Temples of the Kathmandu Valley.

Happy belated Easter, which we do not celebrate here, and at the orphanage they do not celebrate anything really anyway, so save some easter eggs for me, preferable dark chocolate.Thank you lol...No Easter lunch no lamb roast instead I really had nothing since I guess the inevitable and my biggest fear had to happen sooner or later, that I got sick to my stomach I'm really surprised it didn't happen sooner rather than now considering that I do eat different things at lots of different places and as they say back home if you are going to eat at new places, go check the bathroom out first, the way that is kept is usually a good indication on how the kitchen looks for cleanliness, if going for that little rule I would starve to death, there would be nowhere to eat, I don't even want to think how their kitchens look and have no ideas if there are any regulations on that here. I have been feeling great up to now apart from the short time on my trek, but it was a little different as you will still hear later when I one day eventually will get back to that chapter of my life one of these days, so I thought I would be an exception from all other volunteers who have all gotten sick, at one point. So I started feeling a little sick in the morning of a day that Kaji had said he would take me to The Pashupatinath Temple, which is said to be one of the Holiest temples of the world, revered and worshiped by both Hindus and Buddhists, it has set a shining example of religious harmony. It is located on the western bank of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu, the river was almost dried out at the time of my visit though. In its sanctum is placed a Jyotirlinga ( believed to have self appeared) the like of this is not found anywhere else in the world. It is believed that Pashupatinath is the Lord of the entire living beings and the source of eternal bliss and peace, Hmmm I could go for that-:) It is a glory of Nepal. It is surrounded by many other temples spread out over 264 hectares. Along the river are all these stone ledges where they would do cremation of the dead where I seized the opportunity to view a Hindu funeral performed with their established long customary rituals followed by the cremation that takes place without a coffin, the body placed atop a woodpile wrapped in just cloth with the head visible they then add some hay on top and set the body on fire, the day I went, there were numerous cremations performed and me not feeling the best and the smell of human flesh being burned, the smoke everywhere and the temperature being 32C, which by the way is the temperature everyday now, didn't help my illness one bit. After a few hours of the cremations the remainder of the unburned wood is collected and sold to restaurants who use it to BBQ their meat, apparently a delicacy, knowing that now, will no doubt put a dampener on the purchase of any further BBQ-ed meat for me. The rest is washed into the almost dried out river where little boys were roaming around digging through the disgusting filthy water looking for any gold there perhaps had been on the body at cremation. This was a very interesting experience indeed. After that riding through the smelly traffic on the back of Kaji's motorbike darting through traffic half the time in the wrong side of the road, my condition worsened slightly. Next another very interesting site, the great Buddhist Stupa, of Boudhanath. Nepal is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of bio-diversity due to it's unique geographical position and altitudinal variation, ( otherwise I would say the poorest country)The elevation of the country ranges from 60m above sea level to the highest point on earth Mt. Everest at 8848m, all within a distance of 150km resulting into climate conditions from sub-tropical to Arctic.There are 4 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Nepal 2 are in cultural and 2 are in Natural categories. The cultural are Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha, and seven monuments of Kathmandu Valley within a radius of 20 km ( all counted as one heritage site) The Natural sites are Chitwan and Sargarmatha National Parks. Kathmandu Valley World Heritage site comprises of 4 historical palaces- Kathmandu, Patan, Bhaktapur Durbar Squares; two Hindu Temples- Pashupatinath ( which is the one I just visited) and Changu Narayan,( where I just went 6 days ago when I had my first 2 days off after I started work), and two Buddhist Stupas – Swayambhunath and Boudhanath ( which I went to with Kaji) it is one of the most important places for pilgrimage for the Buddhist, it is the principle centre of the Himalayan,Tibetan, Asian Buddhist worshipers and one of the largest and most significant Buddhist monuments in the world, I must say it was a pretty spectacular sight. I got to go inside a smaller temple where I was lucky enough to witness the prayer of the Tibetan monks, a very unique experience. After that Kaji drove me back to Thamel where my very late lunch consisted of curd and a cinnamon bun which was my last meal in a while, just became pretty sick after that and still not a 100% and I have a rash all over my body now. The smell of smoke from burning garbage is getting to me that is the only thing that I can't handle here and the only thing I can't get away from, all the other things are only temporary, when I walk around town, the constant spitting of people, I think I forgot to mention, and the smell of sewage that runs along some roads in a trench, is even becoming normal not to say it is pleasant though but part of living here, that with an open mind, I can handle. Thanks Malou for the BD card!!! Kaji gave it to me today and said he hadn't checked his PO Box for 2 month so it had probably been there for a while.. I will light the candle tonight, and I got the letter from you too Andy thanks. Enough for now, miss everybody lots... Namaste  Inger

