Travel shows how different and how similar the world outside of our hometown can be. Whether it is travel to another state or another country, travel typically brings about a better understanding of how fellow humans live and relate. My limited experience in both the USA and Nepal lead me to some personal observations I want to share to help others understand both places. This is not a list of good and bad, right and wrong. It is simply the way things are as I see them and you can draw your own conclusions. I’d also invite you to visit both countries to draw make your own observations.
- Kids in both countries watch cartoons and like TV.
- In Nepal, visual pollution from motor vehicles is normal. In the USA vehicle pollution is regulated and often checked annually (along with vehicle safety in many states).
- Most people wear helmets while riding motorcycles, except some crazies (like those in Utah where it is not required by law).
Large cities in both countries are crowded and often a location of desire to make a living.- Religion plays a large roll in the lives in both countries, with most people seemingly ignoring most of the basic tenants (treating people with kindness, turning the other cheek, loving your neighbor, etc…) in every day life.
- In Nepal, both Hindu and Buddhist holidays are celebrated and often given time off work or school. In the USA primarily only Christian holidays are an occasion to take time off work or school.
- Politicians in both countries are not trusted to do a competent job and are often viewed as corrupt individuals.
- People in both countries want to be happy and live a good life.
- People in both countries believe in good luck and often do seemingly funny things to accomplish it.
- In the USA only straight women can be seen walking hand in hand or arm in arm in public. In Nepal both men and women walk hand in hand with the same sex.
- Coca-Cola is prevalent in both countries and Pepsi is often called Coke.
- Security at airports is far more strict in the USA.
- Kathmandu has far more garbage in the streets and littering is considered more normal than any major city I have visited in the USA (Seattle, New York, LA, Portland, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Dallas and even Tacoma).
- Cheap beer tastes like cheap beer in either country.
- Kids in Nepal are often taught more than one language from elementary school on. A second language is often not taught until high school in the USA.
- I observed construction works eight stories off the ground in Nepal working in shorts, t-shirt and flipflops while manually hauling supplies up from the ground, including 15’ long pieces of rebar. In the USA, construction workers are required to wear a helmet, long pants, steel-tipped boots, safety vests, eye protection and supplies are hoisted on cranes.
- Houseguest in both countries are treated with respect often not afford to other family members.
- Fanta in Nepal is made with sugar. Fanta in the USA is made with corn syrup. *Editorial note: I believe the orange Fanta in Nepal tastes WAY better. Confirmed with tests in Tanzania, Morocco, Peru, Costa RIca and Mexico, places where sugar is used.*
- Kids in both countries often know how to use electronics better than their parents.
- Even simple cell phones bought in Nepal will work in the rest of Asia and other parts of the world. Only specific phones bought in the USA are “world-ready”.
- Buying a SIM card for a cell phone in Nepal requires two copies of a passport photo and government issued ID. Buying a SIM card in the USA requires government issued ID.
- Most intersections in Kathmandu are controlled by traffic police with very few stop lights. Most every city in the USA has a stoplight.
- Kids in both countries like to laugh and play.
These are just a few of the items I have found. I’m sure I’ll have many more to add as the years go by. What have you found while traveling in these two countries?
