Jumla

So, this last week I went out with work to a really remote district of Nepal called Jumla. It was a great trip and really showed another side of Nepal to Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan, which are all fairly developed, especially in terms of the numbers of tourists that visit.

Jumla is 2 small scary plane rides away from Kathmandu. The 2^nd flight is the worst and the plane is smallsmall and old looking, although the non uniformed pilot assured me that it was ok, and had many new parts!

You basically fly up from the southern flat plains into the high Himalayas. Looking out of the window really showed how diverse Nepal's topography is. We flew quite low which was disconcerting, but the amazing views did help distract me a little from me fear of small planes. We seemed to be on the 'poor flight' which is for poor people who can't afford the airfare, but who need to leave Jumla for medical reasons etc. However we most certainly had to pay full foreigner price!

Anyways survived the flight and went into the baggage reclaim room and then out the other side as the baggage didn’t immediately materialise. Right in front of us was a (covered) dead body and a grieving family. Not sure where the body had come from, but I was glad it wasn’t on our plane as the only way it would have fitted was down the aisle! A different way to be greeted off the plane I suppose?!

So off we walked to our hotel... 20min later we arrived. The Ritz it was not, but it did good food (well perhaps I should say good Dhal Bhat - rice and lentils, Nepal's numero uno dish) and we weren't attacked by rats/ bed bugs/ drunken men so I think it was fine just fine! The photo below shows the most glorious bathroom, as it was next to my room, there was an occasional whiff of Eau de Pis!

The bathroom

Front of Hotel:

So yes, you have to walk everywhere in Jumla because there are really no roads as such... although one was supposedly being opened the day we left. It had taken 40 years to build and would not be passable in the rainy season, or winter when snow would cover it. However locals were incredibly hopeful that it would reduce the cost of basic goods, as currently everything has to be flown into the district or brought in on horse back which takes several days. The downside of the road is that it might erode the traditional culture of the district... but I guess only time will tell. Currently there are less than 30 jeeps, tractors and motorbikes in the whole district. Amazing! I only saw one whilst I was there (see photo). You can imagine just how peaceful it all was! Actually there have already been 3 deaths caused by motorised accidents, and several injuries. 2 very injured people joined us on our flight home... more about that later...

The only vehicle I saw in 5 days

So, currently you have to walk from the district headquarters to all of the villages bar one. It is hilly and mountainous terrain and some villages take 2-3 days walk to get to. We only visited villages 1-2 hours walk away, but that still felt pretty isolated, and gave a good impression of how complicated it is to work in such rural areas, and how isolated the people are. Actually the place reminded me of the Gobi in many ways... the dung burning stoves, the frost bitten cheeks, the isolation, the warmth of people not exposed to westerners often, the harsh climate, the most amazingly bright stars at night (wish you had been there with your scope Dad) etc etc. The main difference was the terrain and lack of gers ;o)

Jumla transport 1: Horse/donkey back
Jumla transport 2: Walking - Woman carrying metal sheeting on her head

Jumla has been badly affected by the conflict here, although now things are more peaceful, and there is a lot of new building going on. Below is a photo of some buildings the Maoists bombed out!
One of the best things about Jumla was the beautiful people. I attach some photos below, and more are on FlickR. Such dark skin and weathered faces... and beautiful jewelry. You will see many of the women have nose rings (a little like bulls). This signifies that they are married. The people here are very different from those in Kathmandu!

2 lovely old ladies - their heavy loads hanging from their heads obscured

Check out these earings!

Lovely old man - he was out walking with a small white horse!

The other thing to note in Jumla was the harsh life of women. On top of just being a woman in a partiarchal society that prefers men in pretty much every sphere of life, many many men from Jumla seasonally migrate to India to get construction work, basically in order to support their families. Jumla is a very poor district and there are high levels of malnutrition, hunger, illiteracy etc. Women are left behind to do all of the work. Bringing up children, looking after elderly family members, planting the fields, collecting heavy loads of fuel for the fires, collecting water, shopping etc etc. Given the long distances between places this is some feat. The photo below shows one such lady carrying a heavy basket of logs in the traditional Nepali way, in a basket on her back, supported by a strap not over her shoulders (as in the west) but over her head!

Whilst in Jumla we met a French paraglider who was aiming to fly from far western Nepal all the way to the east. He said he was often landing down in random small villages, I wish I could meet a Nepali who witnessed this, imagine just sitting in your village, never seeing a white person, and then one with plastic wings comes and lands on your doorstep. I guess you would think it was some sort of god or something?!

The last thing I'll write about was the trip home, which had several comedy (in retrospect) moments. So, we trudged up to the airport and waited for a plane. There aren't exactly plane schedules, it all depends on the weather in other remote airports (they fly to the airports where the weather will close in the quickest first), and how much they are being paid to fly what cargo where. At one point we were told our plane had a technical problem and so we were issued with a different boarding pass for a different airline (one that had a fatal crash in Jumla last year)... however that plane didn't show up either, but our plane did - hopefully with technical problems fixed? We waited 3+hrs and by this time the wind was picking up, rushing up the valley. Comfortingly a local collegue told us other flights would probably be cancelled because of the wind, but not ours... so eventually went through 'security'. In Nepal you have to go into a small booth and then a woman (or man if you are male) supposedly checks you and your baggage. So, I walk in and the security guard is breast feeding her baby and a toddler is playing on the floor... hmm. She looked at me and pointed to the other door. Security check over.
The plane landed and we went outside to board it, as I mentioned earlier, 2 very injured people had to come on the plane so that they could get to a hospital. Both were covered in blood, with drips in their arms and looking fairly ill. However the worst thing was that because they were on the plane, and the plane was full 2 people would not be able to fly. Our staff had been trying really hard to get us on the plane, and we were sitting at the back near the door, the 2 people who weren't sitting were another seriously ill looking man, and the person who was supporting him. They were told to get off the plane, and try for the next one (which may or may not come). I felt awful. Should we have given up our seats? Would they have let the white people give up their seats? (our airfares are higher) I don't know... in that state of mind we flew off into the clouds. Waves of panic swept me. How could the pilots see the mountains that I knew were surrounding us?! It was pretty bumpy which made things worse. I was very glad to land in Nepalgunj, and then finally land back in Kathmandu!

