It's over...but not forgotten

Ah, well...sorry. I've recently been informed that I've neglected my blog. And wow, have I ever. Here's why. My last week in Kathmandu was a whirlwind. I had a lot of work to do, lots to see and lots to buy. It was my last week to take advantage of my surroundings. After a couple of weeks I was finally becoming accustomed to my surroundings. I was getting lost less often, had developed a sense of direction somewhat, knew what I needed to get, how to get it and where to go. Yay! I met lots of great people who wanted to go out and we went all over the city, usually 4 to 5 places a night. I met and learned from many Nepalese people who were more than willing to share their thoughts, be honest and tell me all about things I will never fully understand as a badeshi. They expect that I will be back again...I wish I could be as confident.

I've learned a lot from the Nepalese in Kathmandu. Most importantly I learned that we have to listen, not act first. What are the NGO's doing for Nepal? What can westerners offer Nepal? In their eyes, we're not offering much and I sense a bit of frustration when they talk about it. Who's listening to Nepal? What do they really need from us? Money? Support? A voice? An audience? What?

I had a fantastic time in Kathmandu and wouldn't trade it for the world. It was an insanely fast 3 weeks and by rights, should have been 4 weeks with a 3 day break in the middle to travel around a bit. Did they need to send me half way around the world to build websites and do a workshop? Probably not but I'm glad they did. I know more about myself (traveling alone is a must folks, it's the only way to learn), I have been humbled and accepted criticism (never easy), I've dealt with challenges and succeeded. How could I possibly learn all that from a book? The impact is HUGE and trips like these do change who you are. Let me restate this important fact: you have to travel alone. It's not scary or intimidating...it's amazing to find out what you're made of, what your limits are and how you can change yourself.

I've added a wrap up video. And here's another recommended read - suggested by a Nepalese friend. I've been told it's better to read this book after having been to Nepal: Amma in America.

Tihar continues...

Another fun day of Tihar. Firecrackers everywhere, music, dancing, lights, people. The streets were packed last night for Tihar. The women dress up in beautiful clothes, everyone is happy and greeting each other with "Namaste, Happy Tihar". For the record, it's year 1130 for the Newari and 2066 for the Nepalese. I was in the bhat-bhetini market yesterday morning and was looking at buying some cheese. The expiry date said 2066 and I thought 'what the..." but now I get it.

We walked all over the place last night after a yummy Indian meal at the Third Eye in Thamel, tandoori chicken, palak paneer, veggies, naan, rice, cucumber raita. We wandered the streets from Thamel to New Road through the Andra Chowk. Every store paints a path to their store on the road and decorates it with flowers, candles and spices, to entice the goddess of wealth, Laxmi.

Packs of boys were running around everywhere lighting firecrackers. One pack threw a firecracker right at my feet - make the badeshi jump. They were funny -I took a photo of them. It was really noisy all night, the lights were beautiful. This is a very impressive festival. Go Nepal! I made a short video of the night, watch it here.

Tihar Begins!

Last night was the first of four festival days. Tihar starts with the worship of crows, then dogs, then cows, then brothers and sisters. It's Christmas and Halloween all rolled into one. There's Christmas lights everywhere. Last night I was standing under a huge strand of lights that was playing 'Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer'. Had a feast at Buzz with a great buffet of Dal Baat that included a rare treat here, deer. No, there is no coincidence between the deer and Rudolf...although that is funny.

I was sitting with a few folks, two from Kathmandu, Pikash owns Buzz, another (forget his name) owns a popular club downtown called the Funky Buddha and the third, Shirley is a Danish kids clothing store owner who's been traveling back and forth to Kathmandu for 3 years. All very nice folks. After the buffet the gambling started and they mean business here. It starts off with a board game like roulette and then it progresses to cards and then shells. They gamble a fortune here. Some were betting their houses, some were betting their wives. No Joke, seriously. I've been invited to Shirley's house on Sunday for more...you guessed it...gambling and food.

Tonight it's off to Thamel again and the Monkey Temple. Around 5ish we're heading down to New Road to see the big show of lights and decorations on the jewelery shops, I guess the shop owners spend a fortune decorating and competing with each other. A shop owner, Rajish, invited us down to celebrate. Rajish is a young guy who also runs a children's music camp. he takes kids from the orphanages and 5 street kids (he watches a number of the street kids for a few months before selecting 5) to a rural area to camp for a week, the kids learn how to play guitar, sing, do art, etc. If any of the street kids behave well and want more (most run away to go sniff glue, it's sad and I've seen it) he takes them to the orphanage to be cared for. Nice eh? I've been invited to go visit the camp but it starts on Wednesday and I have to present on Thursday morning so I can't make it. it's too far outside the city. Bummer. I'd like to go :-( (Three weeks is toooooooo short!)

