Christmas in Kathmandu

Christmas this year was bound to be different than any either of us had had before. It would be our first married Christmas, our first Christmas away from friends and family, and our first Christmas in a non-Christmas country. I think that the first two would have been easier to deal with without the last. Multi armed Hindu deities and shimmering white Buddhist Stuppas don’t really evoke yuletide cheer. Also, the Christian population of Kathmandu in negligible, so there wasn’t even a hint of the normal holiday iconography (santa, bells, Christmas trees, etc.) that we are used to getting bombarded with each year to remind us of the season. We would have to make our own Christmas cheer.

Christmas in Kathmandu

First order of business was to acquire appropriate attire. We purchased red and white wool caps from a local shop, then had them modified to look a little more Christmassy. I even bought a Santa beard from the one shop in the city we found selling Christmas stuff. The result looked pretty silly, but it did seem to amuse the Nepalis we passed in the street, especially the young children, and got lots of high fives from other western travellers.

Next we found a church, well sort of. The assumption church is the only Catholic church in Kathmandu. It is a small congregation tucked away in the backstreets of one of the suburbs. The problem is that nobody (aside from its congregants I assume) knew where it was. We spent three hours driving, then walking through the suburbs of Kathmandu on Christmas Eve and never found it. This was a real disappointment for us, but we can only hope that baby Jesus gives us credit for trying.



Gifts under the tree

Having missed out on mass, we headed back to our hotel to exchange gifts and for a little reveillon (if Nepali whiskey and pringles count as reveillon). I did manage to buy a very small Christmas tree at the same store I bought the Santa beard, so the gifts were “under” a tree, but there was no wrapping paper to be found, so newspaper had to suffice. The only problem was that our hotel was next to a nightclub that was blaring music so loud we thought we were on the dance floor. We actually (poor us) had to step out for a nightcap to avoid the noise.

Christmas day was quite nice. We were able to skype with our families, which was really great. We were able to watch them open the gifts we had sent them from Africa, and were able to talk with each of them. It was as close as you could get to being there and really made our day. The highlight though, had to be talking to Colleen’s grandmother. I don’t think she had ever used skype before, and the look on her face when we wished her merry Christmas from Nepal was priceless. Also, a girl Colleen had helped with a small cut on her leg a few weeks earlier invited us to lunch. This would have been nice enough on its own, but the girl was French, and her mother had just flown into Nepal to join her and had brought all sorts of French delicacies like foie gras and andouille. We ended the day at a western style restaurant that served a very passable turkey dinner with very strong egg nog.

All in all maybe not either of our best Christmas’, but certainly one neither of us will forget anytime soon.


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Michael
Menhora hotel,
Tanon Surawongse
Bangkok, Thailand