner of the little inn/retreat/whatever is an ex-pat from SF/Florida and a really quirky woman. She is retired and has enough money from retirement and other things that she can run this place well with the variable income the tourist industry provides; that is in large part because it is crazy cheap to live here though. Ama (short for Amanda but everyone calls her Ama) loves Nepal and deeply cares for the Nepalese. She has only been here for 4ish years but has married a Nepali, rented from them, employed them, and lived among them for the entire time. Her view seems borne of wanting to understand how she can improve their lives by empowering them. We discussed many of her ideas and they all seem both realistic and empowering but they have mostly had trouble succeeding. And always for the same reason(s). I'll get into that more later probably. But she really does seem to care about them and is trying hard to help them.
This place is a bit more American than most things in this part of the world. It has good power, a big water supply with a filter. There is also wifi and private bathrooms with a toilet and small shower (Italian coastal village style where it's all in one big room with a drain in the middle). But frankly there is enough culture shock and things to get done without constant discomfort at home being an impediment. As of now, I plan to stay here for the duration of my stay and it seems everyone is amenable to that.
At Star View Retreat - Settling in
Ama gave me a nice room to myself (although I got moved to another, nicer room later due to more guests arriving) and we then had lunch together with Kamel, his daughter, and a woman and young boy whom I don't know their relationship yet (the boy is the woman's son but I don't know how they are related to Kamel and Ama). Kamel is Ama's grandson even though he is only about 20 years younger than her. She married his grandfather to get effective citizenship to buy property/vehicles and stay in the country indefinitely; I say "effective" because that kind of citizenship only applies up to 5 years after the spouse dies (he is still alive right now). Lunch was dal bhat (apparently just saying "bhat" means "piss" or something like that, so I was warned to be careful) and was quite tasty. Ama had pancakes because the spicy veggies irritate her stomach. Kamel and I were the only ones eating dal bhat with utencils. Everyone else ate it the traditional way with their right hand only (left hand is unclean like in indian culture).
Changunarayan - Cleanup begins
Kamel's house was completely destroyed. The bottom 2.5 floors (of 4 floors) are standing but unusable. Both of this art schools in town were also destroyed. His kids went to go stay with his wife in their home village until things can be cleaned up here; it is going to take a while. His house and his family's restaurant/inn (belonging to siblings? not sure on their relationship yet) are right at the steps to the temple. The restaurant/inn was also damaged enough to be unsafe for guests. They are hoping to stabilize things enough to let people use the restaurant for drinks and snacks until they can get enough money to demolish the building and rebuild it. They get a lot of visitors because of the proximity to the temple and reopening the restaurant, even if only for small items, would be really good for them and the entire village.
The main thing that needs to be done first is to clean up all the rubble from the 2 stories of collapsed house (the army came in and knocked down the rest of the 3rd story but just left it with the rubble - more on the army later). They had been at it a bit but hadn't really made much progress because they had been doing so many other things around the village and with their place; just getting what they could out of the damaged house and moving it to Ama's took a while.
They only have a single wheelbarrow and, until recently, only one shovel. Even with 4-5 workers, that isn't enough equipment for people to be very effective. Add to that the fact that everyone here wears flipflops all the time and has no gloves or any other safety equipment and you get pretty slow work. By the end of the day, we cleared almost the entire pile in the courtyard in front of the restaurant/inn and a good chunk of the other large pile on the side of the house.(next to the courtyard). The army helped a bit with the pile by the house but really didn't do terribly much before leaving again.
People took breaks often; mostly it would be in a bit of a rotating fashion with a few people stopping at a time but occasionally it would be everyone. They love tea breaks; it does make work more enjoyable but it is very different than how people would be working in the US. We probably had 10+ tea breaks over 6-7 hours of work. Once the break was for a snack of noodles but every other time was just tea - either "black tea" (chai with no milk) or "tea" (chai with milk). The chai spice they use is just a mix they make and it is excellent. I have a bit of an issue with how much sugar they put in it but I am getting used to it. I quickly got used to being asked "Mark, you like tea?" and knowing that meant they were wondering if I wanted tea right then. I feel bad saying no because no one else seems to take a tea break unless I do. So, I said yes every time they asked except once (which is how I learned no one else would have tea if I didn't).
Changunarayan - The army steps in
So, speaking of the army... wow are they bizarre. For the most part, they seem really nice and generally respectful to the locals here (although you can see a bit of disdain in the way they act and speak towards them). They were ridiculously nice and almost obsequious to me. Their leader, who was a decent guy who had been in Africa for a year with the UN a few years back, spoke with a lot of gusto about how they are glad to help even though these aren't "their people."
Changunarayan - The temple
Next to the house and restaurant/inn are the steps up to the temple grounds. The actual temple was surrounded on all 4 sides by a building with a large courtyard separating them. Now, it is only surrounded on 3 sides and that probably won't last for long. The side facing the steps is clearly going to lose at least half of its structure in the next few weeks (depending on rains and quakes) and the other sides aren't doing much better. There is a team working every day to build scaffolding and supports around the actual temple but it is slow going. This temple is the oldest in the Kathmandu Valley and maybe the oldest in the country; it is incredibly important they salvage as much as possible or reinforce the building to keep it up. Right now, they are removing artifacts from the damaged areas and trying to save the temple.
The army has the temple under 24/7 guard for some reason. Maybe looting? Given the reverence these people have for it, I really doubt that'd be a problem. It could just be to stop people from wandering all over it in an ignorant way and getting themselves hurt if another large quake happens. There was a noticeable one that happened this afternoon - it spooked people - but it isn't showing up on any earthquake maps so far; very strange.
They are only letting a certain number of people into the grounds at a time and are monitoring where people go. It seems like a good idea but it's more of an annoyance and a waste of resources as far as I can see. I got to see it yesterday with some people from some random aid group but, for whatever reason, it was too dangerous today. It's different army people every day (they rotate all over the country constantly which seems like a terrible idea to me) and so they probably just thought I'm some dumb tourist. Although, they would have to be blind and dumb to think that since they all are constantly watching me with the other people working in the courtyard below them, next to the 2-story crumbling house, shoveling rubble, picking up glass, etc.
Changunarayan - Family dinner!
They invited me to dinner with them which was great! I had dal bhat with Ama, Kamel, et al. in the morning and that was what we had for dinner too. But we had some other veggies and spicy pickle with dinner which really makes it a lot tastier. I managed to convince them that I was okay eating with my hand instead of a spoon and they got a kick out of that. It's a lot more enjoyable to eat that way and I like that it makes me fit in a bit more. An occasional Nepali will eat with a spoon but mostly they use their hand. The approach is to pour a bit of the dal soup onto the rice (bhat), mix it around, and then eat small clumps with some veggies by picking it up and sort of shoveling it into your mouth. I've done something a bit less messy with Indian friends in the past (in Chicago) but this is much more real. I'm quite partial to eating that way; it really does enhance the sensory experience of eating by adding hand feeling into my interaction with the food.