Kathmandu

Whoops - The Slight Detour on the way to India !!!!

SDL — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 15:32:00 GMT

Well .. as most of you know, there was a slight detour on the way to India ... whoops somehow I ended up in Perth !!!

It has been so good to be back home on 'holiday' and I can't tell you how wonderful it has been to see my sons, friends and family again.

I asked my sister to organise lunch with the boys as a friend was dropping off a suprise from Nepal .. LOL the suprise was me ... I so nearly let it slip a few times before I left that I just had to lay low before I blew it. After lunch it was off to dinner to suprise Vick ... now you all missed her just standing there speechless .. quite a sight I tell you.

I just have to thank Rod so much, he picked me up from the airport, ran me straight to the hairdressers and after we had caught up with all the family he took me off to Margaret River for a couple of days R&R and of course I had to do some work on my bad case of DWDS ( Decent Wine Deficiency Syndrome ) ....

Since then I have been floating all over the place. I haven't managed to spend the night twice at the same place yet ... thank goodness I'm getting good at bumming beds.

The general plan is to stay here till the end of Jan as I need to catch up on a few things, then its back to Nepal and pretty much straight off to India .. see I really am going .. I'll then head back to Nepal and sometime over the next few months we are also planning a bike trip through Thailand and Burma .. I know, its a hard life but someones gotta do it !!!!!!!

I hope that everyone has had a great Christmas and I want to wish you all the best 2005. Keep in touch

Love Sharon

PS .. I'm testing out a few web photo apps and I have put some photo's up on our Westnet space. If you want to check them out the url is http://members.westnet.com.au/netewen/sharon/mygallery/index.html .. now that I am thouroughly enjoying broadband again I think there might be too many pics on the page, but let me know how it goes, especially anyone on dialup

OK OK ... I have been really slack ....

SDL — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 22:18:00 GMT

Wow, I cannot believe it has been so long since I last posted.

This will have to be a short one too as I am on a really really bad connection.

Well I was back in Kathmandu for 2 weeks and tried to tie up what I could there as much as possible. Not easy I tell you. I just couldn't stand the thought of leaving Nepal without going back to Pokahra, soooooo here I am, back in Kathmandu again, not long off the plane.

I had a beautiful week in Pokhara and the time just flew, as always it was a wrench to leave and luckily being western I can get away with crying and hugging everyone.

I have to leave Nepal on Friday, well technically tomorrow I am illegally here, but I will go to immigration and sort that. Its off to India and hopefully I will get a better connection and put up some more.

So its goodbye Nepal for a month or so and I can't wait to get back .......

PS ...

SDL — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 18:03:00 GMT

I finally put some new photos in the gallery as well. Theres the Dasain photo's and a few I took on trek and at Pokhara ....

Pokhara so far ....

SDL — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 02:01:00 GMT

Here I am in beautiful Pokhara. As previously mentioned the first day was spent 'recovering' .. and not from a hangover.

I started to move around on the second day, but still wasn't up to going too far. I gave Ann a call, this was the person who I had been emailing about trekking and she had been so helpful and kind. Ann popped over to the hotel and we had a great chat and decided that I would go for a 3 day Royal Trek on the Thursday with her brother in law Prakash. (The whole family relationship thing gets a tad more complicated here, but brother in law will suffice for here).

In the meantime, she invited me over to their house and I got to meet the family and see the computer centre they have setup (more about that later). Of course, just because I was coming, there was a minor crisis and their main computer decided it couldn't find windows on the morning I came in, so I also got to repair that whilst I was having a look. One of Devi's friends turned up, so we all headed into Lakeside for dinner and had a great night.

I arranged to go out with Prakash the next day to see if I could still ride a motorbike. First up we went to a big sort of oval type place and suprisingly I was fine. A bit rusty on the gear changes, but really not too bad. Poor Prakash, he was so brave, we next headed out on the road. He rode pillion up one of the close mountains and we made it in one piece to a fantastic lookout. The one thing I have to remember to do here is to beep the horn all the time. Because the rules are no rules its an early warning system that you are there or coming, but because its not something that we do I find it hard to remember.

After the lookout we went for a nice lunch and then met up with Ann and Devi and her sister in law Sarita and husband Mukta. On three bikes we went out to another mountain and had a wonderful afternoon. Prakash and I had ordered so much for lunch there was a heap of left overs so this made a great 'tiffin'. At festival time they make these huge swings of bamboo and its a real artform in how to swing them, but you just have to have a go. I was killing myself laughing and damn it seems so high as you get older. (You swing standing up by the way).

