19th April 2015
Hello everyone, it's Lydia here writing from Nepal! It is our eighth day today and we're having a great time so here is a post of what we've been up to!
After a long journey from Manchester we got picked up from the airport and taken to our hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu by the lovely Rabrindra! We got settled into our rooms then got ready to go out for dinner, we went to a lovely Italian restaurant and then headed to a bar afterwards where there was a live rock performance. We headed back to the hotel shortly after as we were still very tired from our flights so were definitely ready for bed!
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| Ele and Robby with Rabrinda |
The day after we headed to the Monkey Temple, it was a really beautiful, sunny day so we wanted to make the most of being outdoors! There was lots of really cool things to see in the Monkey Temple, including little shops, wishing fountains, temples and monkeys! Not to forget the gorgeous view of Nepal from the top of the Temple, it was a really peaceful place and we got to watch the sunset from the top. Afterwards we went out for dinner and drinks, feeling a little more energetic than the previous day.
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| The Monkey Temple |
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| Beautiful view from the top |
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| Monkey watching the sunset :) |
On Friday it was Robby's birthday, so we had a day of celebration! We started the day by meeting Kancha and friends with some of the blind children from 'Tri Netra' that we sponsor at Elefair. We ate dal bhat and a delicious birthday cake and sang happy birthday to Robby! Afterwards, we headed to 'The Garden of Dreams' where we got to chill out and enjoy some beautiful scenery. We walked around the gardens, discovering mini waterfalls, little animals and little plants before we relaxed on the grass, enjoying every moment of relaxation before returning to the bustling streets of Kathmandu. Unfortunately the weather wasn't in our favour and we headed home before it started to rain.
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| Robby's birthday meal |
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| Robby covered in cake! |
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| Ele and Robby in the Garden of Dreams |
Later on in the evening, we headed to a restaurant called 'Killroys', we ate lovely food and Robby even got a free birthday dessert, a delicious lemon tart :) From Killroys we headed to the Reggae bar where we saw a live performance from 'Cobweb', which was really good and then we headed to a club and danced, it was busy as it was Friday night but it was fun and we had a really good night!
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| Robby with his birthday lemon tart |
The following day we went to Basantapur (Durbur Square) to visit Ele's friend Ishwar! It was cool seeing a different place in Nepal and we ate samosas and sweets whilst catching up. We stayed at Ishwar's house for a while and then headed back to our hotel for a chilled night.
On our fourth day and we started off by having something to eat in an outdoor terraced restaurant, the weather was beautiful again so we enjoyed eating outdoors with the sun shining down :D Afterwards me and Ele headed to a little cafe to do some work! From there we met Robby and went to Bouddhanath, the biggest Buddhist stupor in the Northern Hemisphere! We met with our friend Dipak who showed us around and shared his knowledge and stories of Bouddhanath. It was a really nice experience and we enjoyed the chilled vibe that the place seemed to have. Despite it being about 9pm, it was still quite busy and we saw many people meditating and praying, whilst we walked around.
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| Bouddhanath! |
The next day we started off by meeting with one of our silversmith's Sitaram and talked about new products we wanted to buy for our shop! We also got to see some new designs that Sitaram has been working on which we absolutely loved and will hopefully be stocking soon. After this we got the chance to have a sunbathe by a nearby pool! The water was absolutely freezing and only Robby dared go in, but it was entertaining enough watching him float around in a little rubber ring haha.
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| Elefair meeting with Sitaram |
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| Robby in the pool |
Later on, we met with our paper supplier, Sushil. I got to see his shop for the first time and gained inspiration about what paper products I want to design for my range, whilst Ele discussed an order of new paper products that will be in stock in our shop soon! From Sushil's shop we went out for dinner at a lovely Thai restaurant, where the food was 'expensive' for Nepal but very worth it!
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| Some of the paper lamps that I liked in Sushil's shop |
Yesterday me and Robby went on a walk around the shops in Kathmandu whilst Ele saw one of her friends. We went round taking photos and looking at different products as inspiration for new products for the shop! We saw lots of pretty things that may be featured in our store soon and there were so many nice things I wanted to buy :) later we went for dinner and drinks, where we saw a few more live performances!
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| A mixture of products that I liked when looking around yesterday! |
As of today, I have been working all day on my range, which is coming along nicely :) Ele and Robby have gone for another meeting with Sushil and we will meet up later again for dinner!
That's all for now! Keep your eyes peeled for regular updates on our actions in Nepal! We're looking forward to the 3 weeks and we should have some exciting news ahead :D x