So, a long blogedy blog from me!
Peace x

Happy New Year 2064

Just a short blog to say 'Happy New Year 2064', as I am sure you all follow the Nepali calendar?! I'm just back from a great field visit to the remote and beautiful mountains... will write more, and upload photos soonsoon, when I have recovered from all the smallsmall scary-o-planes x x x x x

More on the YCL

So it turns out the Young Communist League (YCL) are not as jolly friendly as they seemed at their little protest yesterday, when so many of them wore nice matching outfits! I found the following exerpts about their recent activities enlightening:

• On 20 March, the Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) beat up two businessmen in the capital on the charge of refusing to pay donation. It is a common sight to see the Communist Youth tauting for money, but I didnt realise they went to such extremes to get cash!
• Maoist-aligned Young Communist League (YCL) threatened journalists in Sunsari District, accusing the journalists of being corrupt and threatened the journalists against taking any action against them (the YCL), stating they would take their lives if need be.
  

Perhaps I wont wander around wearing my YCL visa?!

The youth communists

Today there was a large rally of small communists. Yes, it was the first national convention of the youth communists and apparently about 20,000 of them marched around the city. I caught the tail end from the back of a taxi and took some not very exciting photos (see below).

The Maoists all waved red flags and some even had a special uniform (just like brownies and scouts at home) which was blue (with Maoist red trim) and had a white star on the front and the Maoist emblem and indecipherable Nepali writing on the back!

More excitingly i managed to pick up a much coveted red Maoist visa that they tend to where at all rallies. Its crappy and made of thin card, and mine has also been run over by a few cars, but it amuses me all the same to have small pieces of such propaganda about the house...

Traffic police tries to coordinate the traffic... battle police were sitting down lazing around as usual... note many small red paper Maoist visas!

Boy sitting down on right hand side is modeling the special youth communist uniform!

Back in the duu

So, I am back in Kathmandu... despite having confirmed tickets I almost didn't get on the flight as it was so overbooked, but did eventually and arrived back in KTM to be surprised at the airport by some of my friends - it was so nice to see some friendlyfriends and not have to do battle with touting taxi drivers and bag carriers. I was sad to leave home, but it is nice to be back here, the hecticness and crazy traffic and dust and pollution seem to be growing on me!

What a difference 2 weeks makes, as the plane touched down the pilot said that the temperature was 30 degrees. When I left the weather varied between big red duffel coat wearing cold to warmish in the day, now it is HOT, and getting hotter. Quite nice really, blossoms are still out and smelling nice - makes a change! Only down side is that I fear my sunny flat may become a sauna, especially as I don't have mosquito netting on most of the windows (note to self check for mosquito netting when looking to move somewhere)... anyways I shall put up a net over my bed when the mosis start arriving and purchase a fan and it should be ok!

Along with blossoms the heat has also brought out the beautiful, pungent, rotting, stinking smell of the Bagmati river... mmm, fortunately it can only be smelt within a small radius of the river and I don't live at all close to it. It is however recommended to close all windows when driving past!

Other happy news is that instead of being increased to 12hrs a day load shedding has been drastically cut, I think to less than 3hrs per day. The local paper stated that the reason for this was: "Weeks of violence in terai (southern Nepal), which led to suspension of activities in various industrial towns in the southern belt, contributed to saving of power". Classic - so we benefit from other's misfortune...

Strikes and petrol crisis and protests seem to have been continuing, and there is currently a major build up to indefinite strikes in the valley mid April - we shall see if they happen or if there is a resolution! One thing that did amuse me was that apparently one day whilst I was away the association of Internet Service Providers (Nepal) shutdown Internet services for a couple of hours to express solidarity to a strike called by the business sector and traders. Can anyone else strike?!

Gulf Air

I have concluded (after only 2 trips, so perhaps not much of a conclusion) that the flight between Kathmandu and the Gulf is an interesting, most notably because such a large proportion of people on the plane give the impression that that have never flown before. Which is indeed unusual in this day and age, in some ways its quite amusing.

• Firstly I would say that 90% of the plane are men with a few foreign ladies and even fewer foreign Nepalis. This in itself is quite weird.
• Then there is the scrum to get on the plane – boarding is called and literally all the men surge to get through the door, and then are sort of halted by a poor air hostess whop has to try and explain that they need their boarding passes…
• Once on the plane many many people don’t seem to get their head round the seat numbering system, which means the plane is constantly being rearranged, as people move around…
• The concept of stowing hand luggage in a locker near your seat also doesn’t occur to many people, this can be annoying, especially at the end of the flight when people are shoving themselves 20 seats down the isle to find their bags…
• Coming into land pretty much 80% of the plane were looking out of the window to see the sea! (not something seen in Nepal)…
• Sitting in seats during landing is also a new concept, a couple of people in the middle isle were standing up and looking out of the window as the plane was about to touch down.
• The moment the plane lands and the engines roar as they go into reverse seems to be the queue for people to stand up and get out their luggage… this seemed to draw wry smiles from air hostesses and an announcement from the pilot for everyone to get back in their seats,

Im sure on lots of flights there are people who have not travelled before, but there really were a lot on this flight and it was entertaining to watch, something that is so simple and part of life for me, must seem very bizarre to these Nepali men flying into construction jobs in the Gulf.

home

So, tomorrow will be first for me - popping home for a mini break in the middle of a long time away. I think it will be odd to come back just temporarily. I was thinking about it whilst disorganisedly trying to pack, and I thought in some ways I am going 'home', but then in other ways at the moment Kathmandu is my home, with my nice appartment, nice friends, work etc etc. so for now I guess I have 2 homes?!

