Nowhere Between Heaven and Hell

Nepal is the land of extremes. Everything is black or white, nothing is gray. You can go from near sea level to over 29,000 feet above sea level in a country the size of Tennessee. The south suffers from the heat of India while the north is frozen year round. You either love it here or you hate it here and you can do both within minutes of each other. That is what I have been told and that has been my experience so far.

Last week we were to travel to Shangri La, a hotel named after the fabeled heaven on Earth. It is located in Pokhara. The promise was for unlimited amounts of hot water, warmer temperatures, all meals were free at the buffet line, and the mountains were in your back yard. The timing could not have been better. Were are freezing here in Kathmandu without any heat in the winter fog. The purpose of our visit was our bi-annual missions conference. It would be a time of spiritual renewal and rest, but we had to get there first.

If there ever was a Shangri La it would have been in Pokhara. It is a small town located on the side of a huge glacier fed lake while nestled beneath Macha Puchre, Annapurna, and Dhauligiri. It is beautiful. The temperatures there are very mild even though it is surrounded by huge mountains covered in snow.

The problem with our trip to Shangri La was that there is still a war going on all around Pokhara and Kathmandu. The week prior to the conference was a week of fighting and rioting in Pokhara and Kathmandu. There was a strike, or bandh, the day before we were to leave, but on the day of our departure the roads were open and in the early morning hours we boarded a bus in the freezing cold and left our worries behind.

We did not make it far before our first obstacle faced us. Kody turned to me and said, "Daddy my tummy hurts and I gotta go potty!" This is not cause for alarm in many parts of the world, but here in Nepal it means one thing, "the Kathmandu Shuffle."

The "Shuffle" hits us all at one time or another here in Nepal. It has many different names, Amoeba, Giardia, Dyssentary, Typhoid, just to name a few. It involves massive movements of diarrhea and vomiting. Not the kind of thing you want at the start of a 6 hour bus ride with a 3 year old who is potty training.

We stopped five minutes into the trip to get gas and we made a run for it. The toilets in Nepal are not what you might call "Western." We call them "Sqatty Potties," but they are nothing more than a hole in the ground. Kody had never seen such a thing so he received a crash course in "How to crap in the woods." He was so sick that it did not matter where we were. We were shivvering in the filthiest place that I think I have ever been. At this point I did not think I could get any lower but I had no idea what the day had in store for us.

We finally returned to the road to Shangri La. We did not make if far before we entered our first military road block. These are common around here. The soldiers will enter your bus and order off anyone who looks suspicious. Then the suspect will march down the road and have his or her items searched. Fortunately, we were not selected for this and eventually we were back on the road.

Approximately two hours into the trip Kody decided that he was going to be sick. The bad thing was that I had no influence on where we stop. The public bus would only stop at predetermined stops so we were going to have to tuff it out. Luckily we stopped and I again had the priveledge of squeezing into the filthiest place on earth to hold my son out of the "Pit of Death." I cannot imagine that Hell smell a whole lot worse than this. It is probably just alot hotter.

After three trips to the "Pit of Death" we were back on the road again. We were just starting to fall asleep when our bus came around a corner on the edge of a cliff and stopped. I arose to see the worst traffic jam that I have ever seen.

The roads in Nepal just snake around carved lanes into the side of mountains. They are frequently washed out with land slides and other times they just fall away into the river 2000 feet below. As I looked out the front of our bus I could see cars in both lanes snaking around the mountains for miles. There was simply no place for them to go.

Some of you may remember that I described traffic in Nepal like a river. Well what happens when several logs flowing in the same direction run into a seive? You guessed it. They don't neatly line up in their lane of traffic so that when the seive is cleared traffic can resume. No, they drive into the oncoming traffic lane so that when the problem is fixed, the bigger problem becomes the miles of traffic lined up in both directions. I could not see any way possible that this could be fixed.

We decided to walk to the nearest town and just wait it out there. On the way to the town we learned that the problem was from a attack on a military convoy. The insurgents mined the road and tried to blow up several vehicles ahead of us. Once they detonated the mines they attacked and many people were injured or killed.

As we walked we saw a helicopter fly out the injured. Soon after that the military convoy decided that it needed to get through the traffic. This made everyone nervous. First, we had to do something with all the vehicles blocking the road and there was simply nowhere to go. Secondly, the convoy was a target and when you slow down the target with the traffic we all become targets and I did not want my children getting caught in the middle.

