Week 4: Legislative Hurdles and Tourist Things
Office Update
I left for Nepal four weeks ago, but I feel like I have lived here much longer. At work, I have a settled routine. Most of my days are spent on legislative research. My assignment this past week was to prepare a brief policy paper on the relationship between the Human Trafficking Transportation Control Act, the Foreign Employment Act, and the Labour Act in relation to labor trafficking. I found the research incredibly interesting, and after spending the first couple weeks of my internship studying Nepal’s new federalist structure, understanding the legislation is getting easier.
On the other hand, tracking down English translations of the laws is challenging. When I am fortunate enough to find an English copy, the translation is not always clear. There have been multiple occasions where a certain provision of a law seems to directly contradict the Constitution, and I resort to searching through numerous secondary resources to see whether it was a translation error or a true contradiction. The research process is further complicated by Nepal’s evolving governance framework. With a Constitution only four years old, Nepal is still determining how to implement federalism. In the past four weeks, I have read multiple laws amended after the Constitution’s ratification that continue to leave out provincial and local level participation.
All of these factors make it difficult to give sound policy recommendations. However, working in an evolving political framework means there is an openness to change. When news reaches the project that a law is being amended, Hamro Samman makes it a priority to pull together recommendations to better equip Nepal to prevent human trafficking and provide justice to survivors. Most importantly, more and more government officials are becoming aware of the factors that lead to trafficking, and it is so encouraging to see that reflected in their policy priorities.
Tourist Things
There is only a little bit of daylight left by the time I finish work, so most days I head straight back to my Airbnb to avoid being out at night by myself. By the time the weekend rolls around, I am pretty eager to get out and explore Kathmandu.
I usually spend at least part of my weekends in Thamel, the tourist district. I start my Saturdays morning in a small church that meets in a restaurant on the main street, offering one of the few English services in Kathmandu. After the service, I spend the rest of the afternoon looking through the various shops and trying restaurants I find on TripAdvisor. Most of my meals at work are dal bhat, which is a traditional Nepalese dish consisting of rice and lentil soup, usually accompanied with another dish of vegetables, curry, or yoghurt. For the most part, I really enjoy Nepalese food, but Thamel is nice because it hosts some western restaurants too. I can usually find a restaurant that tastes a bit more like home, but even the tourist-friendly restaurants usually do not offer a lot of dishes with meat, so most of my meals are vegetarian.
As much as I love exploring some of the tourist areas, traveling by myself can be exhausting. Although my Airbnb is situated conveniently close to my office, I am pretty far from most of the tourist sites. Relying on taxis is frustrating because I know I am paying way more than the locals, despite all of my bartering efforts. Buses are supposed to be significantly cheaper, but I still have no idea how they work after four weeks here; from my perspective, somebody dangles out of a window and shouts something in Nepali—I presume directions on where they are going—and then they stop and pack as many people in as possible. It is not for the faint of heart, and my co-workers have told me it is probably best to stick with the taxi system.
This past weekend proved to be a nice change of pace. Punam, the subnational governance coordinator, invited me to spend the weekend with her family, offering to show me around Kathmandu. Eager to have a local guide, I headed to her home after work on Friday.
I spent most of the weekend at her home on the outskirts of Kathmandu, meeting her extended family and trying tons of Nepalese dishes. Punam and her family were incredible hosts, and I am not sure I will ever experience that kind of hospitality ever again. With such a large family and a limited seating area in the kitchen, meals are eaten in stages. Punam always eats last, but she and her family insisted on serving me first, always with the largest portions. In between meals, dishes of different Nepalese snacks would make it to my room, always unprompted. I have never been so full in my life.
On Saturday, Punam and her family took me to Bhaktapur, the old capital city of Nepal. The city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with temples and palaces dating back to the 15th century. Some of the most prominent buildings were destroyed by the earthquake, but it was fascinating to see how many of the structures are still standing. Punam and her family knew so much about Bhaktapur’s history, and unlike my solo expeditions, I finally had someone to take my picture.
Bhaktapur is also famous for Ju Ju Dhau, which literally means King’s Curd. Punam’s son told me that it was a special type of curd that used to be reserved only for kings, and it was unlike any other curd in Nepal. My experience trying Nepalese curds is a bit too limited to verify that statement, but it was really good.
We finished up the trip by stopping at a market near Punam’s house, filled with various vendors offering street food. I have mostly avoided street food, trying my best to not get sick during my time here. However, with some locals guides to vouch for which vendors to try, I helped myself to some laping (cold noodles served in a spicy curry sauce) and a dish that consisted of spicy fried potatoes. It was all so good.
Four weeks in, and I am sure this past weekend will serve as one of my favorite memories from this trip.
