I love you Nepal...

Sunday 31st March 2013

The sad last day L Plenty of time to get ready as my flight wasn’t until the evening, so I took up residence in Northfield, a last day tradition, to meet with various friends for brunch. I had a delicious hot croissant and eggs and plenty of coffee. 

Enjoying brunch at Northfield Cafe

I had a meeting with Kancha, Sujan, Stu and Jaco about establishing a drama programme at Tri Netra (very exciting!). Sujan was mysteriously sporting a pen tattoo of a heart with the name “Marie” inside (I think someone has a crush!). Later Azziz the gemstone dealer, Amy, and various suppliers including Nabin, Razza and Ishwor came for a drink and to wrap up affairs.

Back at my hotel my blind friend Birodha came to keep me company as I packed my bags. We got a weighing scale from the reception staff which helped us to keep track of things. Again we had various visitors arriving to drop off last minute orders, including my friend Rupak dropping off my finished dress…VERY exciting ;-)

Packing and weighing my bags

As night fell Kancha and Sujan came back to the hotel and we met Bijendra who drove us to the airport. After an emotional goodbye I headed inside…only to be told that my flight had closed 4 minutes earlier! Much as I would have loved to have stayed, I realised I couldn’t afford to buy yet another ticket, and a heartfelt plea (and a few tears!) later I was admitted into the departure lounge.

With Kancha and Bijendra at the airport

I love you Nepal! Until next time……..

Last Night

Saturday 30th March 2013

Took brunch at Northfield and met up with Azziz, a gemstone dealer I met in Nepal six years ago. He showed me some of the fabulous stones he had brought from Jaipur including Larimar and Lemon Topaz. Back at my hotel I prepared party bags for the children at Tri Netra and wrapped a pass the parcel. I hosted a couple of suppliers for tea and chats as I made my preparations, but somehow I managed to get everything ready on time, and my Danish friends Marie and Amalie met me at the hotel to travel over to Tri Netra together where we met with the kids, Kancha and our friend Gopal.  There was no power for the first hour we were there, but we were able to play with the kids and run music through my laptop. After playing pass the parcel and musical bumps we had a delicious dal bhat with a special fish curry – all cooked onsite at the centre – then it was time for singing, cutting the cake (the kids all sang “Happy Birthday” even though it was clearly not anyone’s birthday!) and handing out the party bags. We all had a brilliant time and left feeling on top of the world.

Chilling with the kids at Tri Netra

Eating delicious dal bhat 

Time to cut the cake!

Some of the kids enjoying the cake 

Kushum with her party bag

Marie, Amelie and I then headed to another area of Kathmandu called Jhawlakel to Moksh bar where my dutch friends Stu and Jaco were performing an acoustic gig. It was really nice to see them on stage, I have known them for 6 years but only seen them perform a handful of times. Our final evening (the Dutch girls were leaving first thing Sunday!) continued back in Thamel when we met Gopal back at a friend’s bar for a farewell cocktail.  Gopal played barman and made quite a hilarious job of it! As everything was ready to close by now the girls had planned ahead by buying a big bottle of rum and Gop, the girls and I headed back to my hotel to listen to tunes, look at photos and share stories in my room – last night, curfew style!

Amalie, Marie and I continuing the party!

Rice Eating Party

Friday 29th March 2013

My day began with meeting Rupak to buy “Dawa Surwal” (tiny nepali suits) for my little nephews in the Basantapur temple area of Kathmandu. I managed to find some lovely red velvet ones, they are going to look soooo cute :D Next stop was the (locally) famous tiny vegetarian restaurant “TipTop” where I grabbed some samosas and Indian sweets to share with Rupak in the taxi on the way over to the Women’s Skills’ Centre. After a final fitting and obligatory cup of tea I headed back to Thamel for some more meetings with suppliers dropping off fabulous new designs and wedding-related stuff.