Prakash and I left everyone and I got the tour of one of the local Tibetan Refugee camps along with a Buddhist temple. The next stop was the biggest local Hindu temple and then back to Lakeside. Seeing as I was heading off early the next morning I went and grabbed a few things, packed and had an early night.

Off to trekking we go. Prakash came and picked me up and we headed back to the house. Amah gave us a blessing and tika and we headed off to the bus stop. We got a bus to Patan Bessi and then it was foot. I find it hard to describe the whole trip, but the scenery and the countryside was just magnificent. The Royal Trek is through the villages and mountains all around, but relatively speaking you don't go that high ( meaning high enough for snow ). You get to see and meet villagers, see life that hasn't changed much in years, so much fresh air, rice paddies carved into the hillsides, the flowers, ferns, plants and trees just magnificent and the Annapurna range often in view. We stayed in the local tea houses who serve up Dal Bhat (the traditional rice, vegetables & pickle with a lentil soup) and the accommodation is basic to say the least. No showers, no mirrors, no makeup but of course theres always the raksi. Actually the mountain raksi is freshly made and served warm and tastes very mild compared to the city version. I slept really badly both nights as I really was still recovering and by the 3rd day of up hill and down dale we were nearing the end and Prakash pointed to this huge flight of stone steps and I just looked and him and said .. nope ... its the bus. Now I'm not sure which would have been worse, but the bus trip was a whole experience on its own. As usual the amount of people they can cram into a bus is incredible. It was already packed by the time it got to us and I didn't think it could fit anymore, but sure enough, every stop they managed to fit more in. There are no roads to speak of, just tracks with huge rocks and bumps perched on the edge of cliffs. The bus swings and sways and bumps and at some stages you are on a 45 degree angle peering over the edge of a thousand foot drop whilst hanging on to a metal rail, jostling with people and trying to keep your balance. Finally finally we made it and after a short walk we stopped at Begnas Lake for a while. We sat around and while I contemplated falling asleep on the stone steps I thought I better head back to the hotel. This bus ride was a lot better. Made it in to Mahendra Pool and then taxied back to Lakeside. The first thing I did was have a nice hot shower and then hit the bed again.

The next morning it was time to find a new bed. Hotel Lake Palace is relatively speaking pretty expensive (US$10 a night), so with help from the wonderful Sapkota family I got a cheaper room in Lakeside and settled in. For the next 2 days I really didn't do a great lot, mostly read, wandered around and had a rest. I'm not sure if I mentioned that Ann is American and married to Devi, well the day of the election I was over their place and Ann being a Kerry supporter was getting more depressed as the day went on. Once it looked like there was really no hope we compounded the situation by heading into Lakeside and setting ourselves up one of the restaurant tv rooms with some good food, a bottle of vodka and Farenheight 911. That was it, we were mad, drunk, bawling, laughing and talked so much. Somehow we made it down the road to meet Devi and one of his friends, so more food, drink , talking and laughing.

The hotel I was at is run by 2 brothers and there was a couple of moments where they both tried to get 'amourous' and funny as it was, when I told Ann, that was it, seeing as Prakash was off on another trek I had to pack my bags and come to their place. I can't tell you how wonderful this family is. I now have my Pokhara Nepali family who have adopted me and are just so beautiful. There is Amah (Mum), Haaji (Grandmother), Devi's older brother, wife and 2 absolutely adorable childer affectionately known as Babu and Nanu (who now sleeps with me every night), Ann & Devi, another 3 sisters and little babu, Prakash and of course any other family members who come and go. Ann has her own website which has lots of interesting stuff about Nepal and some older photo's of the family, so here is the link http://thevoyagers.com.

I have just got so much to tell, but seeing as I have put a lot up today, I will try and spread it out over the next week or two.

Dasain

SDL — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 02:00:00 GMT

OK, catch up time ...I left off just before Dasain. It already feels like months ago, even though it was only about 3 weeks. Dasain is a huge festival here and involves all the family, extended and immediate. It goes for 10 days and there is lots of visiting, drinking, eating, dancing, card playing and blessings.

For those unfortunate souls who work, Monday & Tuesday where work days and as there was another fund raising event on the Tuesday, I put in an appearance and helped out.

Wednesday started with the house a hive of activity, but there is not a lot I could do (cooking is still not my forte), so I took myself off shopping.

