TIBET AND MY LAST DAY IN KATHMANDU

9 Days in Tibet. Change of plans drove in a bus anyway, just so I wouldn't miss the buses here, with 49 other people from 15 different countries from Kathmandu to Lhasa, a great experience. Saw numerous Monasteries along the way, being a true Buddhist is harder than you would think, and experienced first hand how the Tibetan people are affected by the over taking by the Chinese . Tough landscape but beautiful and of course we saw Mount Everest from land and closer by plane on the way back. Fantastic view of the Himalayan mountains.I will go into detail later about the trip when I have more time, it was a tough trip as well with us going up to a height of 5200m , which affected a lot of us some more than others, and a few funny moments like one day when there was a cow under the toilet which of course is just a hole in the floor, great service, a cow lick could save you some toilet paper, which by the way I have had to carry with me everywhere for 3 months. Today is now my last day in Kathmandu, lots of mixed feelings about that, after having spent so many days here, strange to have to leave in a few hours just. I am meeting up with Karna and Bishnu from the orphanage for one last time, I really miss them all there and wish I could go back to see them all again one last time, or even stay there another 2 months, but I am looking forward to coming home now too to see my boys and friends, I miss you all very much as well. It will be tough to come home and have to cook again after I have only done that twice the whole time I was here, had to learn how to cook Dal Bath just in case I should miss it when I return. Denis and I have treated us self to a nice Hotel just outside Thamel, after me living very primitive for so long, an old Palace that was build by a king in the last century, so very beautiful and nice. Right now I can hear somebody playing the trumped, so I feel like I am part of a different era, very cool. I am sitting here in our room writing at a desk with a cup of tea at 6:00am, listening to the singing of the birds , and with a view of the mountains surrounding the Kathmandu valley, total luxury!! Not the view I had that every day at the orphanage. Last night Denis took me out for dinner to experience the Nepali culture one last time, we went to a great place called Bhanchha Ghar, where we were sitting on the floor on handmade carpets and cushions at low tables enjoying a drink and eating great Nepali, Newari food to a Nepali cultural show, and a taste of their local rice wine, perfect last night for us here in Kathmandu. I will miss everything here, well almost. Off to India soon so until next time Namaste Inger.

                                A shy Tibetan woman I had to bribe to be able to take her picture.

CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK

Denis got here safely and the strike is finally over. We just got back from a 3 day trip to Chitwan National park. Which is 200km and a 7 hour bus ride south west of here, closer to the Indian border. Away from the mountains and into the jungle, and the extreme heat, it is hot here every day but without the excessive humidity that we experienced there, we were sweating buckets, day and night, one time where I missed my AC, which I am usually not a big fan of and do enjoy it here without, they even had it but without power most of the time it is really not that effective, who knows if it even worked. We stayed in a really nice place where we had our own personal guide appointed to us the whole time. Went for a walk the first day, to see some of the elephants, insects, plants, and birds later in the day to avoid the worse heat and saw the sunset over the jungle, very cool. Next day started at 6:00 where we went on a beautiful canoeing trip down the river, quiet apart from all the beautiful birds chirping in the morning calm. After that we did a 2 hour jungle walk where we were first told about how to react to the different wild animals, rhinos, tigers, elephants and sloth bears in case we encountered any contact with any of those. So we started walking and soon after a flock of wild boars ran by in the distance, I was surprised to see how fast they can run. Later we saw barking deers, monkeys and all of a sudden we heard this loud sound and could hear something moving around close by in the thick jungle bush, our 2 guides who were only allowed to carry  sticks, looked at each other with a worried expression on their faces, and started talking in Nepali, by then my heart already started racing, and I repeatedly asked what is it but no answer until all of a sudden they started yelling tiger tiger tiger, as scared as we were and with my heart now beating like mad, we still were moving forward and looking frantically to see where it was, a very strange occurrence, that we were approaching a wild and highly dangerous animal to get a look at it and maybe take a picture instead of getting the ---- out of there before becoming its next meal, we never did get to see it but after wards every sound made me a little tense. We saw lots of deers and still very scared of tigers and rhinos to unexpectedly show up. After an hour the one guide in front jumped up and he had almost steeped on a king copra, all I can say thank goodness it wasn't me, but we got to see it slide through the grass and was able to follow it for a while, again running after a snake that could kill so we could see and take pictures of it. Well we made it out alive and it was very exciting for both of us. Time for us to get cooled off a bit and have a shower but mind you not your regular shower, not that I had one of those in a long time anyway, so we went down to the river where the elephants were also trying to cool of in the extreme heat, we joined them and got up on the back of an elephant, which then wandered into the river where he repeatedly showered us with the water from his trunk which could hold 9 liters of water. I feel off the elephant twice when he was trying to lye down in the river, it was a total awesome adventure to be able to be part of. Later in the afternoon we went on a 2 hours elephant ride trough the jungle and saw lots of rhinos up close, but from the top off a very tall elephant we felt very safe observing them, we had an amazing experience seeing many animals on this trip. The next day we flew back to Kathmandu after a nice morning walk bird watching along with the elephants who went in to get their grass for the day, what an amazing site. Followed by getting to see a 3 month baby elephant who climbed trough the bamboo fence that was supposed to hold him back, very cute thing, but still a little scary when he ran in our direction with his over 200 pounds. Our ride to the airport was in the back of a small pickup truck with seats, but at a speed of 80km per hour passing all other vehicles and in the wrong side of the road most of the time,  Denis was trying to imagine how many ways we could die in case we flipped over.  Tomorrow we are setting off to Tibet on our 9 day trip.Starting with a bus ride, that now is just a normal day in my life to spend a day on a crazy bus, that will take us to the Tibetan border where we then will be riding in Jeeps the remainder of the trip to Lhasa. Here in Kathmandu we have just enjoyed sight seeing showing Denis some of the sights that I have already experienced and some new,  went to see The Swayambhunath Temple, also called Monkey Temple because there are a lot of monkeys around there, so we went mostly for that reason, since for me I have seen enough temples by now. But to Denis's  great disappointment, there was not one monkey in site when we arrived only to discover later that they all came out of the woodwork one by one until there were tons of them running around, eating scraps that people had left behind, picking lice on each other or jumping around in the tree tops, big and small. Now we are just relaxing in the Gardens of Dreams a welcoming quietness. I would have liked to go back to visit the kids and they asked me to come back when I left, they really wanted to see me again, so I said I would try my best, but one of the strict rules are that we can only visit on Saturdays, but because there were no seats on the plane back from Lahsa we have to spend an extra day there which is next Saturday where I had planned to go back to visit, so I get no chance to go, I asked permission for this afternoon for a couple of hours just, but unfortunately for me and the kids, not granted, so sad that I didn't get to see them one more time before I go back after I have spent 2 month with them. Well I guess such is life. Namaste Inger

STILL ON STRIKE

Now it has been a week and the Maoists are still here demonstrating, getting more and more upset that nothing is happening, nobody can come to an agreement, so they are threatening to become  more violent if this goes on much longer, yesterday they came close by here, but I go to Thamel every day to see what is going on, yesterday they blocked the sidewalk which they do have along bigger roads, so I had to walk with them to get to where I was going. I have lots of pictures now and am pretending I am a photo journalist ha ha.. The worse part is the strike, everything is closed so nothing to do, no places to eat, even the hotels can't open their restaurants, and they don't allow people to cycle any more either.. I miss my chocolate or any food for that matter, yesterday I was able to buy some eggs that I cooked today for lunch, the first thing I have cooked in two months, apart from the last two nights where I have helped in the  kitchen to learn to cook Dal Bhat so I can cook that when I get home in case I should miss it since I have it so much here, it's been amazing not to have to cook anything at all for that long, I just have to sit down and eat for every meal without lifting a finger, very strange after cooking every day for 30 years. I truly hope this strike will end soon otherwise my Tibet trip will not happen and I have plans to go on a jungle trip with Denis as well to try elephant riding, I don't want to miss that. I know that is a pretty selfish way to look at it when this whole country is in turmoils. I hope that they one day will be able to run it in peace, since it could be a beautiful place if it was taken care of properly. It's been raining everyday at some point, yesterday I got caught in a thunder storm and it was really gross with all the dirty water running down the street that I had to walk in, but the air is very clean every day, no car exhaust or dust it is very pleasant being her now, to be able to breathe all that fresh air, I did buy a mask to wear but that only lasted a couple of days since I felt silly with that over my face and then sun glasses, looking like a criminal walking down the street, Hmm health over beauty, tough one. but of course no issue right now with only pedestrians left. Still trying to figure out how to get Denis from the airport tomorrow, he would walk if he knew where he was going. My time is up so until next time Namaste Inger