All is so surprisingly normal here now!!

Just a little more news from the land far away. It is amazing how normal everything has become, after first arriving here and my first encounters were pretty much all dismay, disgust and surprise over how bad everything looked and smelled, now a walk down the street into the city centre is “just another day in paradise” :-) for me, the garbage laden streets, dust, smiley and or dirty kids, motorbikes with 2 or 3 kids in front or behind the driver with no helmets, chickens, cows, a constant asking of shop owners and street sellers for me to look at their merchants, beggars, sleeping dogs anywhere they can find a comfortable place to rest for the still constant nightly barking, by the sounds of it, all of them at once, butcher shops with fly covered meat, by the way yesterday I shot a hilarious picture of that, wish you could see it, I had a good laugh!!!, and as you all know the best medicine, which I for sure could use out here to boost my immune system from all the seemingly unhealthy flying objects that I am sure carries a million germs that I with big concern have to breathe in every day, goats tied to street poles, where there one day are four and the next day only 3, a man walking down the street trying to sell me one of his goats for 15000 RP, that he is walking with, regular people asking me for money along the way, since where I live there are no tourists so I suppose I stick out in the crowd, it is me and the locals, all that is just a way of living here and I am just one of them now, most I don't even think anything of and if I do it is with a chuckle, if anything I now find it most fascinating to watch and live it all and do enjoy it all to the fullest. Everybody is very friendly, everywhere I go, but I have come to the conclusion the reason that I have already been invited to numerous houses by waiters, shopkeepers ++ is probably because they for some strange reason might think I have money to give them, who knows maybe they are just super friendly and want me to come for dinner. Friday I went to register at the Danish Embassy, just in case one day the earthquake treat should materialize , so they know where I am, I am sure that will make a different when I am under 5 feet of rubble ha ha..I then talked to one of the Danish Ministers working there who gave me some helpful information on more places for me to see, and people to meet. Arjun one of the guys from the hotel took me there on his motorcycle, I can't believe I am doing this, especially because of the helmet law and the crazy traffic, but rest assure I am only doing it because the speed is not that great with all the traffic. I am really enjoying my stay here and the days and nights seems to disappear with lightning speed, I have now been here one month.. I miss the mountains here, the calm and the clean air up there. I am now sitting in my Dream Garden and just had a big BBQ buffet where I ate like a pig, very gracefully though, first time in a long time I have ventured to eat meat, you would know why if you had seen a butcher shop here as well, so my diet pretty much consists of rice, lentils, potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, beans, and peas which I have for breakfast and dinner and still use a spoon to eat, where all the rest in the house eat everything with their fingers, quite interesting to observe them eat and with such speed that you would think they were worried they wouldn't get more if they slowed down, then I eat lots of fruit, yogurt and eggs for lunch or in between, and not to worry I get plenty of food, there are a ton of nice restaurants and cafe's that I can eat lunch at. I have found them all I think:-) I even found some great dark chocolate to feed the chocoholic beast in me:-)   enough for now, have fun...... Namaste Inger.
PS. Sorry for any mistakes I will excuse it on being in a hurry when I write

My Trek in The Himalayan Mountains.

