Searching for Chindi in Kathmandu

In preparation for our upcoming trek, Nima, our Sherpa friend from Sonoma and our trek leader, asked us to meet up with his brother-in-law, Chindi, who lives in Kathmandu.  Chindi is helping to make the trekking arrangements, including reserving our flights to Lukla and helping to secure our trekking permits.

Before we left California, Nima gave us Chindi’s cell phone number and the general location of his home.  Unlike Western cities, Kathmandu does not utilize addresses.  Don’t even ask me how this works.  I have no idea how people get mail, find one another, or locate businesses.  It’s just the way it is and it seems to work for the folks in Kathmandu, but it’s got me totally flummoxed.  According to Nima, Chindi lives in the Naxal neighborhood in Kathmandu, right by Mike’s Breakfast, a popular Western-style restaurant. 

I’ve been putting off calling Chindi, mainly because I was feeling shy about cold-calling a stranger in Kathmandu.  I wasn’t certain if he spoke English all that well, and I felt nervous about calling him.  But today I plucked up my courage and called his cell phone number.  Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: Hello, may I speak to Chindi Purpa Sherpa?
Someone: Hello?  Hello?
Me:  Hello?
Someone:  Hello?  Hello?  Hello?
Me:  Hello!  Chindi?
Someone:  Hello?  Hello?
Me (finally realizing the phone was being passed around to someone who spoke English): Yes, hello!  Is Chindi there?
Someone:  No, no, he is not here.
Me: Is this Chindi’s cell phone?
Someone: Yes.  He forgot to take it with him today. 
Me: Oh, well, can you tell him Nima’s friend Emily called?
Someone: Yes, yes.
Me: And that I’d like to meet with him tomorrow at Mike’s Breakfast.
Someone:  Yes, yes.
Me: At 9 o’clock in the morning.
Someone: Yes, yes.
Me (starting to doubt that yes really indicated complete understanding of my message): When is Chindi coming home today?
Someone:  Oh, maybe 3 o’clock.
Me:  Okay, I’ll call him back.  Thanks.  Goodbye!
Someone:  Yes, yes.  Goodbye!   

Later in the afternoon, I called Chindi back a number of times but was unable to get through to him. 

While we were out and about, Gideon and I decided to check out Mike’s Breakfast (which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, by the way).  After a few drinks and French fries, we decided to try to find Chindi.  He lived right by Mike’s Breakfast, right?  How hard could it be?  We started by asking the staff at Mike’s Breakfast if they knew Chindi Purpa Sherpa who lives nearby.  No one recognized his name and I wondered if we were being silly to even ask, recalling folks who upon finding out I went to Virginia Tech would ask, “Did you know so-and-so?  I think they went to Tech when you went there.”  I would always scoff at the question, wanting to point out the fact that there were about 26,000 other students at Virginia Tech at the time I was there.  The chances of me knowing your buddy are ridiculously slim. 

But I digress…

So, we asked folks at Mike’s if they knew Chindi.  No one did, but one man said, “Oh, well, some Sherpas live around the corner there.”  He knew this only because there were prayer flags on the roofs of some of the home—a sign that Sherpa people lived within.  The man pointed the way and we headed down the street. 

We spotted a building with prayer flags on the roof and I asked some folks hanging out in a small Internet café on the ground floor if they knew Chindi Purpa Sherpa.  They kind of laughed and said no.  We walked to another building topped with prayer flags, and again, I asked a man if he knew Chindi Purpa Sherpa.  I had very little hope that he would, but he surprised me by saying, “Chindi?  Yes, he lives upstairs here.”  Yes!!!  He called up to Chindi, and in a few moments, Chindi came down to greet us.  Gideon and I could not believe we had actually tracked down this complete stranger in the uber-crowded city of Kathmandu.  Chindi couldn’t believe we had found him either.  Perhaps Gideon and I should become private investigators or bounty hunters when we come home. 

Chindi invited us up to his family’s flat for tea.  We met his beautiful mother, who couldn’t figure out what in the world two Americans were doing in her dining room.  We ended up having a lovely visit with Chindi (who spoke excellent English, by the way), discussing all matter of things including his family, trekking, Nepal, Tibet, China, and more.  And we made arrangements to meet on Tuesday to visit the Office of Tourism with him to purchase our trekking permits.

In a few days, we’ll see if Nima is impressed with our trekking abilities; but I’m certain when he hears this story, he’ll be impressed with our tracking abilities.