I am a bringer of Rains

I am here in Windsor. It is raining.

This is not a surprise I suppose. England is famous for its wet weather. However Cathy's house is as fun and friendly as ever, so I have no complaints about the weather. I am nearing the end of my 2 month long journey and I am finishing up with a quiet stay in Cathy's House.

The last few days in Jaipur and Delhi were fantastic. Shashi and Shammy are excellent hosts, and my nightly pan walks with Shammy were a great end to my stay in India. Shammy is a wonderful man to sit and talk with. He is educated, smart, funny, and has seen many parts of the world. This combination gives him an ability to provide me with insight into India, and other countries around the world. For instance he was recently working in the Indian Embassy in Cuba, and informed me that the country is absolutely wonderful. In mostly every regard. Everyone is educated, taken care of, and for the most part happy.

We had many reasons to praise Shashi this visit. Not only was she allowing Michael and myself to stay in her house, and cooking wonderful food for us, but some paperwork she submitted in Delhi appears to finally have kicked the government into getting the road to the hospital paved. This is particularly amazing due to the fact that Michael has been trying to get this road built for over a decade. This bit of paperwork that Shashi put in the right hands of the right office will benefit tens if not hundreds of thousands of villagers in Orissa. When the road is complete she will have made a difference in the lives of so many.

My flight over from India to England was very pleasant, except I could a cold on the plane. I did however have an opportunity to watch Lawrence of Arabia, which I have not seen for over a decade. This was particularly interesting because Michael Daube IS Lawrence of Arabia. It is uncanny. He works with the local population in order to help them improve themselves. He is compassionate, and energized. The people he works with on the grounds revere him as a saint, or an angel. He is educated, aloof, and quite wise.

Michael would never tell you he is a great man, or that he does great things. I believe he really has learned so much from his work and travels, that he really understands what it means to do small things with great compassion. I know I sound like I am worshiping him, but that is not the case. He is a good man and a great role model. I feel very lucky to have been able to spend 2 months traveling with him and picking his brain. I think I am better for it.

It is late here, and I am tired. I plan on continuing my blog after my travels are over. I do not know what I will write about, but I think the trick for me is going to be making sure I keep my life interesting enough so that I can keep material for this blog. I do not plan on changing the name of the blog, because I think William Abroad suits the way I think, and the way I want to think and act.

Indian Moment

Today I had what Michael described as an "Indian Moment." I had a long day of Elephant riding and sight seeing at Amber Fort here is Jaipur. I had an overly spicy meal at a very good restaurant. I ate an extremely spicy chili pepper and burned my mouth. And after a few hours of walking through the markets, I kinda flipped out.

It was all internal. I maintained a huge grin on my face, but inside my mind I was screaming to myself to just get away from all these shopkeepers, rickshaws, tour guides, food vendors, and professional beggars. I just needed to get away from the markets, the noise, and the people. In case you are wondering I am better now. I got to my hotel room and recharged my emotional batteries. I am ready for round 2 out there in this strange and beautiful country.

One thing that really gets to me is what I call the white tax. Here in India there are many beautiful tourist attractions. If you are an Indian you can get into these attractions for 10-40 rupees. If you are from anywhere else in the world, you pay anywhere from 10-40 dollars. For those of you who are not up on current exchange rates that is 500-2000 rupees. If the price was low because they wanted to allow impoverished Indians access to historical or cultural works I would understand it. However even the Indian prices are prohibitive to the poor here. These prices are paid by middle and upper class Indians who make very good money. It is solely a price increase because of my status as a foreigner.

That is enough griping about India for today. The Pink City of Jaipur is beautiful. Many people here are very nice. I can't wait to come home and see snow.

That is all.

Jaipur

Here I am in Jaipur in a very nice (cheap) hotel. Things are going great over here except one thing. Travel in India right now is tough. Due to the Bombay bombings airport and all other types of security are on highest alert.

So yesterday I had my haircut at a "gents" salon. So Michael and I are getting a shave and a haircut and there are a bunch of women sitting behind us waiting. After a while a few drunken indian men enter the salon and start haggling with the owner of the shop. They point to 3 of the women and go into a back room. At this point Michael and I realize that we are not in a place dedicated to the styling and cutting of hair. Needless to say the rest of the shave was quite uncomfortable.

