Blogs from Nagarkot, Nepal, Asia - page 2

A twenty-one kilometer bus ride from Katmandu, Nagarkot is a sleepy village, famous for its views of Sagarmatha- the highest peak in the world. Padraic and ChinaMark arrived in the early evening and lugged their backpacks away from the village center to a specific guesthouse on the very edge of the settlement, recommended by a friend. Carrying all his material belongings in the continent of Asia, Padraic noticed a particularly dark-skinned middle-aged dreadlocked sadhu - a man with no permanent home, often naked in public, constantly stoned, and who likes to talk about God: a “bum” in the primitive West. In the more civilized nations of the Subcontinent, he is a holy man. ChinaMark and Padraic checked into their room and then joined a Nepalese-French couple for chai and spliffs. While smoking his low-quality scored-in-Kathmandu grass, ... read more

Chris and I rode through the backstreets behind Thamel, weaving in and out of wall to wall pedestrian traffic, searching for the main road. After making it out to the first intersection we were free. Chris rode up beside me and I gave him the thumbs up signal as we both smiled at one another, this was so much fun! We rode back home and picked up Celeste, as she would ride pillion on Chris’ bike whilst I took the lead. After refuelling, we rode out to the ring road and began our ride. It was quite muggy and the dust and pollution in the air from the many trucks, bikes and cars on the road did nothing to add to the comfort factor. I signalled to Chris to follow me left down a side road ... read more

Day 3 - 23rd September 2008 The day started with us visiting a Hindu Temple outside of Kathmandu, and this is the other main religion of Nepal. At the Pashupatinath temple, we could see into its courtyard where there is a golden bull, but as non-Hindus, were not allowed in. There was also a festival taking place where a "Holy Man" was blessing his followers, and there were tents set up for followers and worshipers to come and visit. On a very morbid note, on the banks of the Bagmati river, cremations were taking place. There were a couple of funeral pyres burning, and a couple being cleared for the next ones. All they did was push all the ashes into the water, which further down people are washing in. There was even a body waiting ... read more

Hello everyone! Finally I have had the chance to get onto the internet again. I thought I would just let you know what I got up to over the weekend... This weekend, I went to Nagarkot with a few other volunteers. Nagarkot is basically a region out of the city where you get amazing views of the Himalayas- there is also fresh air, which is something I have been missing for a while! It was such an adventure! We planned to travel from Kathmandu and intended to stop over in Bhaktapur, where we would be able to catch a tourist bus to Nagarkot. But when you make plans in Nepal, they rarely work! We got to the bus station in Kathmandu to find only one bus left going to Bhaktapur, and it was stuffed with people- ... read more

My last day in Kala Masi, Yalamber returned with a check for the money we had raised at Casino Night as well as money raised by Crooked Trails ($4600 in total, with donations still being received). We went to the school for a small ceremony so I could give the check to the committee chairman and all the kids could give me flowers and sing songs. Just as an FYI to all you donators, KEEP (the Nepal NGO Crooked Trails works with) draws up an agreement with the school committee, requiring them to submit a budget and timeline for the project to be approved before giving the funds to the committee. They plan to start building the school after the rains stop (Oct- Nov) and plan on adding a 6 room school house. They asked me ... read more