Daal Bhat

If you are looking on the map of Nepal, we are in old Sinamangal (new name is Pepsi Cola), near the Kathmandu airport. Yesterday after our lesson we walked over the river with one of our guides to Thimi- a medieval town famous for clay pot making and small temples, like nearby Bhaktapur, without the entrance fee. We ambled through narrow cobblestone alleyways, past open kilns, pottery and plant pots in progressive stages of creation, including being baked in open straw and ash kilns. Age-old corner temples, mini lingams, prayer wheels, and images of gods abound, garnished with grains of rice, marigolds and tikas by the locals.

As a couple Heath and I are expected not to touch in public, and it is proper Nepali if I refer to him as “Raven's dad”, not “my husband”. He wants me to walk behind him like a traditional Hindu wife, but I haven't quite got the hang of that ;) ! We have learnt enough Nepali by now to ask (and answer) How are you? “Tapaai:lai kasto chha?” What is your name? “Tapaai:ko naam ke ho?” etc. I love the fact there is no gender to learn, nor many prepositions and the verb always comes at the end of the sentence. (Your name what is?) We won't be learning the script- just the spoken language.

It is rude to point your stretched out legs and feet at your elders, or touch anything with your feet. Shoes are taken off in every home, temple and many small stores. Most of the people wear slip on shoes or flip flops. It is forbidden to touch people on the crown of their heads. We also should not share food. Heath as a husband, should never take food from my plate, as it will be contaminated. Raven, as a child, may share food from my plate. Our 20-something guides share food at lunch, so it seems this is a tradition the elders hold.

We drink sweet tea at 7 in the morning, then have our substantial meal at 9am. I never knew there were so many ways to make dhal baat. Sometimes the dhal is thick and made with yellow lentils, other times thinner with brown lentils. It always is served with a dollop of curried vegies. The dhal is flavourful, but not spicy, and Raven likes it, too. Occasionally the host mother (Aama- mother- see photo) will make fried rice or 'special Nepalese noodles' (think: Mr. Noodles). I much prefer the dhal baat because it is more filling, tastier and includes protein. The only dairy we eat is a bit of milk in the morning tea. Heath and Raven usually eat chicken at lunch.

'Brown outs' are a daily part of life. Homes have power for a few hours in the morning and the evening, then the neighbourhoods 'loadshare' power or utilize energy from battery or solar power. During the brown out there is enough electricity to light a few florescent bulbs that are on a different circuit, but most of the town is dark.

I am pleased to note that there has been a distinct lack of creepy bugs and critters on our travels so far. Dealing with scary bugs was one worry I had before leaving. Beyond salamanders and a few spiders, we haven't seen too many icky critters. There were some strange cricket-like bugs jumping in the dish water at the orphanage the other day, but I haven't seen them since...