"You seem to be living vicariously thru your on-line self..." she says (in an email).

And frankly, I'm jealous.

spending more than i make...

i think i can count on one finger the number of times in my life i've actually felt cool. like the time i went to graduation in a tux with teal polka dots, well... actually... that wasn't as cool as i thought i would be. but this picture is actually a lifetime highlight. i felt pretty cool when that was taken.

it's snowing in vancouver. it's actually the first time i've been snowed on in about three years. that's a long time for a canadian. i remember in the maldives two things people were alwasy fascinated about in photos was a) dogs (Muslim country, no dogs or pigs please), and b) snow.

This is also the first time i've stepped into a new/used (or any other kind) music store in two years. i walk into Zulu Records on Fourth, brush the wet snow from my stinky nepali yak-wool jacket and suddenly it occurs to me just why i spent the last two years volunteering overseas:

so i could learn as much as i could about British and Irish pop and new acoustic folk.

that, and thanks to my recent discovery of CBC3 podcasts, and suddenly i *know* the names of the indie and import bands arrayed in CD cases before me. no longer do only The Thompson Twins and Prince leap out at me like old friends (ah Prince, I never abandoned you. i still think 0+^)>&* is your best album), but now I see that Elbow has put out a new album.

Charged, I race and see that Turin Brakes has more CDs than just Ether Song. The Hippos, Doves, Artic Monkeys and Eels now mean more to me than just mammal, bird, exotic mammal, reptile. different sections don't deter! i'm racing through the isles, there's Four Tet and Goldfrapp in Electronica! The Roots, N.O.H.A. in Hip Hop! I'm not even sure if Modest Mouse or The Flaming Lips are indie or mainstream anymore but I don't care because *I* know who they are! I may not be Kloot, but I'm somebody now!

The Walls, Razorlight, Caesar's Palace, Radio 4, The Decemberists, The Go! Team. I don't even how they ended up in my iTunes, they're just there. More importantly, I've listened to them!

I go to the counter with The Stills and Metric. Cautious choices, I know, but I want to sustain this high.
I see that Ozomatli is playing tonight at the Commodore and wish I was going (and I see my good friend Allie Crowe is coming back to play on Dec 9th!). I ask if they have any God Made Me Funky.

"Who?" the guy asks.
nonplussed, I say, "I think they're a Hip-Hop... band? ... out of Toronto? they're really good."
"Never heard of them," the guy shakes his head.

I walk away, disheartened, until I realize that I... did... did *I* just out-band the music guy behind the counter??

where did this awesome power come from??? who is this archtype of cool that's replaced me? how did i graduate to this new level of dorkdom??

a little bit of kathmandu for ya...

so there's been a major storm in Vancouver for the last few days. The power's gone out a few times, traffic's been insane (highways closed), now there's a boil water advisory and i'm thinking to myself, i left kathmandu because...?

not a single starbucks in the lower mainland is serving coffee, as far as i know. i think that goes for all the major coffee chains.

i gotta say, though, in kathmandu there would be riots in the streets, police would be gunning down protestors, there'd be commercial and traffic strikes, a frikkin daytime shoot on sight curfew would be in place but you could still toddle down into Thamel and get yourself a cup of coffee.

the NINJA has landed

just like that, i'm back on the west coast. definitely the strangest thing that i'm getting used to is the traffic: instead of an equal mix of bicycles, motorcycles and cars, pretty much everyone here drives a car. And everyone here manages to form these neat, orderly traffic columns by staying within painted lines. Amazing! Astonishing! That and I haven't yet seen a wandering cow, calmly chewing its cud, in the middle of roaring traffic.
So, although the chances of being called out with a shotgun or hearing a bomb go off are now significantly lower, i still seem to be faced with various life problems: for starters, i have to find a job of course. the docs at UBC have been good enough to give me some work, which is great and will keep me busy presumably until find something more permanent.

On top of that, my 40 GB harddrive- which i so fondly referred to as "my life"- crashed. The casing has a sticker of wolverine on it, which i'm beginning to regret since it now sounds like that f**king mutant is dragging his claws across my disc. photos, music, stories, all the work i've done for the docs- it all flashed before my eyes. actually if it had done that i would've been able to save it somewhere, instead it just *blip* *crunch* disappeared.

but after a long, anxious morning, i did manage to recover most of the data. happily enough. and i have to say, the internet here is *fantastic*. it's so fast, i'm done checking my emails before i've even started the day! it's so fast i can faff around and find links and upload photos for my blog posts.

now i just have to get used to vancouver weather again...

the patient seoul

right!

so i am presently halfway through my trip home. or, if you want to look at it another way, the completion of my trip around the world, which started last year and had a bit of a layover in Nepal. so far i've been travelling for roughly 22 hours, and i still haven't made the big jump over the Pacific. mostly it's been long layovers first in Bangkok and now a ten hour wait here in Seoul.
interestingly enough, Burgle is actually flying back in the opposite direction. we'll be landing in Vancouver about half and hour apart. Nepal really is on the other side of the world if you live on the West Coast, She's flying Kathmandu-Muscat-London-Vancouver, and I'm going Kathmandu-Bangkok-Seoul-Vancouver... i guess right about now Burgs is doing some word puzzle during her Muscat layover.

according to my schedule, i should actually be arriving in the Nanaimo airport in, hmm, one hour. the international date line is a mysterious, magical thing.

anyway, that's about it. for a while in bangkok it looked like my luggage was going on vacation without me, but a team of staff finally tracked them down and apparently they've been corralled into following me on to vancouver. or at least i have the stickers to show that's what they're doing.

oh yeah, and you know what sucks? that my birthday is going to be forever known as the day before tom and katie's wedding day. what this means is that in the future, when the Scientologists have taken control, my bday will be known at Tomkat Knot Eve. it will be a happy day, when wide-eyed recruits will gush happy, memorized platitudes about the alien saviour's parents. could be worse.

... and back again

Ok so, I haven't put up a post in a while since things have been fairly hectic down here for the last month and a bit. Me sister came down last month (not long after Owen left) and it's been great.

So Burgs and I went off and did the Annapurna Circuit, which is another good reason for why I've been incommunicado: for about three weeks I had a grand total of twenty minutes of internet access + television + video game time. It was tough, I'll admit. For a while I was pale and shaky but I came through the other side a changed man.

The circuit was absolutely breathtaking. Pisang and Manang were like cities out of Lord of The Rings, y'know, the capitol of the riders of Rohan: windswept, low rooftopped houses, flags fluttering everywhere, all perched on the side of a mountain.

Being able to stammer my way through Nepali, I got us into a few adventures: one day we walked with these sweet little girls, one of them carrying a massive basket of mushrooms using a nylon strap across her head. They rolled up some of the abundant marijuanna growing along the trail and tried to sell us 'charras' (hash). Very sweet.

At Pisang I got in trouble from some of the locals for taking their pictures as they were working in the fields. I apoligized to them and ended up earning forgiveness by joining them in beating the chaff from the wheat.

Anyway, after the slog through Thorung La (5416 meters!) we met up with Ciara and Claire in Jomson. So many incredible cities- Kagbeni, one of the outpost cities for the ancient salt trade out of Tibet. Muktinath with its shrine and eternal flame. Tatopani with its fantastic hot springs for sore bones after two weeks of trekking.

Definitely the highlight was getting invited to the evening puja with some Buddhist nuns in Muktinath. Burgs and I had to sit crosslegged for an hour and a half as they read from their prayer books and played their instruments (big drums, enormous horns, conch shells, etc). It was really an amazing thing to sit in on. For the first half the entire scene was hypnotic, trance inducing. By the second half, however, all I could think was 'it's be really nice to stretch my legs about now'.

Anyway, back in dirty, noisy ol' Kathmandu now. In about a week I'm off for the west coast once again! yikes!

