The Royal Massacre – Trip 3 Begins
Preparations for Himalayan trekking in Nepal had become quite easy, almost routine. Trip 3, though, would be in summer and would, for me, be two months long as I was going six weeks ahead of the team. One other difference, I had been sternly warned to be sure my heart was pure and relationships were good or the adversary would have a foothold in my life with disastrous consequences. So, there was much soul searching and multiple apologies to anyone I might possibly have offended, and I felt led to embark on a forty-day liquids only fast. While I won’t say that it was a breeze, because God was leading and I had a clear focus of prayer, it was not too bad.
Fast completed and bags packed, a somewhat thinner version of me boarded Alaska Airlines early morning of Friday, June 1, 2001, for the long journey to Kathmandu excitedly anticipating what I would experience and see God do in the next weeks. Anchorage – Seattle – Tokyo – Bangkok were great flights with nothing unusual. But the news I received upon landing in Bangkok was heinous. After collecting my baggage, while I was approaching the airport door to go to a nearby hotel for the night, a group of Thai airport personnel gathered around very animatedly informing me that the Nepali King was dead. While I was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean the Royal Family had been assassinated at the Palace in Kathmandu. I was bewildered. So someone ran and got a newspaper and showed me the front page. I could not read it but I recognized the face of the King of my beloved Himalayan Kingdom. And the people were clearly saying King dead, airport closed. After a very late hotel check-in I crawled into bed with no idea what the morning would hold. When would Tribhuvan International Airport open? Would I fly on the morrow? Or would I be stranded in Thailand indefinitely? I had no idea. But thanks to travel exhaustion I slept soundly.
The next morning I arrived at the airport and was greatly relieved to learn that the airport in Kathmandu had opened. In the boarding area I met two British men (from Northern Ireland if I remember correctly) who were traveling to Nepal to check the security of the mission hospital in the west of the country and to do security training for missionaries working in Nepal (the Maoist uprising had only grown since my last visit). I was interested to learn that they had also trained missionaries in Colombia where I had lived in the 80s. They were able to inform me that apparently the oldest prince had shot almost the entire royal family as they dined in the Palace gardens because he was not permitted to marry the woman he chose (arranged marriages are the norm in South Asia). He had then evidently shot himself. Nine people were dead including the King and Queen, his parents, and his two younger siblings and the King’s younger brother. The King’s middle brother and his wife were not at the dinner but their son (known as the “terror of Nepal”) had escaped the shooting. The Crown Prince was in a coma on life support. Over the next weeks I would learn much about Nepali culture surrounding death, especially the death of a king, and Hinduism in general.
Arriving in Kathmandu just after noon on Sunday, June 3, I was taken to Robby and Leona’s house. Dinner was with their family as well as Deepak, Danial G, and Valerie and Dudley from California who where also on a short term trip. I would room with Valerie in spacious rooftop accommodations with an incredible view of the Himalayan Mountains as well as a close-up view of rice transplanting.
Coffee, Tea, and Reverie 
Wow! What a situation to step into! Fast culture learning for sure!! I’m so thankful that God it’s always with us and that Holy Spirit is our guide! 💝
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