Lost in translation: So many “toilets” in Kathmandu

Ok, here is a funny story for you. In the beginning of my travels to Nepal, not only my Nepali was extremely bad, but also my English was very lacking – to say the least. It was good enough to get by … most of the times. So what happened was, when I would be walking around in Kathmandu, I would see all these little ...

How I became almost friends with a Nepalese rat

The mouse… Or the rat … I am honestly not sure what she was. Are there mice with long naked tails? Are there white rats? Anyways, this is the brief story of how I became (almost) friends with a rat in Nepal. Luckily I did not end up eating the rat, as I ended up eating my goat friend. This a story from the same ...

My heart is calling for Nepal

डाकदैछ [Daakdaicha] – it is calling संकेत [sa~ket] – sign, hint, allusion Since the beginning of this blog in May 2015, I have been studying a lot of Nepali and remembering many past experiences from Nepal … and now this has led to me longing to travel to Nepal again. Very strongly. My heart डाकदैछ [Daakdaicha] for Nepal. Which is awesome, since for a long ...

Lessons learned from being ill in Nepal

I have become ill in many different ways while staying in Nepal. So I want to share a little from those experiences and the lessons I have learned High altitude sickness The first time I got ill, were the mild symptoms (extreme weakness, heart racing, headache, grumpiness) of high altitude sickness at Gokyo Lake (the Mount Everest region). That was quite problematic for me, because ...

Nagarkot to Sankhu: My favourite walk around the Kathmandu Valley

My favourite little day walk, while staying in Kathmandu would be walking from Nagarkot to Sankhu (the easy way). I always love walking in general. And sometimes when staying in Kathmandu for a while, you really feel like getting out of the noise and stress of the city, and find some mental refreshment in nature. Somehow this walk is very peaceful and calming for me ...

Devanagari: Nasal Consonants and Vowel Nasalization

Nasal sounds use the nasal cavities in addition to the mouth and/or throat as a resonating cavity. If you sense into those parts of your skull while saying those sounds, you will realise this yourself. The Nasal Consonants are part of the 5 x 5 Matrix of the Consonants of Devanagari: ङ – n*a (guttural Nasal – produced in the throat); don’t confuse the letter ...

Nepali Phrase: Who are you taking me for?

तले मलार्इ के थान्छस ? [tale malaaii ke thaanchas?] Who are you taking me for? त [ta] – you (lowest level of formality) मलार्इ – to me के – what थान्छस – (you) falsely assume We have the -ले particle again in this sentence. This has to do with the transitivity of the Nepali verb थान्नु [thaannu] – to falsely perceive / assume something, to ...

Movie “Loafer”: Either Nepali movies have improved or my Nepali has

जीत (Jeet) – victory निर्देशक (nirdeshak) – director याैन [yaun] – sex हेर्नु [hernu] – to watch I have recently watched a newish Nepali movie: Loafer released in 2013 by निर्देशक [nirdeshak] Aditya Bikram Lamsal. By which I was pleasantly surprised. In 2001 I tried watching a few Nepali movies, but soon gave up since with my little Nepali I really could not follow the ...

Nepal, mero Maya – a love declaration

समुद्र [samudra] – ocean नदी [nadii] – river सेतो [seto] – white शान्ती [shaantii] – peace This is a very heartfelt blog post from 3 years ago. I wrote this, when I finally made peace with the fact that there are definitely things that I do not like at all about Nepal, but that at the same time, Nepal will always be dear to my ...

Nepali Travelling Phrases – Local style Dal Bhaat

This most likely will happen if you travel with a local bus across the country, or during your brief experimental period on your trek 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTl2A6He-KQ One serving (for one person) – Ek khaanaa How much is one serving? – Ek Khaanaa kati parcha? It’s xxx Rupees. – Xxx rupaya parcha Is this water boiled? – Tyo umaaleko paani ho? Yes / No – Ho ...