My friends in the reggae band Land Lock Roots were playing a gig at a local bar so I got dressed up and headed there…only to immediately receive a phone call from my bahini (sister) Rita, a lovely girl I’ve known for 15 years as she sells bags on the streets of Thamel, to remind me I was late for her son’s “rice eating party”, the celebration of when a child reaches six months old and eats their first rice. I had a great couple of hours having a delicious dal bhat, meeting Rita’s family and party guests, and, of course, holding the baby :D 

With Rita's son at the rice eating party

I then headed back to watch the end of the Land Lock Roots gig, then shot over to see another reggae band – Joint Family – with my dutch friends Stu and Jaco at the House of Music bar near my hotel. Joint Family are a nine piece ensemble with a full brass section so it was a lot of fun to hear them play and have a dance.

Having fun at a reggae gig with Stu and Jaco

Owing to the curfew, by the time the gig had finished we didn’t have much option except to head back into Thamel where we met a group of Lebenese and Tunisian travellers and headed to Tom and Jerry’s for a final beer. As everything was closed by then, it was time to head to my hotel to open the “elebar” (i.e. drink on the terrace of the hotel!). Six of us had a couple of drinks, it was quite strange to sit on a dark terrace on a Friday night simply trying to enjoy the weekend, but we had a good time :D

Tikka blessing

Thursday 28th March 2013

Having realised that I can’t finish everything by tomorrow I got up early to cancel my flight and buy a new one, for Sunday. Job done, it was time to get on with making my wedding attire so I met Rupak at the Women’s Skills centre and tried on the dress with the head tailor.

There was a big festival on in Patan so Rupak took me to a local café for lunch and to check out the concert being set up in the main temple square. I had a “tikka” (blessing) from the local living goddess Kumari (as you do) and bought a gorgeous dress for my flowergirl, then it was back to Kathmandu to meet friends for momos and homemade lemonade. I went to meet my American friend Amy and her graphic designer boyfriend Sworup at a Vietnamese restaurant in Lazimpat. Next stop was new bar Fluid where I hit the floor with friends Kamal, Rajesh, Mingma and Nima.

Jan and her MBE!

Wednesday 27th March 2013

Had a lovely afternoon visiting my old friend Jan whom I met almost 13 years ago. Jan has been living in Nepal for about 50 years and established the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (KAT) where I sponsor a kennel.  She lives in a pretty flat not far from where I stay and going for a cup of tea at her place is like visiting family, she has five dogs and a 22 year old cat (well over a hundred in cat years!). Over a cuppa I had the pleasure of learning that Jan has been awarded an MBE from non other than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and is therefore planning a trip back to the UK to claim the honours.

Time to clean up!

 The evening was also great as I was reunited with the fabulous Dutch girls Amalie and Marie who were back from their tour of Chitwan and Pokhara. We met with about ten more friends including Stu and Jaco for a meal at Or2K then headed to the Reggae Bar to watch a concert by popular local band Cobweb who played a range of cover songs and had us all dancing at our table. After a game of pool and a boogie at the Fire Club to complete the evening it was time to head home.

With friends at the Reggae Bar... 

...it was a big group :-)

Hindu Festival 'Holi'

Tuesday 26th March 2013

Today saw the exciting Hindu festival of Holi, a celebration of colour! On waking up I changed into old clothes, as I had been advised, choosing black trousers and a white vest top to show up the colours. As I walked through the streets to Bijendra’s house I got bombarded with water balloons and coloured powders from passers-by. Just as I stood on Bijendra’s doorstep ringing the doorbell a group of kids came and tipped an entire bucket of water over my head at which point my mobile phone (which was in my pocket) gave up the ghost! Heather, Juliet and Bob turned up shortly after me and the games began: we all assembled on the roof terrace (it was blazing hot!) and dodged water bombs thrown by the kids in Bijendra’s family and those on neighbouring rooftops. I had my face painted by the kids – they did it gold with a pattern in green made using a fork! 

Me with my golden face and green fork pattern

Holi party on rooftop

Ready and waiting to attack

The boys armed with water bombs

When no water bombs are to hand other receptacles will do!

