After the crazily busy build up to and delivery of teacher training I had a couple of days off which I largely spent with my homestay family before Saran and I headed off to Pokhara for some well deserved New Year Celebrations!
Pokhara was hosting a street festival which was great fun to be a part of. We also met up with Emma, who I had met on the two occasions I visited Abu Dhabi about 12 years ago (that makes me feel old!). She had seen from my facebook updates and blog that I was out in Nepal and she was travelling there from Abu Dhabi with her fiance, Khalid, and friends Chris and Holly. It was really great to meet up with them and in fact we spent both evenings we were there together. I had not known Emma particularly well but everyone got on really well. On New Years eve we went out for pizza (Pokhara is a haven for Western food and I do take advantage when I can!) and a few beers. There were fireworks at midnight (well actually a few minutes early!) but shortly after it all seemed to ground to a rather abrupt halt! Pokhara is the late night town in Nepal, by which I mean things can stay open as late as 11pm, but whilst they had special dispensation to stay up later for New Year they didn’t seem in much of a mood to carry on after 12 and everything closed down pretty quickly. In fairness it’s not actually their New Year as Nepal operates on a different calendar.
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| New Year celebrations - from left: Emma, Me, Chris, Saran and Khalid. |
It did however mean that I was able to get up at a reasonable time the next morning for my trip to Kathmandu. Whilst not particularly hungover an 8 hour bumpy journey is not the most fun thing to do on New Years Day and I was glad to get there. The following day I went to the British Embassy, which was the purpose of my trip to Kathmandu, to get an approval letter to open a bank account in Nepal. This will enable the charity to avoid some of the expensive bank charges we incur when money is sent out here. It was a little intimidating going to the embassy where I was ushered in a small side gate and had to pass through a scanning machine like you get in an airport before giving in all of my electronic items to be kept at the desk. After all of that I was very quickly given a letter which in very laborious and drawn out terms explained that I didn’t need a letter to open a bank account!
In the afternoon I met up with Emma and the others from Pokhara who had flown back to Kathmandu on New Years day as they were approaching the end of their trip to Nepal. We tried to meet up in the busy Durbar square but after a few telephone conversations which basically included me saying ‘I’m by the temple’ and getting the reply ‘which one?’ etc. we decided it would be easier to meet up at Swayambhunath, nicknamed the monkey temple, a place I had visited four years ago on my first trip to Kathmandu.
Swayambhunath is fairly easy to find, even amongst the maze of alleyways, as it sits on top of a steep hill, and so stands out easily once you get out into the open a bit more. We met up easily and climbed the steep staircase up to the temple at the top of the hill. It is not hard to see why it is nicknamed the monkey temple as there are monkeys running around everywhere giving lots of good photo opportunities. The Stupa itself is really impressive, a golden shrine to Buddha, surrounded by prayer wheels and prayer flags. The views though really make it a special place - you can see the whole of Kathmandu, nestled in amongst a backdrop of towering hills and mountains.
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| Top: The Stupa at Swayambhunath, above - the fantastic view looking North to the Himalayas. Below - it's not hard to see why it is nicknamed the monkey temple! Bottom - the views come at a price, a steep climb up to the top! |
Having taken a good look round and a beer from a cafe right at the top, we headed back in a taxi to wards central Kathmandu and Emma very kindly invited me out to dinner with them and a friend of her family, who has lived in Kathmandu for almost 20 years. It was right up there as one of the best meals I have ever had, the food was delicious and the company great. Back in Pokhara Emma and Khalid had also donated very generously to the charity which was really kind of them. Emma has got a special interest in Nepal having spent some of her childhood schooled out here though previous donations she has made to her old school have only seen 10% arrive at the schools and 90% syphonned off in admin fees which I found quite shocking! If you are kind enough to donate to Manisha UK, please be assured that that is not the case with us!!
After being dropped off just on the edge of the Thamel district where I was staying I managed to get myself lost in the maze of alleyways which was a little frightening. It was only about 10:30pm but that was late enough for the narrow streets and alleyways to be pretty much deserted apart from a few people and the odd stray dog. Thamel is an absolute maze and although I knew I was roughly in the right area it took me quite a while and couple of helpful people to help me find my way in the dark.
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| A lovely evening out with great company and delicious food! |
At lunchtime the next day I met up with Emma and the others in the Garden of Dreams, which I had visited previously with Barbara, Alan and Elaine. I arrived about an hour earlier than them but it is a beautiful place to loung around reading a book so I was quite happy. After having a small snack in the gardens, ginger ale and Key Lime Pie, we headed back into Thamel for some dinner and a beer before I finally said goodbye to them as they headed to the airport to fly back to Dubai. They provided great company over my few days in Pokhara and Kathmandu and I hope to see them again sometime soon.
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| Relaxing in the 'Garden of Dreams', a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu. |
I headed out in a taxi to Ekta bookshop and spent a good couple of hours spending the money Emma and Khalid had donated on books and resources to take back to Tansen. I had an early night and was up early the next morning for the 10 hour bus journey to Tansen.
I have had a couple of days back in Tansen and am happy to say we have now sent our first whiteboards out to schools. We put in an order for 50 of them with the aim that every classroom in every one of our schools should have a whiteboard. These are a huge improvement both in terms of the childrens ability to read the board in an often fairly dark classroom and also means there will not be nearly so much dust in the air from the chalk.
These have been brought through generous donations to the charity. If you do have any spare money left from Christmas and would like to give something, however small, it can be donated by following the following link
It would be greatly appreciated.
Andy. X
It would be greatly appreciated.
Andy. X
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| Sending out the first batch of whiteboards - they should make both teachers and pupils lives easier. |
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