Saturday 27 December 2008

Bike update

Apologies if worrying about my bike ride to work with a dodgy tyre spoilt your Christmas festivities :-). E-mail on Xmas Eve was a particular problem because immediately after our 6hr spell of load shedding the builders of the new block in front of the Radisson did something that cut off our power for the rest of the night.

Anyway, back to what you are really interested in, my bike. I'm pleased to report that the front tyre, with a threatening bulge where the temporary repair was, survived my trips to and from work. I tried harder than usual to dodge pot holes and when bombing down the hill near the office did slow down after I contemplated what would happen if the tyre burst and jammed in the front fork. Safely home I went to my repair shop as arranged but no tyre, come back tomorrow evening. Well to cut a long story short (I sense you might be getting bored by now) they didn't have one the next day either but after trying 2 more shops I got a brand new tyre fitted. This is what I love about life here, the sense of satisfaction you get from such small things.

So that was on Christmas Day. Not much else to report about it really other than that neither of us went to work, we had a lazy day and nothing special to eat apart from extra choccies that the kids had sent, oh and Sheila made some yummy mulled wine. No need to feel sorry for us, we could have had a traditional turkey dinner in Thamel (the tourist area) with 30 odd other volunteers and their friends but that's just too much sociability for me.

Back to work yesterday for me but Sheila was told there was a lock-out (protesters padlocked the door) at her office so didn't go. Cheerful news in yesterday's paper was that after just over a week of 10 hrs per day load shedding it is not enough and we go up to 13 hours per day load shedding from Monday. We wait to see how bad the schedule is for work.

Off to bed now (yes, it's only 8pm but it's cold and the bed with 2 hot water bottles is warm) to watch one of a selection of DVDs we bought today. Fingers crossed that the dodgy pirate copies play properly.

Cheers

Roshan

P.S. I see power is currently the top story in the BBC News link in the right hand column.

Tuesday 23 December 2008

Bike repair

I am now a long distance (3 -4 km which for me is long) bike commuter so it is getting more use than ever. Today, after going between offices on a particularly bumpy rough track (trying to keep up with a colleague on a motor bike!), a bolt fell off my chain guard. Not a major problem, I took the whole thing off and tucked it in my bag. I stopped off at our local bike repair shop and the guy had almost finished a quick and simple fix of it when BANG the front tyre exploded! No reason for it, but I was very happy it happened there not while I was riding it on a busy road. Given the noise, it was no great surprise that there was a 2 inch hole in the tyre with a matching pair on the inner tube. So new tube needed – but not so easy because all the shop had were some old ones (good recycling policy) none of which fitted. After explaining this to me (fortunately I understood a few words and the obvious signs) the guy hopped on his bike to get one from another shop. I did understand what he said when he got back "No electricity so the shop is closed. I will get a new tyre tomorrow". Now of course you would expect things to end at this stage but not in Nepal (or probably anywhere else apart from the "developed" world). An old tyre was cut up and stuck inside the burst one and the inner tube was patched with another recycled tube. I cycled the short distance home and it seemed OK so I'll ride it to work tomorrow hoping that it will last until I can get back to the repair shop in the evening. I'll let you know tomorrow whether this is a foolish decision resulting in a long walk pushing the bike.

Oh and the cost for about an hour's fiddling around – Rs20 (about 17 pence). I wonder whether the shop thinks that all bideshi's (foreigners) have exploding tyres? A friend literally blew his up at the same shop when inflating just a bit too much with a high pressure air hose.

I've posted it before but a long time ago so a reminder of what my faithful old push bike (christened Rosie by another vol who insisted on giving all bikes names - her's was called Barbie) looks like:

Cheers

Roshan

Saturday 20 December 2008

Apologies

I'm sorry that my last post selfishly focussed on the challenges Nepal faces with a severe power shortage. A friend in the UK has pointed out that you have crises there:

Cadbury switches chocolate Heroes amid credit crunch

Cadbury has cut two old favourites from its popular Heroes selection amid fears it is trying to costs. The changes have sparked a barrage of complaints from chocoholics, who accuse the company of wielding the cost cutting spatula a cut too far. Dreams and Crunchies have been dropped from the tins, to be replaced by Bournvilles and toffee Eclairs.

Sad to see Crunchies disappearing but give me Bournville over Dreams any day.

 

Happy Christmas chocolate eating.