Bijendra ambushes Heather and Juliet

Attack and defence

Carnage!

Time to clean up!

We played for over an hour and then stopped to eat breakfast – the kids all showered and changed but we stayed in our grotty gear in preparation for the afternoon’s shenanigans. Heather, Juliet, Bijendra and I headed to Tri Netra to see the children, they had already finished playing “Colours” but were happy to see us and we had a soft drink and a singsong. From here we walked into Thamel to the outdoor venue Electric Pagoda where several of our friends had assembled to be covered in colour, drink beer, and dance! The waterpistols and supersoakers came out, thank goodness it was so hot! After a while we headed over to Funky Buddha club which was rammed full and had a DJ and lots of people throwing colour powder in the air and all over us.

Visiting the kids at Tri Netra

The colourful streets of Thamel

Having fun with friends at Electric Pagoda

The last party at Funky Buddha

We dined at a local momo (Tibetan dumpling) restaurant and then I headed back to the hotel for a very hot, very long shower to get rid of the day’s grime! On stepping back out I bumped into my friend Kumar, owner of a local bar, who insisted on trying out a new cocktail recipe on me!

Heather, Juliet and I at Momo Star 

Me before having a shower!

A Little Extra Help?

Monday 25th March 2013

As there’s a big festival tomorrow in Nepal there was lots of running around to do today to ensure my work would be completed ready for my departure on Friday morning. I worked from the Northfield café where they do bottomless coffees and met with several of my friends and suppliers including Razza, who’s great at beadwork.

I had a surreal experience when I popped to the bank. The manager overheard me talking with the bank clerk in nepali and insisted I join him and a few other staff members for a cup of coffee in his office. I was bombarded with questions about my work in Nepal, they were so interested, I can’t quite imagine that happening in the Halifax!

After a cup of tea and chat with Kancha at Tri Netra I headed over to Bijendra’s house where he was hosting a small dinner party with his family plus me and three other British guests, Bob, Juliette and Heather. It was a lovely evening spent on the rooftop eating delicious dal bhat, drinking beer and sharing stories.

From snow to sun

Sunday 24th March 2013

After reading about the snow in England I felt almost guilty when my first meeting (with Gyanraj from a felt showroom I work with) had to be moved inside because the sunny terrace was proving swelteringly hot! We made up a great order and then I headed to visit the girls at the Skills Centre with the freshly dyed fabrics for the bridesmaid dresses. I had a fitting for my dress, then drew out the bridesmaid designs with Rosina whilst her gorgeous little boy ran around in the fairy wings I’ve kept here in Nepal since the era of psy trance raves in 2007-8!

Rosina's son with my wings

I met my long time friend Ranju (we’ve known each other for 13 years!) in Or2K for coffee and catch up, and when she left I had the pleasure of meeting up with Stu and Jaco from Holland who worked here for a long spell and are still great friends of mine. 

Ranju and I

We had a brilliant evening which began with them (accidentally!) ordering VERY spicy snacks which none of us could eat on the terrace of the De La Soul bar. We soon moved on to Buddha Bar (who needs a dance floor? We made our own!) for shisha and tequila (ouch!) then our friend’s bar which stayed open for us for a couple of hours. It was great to see the boys again, they have helped to open SPAK (School of Performing Arts in Kathmandu) and it is proving very popular.

Saturday tradition

Saturday 23rd March 2013

Saturday is holiday in Nepal so my friend Rabindra picked me up on his motorcycle and drove me to his house to enjoy a meal with his family. This has become something of a Saturday tradition for me when I am in Nepal: I make a point of going to Rabindra’s place at least one Saturday a month. His wife Sushila had made an amazing array of food, she is a brilliant cook and even had my absolute favourite Nepalese condiment “Lapsiko aachar” (sweet plum pickle) which I was rather excited by as you can see from the photo! 

Delicious dal bhat and sweet plum pickle

Sushila and her friends have started a small business making beaded products and I was happy to see some of the fabulous products she’s been working on and make a small order.