Went to Sashi's last night and had some fun times with Shammy her brother. He is back from Cuba to stay for a while. He and I went over to a local Pan shop and had a few of the normal non-sweet pans. This was only the second time I have had normal Pan. It kinda knocked me for a loop. The Beetlenut and whatever else they put in that stuff is strong.

Today we headed out to the Pink City, Jaipur. I finally saw an Elephant here in India. So my checklist is officially done. I saw a snake charmer in Calcutta and an Elephant in Jaipur. That is all I need to see. The snake charmer's snakes were so underfed and malnourished that he had to slap them to get them to wake up.

More to come later as I now have an internet connection that isnt 75 miles away over rough and rocky road.

Bomb-Bay

For all those that are curious, I am far away from Bombay and I am not being directly effected by the tragic events that occured there recently. I am leaving India on the 12th of December so I am not here for much longer. Please do not worry about me.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving, and I look forward to seeing everyone around Christmas time!

Puri

Here I am in Puri after a week at the hospital. Here in India it is difficult to feel like you accomplish anything, because everything you do, is going to be implemented after you leave. By you... I mean me. Everything I am working on here is going to be used in this nebulous future time that I am unable to participate in. It is very frustrating. Every time I feel like I am accomplishing something, I realize that I haven't actually done anything. For instance. One of my goals was to have better quality internet at the hospital. I had done alot of research and looked into alot of options. As far as I knew it was a done deal. However.... It turns out that the technology I was going to use is not available in this particular district of this particular state in India.

Very Frustrating.

However I am having a good time seeing all my old buds from the Hospital. Chandu is still playing frisbee. All the clerks are still insisting I teach them computer classes for a few hours every day. Govinda is still a great guy. Babu is doing well in school. The Mosquitos are still biting. Everything is going well at the hospital.

I have had some time for good thinking. India is a good place to clear your head of all the distractions of home. It is amazing how you can sit on the roof of the hospital and just stare at all the stars. There are A LOT of stars here. You can see the milky-way every night. It is so peaceful here.

Well I have to go and actually do some work other than sit on the beach getting a massage. Oh the hard life here in India...

Avoiding Riots, Kolkata, The Train, Puri

So we got out of Kathmandu right before the SERIOUS rioting started. It turns out that those innocent schoolk children are starting their own little revolution. I will try to find out more from my friends.

After a few hours in the Kathmandu Airport and a 1.5 hour flight (We spent more time in the airport than on the plane) we arrived in Kolkata(Calcutta). This town is old. I dont mean like ancient archetecture or big monuments with triple digit dates old. I mean old like everything seems to age there. The people, the buildings, the whiskey, the attitude... everything. It is really kind of run down, and the kids on the street are relentless.

As a greeting one of the little kids on the streets decided to run up to me and slap my belly. Unfortunately she was too short to quite get to my stomach so instead she punched me a little lower. Note to all the children of Kolkata that read my blog... punching someone in the groin is NOT the ideal way to introduce yourself.

So we only spent one day in Kolkata at the Paragon Guest house. Nice place filled with hippy travellers. We had lunch at this one really out there place owned by a British lady that I am pretty sure was stuck in the heyday of the empire. She had enough makup on to start and stop traffic if she blinked.

That night we headed out to the Kolkata train station... which is a sight to behold. This trainstation is about 4 airplane hangers worth of crowded people. It is a city unto itself. The trainride was rather pleasant. It was only 9 hours and at night, so we just slept and woke up in Puri.

Since we weren't going to the hospital right away, and had to meet one doctro from spain called Marta, we decided to go to the beach. The sun was warm, the water was cool, and the people were all trying to sell you something... Just like I remember the Puri beaches! Got a little bit of a sunburn, but at least in December when I come home I will be the only one with a tan!

Tomorrow we head off to the hospital, so this should be my last blog post for about 1 or 2 weeks.

Motadaii out (Motadaii is my Oryian nickname... means the same thing, different dialect.)

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but riots can keep me from the airport.

So I was going to India today. Probably still will be, but looks like I am going to be delayed. Today there are riots. As we were leaving our guest house, a group of 4 taxi's came down the street blaring their horns. We thought nothing of it until all the shops around us started shutting their heavy metal shutters.

