More photos from the orphanage

Rajani just wanted to get at the camera... she has a very determined character

Hiding under the parachute...

Toss the small child in the parachute game... these 'chutes are incredibly strong!

Hiding under the parachute

Binu doesn't look too happy being tossed up and down in the parachute!

The 'up and down' game. Its simple... when they shout 'up' the parachute goes up and when they shout 'down' the parachute goes down... amazing how long that kept them occupied for... and it provided marvelous air conditioning on a hot sticky humid afternoon...

One thing that is nice is how all the kids of all sizes seem to play happily together...

Saturday night and I'm feeling flammable

Soooo have you ever washed in kerosene? Probably i imagine the answer is NO... it is like asking if you have bathed in petrol... not really a very nice idea. However I have just completed washing myself with kerosene and I thought I would like to share the experience with the world.

So yes I was cycling home in the dark and I noticed that the path I was about to cycle on was freshly tarred. When I say fresh I mean that 6 hours previous it was dirt and no workmen/ steam rollers were in sight. I actually stopped my bike and considered cycling the long way round. But no I am lazy and thought it cant be too tragic... it was a gloriously smooth cycling experience. No potholes... wonderous.

I noticed a fair amount of tar was flying up into the mud guard and some onto my legs, but it was too late to do anything about it. After lugging the bike up the 2 floors to my flat I had concluded that both bike and I were fairly black. The solution was obviously to put bike in the bathroom and hose it down. doh. This had the effect of spraying tar all over my bathroom, and the rest of me that wasn't tared all ready... it also had the effect of inducing mild panic as I tried (unsuccessfully) to wipe the tar from the walls and floor and toilet and sink and washing machine, and only succeeded in making more mess in the process. WHAT would my landlord say? What would people at work say when they saw I was covered in black oily smears? panic panic panic. I then decided to try and see if a bit of washing up liquid would remove the tar, this involved walking into the kitchen to get it... and yes traipsing oily wet marks all through there too... the situation was deteriorating. everything i was touching was turning black... i was a mess, my house was a mess, and no washing up liquid does not remove tar. Panic levels were rising even more.

Then I remembered. My kerosene... the ultimate bike degreaser when bike degreaser isn't available. I went and got the bottle from the balcony. Wonder of wonders it worked a dream, the tar just rolled off... the bike was cleaned, the bathroom was cleaned, the floors were cleaned... all that was left was me... and no amount of scrubbing with soap was getting the tar off. The only thing for it was to dip the flannel in Kerosene and use it like shower gel... (urgh)

It worked... but I am not sure at what price. I cant smell anything but kerosene, I am probably the most flammable person in Kathmandu, and my skin is tingling like it may be allergic to kerosene despite much scrubbing with non-kerosene shower gel and moisturising with non-kerosene smelling products...

dum de dum...

on the plus side my bike is looking sooooo spangly, and I don't look like I have been rolling in tar!

Nagarkot and other random things

This last weekend some friends and I walked down from Nagarkot. Nagarkot is a resort on the valley rim with amazing views of the Himalaya's - if one is there in December. During the monsoon all views are obscured by low cloud. However the PEACE, GREEN, and LACK OF POLLUTION make it a lovely place to escape to! It was even cold at night! amazing.

The next day we walked back down the hill to the Changu Narayn temple, it is nearly in smogville and is a world heritage site and oldest temple in KTM or something like that. It was a fair old walk. I am not good with distances, but probably plus 12KM. It was very hot and humid, and as I am pasty face and hoping not to have unusual sunburn marks when I am a bridesmaid in 3 weeks I decided to opt for the 'sexy trekker' look - basically this involved wearing my towel and practically all the clothes I had in my backpack. This had the combined effect of total skin coverage and a sauna. Please see photo.


I have/am attempting to put other photos of the trek on flickR... hopefully you can click on the link on the right to have a look. It really was a lovely walk... green, fun munchkins to chat too, fresh air... However aside from the greenness of it all a highlight was the pet bug on string. An old man and small girl were having great fun dragging it around and then watching the bug become a helicopter on string as it tried (unsuccessfully) to fly away... again photos below!



Thought I would also add some other random information:
(1) This HUGE monkey freaked me out the other week by running along my balcony, I thought some sort of intruder was trying to get in... but no it was a monkey. Question is, was it wild, or had it escaped from the zoo?


2) McDonald's has arrived in Nepal... well OK not the real McDonald's... but 'mini McDonald's'. They appear to have borrowed everything from the global chain... including the 'golden arches' and 'I'm lovin' it' slogan. However as you can see from the photo the premises probably dont live up to McDonald's franchise standards... I wonder how long it will take before the US embassy people close them down or force them to change their name?!

Butwal

This week I have been off on my travels again - my Buddha Air gold card (air miles) is seeing some action... at this rate I will be upgraded to a 'Platinum' member!

This time I was again down south, but in Butwal. Its a town much like the others I have visited in the Terrai - flat (although nestled just in front of some lovely hills), full of rickshaws and exceedingly hot at this time of year.

Main street Butwal

There was also plenty of striking action which disrupted my visit slightly! The black stains on the road are the remains of burnt out tyres, from protests earlier in the day!

You can always count on a holy cow (or 3) to ignore the strike...

Marble work surfaces anyone? There was stacks of the stuff in Butwal, and all unattended! However I guess you wouldn't get very far fast lugging a big slab of the stuff... will have to remember a van next time.