Today is the day to worship the goddess of wealth so all the shops are open to worship, not to sell. I'll take loads of pictures and post them. I also had a great chat with an older man from Kathmandu, Rakesh, who talked about all sorts of things he's noticed and questions about the western world; he's traveled all over the world and has seen a lot but his heart is in Kathmandu. He is a landscape designer and runs a Kindergarten. The people you meet here...blows my mind. Many people here have traveled, despite poverty and the currency, they find a way to get out and see the world. They have no choice.

Later on we all went to a roof top to tell jokes (that's what they do here, sit around a tell jokes forever, lots of monkey, elephant and tiger jokes, some good, some very bad) Oh, and I saw Orion last night in the sky...reminded me of home.

I've added some video here.

Midway

Well, I''m halfway through the trip. I've got three websites built, a training session scheduled with all the CECI partners (there's tons of them) and a meeting today with the IDS owners. I've been working with a new employee at IDS, showing him the ropes and he's really keen. Turns out he's the owner's son....oh Nepal, that is so your way.

Good news, with some training he will try to manage the sites from here but I will continue to help him out. Bad news, they have had no luck tracking down the previous webmaster and he has the info to access the server. So, still no server. The sites look great on my computer but without a server, it's not going to do much good.

And there's more bad news. A strange rash broke out on my face yesterday morning and is still here today; an itchy, red, bumpy rash with white bumps preceded by fever, coughing, sneezing, the works. I have no idea what I caught but I don't like it. Ah well, it looks gross but I'll manage - hopefully will clear up before Tihar.

So, for Tihar, Friday night we're going down to Thamel them off to Durbar Square for to see the lights and stuff - will bring camera. And on the third day of the festival, been invited to Rajendra's house for the 'sisters' day when they put tikas on the brothers and eat a lot. The festival is four days which means the office is closed for four days...so much for getting work done.

Still, having a good time. You can't beat the food here, it's been around 30 degrees almost everyday, these folks love the night life and will do anything for you. What's a little rash?

Ugh, bummed...sniff, sniff

I have a cold, I'm working all the time. I haven't left the compound yet today. Well, that's not true I was out for an hour this morning. I'm working out of the CECI office because of the internet issue. It's much better here. Still, only a week and a half to do three websites and a training session...nutty. I can't believe I have a cold! It's about 30 degrees here. Just my luck. I'm bummed and tired. There's a crazy little dog that starts barking every morning at 6 AM and barks endlessly...then the rooster pipes in...followed by cars honking and what sounds like big iron doors being smashed together. I need sleep. What is with that dog and 6 AM?

Here's a weird thing, late last night I was walking back to the house with Tessa and there was a group of men in the Chowk around a campfire made of garbage, and there was a couple of dudes digging a massive hole. It was dark and they were digging a big hole in the intersection...creepy.

Still no updates on the pending revolution the Maoists said will begin after Tihar...which would make it Sunday or Monday.

Durbar Square, Thamel and New Road

Sitting in the dark (load sharing) after another good day. Started late after a long sleep, went for lunch with a few folks at OR2K and then off browsing through Thamel, New Road and Durbar Square. The place was packed! Saw a lot of cool stuff including the Kumari Nevi's house in Durbar Square. The Kumari Nevi is a living goddess, a young girl(as young as 4) who is chosen from the Newari caste and, until she has her period, is worshiped as a goddess. She's not allowed to touch the ground and only leaves her home 6 times a year (carried on a chariot). After she has her first period, she becomes an ordinary person and joins the real world again. I guess these girls, spoiled and worshiped until puberty, come out really messed up and cannot marry because they carry a curse. Still, their family is well taken care of and she gets a good dowry at retirement.

New Road is an area full of fabric shops, gold bangles, and everything you can imagine from buddha statues to knock off rolex watches. It's an insanely busy spot. Here's some shots of a holy cow, a Sadhu and the Kumari Bahal (her home in the square).








There's a novel written by a Kumari about her life that is probably worth reading: "From Goddess to Mortal" by Rashmilla Shakya. And of course, I've added new videos :-)

Clubbing in Kathmandu!

Another long and fun day. I walked to work for 10 AM (I'm loading a video of the walk to work) and stayed for 2 hours, met with el Nasser about the bio-briquette company. He's been working on a marketing plan this past year.

At 12 we came back to the CECI house for a farewell/welcome celebration for el Nasser, Tessa, Naomi and myself. We received a Nepali greeting and then we each had to stand on a chair, sing a song, dance and make a short speech. gulp. I sang 'Farewell to Nova Scotia' and did a sort-of highland dance...out of my comfort zone...woooo. Then we had a feast, yum.