Children

I thought I would put some photos up of some of the lovely munchkins we have been playing with at a local orphanage on a Saturday afternoon the last couple of months... They're such great kids, are fun to play with, and constantly remind me how amazingly lucky and privileged I am... which is a good thing! The simplest things make them smile - a big contrast to some kids at home I think.

Sex Appeal

This is classic...

'Jovan Sex Appeal'
Aftershave/cologne for men.

Sex appeal.
Now you don't have to be born with it.
This provocative,
stimulating blend of rare
spices and herbs was
created by man for the
sole purpose of attracting
woman. At will.
More than the usual
promise in a bottle.
It's more like a guarantee.
Splash it on your face,
your neck, your chest. The
more you use, the better.
Because it is truly
Sex Appeal. (And man can
never have too much.)
Sex Appeal by Jovan.
For the first time in the
history of the world...
We bottled it.


Yes this stuff is for real... Photos below to prove it :O)

a palace and a camper van

Today I went for a lunchtime walk around the edge of royal palace, it gets so dark inside the office during these power cuts that getting out into the sunshine (and traffic, pollution and horn honking chaos) is the only way to stave off depression...
The palace (perhaps soon to be known as the People's Palace if the Maoists have their way) is mostly fenced by a brick wall, but round the front there are some huge iron railings so you can catch a glimpse of the gardens (lovely) and buildings (rather crematorium-esque if you ask me). Today as I walked past there was this amazing smell - the smell of freshly mowed grass. mmmmm so green and fresh smelling now that is NOT a smell you ever smell here... it reminded me of summer in England... lovely!

Also at the weekend some friends and I went up onto the valley rim to Nagarkot where you get an amazing view of the Himalayas and can laze in peace and quiet in the sun, and most excitingly can see many many trees and other nature type things. It's perfect. Nepal really is beautiful outside of smogville. On the way back down we passed a French camper van going up. Which I can only conclude means they drove to Nepal from France. Put my mind in overdrive thinking of all the epic routes they could have possibly come... I'm guessing they did Russia, Mongolia, China, Tibet and down into Nepal... but perhaps the camper van had superdooper bullet proof lining and they came through Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India and then into Nepal... that would make them true legends, given the conflicts going on... either way those people have to have some epic stories!!

Pebar

Last night I went to a rather entertaining wine tasting session... much wine was tasted, and I probably learnt more than I did at Vinopolis... anyways you can imagine that I didn't want to wake up early this morning.

alas

ringringringring
argh telfy wakes up and sees it is 7.15am
she drags herself to the phone
'hello'
'hello mam it is Pebar can I come and clean?'
telfy mentally curses Pebar 'hello Pebar it is 7.15am'
'yes mam'
'isn't today a holiday for you?'
'yes mam but I dont play Holi'
curses, the I'm a nice employer letting you have a holiday line didn't work.
'can you come tomorrow?'
silence
there is only one thing for it... tell the truth.
'Pebar I went out last night I want to sleep'
'OK mam I will come at 8 o clock'

arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so well yes, he came at 8 o clock... I seriously think sometimes its more of a pain than its worth!!

Stockpiling food and Burning tyres

I thought I would attach this exciting photo of the tyre burnage that occurred outside my office yesterday! Alas I only caught the end of it, but I think the tyres must have been spread out across the road. Why was tyre burning going on? hmm apparently cos we have water shortages... that is nothing new, I'm guessing it was a localised dispute but who knows!!

also I think I mentioned how some people are stockpiling food because of all the strikes/blockades in the south of the country stopping imports from India. I haven't really been too sure what the best policy is... I mean stockpiling seems drastic, and there are no signs of shortages yet (well aside from petrol and gas), anyways today we got an official email from the highs upon high at work recommending we get in 6-8 weeks of supplies. Crikey!

So, well better safe than sorry... I toodled to the shop on the way home and bought up a stack of rice, flour, tuna and pasta (shells, twists and bows - I resisted the children's pasta with cars, and tractor shapes... it was highly exciting, but twice the price!) Not enough food for 6-8 weeks (I don't think I could carry that much food home from the shops!) but I don't think I will starve, I mean I could always break into my earthquake preparedness kit which has even more supplies in... and I figure I'm coming home in 12 days so worst comes to worst I will export tesco pasta back here when I return!

another strike... would you belive?

oh, have I mentioned that we have lots of strikes here?!!
hmmm

well yes, another national strike today... so with great happiness I cycled to work on pretty traffic free roads. The protesters seemed more grumpy today tho... in a couple of places they made us get off the bikes and walk about 10 metres (not sure why - flexing their muscles?)... there were signs of broken bricks everywhere indicating rock throwing had taken place... and we saw a group of protesters letting down the tyres on one man's motorbike - because he was defying the bandh (strike)... bit of a bummer to have a motorbike with flat tyres me thinks!

oh yes, and this weekend is the 'Holli' festival. I am seriously considering NOT leaving the house on Saturday, people are already throwing water balloons and they're not thrown in a fun lets-all-have-a-jolly-festival type way, more lets-see-how-many-women-we-can-harass-by throwing-water-balloons-at... its not nice, and pisses me off. Fortunately no one has had a good aim yet.

The King...

Last April's people's revolution saw the King stripped of his fairly extensive powers (he had had taken direct control of the country in 2005)... he is not particularly popular, especially as many people think he was implicated in some way in the murder of the previous (popular) King (his brother) and various other family members...

Anyways Prachanda and the Maoists are constantly calling for Nepal to be declared a republic and for the king to be stripped of all entitlements... more likely there will be a referendum, which would be interesting as traditionally the royal family were seen as divine incarnations of a Hindu god (not sure which one off hand as I'm not too up on my Hindu gods). So I'm guessing there would be a fair few people (particularly in the Army) who would want to keep the King as monarch.
In the mean time the government is considering how best to nationalise land and property belonging to the Royal family, and has also decided to replace the king's image with that of Mt Everest in Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination notes. In addition the Royal crown in the transparent part of the notes will be replaced by the national flower - rhododendron.

So I wonder what the King is doing? Perhaps trying to liquidize assets and shift them off shore before they can be nationalised?!

mini bus drivers....