Roshan

 

 

Thursday 18 December 2008

What I want for Christmas

… is some electricity! With talk about it in the papers ever since we got back, its finally happened, we have 63 hours a week load shedding starting tonight. The schedule (when power is off) for us is:

 

Sunday             0430 – 1030           1630 – 2030

Monday            0630 – 1230           1700 – 2100

Tuesday            0830 – 1430           1730 – 2130

Wednesday       1030 – 1630           2130 – 0130

Thursday           2000 – 2300  Yes, only 3 hours!

Friday               0030 – 0630           1600 – 2000

Saturday           0230 – 0830           1615 – 2015

 

In the last 3 years we haven't had load shedding with 6 hr off at a time, nor has it been so many hours per day at this time of year. Many businesses are really going to struggle with so few hours of power and I don't think the general population will be too happy so my guess is that there will be demonstrations soon. We'll manage but our laptop usage may be curtailed because even my nifty little Eee PC won't last 6 hours. I was thinking at least the electricity bill will be low next month but I fear our candle and torch battery bill will use up this saving and more.

 

Not really a whinge, just a gentle sigh.

Cheers

Roshan

 

P.S. Had our annual pig out on sausage rolls, mince pies and rum punch at the British Embassy last night. Oh and the garden was all lit up with fairy and spot lights and warmed by patio heaters – I say, Your Excellency, did you know there was an energy shortage?

Sunday 14 December 2008

BBC Sports Personality of the Year

I can't resist a quick blog to plug BBC Sports Personality of the Year which both our kids are involved in, Josie is a researcher and Ben apparently is guarding the trophies! It's on live from 1900 – 2100 GMT tomorrow (Sunday) night so make sure you watch. And if you don't know who to vote for, go for Ben Ainslie, a sailor has never won it before.

 

Cheers

Roshan

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Beauty & Brains

As I'd been involved in the original concept, my friends at Blue Diamond Society invited me to the

The journey to Pokhara was a bit of an ordeal - 6 of us in a car about the size of a Peugeot 306, 4 of us on the back seat. Allowing for a couple of stops (including travel sickness related ones - me included) it took about 6 hours. Quite cloudy when we got there but the next morning ........



..... spectacular views of the mountains (Annapurna range)












The contestants' aptly named hotel. That's Macchapucchre (Fishtail Mountain) in the background.












Contestants getting made up


There were15 contestants who had come through 5 regional heats to get to the final.







A bit of traditional dancing whilst the contestants changed costumes (evening dress and saris, no bathing suits!)









It may not be very clear but that is a bicycle wheel which she spun and then placed on her head like a gyroscope. It didn't look like a lightweight racing wheel either. I'm not sure how traditional this is or whether it was her own innovation.






The winner (3rd from left) and the 5 runners-up:

The winner will spend the next year as a National Ambassador spreading the word about HIV & AIDS and human rights. The 5 runners-up will carry out similar work in their local regions.

It was great to be part of this final event in the program and fantastic to see the confidence of the girls when they walked out on stage - apart from the HIV & AIDS message, that was what it was about. A moist eye moment.

Cheers
Roshan

Sunday 23 November 2008

A bit of a touristy day

Alright, alright, I know its 3 weeks since we got back and all you've had is one short dull posting. It must be a sign that even with 6 months break, we have been here long enough for life in Nepal to seem quite routine because I can't think of anything interesting to write. But I'm hopeful that some of what we consider to be routine is interesting to you or at least gives you a break from endless news about a forthcoming global recession.

Based on news items and gossip we have been expecting load shedding to increase to 10 hrs per day but this has not happened yet. This is good news but it is a bit confusing not to have a clear schedule to know when we will get power cuts. Some friends including the BDS office have no load shedding because they are on the same circuit as the President or Prime Minister. Lucky for them but a real shame that the concept of the elite not sharing the challenges of the masses has crept in. This was the norm in Delhi but did not happen here until the change of government. Maybe it will change when load shedding hours increase - which inevitably they will because generating capacity reduces from now until April/May next year when the Himalayan glaciers start melting again.

Yesterday we did a bit of touristy stuff. We met Rick, our dentist from the UK, who was here to help run a dentistry camp for the Gurkha Welfare Trust and joined him for some sightseeing and shopping. Good for me as I hadn't been to either of the places we went to, Baba Mahal Revisited - part of an old palace that has been redeveloped into a trendy (i.e. expensive) shopping/eating complex - and Patan Durbar Square - a UNESCO heritage site of old palaces and temples. In Babar Mahal, it was lovely to have a waiter from one of the bars rush over and say hello; when we first got here he worked at Bawarchi's, our regular local restaurant. By the time we got down to Patan, it was dark and our efforts to take atmospheric night photos were foiled by long exposure times and wobbly hands. A couple of mine follow but if you want to see some decent photos of the buildings, here's a gallery from a proper photographer.


