5 Things You Might Not Expect in Nepal
Here are a few things that you might be surprised by on your first visit to Nepal:
Dogs are EVERYWHERE in Nepal. In Kathmandu especially, you will find dogs on basically every street. Some are dogs with a home who are allowed to roam where they please, others (most of them) are street dogs.
If you are afraid of dogs, this might be a challenge for you, but for the most part dogs are happy to leave you alone. I am a dog lover so I approach most dogs that seem friendly and 90% of them are just happy-go-lucky, friendly individuals. But you do have to be careful! Some dogs can be vicious, especially near butcher shops where they are intent on getting scraps of meat (and competing with other dogs for it). At night some friendly dogs turn into guard dogs as they try to keep strangers away from their territory, so be careful if you are walking late at night. Also the adage that dogs can smell fear is really true as far as I'm concerned - a friend of mine who is afraid of strange dogs and never approaches them has had more run-ins with less-than-friendly doggies than I have, and I basically throw caution to the wind when it comes to meeting dogs. So just be prepared for lots and lots of pups.
And one more thing - if you feed a dog in Kathmandu, that dog is automatically your forever friend and will follow you EVERYWHERE. Once I had a dog follow me down several blocks of a busy part of town, risking the ire of other doggie gangs. I felt bad for him as he tried to escape getting in a scrape just because he wanted to be with me. So keep that in mind if you are into making dog friends.
While not as common as dogs, cows are a very common sight. Since cows are sacred in the Hindu religion, cows are generally used for milk, but are very rarely slaughtered and used for meat. While this sounds like a good thing for cows, there are some problems attached. Most people will keep a baby girl cow because she will grow up to be a milk maker, but baby boys are considered worthless except for breeding. So if someone already has a bull for breeding, they just leave the bulls out on the street to fend for themselves.
Because of this, there are baby bulls in places where you shouldn't find them - their favorite place to hang out is smack in the middle of busy roads where the blacktop is nice and warm from the sun. If they are wandering around shops and sidewalks people tend to chase them away, and they are usually very skittish. It's a very sad thing to see and I wish I had a big farm to keep all the baby cows in!
Occasionally you will see a big truck go down and collect all the stray baby bulls they can. I'm not quite sure what they do with them though...
Sadly many rivers and bodies of water in Kathmandu are disgusting and smelly now because of poor waste and trash management. Friends of mine report that just a few years ago they were much cleaner.
BUT if you are looking for natural beauty in Nepal, it is everywhere - just not in Kathmandu. And you don't have to travel all the way out to the Himalayas to find it. Go out a few miles in any direction and you will find beautiful scenery and clean rivers/streams. Of course, the best sites ARE in the trekking areas of Nepal outside of Pokhara. When I went trekking on the ABC route (Annapurna Base Camp), the views were gorgeous. There was no trash to be seen and the streams coming from the mountains were so clear and clean that I could drink it without getting sick (in Kathmandu I filter even the "drinking water" so that should tell you something)!
Take a trip to Thamel - the busiest part of Kathmandu and a big tourist hub - and you might notice something odd right away - the power lines are just a huge tangled mess. I don't know how electricians can keep track of it all, but they seem to have a handle on it. It looks like a fire hazard but I've never seen an accident happen...yet....
And as for loadshedding (scheduled power outages) - that thankfully is not as big of a problem in Kathmandu as it was a year or two ago, but power outages that AREN'T scheduled are still common. Most places (restaurants/hotels/etc.) have a generator or at least a battery-powered line so that you can still use lights and charge your phone while the main power is out.
If you go to a bank or an office people will usually abide by the rules, but in a more informal setting (e.g., shopping at a busy store) people are more than happy to literally push you aside to get in front of you. Be ready for that. Pushing is one of my very few pet peeves, so it was very hard for me to deal with at first. Don't be afraid to squish yourself as far ahead as you can in a busy crowd. People won't blink an eye. It's not really considered rude to cut in line or push ahead - it's more of a "well, you should have gone further up if you didn't want it to happen" sort of situation.
All this being said, I love Kathmandu and its many quirks. It may be dirty and noisy and crazy in every sense, but that makes it more of an adventure! The things I listed here may be viewed as "cons," but they do certainly make for a very interesting experience. So please don't be scared off by any of this. Kathmandu has so many can't-miss sites and experiences!