Dinner that night was really the start of Dasain for the family. What a fantastic start it was too. Talk about cultural exchange, I burned a CD of all my favourite aussie music, JBT, Epicure, The Beautiful Girls, Missy Higgins, Powderfinger, etc ... so it was a huge Nepali meal with my new Nepali family, aussie music and I opened the bottle of Lenton Brae that I have been hanging on to. Would you believe everyone loved the wine and the music ... especially me !!!

After dinner it was down to some serious card playing. We went till 5am and as usual I lost a heap, but it was great fun. I will have some new games to teach when I get back.

After a few hours sleep, I dragged myself off to the shops to stock up on wine for the rest of the festival. Not long after I got back, Moni, Suzeel and Nichole where heading off shopping, so what the heck, might as well go along. We went off to Bhat Batteni, my new home, and then to New Road. Suzeel decided that my immune system needs some good old fashioned germs, so he dragged us off to this famous streetside vendor for these Indian type snacks. They are like huge puffed balls of rice, about 5 or 6cm in diameter with lord knows what inside and placed in a small bowl of COLD salty water. You are meant to just pop the whole thing in the mouth in one go and quicker than you can get it down another one is placed in the bowl. I managed to get a few down and prayed that I wouldn't get another bout of you know what ... On the way home Suzeel got a call from some friends about meeting at a bar, so it was fly inside for a quick change and put the face on. Nichole was very excited and wanted me to wear the purple silk skirt suit (the reason for this bit of trivia will become apparent), so it was all gussied up and off for the night.

We went to a bar, would you beleive not very far from where I lived in Jawalakhel, didnt even know it was there. In honour of Dasain, they were serving Newar food ( one of the sub cultures here) and raksi ... I think I already told you, this is the local firewater and personally I think it would make excellent racing fuel. Along with the food there was a classical Nepali band playing. We met up with Moni & Suzeels friends, partook of the food and raksi .. and more raksi and after a while people started to get up to dance. Next thing one of the guys comes over and drags me up to the floor so lucky me was one of the first people up dancing. This was traditional Nepali folk dancing and I had no idea what I was doing, but theres lots of arm movements so I was pretty OK, I think my feet need a bit of work, but it was so much fun with lots of laughter and really it was just about enjoying yourself. This guy just kept coming over all night and they were giving me heaps and saying 'how romantic', I suppose you just had to be there, but by the end of the night fun was had by all.

After the drinking and dancing, we decided to head back home and one of Suzeels friends was coming over as well for some more cards. We had to stop at his place to pick up his bike so he could get home. Well, you know how I love bikes, so I wanted to go the rest of the way on the bike. I refuse to ride side saddle as I'm sure I would fall off, so here I was in a skirt and high heels astride on the back of the bike. LUckily it was late, so not too many people where around to see this mad woman. The nights and mornings here are very chilly now, I had no jacket so it more than woke me up after all that raksi. I jumped off in the laneway before we totally pulled up, Mum would have been horrified to see me. We managed an earlier night and only played cards till about 3am and yes .. I still lost. Suzeel had bought a bottle of Hinwa, which is a local wine made from mountain berries, so we also managed to polish that off as well. It really wasn't too bad, it smelt like raksi, but luckily it didn't taste like raksi.

Friday dawned bright and early and I am so out of practice that all I managed was to drag myself off to the video shop and get a couple of movies. It was a pretty vegging out day. Another big dinner, the two bottles of wine I bought the other day, more friends over for cards and about midnight we cranked the music up and turned the lounge room into a club. Everyone was up dancing to trance and disco and we had a ball. It was a pretty early night, about oneish, as Saturday is the BIG day. This is the day you visit all the close family and the eldest give tika (the red dot) , blessings and money to their youngers. This works its way down through the family and can be quite a long process. Grand parents to the parents and their kids, parents to their kids, elder siblings to their younger siblings and on it goes.

So off to bed and about 4 in the morning I woke up with the most excrutiating pain in the gut, yep the last few days had caught up with me. All week was geared towards Saturday and I was not doing too well. Everyone was coming in with different remedies for me but to no avail. I did manage to get into the shower and get my sari on for the immediate family ceremony. After a short rest we were off to Moni's mums house. We stopped at the shop on the way which is right next to my old hotel and I had to rush in and borrow the ammenities, I was so thankful we went to that shop. I managed to hold it together at Moni's place and on the way home we stopped at a pharmacy (not to be confused with any pharmacy that you would be familiar with) and got the heavy duty stuff. I downed the first load of tablets with instructions to only take the other 3 every six hours if needed. It was now off to Mum's mum's place. It was about 3ish by now and I was pretty whacked, I received more tika's and blessings and they bundled me into grandma's bed. After I woke up, Suzeel took me home, I crashed and they finished off the rest of the family visits.