Lions on guard and door of the Golden Temple:


I can't resist posting this next one covered in "orbs"

Rick's photos of this temple were also covered in orbs and when he experimented by taking shots facing the other way, they were not. He feared this proved the theory of one his patients that orbs are in fact paranormal phenomena associated with religious sites. Let's see whether I get any "interesting" comments to the blog sending me scientific proof of this.

Maybe I'll visit Patan Durbar Square again in daylight to get a better view and some decent orb-less photos.

We thought we'd eat down there but were pleased when Rick spurned a touristy restaurant with western menu in favour of a decent daal bhaat, tandoori chicken and naans at our favourite Fast Food Tandoori in Lazimpat - half the price and twice as good.

That'll do for now I think.
Cheers
Roshan

P.S. Buddha boy has reappeared again followed by a return to the jungle.

"We have never seen him eat or drink and we believe he's a god in human form," said Bed Bahadur Thing, president of the Buddha Jungle Meditation Conservation and Prosperity Committee. "Many people say we're just doing this for the money, but we have expenses for volunteers, food, security and maintenance".

Sunday 2 November 2008

Back in Kathmandu

A very quick post to say that after a longer than expected break in the UK (Sheila got a new hip whilst we were there!) we got back to Kathmandu on Friday night. The flat was in remarkably good shape - not taken over by rodent or insect squatters as Sheila had feared - and after a day's binge cleaning yesterday we have all essentials unpacked from the boxes and bags they were stored in. No dramas getting mobiles and internet (still only dial-up unless I can persuade the Radisson Hotel that we can use their wi-fi) back connected so we are in full working order, so much so that Sheila has gone to work today (govt offices are open on Sundays) to find out what has been going on/what is in store for the next 6 months.

 

It feels good to be back, not least because the weather is warm and we've really missed the great food such as the channa masala/veg curry/naan we had at Fast Food Tandoori last night (no offence to the Simla but it beats their's out of sight and costs less than £1!). Weather should remain decent for a month or so and we've still got mo-mos and Bawarchi's wraps to sample again so it will be a few weeks before I revert to moaning about life here. Oh and its sooo good not to see "recession" or "global financial crisis" all over the newspapers. OK they are slim and today's were full of Ban Ki-Moon's flying visit but hopefully Nepal remains gloriously unaffected by these, certainly no sign of them from the tourists numbers.

 

Finally, a special thanks to Jem for dropping us at Heathrow on Thursday - we owe you a beer and curry.

 

Cheers for now, will try to get some pictures up next time.

Roshan


P.S. Spoke to soon, just a little moan about this being my 4th attempt to send this. Got spoilt by broadband.

 

Tuesday 27 May 2008

Life in England

It is now 2 weeks since we got back from Nepal. Still suffering culture shock from the complication (and cost!) of life here. I think the move the other way was much easier to cope with.

You may have read here a couple of months ago that Ben had persuaded me to join him in a sponsored abseil down Guy's Hospital Tower in London. Well, we did it on Saturday. Despite earlier forecasts, it was a glorious sunny day although pretty windy at the top of the tower. Apart from the first step over the edge, it was remarkably unscary - I was pleased to get to the bottom not because of nerves but because my arm was aching. Compared to other much shorter abseils I've done it was hard work due to the weight of rope hanging below you. Instead of just letting the rope zzzz through with an occasional pull down to brake, you had to heave up slack to make it run. Anyway I'm glad we did it, we raised some money (you can still donate at www.justgiving.com/roshandescends) for the Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy and, particularly for Ben who is not a great fan of heights, laughed in the face of danger.





And yesterday I went sailing. In a brisk breeze, managed to stay upright and even beat a few of my less rusty competitors. Mind you I am now feeling aches and pains in muscles that had had little or no exercise in the last two and half years.

Whilst we are in the UK I don't plan to update the blog much, if at all, so its au revoir for a couple of months.

