[ Zoom Map ]

Kathmandu, Nepal
27° 43' N 85° 18' E
May 27, 2007 18:38
Distance 144km

Choose another map, showing:

• Nepal
• Ganges
• India
• Asia
• Eurasia
• Eurasia, Africa & Pacific
• The World

Other entries in Kathmandu

Back in the capital again.

Text written in: English

So the last 4 weeks have gone by very quickly. The last week hasn't gone quite that quick, as the teachers have been on strike. Its getting worse, not better. The police batton charged the protesters on Friday and now they are resorting to road bloackades instead (the teachers seem to be getting a dose of their own medicine, most teachers don't use the cane out here but there are a few that still do.) This does mean that Kathmandu is desterted today, most of the shops are closed and no cars on the road, Heaven, if Kathmandu was like this every day I could almost live here, almost. I leave here on Tuesday for Laos and Thailand, but I think I might be walking to the airport, its only 4km, so if the worst comes to the worst, its not that far.

So a few things I have learnt over the last 3months in Nepal- 

Women in Nepali and Indian cultures, Hindu, are supposed to look sad on their wedding day. This is because they are leaving their families, but more important than that, they are leaving their mums.

There is a very obvious difference between the clothes that are worn in the rural areas of Nepal. Women and girls still wear their traditional clothes, this consists of either- a 'T-san' which is almost like a dress but with splits up either side and leggings and a scaff in very colouful bright colours. The other type is called a 'Kurta', this is a small top with a wrap, usually red, that acts as a skirt and head covering for the cold or sun.

The older mens traditional dress is called 'Dora Surwal', this is a light top and trousers with a hat called a 'Takatopi' similar to the one that I was presented with on my arrival to the school.

All of the older generation of men and women and the youger female population all still wear their traditional clothes. The reason why they still wear these clothes was explained to me, is that they are still much more attuned to their religion and culture. The younger men, and most people in Kathmandu city, on the other hand wear very western clothes, so western that they stand out like I sore thumbs wearing Skater height cruthches and WWF stars on their T-shirts, not Pandas and Tigers, but Dr. Death and Miss. Evil. (Ok I made those last two names up, but I'm sure they exist somewhere in the world and if not, there are some good names for futuer WWF stars.) The reason for this is that they are trying to act more macho and manly, yet they still walk down the street hand-in-hand or arm, as is the culture here, but a huge contradiction in terms. Shoes also seem to be a statment of wealth and status, even tho its way to hot for them.

It isn't easy to concentrate on teaching a class full of kids, even if there are only 6 of them, when some kid in the next class is having the contents of a text book helpfully inserted into his brain whilst its being rapped around his head. The boarding school that I ended up teaching at was one long hall, partioned with ply wood and nothing to stop the sound of book connecting with head, or the image out of the corner of your eye. I also can't watch little kids being givern the cane, on their left hands. I couldn't see any reason they were givern the cane. They are angels out here, nothing compared to Western kids, sure they are noisey and arrive a little late to lessons, they might even talk a bit in the lesson, I would just put that down to excitment and enthusiasm but compared to kids in the West, you couldn't ask for anything better as a teacher. If kids were like this in the west, the teachers would keep their natural hair colour longer, and have less wrinkles at premature ages from stress. I keep asking people out here, if they really want to follow the Wests example and have kids turn out like delinquents or keep to their traditional values, respect for elders and caring for your family, as well as becoming prosperous and healthy, they just smile!

'Globalisation is a reality not a choice' as one National Geographic put it, of which I have read many this last week due to the strike. And its certinaly true, with Sat TV being almost every where, from bamboo houses in Northern Vietnam, Ram-shackled shacks in the middle of no-where in China to remote mountain villages in Nepal, Western values, culture and clothing are being flitered on the local people and cultures. With the click of a buttton the ideas and philosophies that have made the west wealthy, prosperous, healthy, for the most part, materialsitic and not caring for family members or communities, can be spread on the rest of the world, even before you step of the plane.

Quite a nice thought as a traveller, not the dillution of world cultures and langauges, from 6,000 to 3,000 in the next 50yrs or so, but that the damage has already, in part, been done before you get there and you are only adding to, or continuing indirectly and not the sole causeof the world becoming one culture.Sure you will get the odd variants such as Big Bird in Shanghai teaching more chinese customs, and MacDonalds altering its menus and preperation style to suit local tastes, but most places you go, it will all be very similar. Its very nice not to have seen a KFC, MD, Starbucks or Pizza Land in the last 3months, but that will all change when I get back to Thailand.

(Ok I may have used a bit more from the NG than the first quote, but unless you read NG's from 10 years ago, you will never know. The Plagerism Police hopefully won't come knocking on my door. Sorry to the authors if you are reading this.)