As we flew out of Kathmandu a few days ago we were treated to a parting view of the central and eastern Himalayas- the mountains rose far above the clouds and sparkled in the afternoon sun, truly heavenly bodies. I couldn't help but cry a little. I am prone to get a little emotional (this is Erin by the way), its true, but our experience in Nepal was so many adjectives- hard, spectacular, meditative, clarifying, frustrating, disgusting, heartbreaking, uplifting... it was hard not to feel so grateful for such a profound experience.
Our pilgrimage to the biggest mountains in the world was a dream come true. Like any experience though, I felt a tremendous amount of contradiction and internal conflict because of the undeniable impact that we tourist pilgrims have on the massive and yet fragile environment of the Himalaya. I can't help but wonder why it is that we go to such great discomfort and expense to experience the places that we dream about, only to ruin them by being there?
The reality that we all need water, energy, food and shelter and we create waste, has led to the enormous "yak trains," pit toilets draining directly to rivers, and impromptu garbage dumps along the sides of mountain cliffs and streams. In the month of October alone, the Everest area saw over 10,000 visitors, the majority of whom flew there, consumed huge amounts of products that were imported over great distance by yak or human back and left a bunch of waste in an environment where poop and plastic does not break down quickly.
In a place where there is literally water everywhere it all must be purified (for westerner consumption anyway) because there is always someone or some creature higher than you polluting the water source. I suspect that the people living there must suffer constantly from GI issues because they have no choice but to drink the water. While I did learn that Nepal is almost entirely supplied by hydro-power, (the small scale versions in the mountains are cool because they can serve an entire village) they are plagued by"load shedding" which is basically a rolling black-out for hours at a time because the supply can't meet the demand.
In both the Everest and Annapurna regions they are building roads into places that have only been served by trail forever and are so precarious that they cause huge landslides, rock falls and scars on the mountain sides that you can see from far away. But are the roads bad? Is it fair for me to say that the villagers who have historically had to walk for days or weeks to get supplies to feed their families should not have a road because it is bad for the environment? In both regions we were told that many of the villagers really want the roads. Bottled water and bags of chips may be easier to come by due to the roads but they have also destroyed the tea house business in some of the places; trekkers don't want to walk on a road.
And yet tourism is the main economic engine in Nepal. Without us traipsing around their country the Nepali people would theoretically be in financial straits and conditions might be worse for the people than they currently are. And the people of Nepal are so wonderful with their quick and easy smiles, its impossible to imagine not wanting to help them with our tourist dollars.
Needless to say my inner-tree hugger and urban planner spent many hours on the trail duking it out about whether or not I should even be there. My ideas about "sustainable development" just don't match up with the reality in Nepal, or many other developing countries for that matter. I wish that I could say that I've resolved the issue or figured out the answer to the world's problems but I haven't- darn! I'll keep working on it :)
Asian Toilets- an aside
I also wanted to address the issue of the merits and detractors of the Asian Toilet as Nepal was the first place that I've experienced this foreign form of water closet. If toilet talk bothers you please stop reading now. If you know me, you know that I can be passionate about toilets (1.28 gallons per flush pressure assisted models are my current fave!) mainly because we flush billions of gallons of clean drinkable water into the sewers unnecessarily everyday and efficient toilets can do a lot to prevent this. My work in the green building industry has made me long for the day when waterless composting toilets become the norm in our houses and commercial buildings, saving the precious resource that we will someday fight wars over, but I digress.
You can usually smell it before you see it, the Asian Toilet is a porcelain fixture with grip pads on either side for your feet and a hole in the back that presumably leads to a sewer (wishful thinking on my part). The toilet is set directly into the ground and there is no flushing mechanism. Next to the toilet there is a bucket of water with a dipper in it that you use to flush down the waste. You squat over the toilet to use it and, while I don't exactly understand the mechanics of it, Nepalis use the water bucket and their hand to wipe. You will never find toilet paper supplied in this type of toilet, its BYO TP. Dave W. thanks for the tip on traveling with TP. In touristy places they will have a waste bucket for used TP, otherwise, well it can be tough, I will leave it at that.
As I see it there are some benefits to this type of toilet. Mainly that they require a lesser quantity of water for flushing and the user can vary the amount of water as appropriate. They take up less space than a western toilet and I imagine that they are cheaper to install. In nicer establishments there is often a hose instead of the bucket which may have some hygenic benefits and eliminating the use of toilet paper would make trees rejoice around the world (or at least in my twisted little mind). Paul also believes that there are some health benefits to these toilets, we met another westerner who swears that they eliminate constipation. Hmm...
Detractors of the Asian Toilet abound. The acridic smell can be very overwhelming, particularly when already suffering from GI issues. If you can't squat due to knee/hip or other issues, you are pretty much "s%#t out of luck." I personally found the myth of the local hand-wiping technique to be very disturbing, especially when considering that these are the same people that are preparing your food. Gross.
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