Tonya and I left home at
0300 and drove to the airport only to find everything in the dark and quite
deserted. Oh no!!
It turned out that Malaysian
Airlines didn’t open up until 2 hours before the flight and all was good. I had
5kg too much luggage but they didn’t say anything and I didn’t pay excess.
No it wasn’t my clothes, it was the laminated
work sheets and reading books that was the weight.
We left at 0600 and it was
the first time I have flown with this airline and the service was quite good
but my only complaint was that the seats are really quite small and my bun
completely filled it with a bit left over.
It was lucky that the middle seat was empty.
We had a good flight and
arrived in Kuala Lumpur on time at 0900 and I had 10 hour layover there.
The airport is quite large and you have to
take a train between terminals. I
wandered around for awhile and then went into the public lounge. It was about $60 Aust but worth it as I had a
shower, free massage and food and drinks.
I flew out to Kathmandu 2100
and settled in to about 7 hour flight and yes all the seats were full and I got
to know my neighbour quite well.
We touched down on time and
I bought my 3 months visa with no problems at all, I was out of the airport in
about 15 minutes.
The airport was like
Dili and Siem Reap, dingy and unwelcoming.
The temperature was 8 degrees and raining. I picked up a sim card at the airport and
changed $20 and went out to face the crowds.
It was really good, they have volunteers helping the visitors and I was
soon in the hotel car and off to the hotel.
The traffic was light and we
were soon flying through the tiny roads and the trip was uneventful except for
the almost head on at one of the intersections.
The 7 km trip took about 20
minutes but normally during the day it would take 45 min as the traffic doesn’t
flow very well.
The Heritage hotel is in the
centre of the tourist area which is called Thamil and it is 6 floors, the staff
is lovely but of course no heating and the walls are paper thin. The water was freezing so no shower for me
and it was nice to snuggle down into the warm blankets.
 |
| View of city from hotel rooftop restaurant |
The next morning was again
wet and cold and I rugged up and set off too look around the city.
I was very close to the old part of town and
while I was walking a young man came up and started talking and offered to show
me the various temples etc which was nice.
He was a student and wanted to practice his English, we wandered around
and the temples are mainly Hindi and we saw where the Guirka’s lived when they
guarded the city.
It was great and he was a good guide, we went to see his
school where he paints the most intricate pictures with a brush with one yak
hair. It takes 10 years for them to
become a master.
Of course I was offered
the opportunity to buy some of the paintings which were of course very lovely
but also $300 US, I promised to come back (sure). The young lad started to take me back to the
square where I met him and he suggested that I would like to give his family
some food.
OK, so he went to a stall
and ordered all this food and the shopkeeper told me it was 53000 rupiah ($53
Aust), well I had 200 rupee in my wallet and no intentions of giving
more.
Guess he wasted his time and I
should have known better. At least I saw
the temples with a local guide.
 |
| Guirka's barracks - see little soldiers |
There is wi-fi at the hotel
and I had used my computer the previous evening and all was good, this arvo it
just wouldn’t boot up. B…….ger.
The evening Miryan met me at
reception and we walked to a local restaurant and I met Sue and Wyaana
there.
Miryam is from Chicago and is a
long term volunteer who works for VSN and she has just married a local
man.
Sue is English and is a Biology
teacher who can’t find work in England so has spent the last 5 months
volunteering and will probably continue travelling for years to come, she is
about 45.
Wyaana is a Kiwi and this is her first trip outside of New Zealand
and she is 26 and much to the concern of the locals she is not married and with
baby.
The meal was nice and I had
satay chicken which cost $2.50, we didn’t stay late as it was cold and Sue who
lives in a flat had to catch a miro bus and then walk in the dark.
Back to hotel and no water
because there was no power.
17 February 2014.
I am off to a village which
is about 17km from the city but it takes about 1 hour in a taxi and Miryam is
taking me to introduce me to the people from BFCH which is one of the
orphanages that the VSN looks after, the training is done there.
The trip to the village is
the same as any trip in Asia, noisy traffic, bad roads and chaos.
The weather is still cold
and wet and I still haven’t seen the mountains because of the constant
mist.
We arrive at the orphanage and for
one brief moment the sun comes out and I am surrounded by fantastic mountains.
 |
| Orphanage |
 |
| View from Orphanage |
I meet Jaccu who is the
manager of the orphangage plus a number of other titles, he lives nearby to the
orphanage. Harri is the Nepalese teacher.
It seems that the number of
volunteers have decreased recently and I am the only one so the training is not
as good and Kate who is the co-ordinator has just also married a local as she
was out with him.