Ahead in the distance we could hear a dull throbbing noise. We were on our way to the airport, and the only way to get there was to go to the Thamel taxi stand. As we approached it it was clear that stones were being thrown into shop windows, and students were chanting something in Nepali. The mob was disorganized, angry, and had weapons. They ignored the people in the streets and went directly for the businesses. Throwing rocks and any and all exposed glass. Finally one man stood on a soapbox and started issuing directions for the crowd. They throng of people began moving as one towards the center of Thamel. After they passed, the police began showing up in full riot gear marching methodically behind the crowd. The police did not appear to engage the rioters directly or try to provoke an attack.

This kind of stuff happens every day in Nepal. This was just the first time it happened close to me. They riot so often that the shopkeepers and restaurants have protocol that they follow. These bonds can happen over anything. Someone is hit and run and the driver won't come forward... Bond. There is a traffic accident and the two parties can't decide who is at fault... Bond. The students have a day off and are bored... Bond.

I was talking to Binod about these bonds, and he said he didn't mind them too much. He removed all the glass from all his shops, and as soon as the riot starts he closes his shutters and just waits it out. He told me that these organized destructive forces are the only way for anyone to be taken seriously in Nepal. He justified them as a necessary evil, and an extreme way to practice freedom of speech.

Hopefully the taxi's will return now that things have moved further away and Michael and I will be able to get to the airport on time.

Ke Garne?

Turkey Festorama

This is what I have been really been doing in Nepal

I am HUGE in Asia.

Tonight is my last night in Kathmandu. It is starting to get chilly over here. Temps in the low 50's during the day and low 30's in the night. And in one day time I am going to be going back to it being high 70's-80's. Yup! Finally heading down to Orissa. I am looking forward to seeing all my old friends down at the school and hospital.

Kathmandu has been great! There have been parts that weren't perfect, but everything was a little adventure. Meeting lots of new and (sometimes) interesting people is great, and it also teaches you something about people in general. People are People. I hate saying it like that, but I have found that no matter where in the world you are, and no matter how vast your cultural differences are, people really behave the same way the world around. I say this without ever having gone to Africa or China, but I feel confident in my assessment.

The views in this country are amazing. Simply wonderful. Lush valleys and snow topped peaks as far as the eye can see. This country is truly a trekkers dream come true.

Everything in Asia is designed for Asians. This proves to make MY life difficult. I am too big for some cars. Newari stores have a door that is 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Even Michael has difficulty getting into them. Crowds press in on all sides in the markets, most of the people barely coming up to my shoulder. That being said. I am HUGE in Asia. Like David Hasselhoff in Germany.

New Photos!

I uploaded a bunch of new photos. For those that are interested there is a link on the left side of the page.

Or you can just go here.

My Photos

Little Britain Coffee Shop

Sitting here in little Britain Coffee Shop with Michael. This is the first place we have found with free, fast, and reliable internet. Something I take sorely for granted back home. This post comes to you in a few parts. Some will be travel woes, so be prepared to hear me whine a little bit.

One thing that made me happy is I finally found out HOW I lost my debit card. Turns out the ATM I was at only returns your card after you hit 2 buttons. The first one being that you do not want another transaction, THEN it asks you if you would like your card returned. No Joke. The options are as follows. Return Card? Yes or No. Who would ever... EVER hit no? And if you do hit no, what then? Does the machine just eat your card? Questions I do not intend to ever find the answer to(Again).

Today we had a meeting with the Citta Nepal board members. They are all very nice people and seem like the want to be more involved in the Humla and Gaikhur project. I got to work with Sushila at the office during some of the meeting. Sushila is brilliant. No joke. She is an extremely capable woman. On top of maintaining the office and keeping things running here in Kathmandu, Sushila is about 8 months pregnant, and still hard at work.

One of Michael's problems in Nepal or India is finding dynamic and intelligent women to work or run the woman's center. Women here in Nepal seem to either be extremely outgoing and smart, or extremely conservative and shy. There appears to be no middle ground. Sushila is a rare breed in that she is down to earth and humble, and extremely capable.

Another woman issue Mike is having is this: He needs a woman who is educated, stylish, well spoken in both English and Nepali, AND able to do handicrafts. These qualities combined seem to not exist together. Either the women here are very educated, OR they are very capable in handicrafts.

