Nepalese New Year 2066 and home

Monday saw in the Nepalese New Year....The year 2066 apparently!!.... and they have two New Years every year....all very confusing on the maths front. Whilst struggling with a high temperature I was woken up in the middle of the night by lots of banging and noise.......apparently this was some kind of ceremony to welcome in the New Year which was witnessed by Chris ... a rather large crowd had gathered at the hotel ...when he mentioned this to Clara and Graham in the morning they both questioned his grasp of reality....however all the commotion woke me up so I can vouch for him!!
Anyway owing to this temperature and not being able to move too far from the proximity of a toilet I was unable to accompany Clara, Graham and Chris, who completed the last full day without me...another long but productive day.


Tuesday was spent resting and travelling home....after about 21 hours travelling we have returned safely to a much cooler and far less dusty England!

Apart from the sickness problems this was a great trip. We achieved what we set out to do in the time we had available, we were looked after by some great people,made some new friends( always a good thing), had a lot of fun and each experienced new things. Some of the things we witnessed such as the landless folk living by the river have had a deep effect and will live long in our memories...........................


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Scary Suspension Bridge.

The flights to the mountains are so early that you still have most of the day before you. We spent time in the local community filming. We also interviewed Tanka about all he is involved with in Nepal and about his partnership with us.
We also walked over this rather high and scary suspension bridge........Chris and Clara discovered the joys of riding on motorcycles in Nepal and I, unfortunately seem to have picked up a stomach bug................all in all quite a full day.........................................


Unlike the picture of me above (complete with a nervous smile)...Clara stands in the middle of the bridge totally relaxed!

Flight to Everest

Depending on who you believe Mount Everest is either 8839 metres high, 8848 metres high or 8850 metres high. Whichever one is correct it is still a rather large and impressive Mountain. All these reading means it stands taller that any other Mountains at over 29,000 feet. Our flight to see this Mountains and all its neighbours with Buddha Airlines( we are still not sure whether Yeti Airlines really exists) was a fantastic experience.

Unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed-Reflections from the Departure Lounge for domestic flights at katmandu Airport

Departure Lounges in remote airports are always interesting places. This one was no different. Many trekkers with big boots and shorts were scattered across the hall. The band "Mott the Hoople" used to have a backing group of singers called "The Thunder Thighs"......some of the women present would have qualified for this group as they insisted on wearing the shortest shorts which displayed the biggest thighs and calf muscles you would care to see at 6.15 am. An agitated Buddhist Monk sat between a group of loud Americans who were talking across him, completely obvious to his presence. As I was watching this scene three men dressed as cowboys walked into view strutting across the room like something out of a bad B movie. About every fifteen minutes a Buddha Airline employee appeared and shouted out the next flight number. The problem was he had the highest and quietest voice you could imagine and you could hardly hear what he was attempting to shout.....seemed like a nice chap though. It appears that once you are a trekker it is hard to move onto other things in life. There were many older people there dressed as if they were still in their twenties. One was a lady who must have been approaching sixty years old who had the hairiest arms I have ever seen. To quote Chris " Look at her arms its not the amount of hair its the length of it!!" Finally, just as our flight was about to be called an almighty argument broke out . A whole group of men trying to go through a departure gate started shouting and screaming at the Yeti Airlines Officials and security staff. A big crowd gathered. This went on for about ten minutes....then as suddenly as this commotion erupted it ended and they quietly moved through the gate for their plane!.......bizarre!!

At least Graham made friends with one of the cowboys!

Opening the barrels

It was wonderful this morning to be present when a barrel of clothes which had recently arrived from England was opened during the Tom and Jerry Children's Club( This is run by the church) About forty children from the locally community were present and each received clothes. To see the delight on their faces as the clothes were handed to them was really moving. When you witness a moment like this you realise how these gifts make such a different here. It was a fabulous hour full of fun and much laughter.

Offroading, Monkeys and Pooh Gods

We had an interesting journey on route to the airport where we were doing some filming. Tanka took us off road(quite an experience in Kathmandu) where we met loads of wild monkeys (surprisingly friendly chaps really) and came across an interesting Hindu Temple. The Temple is dedicated to the Pooh God! much more interesting than the Nail God we came across yesterday. No sign of orange friends today much to the relief of Chris. Other good news, Clara was well enough to accompany us this afternoon

Graham goes upcountry!

Towards the end of a long and dusty day on friday the heat and honking of car horns finally got to Graham. Without warning he jumped ship saying" I can't stand this noise anymore I'm going upcountry". With that he runs ahead of us and throws himself into a nearby Tuk Tuk ( Battery powered taxi) I managed to catch this on my camera before he disappeared from view. Hopefully he will return later when all the traffic has gone to bed.

You know when you have been Tango'd!

