25th of April to 5th of May, 2023.
Volunteer work in Nepal.
I try a few different things. I ask in a Buddhist monastery and in a few hostels. There are many of them in town. By asking around, people tell me that there are two backpackers in town which take volunteers. All of these places are by the lake. In the first backpackers hostel I ask, they say no; in the second, I talk with a very enthusiastic young man, who apart from being very kind and interested in my story, tells me he needs to check with his brother, and asks me to come back later afternoon.
I ask for left-overs in a fancy hotel nearby, the Hotel City Inn. They have a breakfast buffet so I ask if I can have some of the left-overs. The receptionist and the man to whom she asks about it (perhaps the manager, perhaps the owner) are very kind and understanding, and ask the staff to prepare a lunch box for me. I get two huge portions of stir-fried vegetables. Lunch and dinner, yay!
Killing time, I decide to ask for wi-fi in a fancy restaurant by the lake. Once there, I talk with the manager, who becomes very interested on my story. He offers me some tea and some sweets, and both are very nice. He also offers to help me with the food, saying I can come and get food here every day, just eating with the staff, in case I get only accommodation at the hostel.
When I come back, while I wait for Pramod (the young man with whom I talked earlier), I start chatting with some of the guests, and I realize that many of them are staying here long term. And everybody is so nice!
Then, good news! I can stay! I am so fricking happy! It is not only that I got the place to stay and the food, is that everybody, all the other members of the staff are so nice; and the hostel is so fricking cool! The outside area is all in stones and there are huge trees everywhere! The atmosphere and the ambience are really awesome, and I just have this feeling of rightness and tranquility, as I knew I should stay here. They actually do have two ladies who do all the cleaning and change of beds, so my duties will be just to help them around, and also help with the cleaning of the small café by the reception, collecting the dishes of the guests from the tables, helping in the kitchen a bit, so nothing much. Actually, I wish there was more to do it, and that I could’ve been more helpful, but there wasn’t.
The hostel is always full though. People really like here! Well, who wouldn’t? And they keep coming back, staying longer than planned, and recommending it to friends.
I don’t really feel like going anywhere and spend most of my time at the hostel. The hikes to the highest picks are too complicated to be done on your own, so I only do a small hike, of one night and two days, called Dhampus – Sarangkot, but I will write about it in a separate post.
The most famous guest of the hostel is Hunter, an adorable and irresistible three years old boy. His parents, Thomas and Kristy are from Knysna, South Africa, a town where I have been, and they are super nice. Everybody loves them and, of course, Hunter. But many of the other long-term guest are also very nice and it is different for me to see how they all interact and coexist very much like a family. It is lovely to see it and to become a bit part of it.
Pramod works at the reception and the hostel belongs to his brother, Sagar, who comes here from time to time. Night shift reception is done by Dinesh. The cook is Rabin, who even though being so young, delight us with his amazing cooking skills from breakfast to dinner. The ladies who do the cleaning are Sabitri and Sita. Sabitri is a doll and everybody loves her too. So, basically, everybody is always so kind, helpful and really, really nice, that you can’t feel any differently than as you are at home. Well, in my case, way better than my actual home. There’s so much love and warmth from all these souls, that the whole place is involved in an incredible atmosphere.
Apart from this lovely staff, I spend some time with some of the long-term guest, like Sony (India), Sheng (China), Shrey (India), Zoe (New Zealand), and my favourite asshole, Meraj, (originally from Bangladesh, looking like an Indian, but with a slightly British accent). Each one of the girls give me something I will bring with me in my journey: Sony is so sweet, relax and calm; Shrey gives me a lot of advices, in many different areas, all at the same time; and Zoe shows me that you can be a backpacker / traveller / adventurer and still have a lot of style. All of them are also solo travellers, just like me, and they all seem to be doing pretty well in that area. Meraj is a joker and we are always teasing each other. Well, he is actually always teasing everybody. But he is really super funny and everybody loves him.
It is sad to leave though. It feels really weird to leave. I actually post-pond my departure in one day, under the excuse of bad weather (which was) but mostly because I didn’t want to leave. But I must and three days before my 30 days Visa expires, I make my way back to Sonauli, back to India.
10 Years Around the World 