Foreigners can only stay in india for 6 months at a time, it does not matter how long your visa is for. So I decided to go to Nepal for 10 days with another SM I met here named Steve. Now my trip to Nepal was not so nice and easy that I had hoped for, I had many hiccups along the way but I made it. I went to the bus counter and asked for a deluxe bus ticket to delhi where I would take a plane to Kathmandu. Now I did not realize they were so sneaky because there is a super deluxe bus the one I wanted to take, deluxe bus, and local, but come on now super deluxe, deluxe why would they do this to me so confusing. So I got a ticket for 9:30 AM on Sunday with a deluxe bus to delhi. It took 11 hrs to get there from shimla and I was so ready to be off for sure because they kept stopping for long periods of time, it should only take 9 hrs. Ashu a guy I met here lives in delhi so I called him up and he met me at the bus station. This was another encounter because there are multiple bus stations and the bus driver does not speak English so I had to guess it was crazy, but thankfully it was the right stop for me. Ashu took me to McDonalds for a veggie burger I was so surprised and it was delicious, my first time in an Indian MceD’s. Another problem I encountered was that I made a reservation to stay at the Adventist guest house, but when I got there they said my name was not on the list. Now it was getting late around 9 PM so we had to call a couple people and they finally realized I did call but the problem was that they were having a pastor conference in delhi so the whole place was booked supposedly. They could only put me in a dormitory room with four older men that smelt. I could now believe this I was mortified, thankfully Ashu was with me and we took a rickshaw to another hotel for me to stay at. It was more expensive but at least I felt more comfortable. On Monday I woke up and went to a nice restaurant and had pancakes for breakfast but Indian pancakes have more egg in them so they taste like an omelet with syrup and honey. I took a taxi to the airport and met Steve and our plane left for Kathmandu, Nepal at 12 noon. That was another fiasco trying to get the ticket but in the end it worked out. The flight is only 1 ½ hr long and I was so excited when we landed I could not wait. Now when we landed we ran into another problem we both only had Indian rupees and Nepal does not exchange them there illegal so we had to find an ATM and get nepali rupees out and buy 15 day visas. I was so shocked when we left the airport all the taxi drivers spoke really good English, in india they can only speak a few words like “cheap hotel”, and “taxi maam.” We took a pre-paid taxi to Banapa where the Adventist hospital is where we were going to stay. We arrived in Nepal on one of there festivals- shivas birthday. This is a big holiday for them where it is legal to smoke any drug for that one day crazy I know. So our car kept on getting stopped along the way with ropes and people would ask for donations most likely to go smoke. Of course they were having parties along the way so we had to pay extra to go around them. Now the next problem our driver stopped in banapa at the bus stand and demanded 500 extra rupees to take us to the hospital and this is crazy. So we had to get out and walk the rest of the way with all of our bags to the hospital. Thankfully it was only 15 min walk and everyone speaks English so they directed us there. I could not believe it when I reached there is a hospital, school, church, housing, and canteen all on the grounds it was huge. What shocked me most was everyone spoke English and there accent is much easier to understand than Indian. This hospital and school have missionaries from all over the world germany, UK, America. There were two SM’s Brandon and Shannon who teach at the school, so we spent our time with them. It was really nice to be with other missionaries in my situation, because where I am im the only one. We all took a walk to a local temple our first night there because it was the festival. Lighting bon fires and dancing around them is another practice for this festival so we got to watch that it was really great. I visited the school and I was amazed the kids were so excited about learning I was very impressed. 2 retired American nurses were volunteering at the hospital so they gave me a tour and I was so impressed. Sheer Memorial hospital has everything all the specialties even ICU and PICU. Here at the hospital they have everything. I had an actual shower, internet access, and great food from there canteen. I felt like I was being spoiled it was a nice change for a little bit to rejuvenate me, because im starting to get a little homesick. The four of us hanged out for a few days watched movies, my favorite one was slumdog millionaire this is such a great movie and very true to life sadly. And we made pancakes from trader joes that shannons mom sent over. Than on Wednesday two other SM from india came as well for the same reason as me and steve I did not even know there were more SM in india so it was a great surprise for all of us so we had other people to go around sight seeing. It has been so long since I have been in a group of 6 other Americans it was a great time. We took a bus to Bhaktapur, they have a lot of shopping and temples to see. Its so beautiful here I was just blown away. The shop keepers are very persistent here as well you have to bargain everything of course because they raise the price for us because we are foreigners, and they all speak English I’m assuming because so many foreigners come trekking in Nepal. One man followed me around the whole time we were here trying to sell me this bowl that sings when you hit it something famous here. And I did not even want it but he just kept on lowering the price