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Monday 3rd March, Chesham

Returned safely.

Monday 25^th February, Kathmandu

(via IM)

Back in Kathmandu; got back late last night.

I'm fine, yesterday was a bit trying. I got the bus at 6 am and arrived here at 8.30 pm. The weather was better so the bus (which was well overcrowded) got very hot. They don't like opening the windows because there is so much dust. So the choice is to choke or boil….we boiled.

I got a really bad headache, but UTSE soup and a very good night's sleep sorted me.

I liked Gulmi, but it was so far. The town was relatively clean, the streets in the town wide enough, and they cleaned the litter and the people were very friendly,

We had nearly 50 participants at the training on one day's notice, if they had had more time I think there would have been many more. I also taught in campus from 6 - 9.30 each morning.

Load shedding here is up to 8 or 9 hours per day and the fuel situation is bad, restaurants are closing, fares have more than doubled.

Today we heard that three airports in Terai have been closed, and there has been no road transport for 12 days. What was interesting was that in Terai, although they cannot get out to other places, they have enough fuel for local purposes because it comes over the border.

I may get cut off quite soon, so I'll write again when I can. Take care.

Wednesday 20^th February, Gulmi

I've found a lovely cyber that nearly works here, but I'm on my way somewhere else.

Just to let you know we arrived here last night after 14 bone-breaking hours on the bus.  We had to come the long way because of agitation in Terai, and there were a number of obstacles.  I'll recount later.

Gulmi is rather nice, but bitterly cold and remote.  I'm a little concerned about the fuel situation because it’s an awful long way to walk.

I'm being well looked after, and am doing my bit for the region.  Classes at 6.15 are no joke, and I've done the smiling and waving bit today at six schools.  There is a buzz of expectation over the training I am giving, so I have a lot to live up to - I can do that, but still want to give of my best.

Sunday 17^th February, Kathmandu

Well!  Finally we are at Nelta conference time, big event of the year for all English Teachers, (but probably not particularly interesting for others.)

Anyway, there is now a plan for the rest of my time here.  Last day of conference tomorrow (Monday), then early Tuesday I will take a bus with a group of teachers from a place called Gulmi, west of Pokhara, to do two days training in their district.  The bus will take 13 bone-shaking hours, but I will be quite safe as I will be accompanied by three Krishnas and a Buddha (all comforting first names).  I will do two days in schools and campus, then give the two-day teacher training.   The campus classes are the ones that start at 6.15 am.  The Nepalese are so intent on getting education it is humbling.  I will come back to Kathmandu on Sunday, have a couple of days getting massaged back into shape, then three more days tutor training in the south of Kathmandu.  Then hoooommmmmeeeeee.

I'm now catching busses like a native,  the cost of a taxi would be more than 200 rupees to the conference, the bus is 13 rupees, about 10p.  Comfort though is not an option, especially now, as there is so little petrol available there are far fewer busses, or anything, on the roads, so the ones that do run have 50 people on 14 seats.  It is such a problem, we're now up to 8 hours a day with no electricity, and there is no diesel for the generator, so it’s a bit primitive.  Luckily it’s not as cold as when I first came.

Anyway, I'm much more satisfied this trip that I've done the best job I can and I can leave with no negative baggage, unlike before.

So see you all soon.  Take care.

Thursday 14^th February, Kathmandu

(via IM)

I have had a good trip, lots of training and zillions of miles and…..I saw elephants!

I was lucky to get back though. Today's flight was full three days ago, so I thought I would come on the bus with some other people coming to the conference, but there is now a strike in Terai and no busses, but Bhudda Airlines had added a flight, so I was able to get back. I had planned to come back yesterday, but the third place had not taken any notice of the dates they were given and arranged the training at the wrong time.

I have been training at 6.15 am the last two mornings; everyone is wrapped up in woolly hats and scarves trying to teach pronunciation and methodology!

They are so enthusiastic though.

Coming into KTM tonight though was like descending into the void.

Thursday 7^th February, Surkhet

Hi, I’m alive and well and currently in the bowels of Nepal Telecom, Surkhet branch, the only way I could get an email - someone in Nelta is part-time here, so I’ve been snuck in.

Yesterday I saw three crocodiles.

