Learning to Rest in Tansen

Well, my Birkenstocks are broken.  I didn't know German-made $100 sandals could fall apart but lo, they can.  Some Germans at this hotel have been telling me how Germany is in the process of shutting down their nuclear plants and replacing them with alternative energy and also how they lowered university tuition from 800 euros to 200 euros.  I marvel at this advanced society.  But they still haven't perfected robust sandals.  How am I going to continue to develop my epic sandal tan now?

I was in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.  It's interesting how such an important Buddhist spot is in one of the most Hindu parts of the country; I almost went deaf from the amount of Hindi-pop I heard coming from the temples.  Amazingly, though Buddha was born over 2300 years ago, they know the exact stone on which he was birthed.  It's covered with a glass shield which helps distinguish it from all the other stones.  I'm sure Buddha would be rolling in his grave if he saw all the hooplah they've made about his life.: the area around his birthplace was a bit of a Buddhism World's Fair with temples built by Buddhist communities from around the world.  It is sort of cool, they have a long waterway with temples of the two different brances of Buddhism on either side.  I of course walked down the middle way (ha, Buddhist joke!).

Leaving Lumbini, at an elevation around 190m, I knew I was in for some agony.  I did't have great Nepal maps, and there wasn't much info out there about the highways, but I did know that my next stop, Tansen, was at an elevation around 1400m.  It was an absolute scorcher of a day, and also the height of their festival of Dasain so most places are closed.  I stopped in Butwal, the town at the base of a foreboding valley that goes up to Tansen, bought some chips and huddled in a shaded hallway, the only shade I could find, as I delayed the inevitable climb.

It wasn't so bad, it never is.  Certainly not that many bikers, just lots of motorcycles where the kids yelled "You will be tired, man."  The road was alright and the views were nice and there were little water spigots at the villages along the way to cool off..  A couple stopped me from their motorbike, shouting "pump! pump!" and I tried to tell them that my tires were fine before I realized that they wanted to use my pump on their motorbike.  The road levelled out a bit before a solid, 15km uphill to end the day.  You know when a 15km hill is most welcome?  Right at the end of the day when you're tired, hungry, and thirsty.  A beer and two big entrees weren't the welcome relief I expected, and I collapsed in my hotel room in a heap of fatigue.

So, the next day would be a "rest day".  Great.  I slept in a bit (8am....pathetic), mosied down for some breakfast, read a bit of my book.  Not one to sit around for an entire day, I decided to go for a little loop around town and up to the top of the hill overlooking the valley.  Then, what the hell, why not do a short little hike down to Ranighat, some famous Nepalese temple that is called the Taj Mahal of Nepal.  I had read about it in the guidebook and it was a 3-hour hike.

It was shortly after 2 hours on the trail - a very steep and hilly trail I might add - that I realized the guidebook probably meant a 3-hour hike one-way.  But I was already commited and had to continue after coming so far.  Thus my relaxing rest day turned into a 18km epic through villages, across ridgelines, down steep steps, and finally to the fabled Ranighat.  It was closed.  And it was no Taj.  Sustaining myself on chips and cheesies, the journey back to Tansen was a speedy, sweaty race against the sun.  It was a nice enough hike, since all the families were out dressed up celebrating Dasain, but the whole time I felt like a huge idiot for leaving so late for such a long stupid walk.

So today, a day when it is difficult to ascend and descend stairs, will be a true rest day.  I will not do anything.  I wince at "wasting" a day, especially when I know how much work it is to bring these big trips to fruition.  But sometimes a day to slow down and sit (on something other than a bike seat) is a welcome change.  Tansen is a nice spot too, not terribly touristy as I expect the coming weeks will be.  And for the first time I caught a glimpse of the Himalayas, a wall of pointed white peaks sitting above the clouds.  As my final destination and climax to almost a year in Asia, those mountains are heralds of a journey fulfilled.

What to do now after writing this blog post?  It's not even noon.  I suppose I can spend the better part of the day reading about Saint Steve Jobs.  Tomorrow I'm hopeful for a big downhill and push to Pokhara, and maybe just maybe some turkey in there.  Leafs win and Dalton's back, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.