STRIKE

All is well, just haven't been able to get to a cyber  cafe for 4 days, there is a strike and absolutely everything is closed, including this place but I snug in the back door to write just a short note to let you know all is fine. I did go in the  middle of the demonstration and took lots of pictures and it was pretty peaceful, but still a bit freaky to being that close to hundred of thousands demonstrators with sticks,  they are still at it every day and I go to check it out. I hope it ends soon since there is nothing to do when everything is closed but very peaceful with no cars or motorbikes around, no constant honking which at times can get to you.  So a stroll down the street now is just with pedestrian, people on bicycles and of course demonstrators. My time with the kids are unfortunately coming to an end they are so sweet still, every time I come back they all come running to the gate to let me in and they all say Namaste to me and ask how my day was so I will miss them dearly.  My last day is Saturday and that day Denis is coming to join me so I am looking forward to that and I hope the strike is over by then otherwise he will have to walk from the airport.
The airport, hotels, hospitals and drugstores are the only things open. Meeting up with a friend soon so got to go Namaste Inger

THE PEOPLE OF NEPAL

A lady,  taking a brake, in Lake Fewa Tal  in Pokhara who's job is to row tourist's around.

A girl and her sister in the village of Dunche where I ended my trek, with the empty look in her eye's that is typical  for many kids who already had a tough life at a young age.

From the temple area where I went to observe the cremation of the dead, people were living in little rooms  adjacent to the temples.

A lady in the Langtang Mountain range, with her baby in front of her small house where I had my first yak curd. 

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A lot of chilly peppers at the Ashan Market Thamal, Kathmandu and time for a little nose picking between customers:-)
  

A woman with her baby, along a busy street there everyday begging for money, covering herself from the hot sun exposing her baby in hope of money.

THE MAOIST DEMONSTRATING.

Things are apparently not going to be so peaceful  here any longer, according to the news then there will be 500,000 extra people in Kathmandu starting from now coming from all over Nepal to demonstrate on Saturday. The Maoists want to have  the majority seats  so they can be in control of the country, they are communists so things will be even worse than they already are,  and will close everything down until they get their way, and nobody dares go against them in fear for their lives.The Maoists are forcing the people in the villages who are not even Maoist supporters to come here to demonstrate, and some do not mind since it gives them a chance to come here for free which would otherwise be impossible for them to afford.  I would like to be in the middle of it all taking photos as my lost passion  to be  a photo journalist.  I will see if one of my friends will be my body guard. So I guess no school for the kids for a while still but that means I get to spend more time with them, now I only have less than 2 weeks left  off working. I will keep you posted of any exciting news, if any, and please do not worry about me my time is not up yet since I just started living my life, I will not be that easy to get rid off. Politically  everything is a mess here the country is run very poorly and has for years so maybe a good thing that I will return soon.Will let you know what happens on Saturday. Until then Namaste Inger

MY TRIP TO POKHARA APRIL 22.

