I have always wondered about this thing that I keep hearing about people going back to their home country (which is Nepal in our case) that they go back because it is where they feel they belong.

I went to Nepal sometime ago. Everytime I go back there, I end up feeling like I do not belong there anymore, finding it hard to adapt to the changes there and disappointment that the Nepal/ my home town is not the same place that I had in my mind before i actually revisited the place. Everytime i visit i find more changes, with less familiar faces and less number of friends and acquaintances than before (except for the family members of older generations whom I love dearly, but I cannot connect with them at the same level at peers who share same views as I do) and the culture and the latest trends shock me as much as they did when i first came here.

Everytime I visit the place I end up feeling that the place I carried in my mind for years is not the same place that I visited. Getting that special (akward) treatment for returning/visiting for a short period of time makes me feel even worser that I feel like a tourist in my own home town, that I hear relatives suggesting me about visiting popular tourist spots instead of the places where I grew up and attached to.

Do any of you feel the same way as I do? Is it really place that makes it special or it is the memories along with the people and things associated with the place that makes it special? The last time I was there I just wondered around so many of those places that I always felt notalgic about while i was here (away from home town). But it did not feel even remotely close to what I thought I would feel being there. The places I used to hang out with my college friends were there no more and even the places that I used to spend time with my girlfriend did not feel the same way without her around anymore, my home did not feel the same way without cousins whom I used to be surrounded by all the time.

So I am just wondering is it only me or there are more of you guys who share similar experience.

I kind of feel the same way. I do go back almost every year which makes the changes less drastic. But it certainly feel and seems very different and you are absolutely right bout friends and acquaintances. But still for me just being there as soon as I land at the airport I do feel like I am home. I don't think I will be able to go back and live there but I enjoy every second I am there!!!!!