Andrea's Asian Adventures

I saw clean mountain. Puja I saw colourful mountains in the morning and we can see the fly catcher looking and many birds also looking. Rajesh

I saw new plants, flower and trees. I saw fruits in the jungle. I learned which animals are dangerous and not dangerous. My new experience in the second day is that I saw different animals that I never seen before with my naked eyes like horse and mule. Pradip I learned about a dandelion flower. It is yellow in colour and very beautiful also. My special memory is that I never saw the dandelion flower because there is no dandelion flower in our village. Bipana

I go the hotel and drink the lemon water and we walk and we can see the very tall tree in the jungle. Rajesh We drink hot water and we will walk long time. Samiksha We could see more things but we can’t because of the foggy day as well as little bit raining. Anjan

We have walk for 3 hour from Ghandruk to Tadapani. Samip Today I am very happy and enjoy the walking. Bipana

I saw hotel, we change our warm gear. Samiksha I learned nap means sleep for few minutes. Sujan In lunch we have fried rice and tarkari. It is very delicious. Nirmala

My special memory is that when I sang a song with my friends and teachers. Today I am very happy and excited when we sang a song especially “This Old Man”. Bipana

I learned a lesson that living in remote area is very difficult. Anjan

So today I learned about hydropower project in Nepal Kaski. Samiksha

We saw small, small wish houses in river bank. I saw a white horse like a fairytales when the prince came to take his princess on a white horse but in fairytales the horse got wings but the horse I saw it don’t have wings. Anjan I saw different colour of horse like black, white and brown. Pradip I learned about female yak means nak. Samip

My new experience is that I saw pink and white rhododendron because I never saw pink and white rhododendron. Pradip I saw a species of rhododendron. I saw pink, purple, white and red rhododendron. Nepal is the main beautiful because Nepal is clean. Shekhar

I saw we are going up and up and down and down Anjan We have walk for 4 hour from Tadapani to Ghorepani. It was a lot. Sujan When we came in Ghorepani we saw so many hotels. Rajesh I saw volleyball ground. I saw temple and many shops. Puja In Ghorepani I saw a chimney. It helps to throw smoke. Sagar I can’t believe Ghorepani has big hotel and mountain is in front of us. Nirmala

My new experience for today was staying in such a beautiful hotel with so many facilities. It was my first time. Anjan When we reached our hotel we play a game and I am so excited and happy to play a new game. Bipana

So today I learned that development is very important in every place. If some place is not developed then it’s hard to use or find some things or if we got some things we need it is so so so expensive here. Anjan

First we will go to Ghorepani to Poon Hill went at 5am. There is so many mountain but there place is cold. I like Poon Hill. Samiksha We went to Poon Hill it takes half an hour. I see a sun rise from Poon Hill. I see a mountain in front of us. Nirmala We went to punhill to see sunrise. It looks amazing to see sun rising from the middle of mountains. Anjan In the top of Poon Hill I saw different mountains like Machapuchare, Dhaulugari, Annapurna and Himchouli. Pradip I saw so many aeroplane in the sky which are flying. Samip My special memories of fourth day is that I saw many mountains in the Poon Hills. Sujan

Today was not so hard to walk because the road was going down. Anjan My new experience in the fourth day is that today we go down and going down is so difficult. Pradip

I saw a lot of monkey, they are sitting on the tree and eating fruit. There are so many people walking in the way of jungle. We all are saw they and told Namaste. Bipana I saw two different bird. Orange bird, yellow bird. Puja The Ulleri village is very beautiful and nice. I can learn about the world. Rajesh In whole jungle I saw so many rhododendron tree. I saw little bit other tree and flower. Sagar I saw snake flower in the jungle. Samip

We will come in Hille. There is beautiful view. We take fresh air. Samiksha We came to our hotel and we wash our body. It is warm here. We ate dal bhat, aachar and tarkari. Nirmala When we play game today those game make me fun and happy today. Shekhar