The Mishap Misnomer

I figured Saturday morning would be a wonderful time to go out and get some exercise, hop on the bike and ride around the Kathmandu/Pattan ring road. In fact it was, but unfortunately half of Kathmandu also thought it would be a good time to go out participate in their favorite pastime: burning tires and staging protests.

All through the March Protests (The Julus Andolan) I was very good: I stayed away from trouble (except a few times), and any time I saw smoke I veered away. Today however, I was determined to make it all the way around the ring road no matter what. So I found myself wheeling through not one, but seven protests in total. All in different stages of protests: at some they were just wheeling out the tires to set them alight, at others they had good, thick pillars of smoke and were chanting. Still at others they had build barricades with busses and were already beginning to confront the Riot Police.

Of course, it wasn't the protesters that got me in the end. It was the number one security concern of all VSO vols: traffic. I was flying down a hill, quite happy, listening to my iPod when the taxi in front of me happened to spot a fare on the side of the road. So of couse he stopped. Right in the middle of the road.

I never had a chance.

Notice anything funny about my bike in the photo? I went face first into the arse of the taxi and did a cartoon-like "smooshed up against the window" bit. The taxi driver got out, checked his bumper for damage and then got his fare into the car and drove away.

What can you do? Fortunately, the rest of the crowd that had gathered was helpful enough. A very nice man led me down an alleyway, then into an alley off the alleyway and I found myself at a cycle shop. I instantly made friends with everyone there, so much that one of them insisted on holding my hand while the cycle guy bent my bike back into shape (if you've ever been outside the West, you know this is actually pretty common). Then one of the other bike boys hopped on my bike, tested the bars, and disappeared.

While I stood around wondering what the f**k had just happened to my bike I met various people's sisters and wives. The VSO Country Director, called me up on Ciara's cell to tell me there were protests going on around the British Embassy and that we should stay put. I thanked her very much and told her I would pass the message along.

Finally the boy came back with my bike and a massive blob of welded metal on the part where the bar had bent over. Fantastic! The whole thing cost 125 rupees, about two dollars CAD.

I kept thinking I should've taken a photo or something of the cabbie, but at the time I was too busy checking to make sure all my bits and bobs were still attached and functional. In all fairness I should be thankful he didn't back over me. You laugh? Well, it would be comic if it wasn't so tragic but that's what these protestors are protesting about.

Here's the actual story in the Himalayan Times (and for some reason they insist on using the term 'mishap' whenever they run a story of people dying on the roads):
Traffic disrupted over mishap death

Locals today disrupted vehicular movement on the Bhaktapur-Kathmandu road section this morning to protest against the killing of a pedestrian by a Kathmandu-bound mini-bus at Jadibuti.

Irate locals torched the mini-bus, nadalised seven mini-buses and halted traffic.

Police said the minibus(Ba 1 Kha 3624) hit pedestrian Rajaram Dahal, 27, of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-35, at 6:35 am. Dahal was lightly injured when the mini-bus first hit him but the driver of the bus "reversed the bus and crushed him to death on the spot," one Rajan Pandit, of Jadibuti, said. Police arrested mini-bus driver Jay Prajapati, 23, of Madhyapur Thimi municipality from the spot.

This is the second time in a week that a bus driver has hit someone, then reversed to finish the job. Why? Because if you injure someone, you have to pay their medical bills for the rest of your life. If you kill them, then you only go to jail for a few years. Life is cheap. And in Nepal, the rule of law is a joke.


(just a little ammendment: some protests were about the minibus killing, but the majority were over the recent taxes on petrol prices)

Crikey!

So what do VSO vols do in their spare time? Seems like, if you're one of the townies, you spend a lot of time eating and socializing. Even a metropolitan centre like Kathmandu doesn't have too much to offer in terms of other leisure alternatives, but we try to mix it up occasionally.

A few weekends back Peter and Rosemary hosted a Murder Mystery, which was a great laugh. I had to go as Peking Tom, your stereotypical outback Aussie. Strange thing is that I didn't have to change my daily wardrobe all that much to pull off a very convincing Aussie look. The accent was painful, though.


Other activites include the rare trip to the Kereoke bar in Thamel. I haven't been but I'm not shy of the microphone, as anyone from the Canada Corps training may recall. If not, then this may jog your memory:

"you know where you are?
you're in the jungle baby!
you're gonna dieeeee!

ohhh
ohhh
oohhh-ahhhhhhhhh!!!!"

and of course, VSO being what it is, there's at least one going away party a month. I suppose my own is coming up soon.

Still, dining out is the activity of choice. There's plenty of places to check out around town, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Italian, cheap, expensive.

Last night, Ciara and I went out to one of the more posh places in town, an amazing hotel called Dwarikas. We happened to be sitting in the courtyard when none other than the American Ambassador, Mr. Moriarty (not Professor), walked in and proceded to do a meet and greet with some delegation right in front of us.

Turns out there's a Senator Specter in town and I guess Dwarikas is a good enough place to host members of the American Senate. So there you go. And you thought VSOs spent their time sleeping on grass mats, catching malaria and slowly going nuts. (that's not VSO silly, that's Peace Corps!)

back from the Himalyas

48 emails later (down to a modest 39 once the spam emails were filtered out)...

holy cow, i'm out of touch for ten days and i come back to a war in the middle east and a tsunami in Indonesia.

Langtang was absolutely amazing. We basically climbed three kilometers into the sky in three days, puttered about and then raced down. We played with Yaks, got altitude sickness (headaches mostly), pet baby goats, saw glaciers and peaks higher than anyplace in Canada. Also got ridiculous discounts because it was the off-season and we could speak Nepali. And while Ciara learned how to make Tibetan bread, Owen and I climbed to about 5000 meters, went screefing (controlled falling), climbed a peak and then ran down a mountainside like lunatics.

One day of note, on the way down we took the 'scenic' route to this one town we were trying to get to. Apparently this route isn't even used by the Tibetans/Tamang/Nepalis that live up there. That would explains why there were so many leeches on the path.

Ciara got one first, and being the concerned bfriend that i am, I immediately pulled out the camera to video the effects of pouring the alchoholic handwash on it (which works brilliantly on ticks and leeches, i might add. a must for any outdoor trekking from now on). once we had hers off, Owen noticed one in his boot, and then i noticed another in mine. We were now officially in leech territory.

we DEETed up, tucked in our socks, put on trousers but still had to stop ever five minutes to knock/scrape them off our boots. you could see them creeping over leaves and through the undergrowth towards us. we found them on our ankles, arms, legs, in our boots, sucking from our necks and backs. one almost dropped down my buttcrack when Ciara was getting it off of me. that would've been great.

happily enough this only happened on the second-to-last day. and those bloody little marks will heal in time (leeches use an anti-coagulant so their bites bleed a lot: the ankle of one of Owen's socks was soaked in blood). and in exchange, we get a great story out of it! right? (and perhaps some time in counselling for the nightmares and the insistent feeling that I can feel a leech crawling up my leg, right now)

anyway, leeches aside, i've posted some photos here.

ps - i changed Ciara's picture because her mom thought she looked a 'little under the weather'. considering she'd spend the week with two gung-ho canadians who insisted on carrying their own packs, running up and down mountains, getting up at 5:30 because it was so beautiful outside, braving leeches, washouts and altitude sickness, i think 'a little under the weather' is an understatement...

off trekking

Owen Lee, a friend of mine from the Maldives, has just tripped into town from India. He's been puttering around since his work with Mercycorps in Darfur came to an end.

Anyway he, Ciara and I are going off to Langtang for a little trek. It's gonna be great. We leave tomorrow and it's been a mad race to finish up what projects I have, get the gear we need and everything else. Of course it's monsoon season, there's leeches, etc but I'm finally hitting the Himalayas after nine months of being in Nepal. Yeow!

things i learned from the world cup

- Football (Soccer) is willing to sacrifice accurate officiating for the sake of uninterrupted play.

