Coos Bay to Tansen

Thursday, April 2, 2015

I woke up 2:45 am, though my alarm was set for 4:00 am, with a headache. I wasn’t feeling too jet-lagged but I think the dust was getting to my sinuses. I had walked many miles in Kathmandu the day before. I was able to get back to sleep and then got up at 4:00 am, packed and ate breakfast, then walked to the location where we were to meet the Buck at 6:00 am.

Normally the Buck runs from Tansen to Kathmandu every Wednesday and then returns on Thursday, but I had been told that it would be delayed this week do to a general strike, called a “bande” in Nepali, which would prevent it from keeping the regular schedule. The bande had been scheduled to lift Friday, which meant I would probably not go to Tansen until Saturday – costing me two days. As it turned out the bande was cancelled early, which is a common occurrence as well in Nepal. This was a great blessing, and relief, even though I was resolved to trust God for whenever I would be able to travel. There are around 30 political factions in Nepal, all vying for power to one degree or another, and sometimes a more powerful group will call a bande for a few days in order to make a point. During the bande most everything shuts down and it is not wise to try to carry on in disregard of it. Since they can be suddenly cut short, just as easily as they are called several days in advance, it can become quite a guessing game. But everyone takes it in stride; it’s just part of normal Nepali life.

The ride to Tansen is more the nine hours on busy city roads that turn into rural roads, and are sometimes hardly roads at all. Our driver was experienced and, other than losing a kidney or two on the bumpy roads, it was a good trip. Except for one thing… the CONSTANT horn blowing was mind-numbing, and headache breading! Half way there we stopped for lunch, dal bhat for about 275 NR, and it was great!  I loved the food in Nepal.

One thought that continually struck me as we drove through the countryside was how the construction there was all masonry with very little reinforcement. Many homes and buildings were in a continuous state of construction . They just run the re-bar in the pillars up through the roof and then tag on to them when they are ready to add on another story. If an earthquake were to strike, and one was immanently due, they would not stand. This thought foreshadowed what was to be the final even of my trip…

I arrived at Tansen Mission Hospital in the late afternoon, Nora met me there and gave me a quick tour of the campus, then we had dinner and talked until bedtime. It occurred to both of us that the visit would be over before we knew it, but it was really good to be there!

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

The first thing I learned is that Nepal is a loud place! I awoke at 5:45 am to the sounds of birds chirping loudly, dogs barking, and either doves outside on the balcony or a kid in the bathtub next door having a very good time. (Maybe it was waking up groggy after less than five hours of sleep, but it was a very odd sound.) The room I had was a double on the back corner of Goshen House’s second floor. After looking out the windows for a while I headed downstairs to make breakfast, where I met some of the other guests. In particular I met an older missionary couple, Daniel and Rosemary, and a doctor from England, named Sophia, who was also traveling to Tansen the next day. Daniel and Rosemary are from Australia and have been traveling to Nepal for years, teaching at conferences and ministering to the spiritual and physical needs of the Nepali people. They shared many stories, some heartbreaking, about places they had visited and people they had met. It was a blessing to talk with them and it helped me settle in and better understand Nepali life. After breakfast it was time to go to the airport to look for my wayward bag.

The taxi ride to the airport was fun, giving me a chance to see Kathmandu by daylight. I had been told that my bag would arrive on a 10:40 am flight, but after looking for 2 1/2 hours I was told that it would come at 1:00 pm. In between I was sent to multiple baggage belts multiple times, fought my way through the crowd to the baggage claims counter twice, and was generally confused most of the time. What a relief it was when I finally found my bag! All the while my patient taxi driver waited outside – it cost me almost double the 1000 NR that I was planning on. (NR is the Nepalese rupi, and it was worth about a penny at the time I was there.)

Upon returning from the airport, I regrouped at Goshen House, and then went out shopping on foot. The majority of my purchases were at Saleways, a department store, where I bought Nora towels, an electric kettle, a power strip, and school supplies. (Things not as easily found in Tansen.) Next I bought fruit, dinner, and egg rolls to go for the day-long trip on “The Buck” (TMH’s shuttle bus) the next day.

Now would be a good time to explain why I went to Nepal in the first place. (Not that one needs an excuse to visit Nepal; it’s a wonderful place!) There were three aspects to the trip.

The primary reason was to visit my adopted daughter, Nora Collins. Nora is a school teacher and she took a year off from teaching in the US to serve in an organization called United Mission to Nepal as a teacher to the children of medical missionaries who work at UMN’s Tansen Mission Hospital.