Ok, so today’s excitements involved trying to get to work unsuccessfully due to (yes you guessed it) a protest… apparently a Maoist killed a mini bus driver (mini bus is a major form of transport here), and so most of the mini bus drivers in Kathmandu decided to protect about this by parking all their mini busses in front of the Maoist headquarters, which unfortunately happen to be next to a bridge which is a major entry point into Kathmandu… and my route to work. We tried to divert down backstreets but everyone else was doing that, including the school busses. I may have mentioned the narrow-ness of streets here. They are too narrow for cars really, let alone school buses. So we sat in some very big jams whilst cars, motorbikes and school buses tried to cram themselves along the narrow streets. In the end I gave up, came home, and got out the bike, which meant I could cycle past all the protesting mini bus drivers… squeezing through gaps between mini busses. What fun. Pictures attached below.

The only downside was that although I live less than 4miles from work, and morning traffic isn’t too bad, coming home at 5 or 6pm on a bike significantly decreases your life expectancy (in my opinion). I think there are 3 death scenarios:

1. Although not an instant death, lung cancer caused by inhaling the filthy air can’t be fun…
2. Death by moving vehicle. There are a range of options including, bus, truck, car, taxi or motorbike. There are also a range of death scenarios… head on collision (people like to drive on the wrong side of the road), squished between 2 converging moving vehicles, knocked off into the path of another moving vehicle etc etc and we must not forget the Nepali law which means if you run someone over you pay for either their medical expenses, or funeral expenses if they’re dead. Funerals are cheaper and so most people go back and finish the job off – just to make sure they don’t get lumbered with a huge bill!
3. Death by a Nepali lynch mob when you run over a pedestrian/slow cyclist who isn’t looking where they’re going or is toodling along in the middle of the road.

Fortunately I avoided all of these possible events and came home safely.

More thoughts on strikes

Apparently there has been one strike or another in Nepal every day for the last 3 months, but I am not sure how accurate that information is... anyways this strike seemed to amuse me... like I said the whole country is striking...

The Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) has called for Nuwakot Bandh (strike)for an indefinite period starting from 22nd Feb protesting the police ban on sale of alcoholic substances.

I don't think I have been here long enough to even have a very wise opinion about what on earth is going to happen to this country, it's really hard to make sense of the various rumours you hear in various places. Some people say we should stock up on provisions big time in case the current strikes in the south start to hit more than just petrol and gas supplies... some people think the Maoists will take over... some people think the prime minster will die causing even more political chaos (he is in his 80s and ill)... some people think the King will try to retake power in a coup, I don't know, no one is very optimistic about anything, and so many different groups are protesting, its too complicated to envisage a solution... and yet it is possible to toodle along in Kathmandu without too much distress. Running around buying up all the pasta and tuna in town seems extreme, but then I don't know perhaps it isn't? hmmm interesting times.

Good news!

Good news! The strike by the rubbish collecting people has finally been called off! Apparently the government have met all demands of the people surrounding the rubbish dump:

• Health post in the village,
  
• Start the process of electrification for the area,
• Provide vacancies for 20 teachers at local schools within the next seven days.
  
• Provide Rs 1 million for the construction of a road,
  
• Send technical human resources to run a veterinary hospital,
• Formulate necessary laws relating to solid waste management.

So they weren't asking for much (?!!) ... I don't have a problem with the government sorting out these things for people living near the rubbish dump, but its like I have said before, giving in 100% to every group who protests is not a sustainable policy - well not here, where every group with any issue about anything seems to be protesting at the moment, and where the country is pretty much the poorest in the world outside of Africa, and therefore does not have infinite financial resources.

According to le newspaper over 4,200 tons of solid waste remains piled up in Kathmandu, officials said it could take at least one week to clear the city streets!!

Fingerless gloves

Fingerless gloves are brilliant, one can wear them in the workplace during a power cut, resulting in ones hands not freezing, in addition ones ability to type is not hindered.
Amazing.

religious experiences

Friday was a public holiday as it was a large Hindu festival Mahashivaratri...

In the morning I decided to go visit a Buddhist temple that I had been meaning to see for a while. I thought I might cycle, which wouldn’t have been a bad thing if I knew where I was going, and if every other person on the road wasn’t a Hindu on their way to the Hindu temple and so of course knew nothing about the location of any Buddhist temples… I cycled round the ring road which is the main road going all the way round Kathmandu, it runs past Pashputi Nath temple where all the Hindus were going. As there were so many people on the road it was effectively closed and so I had to walk, trying not to bash people with the bike, and trying to avoid Sadhus determined to put red dots on my forehead for ‘luck’. As I was going up the hill I saw 2 large helicopters circling the town with large red flags hanging off the bottom of them… for a while I thought perhaps the Maoists were staging a coup or something, but I don’t think the Maoists have air power… in the end I figured they had to be something to do with the festival… but I’m not sure what. Finally back riding I got totally lost, but somehow found the temple, after having a minor head on collision with a motorbike, as I was overtaking a truck… so yes possibly it was partly my fault… but its so frustrating when my bike can go faster than half the vehicles on the road, I end up cycling like Nepalis drive (all over the place), which possibly is a recipe for disaster. Somehow he only clipped the side of my bike, but I really don’t know how I stayed on as it was quite a whack. Anyway the temple was beautiful – well I suppose the prayer flags against the blue sky were beautiful. I got rather carried away on the photo front which if you have a squizz at flickr you will see. Its like a different world out there as most of the people living round the stuppa are Tibetan refugees. Most marvellously I discovered they sell arrul (or the Tibetan equivalent)… mmm dried curds… mmm just like in Mongoland. After ambling around with the monks and tourists I got back on me bike and cycled home.