Cheers
Roshan

Thursday 1 May 2008

A particularly gay May Day in Nepal

After the final election results were announced, we were 99% sure it was going to happen and yesterday afternoon we got confirmation - my boss has been chosen to take a seat in the new Constituent Assembly. Sweets and a mood of celebration in the office today!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Nepal_ready_for_first_gay_representative/articleshow/2999871.cms
The wind of change that swept through Nepal in the form of a historic election this month, dethroned its king, once revered as god, and instead gave power to the former Maoist guerrillas, will also see a fresh social revolution with the first gay representative being nominated to the new constituent assembly.

Sunil Babu Pant, a 35-year-old crusader for gay rights who founded the first organisation to protect the rights of the sexual minorities and ushered in a social revolution, now becomes part of Nepal's political history as well after being chosen by a minor communist party to represent it in the 601-member constituent assembly.

"We are honoured to send Pant as our representative to the constituent assembly," said Ganesh Shah of Communist Party, who’s Communist Party of Nepal-United (CPN-U) has won five seats in the assembly under the proportional representation system.

"We hope it will improve the lives of a people who are the most repressed in Nepal, disowned both by society and their own families," he added.

Pant, a computer engineer from Belarus, founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2002. It is now one of the best known gay rights groups in South Asia, fighting for molested and detained gays, spreads HIV/AIDS awareness, runs a hospice for terminally ill gay patients and provides training and jobs to members of the community.

Although I think Ganesh was referring above to the gay community, Sunil will be fighting for a Constitution that protects the rights of all repressed and marginalised groups. I know he will do a great job.

Cheers
Roshan

Tuesday 15 April 2008

Change!

The election last week passed remarkably peacefully and very quickly it became apparent that the Maoists (who when we arrived 2 years ago were in a shooting and bombing war against the then government) had far more voter support than anyone had expected and will be the single largest party. I had believed that it would not be possible for one party to have outright control under a voting system that had more than half the seats decided under proportional representation, but the Maoists have got such overwhelming support in the results declared so far that I am having second thoughts. It will be another 2 weeks or so before final results are in (there will be re-polling at a small proportion of voting booths where there was found to be dodgy practices) so we have to wait and see.

From media reports and speaking to friends, it is clear that this is a vote for change. The public has had enough of the same old politics delivered by the same old politicians – many of whom have not been reelected. To their credit, leaders of the 2 other main parties have resigned - accepting the blame for policies that were obviously not what voters wanted - with little or no mud slinging at the Maoists. In turn, the Maoist leadership has been talking about including other parties in its government. All an amazing demonstration of grown up democracy at work that was unthinkable 2 years ago. Having witnessed a people's revolution in our first 2 months, it will be great to see a democratically elected government in place as we leave (albeit temporarily – as Sheila's last post mentioned, we're coming back in August).

I guess most foreign governments are waiting for final results to be declared before sending their messages of congratulations and support. The one from the US is the most significant as they have to remove the Maoists from their list of terrorists or cut off all aid to, and contact with, the new government. Foggy Bottom (what a great name for the home of the US State Dept!) has had at least 2 years to think about this possibility so hopefully they can do the right thing in the next few weeks and avoid causing major disruption to development work here.

Back to normal life: in the nick of time before my laptop battery ran out, my colleagues have managed to get some petrol for our generator. Petrol is now available but only for vehicles so 2 of my colleagues fill up their motorbikes, come back to the office and siphon it into a container before going back to refill their bikes. The petrol fumes hovering round the office is a good incentive for me not to smoke but it is slightly disconcerting to have the petrol container kept in our room.

Cheers

Roshan

Monday 7 April 2008

An April update from Sheila

Finally, over two years on since our arrival and it looks as if the elections in Nepal really will happen on Thursday (for the first time since 1999!).

Government offices are mainly closed and although it means a weeks holiday for some, most of my education colleagues will spend the time being election officers and the majority seem very pleased that they are being deployed locally. So, a positive and cheerful atmosphere appears amongst those who are part of this. In the last few days they have gone to meetings about their election responsibilities and finally yesterday most heard where they would go today to begin duties. And others who now have the 8 days holiday are even more cheerful despite the ban on alcohol over this period!

So, for me this means that the education office is closed until next Tuesday at least and VSO will wait to see what the security position is before I can return. But still plenty of work to do as only a few weeks left for me now and there are many projects that I am part of - so good job I have good laptop!

However, instead of sitting at home and watching what is happening across the country (even without understanding the commentary at least we can watch if news is available) all of us from VSO are due to spend the next few days in a hotel in the centre of Kathmandu for the the annual conference - a well timed event which will ensure that everyone working throughout the country is in one place in case there are any security issues following poll day on Thursday. If the hotel does not have television, and I don't think it has internet access, then you are all more likely to know what is happening before we do!

