Dairy Nepal
31-12-2014
Need to get into the writing more but feel like I want to do too many things... Anyway yesterday was again an interesting day. So enough reason to write things down as a memory while things fade with time.
It feels good to be for a longer time in Kathmandu. Things sometimes just happen when you have more time at a certain place. It is a very good experience to be here on my own and try to get a sort of daily pattern that gives me a good feeling and is what I am searching for. That could be a goal by itself, but there is so many more.
Yesterday afternoon I met Rohit, my friend a guide for most of the times in Nepal. He was just back from a trip with customers going to Chitwan. Now he also had diarrhea and felt like shit. So probably we don't leave tomorrow to Solu Khumbu area but I also like to celebrate New Year here in Kathmandu. I also still feel weak so no mountain biking for me today. Would be too frustrating because I read the itinerary and it is quite hard climb you the morning before getting tho a graduate smooth descent back to Kathmandu valley.
While having a masala dosa at Duth Sager and Rohit just a cup of tea because of his stomach, he told me there was New Year festival for the Gurung people. The festival known as Tamu Loshar. I went there after lunch and spend the whole evening up to the end of the festival around 23:30. There was a lot of singing and dancing. Also the traditional competition where the male on one side and the female on the other side, are battling with their lyrics. Of course and unfortunately I could not understand it. People invited me to dance and where very friendly. Nice to experience and just lucky to end up there. I might have been the only foreigner. On the way back I met on the streets with the winner of the festival. I guess she is quit famous here while everybody was shouting here name. I will include some photos.
In between time and now at breakfast I am working on editing the video I shot of the Paleo workshop. Before leaving to a Dubai. There is a lot of footage and need to make selections for just a 2 to 3 minute video. The work have to be done anyway so nod bad to combine it here with some photography and cultural site seeing.
Today's will explore another part of the city. Take a rest at the balcony before deciding where to be and celebrate at the midnight.
01-01-2015 until 05-01-2015
No writing
Trail-Run Shivapuri National Park
To get to the run there was a bus pickup close to Thamel. I got up early to peeper myself and have a little breakfast with the muesli I brought from at home. I met other runners on the street, also waiting for the bus. The bus arrived and brought us to starting point at the bottom of the Shivapuri mountain. Here all runners got the number and latest information. Richard Bull is the organizer from this race and it was the 2de time it got organized. Around 7:30 the countdown for the race started and we took off. P
4:22 27 km
Trip to Necha
05-01-2015
In the bus
We left early as most of the bus rides in Nepal. I was very tired because the night I went to sleep late. I was sleeping most bits of the morning. This was the best part of the road to Okeldunga. Build by the Japanese and recently finished. J
06-01-2015
Long day walking with the children. I carried Rosani a few times and also the bag of the sister of Shoba. Nice views on the valleys. Sleeping at a family place where Rohit his grandmother was staying. She was ill so we visited her as soon as we arrived.
07-01-2015
Day one in Necha with relaxing at the family house. Eating Dal Bhat in the morning. They were having fun about the way I was eating with my hand. They have such a quick and nice way of eating with there hands that it is difficult to do it in the same way. Washing closes with fun from the wives. Rohit gone. Mother of rohit making plates from leaves.
In the afternoon going up to market place and it started raining. So we took a cup of tea. When it stopes raining we walked up to Shoba her mother and brother. Arriving at sunset. Made a little fire in the kitchen where we sat down. We ate Dal Bhat and afterwards called with Kanchi to see if all was fine at the house in Kathmandu. We went to sleep. I had one bed and Rogit Shoba and Rosani shared the other bed.
Day two with funeral ceremony down at the river. About 100 people joined. Then walking all the way up again to market place. Eating at a friends place and sleeping with uncle at his house.
08-01-2015
Day three
Getting up was heard because of all the raksi. Had tea and then went to big kaki her house. We sat in the lovely morning sun for a while. At the next house there they just finished a ceremony to remember the parent passing about years ago. There was a priest inside and the sun shaved his head but leaving just a little hear left at the back of the head. Had Dal Bhat and sat down a bit more. Rosani was playing around. Sometimes playing with other children or running after the mother chicken with her young.
Rohit told me about more cultural aspects. The tikka of Shoba is on tr top of her head and also she has a big green necklace with gold in the middle. Both show she is a married woman. Sometimes they even have a big tikka in their hair. Not in the middle but just a bit outside the middle of the forehead.
At the beginning of the afternoon we walked to market place. There was a gathering of political people. It didn't looked like there was a lot of serious talking.
We left and walked further to the hospital were we should meet somebody to talk about ideas to get more Trekkers or tourist that are interested in local Nepali culture, to the village Necha. We talked a bit and then went to Shoba at Rohit his house. She went ahead to start cleaning the house because there hasn't been anyone for 3 years. We joined after the meeting. The house was full of dust, sand from the mud where the plaster the walls and floors with. We started upstairs and the went downstairs. We protected our face with cloth and cleaned with pieces of dried grass tight together. It worked quit well. Because there was no light in the house we used my headlight and lights from the phone.