THE BUS RIDE THERE. I am going to write in more detail about my trek. Now this is more for me to remember names of people and places I went to, so maybe not so interesting for you, but here we go...... My trip started out at 6:00 am March 1^st I was picked up by my guide Bachan, who was going to lead me through the trails of the pristine valley of Langtang, home to the Langtang river where I would be spending my time trekking through the rough terrain on the mountain slopes for the next many long and exhausting days, how wonderful, at that moment I was actually going on one of my life's dreams, to hike in the Himalayan Mountains, that was music to my ears, what could possible beat that, a defeat that turned out to be every bit as challenging as anticipated in the many months leading up to this amazing day, and then my dedicated, polite porter Nabaraj who carried all my gear through it all, never left my side and was always just 2 steps behind me through the whole journey, walking and stopping whenever I did. I was taken to a taxi, first one the trunk couldn't close properly which resulted in my backpack falling out, the taxi's here are very small, so we had to hail another one, which is no problem they are everywhere. We arrived at the bus station, where we were to leave at 7:00, half an hour early but left half an hour late so one hour in the bus already, we had to sit at the very back. My Guide told me it was going to be a 10 hour drive, when I was expecting 7, which turned out to be and my fellow trekkers can attest to this, the most difficult mental and physical part of the whole trip. Off we went, after one hour I was feeling quite carsick from sitting in the back and it felt like we very bounced all over, the seats were really old, hard and lumpy, my legs couldn't fit for the seat in front, so all I could think was how am I going to handle 10 hours of this, next I just kept telling myself I am fine I am fine I am fine over and over to try to make myself feel better, and miraculously it worked. After 3 hours we stopped for lunch, and after that I felt even better, thank goodness. We drove through the mountains the whole way so a lot of turning sharp corners and the road were only wide enough for one car so the bus driver constantly honked his horn to warn oncoming traffic around the bend that he was coming, so when we met other traffic one of the vehicles usually had to back up before they could squeeze by each other, and looking straight down on one side and right against the cliff on the other side at times, I was just hoping for the best and didn't worry about it too much. I was informed that there were no more restroom stops the remainder of the way, so I was starving myself,as you could probably imagine knowing me I had my back full of snacks:-)but no food or water in fear of needing a washroom, even though the bus stopped about every 5 to 10 min to pick up and drop off passengers and goods on the way, the top of the bus was full of people and inside in the isle was a lot of people and bags of rice and potatoes. The last four hours the road was just dirt and big rocks, so we drove snail speed at times, but pure hell, the drive was only 145km, so 10 hours for that was not what we had expected. With every bump on the road which was constant my knees hit the seat in front and if turned to the side there was a metal thing sticking out of the wall that was even more painful to deal with. The dust on the road was flying everywhere, the poor people that were walking or standing along the road got the brunt of it every time a vehicle went by. My teeth were covered in dust at one point and decided to put my nose hair to good use since all they appear to be is a pain in you know what, my guide told me not to smile so much.... but who was I to complain, there were only 6 of us trekkers in the bus who were all on our separate trips with each our guides, the rest local people who were all getting on and off along the way, either on top of the bus, or inside standing in the isle, young and old and with kids and didn't seem to mind, even though they were like sardines in a can.. At the very end the roads were very steep down and the rain had set in so a little more scary I must admit. I just read in the paper 2 days ago that a bus went over the edge and into a river and 32 was killed. Finally at 6:00 we arrived at Syabrubesi, all exhausted from just sitting all day, but the feeling of having just had the biggest workout and with quite a sigh of relieve ,every part of our body either shook into place or out.We ran to our lodge since it was raining quite hard, but it was nice and close, settled into a room and unpacked a few things. The washroom facilities was 2 floors down, but I managed to get a nice hot shower. I ordered my dinner Dal Bhat with chicken since I figured that would be the fastest to make since it is their national food. Half an hour later I happened to look inside the kitchen and there on the floor they were plucking the chicken, so dinner wasn't to be enjoyed for a while yet, but at least very fresh. The most interesting ride I have had so far and very glad that it is behind me, and the thought that I at some point had to go through it all again soon was put in the back of my mind so I could really enjoy the fact that I was one nights sleep away from the beginning of my trek.... to be continued.......

Love to hear from you as well !!!!!

