Thursday, 22 April 2010
So on this Saturday I was woken up at about 6am by a monk band, similar to a buddhist boy band. The band began their chorus. I used my experience from sleeping through artillery fire during my time at boarding school to get back into sleep. They clearly wanted to wake me up. They brought on the trumpet solo which was pretty sharp and a drum roll to complete the job. My host family was pretty sure that I was up. It continued for the next three days.
It was the nepali new year, so naturally we went to get a new bamboo for the new flag. The specification were straight and old. I spotted the perfect one and pointed out to the crew. But being nepali and local, they could not possibly let a foreigner choose with no previous experience of bamboo shopping. They spent ages looking at every single bamboo. Eventually settled on the one I pointed out ages ago. The kitchen kukri (an inward curved nepali blade) was used to hack down the bamboo.
I was honoured when they offered me the buffalo eyeball, (one of the more expensive parts) because I was the honoured guest. As Kaptan showed me the raw eyeball enthusiastically, Prem explained that it was difficult to buy an eyeball. Cheers Guys.
I think it is quite an asian to take pictures of the meal but in this case it was a good thing that I didn’t. Presentation for this dish was really not particularly good. But then, is it possible to present a dish with a squash ball sized eyeball beautifully? The eyeball was clearly looking at me. It was surrounded by three meaty bits, which I assumed was the muscle which controlled the eyeball movement. I only had a fork, I hadn’t progress to eat with my hand like a true local yet. I did eat with my hand in my last week in Nepal. So I decided to take the whole ball in one. The taste was buffalo-y. The eyeball bursted with jelly like texture, the taste was ok. But the meaty bit was insanely chewing. So I had an eyeball flavoured chewy meat in my mouth. I really had to focus and concentrate to make sure I did not vom in front of them.
Buddhism books are insane. There were really thick. I think this one book out of 7 or something and they were studying it. The whole ritual lasted 4 days. The locals would come in to sit and listen to their teachings. It would be the normal stuff like, do not kill people and do not steal, standard code of conduct. Unfortunately I don’t really understand Tibetan but I did the ritual anyway. But I was a bit pi**ed off when they offered me untreated holy water. The fact that it was untreated meant I didn’t fancy it. If there is one about religion that I hate, it is this holy water stuff. It is such an unnecessary and overrated drink. I respect most religions but if each one offered me holy water. It is not like drinking Ribena. I am sure these guys put standard stuff in but some religions do put something weird… No means no…
In Nepal is officially a Hindu country however a lot of the population follows Buddhism. There are also increasing amount of Christians and Muslims. It is then surprisingly safe considering the diversity in caste, culture and religion.
Adventures of Delboy 