The ailing oldsters continue to miss out on some of the fun times. Judy more than Jon. But we rallied for the capstone event – the reason we made this trip in the first place – the Maitri One Year Celebration party.
We missed out on the nightclub outing on Friday. I’ve included some pictures the goers took.
And we missed out on the tour with Paras on Saturday, a real disappointment. Only three ended up going due to work commitments the others had: Rebecca, Sammy and Kori braved historic rain and flooding. They toured Paten’s Dunbar Square and the Boudha stupa – the big one that we saw on our first day but that the three of them had missed.
Paras designed the day to minimize outdoor time since Kathmandu and all of Nepal suffered an unbelievable rain storm country-wide. More than 30 people died. Transportation was disrupted. Monsoon season has traditionally ended by now but, nonetheless, down came the rain.
Judy and I stayed behind and drank Paras’s prescribed balm: hot tea with lemon, ginger and honey. It does the trick. Try it next time you have a head cold or whatever else ails you.
The fear was that many Maitri employees wouldn’t be able to make the party due to the storm, but the skies parted mid afternoon and the turnout for the party was just fine.
The party started with a musical group made up of employees: three flute-like wooden instruments and a guitar. Julie and Jeff made speeches thanking the employees for all they’ve done to make the company a success. Hor d’oeuvres were served, the bar was open and a buffet dinner was available.
The guests of honor were folks from the Himalayan Children’s Charity, many of whom we had met earlier in the week. One of the girls danced traditional Nepali dances in costume. A real crowd pleaser, judging by the attendees’ reaction.
But what everyone was waiting for was the dancing. DJ music – Nepali and Indian tunes – fueled a frenzy of dancing by everyone, even the stick-in-the-mud westerners. Those Maitri kids really know how to party!
A lot has changed in Nepal since we were here ten years ago. Judy reflected on the changes we saw this week. Here are her thoughts:
It has been 10 years since we were in Nepal and we have seen major changes! Nepal today is like most major cities are today, bustling, busy traffic and all lit up!
Ten years ago I remember going to Pokhara for the week-end with the Deerwalk employees. As we left Saturday morning the van picked up the employees at their homes on the way out of town. On Sunday evening we were returning, and it was dark. As we were driving, I kept looking for us to come into the city. Where are the city lights? Next thing I knew we were dropping people off. I remember saying I was looking for the city lights and someone behind me said we do not have any lights. The city was pitch dark! The following week-end we had gone to Chitwan and when we returned they had installed the first street lights in front of the Annapurna Hotel. Ten years later, no more dark streets, the city is light up like any other city!
Ten years ago the streets were much narrower, mostly two lanes. At the time I remember seeing the front 10 feet or so of housesbeing taken down to make way for the road to be widened. I remember feeling badly that these people were having to lose several feet off their houses but today the streets are all wide and bustling with traffic. Back in 2014 the traffic was all directed by traffic cops in a center platform at the intersections. Today they still have much of the traffic directed this way but there are also some streetlights to direct traffic.
In 2014 the power grid was very poor. The power would go out many times each day and most shops had generators out on the sidewalks. Ten years later we did not see any generators on the sidewalks. We did have the power cycle in the hotel sometimes but nothing like it was ten years ago.
As I am writing this, I am thinking the Katmandu of ten years ago is no longer. It is now a large bustling city that is all lit up and has leapt forward into the 21st century.
We left the party around 10:30 PM to finish packing. Our van left for the airport at 11:15 and now, as I type, we’re in the Qatar Airline lounge here in Doha. Fourteen and a half hours more of flying and we’re back home! Except for poor Reagan and Dino who have another leg from Boston to California.
It’s been a great trip. Thanks again for traveling along with us. And thanks, too, to our on-the-ground traveling companions for putting up with us ain’t-getting-any-younger types – Julie, Dino, Zach and Peyton and Rebecca, Sammy, Jeff and especially Reagan. Reagan was our companion, guide and luggage toter though both India and Nepal. Everyone bent over backwards to slow down, grab our bags and make sure we didn’t fall off the curb. It was sometimes comical to see them fighting over our suitcases to see who’d get to carry them. And I wasn’t always a gracious recipient of their aid. I was fighting them for my bag; I’m not always aging gracefully and tend to deny my infirmities. But we survived and had a blast and can’t wait to do it again.
We keep saying we’re going to stop doing these long-haul trips. We’ve been saving ourselves to do Europe and the USA in or dotage. But we keep finding reason to doing the long shots. Jeff will probably be having annual anniversary parties, we’ve only seen a snippet of India, Doha looks easy to explore on a long layover, we never did make it Viet Nam . . . As long as we can swing for those lay-flat seats I guess we can keep going for another couple of years. Right now, we’re glad to be home. But tomorrow or next week? We’ll see!
