The people you meet when travelling
Wednesday, December 25, 2013 • 3:37 PM
This is a continuation of the previous post-just more focused on the people I met there as opposed to the places I went to. I'm not good at remembering the order in which things happened so I'm just going to write whatever I can remember first.
Paragliding in the clouds
We went paragliding in the Himalayas. Okay fine it was in the region of the Himalayas, facing Annapurna one of the famous mountains there. Annapurna is breathtakingly beautiful, just look. Then I found out from this book I'm reading just how many human lives that mountain has taken. But I digress. Anyway this is a picture of the pilot who guided me through paragliding, Premek
Here is a summary of our conversation, pre-flight.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"About 10 years."
"Okay I'm really nervous. You're asking me to run off a cliff in the middle of nowhere."
"Don't worry. It's very safe. You just have to remember one thing: When I say 'run', you take a few steps forward and start running. Then we'll be in the okay?"
"Okay"
"It's very important that you run and not sit on the ground okay?"
"Okay"
"'Cause if you do sit, you're gonna fall on me and I'm gonna fall on my back on the ground okay?"
"Okay"
"Because I'm a big strong man and I can carry you, no problem. But after that I will have back pain and you'll have to give me a massage. So you run and don't sit and we don't have to do back massage okay?"
"Okay"
This whole exchange sounds a lot funnier if you imagine him saying this in (what I assume is) a Czech accent and me literally shaking at the edge of the cliff and realising that even if I TRIED to run away, I'd have no where to go.
My mother's conversation with her pilot was much more brief. He was this big, buff Russian guy and it went like this.
"Okay. Run now."
"No, wait I'm not ready."
"NO! RUN NOW! YOU'RE GONNA KILL US!"
The flight itself was very thrilling. At one point all I could see was a wall of white in front of me. That's when I realised we were in a cloud.
I puked at the end of the flight though. I guess the altitude got to me. it was embarrassing though and my travel mates never let me forget it.:P But I STILL DID IT. And I even have a fancy certificate to prove it.
Living on the mountains
Someone else we met is this Tibetan lady selling hand-woven purses and keychains at a rest stop when we were travelling on the road. She is so pretty, this photo doesn't do her justice. What's more interesting though is how she lives on the mountains. She literally lives somewhere on a mountain and walks down to sell handicrafts to tourists. She jokingly asked us to bring her to Singapore with us on our way home. I think she's crazy because who would want to live in the city when you can have a view of the Himalayas from your bedroom window.
Gurkha Army guard
This guy was on duty at one of the heritage sites we visited. He obliged to having a photo taken, although he was very amused at my eagerness. It's not my fault, he's very good-looking! But in all seriousness, I am fascinated by the Gurkha army because of how they are renowned for their harsh training and fierce loyalty.Our guide says this guard is from the army, but his uniform is different from the usual army one so I'm guessing he's from the military police. I was told that retirees from the army receive a handsome pension. The Gurkhas who worked overseas often return home and build the most expensive houses as a result.
Caste and status
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The caste system is very much a part of life in Nepal alhtough outlawed years ago. This lady who is sweeping the streets is known as an untouchable. You can figure this out from how the broom she's using has a stick handle. A broom with a handle is associated with the devil. So women of the higher caste only use brooms with no handle, the kind that is made of sticks clumped together. These road sweepers however are employed by the government, with the aim of improving their living circumstances.
This guy was feeding the stray dogs at a temple in Kathmandu. There are so many strays and so many of them are freezing in the cold and picking at scraps of cardboard. I guess you can tell a lot about a person from the way he treats animals who can help in no way.:)
This boy is training to be a priest.
Our new friends from New Zealand, Mike and Adele.
I think the fact that Mike is in all likelihood the most naturally sociable person I've met has a lot to do with how we became acquainted. They started travelling about 2 weeks before we arrived in Nepal and they are travelling all the way until FEBRUARY. They're going to Bhutan and pretty much the whole of India before heading to Singapore and then back home.
Our guide
This is our guide Rajah. He was born on the mountains. In my opinion that fact alone automatically ups his street cred. He was really cool, telling us about his daughters in college and how he admired who us four women were travelling alone, a practice almost unheard of there. He told us about how he wished for more for Nepal and his days smoking Marijuana on this place called Freak Street. Apparently, in the 60s and 70s there were many hippies livign in Nepal and they introduced drugs to the Nepali teens. This is probably the most amusing conversation I had with him.
Where in Singapore can you see cows and buffaloes?
Uhh.. The Zoo
What? Cows and buffaloes are domestic animals! The city is not complete without them.
When I said the conversation was amusing, I meant that he was amused by us.
I have to say that I really appreciated how fiercely protective he was of us.
This is unfortunately all I can remember.Hope you liked the post!
One more thing! Recently I've noticed how many people havebeen posting pictures of the clouds from the window seats of planes when they go on vacation. I don't understand why the photos get something like a 100 'likes' on Instagram because they all look the same. So here's a window seat photo that is genuinely cool!
Mount Everest
Merry Christmas everyone!:)
OTHERS
The people you meet when travelling
Wednesday, December 25, 2013 • 3:37 PM
This is a continuation of the previous post-just more focused on the people I met there as opposed to the places I went to. I'm not good at remembering the order in which things happened so I'm just going to write whatever I can remember first.
