Our experience in Nepal has been one of the highlights of our trip, thanks in no short part to Arjun and his family. Without their help, we would be floundering around (much like we are about to do) trying to make educated guesses about what the heck is going on around us. If you’re [...]
A few glasses of wine and an inquiry into nose piercing practices in Nepal lead me here: That’s right. I got my nose pierced. I also used the word Karma today without being cynical. They say travel changes you…(enter Martin’s rolling eyes here)
Our awesome landlord Arjun had us over for the feast last night, instructing us on how to cook everything he prepared for us. In total there were ten dishes. We’re talking a whirlwind tour of Nepali food – and every dish was better than the last. Piro Aloo was served as a cold snack, [...]
In celebration of our time together our landlord (pictured) agreed to cook us up some amazing Nepali food before we leave. Not only does he run a tight ship with his rental units, but he also runs a guesthouse, helps to relocate refugees to the US, and was a professional chef for twelve years. The [...]
While Martin is busy taking photos of the television, I was snapping photos of our last visit to the market in Kathmandu (OK, to be fair, he was with me and took some of these photos). We’re leaving Nepal on January 22nd, so I thought a photo gallery would be a nice way to [...]
We gave ourselves three months in Nepal to get started on our book writing. We figured it was as good a place as any to do this – we found a great little apartment outside the crazy part of town, we joined a gym and we started cooking our own food again. In short, it’s [...]
Our time here in Nepal has been almost completely vegetarian. It’s not that we don’t trust the meat around these parts – we’re just a bit intimidated by the meat stores. Think giant slabs of meat dripping of fresh blood, piles of decapitated chickens and lumps of liver on the floor. Still, we do [...]
He’s tried the mustache, it was dismal. (Martin: it was brushy and beautiful!!) Now he’s moved onto another Indian accessory – the set wet hair. We’ve seen commercials for this product for the last four months and just had to give it a try. Um. Yeah, that’s my husband. Ouch.
Life on the road moves at a different pace than in the real world. The key to maintaining a semblance of the person you were before traveling (as opposed to a loser hippie traveler, for example) is to keep yourself busy in creative ways. Martin and I do this a few different ways. One [...]
Our landlord recently brought a puppy over for us to play with. It was en route to it’s new owner, but had an hour to spare for us to cuddle and fawn over (as any two dog lovers who, for obvious reasons, can’t have a dog right now would do). Sadly, the little guy had [...]
One of the joys of traveling is sampling various street foods. Nepal, however, doesn’t offer much in that way – people either eat in their homes, or in cozy (heated) restaurants. This gentleman is the obvious exception: he has realized that there’s always room for corn. He charges us 20 US cents per cob. [...]
I’ve been fighting for years for a pale skin revolution. OK, fight may be a strong word. Mostly I forget that I care about it. Since an early detection (thank God) of melanoma when I was 19, I’ve had to avoid the sun. I haven’t minded, figuring it was better for me anyway, but having [...]
There are simple things about life in the States that I took for granted before traveling. Little things, like regular trash collection, walkable pavement, food that didn’t make me sick, and water that I could use out of the tap. Most of these things are manageable. In fact, they’re what make travel interesting (though [...]
Settling into a short-term expat life in Kathmandu gives us time to really explore. Unlike the transitory nature of backpacking – transit, find a hotel, find a restaurant, figure out sightseeing, figure out your next form of transit – settling in somewhere gave us the freedom to move at our own pace. We’re not [...]
I’ve spent a lifetime assuming that moving large objects meant using large machinery. Call me what you will, but that just seemed like good common sense. Apparently I’ve been wrong. It took our time in Nepal (or India, for that matter) to illustrate that nearly anything, and I mean anything, can be moved by [...]
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