Lunch time or as they say
here Dhal Baart which consists of steamed rice, fried vegetables which
normally come from the garden and a dhaal soup which you pour over your
rice.
The meal is eaten from a small
table while sitting on the floor and you use your right hand to shovel in the
food after you have mixed it in with the dhal.
Good fun.
It seems that you have a cup
of sweet tea about 0700 then about 0930 – 1000 you have dhal baart and then
about 1400 another cup of tea and then 2000, dhal baart again
.
In the afternoon Miryam and
Jaccu gave me about 30 minutes of cultural matters and then I was taken to Jaccu’s
home by one of the boys from the school.
We wandered through rice
fields and paddled through a creek and climbed a hill and eventually we got to
Jaccu’s home and I met his wife.
Rahajani and after a cup of tea, I went out with her to cut grass for
the cow. The cow lives in a barn and is
kept on a small rope and during the day it is taken outside and allowed to eat
straw but still on the rope.
In fact everything
seems to be on a short chain, the dog just goes outside on a chain and then in
the evenings chained up outside the door.
 |
| Cow shed |
I must admit that if I have
to eat vegetables, Rahajani spices them up with masala, chili and one other
spice.
It was lovely, I was there 3
nights and the first night they gave me a spoon and I sat on the floor, the
second a spoon and a small stall, the third night a spoon and a chair.
I was also spoilt because
instead of rice and dhal for breakfast she made me naan, or pancakes or
omelette pancake.
The house is quite big, a
large number of rooms and upstairs a kitchen and a open area and of course the
dreaded squat toilet which at least was inside the house but quite a challenge
especially when there was no power which is most of the time.
The house
belonged to Jaccu’s father and he inherited it as he is the only and eldest son
with 4 sisters.
The whole family goes to
Jaccu’s house for festival so sometimes there can be as many as 30 people there
which explains the rooms that are currently used for storage.
Rahajini cooks either on a 2
ring gas burner or a wood fire baked clay stove, the dhal baart takes ages and
if it wasn’t for the pressure cookers she uses for the dhal and rice she would
spend the whole day cooking.
Jaccu came home about 2000
and we had dinner and then we were tucked up in bed (not together) by 2100 and
Rahajini was up at 0600 cooking for the daughter to eat by 0730 as she catches
the bus to College in Kathmandu and comes home at 1930.
The son then eats about 0800 and goes to
school and then Rahajani feeds the cow and cleans everything and then eats with
Jaccu if he comes home for morning dhal baart.
Jaccu didn’t come so I had
to walk to the orphanage for my Napalese lesson, I was quite confident that I
could remember the way but after about 10 minutes I couldn’t remember where to
go next and of course the sun had come out and I had about 4 layers of clothing
plus a jacket.
I knew eventually someone
would come looking and I tend to stand out in a crowd over here. Fortunately, Jaccu saw me and it turned out I
was on the right track.
I have managed to remember
of bit of the lesson from yesterday and then I was given a heap more. The main one I was pleased to learn was ‘Ali
Ali’ which means little, little as I seem to get a bucket full of rice.
It is a lovely atmosphere in
the house although it does change when Jaccu comes home as he is rarely there
and mum is raising the children.
The women look a lot older
that they are, Rahajani looks in her late 50’s and she is in her early
40’s.
They marry young but surprisingly
they only have 2 or 3 children, it seems that the injection to prevent
pregnancy is easily available and quite cheap.
So far, the hardest thing
for me is the not showering, it seems that it is a once a week thing and they seem to wear the
same clothes every day, although nothing would get too dirty as they never take
of their jackets or in the case of the women their shawls.
I am making good use of my
baby wipes, the other thing is interesting, I am used to squat toilets but also
having a hose to wash your butt, nothing here, I have to work it out!!
I stayed three days with Jaccu
and his family and left with an invitation to come back anytime.
On Thursday I got into a taxi
for the trip back into town, the cars are small, old and very battered.
I knew when we were getting to a dangerous
part of the trip, as he would pray very loudly about 7 times and then when the
next big bend or traffic intersection came up he would do it again.
It must have worked as we got back to the
hotel safely and I caught up with Miryam who took me to a computer repair shop
and also the local supermarket.
It turns out that the
battery in computers only lasts about 18 months as I remember it happened to my
last one, I can still use it but have to turn it on, plugged into power. Just
have to find out when the power is on.
The total cost was 3000 rupiah or $25.
I went to the local bakery and bought my tea
and then after dropping my washing off at a 2 hour service to be told that it
will be ready 1100 tomorrow, went back to my hotel room to snuggle down and read my
kindle in the dark.
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