An extra bonus on this very sunny morning is that we did not loose our power for the first time since er, December??? Maybe this is a sign that we will not have load shedding all this week - a bonus of the election procedure perhaps?! Although a bonus for us at the flat with our planned schedule, no power is only a very mild inconvenience. In comparison it is really difficult for small businesses and for offices as generators are of course only useful when fuel is available for them.

The weather has certaintly warmed up in the last few weeks since I got back from my brief stint in London. And it shows as everything is growing just outside the front door of our flat and looking bright and green after the last few evenings heavy thunderstorms.


And so, only a few more weeks to go as our visas run out and we will be returning back to the UK and only 10 days before Roshan and Ben make their big fundraising leap off the top of Guy's hospital!

http://www.justgiving.com/roshandescends
http://www.justgiving.com/bendescends

Recognising that I haven't got a replacement though, and that there is so much I can be part of with VSO and ECD (early childhood development) here it maybe that I am back for a few months in the winter. But who knows - first we have elections!

PS. And just for the opportunity to post the photo: when walking with friends though the centre of town, in between two houses we spotted this. I think it has been recently renovated. As ever Nepal offers never ending surprises!

Monday 10 March 2008

Sport

Not very often that I show an interest in football (soccer) but I heard the news this morning that all the glamour clubs have been knocked out of the FA Cup leaving Portsmouth as the highest ranked survivor. Nice one 'Arry. Although they are my local team, I can't say I support or know anything about them but for all my other friends who have supported them through plenty of bad times, I hope you get to Wembley. For Steve in particular, I hope it soothed the pain of England's thrashing by New Zealand in cricket and the Scots sneaking a win in the rugby.

 

  

Sunday 9 March 2008

Eating well despite.....

…… being on my own for the last 6 days whilst Sheila is in London. Had dinner at the Radisson twice last week (twice more than in the last 2 years) as guest of a group from India that we are working with on a South Asia regional HIV & AIDS proposal. I'm sure they won't mind me saying that they are camp as you can get which, in addition to the food, made for a good couple of evenings. Last night's meal was courtesy of a wedding party at our associated oragnisation's office in Lalitpur. I was slightly worried about going to this as a couple of friends had said they were going to get me dancing. As some of you will know, I don't even shuffle on a UK dance floor (at least when I'm sober) let alone wiggle provocatively to Bollywood hits. So I kept well back from the dance floor and thankfully avoided making a fool of myself.


Bride & groom


Three times round, garland each other and you're married


Dancing's best left to the girls

For those of you currently being blown away in a stormy UK (I discovered a new term in the Shipping Forecast today, "phenomenal" referring to sea state – don't want to experience it), you might like to know that it was a lovely hot, sunny afternoon here today. I've even given up hot water bottles at night.

New volunteers, including my successor at BDS, arrive next week which is a reminder how scarily close we are to leaving. I really must look at the large pack labelled "Leavers Pack" that VSO gave us a month or so ago.

Enough of this, I must check the TV5 website to see if, and at what time, they are showing Wales v France next week.

Cheers

Roshan

P.S. 32 days to the election and things are remarkably quiet. Good thing I didn’t try to give you political updates 2 weeks ago – news on the talks to settle the strikes by political groups changed by the day, settled, not settled and finally an agreement that may or may not be implemented. So the strikes are over and Ktm is getting fuel again although the queues at the petrol stations suggest that people are stocking up in anticipation of future problems. Load shedding still a PITA despite Nepal Electricity Authority kindly reducing the hours of power cuts last week (we get an extra half day without cuts but as this is in the middle of the night for our area, its not much use. We still have 5 days with between 6.5 to 8 hours of cuts)

Sunday 2 March 2008

Very interested in all Commie parties - not!

In case you share the view of a friend who found my news about the number of Communist parties in Nepal less than riveting I thought I should pass on her exciting news from Bognor.

  
Somebody in Barnham was fined £155 for throwing a fag butt
[for Americans I should explain that this is a cigarette end] out of a car window.
 
Rabbit baiting by the beach huts at Blakes road.
[fantastic, maybe this will stop the little b****rs nesting under the floorboards of our house]
 
Ireland short of priests, and people enrolling as teachers for peace and quiet due to increased truancy.
[maybe this item wasn't in the Bognor Observer]

 

Boy it's going to be hard to cope with all this excitement when we return. Anyway, thanks to Heather for keeping us up to date and standing in for me on Mothering Sunday.