If I ever have munchkins I think I shall dress them in this typical Nepali munchkin outfit... just for comedy value. It's something between a bonnet cape and witches hat (its pointed - although you cant really see that). This little girl/boy (?!) is very cute!

Airports are always a source of amusement in Nepal. On arrival at the airport there was some contradiction in the fact that whilst army men stood on the roof of the airport with guns cocked, at the side of the runway a small boy played on his bike! However this airport experience involved a metal detector that worked (a first) and a slightly more stringent bag search.
I thought I would attach a photo of the rooms you go in to supposedly be searched before you fly. Firstly the big sign above the door says that 'police behaviour and conduct is highly visible to the public'... that is just before you enter a small cubicle where the door is shut and you are alone with a police/security type person... not quite sure how visible their behaviour is? then another sign on the blue door says 'no search no flight'. This had me worried when i was ushered into the small room, the door shut behind me and the security women proceeded to look at me and then push me out of the other door and into the 'departure lounge'. ahhhh but she didn't search me... what would it mean? no flight???? hmmm of course not, for she had stamped my boarding pass to say I had been searched and all was well.

Choclate cakes

Yesterday we were up at the orphanage again. It was Ruth, the 'house mother's birthday and she has been/ is still really quite ill after loosing a baby at 7months pregnant, so we decided to make a cake for her and lots of small chocolate cup cakes for the children to decorate. It was soooo exciting! We managed to find (possibly) the only shop in Nepal that sells coloured sprinkles... and we also found SMARTIES (genuine ones) and gumi bears and we made up a load of different coloured icing... the rest we left to the kids. They seemed to have fun, and really were incredibly good. I would have thought there was potential for total chaos with 20 kids all trying to decorate cakes at the same time, and those not occupied trying to eat all the sugary sweeties in bowls etc. But no, they all waited their turn, the older ones helped the smaller ones and no one tried to sneak extra smarties from the bowls on the tables, and they even asked if they could eat the cakes! They are great children, and the better they know us the more fun it is!

Sarah corrupts the baby... yes babies should always eat chocolate cake... Actually this baby probably should won gannet of the year award. She eats EVERYTHING it seems!

These 3 boys probably got into the whole cake decorating thing the most. When they realised we had made a cake for their 'mum' they insisted they decorate it with 'for mummy' written on it (in English - these 3 are good at English), and use all the remaining sweets and things to make it look nice for her. They were very pleased with themselves, and it was rather touching really...

Strikes... protests... and a lack of petrol...

It has been a while crocodile since I wrote about the joys of strikes, protests and petrol shortages... but fear not I am still enjoying them. Recently there have been a spate of strikes and protests, and a 2 day nationwide shut down is planned for Sunday and Monday... and our security guy at work sent out a list of 'upcoming strikes and protests' and it not short... so more cycling to work I think!
Here are some of the highlights of recent striking/protest action:

• The Youth Communist League (YCL), have been seeing some action. I have mentioned them before as being rather pesky, but I am increasingly viewing them as a rather sinister group of young people, and children - possibly manipulated by elder children/adults... but I don't know that for sure. Anyways they got hacked off with the Prime minister calling them the "Young Criminal League" (he might not be wrong) and so they blocked the roads and burnt some effigies of the PM. They did this all over the country. I have also read that over the next 4 months they plan to increase their membership from 150,000 to 500,000... which will make them a serious force to be reckoned with!
• Other groups are trying to change the names of places and streets named after any member of the Royal family, and seize royal property - not the palace ... that would be dramatic, and would probably involve army and general slaughter... AND stampeding of the kings beautiful Agapantha's which are currently in full bloom. It would be rather tragic if the Maoists dug them up in the name of a cultural revolution...
• General road blockades and strikes... either caused by teacher's unions (although they have quietened down now) or Indigenous People's groups, representing those in the south of the country who despite making up a significant proportion of the population are severely under-represented in government etc. and have not been happy bunnies for a long time. This is a big issue in Nepal, and apparently has the potential to flare up into something nasty...

Oh yes petrol is short because the national petroleum company buys all petrol, and then distributes it. This company is bankrupt, and sells fuel at a price way way bellow the market value, and now they cant pay India for the fuel they buy and so we have fuel problems... if the fuel totally dried up then it could lead to civil unrest, which India don't really want... so some fuel is coming in. Last year the petrol company tried to increase petrol prices dramatically, so they were more in line with the market price. oooops. This led to people trashing petrol stations (not owned by the oil company, but by individuals), apparently they were pulling out pumps and things. I am not really sure where the logic is in that, but prices have remained low since then.
So all is good!

Gardener of the year

It is official. I am gardener of the year! Below are some of the glorious herbs I have been growing... look at how tall and lush they are. I can't wait to eat them... mmm yum yum. I think I shall enter Chelsea flower show next year...

So yes I failed in my attempts to grow herbs. I planted 4 lots of seeds, and the only one that sprouted was the basil, and that died shortly after sprouting... I am not sure what to blame. Most probable cause of death would appear to be the poor quality of the 'compost' I used. It wasn't really compost... more like soil + sticks + leaves + stones... then there could be the heat... and my lack of attention/ plant knowledge... possibly a combination of all 3... oh well! I think I will just have to do without the herbs!!!