Monkeys, Mountains and Music Videos

Seeking a respite from the noise and pollution of Kathmandu, Heidi, Ben (another MCCer and our new best friend) and I ventured up to Balaju, which lies a bit northwest of the city. We were anticipating a relatively stress-free day of hiking and breathing less toxic air. As is the case with many of the day-to-day things we do here in Kathmandu, our hiking escapade proved to be quite an adventure. We caught a bus that was headed toward Balaju and enjoyed a typical commute (i.e. buses, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles, people, cattle and goats vying for their rightful place in whichever lane of traffic they choose, horns blaring, traffic police blowing whistles that everyone ignores). The bus dropped us off near Balaju, and we walked a mile or so to our hiking destination. We were looking for a "main gate" where the hiking trail, leading to a Buddhist temple and lookout point, supposedly began. We found what appeared to be the beginning of the trail and were happily on our way, enjoying the change of scenery and a magnificent view of the northern part of the Kathmandu Valley. After walking for several minutes, Ben mentioned that he really wanted to see some monkeys. These words were barely out of his mouth when we saw a family of monkeys sitting on a brick wall about 15 feet away. They seemed to be as surprised to see us as we were to see them. A few baby monkeys hid sheepishly behind their mothers. One appeared to be sucking its thumb. We were ecstatic, taking pictures and marveling at our good fortune. Continuing on the trail, we soon realized that we were surrounded by monkeys. They were everywhere- sitting on both sides of the path, swinging in the trees above us- and they didn't appear to be as friendly as at first glance. Our enthusiasm quickly turned to fear, which was exacerbated when a creepy looking Nepali man appeared out of nowhere, pointing at the monkeys and making biting gestures with his mouth. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. Needless to say, we retreated as fast as possible. After regaining our composure, we decided to try walking past the monkeys, hoping that the "main gate" was close by. Without making eye contact, we cautiously walked through the monkey gauntlet and made it to a gate. However, this was not the gate we were looking for; instead of leading to the hiking trail, it led to a restricted army post.
Time for Plan B. In addition to the hiking trail, the town of Balaju also features a series of water gardens that are centuries old. Unsuccessful in finding the trail, we decided to check out the gardens. As luck would have it, we stumbled on the shooting of a Nepali music video--with very flamboyantly dressed dancers (see picture below). Could the day get any better? After walking around the gardens enjoying the various fountain sculptures and beautiful plants, we were able to get directions to the "main gate" so we continued our search for the elusive hiking trail. Another twenty minutes of walking took us to the gate where we each paid 10 Nepali Rupees to enter the park area. It was now close to 11 o'clock, and we were excited about the glorious view that awaited us at the end of a short hike (or so we thought). The guard at the entrance told us the temple was a 1/2 kilometer away and showed us to the start of the trail (where there was a sign that indicated the trail was 5 kilometers long). Nearing the hottest part of the day, we were soon drenched in sweat as we climbed a series of earthen steps that seemed to go straight up. Up, up, up we went with no end in sight. When we stopped to take a breath, we were immediately swarmed by mosquitoes, despite the insect repellent that we slathered on our legs every few minutes. There were places where the trail flattened out, but these were few and far between and were always followed by another grueling ascent. Granted this was not Mount Everest or even a mountain by Nepal standards, but it was kicking our butts. From the small glimpses that we could get of what appeared to be the top, we realized that we had at least another hour of climbing ahead of us...and we'd already trudged uphill for an hour. The combination of humidity, mosquitoes, and a dwindling water supply was too much. We turned around. Although the descent was nearly as difficult since our legs felt like jello, we were quite happy to reach level ground.
Having had enough adventure for one day, we took a taxi to Thamel where we knew we could find a restaurant that served familiar food. It may have been divine intervention that led our taxi driver to drop us off near the Rum Doodle Restaurant, where all great trekkers eat. Although we're not yet in that category, we did enjoy their fantastic brick oven pizza, along with copious amounts of water. My adventures were not quite over. A few minutes after sitting down at the restaurant, I felt something moving around in my shoe. I looked down and saw a leech crawling out of my shoe. I quickly removed both shoes and realized that I had a leech on each foot. Why not? It seemed like a fitting end to an adventurous day.




Note: Monkeys are cute in zoos.


Nepali pop stars!


In case you can't tell, Ben is much taller than us.


The infamous leech, along with my blood, smeared on the floor of the Rum Doodle Restaurant.