This stands out in stark contrast to, say, hockey, where the NHL is willing to spend more time analyzing video replays and have officiating powows than actually play the game. Or Ultimate, which is willing to sacrifice playing time in order for everyone and their pet to air their views about possible fouls, the time of day, etc and in the end allow the most persuasive and stubborn person to have their way.

-there is a magical spray all football teams have, that, when applied, will miraculously heal any team member's wounds: no matter how superficial or imaginary. Even if they've been rolling on the ground for five minutes, clutching at their eyes and screaming for a priest to perform the final rites because some horrible brute of a defender happened to wave a hand within feet, possibly inches of their face, all it takes is this spray and they will bounce off the stretcher (blinded people need stretchers, too) and be back in the game able to compete at an international level.

This spray doesn't exist for hockey players because they actually get injured.

Neither does it exist for ultimate players, because it doesn't make sense to dive in a game with no referees.

-Of all the finalists, the Croatian Team had the ugliest jerseys imaginable

-England's team isn't as good as they think it is

-Nepali people are very passionate about other nations' football teams. so much so I actually saw tears on a nepali's face last night when italy won. tears.

Summer, wha?

I've had a few emails in the last few days from back on the Wet Coast about how beautiful things are and wishing me a happy summer.What?

It's a little hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that summer has only just arrived back home, as it's been searing hot here for months. Before I even went to Thailand things were hot. And Nepal doesn't actually have four seasons, it has five (more possibly, depending on who you talk to). My poor confused Canadian biorhythms have unconsciously been anticipating fall and winter (oh glorious cold) for many weeks now. However, the hot season is only just sizzling to an end and now the long awaited monsoons are beginning.

That means hot and humid. The monsoons may be late, but they're definitely here. Yesterday, as I was leaving my flat in Pattan it was just beginning to spit a little. Hmm, I thought, I'll put on my biking poncho just in case the rain gets any heavier. As I crossed the Baghamati Bridge the full downpour hit.

The ponchos don't work.

It's a twenty minute ride up to Lazimpat. By the time I reached about halfway, around Putalisadak, I was soaked to the bone. All layers underneath the completely superfluous poncho layer were drenched, my trousers were about ten pounds heavier, my iPod was freaking out, going loud then soft, skipping songs.

I mentioned before that the route up from Pattan is uphill. Yesterday it was upstream. I was biking up a frikking muddy river, with every turn of the crank my feet (with my kickass Xmen shoes!!!) were plunged underwater. By this point cars had stopped because they couldn't see anything- so that was one positive: the ubiquitous, ugly traffic got washed away along with everything else.

I kept going because I was already drenched. It was a little scary because I couldn't see the actual road: I had one hand up to shield my eyes and the other gripping for dear life in case I blindly hit one of those small impact craters euphemistically called 'potholes'. Not only that there are actual, huge gaps along the sides of the road: for sewage, presuambly. I've hit one before, once is enough, because those gaps are actually big enough to swallow a bike's front tire.

Anyway, I made it to Lazimpat drenched to the bone but got a warm shower out of it. And the iPod survived. So have a great summer everyone back home! Enjoy your tepid seasons.

VSO Forum - poverty

Ok so, it's been a while since I've submitted a module for the VSO Forum, but I had a few distractions here and there:

I have to admit, writing an article about poverty in Nepal is something I found a little daunting, but not for the reasons you may think. Poverty and hardship is everywhere here: families sleep in corrugated metal shacks on the side of the road, kids beg in the streets.

But deeper than the obvious indicators like a dilapidated infrastructure or widespread corruption are facets of Nepali culture that show just how ingrained poverty has become among these people. And as a Canadian, it doesn’t take more than a few months here to realize that what our culture takes for granted is a luxury here.

It’s a little joke among volunteers that if you want to invite a Nepali over for an evening, you don’t invite them for dinner. Otherwise your friend will arrive, eat, and then leave. In a country where so many people live hand to mouth a meal doesn’t really have a social function. It’s just a bodily transaction like breathing or sweating. And the culinary arts are a long way from reaching the majority; most Nepalis will spend their lives eating dhal bhat (lentils and rice) two times a day and very little else.

Or consider the bicycle. What would be seen as a pastime or a questionable commute at home is typically a Nepali’s only choice. Beyond transportation a bike can also be a families’ source of income, whether arranged with baskets to become a mobile market, or fixed with a cart for hauling goods, or as a rickshaw.

At home, Canadians have every reason to be proud of the socially responsible state our nation has built. Even though healthcare and privitization are hot topics, the rest of the support structure is something to be thankful for. Is a free Grade 12 education something we really take for granted? This may come as a bit of a shock, but in some parts of Nepal the education system allows for only five classes, after which they must be paid for. That’s classes, not years.

And our culture of assumed luxury extends even beyond the human sphere. Dogs in Kathmandu aren’t the typical family pets, raised in a loving household. Here they’re nocturnal pack animals, rooting through garbage and raising midnight cacophonies. They’re not treated unkindly- often people will put out scraps for the local mongrels- but as one Nepali put it, “we treat our dogs like dogs, not humans.”

But in spite of all this, and this is the reason I’ve been hesitant to write this article, the poverty in Nepal seems to be missing its common lexigraphical companion: misery. Those same dirty kids play games in the streets with pieces of wood and plastic. Old women cheerfully invite you to sit outside their shack and share a cup of tea with them. The same culture that has accepted living with so little has also incorporated a fatalism and stoicism that differs from what you would expect of people in their situation.

I felt that if I wrote that people here weren’t devastated by their plight, I would somehow be endorsing poverty. But this Nepali acceptance of fate has worked its way into the culture because there’s never been any other choice. And that’s what’s wrong: a lack of options. When it comes to the shape of a person’s life, everyone across the globe should be allowed to have more than just one choice. And I think this is something VSO has recognized. As part of their governance program, we are working hard to introduce options to the people that never had any.

another one down

so the surprise this week is that one of the Terrai (southern Nepal) vols has decided to pack it in early. I think the month-long curfew killed the motivation in a lot of us, and even though the King has stepped down it's tough to say if things have actually improved on the ground.

Jose is a surprise though, he's nowhere near my top five for next vol to call it in. Not even in my top ten.

I'm in my top five. So's Claire for that matter.

I'm having a hard time readjusting to life back in Kathmandu. I guess the love affair is finally over. However, there's tonnes of work for me right now. It's the opposite of what life was like in the Maldives- tropical beaches, trips to the resorts on the weekends, fishing trips at night, but in the end I didn't extend because there was no work for me. Here, because there is work to do, I'll stick it out.

since I've been here 19 volunteers have gone home. that's mostly just the revolving door volunteer lifestyle- most of the vols were just finishing their placements. there have been a few notables. One of them was another Canada Corps bloke who was really, really young. And he was from PEI. I don't think he ever really adjusted here, no one ever really saw him and he packed it in after three months or something. Plus he was based in Pokhara, where bombs were going off in the markets on a daily basis.

Then there was Hazel and Sandy. Ok so, they did have some pretty naive pre-Nepal assumptions, but they didn't have to feel like pariahs for returning (I'm sure they just felt relieved). Once the King backed down, Danny, the country director, sent out an email that made all of us feel like heroes for sticking things out. It seems a little unfair that Hazel and Sandy didn't get the thanks and respect that they should have gotten just because they went home during what was basically a revolution. Especially since the same country director told everyone they could go home with a special payment package.

anyway, as for who's at the top of my list now, that's a secret.

hockey night in nepal

It's time for some sports madness. The FIFA World Cup starts in less than two weeks, which is very important if you happen to live in the world. Unless you live in the US or Canada, of course.

If you're Canadian, even more important is the fact that there's A CANADIAN TEAM (the Edmonton Oilers) in the Stanley Cup Finals! The last time a Canadian team made it this far was 1994. And the last time a Canadian team actually won The Cup was the montreal canadiens in 1992.

