Blogs from Kathmandu, Nepal, Asia - page 142

well well well... we went to the bungy jump and we lived to tell the tale - it is the second highest jump in the WORLD!!!! so jason went off head first dive style with straps only on his feet (still dont know how ppl can do that?!) and then rachel - who hates roller coasters mind you, nevermind heights did the swing - which falls for longer, has a harness around your chest and legs, and lets you go feet first.... it took her about a half an hour (not really, but maybe...) to jump, but everyone was impressed i guess bc usually when ppl wait that long and get themselves all worked up they dont go - BUT i freaking did it so there!!!! i had the option to jump again head first style ... read more

Tuesday passed by with a couple hours at Cyber, then we had some visitors sent to Mukti from the US Embassy, which is located just around the corner. There was an older man, originally from Hawaii, who is now travelling around Asia & who reminded me of Father Christmas. He entertained the kids with a bit of dance & song with his harmonica & we chatted briefly about his love of children & how he would like to open his own orphanage one day. Our other guest was a Swiss lady who had just adopted a Nepali baby. I am not sure how this trio came to be, or why they were visiting us, but they arrived & departed together after something to eat & a bit of a chat. The new washing machine that Isabelle ... read more

Darjeeling was nice but rainy and the supposedly amazing views Mount Everest and some other incredibly large mountain were covered by clouds. Anyway we watched our first Hindi Film called 'Corprate', got the jist of it but it was in hindi. Next stop Nepal!!! Arrived at the border hoping to change money, there were three banks but no one accepted dollars, sterling or even my Sterling and US dollar travellors cheques for some reason, they said come back tommorrow, what difference does that make I said, they gave me the same answer. Well the bus ride was 1000 rupees each and we only had 265 rupees and it was about to leave in 15 minutes. With a bit of hard negotiation work and a lot of running around I managed to pay one tour opporater with ... read more

Tuesday was fairly uneventful, except I was so determined to get out for a while that I walked to Cyber in the pouring rain, failing to notice the power was out, so I had wasted my time! We did have some visitors in the afternoon & the children put on a display of traditional Nepali dancing to entertain them. Pranod is a Nepali Anthropologist who speaks English & fluent French as he lived in Paris for many years. Alexandra works for an Italian adoption agency & has been sent to Kathmandu to open a new office. She will be here for quite some time, visiting orphanages & making contacts to facilitate speedy adoptions of Nepali children by Italian parents. She also speaks a multitude of languages including Italian, English, Chinese, Russian & I think some French ... read more

We are in Katmandu, our first vacation spot on our trip. It is 180 degrees different then Tibet. Not only the scenery that changed from our decent from the dry mountains of the Tibetan platue to the green, river filled hills for Katmandu valley. If China was a very regulated place then immediately after crossing the boarder you feel the chaos of the Far East. The smells of insent (KTORET) and curry. The language is suddenly familiar (English). Even the driving is done on the other side of the road so not to confuse this place with china. We also have for the first time in over a month a shower in the room at a real hotel (with a lobby and everything) and all we could do is sing the Holy-Holiday song :) In the ... read more