Whilst walking though Hanuman-dhoka Durbar Square I noticed we were being followed by a very smiley man dressed in the brightest orange this side of the Arabian Sea. His face was so orange it reminded me of David Dickinson! Every time we stopped he stopped with us. I noticed he was offering Chris an orange flower at every opportunity and kept tapping him on the arm. Eventually I had to turn to him and very politely tell him to go away. Very sadly he left us. However on our way back through the same road a couple of hours later we turned the corner and literally bumped into him. On seeing his opportunity to give Chris a flower again his face immediately lit up !! So many of his orange friends appeared that I felt like a borrower in a bowl of oranges! A swift exit was required and we dived into a nearby cafe.

Footnote; Unfortunately Clara missed all this excitement as she has been unwell today with an upset stomach.....any prayers will be appreciated
These two pictures were taken just after this orange incident....I am hiding in this alleyway and Chris put on a disguise to avoid being pursued any further.............................

The Cry of the Landless.

We went to the area by the river this afternoon where Rita's mum{Elizabeth} is hoping to build a school for the children of those homeless families camped along the river. Many are living in shacks lining the river which is better described as an open sewer. I watched a little boy fill two buckets of water from this polluted river and take them back to one of the shacks. Another lady was washing cooking utensils in the water. The smell of the river/sewage was unbelievable and I am finding it hard to describe at this point the range of emotions I felt whilst witnessing these scenes.....

Graham's big breakfast and its effects

Graham had such a big breakfast this morning that a nasty accident nearly resulted. His balance was affected to such a degree that he kept tripping over as he walked along the first road where we were filming this morning. At the bottom of the road he tripped again and only just regained his balance before falling into an open drain/sewer which ran along the road!.........a real near miss.........a smaller breakfast is a must for him in the morning.

Clara finds celebrity status in Patan

Following the church meeting last night Clara was immediately surrounded by every child present. All were seeking her autograph and a personal message from her!! Such was the commotion that this delayed our leaving by at least an hour. We will have to make appropriate arrangements for our next visit on saturday to protect her and get her safely in and out of the building!!

We met the real Elizabeth today ( not the aforenamed toothbrush) She is someone who has given her life to helping the poor. Over the years she has set up schools in her home to give needy children an education which they would otherwise have missed out on. Her next plan is to set up a school in one of the poorest areas of Kathmandu to help the 'landless' children who live in their community on the banks of the main river in the city. Elizabeth is one of countless Christian heroes who's story you will not find in a book.............................

Graham continues his search for Missing Row H

Whilst filming at Rita's mums house today Graham appeared with what he claimed was one of the seats from missing Row H from a Gulf Air 340 Airbus. Whilst some of our party appeared to be taken in by this, others who are more discerning wondered if the altitude was also affecting Graham. A picture of the seat is attached. You decide!

Chris' health update

Physically Chris seems a lot better today but I do believe the altitude is affecting him. Not satisfied with interviewing Rita's Mum he decided that he would then interview a toothbrush. (See photo above)He named this toothbrush Elizabeth. Chris has been sent back to his bedroom for observations and we are hoping he will completely recover by tomorrow.

Reflection from today

This morning we chatted with two church leaders from Dhading who had just returned from the west of Nepal. They had been there to help folk who had been affected by some major flooding. Many had lost their homes and most of their belongings. We were chatting to these Pastors as they and their communities had received mny of the clothes we have sent out to Nepal. They were really appreciative for these clothes and told us how these clothes had helped many in their communities. What struck me was that although they had very little themselves they were willing to travel miles to the west to share what little they had with those in even greater need.
This afternoon we went to one of the orphages we support and met with the guy in charge and many of the children. Again they were really appreciative for the clothes they had received and also for the fundraising (which Mary had organised. )However it was one of those situations when I realised the enormity of the need for these children........I watched some of the boys play football in their back yard........none had appropriate footwear and it became clear that they possessed very little else..........you feel a bit overwhelmed at such a time.........having said that those running the orphage are doing a great job in difficult circumstances.....I left pleased that we had been able to help and thinking about how we can help some more

Footnote: We achieved a lot today and also have some interesting shots of cows, goats, outside toilets, cricket bats and men taking their trousers down ( ask Clara!!)

Flight to Kathmandu

On our flight to Bahrain was interesting. Graham and I had the emergency exit seats which had great leg room. Graham was still confused that he was sitting in row H( see Chris' entry on his blog) as he was still convinced that Row H should not exist in the configuration of the seats and rows. The down side of these seats is that they are right next to the toilets....not too bad under normal circumstances you may say....however two minutes into the flight somebody decided they would do something so nasty in one of the toilets that I had to call one of the stewardess' who promptly shut the toilet down and walked off muttering "As if this flight was not stressful enough.'
Our flight to Kathmandu was notable as we flew over Iranian airspace( having flown right over Basra on the first flight) and for the fact that graham was again in row H.....really confused this time he spent some time seeing if Row B existed and coming up with an amended theory on seat configuration!!!!!!!

Challenge for Chris

Chris has posted challenges on his blog: see casuallyinkathmandu.blogspot.com
This can be the first one Chris.....you need to locate this Temple and sit with these monkeys...then the rest of us can play spot the difference.