Cheers

Roshan

Wednesday 20 February 2008

Parties galore

Having seen various different Communist Parties mentioned in the newspapers, someone visiting from India asked me today how many there were in Nepal. I knew there were quite a few but having looked it up (have recently discovered Wikipedia) thought I would share the list with you.

Current groups (CPN = Communist Party of Nepal)
CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
CPN (Maoist)
CPN (Unity Centre-Masal)
CPN (United Marxist)
CPN (Marxist-Leninist)
CPN (Masal)
CPN (United)
CPN (Unified)
Nepal Workers Peasants Party

Defunct groups
Communist Party of Nepal
Nepal Communist League
CPN (Rayamjhi)
CPN (Pushpa Lal)
CPN (4th Convention)
CPN (Marxist-Leninist)
CPN (Masal)
CPN (Mashal)
CPN (Manmohan)
CPN (Marxist) (1st)
CPN (Marxist) (2nd)
CPN (Democratic)
CPN (Unity Centre)
CPN (MLM)
CPN (Samyabadi)
CPN (MLM Centre)
CPN (United)

Yes, I know there are some in both lists, I don't know why but I'm sure Wiki has a reason. And no, Masal and Mashal are not just mis-spellings, they were 2 separate parties.

All very "Life of Brian" Peoples Liberation Front of Judea isn't it!

Cheers
Roshan

P.S. 22 petrol tankers got through to Ktm today and the Prime Minister said the shortage will be over by tomorrow so all is well.

Sunday 17 February 2008

2 years already!

It really doesn't seem like we've been here 2 years. It certainly doesn't seem like there has been 2 years of political progress. After dramatic changes in our first 3 months, things got stuck and with less than 2 months before elections are due it really doesn't look good. Most obvious in Kathmandu is the load shedding and fuel shortages but in the south and east political groupings have called strikes so life there has pretty much ground to a halt. Last Friday a group of us were trying to return from a meeting near Bhaktapur (where Sheila used to work) and a transport strike was called on a short stretch of road. After waiting a bit we decided to walk which was fine, about an hour, lots of other people walking and it all seemed quite calm. Then in the papers the next day we read that later on there had been a demonstration followed by a curfew during which the police opened fire and one person was killed. The police are meant to have had crowd control training from international experts including the Brits but it seems they haven't learnt much. They claim they were firing over the demonstrators' heads yet managed to hit someone who, based on average height here, was well under 6ft tall. Fortunately it sounds as if things have quietened down there now but with tempers frayed due to the fuel shortage, incidents like this can easily get out of hand particularly if the police are allowed to use live rounds. The politicians continue to make wild promises that are very quickly broken. The Prime Minister was quoted as saying that he had "given orders to solve the petrol shortage" without any indication how this was to be achieved and a Minister said he would "pounce" on anyone who described it as a "crisis". The government really doesn't seem to have much grip on reality. Very depressing, can only hope that the Nepali talent for delivering things at the last minute will show through.

We escaped all the difficulties facing the average Nepali with an indulgent afternoon sitting in the British Embassy Club garden – all right for some.

Cheers

Roshan

Saturday 9 February 2008

Happy Lhosar 2135 (2008)


Lhosar is the Tibetan New Year which is celebrated on the New Moon in February. I'm not sure whether it's today or yesterday but there was a street festival being set up today and lots of Tibetans in their best.

Pretty much got into the routine of 8 hours per day load shedding at home. Minor frustration is that it looks like the France v Ireland rugby match is being shown on TV5 tonight but we have no power then. I'm not going to hunt around for a bar which is willing to have the TV on a French channel showing rugby - it could be a long search.

Weather is definitely starting to warm up, positively hot in the sunshine today. However having got used to cosy hot water bottles (3!) in bed, it may be some time before we get out of the habit.

Cheers
Roshan

Thursday 31 January 2008

Life's a beach........

…. and then you have to go back to work. Yes, we are back in chilly Kathmandu after 2 gloriously hot weeks in Kerala. Josie keeps telling me to stop whining about the cold because its colder in the UK but what she doesn't understand is that we get no warmth even when we are in the house or office, the only place that's warm is in bed which is where I am now at 7.15pm. It will be slow typing by torch and my laptop battery now only lasts about 45 mins on full charge so I probably won't finish this until after the power comes back on at 8.30pm.

