Nepal Part II

Hey Friends, here’s a bit more for Nepal including a random piece I wrote while stuck on the bus, my Travel Writing assignment (that I wrote an hour before it was due…oops), and Reese’s Passage.

Driving back from Pokhara

Patience is not one of my strengths. I get antsy very easily, so traffic is not something I enjoy. I have a hard enough time when I’m driving in Denver and stuck in traffic along I-70 to I-76 on my way home or driving through the mountains in stop-and-go traffic. Well Nepal doesn’t even rival annoying stop-and-go traffic. It’s just stop traffic. We were stuck on the side of the road for over an hour due to construction ahead. Apparently construction in Nepal means the road just stops. We all started to get off of our bus and out of the van and stood along the side of the road. Some of my friends set up the spikeball set and played small ball in between the bus and van. I climbed up on top of the van for a while, and then decided I should catch up on journaling from the day before.

After a little while we were told to get back on the bus, and we started moving—about 20 feet. A little bit later we moved 50 feet, and the cycle continued. We didn’t move much, but it was slow, sporadic progress forward. The sun had set as we started to actually move. Our bus driver told us that in a previous experience he had, the road shut down and did not open until 8 AM the next morning. I cringed at the thought, but I’ll admit a part of me was also curious as it would have made a good story. Thankfully, we didn’t get a story like that, but our 6 hour bus ride turned into an 11 hour travel day. Welcome to Nepali roads. 

The Monkey Temple

This is my Travel Writing Assignment written about our experience at the Swayambhunath Temple. I wrote it as if I were a Travel journalist in Nepal on my own, so I have taken a few liberties, but it is my basic observations and feelings from the morning there. 

Choruses of “Good price” and “Many, many tourists. Come in” rang through the air as I walked past booths and shops at the Swayambhunath Temple. I had flown into Kathmandu, Nepal just the day before and rose early in the morning to explore the religious landscape and tourist culture of the city through the temple. 

In the beginning, I was not very impressed or moved. Shop keepers kept trying to sell me trinkets and tourists swarmed the area. On the way to the gate, I met a group of college students who stopped to take pictures of a monkey. I smiled and laughed to myself, knowing that if they were excited by this one monkey, they would be thrilled by the upcoming experience. I walked with a few students up flights of stairs toward the temple building where most of the monkeys resided. The monkeys were aggressive and surrounded one of the college girls. They provided entertainment and laughter, but even though the temple is often called the Monkey Temple, the monkeys were not the reason that I had come. 

I continued on my way toward more religious sites of the temple. A religious ceremony rang out with the sound of a constant bell, and I stood watching with other tourists as men sat around a burning pile of colored herbs, flowers, and spices. Women in saris walked past prayer wheels and ran their hands over them. In a dark room, I found a small altar set up as a shrine. Incense was burning and the only light came from the small candle and open door. It was in this room that I was able to actually feel something. I didn’t like it though and quickly left. 

The overall feeling of the temple disappointed me. I didn’t like the chaos I felt through a majority of the square or the vibes I got from the shrines. I expected to find a sense of peace walking along the paths but found myself distracted by the mixed smell of sea water, cow poop, and cinnamon; the monkeys, stray dogs, and fluttering pigeons; and the other worshipers and foreigners. 

I left the temple with a heaviness of spirit, questioning the balance between worship and tourism. I felt the experience was marred by people like me who were only there to observe. The Monkey Temple was interesting and provided beautiful views of the city below, but in the end I left confused by the dichotomy I had seen from the people and atmosphere there.

Reese’s Passages: 5th Installment

Greetings from Nepal! Today’s section is a special one. I’ve learned that in the Nepali language my name means “much anger,” so what better country to talk about anger than in Nepal? Who better to talk about it then Much Anger (Reese) himself? When the Nepali point out this connection to me, it is very funny to them and to most of the ATW team, due to the irony of it. I am often described as a very smiley and happy-go-lucky person. I love when people come to me with problems because I love looking at the positive side. Of course, we all have a story don’t we? We aren’t all who we once were, and I am no different. 

Growing up, I was a happy kid, but I became a very different kid late elementary through early high school. I specialized in losing whatever I tried and had a hard time making friends, so anger became a part of my identity. This period was integral to my faith walk and what motivates and makes me who I am today. I learned a lot, and one of the things I learned is that anger feels good and righteous a lot of the time, but will quickly destroy your world and those in it. What took a long time to build can be decimated in a moment of unchecked anger. 

Don’t get me wrong, there is such a thing as righteous anger. An example is when Jesus flipped tables at the temple. In my experiences, we rarely possess that type of anger and if we have it, we misuse it. If you are honest with yourself and know you take pride in the power that can come from anger, remember “Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32 NIV). 

Anger is a powerful force that we need God to help us process. Through God, the situation will be used to reflect His glory. Through our anger, the situation will cause pain and destruction of ourselves and those we may or may not intend it to. Choosing God over anger is not easy and I fail daily, but every time we give into anger we give into the Tempter, aka Satan. To be great you must control your emotions. 

I like to think every time I choose to serve God over anger I ring a bell in heaven. The worse the situation and the greater my anger is, the louder the bell I ring is when I choose God over the situation. Start with ringing small bells and work up to the bigger ones if you struggle like I did, and you will find yourself climbing out of the hole of self pity and pain that anger drags you into. Despite the feeling anger gives you, it will only oppose God, and I know none of us are here to do that. 

To help you overpower your impulse, remember that He who created all things said in the Bible to “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil” (Psalms 37:8 NIV). Anger may be greater than you in a moment, but it will never be greater than our omnipotent God. Therefore, hate can never do so much damage that God cannot bring out good. Give thanks to God for giving you a chance to watch Him turn darkness into light before your own eyes. God is good!