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Kathmandu
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Recently I took atvantage of the Eid Holiday and went on a fantastic trip to Nepal! I traveled with 3 other teachers from Abu Dhabi. Upon arriving in Nepal, we literally stumbled upon a local tour guide who proceeded to plan our week in Nepal! We had a full week experiencing everything from a Jungle Safari ride on elephants at the Chitwan National Park, a flight to Nagarkot, sight seeing tour of Bhaktapur and a glimpse of the Himalayans! Although we stayed in a different Hotel each night, Kathmandu was our home base! It was an exciting adventure! I came back feeling extremely lucky. Nepal is one of the top ten 'poorest' countries in the world. It was hard to comprehend how the people live in Nepal. Kathmandu has over 1 million people living in the city. The air is so thick with pollution that most of the time we had to keep our faces covered so we could breathe! The city is so chaotic! There is NO order in the way people drive...and I thought the UAE was crazy! (it actually is but in a complete different way!)The streets are full of motorbikes, pedal bikes, trucks, cars, buses, cows, people, kids all going in different directions! It wasn't unusual to see an entire family (up to 4) riding on a single motorbike! Cows are considered sacred in Nepal so watch out! We were told that you could be sentenced up to two years in prison for killing a cow even if it's an accident! We had hoped to see the Himalayans, however the fog was very thick and we missed out on the view! We visited many temples and haggled over pashminas and other items at the local markets.
On December 2nd, the UAE turned 39 years old! It was a huge occassion for people from the UAE. At our school alone, students and teachers prepared for the "BIG DAY" for an entire week! One day we bussed all 900 students about 1 km away so we could march back to the school while waving flags and chanting! Students piled onto the busses and chanted their Pride in being an 'Emirate".It was insane! In Canada, we would have broken every bus rule possible. In the UAE......Mafi mushkila! (no problem!!) On the last day of school we had a huge party! Many parents and community members came out for great entertainment (put on by the kids) face painting, henna painting, and many cultural displays!
