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Adventures in Nepal VIII: Annapurna Natural History Museum

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Debora

Good morning, Parljorling Camp!

Good morning, picturesque sheep!

I mistakenly posted bad info earlier about the recipients of the cameras and photography lessons. One of them is a Tibetan student, the other is a Nepali student. My apologies for the error.

The fourth and final class took place at the Annapurna Natural History Museum at Pokhara’s Prithivi Narayan Campus.

Ominous foreshadowing: this was January 21, the day the first case of Covid-19 was announced in the US. At that time the virus had made its way into the daily news cycles, but it was still mostly viewed as a China issue rather than a global problem. We thought we would see a handful of cases in other countries and then it would be contained and eliminated.

Anyway, Emma and Elizabeth collected the students and off they went.

Pretty view from the college campus.

Pretty sweet front door!

Elizabeth says the museums in Nepal are light on taxidermy and heavy on sculptures and painted images.

Lots and lots of birds and insects, though.

Their “lifelike” taxidermy displays are kind of terrifying/hilarious.

After the museum, back to town for lunch.

To be continued!

Categories: Animals, Artwork, Cats, Covid-19, Friends, Holidays, kids, Life, Nepal, Travel, Wildlife | Tags: Annapurna Natural History Museum, Prithivi Narayan Campus | Leave a comment

Adventures in Nepal, Part VII: Tal Barahi Temple

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Debora

The next morning the sky was clear blue all the way to the horizon. And suddenly – HIMALAYAS.

The high triangular peak is Machhapuchchhre, a sacred mountain. The Nepali government doesn’t permit anyone to climb it.

Today’s photography lesson: mountainscapes.

After the class, Emma and Elizabeth took a boat ride out to Tal Barahi Temple on Phewa Tal’s little island.

Colorful Elizabeth is colorful.

The temple itself is small.

Elizabeth says that almost every temple she saw had fierce creatures like these guarding its entrance, always one male and one female.

FISH WATCH POINT

And back to shore.

To be continued!

Categories: Family, Friends, Holidays, kids, Life, Nepal, Travel, Weather | Tags: Tal Barahi Temple | 1 Comment

Adventures in Nepal, Part VI: Paljorling Camp

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Debora

Emma and Elizabeth stayed with Sabita and Bee Striit from January 15th to the 18th, and then stayed with friends at the Tibetan refugee camp from the 19th to the 28th.

Paljorling camp has a beautiful monastery.

After the girls had settled in, they went into town to get some lunch.

Adorable Emma is adorable.

Apparently the reason why the power lines are such a clusterfuck in Nepal is because when one stops working, they just string a new one up to bypass it instead of searching out the old one and repairing it. Crazy.

This handsome fellow is decorated for a local festival. We can’t find any info on what festival it was, but our best guess is that it was a local version of Kukur Tihar, the Day of the Dog.

Or, as Emma said, “It coulda been a temple dog that had a birthday, for all I know.”

To be continued!

Categories: Animals, Celebrations, Dogs, Family, food, Friends, Holidays, kids, Life, Nepal, Travel | Tags: Paljorling Camp | Leave a comment

Weekly Sketch: Saraswati

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Debora

Another busy week, another unfinished sketch. This was going to be a drawing of the little Saraswati figure that Emma got for Elizabeth in Nepal, a gift of creative energy. Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, wisdom and learning.

The original:

This was the same day that Elizabeth bought the beautiful rainbow sweater/jacket.

I love that sweater so much.

*** *** *** *** *** ***

On the subject of art, I’ve been thinking about the corporate logos that Nepalis paint all over everything, and I have a theory. Disclaimer: I know almost nothing about Nepali culture or religion, this is just a thought that came to me.

It kind of makes sense, in a polytheistic culture that celebrates a full spectrum of energies, that they might celebrate the life-changing power of oil by painting the Castrol Oil logo on a Ganesha shrine. Or that in such a bright, vibrant culture, they might honor the transformative effects of commercial paint by adding the Berger Paints logo to a colorful gateway. Or that a recreational boat rental company might invoke the exhilarating thrill of chocolate by putting the Kit Kat logo on its boats. I like the idea that they might be calling up the energy of a specific product by putting its logo on their stuff.

Anyway, it’s just a theory. If any experts on Nepali culture want to chime in, I’d love to hear from someone knowledgeable.

Categories: Artwork, Family, Friends, Holidays, kids, Life, Nepal, Travel, Weekly Sketch | Tags: Saraswati | Leave a comment

Adventures in Nepal, Part V: Disneyland!

Posted on March 1, 2020 by Debora

Wednesday the 18th dawned sunny and clear. Elizabeth had heard about a local theme park in Lakeside, and was excited to go see it.

And here we have the completely legit and totally not fake Pokhara Disneyland:

A magical entryway to the Sketchiest Place on Earth.

Pluto’s face kills me.

Behold, the Magic Kingdom!

Can you feel the excitement?

It has the castle and everything!

So I got two different versions of the visit to “Pokhara Disneyland.”

Elizabeth has never met a theme park she didn’t like, and she thoroughly enjoyed her experience at this one.

Emma was like, “There is rust on everything and you can literally see and hear the unshielded belt turning the ferris wheel and it is not outside the realm of possibility that we may die on one of these rides.”

Nice views from the ferris wheel, though.

Elizabeth was undaunted by rust and squealing engine belts, and embraced the whimsy.

I absolutely adore that rainbow sweater. She had just bought it the day before, and it brightens up almost every photo for the rest of the Nepal trip.