All this excitement should help me ease back into life in nepal. After a month in thailand (ahh, wonderful thailand), all the things that i took as minor inconveniences have now, upon return, become Major Obstacles. simple things, really, like air conditioning, paved roads, the rule of law, running water (did i really think it was ok to hike down to a well every morning??), decent food, milk shakes, ultimate, disc golf, liberal culture, blah de blah moan moan.

at least i've got really cool shoes. and i know the x-men would wear them because they have special properties.

one night in bangkok

ance back in Kathmandu, for better or for worse. i think i might spend the weekend assimilating the events from my and Claire's last night out in Bangkok:

even the afternoon started out strange enough: we went to the Museum of Forensic Science followed by the Museum of Anatomy (if you don't like gruesome, skip the next three paragraphs.) I was equally fascinated and appalled by the things they have on display there. For instance the slowly mummifying remains of a serial killer, who apparently ate the livers of his victims. There was a pan under his feet because he was still, uh, drying up. Also saw formadahyde displays of brains with bullet wounds, various pictures of ways to die (grenade, severing of left wrist, bullet, etc), fetuses and a gruesome display of the tsunami disaster.

Further down, a the Museum of Anatomy I kept thinking that my brother and dad (both doctors) would love it. First though, Claire and I took a wrong turn and ended up in the morgue. Wonderful. In the museum itself were lots of full bodies stored in formadahyde, stripped to reveal muscle groups, the nervous system, the blood vessels, etc. There was also a series of cross-sections of a human body, starting from the scalp down to the pelvis.

This being Thailand (home of the original Siamese twins), there was a large display on conjoined twins including many, many fetuses in bottles. The model depictions were enough (really), thank you. There were also many famous thai generals in glass closets... at least their skeletons were.

ok so! then we went out for drinks. tried to get into a really posh bar first but failed because a bright yellow t-shirt, capri pants and my new totally wicked X-men shoe/sandals didn't pass the dress code.

found an irish pub that featured a thai kereoke duo. of course. had a guiness (on draught). as the smiley, bouncey kereoke girl and the joy of 80s synth wore off, we went down the street, took a right and found ourselves in the gay district. we watched a scantily-clad caberet dance and giggle, mostly thai numbers but it did include 'welcome to thailand, the land of fun'. there was an astonishing number of gorgeous thai thansexuals parading up and down the narrow street.

some tequila and many drinks later, we were at our third club on the strip. ran into a bloke who used to work for VSO fundraising and he was absolutely appalled that we had to find our own accomodations at VSON. I'm sure he would've stuck around to chat, but he had just taken half a viagra and, since he was going commando, he happened to be feeling a little twitchy.

this was a monday night, so i guess the bars were closing a little early. as we finished our drinks, wondering where to go next, all the cute boys wearing neon green shirts that announced their names in bold letters - NU, OLAY, EK, BOBBY- chimed in and cheerily wished us a good night.

then things started to get wierd. the next street over and we were suddenly in part of bangkok's infamous red light district. through every door your could see tables of thai women dancing around poles. a man approached us with a laminated list of sights to see and oh, i wish i had taken a picture or could remember even a fraction of what was on that list. we chose the ping pong show.

we were led to some seedy, blue-lit bar with men crouched behind tables, all watching the center pole-dancing table. we never did end up seeing the ping pong show, but let's just say i will never be able to hear a bike horn (the squeezable kind) without flashbacks. or light a sparkler for that matter. there were three people around our table, demanding money for fees and other made up stuff, so Claire led the charge and we left.

back on street that, for some reason, was littered with metal crates and forklifts darting around, through and between prostitutes and drunken tourists. i decided they were full of mail order brides. we sat down at the end of the street and a taxi driver came up with the usual wish-list. Claire decided to see just how much you could get. as she bartered i watched some bloke walk off with not one, not two, but three thai girls.

i was getting a little freaked out. claire had the man down to two girls for a week, plus a snake, plus a monkey for something like 20,000 bhaat (about $500 CDN). the man wasn't sure about the snake but he guaranteed the monkey. at this point i grabbed Claire's hand, pointed at the man and shouted out angrily "no monkey! bad! no monkey!"

we went into one of the pole-dancing places just as it was closing. i guess there was no dressing room, because suddenly the girls just got down off the table, started chatting, smoking and putting their clothes on. i was getting really wierded out. everywhere i looked girls were making eyes with me- even when they were deeply engaged in conversation with some john, they'd be raising eyebrows and nodding whenever they caught my eye.

spent the end of the night dancing in some other bar.

anyway, not many pictures from the night but here's one of me imitating the cabaret dancers. if your monitor is good, you can see metal crates and prostitutes behind me.

so... totally... awesome

it's the only disc golf course in South East Asia.

i spotted it entirely by accident while going through the map of Ko Samui. the course is high up in the hills: coconut trees, fire ants, lizards.

Apparently the German score took the guy six weeks of coming up and playing a round every day. The american is actually a player in the PDGA. he had the course dialed in after three days. i did all right! I got the canadian top score after only two days. i guess it's up to C. Lewis or Dane to trek down here and ruin my record, but I think I might be staying up on the board for a while yet...

photos

it's been a long time since i've posted anything up on webshots (mostly because the internet in nepal can't take the strain). but i've set up a new album here with pictures of thailand. sadly, all these photos are of temples and scenic things like that. the drunken fool photos are on everyone else's cameras.

ko samui

ahhh

Thailand is a wonderful place. Thai is a little harder to speak than Nepali, but I have no complaints. Flying into Bangkok with Claire & Ciara, I was the only one to go and check out various temples while they hit the hi-tech malls. I admit after the temples, though, I enjoyed the A/C, sushi bars, hi-speed internet (that's realyl hi-speed), had a starbucks banana mochachino, skytrain, real cinemas, etc. I basically gorged on all the things Kathmandu doesn't have. I'm sure I'll miss Kathmandu soon. I'm sure of it.

Right now, though, I'm on Ko Samui. The ocean for the first time in seven months! The ride down was a little grueling: 19 hrs or something of busses, waiting, busses, ferries, taxis, pickup trucks, etc. Now that I'm here it's wonderful. I was a little worried since I'm trying to print/fax/scan/send some contracts for a couple of pieces I wrote, but now that I'm here I can see there's no reason for panic.

I plan on walking down the beach into town to find out the schedule for scuba dives. That's my plan for the day, in fact.

wow

The maoists have lifted the blockade and declared a three-month ceasefire. It seems like the last uncertain/dangerous factor in Nepal is about to come around. What a difference a few days can make.

Here's some pictures from the crowds out in Kathmandu on Wednesday:

Parliament Returns

Ok so, what was supposed to be the Biggest Protest Day has become Victory Day. Caught a parade through Thamel this morning. Everyone is so happy, there's cheering, clapping. A lot of stress has been lifted: the curfew is over. The strike is over. There's no more 'uh, will I be back in Canada in a week??' uncertainty. And hopefully things will get back to normal as soon as possible.

Still going to Thailand on friday...

CIDA's out

On Sunday I got a phone call informing me that the Canadian International Development Agency has decided to 'withdraw all non essential Canadian staff and all dependants from Nepal'. Since my funding as Canada Corps comes from them, that meant I had to be out in a week.

However, I had the option of changing my status within VSO to a regular volunteer , which would change my funding to VSO International. I don't think it was really a tough choice: all of us volunteers now have the option of being able to leave at any time (with hardship pay). I just had my option voiced in a different way. So while the rest of the Canadians pack up, I'm staying here. Sorry mom!

CIDA leaving definitely drove things home for me, though. All of the other vols are very agressively in denial about the possibility we may be sent packing, but I think that reality has been brought a little closer for me.

It's so difficult doing anything without knowing what's going to happen to you even in a week. But you have to make some sort of plan. So, in the belief that things will blow over soon, we're ramping up our Thailand trip and it looks like I'll be leaving before the end of the week.

Here's some pictures I took from my deck on Saturday. I tried to get the helicopter but it was too small:

nobody's buyin it

so the King's declaration last night, in which he said the government would revert to the way it was before his Feb 1st takeover last year, seems to be too little, too late.