On the way I ran into a huge procession of people wearing white. White puffer jackets, white saris, white shirts… white everything. There were thousands of them and I cycled past them all… past tuktuks ferrying small child goddesses - very ‘made up’ as if going to a beauty pageant, past flags, past loud speakers, past a marching band, past small children carrying vases and wearing inordinate amounts of eye make-up, until I came to the front of the line and started talking to a man, who if I didn’t know you couldn’t convert to Hinduism, I would have thought he was trying to convert me, the way he went on about the father of my soul, and fingers pointing to heaven etc. We walked alongside a holy ‘linga’ (phallic statue) which was sitting in a flat bed truck, surrounded by more holy people and covered with flowers and other offering looking things. For some reason that I couldn’t work out it was being transported to a park, so I went with it to the park, and then went home. All very random.

But the day got more random, when I met up with my friends and we walked down to PashputiNath to see what was going on there. I had been forewarned about the ganja smoking sadhus (and there were rumours that some would be naked – but no naked men were seen). Even so it was kind of surprising to see thousands of people crushing into the temples to be blessed and then coming outside and smoking dope sold or given (I don’t know which) to them by Sadhus (or holy men). Seriously it was surreal; I had never smelt so much of the stuff in such a small area. It seemed like it was mostly men smoking… and smoking lots of the stuff, despite it being illegal in Nepal, it seems no one minds during this festival as there were police all over the place too, trying to herd crowds and stop people pelting the king’s car with stones when he came to be blessed (police seemed fairly unsuccessful on both counts).

Then we saw the snake charmers and my friend got to wear a snake round her neck and pose with a cobra on her head, whilst other sadhus played whistles and got stoned. I think the snakes were stoned too, they didn’t seem to be doing much. It was all so random – especially when you try and relate it to any religious festival in the UK. The other thing was that the festival was at Pashputi Nath which is where they cremate people, in full public view… so the smell of dope is intermingled with the smell of burning bodies, which is masked by incense. Seeing people being burnt on the ghats is a strange thing. Death and body disposal are very much away from public view at home, but here the bodies burn just across the river, and telfy the tourist and other tourists took photos. Which in itself is slightly odd… I mean why was I taking photos of burning bodies? (albeit at a distance)… I’m not sure, but you can see them on flickr – don’t worry nothing is very distinguishable and you probably wouldn’t know what it was unless I told you…

So all in all a random day of Buddhist and Hindu religious experiences!

A strike....

Today another strike was called, this time by an ethnic minority group wanting the government’s ear. If there is one thing I have learnt from being here it is that if you want something all you have to do is strike. People were told to stay off the roads – blocking all transport is basically how strikes work here. For one reason or another it was thought unlikely that the strike would be observed in the valley and so we drove to work… which was fine, not many other cars about tho. As the day continued we heard (via those snazzy UN VHF radios) that the strike was being enforced and that in certain areas men with big long sticks were beating cars and drivers who failed to keep off the road (nothing like a bit of hospitalisation and abuse of private property during a strike). So faced with the choice of hanging around work till 6 or 7pm and then trying to get a lift home, a colleague and I decided to walk. We walked pretty fast and got home in 55min which wasn’t too bad… on the way we passed:

Policemen in battle dress hanging around (conclusion: policemen in battle dress are always miles away from any action)…

... piles of rotting rubbish (the rubbish collectors also still being on strike)…
... virtually no cars (although bikes and motorbikes seem to be able to get around)… The road in the photo below is usually 4 lanes of solid traffic.

...actually the cars there were, were interesting, most had large flags waving from the front to clearly identify to protestors they were an ambulance, UN organisation, or tourist bus… in fact several ‘tourist busses’ had huge hastily written banners stretched over the bonnet, just so there was no mistaking the fact… Oh yes and the World Bank people sped past with a flag and a police escort just to be on the safe side – although I’m not convinced what good the police do – they certainly don’t stop strikes…

one of the best things about walking home was seeing the mountains – I think I mentioned yesterday that the combination of rain and fewer cars on the road due to strikes and petrol shortages is great in that respect! For those of you who have walked up the hill from the Bagmati towards the Himalaya Hotel you will know that the mountains in this photo are VERY rarely seen!

I think its fair to say that I am not someone who thinks that foreign investment and free markets are the ONLY way poverty can be reduced, however just seeing how crippling to the economy a month of strikes in one part of the country or another can be makes me think how on earth can this country get anywhere if things continue like this. Even at a local level who would want to invest in a small business when 6 hrs every day there will be no power (sort of rules out anything requiring a good electricity supply), when strikes cause huge petrol shortages and shut down all the shops, so you might not be able to do business, when the government appears to give into the demands of anyone who strikes long enough, when there is minimal law and order so people can get away with trashing private property (in the name of a strike)… basically an economy cant function very well like this, and although it must be a million (perhaps billion in the case if Iraq) times better than many other countries in the world… I don’t think it’s an ideal situation for economic growth or for the happiness of the population who unlike me don’t have a nice little red EU passport which means I can get out of this place and breathe some fresh air in 4 weeks time…

Perhaps that sounds a little down and gives the impressing I’m desperate to leave… in fact my Grannie said to me she thinks I don’t like it here. But I do like it here, its random, the people are lovely, the food is yum and outside of Kathmandu it is so very very beautiful, when you see those Himalaya Mountains it’s more than magical. I guess its just not a holiday (like the bodge?), but that doesnt mean I dont like it... I think perhaps next time I blog I will make an effort to write about something good and happy going on in Nepal…

snow and darkness

Today it snowed in Kathmandu for the first time since 1952… or something like that. Alas it was nothing more than a few snowflakes, and possibly could be best described as sleet… and indeed I didn’t see it at all as I was working in the dungeon that is my office. However the aftermath of 24hrs of rain (and 5 minutes of snow) is amazing. The temperature has dropped to freezing and the air is crisp, cold and best of all FRESH (except around the piles of un-cleared rubbish, as rubbish collectors are still on strike). I have been doing pleanty of breathing… oh and it tastes sooo good. The extent of the pollution here was hit home again this evening as we drove back from work. Looking out of the window at the view I have looked at everyday coming home from work these last 3.5months, there in front of me were some wapping huge big mountains… now I had never seen these mountains before today as the smoggy-haze just hid them from view. It was incredible, surprising and disconcerting to see them, a curtain had been lifted and the previous reality was suddenly not reality but a smog induced illusion.