You would be surprised how fast traffic can clear out when soldiers with M-16s start telling you to move. A line cleared out and the convoy passed. This opened up a lane of traffic for the oncoming traffic to pass through. This is great, now the traffic log jam can be cleared right? Wrong! Everyone of the bus drivers just filled in the gap behind the convoy like water flowing around a rock in the river. I should have known.

We hiked to the nearby town of Mugling. The walk was a journey in itself. There were thousands of people on the road and buses everywhere. On one side of the road was a two thousand foot drop into the Trisuli River. On the other side was a huge rock wall.

Once in Mugling we had lunch in an open air restaurant. The only thing on the menu was Dhal Bhat. Dhal Bhat is the staple of the Nepali diet. Most Nepalis eat it twice a day and I too have eaten it twice today. It is rice and lentils. It is sometimes served with other vegetables. If you don't like rice you will starve to death in this country.

Poor Kody was still sick and the break gave us enough time for him to purge his insides as often as he wanted to. The break could have been a disaster with two kids except for the fact that Luke is blonde headed and blue eyed. With this on your side you are sure to make friends in Nepal. Nepali women love blonde haired blue eyed boys more than anything and they are almost worshipped. This is not a bad thing when you are stranded in a strange town. Pretty soon we had lines of women wanting to play with the kids and before the day was over they were having their shoulders massaged in front of the restaurant owners television inside her house. Nepali hospitality never ceases to amaze me.

Finally traffic started to move again. It had taken 6 hours to clear up the mess and we had only 10 minutes left before the curfew would have grounded us in Mugling. We left the city limits with only minutes to spare.

Shortly down the road we encountered another obstacle. The military was blocking the road and they ordered us around a short section. The reason was that the road was mined. We gladly did as we were told and you would be surprised how well a huge bus handles off road when it has to.

Shangri La was everything we had heard it would be. The water was hot, the food great, and the mountain views spectacular. I have never seen anything as beautiful as Macha Puchre. It towers over 20,000 feet above the town of Pokhara. It is no wonder that the Nepalis worship these mountains. They truly are an awesome site to see.

We had not been in Pokhara long before Luke started purging his insides. Luckily Kody was recovering and doing well, but Luke was getting really bad. He stopped eating and drinking and it was all we could do to keep him hydrated and out of the hospital. Luckily there were three different doctors at the conference who helped look after Luke. The problem was he still did not seem to get better. I would spend most of my time trying to get spoonfuls of water down his throat only for him to purge the water up and start the process over again.

By the end of the conference Luke was too sick to travel back to Kathmandu. We were able to stay at this hotel for free since it was the mission conference but now that it is over we had to find our own place. We found a room at a local hostel for $6 a night and decided to stay there for a few nights. This was one of the lowest points in our time in Nepal. Holding your 18 month old child while he just stares into space and does not have the energy to even lift his head is one of the hardest things a parent will ever have to do. I am completely helpless. The doctors have tried to fix it but nothing seems to work. He just does not seem to get better.

Water born pathogens claim many childrens lives in Nepal. Many simply are not able to get the medical treatment to kill the parasite in their stomach that eventually kills them. With this in mind I am fighting the temptation to just leave. I cannot stay here and watch my son die. Some friends assure me that the doctors in Nepal are better suited to treat this kind of thing because doctors in the west never see these types of illnesses, but I must confess, "I am really tempted to give up."

The day after the conference was over was another day of fighting in Nepal. Rioting mobs in Kathmandu burned tires and overturned police cars. Many people were injured and arrested. The roads were all closed due to another bandh. We were unable to even get a taxi ride to the airport if we wanted to fly home.

Finally after another day Shawna and Luke flew back to Kathmandu while Kody and I took the bus. The trip to Pokhara took us 13 hours and the flight home took 20 minutes. On the drive home there were smoldering vehicles on the side of the road. Evidence that someone tried to drive during the bandh. We encountered a small army of protesters marching down the road. Later we saw a huge convoy of protesters flying flags traveling the other direction. Despite all the show of force we encountered no problems.

We returned to our little green house thankful to be home. Luke is seeing another doctor at Patan Hospital and is being tested to determine what exactly he is fighting. Please pray for Luke. I cannot go on here with him sick. My family is the most important thing in the world to me and I realize that they too belong to God. They are not mine to hold on to but I will do anything to protect them. This is a hard time for us and I would give anything to be back home. It is one thing to serve in a country during a war but another to bring your family along. The stress of seeing bad things all around you and praying that your family will not be caught in the middle is starting to take its toll.

Posted by Jon at January 12, 2004 08:50 AM