Saturday night I hopped in a cab after watching the Derby and having a fun dinner with my dad. I normally would have taken the subway, but I wanted to make the next train and time was tight.
The cabby started asking me the usual questions… Did you have a good day? Where do you live? What do you do? It was obvious he wanted to chat.
So I asked him some questions. When I asked him where he was from, he said Dallas. He had an accent I couldn’t identify, but it was definitely not a Texas accent. I asked him where he lived before Dallas. You guessed it; Nepal.
I think he was a little scared and a bit confused when I screamed, “No way!” We had the best time chatting. His family still lives in Kathmandu and he was 12 years old the first time he went to Camp 1 (above EBC).
The first question I asked him was how to say thank you in Nepali. There have been countless times that I’ve needed help in a strange land (including New Jersey). Being able to thank people for their kindness in their language is something I try to do. It’s not much of an effort on my part, but I think it shows I’m sincere. The Nepali word for thank you is dhanybhad.
I told him I am planning a trip to Mount Everest Base Camp in April 2012. He said I should try to go this October as this is a special year of tourism for Nepal and October is a month-long celebration better than Christmas and New Year’s. When I told him that was out of the picture, he said I would still have a great time.
But, he warned, be careful…it was dangerous. Dangerous? Not what I wanted to hear. I told him I was going with a group. His advice was to stay with the group on the mountain and back in Kathmandu. That’s exactly what I plan to do!