So I think I mentioned that load shedding (power cuts) are increasing. Today the power was on-off-on-off at work and I found myself using my head torch at one point to be able to see my keyboard – it was that dark. The local papers report that we will be having 6hrs power cuts 2 days per week and 7hrs power cuts 4 days a week, and then the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) seem to expect us to be grateful that one day per week we will have no power cuts… the NEA call this a ‘load shedding holiday’. Apparently some power is being imported from India, but they are unable to bring it very far into the country because of “technical reasons … that would entail a lot of transmission losses". Apparently current load shedding is not saving enough power, and people are just shifting electricity consumption to different times of the day, hence the need to deprive us of so much electricity that we cant help but use less. Load shedding may increase to 8 or 9 hrs per day in March, should the situation not improve. It is an interesting experience, especially coming from a society where any power cuts are met with distress. I think it spurs on my desire to live in an eco house, or someplace where I am not dependent on supplies of non-renewable energy…

blog blog blogedy blog

Well it has been a little while since I last blogged, mostly because ‘blogger’ have finally made changing your sign in procedure a pre-requisite of blogging and I didn’t have time to do that until now!

So life is good. I have put some more photos on Flickr, of mountain biking last weekend, and of the Maoist rally that I went to today - celebrating 12 years of glorious insurgency amongst other things I believe. Prachanda the great leader himself was there, not that I could get anywhere close enough to spy him. Thousands upon thousands of red flag flying people were surging around Ratna Park in town trying to get close to the action. Maoists were dishing out free water and it was all very jolly – the red paper ‘Maoist’ visors worn by every other person made me feel as if I was in a surreal communist theme park… and I desperately want to find exactly where you can get vests with Prachanda printed on them in a very Che Guevara-esq pose.

The petrol update is that there is now petrol (a 10 day halt to the strikes and blockades in the south was called)… however there are still fairly huge queues – back log I guess. Electricity cuts are increasing to 6hrs per day starting tomorrow. At work we only have back up power for PCs and so there are no lights during the power cuts. Its soooo dark and depressing! Oh yes and as if this wasn’t enough the people who collect the rubbish are striking about something or other - they have learnt that if you want anything in this country you just have to strike and then the government is fairly likely to give into most of your demands and you can all live happily ever after… well until the government realises that this really isn’t a very sustainable way to function… so yes rubbish collection people striking is actually more tragic than you might think, as basically most people, especially in market areas, just throw the rubbish onto the street and then someone else comes along and sweeps it and burns it and manky dogs run around it all and get excited… so basically certain areas always look rather grim, or so I thought until the rubbish collectors went on strike… and now they look really grim… but the dogs are happy at least.

The other weekend we went to see a bollywood movie. Its interesting, very rarely are western films shown here. I think Casino Royale was shown in December, but with all sex scenes edited out, which makes you wonder if the Bond-ness of the Bond film was lost. So, yes we went to see a bollywood movie, which was a 3 hour epic with no subtitles… despite this quite easy to follow… the liberal interspersing of ‘I love you’ and other English mixed into the Hindi helped. There was plenty of singing and dancing… the movie was split between Delhi and ‘London’… well it was supposed to be London, but when one actress ran round the corner of Trafalgar square and past the Bodleian Library in Oxford I decided either something was amiss or I had been out of the country too long. Just sitting in the audience was an experience, people brought their whole families along, babies and toddlers included, fortunately the sound system was incredibly loud – to drown out screaming kids I suppose… my friend was sitting next to a Nepali who tried to have several conversations with her during the film, and asked her if she wanted to take part in some sort of rally car event he was setting up. Random.

Friday is a holiday. Apparently a big Hindu festival will be celebrated with (naked!) Sadhus chanting, smoking dope and waving live snakes about the place… it all sounds a very random ceremony and one not to be missed. Perhaps some good photos?!

That’s all from me I think.

Love and power cuts x x x x

Petrol crisis

Currently in Nepal there is a bit of a crisis in the (Terai) south of the country, with certain ethnic groups wanting more political autonomy and greater representation in parliament. Quite a few people have been killed by the police which is only fanning the fire of discontent… there are blockades and curfews in many parts of the Terai and as this affects the main import routes from India there is now a huge nationwide gas and petrol shortage (with other shortages to follow I suppose as we seem to get many things from India or the countryside – both of which require fuel to get into Kathmandu). Most people (including me) cook using gas bottles, and as Kathmandu is smogville central I can assure you petrol is in high demand. Some petrol is getting in but they are rationing it to 5litres per person. One of our drivers at work queued for 6 hours at the weekend to get fuel for a car… the queues are crazy, this afternoon I took some pictures fairly close to my house (see below), they just show the queue for motor bikes, the one for cars snaked for a couple of miles down the road…

The only good thing about all this is less cars on the road, but so far there is no noticeable improvement in air quality, and my now almost permanent cold persists… grrrr

Saturday night and I'm feeling flammable

July 2012: I found this in my drafts... probably from 5 years ago, but it amused me to look back on this... highlight?? ... of my time in Nepal. So I am going to publish it retrospectively, hopefully filed in the right year if I can work out the blogger wizardary! x


______

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!

The Guardian says...

Today the 'Guardian' say-eth:

"Women who live in areas of high air pollution, exposed to invisible particles from traffic fumes, coal-fired power stations and wood fires, are at increased risk of heart disease and death, according to a study in one of the world's leading medical journals today."

Lucky me... I reckon I have never lived anywhere so polluted. When I come home I think I shall be doing some serious breathing in wooded areas or by the coast or something... mmmm just the smell of fresh air would be most wonderful.