I was tossing up what to do, I was meant to fly to Pokhara tomorrow and I wasn't doing too well. I had to take the second tablet as it was sort of working, but I was still pretty bad. I decided to just sleep and see what happened in the morning.

Sunday morning and getting slightly better, onto the 3rd pill by now. I packed and Dad dropped me off at the airport. I wasn't that well, but I just didn't want to delay my flight again. Even though it is only a half hour flight, with all the waiting, checking in, etc a few hours passed before I got to Pokhara. By the time I got off the flight I was wilting pretty badly, so I hopped into an airport taxi (which is really expensive) and went straight to Hotel Lake Palace where I stayed before. Onto the fourth tablet now, but I managed to sleep all night and felt a tad more stable by the next morning.

So all in all, a very enjoyable Dasain, shame about the stomach, but thats life in Nepal for a westerner. I am so happy to be back in Pokhara, this place is just gorgeous and it really resonates with me. It so feels like home. Of course, I now have to tell you all about my Pokhara adventures Part 2 and don't forget, its time to get ready for Tihar, the next big festival.

Still getting there

SDL — Sun, 07 Nov 2004 15:53:00 GMT

Just thought I would drop in a quick line ... I've been pretty slack or should that be keeping amused so I just havent got around to writing all the stuff I want to for the blog.

I've been having a great time in Pokhara, doing some relaxing, some working (will write more about that one), lots of talking, quite a few good dinners with drinks, laughs and friends .. so in general its been just what I needed.

Tihar is coming up next week and I have to decide if I want to stay in Pokhara or go to Chitwan with my Kathmandu family ... big choices which I really don't feel like making but will have to.

I really really will get around to putting some stuff up next week along with some fantastic shots I got whilst on my 3 day 'long walk'

Keep Posted !!

SDL — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:19:00 GMT

Finally made it to Pokhara after a brilliant Dasain. It will take me a while to write it all up, but I certainly made the most of it and had to spend the first 2 days in Pokhara sleeping ... lets just say I learnt about Raksi (local drink that could easily run racing cars ), lost a lot of money playing cards and had such a great time. Keep posted for more ..

I am off to learn how to ride a bike again tomorrow and then on Thursday heading off for a 3 day trek to some local villages. I will no doubt take a few days rest after that, well maybe, some friends have started up a computer centre teaching local villagers how to use computers and they start up again next week and well you know this is just something I can't resist ... which also means I am scrounging any computer books, manuals, (hardware, software, especially office, etc ) so if you have any put them aside and I will organise something to get them here.

Catch you soon :-)

The No Plan Plan

SDL — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:14:00 GMT

Time for a quick update seeing as I am at work today ...

I have moved into Moni's and it is so wonderful to be with a family. There is Mom and Dad, who are absolutley spoiling me rotten. Nichole, Moni and her husband Suzeel. Mom is gorgeous, even though she is killing me with food, she keeps trying to feed me up .. like I need it ! We have been having lots of girls chats, lots of laughs and I have learnt so much in the last few days.

I am sharing a room with Nichole at the moment, she is studying to be a doctor in China and is home for the holidays. We have already managed a 5 hour marathon shopping session and she is teaching me how to bargain. Nichole really wanted me to stay for Dasain and so I have changed my ticket to next Sunday. Dad has relatives in Pokara, so is setting me up for a hotel and is also organising to take me to Chitwan, where he has a place, when I get back from Pokhara.

Such a truly beautiful family who have welcomed me with open arms and have told me to treat this as my home in Nepal.

By a strange coincedence, I was showing a friend my phone the other night and complaining about how it doesnt work here. He wanted to have a play and put in his Nepali sim card ( and wanted to buy the phone) ... As I hadn't used the phone for a while, it was pretty flat, so the next day I thought I should charge it. Once it was charged, I suddenly had a connection ... this is wierd, I was worried that somehow it had kept the memory of the Nepali sim card and the poor bugger would get this huge bill. I checked on the net and sure enough, Optus now do auto roaming in Nepal. So, my phone is now working here, but when I did check the prices, I have decided to get a local sim card. Once I get the new number will let you know.

