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What Nepal Taught Me: Challenge, Community and the Power of Kindness
The first images which pop up when you search ‘Nepal’ are of mountains applied to a clear sky, otherworldly and impossibly beautiful. Standing at the base of one of these giants, however, made me question my sanity. It is far easier to admire such height from the relative safety of your bedroom than from the bottom of an overgrown hill with legs who just knew they were in for a rough few days.
Yet, despite my small complaints along the journey, the trek in Nepal was one of two highlights of the trip. For three of the five days we walked up. Up 3000 steps in one afternoon, over wire bridges spanning ravines, and up to our summit. This challenge proved slightly more difficult than I had thought, but all that toil receded once we reached the teahouse in which we were staying for the night. The view from each one was breath-taking especially the 5am sunrises, and it was incredible to be so removed from the world of constant mobile phones.
Everyone who we met was so kind and hardworking, especially our guides and porters for the trek. Whether it was learning card tricks, hearing about Nepalese culture from the guides or playing spoons, the people made this experience unforgettable.
A second highlight of the trip was helping to install a water tank through digging for Tashiling, a Tibetan refugee camp just outside of Pokhara. Everyone we met there was so inspiring and their history too.
Prior to the trek, we went to the Kopan monastery and received a teaching from a monk there, which has, I think, left an impression on all of us. The lakeside view at Pokhara, Monkey Temple in Kathmandu and our final night there filled our time in Nepal with fun. Seeing all of the Tihar celebrations, Nepal’s festival of light, was wonderful, with so many people out dancing and drawing mandalas on the streets with sand.
Overall, I learnt so much in Nepal about endurance and a people, many of whose lives are far more difficult than our own, who treated strangers with so much kindness, which is something which we should all strive to do.
Izzy Moss, Lower Sixth