-By Asha(Yun Mi SEO)
On the full moon day in August every year, I heard, a special kind of feast is held
around Gosainkund, the lake of the god Shiva, who is beloved most out of the three
major gods in Hinduism.
Gosainkund, the spring of Trishuli river, the main river in Nepal, is believed that Shiva
having swallowed venom(that is why Shiva’s face is blue.) made the water springing
from the ground to cool down his throat. Hindu worships the water and visit there to
bathe themselves and to participate in the ritual Pooja during the feast Janai
purnima (purnima means the full moon).
But Gosainkund is located in Rasuwa state, where the population of the Tamang tribe
and Tibetan-Yolo, not Hindu, is the greatest than any other tribe. They preserve Tibetan
culture of Mongolian descent and their own legend of the lake related with their own
god Avalokitesvara, not Shiva.
For Tamang, the shaman Bompo, who can be found in every Tamang’s village, leads the
feast, shepherding the villagers to Gosainkund and involving them into the feast. This
makes the feast so unique. You can experience Hinduism and Tamang’s Shamanism at
once on the same day.
In rainy season trekkers are scarce, not only because of the bad condition for walking
and also because they cannot appreciate Himal, which means mountains covered by
snow. But, unable to give up the alluring feast, in spite of worries and dissuasions from
my friends and family, I ventured to reserve nine-day trekking tour at Social Tours, a
responsible tourism agency in Nepal.
For Rasuwa state, Tamang tribe, and the feast Janai Purnima, I ask your patience. I will
tell you about them in the next articles and here I’d like to start with my guide La Ma.
If it had not been him, if it had not been his wise, professional guide and his warm
heart towards people, I could not have finished the arduous journey.
It was one of the days left before leaving when I met La Ma. He educated me about
the trekking plan and checked the route on the map. In the morning of the day before
the date of departure, he said he could help me with packing, sending me a list of
articles I need to take. But I had to work through that evening, so I could only said
that I would pack my bags as best as I could. Next day, I found him waiting near my
house.
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| Asha with the guide LaMa |
La Ma, a female porter Da Fui, and me composed a team and stepped off towards
Sundarisal, the starting point of our journey. As La Ma suggested to call our team
name my Nepali name Asha, meaning ‘hope,’ we arrived at the entrance of Sundarisal,
which belonged to Shivapuri National Park, one of the ten National Parks in Nepal.
Sundarisal is also source of water supply for the capital city Kathmandu.
We drank Nepali tea Chia and had a bite of Selroti, a crispy rice donut. La Ma is a
Tamang tribesman. Then I came to know that there are a hundred of tribes at most
which consist of various smaller units of tribes under the larger units. To be exact, La
Ma can be called a tribesman of Bomjan, which is a smaller unit of Tamang tribe. I
could see La Ma speaking Tamang language a lot during the trip, for most of the
people we encountered on the way were Tamang tribesmen.
He explained that he as a Tamang tribesman, believed in Buddhism, but also in
Hinduism, about which he had no choice but to because he was born in Nepal, the
country of Hinduism. He accepts what he can from Buddhism, and Hinduism in proper
harmony and regards them as his part of life.
Unfolding the map, he double-checked the course we should finish that day. We
shouted spell to cheer us up and began our journey. La Ma handed each trekking pole
to Da Futi and me respectively and for himself insisted to walk without them.
The destination of the first day was Chisopani, 2,141 meters above sea level. At the
entrance was an information board of Nepal Environment and Tourism Initiative
Foundation(NETIF), where the regulations tourists should follow and the description of a
variety of flora were written, stood. As soon as I found the name NETIF on the board, I
was so glad to see it again. I remembered the day I had been invited as an instructor
to Sustainable tourism guide training held in Nepal last year.
Marijuana farm planted here and there by villagers nearby came to my eyes all the
while climbing up. It is said that Shiva was fond of smoking it. During rainy days, after
the sun rises, it shortly sets down in the middle of the afternoon at about three to
four. Then it becomes usually foggy accompanying rain. Coming after the sun’s cycle,
we had to keep having breakfast at 7 a.m., departing before 8 a.m., and arriving at the
destination around 3 to 4 p.m. everyday. Arriving at Chisopani, we warmed our cold
bodies with hot Chia and La Ma briefed the others on the tomorrow course, spreading
the map and compass he brought.
“Asha, I don’t want Da Futi live as a porter for her whole lifetime. Buddism taught me
to share with others what I learned. I believe I should make Da Futi keep learning,” he
said. Then he had Da Futi set next to him and began to teach how to read a map,
how to use compass, how to measure the distance from a map and so on. His lecture
beginning from the first day continued day and night until the trip was over. At the
end of our journey, Da futi seemed to stir herself to study harder reviewing what she
had written down on her notebook.
Da Futi was a twenty-year-old girl, a Sherpa tribeswoman from Solukhumbu of Himal
area. Following her oldest brother who had been guiding Himal climbing for a long
time, she had also come down from Himal a year ago. She had been working in
3sisters, the famous social enterprise for training female porter and guide, in Pokhara.
Then she had recently moved to Kathmandu and were living with her little brother who
was a clerk at trekking equipment store in the tourist district Thamel.
