First of all, Happy Holidays to all. Though I was not physically with you over Christmas, my mind and heart were with all those I care about.
Monday, December 17th, I welcomed a fellow Lake Forest College student to Kathmandu. Her name is Tara and she is currently a Senior Philosophy and Anthropology student at LFC. She has been studying abroad in Thailand for the past four months, and wanted to visit Nepal on her way home to America. Though I did not know her very well prior to her visit, I was more than happy to have her in my home and to show her as much of Nepal as possible. 
Tara arrived bright and early Monday morning. I picked her up on the outskirts of Kathmandu and brought her to my place to drop off her bags, wash up, and have a cup of tea. We chatted about common friends and acquaintances and reminisced about LFC. Then, I took her sight-seeing. Tara has been studying Buddhism over the past few months and so was especially interested in checking out the Buddhist stupas and monasteries scattered all over Kathmandu. We took public transportation around the city, and sampled various Nepali Indian, and Tibetan dishes. By the end of the day, I think Tara was utterly overwhelmed – in a good way, I hope!
Tuesday morning we were up bright and early to catch a bus to Sauraha, Chitwan. I had been there only once, in March, and spent 3 wonderful days and nights relaxing by the river, watching the sun set over the jungle and bike riding through the open plains. This trip was much the same. The wonderfully warm weather was a welcome change from Kathmandu’s briskness, and we spent two lazy days sitting by the river, walking around the town, and watching tourists bathe with the elephants. The highlight of our Sauraha trip, in my opinion, was our long bike ride to 20,000 lakes in the National Park. Some of my other friends from Kathmandu were also in Chitwan, and we all rented bikes in the morning and took off. Stopping occasionally for snacks or drinks, we reached the lovely lake in the early afternoon. After doing some animal watching, we rented a few boats and boated around the back-waters of the national park. 
The bike ride in itself was absolutely wonderful for me – it had been so long since I’d last rode a bike and I was exhilarated to do so in such a unique setting – but the ride certainly didn’t lack a bit of excitement. About two-thirds through our ride we encountered the endangered one-horned rhino. It was only about 20 feet away from us, separated by a small brook. We all oooohhed and aahhheed as we watched it drink from the brook, and then get inside the water to bathe. But when it began to walk through the brook toward OUR side of land, we decided it was time to go. We all hopped on our bikes and began to bike in the direction we were headed, but we were cut off by the rhino himself. He turned to face us in the middle of the path, and we all began to bike as fast as possible in the opposite direction, our hearts pounding. For a moment I truly thought the rhino was going to charge, but thankfully he simply chose to demonstrate his authority in the situation, scare the absolute crap out of us, and then continue along his way. Phew!!! What a run-in!!
Friday morning, we sadly left the warm climate of Chitwan for the Lakeside city of Pokhara. I hadn’t been there since June, so I knew I was going to have to visit my old school and host family. But I was still able to show Tara around the area a bit. No trip to Pokhara is complete without boating on the lake and trekking up to the hillside Buddhist stupa (called the World Peace Pagoda). Ours was made even more complete with a wonderful evening at my family’s house. It was wonderful to see them again after such a long passage of time, and they showed Tara a lot of hospitality. Tara also got to finally taste the yummy daal-bhaat and masala tea that I’d been raving about ever since her arrival. 
Monday morning we headed back to Kathmandu. We could easily have been occupied in Pokhara for several more days, but we didn’t want to travel on Christmas, so chose to come back that day. Then I showed Tara the old part of Kathmandu, the downtown area, the night market, and the old King’s square.
The next morning was Christmas! I had felt very nostalgic and sad not to be with my family on Christmas, but it was very nice to spend it with Tara since she wanted to mark the day as well. We woke up, listened to Vince Guaraldi’s “Charlie Brown’s Christmas,” and had a wonderful breakfast feast – banana pancakes, papaya, and tea. Almost immediately we began to cook Christmas goodies and to start chopping veggies for that evening’s planned dinner party. Around 6pm we had three of my friends over to celebrate Christmas. They were so good to us, asking us about our Christmas traditions, and humouring us when we wanted to sing Christmas carols. It was about as good of a Christmas night as I could have hoped for here, so to that I am thankful both to Tara and my Nepali friends.
Boxing day was, strangely, spent shopping (never a tradition I had indulged in before!) because Tara wanted to buy a few souvenirs before leaving the next day. We also visited Muna’s family, which was really nice because they, too, were very hospitable toward Tara. She got to play with Kali and the little one and also got to taste her favourite daal bhaat lunch! 
I had a really nice time showing Tara Nepal and getting to know her as well. I think she had a nice time, though Nepal is by far the most crazy/intimidating place she’s ever visited. I know that at times her comfort level was tested – both climate-wise and culturally, but overall I hope she enjoyed her trip. I know she sure grew to love curry and Nepali prices! Now that Tara is gone, it’s back to my normal life – working at the Tibetan Reception Center, doing laundry, practicing Nepali, and cooking curries!
Happy New Year!
P.S. Photo #1 – The Rhino slowly crossing the river to our side. Photo #2 – Me paddling the canoe (the other white girl is not Tara, but a random girl she befriended). Photo #3 – The mountain view at the bus park in Pokhara. Photo #4 – Tara posing in front of Muna’s house with the fam.
Tara’s Trip
