nepal: motorcycle ride

i feel like i won't necessarily write very interestingly as i write here about my time in nepal, but it is a good place to write observations down, so maybe you will find some of them interesting.

ruthie drove me on her motorcycle into more downtown kathmandu today. riding on a motorcycle in nepal is different than riding on a scooter in china. for one thing, all the streets in my city in china are so flat and straight. here there are hills and much narrower roads and really no traffic lights or anything of that sort. riding on a scooter in china is smooth and everything feels open. here it is bouncy from the potholes in the roads and downhill and uphill and riding right past trucks and other vehicles going in the opposite direction and past bunches of walking people. in china there is more space on the road. i didn't feel like i was going to die at any point on this ride, but riding downhill on a motorcycle towards oncoming traffic is a little scary. i've never liked riding downhill on a bicycle either, unless it's not much of a slope. i don't think i've ever felt like i was going to die on the road in china either. it's on a little disconcerting when taxis every now and then go way faster than they should and weave around other traffic.
i'm starting to recognize roads near ruthie's house too, but it's hard because all the roads are so small and similar looking to me, and none of them have names. ruthie was saying that she wouldn't know how to tell someone to get to her house, whether they are nepali or not. it would involve telling them lots of landmarks, but that would be difficult.

we went to a street with lots of shops and looked at lots of lovely different fabrics. they sell sets of fabrics that match for ladies to buy so that they have one for pants, one for khurta (a kind of shirt), and one that is a scarf. there were so many beautiful ones and the ladies in the shop just kept pulling more and more off the shelves so i felt confused about which ones i actually liked! i did buy two different ones, but you will have to see pictures of those another time. the clothes the ladies wear here are so beautiful. it makes me wish people everywhere wore clothes like that! i don't know what these western people are thinking with all of their strange fashion things they come up with. the ladies' clothes here are so colorful and happy looking, and modest and comfortable at the same time. i was thinking too that i would totally wear these clothes in china even while i am teaching (i could wear them with different pants if i wanted to too), but i don't know if i would ever wear them in america!! because people would just think that was so weird. maybe i would wear only the shirt and scarf part in america, but not the pants. i don't know. it's so fun to shop for fabrics though and be able to choose the exact style that you want for it then. tomorrow we will go to a tailor. it made me realize i have yet to have any chinese style shirt or dress made for myself in the 2.5 years that i have lived there so far. i think that's what i need to do soon after i go back to china--have a chinese style shirt made for myself. i should have at least one of those!