The second day’s destination was Kutumsang, 2,470 meters above sea level. It was not
before long we came across a Tamang family heading for direction of Gosainkund. They
were walking and resting in turn to get to the village stood before Kutumsang where
their friends live. This time they asked where we are heading for today. As we
answered, the father of the family turned to me and said, worrying, “how can that
daughter finish it?” La Ma was cosy up to the family, interviewing, filming, and taking
photos.
As closer to 2,500 meters above sea level, there appears no shower booth and no
electricity. The village around there used solar power, but due to rainy season no sun,
so no electricity. My cell phone turned off finally. The higher we go up, the worse we
got. I couldn't take a shower during four days. Being messed up with sweat and
soaked, I continued to walk until the day I arrived at the lake.
I was worn out. As I was about to gulp down cold beer, La Ma whipped out that it
was the last beer he can allow to me because tomorrow we should climb up to 3,690
meters above the sea level. He ordered a soup, saying it was much better for us. How
can I cross his words?
The third day had come. We left for Tharepati and entered Langtang National Park. As
the altitude sharply went up, biological diversity changed. La Ma pointed at some tree
for me to observe how it looks. The natives kept directing at the point where we
should reach and informing us that it would take several more hours to get there. La
Ma covered my eyes and ears, saying playfully not to listen to them. The only word I
learned exactly during the journey was ‘Ukalo,’ meaning an ascent. I cannot even count
how many times I heard ‘Ukalo.’
I could not remember how I had come so far. Anyway, it was the day we had to get
Phedi, 3,730 meters above the sea level. Then tomorrow we would finally arrive at
Gosainkund. A Nepali man seemed to get high on his joy and cried out loud. That
unending noise was hard to listen to. At that moment, La Ma asked him to refrain
himself from making noise and to have a sense of respect towards nature and other
tourists. I was walking wearing a raincoat because it had unceasingly been raining since
yesterday. As I reached almost about 4,000 meters above sea level, I was so out of
breath and panting that my feet scarcely off from the ground. Heavy rain was falling. I
swayed this and that way with my legs loosed.
At the lodge not far from Gosainkund were there crowded with people already. The
Nepali, each of whom had walked at different speed from different place, came across
all together. The Tamang family we had met on the second day was also there. They
did not know each other, but they united together in that all had met each other on
the same way and in that all were heading for the same destination.
At a high altitude, with rain, it was so cold that everybody got together around fire.
They took out traditional Nepali Khukuri Rum, watered it, knocked it over, then unified
into one, and celebrated their feast, dancing and singing. I was also dying to down the
hot rum, but I had to restrain myself, for La Ma insisted stiffly lest I would suffer from
mountain sickness. They interjoined as one like they had known each other, after small
talks coming and going such as where they were from, which tribe they belonged to.
La Ma was dancing in the middle of them as united with them and heightened the
gayety.
That night the three of us slipped into a room and had a chat with each other when
everybody else was feasting outside. La Ma started his story. I came to know his dream,
and it made me hard to wait to see the future he would make.
He is a young man with his own dream, having worked in trekking field for four years.
It is common that Nepali both study and work at the same time since they are young.
The classes at undergraduate and graduate schools begin at 6 a.m.. When the classes
are over, they go to work. When they are home, they feed their little siblings. They
study, do household chores, and work at the same time. So it is not strange for them
to start their own business in their early twenties.
La Ma is talented in different activities. He goes rock climbing and thanks to which he
appeared in a TV commercial of Nepali Ramen. He is a singer and a drummer in his
band The Boyz Next Door. He acquired general certificate of trekking guide and now is
trying to obtain professional certificate of mountaineering guide needed for guiding to
climb high altitude himal mountain .
He has just finished the basic course. He will expand his experience following Himal
climbing as a porter. It will take four years to acquire the certificate. Then he will try to
get International climbing guide to broaden his stage into the globe. He is also
interested in mountain bike. He is learning rock climbing to achieve its certificate in
February next year. He, though young, knew his calling. He was a marvellous young
man who was ambitious enough and understood that he needed to take steady steps
to realize his dream.
“Asha, I think it is my job to do my best for my parents. When I was young, I
answered phone calls from clients at a website production company for six
months(there are a lot of companies locating call centers in English spoken countries
like the Philippines, India, Nepal to cut down labor costs.). I was in Nepal, but I had to
lie to clients I was in America. I went to work at midnight. I was so exhausted.
Mountain Everest(Sagarmatha in Nepali)is stood in Nepal. I think Nepal is a country full
of potential. I love teaching others. Later I’d like to build an school teaching outdoor
activities. I will teach how to pack a bag, how to do first aid, how to cook in the wild,
how to set up a tent. But I think I should control my desires and interests. Because I
can’t do everything I want. I always try to keep positive energy and I think it’s most
important.”
He was a man whose heart was filled with pride towards his country Nepal and was
dreaming his specific future. During the journey, he was willing to lend his hand to
kitchen, took care of people suffering mountain sickness, giving them medicine,
preparing hot water for them, and even making room in his tent for them. For nine
days, he treated everybody smiling with a sense of hospitality all the time and I never
saw him frowning. It was the night before the day arriving at Gosainkund and I heard a
priceless story. Tomorrow, we will go to the lake.
