Trekking

So somehow in a haze of sleep deprivation and unreality I finished work and the Nadj arrived... and now we go trekking... hoping it wont be too hard core for us!!

Ed, Gaz and Marky boy visit

So Ed, Gaz and Marky boy arrived and spent some time in smogville before they departed on their epic trek... which hopefully they will return from in one piece.
After arriving and (Ed and Gaz) totally freaking out about earthquakes, which involved seeing if they could fit under sofas and sleeping close together in the lounge near the earthquake emergency barrel, we were able to do some sightseeing!

Me in Bhaktapur

Ed and Gaz try to storm the temple in Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur is lovely and traffic free, and has roaming goats... which Ed was happy about...

Bhaktapur is famous for its potteryThere are lots of pots...

Ed gave it a go... with some help from the potter...

One of Bhaktapur's lovely squares

Lunch on the roofTime to pose with the sadhus at Pashupati Ed emerges from a quick massage at BoudaClimbing onto the roof of the massage parlor... for the viewBoudanath from the roof of the massage parlor
Then off to the Buddha parkSunset at SwoyumbonathAt Swoyumbonath, overlooking smogville, wearing Ed's cowboy hat avec GazNext day it was up bright and early to paint the orphanage and collect Markyboy from the airport... this is the girls room before it was painted PINK (of course) - Kate you would be very happy with it :O)
The boys with the pink paint!
Then it was onto the exterior... Ruth chose a lovely blue colour... I went up on the bamboo ladders for about 5min before deciding it was too scary, and retiring to paint the balcony.It looks really nice now... and its quality weatherproof paint so should last a while!
After painting it was time to play... here they are pretending to be John Chena who apparently is some sort of WWF wrestler... who they love!

Ed and Gaz get roped into playing endless clapping games with the girls...

Barbita and Rajana

Nisha enjoys one of Ed's corporate balloons...

So does Nobin

Markyboy claps along as the children sing "old MacDonald has a farm" which he taught them to do so well!

All of us and the lovely munchkins

Crazy faces...

After all the hard work it was down to Kilroy's for a HUGE steak!

Teej

I haven't blogged in a while, so I think today I will be back with a vengeance.

First up Teej - the festival of women... women get a nice holiday from work (excellent) in order to fast for their husbands, or fast for a good husband if they don't have one already... then they go to the temple and after that do lots of singing and dancing... its quite fun, aside from the fact that standing in a queue for hours on end to get into the temple, when its very very hot, and you haven't eaten or drunk anything for the last 12hours cant be much fun... I think we saw a couple of ladies being carted off on stretchers presumably because it was all too much. The women all wear red, and look really lovely!

Ladies in red in the queue for the temple

Mrs P (avec corporate hat) has some bangles rammed on her wrist - it seems us foreigners have wider wrists than Nepali ladies

Lovely red bangles

More ladies in the queue... it really was a very very long queue

Britney features on a large number of t-shirts out here... as does Avril. Here Britney gets to enjoy Teej.

Strange (but interesting looking) Sadhu type holy man...

More Sadhu types... I don't think they do much but sit around smoking dope...Pashupatinath Temple at TeejMrs P and I with our Teej bangles... (needless to say we didn't do any fasting...)

A hike

This last weekend we went on a nice long hike in the hills on the edge of the valley to the north of KTM. It was like a double date with me in the middle :0)

Callum, Louise, Bijay and Jeyran in a wood

Our route (photo taken at Kapan Gompa), from Budhanilkantha up to Nagi Gompa, and down to Kapan Gompa... and beyond to find a taxi!

on the KTM valley rim... almost in the clouds...On the valley rim looking towards NagakotKapan gompa with KTM in the background... its dead posh init... I think they have many foreigners here for meditation mini breaks... hence the $$$ to make it look so nice!

Stupa at Kapan Gompa

Jeyran and a serene looking Louise, take a rest at Kapan

Monks and mini monks at Kapan look nice and peaceful, but actually they were playing on these huge horns and making a most un-relaxing racket.

View from Kapan... check out the runway Ant... I think that Kapan is the perfect plane spotters location...

MORE PHOTOS ON FLICKR...

Potato bombs...

Yesterday Mrs P and I went out on our lunchtime walk round the (not so royal) palace... these walks sort of salve my conscience about lack of training for trekking... but it is very flat and short... neither of which the trek will be!

ho hum...

Anyway yesterday whilst we were walking there was a bomb scare outside the palace... what excitement. I think most of the action was over as by the time we arrived the crowds were about to disperse and the bomb disposal people were clearing up... at one point there was a surreal "I'm in a war zone" moment when a tall white man with a huge camera dangling on his chest, and a flack helmet on etc came charging towards us as if running from something nasty...

The amusing thing about it was it turned out to be a sack of potatoes, rather than a bomb... perhaps someone thought now the king is out of favour he needed some sustenance???

Many people are tense after the real bombs the other week... so I suppose I shouldn't really be finding it amusing...

Armed police stop traffic

Blockade for bomb disposal people...

The men (of course) strain to get a look in at the action

Bomb disposal people clear up... after successfully defending the people from death by potato