Sushila with her beaded products

I met Vishal, a friend I met years ago at Heathrow Airport when we both missed our plane to Nepal due to traffic on the M1, for a coffee in swanky café-resto New Orleans. I was at Vishal’s amazing wedding in Nepal in 2007 and gave him an invite to ours :D From one cuppa to another, I went onto meet with my artist friend Pradip and his friends in Northfield cafe.  In the evening my friend Deepak, an education consultant who helps people apply for study visas, drove me over to visit my friend Bijendra, a silversmith who’s lived in the UK for the past 14 years and like me, returns back to Nepal a couple of times a year. We had a lovely dal bhat and catch up in spite of the power cut.

Later Deepak and I headed to Or2K for a coffee and a catch up (I really should keep a tally of how many hot drinks I drink in a day in Nepal, I reckon I could claim some kind of record!). Afterwards I went to outside venue Electric Pagoda with friends Tashi, Mingma and Nima, then a rooftop bar where we bumped into eccentric Indian Sanjeev who’s been living in Nepal for 15 years and is a one-man comedy show.  He had us all in stitches until the early hours when it was safe to head back out onto the street. We made time to stop at a tiny stall in the street run by a man with a tiny gas stove and a selection of simple things on the menu. I had three cups of tea and some noodles.

Early morning fun at the street tea shop

Good Friday

Friday 22nd March 2013

My day began with a herbal tea on the terrace with Shakti from Kriti Craft, one of the felt suppliers I use.  I saw the samples we designed last week and started work on my Christmas order.  Next stop was Dibya’s shop, a fabulous colourful place you may remember from my last trip to Nepal, where all of the products are made from colourful recycled paper.  I ordered some special things for the wedding and made a huge order of rose and chilli pens, which have proved so popular with our customers over the years. I headed back to the Women’s Skills centre to check on progress and choose designs for bridesmaids dresses. After popping in to Govinda’s jewellery shop to design a beautiful garnet set, a commission from a customer, I made a late trip to Sushil’s shop, the place where our very popular tiny notebooks are made. We played around with some new design ideas I am hoping to market online, and discussed some new biodegradable carrier bags I have ordered.

My work finished for the day (at 9pm!) I headed back to the hotel to scrub up for “Good Friday” (no not related to Easter, but what the Nepalese call every Friday, as they don’t have to work the next day :D  By the time I had met friends at the nearby Everest Villa Korean restaurant for my dinner, it was already 10pm. My Tibetan friends (or “brothers” as I call them) treated me to sushi and red wine and before I knew it we were belting out karaoke songs in one of the bamboo huts they have built on the premises. A couple of us headed into Thamel to meet friends for a boogie, but as the midnight curfew persists, there is not much to do and as we arrived very late we had just a few minutes to strut on the dancefloor at De la Soul with German and Nepali friends before everyone was kicked out. Another early night, not a bad thing for work, but a very sad thing to see people being treated like criminals simply for going out and having fun.

A lovely shade of...

Thursday 21st March 2013

Woke up with a cold only to find that there was no hot water -  a tourist group had used it all up before they checked out. I used the time it took for the water to re heat to curl up with the book my thoughtful husband bought me for our first anniversary, also known as the “paper” anniversary.

I had a couple of meetings with my silversmiths, Mohan brought some lovely filigree rings I’d ordered and Sitaram came to write up a new order including some more top secret pieces for the wedding. We had our meeting indoors as it was raining – I was overjoyed to see the rain as it has been so dusty on the roads since I arrived, and the heat only makes the pollution worse.

Early evening I headed over to the fabric shop in New Road with Rosina to order fabric for the bridesmaid dresses, her son loved the colourful charts where you pick out the shades you need. 

Picking out colours for the Bridesmaid dresses

Afterwards I spent a fabulous couple of hours at Tri Netra helping Kancha to write out a ticket for a musical event he’s planning in April to raise money towards building a hostel for the kids where a famous Tibetan lama is to give a speech. I had a nice dal bhat and drank plenty of tea so I felt quite ready for a night out. In Thamel I hit the old faithful Or2K where a friend lent me his tablet to do some work. It made me chuckle thinking back to 15 years ago when I first came when the internet was prohibitively expensive and there were no mobile phones, Nepal is certainly very advanced technologically since then.

