Family Reunion in Nepal

We heard the drums as our car pulled up to Champa’s family house in eastern Nepal. Then we saw the dancers. Champa’s brother appeared with an armful of flower garlands. His wife held colorful scarves.

We’d arrived in Ilam, where Champa grew up and the two of us met when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Now it was 45 years later and we were traveling with our older son, Paul, his wife Stephanie and their four daughters. It was 9:30 p.m. Our drivers had been navigating the rutted, dusty roads since 4:30 a.m.

Champa with two of the dancers who welcomed us to Ilam.

Our exhaustion gave way to astonishment, then elation as we stumbled out of our two jeeps and entered the courtyard. With flowers and scarves around our necks and drums beating beside us, we joined the traditional Limbu folk dance.

Three days later we encountered an even bigger welcome, this time in the small village of Champa’s late older sister, where several of our nieces and nephews still live. This time we heard the drums as we walked on a mountain path approaching their house. Our extended family was waiting there with flower garlands. Two girls performed a dance. Folded hands and namastes gave way to hugs.

The drums and dancers paused long enough to snap this photo of our arrival in Samalbung.

These were just two of many unforgettable moments during our trip to Nepal, from where we returned a few days ago. We’ll remember our granddaughters seeing Kathmandu’s glorious temples and the monkeys at Swayambhou. There was Maya singing at Ilam’s outdoor Christmas show. Paula playing soccer with local men. The twins laughing with their cousins. School visits. Tea with old friends. Steaming plates of momos. Roosters waking us at sunrise.

We visited a school in Samalbung run by our nephew Santosh and his colleagues.

Paul and Stephanie had wanted to make the trip for years. Now, finally, our global family was brought together. Our worries about the trip never materialized. Everyone stayed healthy. Our family and friends welcomed us at every stop with boundless generosity. The girls fell in love with Nepal, as we’d hoped they would.

We’re still processing the trip. I’ll post more about it soon and also about Qatar, where Champa and I stopped on our way home. For now, I hope you’ll enjoy the photo slide show below.

Nepal, we miss you already.

Champa flew to Nepal in late November. I followed in mid-December, a few days before Paul, Stephanie and the girls arrived. In the middle is our nephew Shankar, who hosted us while we were in Kathmandu.
Monkeys scurried near us as we posed at Kathmandu’s Swayambhou Temple.
We ate lunch at this rooftop cafe above Patan’s Durbar Square. The food was good; the view, spectacular.
At the National Botanical Garden in Godawari.
Champa and I met at this school where I was posted as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She was also teaching there.
Our twins became fast friends with their cousin in Ilam.
The cousins watched Netflix together one evening, just one of many ways Nepal is changing.
The girls and their cousins tried their luck in the fish pond beside the family home in Samalbung.
We visited relatives and friends in Samalbung, a small village along Nepal’s eastern border with India.
Celebrating the Tamu Lhosar festival at the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu.
Shopping for souvenirs at one of Kathmandu’s outdoor markets.
Family and friends generously hosted us at throughout our trip, including this dinner with our niece, Pooja, and her family in Kathmandu.