I flew to Dhangadi on Friday, (no-one met me but that's another story). Finally got bus 60 kms to Kanchanpur, Maharadranagar I think. Was there till Wednesday. Got to go over a one and half km suspension bridge, quite a sight. Came by bus to Surkhet yesterday, 7 hours on bus, 4 to Nepalgunj then another three up the mountain.

Will do two days training tomorrow and Saturday, training is going well, lots of excitement, actually they probably think I'm quite mad, but its certainly different for them. Have to go back to Dhangadi on Sunday; the plan is to go by motor bike!!!

The plan is to fly back to the front next Wednesday, to give me two days before Nelta conference to recover - not that I've got anything to recover from but might need to get my vertebra back in place after the motor bike.

Sunday 27^th January, Kathmandu

Namaste Campers,

It’s Sunday afternoon, watery sun has lightened but not warmed our lives. In 15 minutes, it will be power-cut time for three hours. This is the most dreary of all the power-cut times, when its early evening and dark and cold. In three hours of no electricity, the hotel will have the generator going for about one and a half. We start with candles until we all nearly turn into moles, then joy of joys the generator comes on. It is limited first because price of kerosene has sky-rocketed, and secondly because it takes many hours to queue for it.

I’ve had a not bad weekend as I attended the mini regional English conference. This was organised by one of the NELTA branches in an area called Lalitpur, south of Kathmandu. A bit of proud behaviour on my part, I took two buses to find it and actually got there. I won’t bore you with stories of buses again, but they do seem to represent a relationship with a place in a way that nothing else does. I have learnt my way round by foot and by taxi, so most places are now familiar, so I don’t feel so likely to get lost, and I don’t think any fare is more than about 8p, another bonus.

At least at the conference I met with some people I know, and as the only white face I was guest of honour!! Why not, I must have earned something. It’s great, you get to sit on the dias with all the bigs (small reversion to childhood here – I never actually feel worthy of these things.) Anyway, the conference started two hours late, in other words Nepali time, no-one seems very bothered. I gave my session on Storytelling using mime, silly faces and sounds – its good fun and the idea is to encourage teachers to try different things, better known as interactive and communicative.

The second day I was on a panel debating the age of starting to learn English. This was a bit trickier and I didn’t do this at all well. I had been researching this topic for some time, and knew quite a bit about all 29 European union countries as I had been asked to find that out, and was quite clear on the research in the English Language Teaching annals, but research doesn’t appear to dent preconceptions.

Overall, the conference was enjoyable and not particularly taxing, but I am less and less inclined to think I am doing anything worthwhile. I may have said this before, but I think the best thing all well-meaning foreigners can do is pull out and let the Nepalese get on with it, find out what they can do alone and then request just the specific support they need.

On the subject of support, one man from Nelta yesterday told me they were still trying to arrange my trip, someone else had emailed me the day before and told me it was fixed!!! So no change there. They do seem to be in agreement though that Banke is not sufficiently secure, so instead of flying to Nepalgunj I will go to Dhanghari, in the hills, rather than the flat lands which adjoin India which is where the troubles are. I had thought it was only in the East, but it seems to extend along the whole border. That, of course, is if I go anywhere.

Friday night I had a treat. Ugen and Diki who run the hotel are Tibetan, they had tickets for a Chinese Tibetan New Year Festival hosted by the Chinese Embassy in an amazingly wonderful huge events centre that I’d not seen before. And they got an extra ticket. It was quite clearly a massive propaganda event, showing happy Tibetans enjoying the hospitality of the Chinese. Ambassadors and other shiny people were there, and vast amounts of cameras. The performance was quite dazzling. The backdrop was the Dalai Lama’s Potala palace with prayer flags looking like they were coming from the building to the front of that stage. The performance was a series of ~Tibetan songs and dances, and stories of ancient kings and dragons, and folksongs of the people going about their cultural pursuits, the costumes were dazzling and the sounds (music isn’t quite the word) included all the Tibetan monastery instruments that give such weird and evocative sounds. My first reaction was that I felt really offended on behalf of Ugen and Diki that the Chinese should be pretending to be Tibetan, and I did have to wait to get their reaction before I felt I could enjoy it, but they seemed quite OK, they said it was good and authentic (although Ugen thought the singing was a bit chinesey screechy.) I agreed with that, one lady hit a high note that made my ribs vibrate. It appears that a festival like this has happened before, so they knew what to expect and they said this one was much better.