As the curfew approached we took matters into our own hands and the night ended with a house party at my friend Nima’s place: more dal bhat, drinks and music without the threat of police coming to spoil it.

Cinderella Style

Wednesday 20th March 2013

I began today with a meeting at the Kriti Craft felt factory where I created some new designs with the owners Shakti and Sonu, including a pea pod brooch and some tea time treat themed necklaces.

In the afternoon I headed back to the Women’s Skills Centre to check on “project wedding dress” and also have some clothes I’d brought from the UK altered.  It was so exciting to see the women working alongside each other on my dress with a lot of skill and patience.

In the evening I met my friend Steffi, a lovely German girl, who’s studying here and helping to run a children’s centre, and her friends Anna and Miles.  We caught up over dinner and drinks, it was somebody’s birthday in the bar we were sitting in so we were treated to quite an array of dancefloor antics, and lots of friends passed through.  The night didn’t last too long of course as we had to move out by midnight, Cinderella style.

At De La Soul with Steffi and Miles

Design Ideas

Tuesday 19th March 2013

I met Rupak first thing at the Women’s Skills Centre and he helped to sort out the designs for my dress and bridesmaids dresses. Tens of women study at the centre, learning everything from simple tailoring to sari making and hair and beauty. It was great to see the girls, I drank lots of tea chatting to the centre manager, Rosina, about design ideas. 

Trying on sari's to help finalise designs

After collecting the fabric I ordered yesterday and dropping it to Rupak I met Ishwor for a drink at a tiny courtyard café called Newar de Café. Had a lovely night out at Or2K where I was treated to wine and a dessert, two things that are not often on the menu for me over here. As the curfew reached we took refuge in the courtyard of my hotel with a hot toddy to stave off the chilly night air. 

Chocolate souffle, Nepali styleee

Wedding Party Dress!

Monday 18th March 2013

At Kancha’s request I joined him and Sujan for a morning coffee at Northfield café where he told me about his most recent ideas for fundraising.  A good friend of mine, Rupak, called to let me know he’d arrived back from an extended trip in Japan, and we headed for a fabulous lunch at a local Japanese restaurant.  Rupak is a designer and I had organised for him to make my dress for the wedding party.  There’s no time like the present, so after the food we headed straight to New Road – the commercial area of Kathmandu – to buy the fabric for my dress.  It was so much fun picking out the fabrics and testing all the textures.

Morning coffee with Kancha and Sujan

Picking out fabrics with Rupak

Catching up with Annie

Sunday 17th March 2013

My British friend Annie, who’s married to a Nepali and lives in Wales, arrived in Kathmandu today so we celebrated with a girls’ dinner at Nepali Chulo, a restaurant set in an old Rana Palace where my friend Rabindra is manager.  Annie was impressed with the traditional music and dancing, yummy food and the nepali “rakshi” (local alcohol) served elaborately from a tall thin jar.  As we still had energy we headed to meet Lisa, Tashi and the Danish girls to carry on our talks, and again the conversation endured well into the small hours.

Annie and I at Nepali Chulo

Annie with her dayglow GnT at Or2K

Tashi, Marie, Lisa, Gopal and I

A Tough Day

Saturday 16th March 2013

Met Ishwor for an hour or two to finalise the order in Freak Street (the area of Kathmandu where the hippies used to hang out in the seventies!) and dined in a little restaurant in an old building that has been there since the hippy era. Ishwor is very recently married and I was happy to be introduced to his wife in the Durbar Square, she practised her English on me! 

Ishwor's sister in the felt shop

Spent the afternoon at Tri Netra where I helped the kids with their homework as they have upcoming exams. Three of the blind students showed me how they do their homework in Braille. 

