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Landing at the world’s most dangerous airport, Paro Airport (PBH)

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

I was freaking out.  Was I really about to fly into the world’s most dangerous airport?! FML.

I’ve flown so many times that flying is second nature to me, but it wasn’t until I was killing time at the Kathmandu Airport that I learned that my next flight to Paro, Bhutan, was to the world’s most dangerous airport.  My flight to Paro was delayed which is common for flights to Bhutan so I decided to surf the net and figure out what there is to do in Paro; instead, I saw a bunch of search results about Paro Airport and none were favorable.

The airport is located 7,300 ft above sea level, surrounded by 16,000 ft Himalayan peaks, and has a landing strip only a mile long.  It’s the only airport in the world where the altitude exceeds the length of the landing strip!  Pilots must dodge the mountains and houses on either side as they come in for landing.  Not only that, there are reports that because of the complexity in maneuvering the landing, only eight pilots are allowed to land at this airport.  For all these reasons, Paro Airport is reportedly the world’s most dangerous airport.

Great.  I didn’t know what to expect so I sat there anxiously.  Praying.  All the way until we took off.  This was the most nervous I’ve ever been flying.  Like, EVER.

Luckily, the flight from Kathmandu to Paro was short – just an hour.  Before I knew it, we were on our descent already.  The plane curved sharply left and right as it headed toward a valley between the mountains.

Then it swung around to position itself for landing.  We passed by beautiful farming terraces which distracted me from the actual touch down…

…and just as quickly as we took off, I heard the familiar sound of the plane’s wheels touching ground!  We arrived – safely! And it wasn’t scary at all – at least, not for a passenger.

(First glimpse of Paro Airport – fancy!)

I don’t know what the articles were talking about because the flight was totally safe and in retrospect, I shouldn’t have read any of them before my flight (what timing, right?).  So, if anyone is reading this while waiting for their flight to Paro, please, please don’t worry!  The pilots know what they are doing and as a passenger, there’s no difference between flying into Paro or any other airport!

In other news, I am really excited to be in Bhutan – it’s a country I never actually thought I’d get to see but now that I’m here, I am on a mission to figure out if it deserves its nickname as “the last shangri-la”!

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Mark - May 21, 2013 - 10:56 am

I mean really, no many jobs where you are 1 out of 8 subject matter experts.. you were probably in good hands. :)

then again, if your pilot wasn’t 1 of those 8.. well…….

:P
love following your journey. keep up the posts!

Cooking Lessons In Nepal: How To Make Momos

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Although I love exploring new cities on my own, I often look for tours that give me unique insight into the local culture or provide an opportunity for me to connect with locals.  While my current Nepal guide has been indispensible in navigating the country, acting as my translator, carrying my luggage (I objected, but he insisted since he used to be a porter), and helping me swap hotels, the “tour package” he created for me was pretty status quo as far as itineraries go; it hits the country’s highlights.  That is great, but I wanted more… so I signed up for a cooking tour.  What better way to immerse myself in Nepali culture than to get down and dirty and cook a Nepalese dish?

I had read that momos are a national dish in Nepal so I was eager to try some during my stay.  When I saw them, however, they looked just like the Chinese dumpling!   In fact, the Chinese were the ones who brought dumplings to Tibet.  The Tibetans took the essence of the dumpling and tweaked the recipe to their liking.  Next the Nepalis learned how to make the dumplings from the Tibetans and gave the recipe their own spin.  Today, momos are sold all over the country and come in all types: vegetable momos, chicken momos, buff (buffalo) momos – supposedly there are even dessert momos.  You can get an order of 12 momos for as little as $1-$2USD.

Since momos are so popular in Nepal, the cooking tour was a lesson in how to make them.  Lucky for me there were only two others on the tour with me (I love small tours).  We started off at 10:30am with a quick shopping trip to a nearby “grocery store” in Thamel to pick up veggies and flour.

Then it was off to the vendor around the corner who was busy mincing the chicken by hand.

Once we got the goods, we got crackin’ in the kitchen.  Our tour guide laid out all the ingredients and put us to work washing, cutting, and chopping the tomatoes, onions, and cabbage.   The tomatoes were then heated with spices to make the momo dipping sauce.

The onions and cabbage are used in the momo filling.  As a result, they had to be diced super finely and that alone took a while since none of us is used to mincing our veggies.  Had we known we’d have to chop the veggies so much we probably would have requested to make daal bhaat, the other national dish, instead!  We also shredded carrots, sliced scallions, and mashed garlic for the filling.

(Vegetable momo ingredients before being mixed)

(Chicken momo dish after a good mixing)

Once the filling was ready, we prepared the momo dough and got busy wrapping.  I channeled the Chinese blood in me and figured out how to wrap the momos pretty quickly.  I can’t say the same for the other two Americans – one kept overfilling his momos and wondering why he couldn’t wrap them and the other plain quit after a while because she couldn’t nail the technique.  All three of us, however, agreed we’d rather buy momos than make them ourselves!