The second reason I went to Nepal was to assist in some small way around the hospital and school in Tansen. I don’t have a medical or educational background, but there are a lot of support services necessary in a mission such as this.

The third reason was a bit more typical, and possibly the one assumed by my readers… Trekking! What started as “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could trek somewhere during part of the trip?” turned into an amazing adventure.

I’ll have more to say about each of these aspects of the trip in later posts…

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

After flying for 13 hours with little sleep we caught up to daylight again, over China where the time was approaching late afternoon. I was tired but excited to get off the plane for a couple hours before flying to Nepal.

As we dropped below the clouds I got my first glimpse of Guangzhou. I was surprised by the integration of modern city dwellings and rural agriculture. As I stepped off the plain the hot air hit me in the face. In the terminal I was surprised to see the size of the (tiny) China Southern waiting area, somewhere on the lower level. I got myself situated for the next flight and while I waited I met an older woman who was also returning to Nepal to mountain climb! She was helpful about many aspects of entering the country, as well as full of stories about past expeditions she had been on. As a relatively new rock climber this was a fun and unexpected treat.

Before long the 2 1/2 hour layover was past and I was boarded for the final leg of my journey. This was a smaller plane with about 20-30 people on it. They served us dinner as the daylight gave way to night, and then (of course) a Bollywood movie played, which was too silly to even try to watch. I was seated next to two men – one young, one old – who where going to trek in Nepal. It turned out to be a father/son team, which I thought was cool. The almost 5 hour flight was very turbulent the entire way! It felt like riding a bus on a bumpy road, and that was great because for the first time since leaving Portland I got a couple hours of sound sleep! When I woke up we were near the destination (KTM) and I began to see lights on the ground from villages and towns as we dropped in altitude. I could tell they were small and poor just by looking, and it immediately gripped my heart. I knew I was in a very different place, but it was a good feeling… almost in a tropical paradise kind of way, yet that is not land-locked Nepal at all.

Once on the ground I went through the process of going through customs and getting my 30 day visa. It was a little confusing but the personnel were very helpful. Next I went to look for my luggage, which wasn’t there, and I was told to come back in the morning when it would arrive on a plane from China. I exchanged some money, and finally went out through security and met my pre-arranged taxi driver, who had already been waiting for over an hour! None-the-less he had a super attitude about it as he stood there holding a sign with two little girls by his side. The taxis are super small, and he had his daughters with him because it was late at night and they wanted to come along. The two little girls sat in the back, and I sat in front, ducking my head so as not to hit it on the roof. Immediately I was struck by the oddness of driving on the left side of the road. He drove fast and weaved in and out of traffic, all the while hitting the horn and flashing the lights at every action. I was not nervous (and I should have been) but I felt such a strong sense of God’s peace that I just sat back and enjoyed the ride to Goshen House, the guesthouse where I would stay before leaving for Tansen. At 1:00 am I went to bed after being escorted to the second floor room. It was nice, I was tired, life was good, and the next day I could get my first look at Kathmandu in the daylight!

Monday, March 30, 2015

I woke up very early and headed to Portland International Airport (PDX, obligatory carpet picture attached) in time for a 7:00 am Air Canada flight to Vancouver, BC. This was the beginning of  a 26+ hour trip, plus a 12 hour and 15 minute forward time change, meaning I would arrive in Kathmandu, Nepal about 10:15 pm Tuesday night (local time). From Vancouver (YVR) I flew China Southern to Guangzhou, China’s Baiyum International Airport (CAN), and then transferred to their flight to Kathmandu, Nepal.

Flying China Southern was a pretty decent experience. The staff was super helpful and accommodating, and the food was not too bad either (for airline food). Now I did get some lessons in Chinese culture from other passengers, when it comes to standing in line, basically, they don’t do that! They push and shove in a herd, and little old ladies will run right over you if you aren’t assertive enough. Ha! More on china Southern, and China, when I get to the return flight…

On the transatlantic flight we flew over the what I believe was the eastern edge of northern Russia and could see the frozen ocean meeting the sea, snow covered mountains, and rivers and openings in the ice winding their way through the frozen wasteland. From the high altitude looking down, some of the mountains reminded me of the sand dunes back home. I’ll post a few pictures of that, and then leave the story hanging in the air on its way to China. (Technically, somewhere along this 13 hour flight it became “tomorrow” the 31st. Probably before these pictures were taken, but I won’t be a stickler about it.)