Our itinerary for India was:

Flight to Delhi, with a day there to have a look at how much it has changed

And it has changed a lot! There is building work everywhere. They are extending the Metro to South Delhi and building lots of flyovers and roads so it is one big construction site. Surprisingly modern sites as well, gone is the bamboo scaffolding and labourers with shovels and buckets the place was full of very modern equipment (apparently JCB sell more excavators in India than in the UK) and men wearing hard hats. We visited Khan Market which 10 years ago was a very basic shopping area and is now full of incredibly expensive clothes boutiques, trendy home furnishing shops and upmarket coffee bars. The Red Fort hasn't changed

nor has my old office

but transport at that end of the city has – a modern, clean and smart Metro (although slight disconcerting to have security personnel join you in the carriages complete with sub-machine guns – India has become very security conscious), I apologise for believing that it would be covered in red betel nut spit, this and chewing gum is banned).

Fly to Trivandrum (capital of Kerala state, which has adopted its original Indian name but I can't spell it)


Just overnight there but long enough to take a bus ride out to Kovalum beach which was completely undeveloped when I last visited aged 11 years. There are now plenty of tourist hotels, shops and restaurants although not over the top.

Train and bus frequencies were not quite so often as we'd been led to believe by the Lonely Planet so it was at 4.30am that we took a…

Bus to Kanyakumari (in Tamil Nadu state, the southern most tip of India)

A bit of a fright when we got to the bus station and, contrary to what they'd said the previous afternoon, there was no bus to K'kumari at 4.30am. But don't worry you can get a local bus to a place beginning with N where you can get a connection. Sounded good until the bus came in; it was packed when it arrived and there was no way that we were going to fight with the crowd trying to get on so we were resigned to Plan B (wait for the 12.30 train). Then the nice official who had told us which bus to get saw us, said there will be another one running soon and grabbed a driver to take us over to the yard where it was parked and put us on it before it pulled into the main bus park where the masses awaited. Fantastic, we had seats for what was to be a 2 hour ride. Thank you Kerala State Transport Co, very tourist friendly. Connection worked fine and we were in Kanyakumari at 7.30am. Now this was the one and only place we had reserved a hotel for what good it did us. We hadn’t thought to check festival dates and we had arrived on the first day of Pongal, a Tamil harvest festival. The town was packed with jeeps and buses full of people

making a pilgrimage to the famous island temple at Kanyakumari.

So the hotel had let our room. So across the road to a slightly more expensive looking place and much to our relief we got a room. We had an afternoon of wandering around, nice to see a fishing beach again but it was very windy and you got sand blasted. Off the next morning by….

Train to Varkala (beach resort in Kerala)

This really was a resort, masses of hotels, bars, restaurants, shops and touts. It is perched on a cliff with the main beach reached by some precipitous steps. The small place we had hoped to stay at was fully booked but after walking all the way along the front rejecting the ridiculous prices being offered by the touts we managed to get a room for Rs400 (about £5) with a sea view balcony and behind a nice family run restaurant. Two days there lazing on the beach (North beach slightly easier to get to!) and pigging out on sea food. A beautiful place but very touristy.

Train to Allupuzha (otherwise known as Alleppey, the start of the Kerala backwaters)

Got a room at our first choice place, more of a home stay than a hotel; very friendly and complete with a litter of very small kittens in the bottom of our wardrobe (sorry, picture didn't come out). The owner also ran a houseboat and looking through his brochure we wished we had allowed time for 24 hours on this – another time maybe. The guide book was disparaging of the beach so we were surprised to discover it was miles of glorious white sand, alright nothing in the way of bars but beautiful.

In the middle of the beach was a decrepit old pier which was slightly puzzling.

On investigation this turned out to be the pier for the Port of Alleppey; I think of ports as having some shelter for ships rather than just a pier which might explain why it is no longer operating. Although in true Indian bureaucratic style it still has Customs and Port Offices, no doubt fully manned. I should not mock the Port of Alleppey because I learnt later that my grandfather used to work there as the Chamber of Commerce Official Measurer, I guess he would have retired about 50 years ago so maybe it was still a thriving port then. Our host also introduced us to his "Secret Beach". A real picture postcard place with absolute nothing other than sand, coconut trees and fishing boats

One night there, thankfully under a mozzie net because they were big and hungry, before…

Train to Kochi/Ernakulum (the commercial centre of Kerala developed around a large harbour by the Portugese, the Dutch and then the Brits who called it Cochin)

