Exploring Shivapuri National Park

My hand is recovering from an unfortunate introduction to Nepal's stinging nettle called shishnu, so this will be a picture heavy post. More than twenty-four hours later, my pinky and ring finger on my left hand feel like they are permanently asleep. The Nepalese apparently use it both in cooking and for flogging misbehaving children. I discovered shishnu (henceforth known as "devil weed") while bushwacking in Nagarjun in Shivapuri National Park, a forest on the middle hills ringing Kathmandu. I was seeking undeveloped climbing areas...and found nothing for my troubles. Well, not nothing exactly. I found a choss pile (climbing term meaning crumbly, low quality rock) that appeared to second as a mountain goat bathroom. As I bouldered and traversed around on dirty, hollow sounding flakes, I realized I had become one of the stupid Americans I derided in my previous posts. So I quit before I fell in the goat dung, or worse. (Did I mention I was alone?)

While I can't advise hiking through pugnacious plants or climbing alone on hollow rock, I can fully endorse a visit to Shivapuri Heights Cottage, also in the national park. Elyse and I spent New Years with friends at this stunning and peaceful locale. I'll let the pictures do the typing for me:

Our small crew usurped two of the cottages. Here is party HQ.

With a common area for, judging by the wine bottles, celebrating the new year.

We had a nice view, although it was cloudy and rainy. My kind of weather.

Pretty artistic, eh?

But I spent most of my time playing with this guy. He forced me.

Meanwhile, the moms went hiking. Who has the better baby carrier?

Don't be Stupid (part 2)

Here is some international travel advice from your friendly neighborhood Consular Officer. If you are working overseas and lose your job, but the organization you were working for offers to fly you home to the U.S., you might want to consider taking that flight. What you should not do is put all of the money you possess in the world in a fanny pack and head to another 3rd world nation hoping to find something better. Especially if you have a habit of losing things (like, say, a fanny pack), don't have any credit cards, and have no family/friends who can/will lend you a dozen Benjamins in case of emergency. What happens then is you become a "destitute American" in need of "repatriation." You don't want this to happen to you for many reasons, not the least of which is that you will spend hours, over several days, sitting at the Embassy while some poor Consular Officer calls all of your "friends" on your behalf to beg for money. When they all say no, the unfortunate Consular Officer spends more hours visiting travel offices and budget offices to coordinate a loan for your plane ticket home. Then the beleaguered Consular Officer must have you fill out numerous forms in quadruplicate (that's a word in government) so that you can get a loan and a new one-time use passport...because we're gonna cancel yours until you pay us back.

In all seriousness, there is nothing more important to us than assisting Americans abroad. But please, think before you travel. Don't make your trip (or my job) any more challenging than it needs to be.

Don't be stupid

Did you know that a Consular Officer's primary role is to provide assistance to Americans in need? Most of the time I'm working on immigration and visa related issues, but if an American requires assistance, everything else stops. We may help a sick American receive medical treatment. Or a destitute traveler get an emergency loan to return to the U.S. Or, in the worst situations, return bodies to their families. (Fortunately, we haven't had to do that since I've been in Nepal.) And we also respond to cases involving Americans arrested overseas. I mention this because the other day I went on my first prison visit. If you've seen the reality television program Locked Up Abroad, you may have some idea of what these people face, especially in poor countries. I can't, of course, give any details about the specific case I responded to. But our basic role is simply to make sure the AmCit (American Citizen) is being treated properly and provided the basics (i.e. food, water). Americans often think the U.S. government can get them out. They're wrong. They are at the mercies of the local judicial system. About all we can do is tell them how the legal system in the country works and offer a list of lawyers. Of course if they are being mistreated in any way, we'll intervene through the appropriate channels. But mistreatment doesn't include sleeping on the floor, under some blankets, and without heat. Or living in a cell with a dozen other people. The moral of the story is, don't do anything dumb while traveling abroad...at least until you are out of my consular district.