Hey to all!!!
Thanks to all who are posting comments to me!! it is great for me to hear from you as well, so please write me as much as possible and do put your names, since it doesn't always show who it is from.
 I feel like I am in a different world, no, more like on a different planet,  away from everybody and everything I know.... a strange feeling but I am enjoying everything despite what things are like here and have no problem living like this so far, I am already getting used to everything,  very surreal though, today after I followed the kids to school, I had to cross a big road which is not that easy without any traffic lights, so in the middle of the busy intersection was a cow walking around, and nobody was bothered about it, I figure that must be normal to the rest of them.
The way things are here keeps you a little more humble and appreciative of life as we live it in other parts of the world. This morning we got drinking water at 3:00am so Karna had to get up to start a pump to fill up 2 big containers we have for that and if there is extra, then all the kids will wash their hair and clothes in that as well because our washing water is not really that clean, so all got up at 5:00 to enjoy the water for an hour before it is shot off again, that is all going on outside in the yard and the kids are all happy to be able to do that no mater what time a day, today we had power at that time so he didn't have to wake us all up at 3:00am to the sound of the generator. I sleep surprisingly well considering all the constant barking of all the street dogs, they are starting to annoy me though, in the day they will all be sleeping along the streets, on top of garbage heaps or elsewhere, I am sure to save energy for the nights barking, I feel like waking them all up:-) Walking to Kaji's house in the dark was not that great, with no electricity everything is black and we always have to walk on narrow streets, so with cars and motorcycles and pedestrians it was not the most comfortable thing to do, even though I had my little flashlight, thanks Deb!  Dinner was good, we sat on the floor to eat. On the way back his brother drove me home on his motorcycle, no helmet, which I will tell you is a very interesting law, I suppose it makes sense to them, you can ride as many people as you want on a bike, any age too, in the morning when I walk people drive their kids to school and sometimes have even babies on the bike too, now the interesting part, you are only allowed one helmet per bike, the reason I was given was if they get in an accident, they will take off their helmets and start a fight so 4 or more helmets are too much, I know that sounds  far out, but they must have stats that helmet bashing is more dangerous than the accident it self:-) , if you were here you would probably believe it too, anything is possible. Well I am off to my Garden of Eden for some sanity and peace. I miss everybody a lot so please write me!!! Inger

More news, all is still well..

 

Monday the 15^th was another holiday, The Festival of the Horse, and I had some free time doing the day and ventured into Thamel as the Downtown core of Kathmandu is called, about a half hour fast walk which is sometimes impossible because of traffic, since there are no sidewalks anywhere. It was my first time on my own, I find it a bit challenging for the reason that everything still looks the same to me, with a million signs and little shops everywhere, and a lot of streets divide in two and I might as well toss a coin as to which one to choose at times, but I made it there after first going the wrong way which lead me to a street where raw sewage was running beside the road, in cases like that it would be nice to not be quite as sensitive to aromas especially that kind. I was walking around watching people do offerings to their God and taking pictures, which by the way I still can't get to work, hopefully one day, so you can get a better idea of how it looks here. I went to see the palace where the Prime-minister came that day and he arrived as I was there so an astronomical amount of people came to  see. After wards I walked along very tiny traffic congested streets to get to the big Temples, from the 17^th century made in the Malla period, Krishna, Bisnu, Shiva, Kathmandu Temples and Lavmari House. I meet a young University student who showed me around for a couple of hours to the different temples. Walking back I wasn't a 100% sure which way, but all of a sudden when I was really doubting myself came one of the guys from the hotel on his motorbike so he gave me a ride the rest of the way, what a relieve, who knows I might still be walking around if not for him. My throat is hurting now after all the dust and smog, my poor lungs inhaling all that everyday, not good if you are a bit of a health nut as me, there goes 30 years of hard work right down the drain.. uhhhh... The Orphanage: I really like it here the people working here are super friendly and nice, two men and two women and Christina who have been showing me around and telling me everything so far left last night Tuesday the 16^th, I will miss her. There is a young man Karna who is more or less in charge of the place and is also a teacher at one of the schools where the kids go, he is super nice and makes me feel right at home and his english is really good, then there is the cook Bisnu, who is a younger maybe mid twenties guy who also does all the shopping for the Orphanage, he is really nice as well, but at times hard to understand, then there is Enjana who sews and fixes all their clothes and helps at meal times, she is very shy and does not talk that much but sweet , and last Indira who is really sweet but barely speaks any english, she cleans and cooks as well an helps at meal times so it is all good. They all sleep with the kids I am the only fortunate one with my own room. everything here is run really punctual and strict, but the kids are really happy, appreciative, always smiling and very well behaved.They tell me it is not always so. Today I was in Paradis, found a place in Thamel amongst all the craziness called the Garden of Dreams, there are big brick walls or nice old buildings all around it and then a beautiful quiet garden with very few people because there is an entry fee, so a lot off my free time when the kids are at school will be spent there I think, reading books, so relaxing, pretending the air is clean at least.

