I returned from Nepal four weeks ago after spending almost six weeks trekking in the Himalayas.
Living day to day in a comfortable home in the Seattle area promotes a sense of complacency that can be jarred by traveling to a developing country and experiencing things that are foreign to our daily life here in America.
We often curse traffic here in the States but our traffic, even at its worst, is predictable and somewhat orderly. Traffic in Kathmandu, on the other hand, is unpredictable and disorderly. Crosswalks are marked but drivers don't stop for pedestrians unless the pedestrian walks in front of their vehicle. Most often this happens in the middle of a block and not at a crosswalk.
Vehicles stop at stop signs but then edge out into traffic until they can nose in front of another vehicle. Pedestrians, bicycles and two-wheeled scooters go wherever there is room to edge in front of other vehicles. Two designated lanes morph into multiple lanes, spreading over the dividing lines and even center line into a mass of moving parts.
Our electricity and other utilities are dependable unless a major storm or accident interrupts the flow. Over there, even in the capitol city, power went off everyday. Water flow was interrupted often but every building had a rooftop cistern so the occupants usually didn't notice.
While trekking, of course we had to sterilize the water, but even in Kathmandu, water out of the tap needed to be sterilized because of contamination.
We complain about potholes and deteriorating roads but decent roads are a rule here. In Nepal the roads are sometimes primitive and pedestrians must keep a sharp eye out for unmarked holes in sidewalks where an unwary person could trip and fall or worse.
We have appetizing and safe food even if we hear about the occasional case of e-coli. In Nepal we had to follow the rule for eating in third-world countries--no raw vegetables and only those fruits that could be peeled by the eater.
Labor saving devices are a given in our country. Even in remote towns and villages everyone has washers and dryers, big screen TV's, electric or gas cook stoves, vacuum cleaners, electric irons, running hot water, etc. In Nepal, even in the big city, not many people had washers, dryers or vacuum cleaners or often, running hot water, although most had big TV's. Away from Kathmandu, people washed clothes by hand, often in a nearby river, and spread them on rocks to dry. Rock crushers, cement mixers, grain harvesters and such are people, and as you saw from my photos, the rock crushers were often women, making small rocks from large rocks by hand.
Our cities and towns have sewer systems/treatment plants. In the towns and villages in Nepal, the traditional treatment of sewage was to compost it with leaves to use as fertilizer. We saw a lot of people using this method on our trek. Now that "water toilets" are being installed to satisfy tourist demand, I couldn't get a good answer as to what happens to the sewage. I suspect it drains to a nearby river, to contaminate water supplies downstream.
The rule of law is necessary for a country to progress beyond third world status. Nepal, along with most developing countries, has a problem with basic government, protecting vulnerable populations and developing a viable legal system. Meanwhile, those with money have rights, those without get along as best they can. To compound their problems, a decade of Maoist agitation and killings, the murder of the royal family and even the disastrous earthquake in 2015, have made it difficult to reestablish and maintain an effective government.
Americans complain about many things but we shouldn't forget how great this country is. I haven't mentioned our freedoms but even the differences outlined above aren't apparent to many people because they haven't had a chance to see the way people live in less fortunate parts of the world. Take it from me, the differences are real.
I resolve to file away these memories. When I'm feeling like life is difficult and and my country is going to Hell, I'll remember how other people in this world suffer real hardships but keep smiling and working to improve their lot. It's a lesson worth remembering.