Once we finished making the 100+ momos, they were steamed for 12-15 minutes.

In all, it took us about 2 hours to make everything.  Ours weren’t as pretty as the “professional” ones but they tasted just as good!

P.S. For the record, I still prefer Chinese dumplings to momos.  Chinese dumplings are juicier and “simpler” in flavor since it doesn’t have a slew of spices added in the filling…that said, I appreciate the Nepalese take on the dumpling and you can’t beat the price.

If you’re interested in making momos, here’s the recipe we used:

Momo Recipe (serves 6-8 people)

Ingredients for the filling

  • 1 kg flour
  • 1 Kg minced chicken
  • 5 Red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 Cup green onion, finely chopped
  • 200 gm cabbage, finely chopped
  • 3 teaspoon garlic, minced
  • 3 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
  • 1⁄2 kg tomato (fried it at first)
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 2 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon red chilies powder
  • 2 teaspoon MoMo Masala
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 3 teaspoon sunflower oil
  • 1 tablespoon ghee (if vegetarian momos)
  • Salt to taste

Ingredients for the dough

  • Wheat Flour
  • Adequate water

Ingredients for the tomato sauce

  • 1⁄2 kg Tomatoes (roasted or grilled)
  • Green Coriander
  • 2 teaspoon garlic
  • Salt according to taste
  • 1 teaspoon Chilli powder or 5 piece green chilies

Directions

  1. Heat all the tomato sauce ingredients together and set aside.  This is the dipping sauce for the momos.
  2. Make the dough for the wrapper: Add about 3 glasses of water to the dough.  Mix well, knead until the dough becomes homogeneous in texture, about 10-15 min. Cover and let stand for at least 20 min. Knead well again before making wrappers.  Set aside.
  3. Mix all the filling ingredients together in a mixer, combine it in a large bowl with meat. Mix well with hand, adjust for seasoning with salt.
  4. Give the dough a final knead. Take a ball, roll between your palms to spherical shape. Dust working board with dry flour.
  5. On the board gently flatten the ball with your palm to about 2-in circle. Make a few semi-flattened circles, cover with a bowl. Use a rolling pin to roll out each flattened circle into a wrapper.
  6. Important: For well executed momos, it is essential that the middle portion of the wrapper be slightly thicker than the edges to ensure the structural integrity of dumplings during packing and steaming. Hold the edges of the semi-flattened dough with one hand and with the other hand begin rolling the edges of the dough out, swirling a bit at a time. Continue until the wrapper attains 3 inch diameter circular shape. Repeat with the remaining semi-flattened dough circles. Cover with bowl to prevent from drying.
  7. The art in momos is in the packing. For packing hold wrapper on one palm, put one tablespoon of filling mixture and with the other hand bring all edges together to the center, making the pleats. Pinch and twist the pleats to ensure the absolute closure of the stuffed dumpling. This holds the key to good tasting, juicy dumplings.
  8. Once you’re done making all the momos, it is time to cook them. Heat up a steamer, oil the steamer rack well. This is critical because it will prevent dumplings from sticking. Arrange uncooked momos in the steamer. Close the lid, and allow steaming until the dumplings are cooked through, about 10-15 mins.
  9. Take the dumplings off the steamer, and immediately serve. To serve, arrange the cooked momos on a plate dressed with tomato sauce.
Posted inCultural & Historical,NepalTags:
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Death By A Thousand Bug Bites

Friday, May 17, 2013

The past three days sucked.

The first day, I checked into a hotel in Nagarkot – unassuming on the outside, but with fantastic views of the valley from the balcony.  My room was quaint, on one of the top floors, with sweeping views from my balcony.

Not bad, right?  Wrong.  This turned out to be the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at.

My room was a haven for moths and there were lots of them!  Behind the curtain, on the bathroom walls, on the wooden panels on the ceiling.  The hotel sent staff over three separate times to get rid of the 40 or so moths in total, but like annoying ex-boyfriends, they would keep coming back.

(This is lady spent 20 min in my room catching moths and other creepies)

It was sick.  I was sick!  I got switched to another room.  They tried to reassure me that this second room was insect-free but when I went in, I spotted only one moth but a few spiders and flies.  I’ve stayed in Costa Rica’s tropical climate where over 100,000 types of insects exist and didn’t have an experience even close to this!  After they vacuumed up the insects in the second room, I was about to get cozy and I noticed yet more spiders.  Yuck.  I hate, hate, hate spiders.  I hate insects in general, but I especially can’t stand those damned eight-legged little monsters.  At this point, the tour guide came and told me he found another room for me that was more well insulated and should be less likely to harbor insects.  By now it was 11pm (I spent the whole night identifying bugs in my room as they switched me from room to room).  The third room was better, but we still spotted an insect or two.  Not knowing if the creepy crawlers were around me, I barely slept that night.