Of kerosene and weddings

This weekend saw me hunt for several random – non supermarket items. Firstly some kerosene with which to clean my bike chain, which the ever wise internet assured me would do in the absence of branded bike degreaser. Seeing as every other Nepali has kerosene stoves and it is winter you would have thought kerosene shops would be numerous. However I couldn’t find any anywhere until one shopkeeper volunteered a small boy in his shop to show me a kerosene shop. There followed a silent walk of about a mile down winding lanes until we came across the kerosene shop – which looked like every other shop, but had some tanks of kerosene out the back. Fortunately kerosene is sold by the litre (in old coke bottles) and I didn’t have to lug a huge tank of the stuff back to my house. Kerosene seems to work very well as a de-greaser, but it stinks, and is best administered outside me thinks.

The other item I was looking for was a crow bar, as there happen to be bars on all my windows and this is rather prison like and in a fire or an earthquake or armed robbery, or indeed any other calamity that could befall me, a crow bar could be most useful for prising open the bars and making an escape – should the normal exits be blocked… however I soon realised that not knowing Nepali for ‘crow bar’ made finding one impossible and so I gave up rather fast and returned home – cycling up the hill I encountered a hoard of Maoists waving red flags and chanting something (alas not directions to the crow bar shop) which was quite exciting given they had stopped all traffic…

The other excitement of the weekend was a Nepali wedding… some friends and I were invited to our Nepali teachers, brothers wedding, and we thought it would be an interesting experience so we decided to tag along, despite not knowing the bride and groom, and indeed not really knowing the Nepali teacher either. I was expecting some sort of lengthy Hindu wedding ceremony with Saris and people chanting and puja-ing all round, but no, randomly it was a Christian wedding, in a massive church – which even looked like a church at home… well if you ignored the large painting of Mt Everest underneath the alter cross and the fact there were no chairs. So we sat down on the floor, at the back, after beating away about 5 ushers who all thought the foreigners really should have pride of place at the front, even tho they knew no one in the church. The groom and our Nepali teacher sat on a platform at the front along with about 5 Nepali pastors and a couple of musicians. The wedding started without the bride… firstly there was praying (female members of the congregation covered their heads with their scarves) then there was very jolly singing (all done sitting down to ensure maximum pins and needles)… then at last the bride comes down the isle on the arm of her sister (?) and was wearing a most glorious satin white wedding dress – think very white, very shiny, very over the top, the bridesmaid also wore a white dress. It was weird they wore white as here it is the colour of death so kind of an odd wedding colour choice – although perhaps they saw ‘4 weddings and a funeral’ on star movie channel? After the bride had reached the stage and sat down in a chair her father wandered down the isle on his own, and then handed her over to the groom. All the time about 8 Nepali men with a range of photographic equipment (huge TV style video cameras, mobile phones, digital cameras, 35mm film cameras) rushed around recording and photographing every single exciting moment. Half the time you couldn’t even see the bride and groom as they were surrounded by a mass of cameramen! When you could see the bride she looked as if she had a cricked neck. Not once did she look up from her shoes, not during the 17 sermons (it was a long wedding), not when saying the vows to her husband to be, not when he lifted the veil from her face, and not when they walked back down the isle and out of the church to their dhal bhat (lentil and rice – traditional Nepali food) reception. I found this interesting as she didn’t smile either. Seriously, looking as if you want to top yourself isn’t a look people go for in weddings at home. However apparently here, if she looked even a little bit happy it would be ultimate disrespect to her family. The bride is supposed to look terribly sad that she must leave her family and join her new husband’s family, and so showing signs of pleasure at getting married is a big NO-NO. Sometimes city life is so westernised I actually find myself surprised by cultural differences – although this probably has something to do with the fact that after a while you are no longer surprised by many things that would surprise you if you just stepped off the plane from London.

Later that evening (about 10pm) a Hindu Nepali wedding party/procession set off from my street with much playing of trumpets, banging of drums and singing. 10pm would seem an odd time to start a wedding however the timing of strict Hindu weddings is decreed by an astrologer who works out the correct time based on details about birth-dates/times of the bride and groom. Apparently 10pm isn’t actually too bad a time, some weddings start in the middle of the night at 2 or 3am. Not sure ill be volunteering to go to any of those ones!

Oh the Joy

There will be power cut timing increment from this Friday 26 Jan 2007. Every household will face 3 hours of power cuts everyday amounting to 21 hours’ per week. This power cut duration is likely to be increased subsequently to exceed more than 40 hours per week.

Strikes

There seem to be a lot of strikes in Nepal, today was no exception - the 2nd day of a transport workers strike. They have called a national level strike because they want the government to compensate them for the damage caused to their vehicals during other strike action by other people.
This means that they block the roads and burn tyres and apparently deflate the tyres of people who try to defy them... tyre burning is a big thing in Nepal. Alas I dont have any photos of my own, however Mel got a great one (from a different strike) which I will attach below!


So, because there was a strike I had to cycle to work It was nice as there was virtually no traffic, which is my main reason for not cycling normally - fear of death by tuktuk/motorbike/Suzuki maruti taxi/land cruiser/bus... oh and fear of killing some cyclist or pedestrian by going too fast! Seriously it was so nice with no traffic that I am really hoping the 'infdefinate' strike will be indefinate so i can cycle everyday... or at least I'll think that until the food starts running out in the shops...
I took my camera with me thinking there would be exciting photos of tyre burnings, rocks on the roads... but alas nothing... just some soot on the ground where tyre burnage occurred yesterday. I think all the excitment was on the other side of town ;o(

I was thinking tho that all this talk on the BBC about British Airways cabin crew protesting could be brought to new levels if they took some tyre burning lessons from here.... How about 'cabin crew burn tyres in British airways planes'? or if that is too much like arson, perhaps they could burn tyres (plane tyres?) on the runways, outside all BA offices, and perhaps on the M25... i mean to say the lesson here is that tyre burning shouldn't just be limited to those directly affected by the issue being protested (which is often unknown)... the objective is to cause as much disruption to as many people as possible. The M25 would be a good start.

More photos...

I've put some more photos on Flickr if youre interested!