Not long after his speech there was an improvised 'solidarity blackout'. My Nepali friends asked me to turn out my lights, and then we went up onto the rooftop and they shouted at any buildings nearby with lights on. It was pretty amazing, after about fifteen minutes you could see the blackout spread across the Baghamati River into New Bandeshwor and after a while most of the city (definitely not all) was dark.

From the rooftop you could see a group of men gathered down at a nearby chouk. They lit a bonfire (using tyres) and then went off, torches lit, chanting slogans.

The King's offer, where he returns some power to the people but still retains some power and remains ruling sovereign, doesn't meet the demands made by the Seven Party Alliance (SPA). I guess it depends on what the people think, whether they'll still be going out and protesting in the numbers they have been.

The strike is still on, the protests continue. Today the King imposed another curfew, noon to 8pm, at the very last second. Barely made it back in time. As I write this, there's a military helicopter (probably RNA) flying over the city.

my pad

I've decided my pad in Pattan is a much more interesting place to be locked down in than at the Pacific Guest House.

My neighbours downstairs are great. One of them works for the Electrical Works: he was arrested (and released the next day) during the first week of protests. His wife was just showing me a scrape she got from running in the protests today.

Four times today large groups of people, say 50+, have marched right past my flat, shouting slogans, whistling, fists in the air. I should have taken some photos... but I think it's safe to say there'll be a next time. I can hear some croud chanting even as I write this.

the Big Day

Well tomorrow is supposed to be a day of massive rallies in Kathmandu. The plan is everyone is going to congregate on the Ring Road (which is the boundary of the no protest zone)and then work their way towards... uh, the centre of town? Probably Ratna Park if I had to guess.

All the VSO Staff are going tomorrow (have I mentioned some have spent the night in jail already?) as well as pretty much everyone else I've talked to. We VSO vols are going to be keeping our heads low.

I just read on Nepalnews.com that the government has already declared an 18 hour curfew, starting 2am this morning. That's, uh, more or less a 24 hour lockdown.

I was talking to another vol today and she nailed the thing that's been bugging me: one of the most frustrating things about all of this isn't the boredom, it's the uncertainty. I'm playing out scenarios where I'm back home by next week, trying to figure out what to do next when, the truth is, I don't know if I'm going to be there at all! Nobody knows what's going to happen.

I took this picture from my deck just a few hours ago (that's the Himalayan Hotel in the foreground). And if this is the closest I get to Himalayas I'm going to be really, really... sad, I guess.

So it looks like VSO is going to stick this out for now. I guess they've been through two revolutions in Nepal, what's another?

We've been asked to prepare for another possible month of strike. VSO has also recommended that those of us that can afford it, go take a vacation. Oddly enough, Claire, Richie and I already have plans on hitting the beaches of Thailand in May. It's nice to know that we can go with VSO's blessing. That and we get an extra two weeks on our allowed vacation time (which is already ridiculously long).

Anyway, here's some pictures from lively Kathmandu. I took these on Saturday, which is the most deserted I've seen the city. It's eerie, actually. One of these is the city bus park, and the other is Baghamati Bridge, which connects Pattan and Kathmandu. These are both usually frantically busy, in that way that only an Asian bus park and the only bridge connecting two cities can be busy, but not these days.

this will all blow over...

right?? I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Nepal is now into the 12th day of a general strike. How long can a strike last? Prices for fruits and veggies have hit the roof. That is if you can find a place that's still open to sell them. There's only two petrol (aka gas) stations still working, one of them run by the Royal Nepali Army.

The government has enacted new legislature forbidding any gatherings in Kathmandu, because they didn't have any legitimate reason for acting against peaceful protests like sit-ins and such (not that this was really stopping them). Well now they can intervene with the law on their side. yay for them!

a state of emergency can't be that far away. the army is firing on protestors. police superintendants have been caught ordering their men to beat up protestors so badly that they can't come back. one superintentant has been implicated in gouging out a protestor's eye. some students have started carrying sticks and bars to gatherings, in response to police batons. if you follow that reasoning through then nepal isn't far away from a civil war.

Meanwhile, I'm working on databases from home.
VSO security meeting on wednesday.

Two days ago, after the daytime curfew, I busted a move down to Pattan to a) make sure my place was still standing and b) grab my passport (because who knows what's going to happen?).

It was just a strange feeling to hit the roads again after so many days of being cooped up at the PGH. Even though the curfew was over, the bandha (strike) called by the seven parties was still on so there were no busses, no tuktuks. It was, in fact, mostly bikes. A lot of them: powered by people of all ages, all castes. It was just so strange to go out after hearing about everything that's happened in the last few days and, really, see that the city was still standing.

Did I see anything? A little. There were large charred spots on many roads where tyres had burned down. The Bhagamati Bridge was littered with broken glass and on the Pattan side there were huge holes taken out of the pavement. More than usual, at least. Apparently what happens (I was informed knowledgebly by someone who had been around during the riots in Ireland) is that people dig up the roads in order to a) blockade them and also b) to provide rocks for throwing.

Up around Pattan Dhoka there was more broken glass and plenty of charred spots, but the eeriest thing was just the absence of busses. The Dhoka is a major bus point and the entire area was deserted, just people.

Anyway, for those of us locked down in the guesthouse, it's been boring to say the least. I would have loved to have gone out just to see what was going on (maybe even snap a few pics)- there's been a couple of torchlight processions and they would have been something to see. Especially since they were, literally, torchlight.

But if I get hurt, VSO has to answer for it. And if anything serious happens to me it means I may be responsible for cutting short fifty-odd people's placements here. So I stayed cooped up in the guesthouse, slowly going stir crazy and producing photos like this one:

did i say that?

it seems like what's happening around the country this time around is a little different from the last time we were all locked in our houses. for one thing, it's the first time people have defied the daytime curfew in massive numbers. people are in the streets in cities all throughout Nepal. three people have died from the protests.

it's so surreal from the Pacific Guesthouse. all we see all day long is nothing. nothing at all. then the news comes on at six and then we find out what is going on across the city and the country. police and protesters are clashing, newpapers and television show bloody, violent images of police beating students, women, journalists. the security forces aren't being treated that well either: there's pictures of protestors protecting fallen police as crowds rain bricks and stones on them.

today will be the fourth day the government has imposed a daytime curfew. yesterday the clashes were even worse than the day before. there is talk the king will impose a state of emergency soon. meanwhile, i'm wondering why i didn't think to grab my passport before i came up here during the strike. the truth is, i guess i've become so accustomed to the unrest it never occurred to me that this could be the time it would boil over.

That's my dhoka!

had the unexpected shock of seeing shots of riots around Pattan Dhoka on BBC World News. That's about two minutes away from my place.

One of the shots was of them knocking over a vegetable stall, which I'm fairly certain is the same one I bought pineapple from about ten days ago. Then they set something on fire, it looked like a truck or something. According to VSO's latest security brief they also set a post office on fire.

Fortunately I'm staying at the Pacific Guest House, on the other side of town. This is day two of the four day nationwide strike.

Six months!

Six months in and things are good. This coming week it's the usual protests, possible curfews and cutting of the phone line business. Perhaps something will happen this time but it seems like people just work themselves into a froth, take a few months to recover, then do it again.

Anyway, work is good. Of the three NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) I started out with, you've got the good, the bad, and the tiny.

NFDN has been the most disasterous: in the last few months two of NFDN's donors approached VSO with complaints of 'lack of transparency' over NFDN's accounting. Somebody's skimming somewhere. Their OD process (something I barely understand, but it's basically management goals and strategies) hasn't gone anywhere in three years. Hazel, who started out with them at the same time I did, is now working up at VSO and NFDN's partnership has been suspended.

