All posts by margriet

Nov 13

You Are The Best, Right Now

By | Learnings | 4 Comments
  • December 2009
  • near Symbochen
I heard someone respond to the question “when are you the best version of yourself?” with, “Never”. She explained that you are always growing and developing and thereby aiming for that better, best version. While listening I had a very strong internal reaction… No, I disagree.

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Nov 01

The Distance between Dreams and Reality is called Action

By | Awesome Nepal, Learnings | 2 Comments
  • July 2013
Dream – enable and empower through entrepreneurship

Doing something sustainable in Nepal is not as easily said as done. I came here with many good intentions, and now that my time is nearing an end, it is not that my intentions are less, but I have definitely been confronted with some obstacles. But many times I have been reminded here, that things are as they are and you make due with what there is.

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Oct 28

I Choose Adventure

By | Exploring | No Comments
  • August 2014
  • October 2015
Spending money and time on travel adventures feeds the soul. I see it as mental maintenance, an investment in yourself. And you best do that as much as you can, as young as you can.

12 days ago I arrived in Marpha, without a permit for my restricted area Upper Mustang adventure. My permit was getting luxury treatment and was due to arrive by plane from Kathmandu the next day. I had had to do with a 12 hour bumpy bus ride as all my money was spent on the permit. Walking  from Marpha to Jomsom airport the next morning, I found out that my permit indeed had touched down in Jomsom, but that it also went straight back to Kathmandu on the return flight. Later flights that day were cancelled due to the wind, there was nothing left to do but wait..

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Oct 26

With Every Step

By | General | No Comments
  • May 2013
  • October 2015
  • October 2015
  • October 2015
Every step, every decision in my life has brought me here – a kitchen at 18:32 in Samar, Upper Mustang, Nepal. Waiting, accompanied by a glass of tato (hot) raksi, for mountain goat-head soup. A mutton that I witnessed being dissected at lunch time in Symbochen, a collection of houses separated from Samar by one town and a 4042 meter pass.

I do very little in Upper Mustang besides walking. Taking everything step by step.

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Oct 23

A Shower in the Land of Lo

By | Exploring, Learnings | No Comments
  • 1996
  • October 2015
Timing is everything when you want to shower in Lo Manthang. And believe me, with all the walking, and sand, and dust that manages to get everywhere, you want to shower. A shower in the morning is impossible as all water-mains (smallish black rubber tubes that run all throughout the mountains across Nepal) are frozen. No running water until at least 9-10 am when the sun has defrosted all tubes, in case of no sun – later. Although the water might be running at this time, it will come out of the tab near frozen, not nice for a shower you so badly want. So you wait..

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Oct 15

Live a Happy Life

By | Awesome Nepal, Inspiration | 2 Comments
  • Amsterdam
  • October 2015
  • October 2015
I came to Begnas Lake to reflect the intense yoga month. To sit, to think, to relax. Although just 17 kilometers from Pokhara it takes me 3 1/2 hours to get here. Because of the fuel shortage, there are less busses running, and the busses that run are full. Very full. After waiting for 45 minutes for my second bus out of Pokhara (the first one was so full I could hardly breath), I finally get an answer to my question “where can I get the bus to Begnas Tal?”, “Ahh no no, chinaa – no buses to Begnas Tal today”.

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Oct 04

YTT Week 4: Be Fearless

By | General | No Comments
  • August 215
  • October 2015
  • Octoer 2015
Yesterday I finished my 4 weeks of yoga teacher training! 200 hours worth of eye-opening classes leaving me physically fitter and mentally more aware. Going into the course I never really considered teaching as a possibility, just self-development. But now, coming out it feels like something worth looking into. Yoga, entrepreneurship and travel – quite an adventurous combination ;)?

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Sep 29

YTT Week 3: Oops, I did it again

By | Learnings | No Comments
  • April 2013
  • September 2015
Accepting limits (and respecting red flags) was my lesson this week. I like a challenge, and in that a little pain is often part of this. The pain reminds me that I am learning. But then there is pain and PAIN. Knowing the difference and respecting it, is maturity. I tend not to be so mature in this sense and push myself over the edge. With the result that I am left in a place where I need time to recover and thereby miss out on the process I so desperately want to experience.

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Sep 24

Lessons about donations in Nepal

By | General | 2 Comments
  • May 2001
  • September 2015
If i have to believe the local stories, the number of millionaires that have sprung up in Nepal since the earthquake is staggering, and saddening. Money that has been sent to help has often stayed in circles of people who do not need it, but took advantage of their connections. Whereas people who do need a helping hand where/are literally left in ruins. Conversations I have had here have reinforced my belief and feeling that foreign aid, donations and government are not the way to help the Nepali peoples (and likely other underdeveloped economies).

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