Today I was cold and bored again, so I treated myself to an Auryvedic massage. Not much different to an aromatherapy massage except that I had to take off all my clothes! The oil was hot and plentiful, and she poured it over like I was being basted for the oven. The only slightly alarming thing was when the masseuse (a fairly tiny Thai lady) came to do my back; she hopped up on to the couch and sat on my legs! I wondered if it was all above board, but I decided that I had probably only paid for ‘the old lady tourist who really only does want a massage’ option!

And so another wait wanders to a close. This morning I had nearly convinced myself to get a ticket home, and then Ang phoned, just to ask how I was. He’s on a mountain safety course for 4 weeks but still phoned. As he summited Everest last year, there are now further requirements towards achieving a more senior climbing Sherpa license. He is determined to do what he has to do to get it and will take another group this year. I do have commitments to other people regarding training and conferences and getting my two children settled for another year in school and I would not feel good if I didn’t properly see those things through, so I suppose I can accept some frustration and boredom.

I can’t play my StarTrek DVDs because my laptop disc drive doesn’t work and now my MP3 that Pete so thoughtfully bought isn’t working, so its back to UTSE’s plentiful supply of trashy novels and the reminder that for many people here they will never have access to these things.

Love and kisses to all.

Thursday 24^th January, Kathmandu

Hello anyone reading.

It is now nearly three weeks in Kathmandu. The first two were participating in some training that the British Council is hoping to cascade throughout the region. Actually it’s a global project. Whatever one thinks about the spread of English, it is what people think they need and so it is what is being provided. I have severe doubts about this. I spent Monday visiting a project which takes underprivileged children and teaches them skills, plumbing, welding, car maintenance, etc. After all, if your tap doesn’t work you don’t call an English teacher.

I am still waiting to find out details of where I am supposed to be going. There is a mini-regional conference for the next two days (Friday and Saturday) that I will do some teaching at, and the plan was to go to the far west of Nepal on Sunday, but I’ve heard nothing. Ke garne! What to do (the Nepalese equivalent of mañana). Difficult to plan with no information. I’ve become rather good at figuring something out though.

I’m OK, had a one-day cold and two-day gippy tummy, annoying as I never used to suffer here. Perhaps my body is telling me something. The last two days have been very unpleasantly cold. The Kathmandu valley gets temperature inversions, it can be cloud covered for day, and gets very cold when there is no sun. There is no heating in any buildings, so if there is no sun there’s nowhere to get warm. Heaters are seldom used because of the cost of fuel and for six hours a day there is no light because of electricity cuts. I do get a hot water bottle which I topped up three times yesterday and stuck it in my jumper and burnt six candles. Yesterday there were no flights able to take off from the airport because of the weather. I felt very sorry yesterday for a bunch of tourists because yesterday were also the riots against fuel prices, no traffic, burning tyres and rocks being thrown. They were trying to get to the airport with their bags piled up on rickshaws which were then too heavy to haul. Even if they did get to the airport, which is unlikely, there wouldn’t have been any flights.

I thought this article Paradise Lost (published in The Kathmandu Post), would give a flavour of Kathmandu, no wonder the hills are calling!

A few days ago, I had to meet with a friend. Being born and brought up in Kathmandu, it is no big wonder that I am familiar with its sounds, smells, colours and chatters. We inhabitants are well-informed about the day-to-day happenings that occur right under our very own noses. So quite aware of the dreadful traffic jams that Kathmandu is famous for, I left early. “Blow!” The moment I stepped out of the house, I nearly fell into a large hole. When I asked a worker who was digging furiously, he informed me that it was for drinking water. “It will be fixed by lunchtime” he assured me.

Wondering whether he even had the authority’s permission to dig, I took a cab.

We started off but got stuck in a traffic jam right away. With various horns and some loud music from the car radio throbbing into my ears, I found myself in a vast sea of vehicles under the scorching heat of the midday sun.

I quickly stuffed a hanky over my mouth to avoid the dust and smoke and asked the driver to lower the volume. After what seemed like forever, we moved ahead. But quite soon, the cab stopped abruptly and I was jolted forward. When I looked up, I was staring at a horribly large pile of garbage, waiting to be picked up, goodness knows when. Nearby, several vehicles were parked beneath a no parking sign. Nonetheless, the reason for this sudden halt was a fully packed bus that had stopped right in front of us in the middle of nowhere to pick up more passengers and stuff them in. Right then, a few pedestrians took the opportunity to cross the road and some vehicles overtook us rapidly.

