Hi Everyone
I am back in Nepal again. I actually arrived here on Monday evening. It is now Wednesday 8th January 2013.
I am pretty good after my long journey which was not at all enjoyable, spending 9 hours at Doha airport was no pleasure I can assure you. But, you have to make the most of it, I managed to get a couple of hours sleep. I slept also on the second flight on and off! I arrived in Nepal to a real good welcome from Binod my project manager here. I dropped off my cases at the guest house and went to his home for Dahl baht.
On Tuesday morning I was awoken by a banging on my room door, and thought that there must have been some building work going on! But no it was Binod banging to wake me up I had slept till 9am, well I must have been pretty tired!
On Tuesday we planned the trip as best you can in a country like Nepal. I had forgotten in the 9months at home how awful the electricity situation is here, and how cold it is without any heating in the rooms. After some planning and running around Kathmandu I ate with Binods family and went back to my guest house. It was freezing, I put on layers and layers of clothes and laid my new electric blanket on the bed, after borrowing an extension lead. But of course there was no electricity, so I plugged in and was told it would come on at about 1am. I snuggled into my sleeping bag with covers on the top and hood up on my bag and watched a film on my, now new laptop that has a long battery life. I finally started to feel less cold, I can’t say warm. I snuggled to sleep with my hands under my arms to keep warm!
I awoke at 2 pm when my electric blanket saved the day, I was just so wonderfully warm. I stayed warm in my bed until 9am. I got up and had a shower first one since arriving as there had been no hot water I had washed in cold water). I showered in tepid water shivering I washed my hair, got out my hair dryer to find that, yes, the electricity had gone again! Dressed quickly and here I am at Binods home.
We intend to go to the big supermarket in Kathmandu to buy clothes for our new twins that are now in residential school in Besishahar. Binod said to me yesterday that the twins are so lucky, because we have managed to get help for them. I said they are not they have lost their mother and father, he pointed out to me that without the help that we have found, they would have had nothing and would have just hang around in the mountains with relatives that are so poor themselves.
So this is the begining of my trip, it is not comfortable and sometimes I wonder myself why I do what I do thinking about my comfortable little home in Colchester and my partner Richard, my kids and grankids. But perhaps this life here helps me to appreciated my life at home.
Sending kind regards and wishes from Nepal, Kathmandu.