NAPD is just small: three staff and two computers. There's not a heck of a lot that I can do in terms of training. And now it looks like Ganesh, a bright guy who's recieved most of (all) the training I've given at NAPD, might be moving on to work with UNDP. Bully for him, but what the heck am I supposed to do when he leaves?

I requested not to extend with NAPD, something VSO staff agreed with, but somehow NAPD is the NGO that signed my year-long visa. The visa process is a painful, painful process of which I have nothing to do with (but the poor fellow who does them, Gopal, is always getting flack from vols). Since the gov't has started paying attention to who's working where in the last couple of months, I can't just leave NAPD.

Why did NAPD get my visa? That's a mystery. They're not even a full partner with VSO. The man that got them to sign it, Pralad, has since left VSO so I can't ask him either. So I'm stuck with NAPD for another six months.

DHRC, though, is going great. Databases, websites, training, everything a IT geek could ask for. Plenty of projects coming up as well. And they just moved from their three room, bottom floor office into an entire house- with oodles of water! That means, what with my water problems at home (still hauling buckets of non-potable water up from the well), I can have showers there!

It sure beats the freezing rooms and cobweb wiring system at the old offices. My favorite part of the picture on the left here is the cord hanging down near the top, with the light switch on it. That's for the flourescent light. Just a wire hanging in the middle of the room with a switch at the end.

That's Maheshwar in the picture. A bit of a shit disturber. A few months back he got his wrist slapped for some anti-NFDN antics of his. Oh yeah, I could go on about the bad politics between NFDN and DHRC, but I'll save that for another post.

Is it getting hot in here?

There's an analogy going around about that's being applied to vols and the security situation here in Nepal. It's that of the frog in a bucket of water, as the water is heated slowly the frog notices nothing. By the time the water is boiling and the frog realizes what's going on, it's too late.

EVen though what's most likely going to happen here is a slow, gradual decline into (more) lawlessness and a failed state, this week saw a sharp spike in violence. Last tuesday was one of the bloodiest since the Maoist uprising began: 36 Maoists and policemen were killed. I'm curious to hear what the media back home is reporting. Probably nothing.

A few weeks back there was a volunteer meeting to discuss the security situation and what the metrics are for VSO suspending/ceasing operations (Basically, VSO will leave if vols are ever targeted, if our ability to work drops below 50%, or if the risk of getting caught in the crossfire ever becomes too high. How do you come up with a way to measure the last two? Excellent question, moving on...)

What impressed me most was just how different people's opinions are. There are volunteers from Pokhara and the west who feel that weekly bombings in public areas and at offices is perfectly fine (the Maoists are quite nice about targeting offices, btw, they will show up at night, ask the watchman to leave, then blow everything up). There are other volunteers who, sadly enough, have been so shaken up that they've terminated their placements. I worked with one of these girls. It makes me very sad to see her go.

I'm in the middle. Bombs are a scary thing, but personally I don't feel that my safety is threatened. With that said, though, I can tell you with some confidence that one of the scariest sounds you may ever hear is the sound of a shotgun going chhk-chhk and having it pointed at you.

Last night was wandering home from a volunteer going away party. There's a police checkpoint near my place (right before Pattan Dhoka), and I've been through there many, many times late at night with no problem. Last night though, I was a little wobblier than usual and didn't notice that on top of the usual two guys behind sandbags, there were about six other soldiers at the checkpoint.

As I approached there were raised Nepali voices, but there's always raised Nepali voices so I didn't pay them any attention. It was until I heard that chhk-chhk and saw a shotgun pointed my way that I realized they were talking to me.

"Maathi! Maathi!" one of them shouted. Up? Up? You want me to raise my hands? No problem, you're the ones with the guns. I kept saying "I don't understand" in Nepali, but it didn't seem to be getting me anywhere. After some time with them standing by the sandbags, me wobbling at the barrier with my hands up, two of them approached. Once they saw that I was bideshi everyone relaxed and I passed through.

Don't tell my mom.

holi

As a Canadian volunteering with (mostly) Brits and living in Nepal, there's a lot of different holidays to celebrate (this will be the third year I do Guy Fawkes Day).

Yesterday was the Hindu festival of Holi, which is more or less a celebration of colour and water ("Colour is life!" one guy enthused on the news last night). Kids are out in force, ready to smear paint and throw water at anyone around. Traveller's Tip: don't wear your new suit or skirt on Holi.


I spent the day at my home away from home away from home, the Pacific Guest House. It's where the new volunteers are based and where I spent my In-Country Training. From the safety of the PGH rooftop I launched water balloons either down onto passer-by or onto a nearby rooftop.

The nearby rooftop was far more interesting: it was an entire family, grandmother down to five kids (who could barely walk let alone toss a water balloon), all intent on soaking as many people as they could. Including themselves.

They fired first. Once they had our attention, though, it became a wonderful game of trying to get a water balloon across the road onto each other's terrace. I would launch one their way, then do a mitenko-esque imitation of Hindi dancing as three would come back at me.

Ciara (pronounced Keee-RhUH) and the rest of the new volunteers were up on the rooftop with me. Initially I think they all had the same thought: 'jaysus mitenko, we're going to get it because of you'. After a while, though, pretty much all of us were raining water down into the streets.

Then we ran out of Holi water bags. I had sent the doorman out the first time to buy bags, but this time I decided to brave the courtyard in front of the PGH to find some more. I danced across, much to the delight of the two rooftops full of Nepalis who fired at will. It was really fun, actually.

As I was buying bags I suddenly heard screaming from the PGH. Up on the rooftop Ciara was pointing down at me- "Bideshi! Bideshi! Beedesshhhiii!!". She had spotted a roaming gang of boys down the street. I couldn't see them, they couldn't see me, but that ever helpful girl was doing her best to rectify that. When they came around the corner, man, there were a lot of white grins on red faces.

Pictures courtesy of a particularly triumphant Irish girl.

Saint Patrick's Day this friday...

and you thought the wet coast was bad...

:The weather in Nepal is something else. I survived the winter well enough. The houses are built to dissipate heat so they are freezing when its cold. However, since the temperature typically jumps 15C night to day people spend their daytime outdoors, soaking up the sun.

Personally I didn't find the winter that bad. And I'd like to thank my father for that. I was raised in a Winnipeg home in which my father's idea of 'nippy' is anothers idea of fingertips lost to frostbite. So while everyone was walking around bitterly complaining, wasting money on gas heaters and doing bizarre things with hot water bottles, I was waiting for it to actually get cold.

Then, in the space of a week, the weather turned around. Who needs spring? Some would say it 'improved' but I'm not convinced. I went from three layers and longjohns to shortsleeves and sandals in a matter of days. I have fear for when the actual 'hot season' arrives.

Actually, I've been in 42C+ weather before and survived, but what really concerns me is the lack of rain. While you all from the west coast have been growing mold from eight months of rain, SAD etc, it hasn't rained here since October 16th. It's the driest it's been in 30 years... as if Nepal doesn't have enough problems right now. The well that supplies my pad (my wonderful pad) is scraping bottom and the monsoon is still months away.

I've become very efficient with the two buckets I'm allowed every few days. My place isn't exactly ideal for hosting parties now, but hey I can handle that.

What does concern me is that with the water levels so low in the reservoirs, the load shedding is going up from 17hrs a week to to 35. That's five hours a day. In fact, even as I was writing this in a nearby cyber cafe the power went out. I had to come home and finish it on something called a notepad. With a pen.

No power is not good for an IT Support volunteer. If I can't get work done, what am I doing here?

Anyway, as a complete and utter aside, if you've ever actually been to Kathmandu and Thamel, here's Ciara ( a lovely Irish girl from the new vols that just came in) and my contribution to Sam's Bar:

Load Shedding Showdown

I'm trying to figure out if I'm busy because I have a lot to do, or because I'm having no luck getting anything done.

The power cuts are now up to 17 hours a week with bonuses. That's more or less a day a week without power, and the load shedding is conveniently timed to be when the usuage is at a maximum. This makes sense from an electrical department point of view. It's a grand pain in the buttocks for everyone else.