Afterwards I walked back to work and finding myself still without internet, came back to the CECI office to use their wireless. I'm talking 10-15 kbps folks. It's not easy making websites at that speed :-(

Then in the evening we went out to go to Jazzmandu at this incredibly beautiful oasis in the middle of the city (see my videos), and CLUBBING! Yay! It's all true what they say. The clubs appear out of no where, down dark back alleys behind locked metal doors, up two flights of stairs. And...they're packed! I met a lot of really nice people from Kathmandu and surrounding areas. All of whom said to get out of Kathmandu to Pokhara if I had time. These folks seem to be pretty well off in Nepal, some owned hotels, restaurants, etc. And all very young - the future leaders of Nepal I was told. We went out with this really nice guy who seems to have a lot of pull in Kathmandu. Doors magically opened for him everywhere we went. He owns a really nice restaurant here called Buzz. Actually, it was the first place I went to when I arrived.

Long story short, got home at 2 AM and we were locked out of the CECI house so Naomi climbed over the gate (a tricky maneuver, high gate, spikes on the top, big heavy metal doors). Then, once she got over, the guard appeared from the back of the compound. Security at it's best! I slept until 12. Today, I'm off a wandering...

Long working day at IDS

Well, day one was a long day starting at 8:30 AM. I went in with Geetika from CECI and met Prabha Pokharel, Prakesh Koirala, Bimala Kharal and Prabesh Devkota. I'll be working mostly with Prabesh and Bimala for the next two weeks. I have a mandate of three websites and training sessions for ALL the CECI partners in Nepal. Yikes. It'll take a lot of work to do all of this. They asked for a training manual as well but...I really don't think it's possible...

The three sites are for IDS (Integrated Development Society Nepal), BGRCNN (Banaspati Gueetha Resource Centre Network Nepal) and Bio-Briquettes Company. IDS is an NGO committed to improving the quality of life of poor and underprivileged people in Nepal. BGRCNN is a network of producers and parties involved in bio-briquettes and the Bio-Briquettes Company is promoting and selling the product - a low cost alternative and sustainable energy source badly needed in rural areas. They take a destructive forest weed (Banmara), char it, mold it with clay and water and then burn it instead of burning wood or kerosene. it's cleaner, mitigates climate change, generates sustainable income in rural areas and supports gender equity through the involvement of women in the production and marketing of the briquettes. Win win all round.

I got lost today...like seriously lost. Every corner, house, path and wall looked the same. Well, there are no corners, there are no street names, no house numbers, and sometimes no lights. I was wandering around for a while trying to find something familiar. Fortunately, earlier in the day, I had noticed a narrow road that had white bricks on one wall and dark concrete on the other wall. I started singing 'ebony and ivory'. Well, I remembered that when I came across this "corner" again so I used it as my marker to find my way back. Genius! Lucky thing I'm so easily distracted...right? Tomorrow, I'll video the walk to IDS to show you that it's not easy getting around here - let alone dodge cars and motorcycles everywhere. If life isn't exciting, it's not worth living.

Oh yeah, I uploaded more videos here.

It's been raining all day. Didn't stop the sightseeing though! Went to some really cool and very old, old, old sights from the 10th, 12th and 16th centuries: Patan, Durbar Square, Bouddhanath stupa, the Golden Temple, the Royal Temple and Pashupatinath. Phew!

Bouddhanath is the Tibetan area of Kathmandu and it is the most amazing feeling when you go in there. It actually feels calming to be there. The scent of burning incense and the sound of the chants and spinning prayer wheels is enchanting. I took some videos. My guide explained a lot about Buddhist symbolism.

Pashupatinath was an experience. Less calming, kind of disturbing. It's the massive Hindu temple in Nepal. There were about 4 or 5 funerals going on while I was there and I took some video of the funerals. And there were monkeys and holy men. I was hounded by sellers and warned not to look the monkey's in the eye - apparently that pisses them off.

Durbar Square in Patan is very cool and really old, medieval actually. It is going back in time…the architecture…the narrow stone paths. A lot of these buildings were built well before they had access to concrete. They used a mixture of ghee, black lentils and dirt to build the structures, a mixture much stronger than concrete. Go figure, a little butter, lentils and dirt...who knew?

The Royal Palace in Durbar was built in the 12th century and is the home to massive slaughter celebrations. Thousands of animals have been slaughtered over the years. Last week about 100 buffalo were killed (heads cut off in one slice) in the palace courtyard. I have some video explaining the slaughter. It's a huge pool of blood. There were tons of blood-stains and hanging entrails when I was there today, gory remnants of the celebration.

Only one courtyard in the temple is open to the public. A few years back, all three courtyards were open to the public but an American film crew came in to film and apparently they stole a lot of the statues and stuff, so the other two courtyards were closed off. Nice eh?

