Swagat

Even before we left, I’d convinced Pa we should visit Nepal for an extended time. He knew little of the country other than of the Everest summit in ‘53 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

I knew a little more from conversations I‘ve had with a few who have visited, and from reading Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. I told Pa about the book, promising we wouldn’t be attempting a summit.

Pa and I decided that Kathmandu would be our first stop as we’d be landing at its international airport . . . and because we should experience its intoxicating chaos before moving on. Beyond the ten days we’d booked at Swagat Homestay we had no plans.

We chose the Swagat primarily because Sugat and his wife, the owners, live on the premises with their two young children, and because it’s in a “quiet” neighborhood.

The Swagat is a welcoming place, the word meaning the same in Nepalese, situated in a small cluster of homes with our room facing north.

At breakfast,

eggs, toast, a banana, and a delicious Nepalese black tea, we told Sugat we planned to stay close to home the first day, easing into the city slowly. He thought that was a good idea.

So following our conversation with a retired couple from the Netherlands, one that Pa thoroughly enjoyed, we set out.

For the Nepalese, Friday and Saturday are their weekend, the intensity cut in half according to Sugat. Come Sunday morning the week starts, with kids in school and everyone back to work.

With that in mind, we started shortly after sunrise.

It was quiet, as Sugat promised, the day just beginning for most.

We had learned from the Dutch couple, returning home in two days after a month in Nepal, that the Nepalese tend to sleep in, there being no compulsion to rise at the crack of dawn.

It appeared that way as we strolled through back streets just coming to life.

Here and there shops were opening,

and produce displayed for early sale.

Street vendors had loaded up,

and students were headed to school.

It was a good first morning. We’ll take it easy this afternoon then have dinner at a restaurant Sugat recently opened. He’s promised an evening of music.