Pebar and the gym

Today is saturday... Pebar day. Now, i decided i should clarify once and for all whether he was a minor or not. Employing a child would be slightly tragic... so i said "Pebar how old are you?"... I held my breath, if he said 15 it would be awful - i'm not sure the landlord would appreciate me sacking Pebar because he was too young... so Pebar says 'I'm 20... I think...' so it turns out he doesnt actually know how old he is, but he thinks he is 20... so i think I'm fairly safe on the child labour front. The reason he doesnt know his age is because like manymany other people in developing countries his birth wasnt registered... in his case because his father died and his mother abandoned him, and so he has lived with my landlord for the last 11 years... interesting.

other news is that i went to a gym. I am not sure i will return. for 200 rupies or £1.40 I had the joy of using the following equipment:

1. 2x running machines – working fine, except the gradient was not changeable
2. 2x ski bikes – functional but not able to change the resistance – and there was no resistance as such so not much good.
3. 1x bike – lacking in one pedal but otherwise functional
4. 1x stepping machine – out of order

So, it was great value?


I'm off for some sightseeing now - I feel I need to be a tourist and find out what there is to see in this part of the world... I shall upload some more photos today or tomorrow

over and out

Earthquake proof???

so, i think i mentioned before that the chances of an earthquake striking Nepal are fairly high... in fact quoting my 'preparing for earthquakes' book that i got given yesterday it sayeth: " the last major earthquake in the valley [Kathmandu] came in 1934 and the statistics indicate that another devestating earthquake is not only inevitable in the long term but also highly likely in the near future".
Now, there are some people around and about who optimistically hope that the earthquake in Pakistan last year relieved some of the pressure on the fault line... however most people seem to just accept that an earthquake is going to happen, and that it will be worse than awful when it does... I think estimates are 40,000 dead and millions displaced... but i could be wrong. The thing is you cant live every day in total paranoia that your house is going to fall down and that you may be squished or be swallowed up into the earth... however I have now been pursaded that some preparation is required. So at the weekend my friend and i went out to buy some largish plastic barrels... we then went to the shop and bought all sorts of junk that i would never normally buy - tins of baked beans, tins of sardines, tins of fruit, tins of soup, tins of vegetables (all stuff that could be eaten cold)... cream crackers, digestive biscuits, peanuts, rasins... i also got in lots of baby wipes, loo roll, soap, liquid detol, a towel, pleanty of bottled water... (this seems like a lot of stuff but it is nothing like as comprehensive as the book suggests)... then i am supposed to put this barrel in the safest place in the house - preferably in an outside shed... well i live on the second floor - i dont have an outside shed... and how on earth do i know where the safest place in the house is should an earthquake strike. currently the barrel is by the front door, but i cant think that this should be a permenant solution... perhaps the back balcony - but thats where the gas cylenders are... oh the decisions. i figure if i am lucky to survive an earthquake in one piece then this stuff will be useful, but if my house falls down then the location of the barrel will be irrelevant...
other excitments are that i have a work permit now, and this means that i am registered with the UN in case of emergency evacuation... although whether i would be a priority of theirs i am not sure, as its not like i work for them... anyways they have the exact GPS location of my house, amongst other things...

I think that is all for now!
over and out roger roger?

Saturday in Kathmandu

Hello.

Today saw the return of Pebar - the cleaning boy. He had disappeared to the countryside register his birth or something… this seemed to take a month, and I am sure you can imagine my distress at actually having to do some cleaning for the first time in the last year. After realising I had been abandoned by Pebar I had to venture out and buy things like brooms and buckets and cleaning fluids… which interestingly I couldn’t find, and so I moped the floors Nepali style – using washing detergent… Anyway as soon as Pebar returned the landlord was on the phone demanding Pebar come over and clean, so he did, and he even did the washing up too. Most excellent.

After he had cleaned and I had done the washing I went out mountain biking with Callum, who is exceedingly fit (unlike me who really hasn’t done any exercise to speak of for the last 2 months). It was so nice to get out of smogville and into the hills, and of course test out the spangly new bike. The bike did good… I did ok… but I found the off paved-road uphills very hard, you have to concentrate so hard on all the rocks and bumps… coming down isn’t much better. I feel as if I have been well and truly shaken up. The views were a bit hazy, but it was so nice to breath fresh air and see village life… and I made it home ok, if rather slowly… We shall see how stiff I am tomorrow!

a pink hatted taximan

I thought I should write a block as an ode to the most lovely taxi driver in Kathmandu. On the whole you get into taxis and they smell, are covered in a selection of stickers that usually include Hindu gods, bollywood stars, Britney and Avril Lavine stickers. Then the driver storms off at top speed and proceeds to try and rip you off for the privilege of a near death experience in his bashed up piece of metal - that would never pass for a car in the UK.

Not however my lovely pink hated taxi driver. If I have to get a taxi to work in the mornings he is always around, so whilst my usual ‘drivers’ have been on holiday I have been getting a few taxis and have become more and more amused by this lovely taximan!

Firstly the pink hat is very cute, and I haven’t seen him without it… then there is his spangly new car – still a Suzuki maruti, but it is new… then there is the fact his meter is very accurate… oh and perhaps because the car is new he drives very carefully – this is very unusual in this country… people hooon it around like no ones business.

He is very polite and speaks good English… one time his mobile rang and he actually excused himself before answering it. When he came off the phone he said he had been speaking to his mum who was like his mother, father and best friend all rolled into one!! Another time he started singing a song ‘… lonely I’m so lonely…’ and explained his wife and sons had gone to Darjeeling and he was missing them very much… now this man doesn’t really look 30… but he has 13 and 8 year old sons. He met Anthony whilst he was here and so after the singing of ‘lonely’ he proceeded to commiserate with me that Anthony wasn’t here anymore, and that he wouldn’t be able to be without his wife for such a long period of time…

Other traffic related news is the discovery that here in Nepal if you run someone over and they are injured you are required to pay all of their medical expenses, however if you kill them you just have to pay funeral expenses. Apparently it is a frequent occurrence that drivers who knock someone over but don’t kill them deliberately reverse, or go round and hit them again as funerals are cheaper than medical bills. This almost sounds too horrible to believe, but it really is true.