Tonight I am invited to Kaji's house for dinner, he is the owner of the Hotel I stayed at and the guy who started the orphanage with Vibeke in 2003. 

All for now Mamaste Inger

Started Volunteering..

Finally back.. I started my volunteering job Thursday, now it is Sunday, I tried to download some pictures but no luck, but one day I will get it to work. Kids are really nice and well behaved and staff at the Orphanage are really nice as well!!  I am fine and coping with the different life style, which I will tell you is really different. Don't get me wrong when I write what it is like I still enjoy everything, it is not a complaint just facts of things here.  I miss my bed or should I say mattress, I guess it is an upgrade since I actually have a bed in my room now compared to at home. The mattress is about 4 inches thick but where my big behind is, it is down to about a half inch so needles to say it is hard as a rock, that and barking dogs all night, generators running to pump water because of water shortage due  to 12 hours of no electricity every day 2x6 hours at different times every day, all that said I am sleeping pretty good. My room is pretty simple cement floor no closet or screen for windows, so at times I have little unwanted guests, like little lizards or whatever they are called in mini version. My last shower was under a tap of cold water, since the shower does not work  when  the power is out, we have drinking water and water for shower and clothes wash and that isn't very clean water. Trying to get used to all the dirtiness, filth, garbage, smell, pollution, dust and crazy traffic consisting of cars lots of motorbikes, bikes and pedestrians in one muddle without any traffic lights or stop signs. Walking the kids to and from school brings me in the middle of all that every day.   All for now and hope you are well and do enjoy your luxury life where ever you are.
Namaste Inger

Holi

Hey all!!!! I am back from my trek and survived an incredible week in the Himalayan Mountains, so many things to tell,  I will start with the only bad thing, it was way too short I wanted to stay another week or more, since I was just getting accustomed  to it all and could enjoy everything to the fullest. It was so spectacular and interesting, that I could go through pages writing about it, so I will spare you for now and go back to my second day here in Kathmandu, Feb.28th. I got up and got dressed warm since it was chilly in the morning, went out on a terrace opposite my room, barely made it there to look out and was hit by a water bag... alas, soaked already, back to change. Went downstairs where everything was totally crazy by now, everybody who walked the streets were totally covered in dye powder smeared in their faces and water hurled at them from all directions, it was just too nuts to go outside so we went on top of the building to see things from there, where people were pouring water down on the street by the bucket fulls, we then got into a water fight with the neighboring people, so wet again. In the afternoon when things quieted down a bit we risked venturing out but of course didn't get spared, by the time we got back to the hotel I was soaked and red. Walking the streets of  Kathmandu makes me wonder how I am going handle this City for 2 months, the streets are so tiny, dirty, polluted and full of crazy traffic and I will be right smack in the middle of that every day. I am with Christina she is now volunteering at the Orphanage but leaving there in five days, so just enough time to fill me in on everything which is a huge help for me, she is a young girl from Denmark and really sweet. Everybody at the Hotel is super friendly and helpful, but I will be leaving there today. I will bore you with detail of  my trek later when I have more time
Namaste, Inger