Enough about the Woman's Center and on to my immediate future. Next Thursday Mike and I are heading out to Kolkatta, India. We will be spending one day there, and then we are off to Orissa. I have been in Kathmandu for (almost) a whole month! It feels like 6 months, or 1 week depending on what is going on at the time. Time has different meaning here. In the US time also feels varied, but it is different back home. There when you are busy or having fun, time seems to fly, but if you are bored and doing nothing, things seem to take forever. Here EVERYTHING seems like it takes forever while you are doing it. The trip from Thamel to Bhaktipur is only 8 miles, but it takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour, and feels like 5 hours. when working in the offices or working in an internet cafe, everything seems to take forever. The days seem so long and feel like they drag on and on. However the next day, yesterday's worries and troubles are passed in a blink of an eye. Every day here is fresh and new. I think that is what makes the time feel so different here.

Speaking of between days. I don't usually have dreams I remember, but whenever I am traveling, I find myself having the most vivid dreams. Most of it is processing my experiences from the day, but in really weird ways. For instance after one particularly long day I dreamed I was watching Cricket, and even in my dream, the match felt like it took 3 days. It is odd how the mind deals with information, or lack thereof.

The people here in Nepal are all so friendly. They give you personal space, always smile, and are generally very peaceful in their daily actions. Most people in Nepal seem to glorify a simple existence. The ideal of most people I have met is earn a little bit of money while young. And then return home to the family farm, get married, have kids, and work in the fields.

I apologize for jumping around so much in this post, but I have the time to just sit and type today.

This happened to me yesterday:

A man rode up to me on a rickshaw and asked
Man: "Rickshaw?"
Me: "No Rickshaw."
Man: "No Rickshaw?"
Me: "No Rickshaw."
Man: (Big smile) "Ahhh, Rickshaw!"
Me: "No Rickshaw."
Man: (Puzzled look) "No? Rickshaw?"
Me: "Rickshaw Na."
Man: (Big Smile) "Ah! Rickshaw?"
Me: "Ughhhhhhhhh...."

This continued a few more times until finally I just stopped engaging him. after him saying Rickshaw a few more times, he finally got the idea that what I meant was No Rickshaw.

I really hope everyone is having a good time back home! I miss almost everyone. Except Donnie. He never writes to me or calls me. I bet he doesn't even read this.

Motodaai Out!

Come to Nepal and See Bad Nordic Cover Bands!

So Saturday and Sunday I went to an Intro to Buddhism class near Boudha Stupa. The class was dedicated to the terms and simple ideas of Buddhism. It was essentially a class on terminology. So, although I did not come out of the class fully enlightened and aware of the scope of the universe and my place within it's cycle, I had a good time.

Things here in Nepal are finally starting to pick up their pace. When working here I constantly feel like I have accomplished nothing (I am pretty sure I haven't), but Mike and all the staff seem to think what I am doing is great.

It is a challenge because I keep trying to push things forward, and then after I have made progress, I find out that I need to pull back and start again, from a different angle, with different language, or in a completely different medium. Here in Nepal people will yes you to death, do things the way they need to be done while you are watching them, and then instantly slip back into the Nepali way as soon as you are not watching.

I am not saying that the Nepali way is bad, or inefficient. It is just that Citta is a multinational charity that has donors and Boards in many different countries. Most of the money comes from the western world, and because of that the methods that the local projects use need to be compatible with western ideas, communication, and transparency. Keeping information in a paper log book is fine, if you only need to record the information and deal with it locally. But the information about the Hospital budgets, expenses, Volunteer Data, and international orders needs to be able to be communicated in a clear and efficient manner to the US, Germany, the UK, and any other places where people donate their time or money to Citta.

Enough ranting about work. Last night Michael and I went to the Reggae Bar to see some Nepali friends that work there. We sat in our usual table over looking Thamel, far enough from the stage so we could talk. The Nepali cover band was great as always, and we had a few drinks and settled in. At about 10PM the band announces it is going to hand off the stage to another band. This alone was weird, but what made it even weirder was the band that took the stage was a bunch of white guys. Michael and I thought we were in for a treat.

