So, three weeks ago I went from this:
To this:
And after a few hours of disorientation, I can say I vastly prefer Nepal to Thailand. About the only interesting thing that happened in Thailand was learning that cacao has replaced kale as the new superfood of the yoga set. I kept hearing about the amazing, pure, healing energy that you get from this exotic substance (pronounced 'kakao') and wondering what exactly it was. Well, it's cocoa! Just plain ol' chocolate. I guess it does taste better than kale...but I'm not sure it will be curing cancer.
My Nepal disorientation started on the plane from Kuala Lumpur, where I was about one of five tourists surrounded by around 300 Nepalese country-boys all in their early 20's. I spent the whole flight trying to figure out who they were (and wondering if deodorant had made it to Nepal yet). I found out when I arrived that they were all guest workers who had been on two or three year contracts to countries like Qatar. There were a lot of flat-screen TVs coming out on the luggage carousel and not much luggage!
This is Kathmandu from the air. It's very green because we are a the end of the monsoon season.
I was talking to someone last week whose brother is working in Qatar. He told me labourers here get around $10 a day. I asked what they got in Qatar: "Oh, so much more! Twenty dollars a day!" That didn't seem like so much more to me, especially if you take into account that more than 400 Indian and Nepalese workers have died in Qatar in the past year.
Talking of OH&S compliant workplaces, these are some photos of the school demolition opposite the hotel I stayed in in Karhmandu. Most schools in Nepal are really old and so were disproportionately affected by the earthquake. Here is a guy, with a straight 3-floor drop behind him, hacking at the pillar underneath him WITH NO SHOES ON!
Check out the guy sitting on the almost-demolished door frame.
I was staying right near the old part of Kathmandu city and it is just amazing...narrow roads of temples, crumbling old house, and markets. It is absolutely chaotic, but so beautiful. I will let the photos speak for themselves. I can't believe that so many of these old brick buildings (which just have mud as concrete between the bricks) are still standing! I was staying in a more modern area of town, and I counted four buildings that had collapsed within about 100 metres from my hotel.
I was using a rickshaw to get around the old part of town. I experienced high levels of white-person guilt using them, but I tried to pay well. Anyway, the chain came off the guy's bicycle, so I snapped this photo while we were waiting for the RACV to arrive.
Had bird poo everywhere after taking this photo:
A couple of very hard-working bicycles:
The people here are great, I would say they're a combination of Indonesian friendliness and Afghani toughness. I quite literally had more conversations within a week of arriving here than I did in 5 months in Cambodia and Thailand. People are really open and friendly, and I think it helps that English is spoken much more here.
I had my camera with me yesterday in a restaurant I go to, and one of the staff went through every single photo on it --I think there were about 300! He though the farm was "so beautiful" but the photo that had everyone in the cafe transfixed was this one (which I think Henry took) ...
I went out to the country for a couple of days last week and stayed at a very basic rural homestay. Boy, was it a shock! Electricity cuts for 8 or 9 hours every single day!
Most people in the village live with no running water, no fridge, and just the local well for a bathroom. I am going back to do some volunteer work for the owner. I'll build a basic website, get his Facebook page functioning etc... just basic marketing. I'll write more about it in the next post.
Here are a couple of photos from there.