Case in point: All week I'd been saving up a fair amount of work for a day at the VSO office. I make this occasional pilgrimage so that to use their internet connection, something which is useful when you're doing work on four separate websites.

So yesterday I biked all the way up to VSON, Pattan to Baluwata, which is pretty much uphill all the way but at a JFG pace I can make in 20 minutes (sweaty though, since the weather's turned from cold to hot in the space of a week)

I manage to get about two hours of work at VSON before *poof* the power is gone. Just like the power went the day before, only at a different and completely unpredictable time. Fine. At least I got some work done. I still have two databases I'm working on, which I can do from home.

I stop in at NAPD on the way home to see if anything needs to be done. My counterpart is on leave, one of the other co-workers wants me to show him the finer points of checking his yahoo! email account.

I sneak off a while later to the sanctity of my home and some (geekily interesting) database and VB programming. Lo and behold, I've been home for all of twenty minutes when *poof* the power goes out.

I take a nap out of sheer frustration.

Manage to wake up just as the power comes back on, do a few more hours of work until around 7 at night. and that's how work is getting done right now.

Top Ten Signs You’ve Been Living In a South Asian Country for Too Long

10. 4 seasons is abnormal. 2 or 5 is more like it.

9. You don’t get Narnia. Why’d the lion have to die? And how come he got reincarnated as exactly the same thing?

8. You don’t even blink when you came across outrageous grammatical error in the national newspaper.

7. You are outraged when a shop tries to charge you anything more than $3 CDN for the latest movie on DVD. Or for the full installation CDROM set for Microsoft Office.

6. You’ve started making up responses for curious locals:

“What is your name?”
“Wayne Gretzky.”
“Where are you from?”
“Pheonix, Arizona.”
“Oh! You’re American!”
“Nope. Canadian. But I got traded back in '88.”

5. Rani Mukherjee is hot.

4. So is Sushmita Sen, for that matter.

3. You now know that dogs are nocturnal beasts. And they spend every waking moment barking.

2. Veer Zaara was ok, but it could’ve used some more dancing in the second half.

1. Sacred cow.

Back to Normal

Or at least as close as you can get. Woke up two days ago to a small earthquake (4.9). Perched on the edge of my bed, tried to figure out where the heck I'd go to form my 'triangle of life'. The quake was over before I'd made a decision.

(Is the Triangle of Life the right way to go? After all the conflicting information we've had from VSON, I have absolutely no idea)

This is Pattan Durbar square btw. A UNESCO World Heritage site five minutes (timed it) walk from my place.

All of the next week a bandha (strike) has been called against the upcoming elections: no cars, no busses, nothing open, no work (lots of work from home though, I'm building two databases).

Canadians should be proud they can elect someone like Stephen Harper without even one bomb going off. The entire election process here has been a farce. I don't even know where to start: people nominated against their will (or without even knowing), mass resignations from nominations, not enough candidates for all the posts, candidates held in army barracks for their "protection", etc.

Been stocking up on foodstuffs. This afternoon went shopping with Claire and we walked into the Adidas store on Durbar Marg: in the foyer were a trio of Buddhist monks, wrapped in orange robes, testing out a soccer ball. That's what passes as normal when you're in Kathmandu.

I guess I'll have time to figure out all the strange cooking utensils that Kay left : pressure cooker, miracle oven, multi-tiered steamer. Some other vols were over yesterday and pointed out that this one strange, dalek-esque machine was actually an espesso maker. Instant joy. I made about five this morning.

pics from the pad

it's been hazy the last few days, so i haven't yet seen the himalayas since i moved in. pattan is a different city from kathmandu. there's a feel, an unobtrusive history in the architecture, the roads, the people.

one drawback: the 'load shedding' (read power cuts) have been increased to 17hrs a week. 3 hours in the evening, sometimes in the morning as well. it's nuts. this morning, with no power, i sipped my coffee and did a crossword from the little bench in the picture (actually on the other end, but the light wasn't good enough for a pic).

banda today

which means most shops are closed and no vehicles. this one was called by the seven party alliance (the politicos).

walked to work via the tiny pedestrian bridge over the Pattan Ghats. Khatmandu is a different place when there's no vehicles: the roads were full of people but the loudest sound was that of conversation, not roaring trucks and insufferable horns (all of which are based on an amplified, mechanized version of Jim Carey's 'most obnoxious sound in the world' from Dumb and Dumber. i swear).

got caught in a batton rush on the way home. that's about it.

a day in the life

I am now, for better or for worse, a Pattanian (to coin a phrase from another Sila). With all of the stuff that's been going on, I've been more stressed about getting this move over than anything else. I've been transient since September and it's going to be so nice to have a HOME!

Six o'clock, was up and packing my old dera. The truck actually showed up early, which if you've been in Nepal long enough you know is unnatural, let alone unexpected. It's amazing how much ceezbeez (nepali for stuff) you pick up in only four months, but we made it over in one trip. Pretty much everyone and their dog helped me unpack. Going up the stairs passed this cute little goat once or twice, and then someone moved it out of the way.

Enjoyed a few minutes of contentment once all was moved. Kay smelled something burning, and when we went to check it out there was the same goat, or at least its head on a tarp, while they burned the fur off the body and cooked it over a fire in the courtyard. It was a very brief friendship.

Walked to work, but then pretty much as soon as I got there they cut the power (they've increased the load shedding this week to daytime hours as well as two evenings a week). No power? No computer work.

Walked to the bus station since I'd left my bike and some cleaning to be done at my old flat. No busses, because instead I walked into a small protest. It wasn't much: ten students or so throwing rocks at about twenty police done up in their riot gear (some of the police were throwing the rocks back). Unlike the prudent vol that I am, I watched from behind a wall (Nepalis were standing on bikes to see, I was on tiptoes). The wall was postioned perpendicular to the action. It was like a tennis match. With bricks.

Then suddenly (of course), along the road people began running my way, peeling off the wall and sprinting. Rocks were flying over the wall, on the roofs. I couldn't see who was throwing them. Police came out of nowhere, herding the crowd (more like stampeding them). The whole scene kinda lost its charm when they caught one of the students and an officer beat the shit out of him with a bamboo stick.

Hopped on the next bus out of there.

And that is what life in Nepal is like these days.

curfews and power cuts

as it turns out, not much happens during daytime curfews. the curfew was in place in order to stop this big protest that had been planned by the political parties (who also have a loose alliance these days with the maoists).

rutti (who lives above me) and i sat on the terrace, soaked up the sun and got excited whenever we saw anyting that looked like a car or a pedestrian out on the streets. most of them, it turned out, were soldiers or military vehicles.

the only real excitement happened during the hour break break between the daytime curfew and the evening curfew. i hopped on my bike, on my way down to rosemary's and peter's place for dinner and an evening in. unfortunately, i took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere- i don't know where- i couldn't remember the name of the chowk that P&R lived by, didn't have their phone number and there was only half-an-hour before curfew came back on.

anyway, i found their place and all ended happily. last night was pattan's turn for load shedding, so we played cards in the dark for a while. now there's load shedding up in lazimpat, so here i am, cutting my my time between when the power will come back on in my place and when the curfew will be in effect.

what's going on?

VSO is having a security meeting this afternoon. they get briefed by all the major bodies involved here in nepal, including the British Embassy, and I guess from there VSON is going to decide what we're going to do.

I found out yesterday that Kay was actually caught in the crossfire at Thankot. She had to run for cover and actually took shelter in someone's house. I haven't heard this directly, of course, but from the word-of-mouth network among the volunteers (remarkably efficient considering there's 57 of us here). What a frikkin scary thing (the shooting, not the network).

So are we leaving? I have no idea. I definitely don't want to. All of my projects are just starting to get interesting and I've invested some intensive time and effort to become more than just conversant in Nepali. All this so I can fly back before I'm even finished six months? No thanks.

