23.03.2017, Dhampus, Nepal
By the glorious morning light;
and by the night when it darkens,
your Lord has not forsaken you, nor is He displeased with you,
and the Hereafter will indeed be better for you than the present life;
soon you will be gratified with what your Lord will give you.
Did He not find you orphaned and shelter you?
Did He not find you wandering, and give you guidance?
Did He not find you in want, and make you free from want?
Therefore do not treat the orphan with harshness,
and do not chide the one who asks for help;
but proclaim the blessings of your Lord.
[Quran: Sura 93]
-Summit, I don’t want to walk!
* Can you walk for two hours?
– Yes, two hours are fine. But I want to stay somewhere up in the mountains and relax there.
Today I met Ram, the guide. Together, we started my short trek uphill to reach Dhampus, a small village that is surrounded by mountains and river valleys. It was both the trek and Ram that made this day the highlight of my trip so far. I have learned a lot from him and enjoyed a lot being in the nature. The most common word I spoke today was “Wow”, repeating it again and again with every glance to the horizon. Despite the clouds the hid the mountain view, the hills and the valley were enough to bring romance to my eyes. I was speechless at times and glorifying God at others. I also sweat a lot. A sweet sweat that I enjoyed! It was a physically demanding activity that I am not very fit for. Yet I felt alive.
Ram told me a lot about his life, his family and his country. Today I learned a lot about Nepal. About the politics between Nepal, India and China. The history of the country and how Ram think that Nepal is a rich country that is being mislead by its bad government.
We walked through small villages of a couple of houses, through fields that are being planted using old traditional methods. Bulls are still being used with no machinery. I wondered again and again, why do people live here in such a remote area. Ram told me at some point that this is where poor people escaped to practice agriculture without having to buy the land from the state.
We passed through a small jungle of high trees, traditional houses with bee hives, little children in school uniform (schools there?) that asked us for sweets or pencils! and here and there we saw some trekkers accompanied by a Nepali guide and sometimes a porter that carried their luggage. The only pity was the cloudy weather that veiled the mountains and most of the view. However, it rendered the journey kind of mystic.
At the top of the hill, around 1600 m above the sea level, we went to a guest house were we will be staying the night. It was a bit more than 3 hours. In the restaurant, I met a German guy that will trek back after lunch. A group of four french women in their fifties, a Japanese guy and Hanna!
I slept two hours which were probably the sweetest nap I have ever taken. I woke up with my brain aware of my body that I moved very slowly so that I do not loose this state of organic peace. I went to find Ram that was checking the news on his phone and started another conversation where he explained to me more about The Silk Road, the project that china wants to take through Nepal. India is not amused. In our conversation, an Australian girl called Hanna asked if she can sit with us. We welcomed her and started getting to know each other.
Hanna is a freshly graduated doctor that has been on a 14 days trek! Today is her last day before she goes to Pokhara, Kathmandu and then back to Australia where she will work as a doctor. We laughed about comparing my 3 hours trek to her 14 days and had some very nice conversations. We decided to have dinner all together with Ram, her guide and her porter. Two funny Nepalese guys that I liked and found funny. “Nepalese people are the kindest people I have ever met” said Hanna and other people! I felt the they were genuinely friendly and simple and that this was independent of money.
After dinner, Mingmar the porter and I played two games of chess. After winning the first one, I was confident of winning the second until he sneaked behind my back and throttled my king. I was impressed and sour that I lost :D. The guys then showed me a traditional Nepali song on youtube that was a bit too erotic by a singer called “Jyoti”. I feel a bit embarrassed to share the video here. My response was through a belly dancing video that, obviously, had our attention and was the last of our night.
Ithaka
By C.P. Cavafy
As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon — don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon — you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind —
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