Finally, the cab started crawling along a bumpy road overflowing with pedestrians, street marketers, vendors and beggars. Suddenly, a traffic policeman appeared, signalling to stop. We almost ran into some people carrying big banners with various commands to agitate.

“Please go back. Some protestors have blocked these roads,” he said, pointing towards a thick black cloud of smoke due to burning tyres. Miserably, I tried to contact my friend to inform that I would be late but alas! I couldn’t – thanks to the network problem!

After all these hassles, I finally reached my destination. But my head started spinning the moment my eyes fell on the meter. “This is too expensive!” I blurted. “There is gas shortage. The petroleum prices are sky-rocketing. Obviously it will be costlier than before!” the driver retorted, leaving me with no option but to stop grumbling and pay.

It was dark by the time I arrived home. In the moonlight I noticed that the hole was still there. Shaking my head I looked round silently. Tall silhouettes stared back at me reminding me of giants in the dark. “Damn the power cuts” I muttered as I tripped up the door step and entered the dark house.

Wednesday 23^rd January, Kathmandu

Today there was a massive demonstration, but I understand that because of it the government has backed down and taken off the fuel increases. It seems that they increased by 2 rupees previously and no-one did anything, so they thought they could get away with it again. Traffic is out again, but there is quite a mess to clear up. I think actually it has done one favour, because the landfill is full, no rubbish is being collected, so I think people were burning anything to block the roads, including the garbage. I IM'd Claire I think on Sunday, and told her that on my way to the cyber I had seen three rats and masses of condoms. It will be nice if they've all disappeared.

I've spent today in my room with a hot water bottle up my jumper, a woolly hat and candles. If I put the computer on my lap I get a bit more warmth. The cold isn't nice, but I'm OK in bed.

I guess the weekend conference will happen, so that's OK, one thing at a time.

Tuesday 22^nd January, Kathmandu

Today was an interesting day. I went to a meeting with Babu, decided to walk and quite clearly there was agitation on the streets. On the way back there were thousands of demonstrators everywhere - probably all YCL, young communist league, Maoists. They had stopped traffic, everywhere, had set fire to uprooted trees and tyres. They were throwing bricks around, and threw bricks at a UN wagon and the police. They were pulling people off motor bikes. It has been a cold day, the mist never lifted, and all the burning tyre smoke mixed with the damp and hung at face level. At the moment I feel quite sick. I blew my nose and dislodged soot!

It was because the government has increased the price of petrol, diesel and cooking gas by about 10%. Word on the street is that this could get tricky.

But through it all life went on. At one junction there was the army and masses of riot police, but through the crowd a man herded 5 goats, and another man carried a wardrobe and the roadside food vendors did a roaring trade. But the place is a real mess. So we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Because of the mist it has been cold as well, so I feel very shivery as well. I will have soup and take my hot water bag to bed. In addition to our six hours of load shedding today, there was an additional 3 hours extra power cut, allegedly damage to the transformer. I think all this will be inconvenient rather than dangerous. I have heard from no-one about travel plans, so continue to wait.

Sunday 6^th January, Kathmandu

Trundled up to the Radisson as I thought arranged, and found no-one there and meeting rescheduled for 5 pm. Met people from previous conferencences, and the two I will be working with, one on joint workshop at the conference and the other on research, so lots of interesting conversations.

I think the training course will be interesting, and people are very keen to discuss so many things.  It will be very full time for the two weeks, and I will go to the Nelta committee meeting on Saturday and harangue them, so will be well occupied. 

For now one thing at a time.  This is what I put my time in for during the last term, the information I now have is really useful so its not been wasted. 

Saturday 5^th January, Kathmandu

Flight OK - long but no hitches.  The worst bit is climbing over bags and boots on the leg from Doha to Kathmandu.  They really could put on a bigger plane. The UTSE welcoming committee was at airport, and Ang and Checchi were at UTSE, followed closely by Sunita and Roman and Sunita's brother.  The view from plane window was stunning, clear upper atmosphere so mountains very sharp.  Valley is always gungy, but could be worse.  It was warm when I arrived but feels much colder now, probably because UTSE doesn't have doors - or walls - and most of the windows don't quite shut.