And as I mentioned, Kathmandu isn't the only thing Nepal has to offer. I'll be sure to include posts about other places outside of Kathmandu in the days to come.
In the meantime, check out our YouTube channel - Mero Maya Nepal. We're working on adding video tours of different attractions in Kathmandu and other places in Nepal.
1. Dogs
If you are afraid of dogs, this might be a challenge for you, but for the most part dogs are happy to leave you alone. I am a dog lover so I approach most dogs that seem friendly and 90% of them are just happy-go-lucky, friendly individuals. But you do have to be careful! Some dogs can be vicious, especially near butcher shops where they are intent on getting scraps of meat (and competing with other dogs for it). At night some friendly dogs turn into guard dogs as they try to keep strangers away from their territory, so be careful if you are walking late at night. Also the adage that dogs can smell fear is really true as far as I'm concerned - a friend of mine who is afraid of strange dogs and never approaches them has had more run-ins with less-than-friendly doggies than I have, and I basically throw caution to the wind when it comes to meeting dogs. So just be prepared for lots and lots of pups.
And one more thing - if you feed a dog in Kathmandu, that dog is automatically your forever friend and will follow you EVERYWHERE. Once I had a dog follow me down several blocks of a busy part of town, risking the ire of other doggie gangs. I felt bad for him as he tried to escape getting in a scrape just because he wanted to be with me. So keep that in mind if you are into making dog friends.
2. Cows
Because of this, there are baby bulls in places where you shouldn't find them - their favorite place to hang out is smack in the middle of busy roads where the blacktop is nice and warm from the sun. If they are wandering around shops and sidewalks people tend to chase them away, and they are usually very skittish. It's a very sad thing to see and I wish I had a big farm to keep all the baby cows in!
Occasionally you will see a big truck go down and collect all the stray baby bulls they can. I'm not quite sure what they do with them though...
3. Littering
There is trash everywhere in Kathmandu. People don't think twice about littering wherever they are. Public trash cans are usually nowhere to be seen, so that may be an explanation. The first time I came to Nepal, the trash collectors went on strike, and you had to wade through a SEA of garbage. Fortunately that hasn't happened for a while, so there's just a "normal" about of litter scattered about.Sadly many rivers and bodies of water in Kathmandu are disgusting and smelly now because of poor waste and trash management. Friends of mine report that just a few years ago they were much cleaner.
BUT if you are looking for natural beauty in Nepal, it is everywhere - just not in Kathmandu. And you don't have to travel all the way out to the Himalayas to find it. Go out a few miles in any direction and you will find beautiful scenery and clean rivers/streams. Of course, the best sites ARE in the trekking areas of Nepal outside of Pokhara. When I went trekking on the ABC route (Annapurna Base Camp), the views were gorgeous. There was no trash to be seen and the streams coming from the mountains were so clear and clean that I could drink it without getting sick (in Kathmandu I filter even the "drinking water" so that should tell you something)!
4. What's going on with the power lines?!
And as for loadshedding (scheduled power outages) - that thankfully is not as big of a problem in Kathmandu as it was a year or two ago, but power outages that AREN'T scheduled are still common. Most places (restaurants/hotels/etc.) have a generator or at least a battery-powered line so that you can still use lights and charge your phone while the main power is out.
5. Queuing is a free-for-all
Nepali people, for the most part, don't believe in "standing in line" like you may be used to.If you go to a bank or an office people will usually abide by the rules, but in a more informal setting (e.g., shopping at a busy store) people are more than happy to literally push you aside to get in front of you. Be ready for that. Pushing is one of my very few pet peeves, so it was very hard for me to deal with at first. Don't be afraid to squish yourself as far ahead as you can in a busy crowd. People won't blink an eye. It's not really considered rude to cut in line or push ahead - it's more of a "well, you should have gone further up if you didn't want it to happen" sort of situation.
All this being said, I love Kathmandu and its many quirks. It may be dirty and noisy and crazy in every sense, but that makes it more of an adventure! The things I listed here may be viewed as "cons," but they do certainly make for a very interesting experience. So please don't be scared off by any of this. Kathmandu has so many can't-miss sites and experiences!
And as I mentioned, Kathmandu isn't the only thing Nepal has to offer. I'll be sure to include posts about other places outside of Kathmandu in the days to come.
In the meantime, check out our YouTube channel - Mero Maya Nepal. We're working on adding video tours of different attractions in Kathmandu and other places in Nepal.
Comments
Post a Comment