The dust has settled. Another 3 days off work and a chance to escape the hustle and dust in Kathmandu, all though the last days have been pretty pleasant dust wise since we had some great thunder showers a few nights in a row which makes a tremendous difference on the dust level. I decided to go to Pokhara a bigger village 206km west of Kathmandu, close to the Annapurna mountain range, so a real shame I couldn't stay longer to do some more trekking higher in the mountains, that being one of the most popular places to go trekking, but mind you not at this time a year, the air is to hot and hazy and the visibility is not the best no great mountain view as there would be in the colder season, like when I first came here, even from the plane I had an amazing view over the whole mountain range at my arrival to Kathmandu. I decided to take the bus again to see the beautiful countryside, were driving along a river most of the 8 hours it took. I walked to the bus park at 6:00am on April 22^nd, arrived in Pokhara at 3:00pm found my hotel, Blue Heaven, along Lake Fewa Tal a pretty big lake and relatively clean, I hired a rowboat with a guide and it was very peaceful to be on the lake for about an hour before we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance and clouds started moving in on us.We agreed to head back just in case, we noticed big raindrops further out and eventually falling on us.. made it back to shore just before a massive hail storm that lasted quite a while. The next day I wanted to take a taxi to see the sunrise and to do some hiking, but there was a forced strike by the Maoist's so everything was closed all shops, no cars, motorbikes or busses allowed, so everything was very peaceful, a most welcoming brake from the constant honking of horns on the roads every day. I will elaborate on that later, how the many strikes they have here work. I then rented a bike and rode around again with a guide partly for company and to make sure I didn't miss anything interesting on the way, everything was so quiet with no motor noise, very pleasant. There were big groups of Maoist supporters walking down the street with their big sticks to make sure everybody had their little shops closed. Later in the day we went back to the lake to row to the other shore to hike up to the top of the mountain there to see a Buddhist Stupa, World Peace Pagoda, when we arrived after a hot midday hike up to the top after watching the monkey's jumping trough the treetops over and along the trail, one of the monks was hitting and pushing one of the visitors away from there and was quite mad with him even though he apologized profusely, only for us to see them later back bowing down in front of Buddha under the supervision of the monk who ordered them to do so, not sure what they had done wrong to get such treatment. The temperature there was 36C so I was sweating buckets and wish I could have gone for a swim in the lake but was afraid it wasn't maybe as clean as it appeared to be. Back to an even more hot room, with no air condition, but with a fan they call air condition on the 5^th floor, which seems to be my floor whenever I am in a hotel and there are of course no elevators, but lots of stairs, but what can you expect for $ 12 a night, everything here is very inexpensive.Saturday the strike was lifted and I could again be transported somewhere, so I went to see some bat caves, which was pitch black, but with the help of a guide and a light and four young men that latch on to me to not have to pay for a guide to get them through it, I made it out alive, the exit was extremely tight and upwards so we had to snake our way out through a slippery, seemingly way to small passage to get through, found out my arms are so much weaker than my legs, since I had to pull myself out as there was no room to move my legs, as if I didn't already know that, my boys are mortified that I can't do push up's, and have on many occasions showed me how and instructed me to practice it, but to no avail. Pokhara is a real hippy town so I had fun chatting to and watching all different kinds of people there, I enjoyed everything to the fullest. The best part is that I can travel around on my own and I feel totally safe with no fear of anything or anybody, well maybe apart from the two elephant sized cockroach's that was in my bedroom, that was pretty freaky, I had somebody get rid of one only to discover another on my headboard. So sleeping was not the easiest after discovering that. Guides are very inexpensive as well so at times I go with one of them, there are lots of nice one's here. Then there are a stream of other young guys who are very friendly in hope I will give them all some money if they are extra nice to me, even though I tell them I am working as a volunteer and giving money to the orphanage and am not making any money, but I sometimes get very interesting conversations out of it. Later in the afternoon I went by a small plane back to Kathmandu again which was only half an hour. The last three days, and by the sounds of it probably the rest of the week, the schools the kids go to are closed, meaning I have to teach again every day. There are big political problems here, still lots of controversial's with the Maoist party, right now they have decided that the private schools charge to much and forced all of them to close, there are 8000 schools closed at the moment, they have a lot of private schools here because the government schools are not that great, and even the private are way below our standard, the real reason might be that the Maoist are against private schools so by forcing them to lower the price they might go out of business, and the timing right now could be because they will be having a major demonstration on May 1^st here in Kathmandu, so Maoist supporters from the whole of Nepal will be here, so they need places for them to sleep. They have so many strikes here, but mostly forced by the Maoist's , they decide from day to day that now they are not happy with something so they will let us know that tomorrow you are not allowed to work, so everything is at a still stand, no busses or taxis driving, no stores, airport or business's open so if you have your trip planed on a day like this you are out of luck. Everybody obey's nicely, feeling they have no choice in the matter since if you don't you are attacked by the Maoist supporters. I was reading in the paper yesterday that the police seized a truck load of wooden sticks heading here to be used by the Maoist demonstrators on May 1^st.The strike in Pokhara was because of a Maoist supporter that had beaten somebody up at the airport and was arrested so they wanted him free, and everybody are afraid to go against them so they usually get their way. Here before another government party decided that the Nepali passports should be made in India so we had a day strike because of that, because the Maoist 's didn't agree with that, so now they are made here. As you see the meaning of the word strike here is a little different than we are used to. Sleeping here has been difficult because of mosquitos, it is so hot so I need my window open, but now I sleep under a mosquito net so all is perfect again, it keeps other little creatures out as well, today a little lizard was testing it out. I have meet lots of nice people but mostly tourists which then is just a fleeing thing, and then all the locals, I am looking around to maybe find other places to support, since the needs here are endless!!! OK I will stop now before you get bored to tears, and have me excused of any mistakes, since I am short of time when I write, will try some more pictures, but downloading is very slow here.I feel really great!!! Cheers Inger

PS and please do write me as well it is always nice to know what is going on with you all. Thanks.