Back in chilly Kathmandu

Back over a week and having caught up with work, washing and tax returns (last minute filing habits die hard, thank goodness for on-line filing) my conscience (and Josie) tells me its time to do a blog.

We had a great time in Thailand, luckily got in and out of Bangkok the day before they had some bombs. We had 2 weeks of mostly glorious sunshine by the beach at a place called Cha-am, about 2 hours drive from Bangkok, doing nothing but sitting by the beach/pool, reading and eating delicious seafood - just what we needed. I concluded I must have become well adjusted to Nepal because I found it quite scary to see buildings more than 6 storeys high (thats the tallest they get in Kathmandu) and to be driven down a 3 lane highway at 120kph. The latter turned out to be a perfectly valid fear as the newspapers were full of road accident statistics and stories about how New Year was the worst time.

We got back to Kathmandu last Friday to discover the temperature had dropped another couple of degrees and we are now getting minimum temperatures of 0'C. I know the UK has had storms and is expecting cold weather next week but you have your cosy homes and,most of you, cosy heated offices. At home we have a small kerosene (parafin) heater which we use sparingly because it smells and at work there are a few low power halogen heaters that those who have them (not me) have to sit on top of to notice the difference. Our answer is just to put on more clothes and keep them on indoors so I sit at my desk in a down jacket and wooly hat over my thermal vest and long johns, trousers, thick shirt and jumper - and still shiver. Some days the sun breaks through the misty haze and you can go outside for a warm up, other days I just run up and down the stairs more frequently. Still in another month we should have UK summer temperatures and in 3 months we'll be moaning that its too hot.

This morning we had a plumbing drama that turned into a great result and is now (late evening) back to a bit of a problem. The cold feed to our hot water heater started dripping this morning, not as bad as it sounds because the heater is in our bathroom which is fully tiled and has a drain but not much fun because its directly above the toilet. A quick word with Khrishna ji, our landlord (major advantage having him upstairs), the operative word being cuhunu ("leak" in Nepali) which I don't think he understood (I'd just looked it up in the dictionary so was probably pronouncing it wrong) but he obviously understood paani (water) and my sign language as without bothering to come and look he said he would call the plumber (I understood this because he said it in English so I guess there is no Nepali word for it). An hour later a young bloke with a toolkit comprising just 2 adjustable spanners and a role of PTFE tape turned up and proceeded to do his stuff. He succeeded in stopping the drip and much to my delight the hot water flow was then more than the dribble it has been since we moved in. I'd assumed that was all we could get because the heater is only a foot or so higher than the taps - shows what I know about plumbing, the pressure is obviously determined by the cold water feed. Anyway I was deliriously happy for most of the day thinking about having a decent shower tomorrow morning (an essential warming event) only to discover it dripping again this evening. The good news is that the hot water flow is still impressive, less good is that we've got this maddening dripping noise going on and we need to take an umbrella when going to the loo. Hopefully another chat with Khrishna ji tomorrow morning will get the plumber back to fit a new washer or whatever is needed. Interestingly when I was out this afternoon, I think I spotted our plumber working at the local bike repair shop - and why not if you've got 2 adjustable spanners.

Thats enough for tonight, I had hoped to post a picture of the Himalayas I took from the plane last week but this may have to wait until I can use the fast internet connection a VSO's office.

From Nepal - Jan 2007

Hope your weather is not too bad next week.

Cheers

Roshan

P.S. I managed to uploaded some piccies (including the one above) to Picasa web album yesterday and as I have now discovered how easy it is to blog them, here's another from World AIDS Day at the Blue Diamond Society Care & Support Centre.

From World Aids Day