We had intended to stay with my stepmother who lives just outside the city but she had very kindly booked us into a hotel in the city and came to stay there with us. I had been here twice before, once when I was 11 yrs old and then 10 years ago. I remember nothing of the first trip and recognised little from the second. In 10 years it has got a new international airport which makes it easily accessible for the huge numbers of Keralans who work overseas; from labourers in the Gulf to brain surgeons in the US. As a result property development is booming with apartment blocks and shopping centres springing up everywhere. It has also become popular with tourists, both backpackers and more up-market types. Fort Cochin, which is the old colonial centre, has some beautiful historic buildings many of which have been renovated to make top of the range boutique hotels where guests are pampered with ayurvedic massages and seafood cuisine before strolling out to see the traditional Chinese fishing nets on the beach. These are still operating commercially although apparently this is becoming more difficult as big trawlers are now landing catches – hopefully they will work out a way of getting some income out of the tourists rather than pack up completely. Kerala (motto "God's own country") is really pushing tourism in a big way and I'd just read that Kochi had been made a stopover port for the Volvo Round the World Race next year so it wasn't a total surprise to see Ericsson, a Volvo yacht,

coming in as we crossed on the ferry. To host this they have promised to develop a dockside area so maybe Kochi will finally get the marina that has been talked about for years. The sponsors want an India stopover for commercial reasons and I'm sure the Volvo race management are aware that this will be slightly more challenging to organise than Sydney. A good reason to visit again next year.






Apart from looking around Fort Cochin, eating and shopping we also had an afternoon at yet another gorgeous beach just north of the city. On the way back, more festivals, not sure what it was but it involved a lot of elephants

Flight to Delhi

I forgot to mention that our internal flights were on cut price airlines, brilliant and half the price of the much shorter Ktm-Del flight. Just one night in Delhi staying with my old Delhi Rugby Club mate, Robin, and his girlfriend, Annelise. The shock of returning to chillier climes was eased by a boozy evening and delicious food (he's an artist but also a great cook) with them.

Flight to Kathmandu

Where we discovered we had missed a couple of days of bandhs (strikes) and tyre burning in protest against the government having increased diesel and kerosene prices. Same as last year, 2 days of protests and the price rise was cancelled. Although I don't think the price rise would have solved the problem, there is now a chronic shortage of diesel so the buses, lorries and diesel generators (essential for major businesses now we are up to 36 hours per week load shedding) will grind to a halt shortly. Not an ideal lead up to an election on 10 April. The question is whether the electorate will take revenge on any particular party. I'm sure I'll be writing more about fuel shortages, load shedding, politics and election preparations in the next few weeks. I bet you can't wait.

Cheers
Roshan

Friday 11 January 2008

Happy reincarnation Ed

Sad to read that Ed Hillary died yesterday. He was a special hero in Nepal because he gave equal credit for climbing Everest to Tensing Norgay (in those days Sherpas were generally treated as menial servants) and for the last 50 odd years had been supporting health and education projects in the Sherpa districts that he visited when climbing. Today there will be thousands of Sherpas lighting lamps and praying for his reincarnation.

It's January...

…. so load shedding hours are cranking up. Last week they went up from the 4 hours per week (2 hours x 2 days) it has been since the summer to 15 hours per week. We were struggling to work out the schedule (difficult because we also had a series of technical power cuts) until yesterday when a timetable was published. It only lasted for one day! We went up to 36 hours per week (2 x 3 hours for 6 days) today. Last year the Nepal Electricity Authority talked about 12 hours per day in March but it never happened, the maximum was 6 hrs/day. I'm not sure we will escape so lightly this year unless we get some heavy rain which is unlikely. As we are meant to be having an election in mid-April (no date announced yet) things could get interesting with politicians not wanting power cuts to upset the voters (who are already pissed off with gas and petrol shortages) and doing a King Canute by telling the NEA not to increase load shedding hours. Of course the other possibility is that some will exploit the situation by blaming the Indians - always popular even when it has little justification – and whipping up a hate campaign that targets pro-Indian politicians.

All good fun but I won't care after Saturday because we are leaving then for 2 weeks holiday in Kerala (south India, where my Dad was born). Nice warm climate, sea, beaches (sorry to rub it in for all of you with a couple of months of winter still to go) and seafood. For some crazy reason we decided to have 2 days in Delhi en-route so we'll also get a chance to see how recognisable it is after 10 years of frantic development (I lived there 1995-97). Sheila is really excited to see the Metro; if I know Delhiites, it will not be as shiny as the pictures she's seen.

Cheers

Roshan