Of course, things are getting worse. And more unpredictable. Today the government announced a curfew in Ktm, 11pm to 4am which will be enforced with a 'shoot on sight' policy. not so friendly.

and for a complete non sequitor, I'm in complete agreement with faye on tank man, he was a total badass!

Boudinath by Moonlight

Boudinath Stupa by moonlight is something to see. It’s breathtaking even in the daylight, but every full moon the Buddists light up the Stupa with candles and strings of lights. As you make your clockwise circuit around the base of the temple there’s drums playing, tourists taking pictures and chanting monks wrapped in crimson robes.

After my third tour around I decided to sit down, put away my camera (I’m a tourist too, after all), and soak up the incredible atmosphere. I hadn’t been there for more than five minutes when my meditative frame of mind was broken by this deep, low intrusion of a sound that you felt as much as heard. It sounded like this: BOMB. Not BOOM and definitely not KA-BOOM.

The drums stopped. After that there were just a few ‘pops’, and if you hadn’t already heard the first sound you would have thought they were firecrackers. Around the stupa there didn’t seem to be much of a panic, so I finished my final circuit then left. There were three or four more pops as I did this.

Out on the street everyone was looking towards where the sound had come from. Being the prudent VSO volunteer that I am, I took my bike and left the opposite direction. All along the road people were out on the sidewalks, out of their shops, looking down the street. A truck with a canvas back came roaring towards me, sirens blaring but no lights. In the back I assume were military personel.

Later, once I was on the Ring Road, another truck with sirens and red flashing lights overtook me, speeding away from whatever was going on. An ambulence.

12 police officers were killed last night in synchonized attacks around the city outskirts. Plenty of the other volunteers based outside Kathmandu have stories like this, but it's the first time anything like this has happened in the capital. Still, it’s part of life in Nepal. As Bideshi we have a special “Get Out of the Crosshairs Free” card that we can play on both sides.

I guess now I’m a veteran volunteer. But if the violence really is moving into Kathmandu, I wonder how long it’s really going to be before VSO calls us up and tells us to go to our evac points. It’s the British military that’ll be helicoptering us out. Sweet Krishna I’d be really scared if we were being flown out by Canadian Sea Hawks.

elections pack

check it out, i can track the progress of my Elections Canada pack as it moves across the world.

the best part is that there's three up to date (exciting!) entries, and the package hasn't even left ottawa.

I (of course) registered late at the Consulate and got in trouble from from one of their thulo manches (big men, literally). since i have until the 16th to get the package and submit my vote to the consulate, we can all watch and find out if i'm going to vote in the 35th federal election...

Mid Term Report

VSO Canada requires a mid term report from all of its vols out in the field. It's a 20 question report, each question requiring about a 100 to 500 word essay response. It's a pretty important document in terms of letting VSO know what's going on, but by the 17th question you're a little sick of providing all the essential details:

6. Describe the work environment at the organization and your working relationship with your supervisor and colleagues.

Fantastic and fascinating. None of these organizations are flush with money: DHRC is on the bottom floor of a house, the network and electrical wiring they have turns the rooms into some giant, coaxial cable-spinning spider’s den. NAPD is even smaller, with only three rooms and two computers (which always seem to be on the fritz). NFDN , the disability network, is a social club with people constantly coming and going. I have no idea who any of them are.

7. Please provide information on any insights on governance issues (as defined by Canada Corps) that have arisen or been developed through your placement:

One of VSON’s long term goals is to promote a unified voice for all of the different areas of governance. NFDN is, officially at least, the centre of disability activity but a long history of internecine politics has led to a fracturing and splintering of the groups. Without any unity I see a ridiculous amount of redundancy among disability NGOs: publications, ‘central’ websites, advocacy strategies.

We have only started on this in the last month or so, but a lot of discussion and thought has already gone into how to bring together the myriad NGOs that work for people with disabilities. VSO interns on the ground can try to get these groups to work together but I think the real motivation has to come from above, from the groups that are providing money.

There is a fierce competition for donor money in Nepal, and this leads to suspicion and even antagonism among disability NGOs. There is the story of how NGO A sourced the task of translating a large document out to NGO B. The second NGO then turned around and simply published the translated work. Why? A translated, published document looks much better for NGO B when it approaches donor orgs for funding.

If all of the donor groups involved in Nepal could make unifying various governance NGOs a priority, it would have much more impact than interns working in the field.

9. Is there any particular information about your work situation that might be of value to volunteers looking at posts similar to yours?

Same as before from the Maldives. WYEWBWYG (weeoo-bwig): whatever you’re expecting won’t be what you get.

11. Are your personal goals for the placement being met? If not, how do you think things could be improved so they are?

Personal goals? What, marry a Nepali princess and live happily ever after? I think my only real personal goals were to live and see the nation of Nepal on more than just a superficial tourist level. That’s not a hard goal to meet when you live here.

13. VSO finds it very useful to receive from volunteers detailed descriptions of their daily life at their placement and in the local community. Please use this space to describe the area where you work and live, your housing, local services including health care, your social life and availability of food and goods etc.

Right now I live in Lazimpat just north of the Royal Palace. The three organizations where I work are all over Kathmandu (Birkuti Mandap, Naya Bandeshwar and Pattan) but with a bike the city is small.

My flat is a very spacious four rooms. Rent is 6000 rupees a month. My only complaint is that the water is heated by a geezer (wheezer? I can never remember), which in the winter requires about an hour before it’s full of enough hot water to have a shower.

I buy my meat and vegetables from local shops just down the road, and there are two superstores within walking and five minute cycling distance. There is no end of fresh vegetables and fruit.

At the end of the month I am moving to Pattan for a top floor apartment, incredible view of the Himalayas and Kathmandu, five minutes away from Durbar Square and for the same price I’m paying here. The water situation is worse, though: there’s no hot water at all and it’s not potable even if boiled, apparently.

NIC, the Nepali International Clinic, is excellent. It’s quick, always available, and has a great staff. I’m now up to spec on my jabs (English for shots) and they took care of me during my one serious gastro-intestinal problem (I was so sure it was Giardia but it wasn’t).

Dial-up internet access from home is fairly common, but I live close enough to VSON that I use their cable connection.

Social life tends to centre in Thamel, the tourist part of Kathmandu. Thamel is unlike any other part of Kathmandu: it’s a strange, wonderful mixture of western and Nepali culture. There are dozens of different kinds of restaurants: Pizza, Thai, Mexican, Middle Eastern. I wouldn’t trust sushi in a landlocked country, though. If you’re starving for beef in a Hindu country there’s KToo, which serves up great steaks.

14. Is personal security an issue for you? If so how do you deal with it?

Nope. Not unless you count the Maoist situation. It’s a little unnerving walking past sandbagged pillboxes, past the muzzle of automatic weapons, but if you do anything enough times (and it doesn’t hurt too much), you get used to it.

i'm so excited

and i just can't hide it.

moving into a new flat this month. it's down in Pattan, about five minutes away from Pattan Dhoka and Durbar Square. It's on the top floor, with balconies coming off every room. The main area is an open kitchen/living area. through the bay window at the kitchen side, i watched the sun come up over kathmandu this morning.

the only unhappy thing about it is that i'm getting it because one of the other vols, Kay, is leaving. that's part of life as a volunteer, but she's a blast. last night she, her boyfriend Kancer and I went down to this small cafe/bar that overlooks Durbar Square and drank chang (rice beer, i think) until the power went out (the goverment's cut the power now two nights in a row, 7:30-9:00, due to low river levels, or if you're cynical it may have something to do with the maoists cancelling the ceasefire.) We found another bar and drank beer by candlelight.

Anyway, one of the main issues about taking Kay's place was that it didn't make sense to move if I was only going to stay for another two more months. So yes, I've extended my placement and I won't be going home until september. i'll miss the ulti season (and of course all the other great things about the west coast), but life in kathmandu is a pretty amazing thing and it's only going to happen once.