Bodhnath photos

Small temple dedicated to the goddess of smallpox!


Buddhist gompa (monastery) - there was a service when we were there; the monks were chanting and playing music on huge ancient horns. It made me quite emotional - Alison thought I was nuts!


The main stupa at Bodhnath, with the eyes of Buddha watching all four corners of the Kathmandu valley



It turned out that the New Year celebration is being held on Saturday at the site where we went for the picnic with the kids a few weeks ago - if we've got the energy to hike over there! There was a group of Nepali men singing and dancing on the bit of waste ground across the road last night which was quite funny - alcohol had obviously been involved and they were initially singing and dancing under their own steam. Then they all vanished and came back in a micro (minibus) which was parked on the waste ground with the doors open and music blasting from the stereo. When we went to bed we could hear a party going on in one of the houses at the back, with music from Kylie Minogue, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Beyonce and The Three Degrees - it sounded bizarre enough on its own but when you added the barking, howling dogs....unique!

We went up to see the kids yesterday afternoon and they were all dancing, it was great. Some of the girls did traditional Nepali dances and the boys were all trying to be cool - there was even some breakdancing going on! I've got some video but I don't think this computer will cope with uploading it onto the blog - I'll maybe try later if I get time to sit and be patient (it's sooooo slow!).

Breakfast calls again, so I'd better go. Only 11 days till home now - it's going to feel strange to be back - 24 hour electricity and a washing machine - it'll be like luxury!

Ann & Alison
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Happy New Year!

It's Nepali New Year's Day today and in their calendar it's the year 2067! There's a celebration tonight, I think, culminating at the small temple just at the top of our road.

We went to Bodhnath yesterday and it's beautiful. It's a Buddhist stupa surrounded by houses, cafes and little shops - really peaceful and gorgeous in the middle of the madness. My camera battery's charging so I'll get some photos on once it's done.

There was a massive thunderstorm last night - it lasted about 4 hours and the lightning was pink! In addition to looking amazing, it had the added benefit of frightening the life out of the local dogs so it was unusually quiet last night. Nepali dogs sleep all day and bark all night - it's like the dog chorus, you can hear them from miles away - it's a joy.....

Santoshi has just yelled that breakfast is ready - it's one of our favourites today, potato and chickpea curry with rice and dahl - so I'll disappear just now. Not sure what time the electric's on later but will try to post photos when I can.

Ann & Alison
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More dentistry

I forgot to include this photo on the earlier blog - it's a shrine to toothache - if you have toothache, you nail a rupee to the shrine and your toothache is miraculously cured without the need to visit the dentist - amazing!

Shopping, shopping, shopping - instalment 2

Even the cows were shopping


Cleaning day at the temple


Rickshaw rank


Transport in Old Town


Dentist anyone?


The teeth in the bowl were real (the flash has obscured them a bit) - I had to drag Alison and Emma away from this window, the gruesome pair!

Shopping, shopping, shopping

Alison and Emma improving their karma


Tibetan hair extensions - yes, really


Emma at a shiny, sparkly shop


Very quick post - only 15 mins of electric left! Went into Thamel with Emma today and shopped till we dropped - spent quite a long time in the old town, down an alleyway with lots of 'shiny, sparkly shops' (bindis and bracelets!). I got blessed by a holy man and now have a big red blob on my head; someone touched Alison and then crossed themselves (is she really a Goddess?); we improved our karma by spinning prayer wheels in a temple; we wandered down 'dentist alley' - euw - and spent ages just looking at the general chaos - great fun.

Run out of time to post more photos - will try again tomorrow with the rest.

Ann & Alison
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Circus painters, and swimming

The street outside our house - why did the chickens cross the road?


The daredevil circus performance by the painters across the road. The scaffold is only tied on with two bits of rope at the top


We spent ages watching them (occasionally covering our eyes when we were sure they were going to fall!)


Swimming - the deep end


The shallow end

Busy, busy, busy

Thamel


Playing the stones game - hours are spent throwing a stone up in the air, picking various others up off the ground and then catching the one you threw - I'm rubbish at it


Emma and I posing for the camera - obligatory when you hand it over to one of the girls!


Jeni Rai with tiffin (lunch) - a huge cake!


Rasmita practicing hula hooping

I can't believe it's over a week since I updated the blog last time. It's been very busy, plus we've tended to be out during the times that the electricity's been on so there's been no opportunity to sit down and write this.

We've spent most of our time up at the top house with the kids, playing cards or a word/picture game that we bought, and Alison's been brushing up on her basketball, skipping and running around. There's been an epidemic of tickling as well - that's always popular up there!

We had a second thunderstorm the night after the first last week - it was spectacular - huge bolts of lightning and loud thunder that went on for about 3 hours. One of the volunteers here managed to get some amazing photos so I'm hoping he'll email a couple to us.

We took three of the girls (Anu, Anita and Anu Maya) out to do some shopping and have lunch at the big supermarket last week. They'd been sent some spending money and Michael (the founder of NOH) had been intending to take them but had lots of other things to do that day, so we offered to go with them instead. As I think I said before, the supermarket has escalators - a rarity in Kathmandu - and the girls hadn't seen them before. The youngest one, Anita, leapt on and off like a pro after the first trip up the escalator, but Anu Maya (the oldest) was really scared - after four trips she was still really nervy and had to hold my hand! We spent ages in the toy department and of course the girls only wanted Barbie dolls (well, the Indian equivalent) - the more shiny nylon tacky dresses with the dolls the better it seemed. After they'd decided on their dolls, we went to the Bakery Cafe for lunch. It's staffed completely by people who are deaf, which worried the girls for a few minutes, and then they ate the biggest lunch ever - pizza, chips and momos (tibetan dumplings) followed by huge ice creams and washed down with Fanta. The Fanta here is the most intense orange colour - we've dubbed it 'nuclear'. What became very clear during lunch is how conscientious the kids are about not wasting food. There was too much for them, really, but they were determined not to leave it, and were visibly upset when Alison left a few pizza slices because she was too full. It's a humbling reminder that we have so much greed and waste at home - in our own kitchens every day.

There was an expedition to the swimming pool on Monday morning followed by a birthday tea for all the kids with a March birthday. The swimming pool's in a leisure club that's still being built just down the road from here, called The Nature Club. The pool's finished, but there's building going on everywhere which is so typically Nepal. The kids had a brilliant time - although I think the water was pretty cold - there wasn't much swimming going on but lots and lots of splashing and screaming! The swimming costumes here are all really sweet - it's not the done thing for a Nepali girl to show off her body in a swimming costume, so they all have little skirts which are really cute! It was funny, though, watching all the boys posing and trying to look cool in their swimming shorts - some things are the same the world over!

I"m sure there are other things I should tell you about, but for now I can't think of them - we're just trying to make sure that we fit all the things in that we want to do now before we leave for home - like visit a couple of the big temples here, go to Bhaktapur for Nepali New Year (April 14th - it will be the year 2067 here), and finish washing all the blankets! If you'd like to see how Emma (the Volunteer Manager) has been getting Alison to contribute to the running of the house, have a look at www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/duncanemma/3/1270221727/tpod.html (don't think that will show as a link, but copy and paste and hopefully it'll work).

Have stuck a few photos onto this post but there are more to come off the camera from swimming and playing at the house, so I'll try to post a few tonight or tomorrow.

Ann & Alison
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