Paragliding in the clouds
We went paragliding in the Himalayas. Okay fine it was in the region of the Himalayas, facing Annapurna one of the famous mountains there. Annapurna is breathtakingly beautiful, just look. Then I found out from this book I'm reading just how many human lives that mountain has taken. But I digress. Anyway this is a picture of the pilot who guided me through paragliding, Premek
Here is a summary of our conversation, pre-flight.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"About 10 years."
"Okay I'm really nervous. You're asking me to run off a cliff in the middle of nowhere."
"Don't worry. It's very safe. You just have to remember one thing: When I say 'run', you take a few steps forward and start running. Then we'll be in the okay?"
"Okay"
"It's very important that you run and not sit on the ground okay?"
"Okay"
"'Cause if you do sit, you're gonna fall on me and I'm gonna fall on my back on the ground okay?"
"Okay"
"Because I'm a big strong man and I can carry you, no problem. But after that I will have back pain and you'll have to give me a massage. So you run and don't sit and we don't have to do back massage okay?"
"Okay"
This whole exchange sounds a lot funnier if you imagine him saying this in (what I assume is) a Czech accent and me literally shaking at the edge of the cliff and realising that even if I TRIED to run away, I'd have no where to go.
My mother's conversation with her pilot was much more brief. He was this big, buff Russian guy and it went like this.
"Okay. Run now."
"No, wait I'm not ready."
"NO! RUN NOW! YOU'RE GONNA KILL US!"
The flight itself was very thrilling. At one point all I could see was a wall of white in front of me. That's when I realised we were in a cloud.
I puked at the end of the flight though. I guess the altitude got to me. it was embarrassing though and my travel mates never let me forget it.:P But I STILL DID IT. And I even have a fancy certificate to prove it.
Living on the mountains
Someone else we met is this Tibetan lady selling hand-woven purses and keychains at a rest stop when we were travelling on the road. She is so pretty, this photo doesn't do her justice. What's more interesting though is how she lives on the mountains. She literally lives somewhere on a mountain and walks down to sell handicrafts to tourists. She jokingly asked us to bring her to Singapore with us on our way home. I think she's crazy because who would want to live in the city when you can have a view of the Himalayas from your bedroom window.
Gurkha Army guard
This guy was on duty at one of the heritage sites we visited. He obliged to having a photo taken, although he was very amused at my eagerness. It's not my fault, he's very good-looking! But in all seriousness, I am fascinated by the Gurkha army because of how they are renowned for their harsh training and fierce loyalty.Our guide says this guard is from the army, but his uniform is different from the usual army one so I'm guessing he's from the military police. I was told that retirees from the army receive a handsome pension. The Gurkhas who worked overseas often return home and build the most expensive houses as a result.
Caste and status
The caste system is very much a part of life in Nepal alhtough outlawed years ago. This lady who is sweeping the streets is known as an untouchable. You can figure this out from how the broom she's using has a stick handle. A broom with a handle is associated with the devil. So women of the higher caste only use brooms with no handle, the kind that is made of sticks clumped together. These road sweepers however are employed by the government, with the aim of improving their living circumstances.
This guy was feeding the stray dogs at a temple in Kathmandu. There are so many strays and so many of them are freezing in the cold and picking at scraps of cardboard. I guess you can tell a lot about a person from the way he treats animals who can help in no way.:)
This boy is training to be a priest.
Our new friends from New Zealand, Mike and Adele.
I think the fact that Mike is in all likelihood the most naturally sociable person I've met has a lot to do with how we became acquainted. They started travelling about 2 weeks before we arrived in Nepal and they are travelling all the way until FEBRUARY. They're going to Bhutan and pretty much the whole of India before heading to Singapore and then back home.
Our guide
This is our guide Rajah. He was born on the mountains. In my opinion that fact alone automatically ups his street cred. He was really cool, telling us about his daughters in college and how he admired who us four women were travelling alone, a practice almost unheard of there. He told us about how he wished for more for Nepal and his days smoking Marijuana on this place called Freak Street. Apparently, in the 60s and 70s there were many hippies livign in Nepal and they introduced drugs to the Nepali teens. This is probably the most amusing conversation I had with him.
Where in Singapore can you see cows and buffaloes?
Uhh.. The Zoo
What? Cows and buffaloes are domestic animals! The city is not complete without them.
When I said the conversation was amusing, I meant that he was amused by us.
I have to say that I really appreciated how fiercely protective he was of us.
This is unfortunately all I can remember.Hope you liked the post!
One more thing! Recently I've noticed how many people havebeen posting pictures of the clouds from the window seats of planes when they go on vacation. I don't understand why the photos get something like a 100 'likes' on Instagram because they all look the same. So here's a window seat photo that is genuinely cool!
Mount Everest
Merry Christmas everyone!:)
THE WRITER
Alisa Maya
19
Student
Aspiring writer
BLOG ARCHIVE
Nepal: Some highlights- A Jungly experience
The power of being young and vulnerable
The story's just getting good,
For the lack of a better title; A loooong post
The things people say
A few things I learnt from the first weeks of school
A good writer VS a competent writer
The start before the real start
The unabashed truth
Things I've learnt from teaching kindergarten part...
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