The second day, I switched to a hotel back in Kathmandu and woke up to over fifty insect bites on the back of my neck.  AHHHHH!  I am not sure if the bites were from the hike I did the day before or if the hotel had bed bugs, but the insects went to town on my neck.  The combination of 50+ bites itched like mad; I couldn’t even think of anything else other than how friggin’ itchy my neck was and how badly I wanted to scratch it!

(Here is where a picture of my beaten up neck would go but I didn’t want anyone to vomit at the sight so you lucked out.)

When there’s an itch you’re dying to scratch but you can’t, well, it’s like hell.  The good news is that I was headed to a different city that day and would have another hotel room.  The bad news is that after dealing with the 40+ moths and now the 50+ insect bites, I was both shaken and paranoid.

Even though I wasn’t sure if it was bed bugs, I wasn’t 100% certain it wasn’t either… so I researched bed bugs online all night, checked the entire mattress for signs of these pests, thoroughly examined my luggage, and scotched-taped any small insects I found in the room.  Then I examined the bugs I caught in the tape trying to figure out if it matched the descriptions of bed bugs.  Sometimes I couldn’t tell if what I was looking at was an insect or just a crumb so that made the whole process all the more trying.  Clearly, I freaked myself out and again, I barely slept that night.

The following morning, I headed out with my guide who wanted to show me a cave that led to a view of a waterfall.  I don’t mind caves since they are usually cool inside and it was hot outside.  But when we stepped foot into the cave, I saw a snake slithering down the steps and just about screamed.

(Can you see the perpetrator? I shudder at the sight!)

Of all the reptiles out there, snakes are my least favorite.  In fact, when Mr. T and I went to a cobra show in Thailand, I just about ran out and cried when the cobra “tamer” swung the snake like a lasso at the audience.  Yea, I’m that much of a baby.  Snakes are nasty and evil – long, slithery, and scaly. No thanks!  The guide had to calm me down and convince me to keep walking because I was ready to bolt out of the cave.  When we finished our visit (which btw, was nothing to write home about), I was sweaty, fidgety, and basically, a wreck.

After the past three days, I decided I had enough.  I was sick of dealing with the non-stop insects in this country.  They are everywhere (which doesn’t surprise me considering the amount of filth everywhere).  Completely unrelated to insects, I also decided I was tired of power outages at hotels and the constant lack of hot water (I’ve been having cold and luke warm showers here).  I was supposed to continue on to Chitwan, the Nepali jungle, and ride the elephants to spot the famed one-horned rhinoceros, but I’ve been to Africa before and I’m positive any experience in Chitwan would be second to an African safari. Besides, given that Chitwan is well over 100 degrees right now, I’m willing to bet my life it will be rife with more creepy crawlies.  Add to that the power outages and the lack of AC and you have the makings for a migraine.

With that, I’m back in Kathmandu now.  At a nice hotel.  That actually has elevators.  A back up generator.  Clean sheets.  HOT WATER.  Even a welcome drink.  And most importantly, not a damn insect.

I had a pleasant conversation with the hotel manager today.  I was relieved to hear that he’s worked in hospitality for 18 years all over Europe.  Naturally, I pried a little more to figure out what the heck is up with the abundance of insects in Nepal’s hotels.  He confirmed that hygiene and sanitation are severely lacking in Nepal and most hotel owners simply don’t care to upgrade their hotels (the furniture is often worn) or pay for proper sanitation.  They’d rather have paying customers; they don’t have the foresight to see the potential returns they could get if they invested in the hotel quality. That explains everything.

Mr. T keeps asking if I regret coming to Nepal now.  No, I absolutely do not regret it!  I never regret going to any country.  Not in the past, not now, and not in the future.  Although Nepal is one of the poorest countries I’ve been to and far from a luxurious destination, it has been illuminating for me beyond words.  In such a short amount of time, I’ve learned so much about the Nepalese culture and about myself, and I am reminded to appreciate everything I have at home so much more… and I love that traveling does that for me.  So, no regrets.  Ever.  Just lessons learned (and a bunch of travel advice to give to anyone headed to Nepal).

I’m using the next few days as a retreat to recover from all the bites on my neck (it looks like I have wretched skin disease now), practice yoga, and attend meditation class.  Incidentally, I’ve been having the most enlightening mornings with my meditation guru!  He calls himself the Karma Yogi of Illusion.  What a name, right?  This random turn of events is now the perfect opportunity for me to discover the spiritual side of Nepal!  I’m blessed.

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