Ain't Life Strange

SDL — Thu, 14 Oct 2004 03:17:00 GMT

Wow, I definitely know I have made the right decision. How many times does it take for a person to realise that when they are not on the right path things go drastically wrong ??

I went in to see work this morning and my boss, Deepak was so supportive and said to take as long as I need. I went around and gave a few hugs and said I would see everyone in a month or so and got a lift home.

I booked my flight for Monday, got the travel agent to do it this time and I now have the ticket in my hand, so thats all set. I had sent an email to my new Nepali angel, Ann whoo lives in Pokahara about organising things and this beautiful person who has never met me, invited me to spend Dasian with her and her extended Nepali family and is organising the 'perfect' guide for my amble through the Annapurna Region. It is always so humbling and heartwarming when you are shown this type of kindness and generosity.

I had a bit of a rest and Moni (from work) popped in with some herbal remedies for my cough, some bark type stuff that you chew and a thermos of this drink that sort of smells like Vicks. We had a bit of a girls chat and next thing she says is pack up your stuff and come and stay at my place till you go and when I get back I now have a real home to go to. I've got junk everywhere and I have to organise money to settle my hotel and broadband bill, so the big move is tomorrow.

I went down to the shop to say goodbye to the people there that I chat to and the 'cute' one says, but how can I take you out now ... so I also have a date tonight.

I'm still sort of reeling at how fast this has all happened, but I am feeling so much lighter as I know that things are heading in the right direction. After a month of communing with nature, doing some meditation and reiki and oh all right I'm sure I'll fit in a night or two of drinking and dancing, I will be back up on my feet and raring to go ... and hopefully I will start to pick up on these signs quicker and do something before I need the sledgehammer again.

As I am not taking the computer to Pokahara (I'm actually going to use .. wait for it ... a pen and a PAPER diary .. shocking I know, but we did manage with them for quite a few years before the good old keyboard), I will now be reliant on dial up and/or Net Cafe's, so I won't be online as much, but I will try and check my emails daily when I'm not trekking.

Take Care, Love you all and keep letting me know how you are doing

The sledgehammer has finally hit home !

SDL — Wed, 13 Oct 2004 00:55:00 GMT

Well I willed that away alright .. a very nice sinus attack that I was hoping wouldn't turn into pneumonia this time. A couple of days in bed and I'm up again, sort of. As always, life gives you these many signs and as usual I tend to ignore them until I hit rock bottom. These subtle signs just don't do it for me, I really need a sledge hammer. Mind you, it had better be a pretty big sledgehammer, if you add up all the things that have gone wrong it shows how blind I can be. These couple of days have given me lots of time to really think and I suppose I first have to say I know I have not been a bundle of joy lately. I love Nepal and the people are wonderful, but on a personal level I have not been coping at all. I can't focus on the work I am meant to be doing, which starts off guilt trips, I am finding it hard to make friends and I just keep falling into the blues. I've been sick twice now, but when I think about it this has been going on even before I got here. The pneumonia was a big enough sign and you know that if it was you I would no doubt freely dish out lots of lovely advice, so I suppose I better take a good look at myself, listen to my own advice and take some time out. Metaphysically its all about not allowing emotional healing and its time I did just that.

When I honestly sit down and look at it, I have made so many major life changes/decisions in a relatively short period, without any adjustment time and I have well and truly lost my centre and my grounding. Its hard to describe, but I just sort of feel 'blank'. I'm very good at pretending things are OK, I have fooled myself and others for a long time and old habits die hard. Its time to stop pretending and say things are not OK and I can't do everything. I am going to defer my voluntary work and organise to take at least a month (or however long it takes ) off in the mountains and hopefully let that 'mountain magic' do its work. I'm organising a recommendation of some good guides and I'm just going to amble along, soak up the atmosphere and not worry about anything. The agenda is peacefulness, recupuration, restoration and rejuvenation. I need to find my centre and work out where that is for me now. Put some things back into perspective and let go of others. No computer, a light load and just take things as they come. I will also spend some time in Pokhara, there are lots of alternative healing centres there, so add in some massages, reiki and whatever else takes my fancy and if all goes well a new and improved version will emerge from this time.

Thank you so much for putting up with me and your messages of support and encouragement have helped so much along the way. As always, I will keep you posted of the 'plans' as they get sorted.