Bishwo and Maya with their Braille

Mostly, the kids were all more interested in my camera than studying and insisted on lining up for “one photo” (each).  Sujan acted as creative director showing everyone how to smile and angling the head of the blind children so they were perfectly aimed at the camera. We ended with some songs, I gave an enthusiastic rendition of John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and listened with joy to Kancha and the kids demonstrating their talents.

Tiny Rohar styled by Sujan

Next stop was Or2K to meet my friend Gopal. This nepali-israeli restaurant is perfectly designed for socialising with low tables very close together, and by the end of the evening our group had grown to include Gopal’s friend Tashi, two Danish girls (Marie and Amelie) and a German girl, Lisa. After hitting another bar we ended up squirreling ourselves away in a rooftop terrace. Today we found out that 137 Nepalese (including some of my friends) got arrested last night for being out in a bar after the new curfew time of midnight, and talk soon turned to politics…. Nepal lived under civil war for over ten years, officially ending in 2006.  It’s a very sensitive topic, Nepal’s political situation is very changeable to this day, and it is always interesting to discuss matters with the Nepalese themselves. I ended up in tears more than once during the conversation, it is so hard to think of this beautiful country and its amazing people being subjected to the horrors of the civil war.

A New Prime Minister brings a New Curfew

Friday 15th March 2013

Felt very poorly (stomach trouble L -  was the 3am dal bhat a mistake after all?!) so spent a lot of the day resting.  I did manage a meeting with my friend Ishwor from the felt shop, he brought me medicine and we had a simple dinner together at a local restaurant.  As my stomach still felt so delicate I drank black tea all night.  I must have looked quite a sight as I went to a psy-trance outdoor party at the popular Funky Buddha club for most of the evening, me in my fifties style dress drinking tea with all the hippies raving like mad.  It was really good fun :D I bumped into my old friend Michael and had a catch up, then headed over to a cocktail bar called Full Moon for some live music and more chats with friends.

Today a new prime minister came to power in Nepal, a decision which has not been wholly popular, and has therefore been accompanied by a blanket curfew across the city.  Everything has to close at midnight, and the police were out in force to make sure that the newly created law was stringently enforced.

Happy Hour

Thursday 14th March 2013

There’s no time like the present so I hit the shops and got started on my orders. At Sushil’s handmade paper shop the first thing I did was order the wedding favours for our upcoming party in Nottingham, so we spent a happy hour “designing” (read: cutting up bits of paper and playing with glue and scissors). Next stop was Govinda’s silver shop where I picked out some new pieces and made some new ring designs.

I popped over to see the kids at Tri Netra, then in the evening I met my dhai Kamal and his friends in an outdoor bar. Having moved on we ended up playing drinking games at the popular Tom and Jerry’s bar with a group of ex pats and nepalis before heading over to my favourite nightclub, Faces. I finished the evening by eating a dal bhat at 3am, surely the sign of a good night.

The Journey Begins...Nepal 2013!

Wednesday 13th March 2013

My journey to Nepal went pretty smoothly. After being seen off by my friend Nirja over a glass of wine I took my Air India flight and slept for the whole journey, only to be prodded awake at mealtimes by the friendly Indian lady sitting next to me.  On the cuisine: you know it’s not a good sign when you can’t tell from looking which dish is the starter and which is dessert, even after eating them both I couldn’t be 100% sure! My lovely blind “dhai” (brother) Kancha was waiting for me at the airport with the cheery Sujan, one of the orphans at Tri Netra who often helps him when he needs a travel companion, to greet me.

After checking into my hotel we headed for food, I let Kancha choose and we went to the popular BK’s place which is well known for it’s “finger chips” (or as we call them, just, er, “chips”) and samosas, a surprisingly happy pairing.

A little later I popped for a cuppa with some friends in their bike shop, but much as I would have loved to trailblaze through Thamel (the tourist area) I just managed another quick cuppa with my friend Ishwor at his felt shop before succumbing to exhaustion from my travels and heading back to the hotel for…zzzzzzz.