Haridwar to Kathmandu

---

Last day in Haridwar.

Andrea and Pradeep had been so good to me and we had had such fun together in Shimla etc, that I wanted to get them a little farewell gift. Now they only have one comfortable chair in their place, the others are just plastic stacking chairs (great in the heat!) so I decided to buy them another chair. The one they have is a big wicker one a bit like the old Papa San chairs and I had seen them for sale on the side of the road just before Haridwar. So Monika and I set of the buy one. I thought about AU$20 would be ok. When we got there, the guy selling them had very little English but managed to tell us 800rp. I thought that was ok, then he asked if I wanted one. Yes, I said. It seems they usually sell them in pairs, it was only 400rp, which is about $11.50. Incredible! He then got us a vikram (auto rickshaw) to take it back to the ashram. I actually sat in it, much more comfy than the vikram seats. Andrea and Pradeep were really surprised to see us walking across the school playing field (dust bowl) toward the clinic where they live, carrying a large wicker chair between us. Now they both have a comfy chair to sit on and watch cable T.V.
Farewell Haridwar.

By Friday night my train ticket to Delhi was still waitlisted at number 12 and I was getting anxious. Pradeep sent a friend in the travel industry down to the station (with a bribe) to see if he could get me a seat. Nothing doing, the train was packed. As I had to catch a connecting flight I really had to get into Delhi by mid morning the next day and the only way was by taxi leaving at 5.a.m. Pradeep arranged that and that’s what happened. It cost me nearly 10 times the train ticket and nealy 6 hours in a taxi is not fun, but we made it. 1hr.20.mins late due to crazy Delhi traffic, but I did manage to get on the flight and here I am in Nepal.

Nepal at last!

I have always wanted to come to Nepal and now I am here. Emma, the girl who started Sunrise after she volunteered at an orphanage about 5 years ago and was shocked by what she saw, met me at the airport with her friend Rob. It was so good to hear Aussie accents again! She drove like a maniac, her words, through Kathmandu to get to a dance performance by some of the children from Sunrise. We made it. It was hot and chaotic and wonderful and a great introduction to Nepal. Then to the orphanage.

It is actually split up into 2 houses. They had to leave the last house as the owner wanted to do it up and live in part of it and they couldn’t find a house big enough for all 80 kids. So now the girls and the smaller boys are in one and the older boys are in another, just across the road so no real problem. They are all wonderful. So friendly, inquisitive, bright and polite. Not a bit spoilt but obviously very loved. There are a few with disabilities like polio, profound deafness, spinabifida and a poor boy with no legs below the knees and a few months ago he had T.B. All clear now so can mix with the other children again. Not fair is it?!? I felt so welcome the moment I walked in. Their main question is, “How old are you?” I don’t know why this is so important to them, but I just tell it like it is. They also think my skin and eyes are wonderful. Oh, they are pretty interested in my wrinkly hands and my fillings too! Great. So both good and bad bits get scrutinised.

Emma is an amazing young woman. If anyone ever deserved your full support, it’s her. Yes, I will be hounding you again - BIG TIME. Apart from getting this place up and running, she has also managed to get 90 kids from the slums into school. She said she is not sure how she is going to pay for it, but is going to worry about that later. I am sure she will do it, as she has also got every child at the orphanage sponsored and they all go to a good school and are doing well. About 30 of the children were at the orphanage where Emma volunteered and when it was closed down due to all kinds of terrible things, they all came to her. It really is a wonderful story.

The main problem for Emma now is raising enough money to buy land a little further out of Kathmandu and then build a purpose built house for all of them. It’s quite difficult here as even the children who have trouble walking have to use stairs, something that is very scary to watch!

(While I am typing this, I am sitting on my bed in a little room right at the top of the house, looking out across a small valley with fields, cows, goats and chickens. There are small dirt roads crisscrossing across the hills with little houses nestling in amongst the trees and a couple of black eagles are circling in the thermals above and it is so peaceful. Wow, this place is very special. Just thought you needed to get a bit of an image in your heads. There must be something different about the air here, it just starts to seep into your very being and make you calm. Well it’s doing that to me anyway!)

The crazy thing is though, I am not going to stay here. I have been roughing it - not too badly, for nearly four months now and I am in need of just a little more comfort. I want a bed with a proper mattress, a fully operational bathroom with hot and cold running water. I would like a fridge and maybe even cable T.V. I would like to be able to walk outside and stroll along the street, pop in to a cafe for a coffee. I would also like a hotel with a pool, as a swim would be pure luxury, but alas for 2 or 3 weeks, I cannot afford that. So I am leaving the orphanage today for a room in town but shall be working for the orphanage whenever I can. I want to visit the school where the kids go and maybe I can be of help there. And I also want to visit the slum area and see the kids that she has got into school. So get ready for some challenging photos.

---

Photos

A wonderful parcel from Lauren.
I had searched Haridwar high and low for hair colour and they call dark brown, blonde! thank you Lauren, and for the little extras.