The family at the behind the house were taking the oranges from the trees. They challenged me by asking if I could help out by climbing in the tree to take the oranges out.
11-01-2015
Day 4 Necha
Morning go to house of friends. I got invite red to eat a rice flower pancake that was really delicious. It was made in ghee so quit fat.
We went to the market to buy a black cloth for Shoba for the semenisyic ceremony.
12-01-2015
Trekking day 1
Necha to to river side village
Beautiful trail traversing the mountain. Rohit telling about moving to Kathmandu and starting work as a porter, wood worker and working for trekking agencies.
Finally defending to the riverside were we had lunch.
Sleeping with big family. Watching a Nepali movie.
13-01-2015
Trekking day 2: Riverside village ??? to family in Diktel
We left early without breakfast at the family house. Just had a cup of tea. We followed the river went left and followed another big riverbed until the trail climbed up on a ridge. We followed the ridge until we saw the flags of the beginning of the village.
We got a lift from a ambulance jeep.
14-01-2015
Trekking day 3: Diktel to Rabhuwa
15-01-2015
Rabhuwa to Necha
16-01-2015
Necha: resting day
17-01-2015
Last day in Necha
Last week I visited a school in the Necha village. They invited me to talk about educational subjects
24-02-2015
Trail Run
I got up early to take a taxi from my friends place in Kapan. The evening before we arranged the taxi to bring me to the starting point of the Jamacho Jungle run in Nagarjun National Park. I was well on time and felt quit good. This would be my 2de official trail-run and again in beautiful Nepal. I read about it following the Nepal Trail Run website and Facebook. The subscription could take place at 7 while the run started at 7. My last run at Shivapuri National Park went well but was quit a disaster because I still had a virus. During the run I had to vomit a lot, had diarrhea a few times and my IT band problem was a gain making it a painful run.
Because of the IT band problem that mainly occurred while defending, I decided to start quit fast and try to follow the Nepalis up on the climb to the top were the Jamacho Gumba was. All
25-02-2015
In Hundu culture today is a special day. It's the day of worshiping the goddes Saraswati. She is the beloved goddes of knowledge, education, music and arts. In the house of my friend the family prepared some offerings around a little statue of the goddes. School books were put below the little formed altar. At this special day children that had they age to start at school could go there and subscribe to join the next day for classes. The southern of my friend also joined school at this day. We went to a private school quit close to their house. There were some activities and the children could meet their teacher. The teacher made some drawings with the daughter of my friend. We visited the offering place at the school and got a tikka and some biscuit.
In the afternoon we went to Thamel to meet the owner of the Asian Heritage company. I owed him some money for renting the apartment and using his guide for 4 days in Solu Khumbu area during the trip to Halesi. Also took a good caffe latte at the restaurant Gaia.
In the afternoon, on the way back, we went to Chabahil market close to the bus stand to search for a plastic store. We found one soon and measured how big piece of plastic we needed. Also we bought 2 big pieces of rope to fix the plastics on the rooftop.
26-02-2015
Changing the plastics for a bigger piece from 30x45 feet. There was quit some wind so it was very difficult to put the plastics around the greenhouse. We found out that now the plastics was about 6 meters longer. So we decided to buy net bamboo next morning and make the greenhouse a few meters larger. We cleared the ground with grown spinach that was ready to eat and plowed the ground.
27-02-2015
In the morning we searched for bamboo in the lower market area in Kapan. We found it for a good price, 10 pieces for 2000 roepies what's about 20 euro. Because this place was about 15 minutes walk from home we had to arrange some transport for the bamboo. At the same time we were buying the bamboo there was a customer with a bicycle with chart to transport things. We hired him for the transport for 250 roepies.
After bringing the bamboo home we started to build the extension for the greenhouse. We used the same structure. In between time I decided to increase the level of some parts at the side of the greenhouse to make it more flat and stable. I used sand from other parts that also needed to be flattened out. The entrance to the garden was a little step down. The steps were not structured and leveled. I decided to get rid of the old steps, make it a little shorter but used stones to make it more stable. Later we could make it more strong by putting a mixture with mud and cow pie on top of it.
After finishing the bigger part with bamboo we put the plastic over the structure. There was a strong wind that sometimes took the plastic. Unfortunately there were some sharp parts left were the plastic got cut on 3 places. We would fix it later. Now we needed to fix the plastic very tight to the ground. There were holes on the sides of the plastic were we put pieces of bamboo in. On the other side the plastic was a little to big so we raped it inside out and put stones and mud on it to keep it at place.
28-02-2015
Finishing the greenhouse and making the tables on each side.