Then off to Lazimpath (sp?) Street for a little shopping after a potato curry and flat bread lunch… yummmmm

Full day of learning

OK, jet lag is done. I can't sleep on the plane which may suck but fortunately, I don't suffer from jet lag (three cheers!). I woke up after a good sleep at 6:30 AM (thanks to a rooster) and still feel great now at 10 PM. And the ankle is no longer swollen (fine after a night of sleep). Moving on from the boring stuff...

I had orientation this morning and afternoon with Rajendra and Geetika. CECI first, etiquette and then Uniterra background. All very interesting. Rajendra, who's been with CECI for 20 years covered the history of CECI from the beginning. It's been quite a journey for them. Uniterra is a product of a merge (shared interests) between WUSC and CECI and it too has had quite an evolution. Their hedgehog concept (sustainable forestry, dairy, micro finance) has been firmly hammered out for the next five years. Uniterra I evolved from an international volunteer program servicing projects with 2 year term volunteers to a focused program with short, medium and long term volunteer placements. This new plan, Uniterra II, launched this Spring. This is a short and 'not worthy' synopsis of a lot of information and history but I'll stop here.

I walked around a bit mid-day, got a phone card, had lunch at 'Trendy" which is a nice restaurant...except for the big dead bug in my meal, many legs, laying on his back, dead (gross). Fortunately I had already eaten most of the plate of briyani and rice. Or maybe not so fortunate...the jury is out on that one.

Later on in the afternoon I went to Thamel with Naomi, Tessa and Moose (nickname obviously). We took a crazy cab ride (I still can't get over the driving) to Thamel and went for dinner at this cute hippie restaurant. The food was good, everyone was Badeshi (foreigner) and the seats were really low, sitting on cushions, black lights, candles, cute and mellow man. Then we wandered around the shops a bit and had a look at some things I want to pick up such as the mandalas and colourful hangy-thingies and nice artwork, and clothes... I can't believe you can get tailor made jeans (saw them myself and they're nice) for $7. Isn't that wild? Oh yeah, my meal was 180 rupees and the drink (mint lemonade that tasted like a mojito) was 80 rupees so all together 260 rupees which is $3.50. Love it! It's cheap to eat and the portions are big. However, cars and real estate are crazy expensive, at least 3 times the price of housing in Vancouver.

I've uploaded videos of Thamel and the OR2K restaurant here. I have to mention the smell of Thamel. Imagine some spices and incense wafting around, a warm sweet smelling air, and listen to the sounds of honking and music. Kind of dreamy really despite all the commotion.

Here at Last!

OK, Kathmandu is pretty amazing. Hectic, noisy, busy, jammed with buildings, people, cars, motorcycles, dogs, etc... This city is buzzing.

I arrived around 8:30, had a ONE HOUR line up for a VISA which was nuts. I was picked up at the Airport by Rajendra and Pushpa (CECI Admin). We drove to the CECI office/passage house and the driving is truly insane. There are no rules other than use your horn. Seriously.

I had a tour of the offices of CECI and Uniterra with Geetika and then went over to the Passage House to settle a bit. Then went to lunch at Buzz which is a really cool outdoor restaurant about a 10 minute walk away. Then had a power nap - totally exhausted. I woke up to a dark house, the load sharing of course - it lasted about 2 hours which is fine.

Tessa and Naomi came back later and we've been chatting since and geeking out on the now accessible internet. Check out the new videos I added to YouTube - click here

Rating of the Day: 8/10 because I am exhausted, hot and sweaty, wearing wrinkled clothes and unshowered dealing with strangely swollen ankles.

En Route!

Halifax to London to Doha…Doha…Doha…still in Doha. I have no idea what the time is in Halifax, nor London nor Kathmandu. I haven’t slept on the trip yet and it’s been 24+ hours. I’ve been at the Doha airport for about 4 hours now and am afraid to go to sleep in the ‘quiet room’ in case I snooze right through the boarding call.

I had a tight transfer to the Qatar Airlines flight in Heathrow, even though it was in the same terminal. The security check had a super long line. It’s such a superficial inspection station anyways; really, we all just got off planes where we had an inspection. Sigh.

Anyhow. In about two hours I’m off to Kathmandu…Yay! OK, here’s some notes about the airports. Heathrow is big which means a lot of walking. The Doha Airport is small, noisy, boring and the washrooms are disgusting…blah. However, I know there’s a new swanky airport opening in 2012, which should be awesome. The lengthy bus ride from the plane to the terminal, jammed with scrambling travelers, was a bit much…but that probably will change in 2012. Also, make note, cutesy Western chit chat and manners don’t garner much of a response here. Leave them at the gate.