So today I learned that own village is better than others because we say our village don’t have any facilities. Our village is so boring but now we know that how many facilities we have in our village. We realize that by this trip. Anjan

That day was mother’s day. I was missing my mom but I was happy because I have another mother to Miss Andy. We get ready and make a surprise for our mother Miss Andy. She was so so happy. Looking at her we also be so so happy. Anjan

Today Mr Kiran make a plan that we will pick up litter all the way along, so from that program I learned that throwing is easy but picking up the litter is very hard. So from that I promise I will never throw litter on the way. Anjan

Kiran dai told us how to save our nature. Today we are pick all dust particle from the road and we start to pick all dust particle from Hille to Nayapol. He told us to save our village from dust particle. We are pick up all dust particle from our village in one day of the month. I feel very happy to save our nature. Bipana

I walk the jungle and road and we can carry the wastage from the road. Rajesh When we came in Modi Khola we gave dust particle to the police and we wash our hands. Nirmala

Today my special memories is we have to collect the dust particle. If we do not collect the dust particle it the dust particle on the road and it makes dirty water pollution and air pollution etc in our village. And plastic is non-biodegradable. It makes harmful for us. We can reuse the plastic but we cannot throw anywhere plastic anything. This things I will keep in my mind. Nirmala

We are happy. Puja

Who doesn't love a wedding?!

It seems to be wedding season here in Nepal, and after exchanging fascinating tidbits about wedding customs with my local elder brother, I was delighted to be asked to my very first Nepali wedding; a Hindu wedding. I was invited from the Bride's side, which is an important distinction at these events. The Bride, Pratima, is a former student of my village school, and although we'd not previously met, I am acquainted with her father.

Upon arrival at the garden-resort-style hotel venue in a quiet corner of Pokhara, I was told 700 guests had been invited, so I had to eat straight away as they had a lot of people to feed! Finishing off with the obligatory wedding cake, there was time to greet my two respected elders from school before the ceremony began.

I could hear the Groom's party approaching the venue long before I saw them. He - Milan - was in a decorated car, but the musicians, relatives and guests were all on foot. Many of the women were carrying offerings. As Milan walked along the receiving line at the front entrance, I wondered if perhaps he felt like a bit of a rock star. That's what it looked like!

Once everyone was in the garden, the part of the ceremony that seemed most familiar to me, began. The Groom was cleansed, the Bride came out to join him, and both were given tika (one of a few times throughout the day). There was an exchange of rings and grass garlands, then some applause from the nearby guests - they were married!

While the newlyweds went off to eat their first meal together as husband and wife, the guests mingled and posed.

The next part of the ceremony involved symbolic washing of hands and feet, and giving tika. Many, many family members participated in this - in strict hierarchical order.

This took a long time, so while that was happening in one part of the garden, in another the musicians and dancers began to perform. I don't know if this is strictly true, but I was told that because the Groom's side pays for the music, only his guests dance. Suited me just fine to watch.

Towards the end of the washing queue, I was invited to give the couple tika and present my wedding gift. Only the Bride's guests are expected to bring gifts, but it's pretty simple - just an envelope of cash! The tika was the pasty, wet type, which took seconds to apply and hours to remove from my fingers. Next, the Groom presented his Bride with a gift of luggage, which I suspect contained new clothes, and maybe even some make-up and jewellery.

Some time later, the couple moved over to the wedding pyre for what I think was the more religious part of the ceremony. Bound by a white, knotted cloth, they sat by the pyre while the priest chanted mantras over them and sprinkled holy water and flowers into the fire. Then they walked around the altar a number of times and the Bride sprinkled puffed rice onto the pyre.

The last part that I saw before I had to leave was the Bride placing her toes on three stones, in turn, while rice was sprinkled onto her feet.

It was a long day, but a beautiful and fascinating ceremony - one that I feel privileged to have been part of.