and I just kept telling him no but he would not take no for an answer. Now I will admit I did buy way to much when I was here in Nepal everything is so cheap that I could not help myself it was to much fun. On the way back to the hospital we had to ride on the top of the bus this is usually only for men but there was no room in the bus all the seats were taken and the aisle was completely crowded. It was fun and scary and cold all at the same time. The following day we took a bus to Kathmandu this is the capital so there were so many foreigners. It takes 1 ½ to 2 hr on the bus because the traffic is crazy. We stopped at a coffee shop and it was just like one from home. Kathmandu is a booming place. They have restaurants from every country. We ate at an Israeli place it was amazing food. All 6 of us piled into a taxi for only 15o rupees to the monkey temple. The monkeys are much better behaved here than the ones from shimla who will attack you and steal all of your things. It was amazing seeing all the great architecture and the nepali people worshiping. We took another taxi with all of us to Thamel to go shopping, but this taxi driver was not so nice we agreed on a price and than he kept on trying to make us pay more we had to argue with him a lot and than just got out at the end paid him what we said and ran it was hilarious. One of the staff members at the hospital was getting married now there services are really long a whole week. So we just went to the party thrown by the bride where all the bride guest come to and eat, dance, and congratulate her and give a gift. All 4 of us girls dressed up in Sari’s it was so much fun. Yvonne is a long term missionary from America she has been here for 5 yrs, married a nepali man, and they adopted an orphan that was left at the hospital. She lent us all sari and we had a blast. The bride was all in dark red and had so much jewelry on she was beautiful. At the party a few people came up to me and told me I looked like an Indian actress in a sari I thought that was to funny. In Nepal they have there own movie industry but nobody likes it so they get all the American and hindi movies. The following day we went again to Kathmandu and shopped some more and than had pizza at yvonne’s and watched a movie. I got really sick on Saturday from the food but thankfully it was only for a day I was locked up inside. The next day Yvonne, Kristina, kara, and I went into Kathmandu and shopped they have this huge supermarket where you can get a lot of food from home almost anything you want, they are very lucky because I cant get any food from home where I am, I rely on packages from home. We dropped the girls off at the bus station to go back to india, it was sad to see them go. We stopped at a shawl shop and there so nice and we had tea with them and of course I bought to many things from him but I cant help it I don’t know if I will ever make it to Nepal again. On the way back we had to sit on the top once again and froze to death but its better than smashing with everyone inside the bus where they press up on you and it smells. The king was over turned only 1 ½ yrs ago so they just made the palace into a museum so I really wanted to go see it so once again we went into Kathmandu but we could not go in until Brandon and Shannon were finished with work at 12 noon but by the time we got there it was closed so instead we went and had delicious Mexican and shopped of course once again. Steve and I left the next day back to india and I was really sad to leave I really loved Nepal and I thought it was a great place I recommend it to everyone to visit the only thing that bummed me out was we could not go to mt everest because it takes 2 wks to climb up to base camp and we were not staying that long, the only regret I have about Nepal. Once again I had troubles traveling back to shimla. The airport in Nepal was crazy security they looked through our bags at 4 security checks I have never been searched so much it took almost 2 hr to go through all of it. Plus they make you pay airport tax on top of your ticket and we did not know this so we did not have anymore Nepal rupees . We finally reached delhi and steve and I go to the baggage claim, his is one of the first off and mine was one of the last, I thought that was weird because we checked in together. I said goodbye to steve because he was taking a train to the south and I was taking a bus to the north. I took a taxi to the bus station and he stopped for gas and made me get out to show the gas attendant, his friend I was like give me a break gee there are a million foreigners here. I took a local bus back to shimla because its not safe to wait on the platform as a single female and the deluxe bus was not for another 2 hrs. It left at 7 PM and reached shimla at 4 AM and the stupid older man that was sitting next to me kept on touching me and I kept telling him to stop that was a pain but that’s what you get on the local busses im use to it. I get to my hostel and I realize this is not my bag OH NOOO! A guy sitting next to me had the exact pea green duffel bag as me I could not believe it. I put my address and cell number on my bag thankfully all because my dad always tells me to and im thankful now that he put that in my head because this gentlemen did not put any information on his bag so I could not even call him. I called the airline for 4 days straight and they were no help at all they just kept putting me in circles. I just kept praying to God that this guy would call me because all of my clothes that I wear regularly were in that bag. I keep thinking to myself everyday doesn’t this guy want his things back what is taking him so long. So I resigned myself that I was never going to see my things again. I only had 2 days to get ready before I was heading out for camp again.
