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.