brookejason

Our Nepali sister, Mini, had arranged for Brooke and I to have a complimentary stay at a hotel in a town called Nagarkot. It is perched on the top of a ridge right outside of the Kathmandu valley. Mini had been trying all week to arrange for cheap transportation for us, but was unsuccessful. In the end, we were rushed to the bus station in the middle of town after eating our breakfast as fast as we could.

Ok, so it wasn’t really a bus station, it was more of a muddy alley that old buses were crammed into. Mini starts running around asking which bus goes to Nagarkot and finally puts us on one that is going in the right direction, but we would have to switch to another bus at some point along the way. The bus ride started off nice. There were just a few of us on the bus and it was a nice relaxing ride. As we moved through town, we started picking up more people. The bus started getting crowed and soon there was no more seats… standing room only. Before long, we were crammed in as tight as we could go and Brooke and I had squeezed in our seat to allow an old lady to join us. The bus being crammed with people didn’t stop the attendant from recruiting more people and trying to fill every last nook on the bus. So, after an hour and a half of stop and go through the city, we finally reached the place to switch busses. A man from the bus overheard where we were going and helped us get to the right bus.

This bus was not any better. This time, we couldn’t get a seat and had to stand for the next hour crammed into a corner of the bus. In the part of the bus where we stood, I could not even stand up straight without hitting the ceiling. So, I slouched my way up the mountain to Nagarkot. As we climbed, the scenery started and changing and the air turned much cooler. Even the people changed to tribal mountain people, and the bus was packed with their rice and potatoes that were going to and from the market.

We finally got off the bus in the right place and stared walking through pine forests to our hotel. The whole town was dead. It was a tourist town turned into a ghost town. We felt like we were the only tourists there and all the locals were just waiting for us to arrive. Tourism has dropped sharply in Nepal due to the Maoist rebels and the trouble that they cause. We finally made it to our hotel, which was made to look like an old castle although it was only built 2 years ago. As soon as we walked in the door, we were assaulted by the 6 or 7 staff that had nothing to do since we were the only guests staying there. We had tea and then went up to our room. The room had a nice balcony that looked out over an amazing view of the Langtang range of the Himalayas and on a really clear day, you can even get a glimpse of Mt. Everest… Unfortunately, all we could see was white as we looked out into the middle of a cloud. Visibility was about 30 feet. All this was made worse by the amazing pictures all over the hotel of the spectacular view of the mountains.

We decided to leave the hotel and go get some Tibetan food that we had seen on the walk over. After eating, we walked around, trying to make sense of the area and get a better feel about it all. We eventually found a really cool restaurant that had tables outside overlooking the mountains below. By, this point, the clouds were starting to thin a bit and we could see all the foothills below. We decided to head back to the hotel, sit on our balcony, and have some tea.

The view was amazing. The clouds were moving in and out of the mountains below us exposing rivers and small villages. The temperature was perfect and the Nepali tea was amazing. I had been waiting all summer for the right time to ask her. This was it. I asked her to marry me, and gave her the ring that she had been waiting patiently for. It was a perfect moment. One that both of us will remember for the rest of our lives.

We celebrated by having a great dinner at the restaurant we had found earlier. We ordered Tibetan noodles and then found out that this particular dish was auspicious and helps to give you a long, healthy life. It was a perfect meal to celebrate our engagement and our future life together.