It was not to be however because this new band of white guys immediately started singing the worst cover of "You ain't nothing but a hound dog" I have ever heard. This was the type of band you might find in a lounge in an airport Motel 6. So we started trying to guess where these guys were from. Michael took a shot in the dark and stated that they must be from Denmark. It seemed to make sense, but I decided to apply a little bit of critical thinking to the problem and asked myself a few questions. Where in the world is there a country of white people obsessed with American Culture, obsessed with music, and about 50 years behind the rest of the western world culturally. After asking myself these questions I came up with the only answer that made sense to me. Norway.

So we begin asking the staff where the band is from and no one has any clue. We had given up finding out until a girl with a HEAVY Irish accent comes up to the table and asks us if we want to sign a petition that will be sent to the government in an attempt to lift the 11pm forced closing of bars. We got to talking with her a little, and to our surprise she was a friend of the band, and from Denmark! She claimed the Irish accent was because her best friend was Irish, but I still don't believe she was from Denmark.

Anyway we asked her if the band was from Denmark, and to Mike's dismay they were not. They were however from Norway! After much celebration and libations we signed the petition (twice, Nancy Lanigan and Duane Reade also want the bars open later) and had a rather pleasant night.

Motodaai Out.

Motodaai

Its weird how after even just a short this place feels familiar. Kathmandu and Nepal has not lost it's charm, but how I view things have changed. I suppose I am quick to become accustomed to places. Because of my comfort level rising, I am finding it harder and harder to write about interesting things that happen here. Instead it feels like things are just happening. So I am going to try to talk about some of the interesting things I have observed during my now 2 week stay in this amazing country.

The first thing that comes to mind are the glue sniffers. These gangs of boys between the ages of 5 and 16 are all over the place in Thamel. Actually the seem to be located EXCLUSIVELY in Thamel. Here is the rundown on them. You see them sitting on the street breathing deeply from plastic bags. There are usually between 4 and 10 of them in any given group. And they have clearly established territories. They walk up to you one or two at a time and beg for money. Giving it to them is kinda pointless, because the moment they get a few rupees they dash off to a store and buy glue. If you instead offer to buy them some food they usually walk away or change what they want. See... They will ask you to buy something non-perishable so that as soon as you leave they sell the goods back to the shopkeeper for a little less than what you paid for it, and THEN they buy glue. Which is another part of the problem.

The shopkeepers are accomplices in their addiction. Actually most of the shopkeepers are in on any of the street scams that happen in Thamel. Another popular street scam is a woman will approach you clutching a baby. She will beg you not to give her any money, but please come with her to a store and buy some canned or powdered baby formula. Well if you buy it for them ($10) they will wait for you to leave, and sell it back to the shopkeeper for a nice little profit. After some snooping (and eventually asking Michael) it turns out that many of the women just share a baby to beg with, and hand it off after they have made enough money for the day.

Some other advice for the would-be traveler to Nepal, Don't get hit by a car/bus/truck. I know that seems like very straight forward advice, but here it can be even worse than just the injury received from an accident. In Nepal the law is if you injure someone in an accident, you must pay for ALL their medical bills until they reach 100% recovery. If you injury someone in a way that will require constant medical care, you will have to pay for that. However. However, if you simply kill someone in an accident, you only have to pay a flat price to that person's family. So, sometimes, when someone gets hit by a car/bus/truck, they will back over them, or try to hit them again just to kill them because it will cost them less in the long run! I repeat, DO NOT GET HIT BY AN AUTO IN NEPAL.

Last night I officially got my Nepali nickname. Here I am now referred to as Motodaai. Loosely translated it means Very Big Brother. Translated exactly it means Fat Older Brother. I actually really like the nickname because they don't mean the fat part in a big way. They are just unabashedly, totally, brutally honest here in Nepal. They tell you exactly what they think about anything. And there is no motivation behind it other than communication. David Driver (46) got the nickname Grandpa because he looked a little weary and hard-traveled.

Here they don't have the same sense of "proper" conversation that we have in the west. Actually I think we suffer from it in the west. Here what people think is what they say to each other. It lacks the complexity of western interpersonal relationships. The best way to describe the way they communicate is "refreshing."

Motodaai Out.

Cheap and Best

We headed out to Bhaktipur on Tuesday to do some work at the Woman's Center. I spent the entire day with Prakash, the manager/clerk of the Center. He is a smart guy who is really into his job. Actually he is a nerd, so we got along great. I showed him how to better use outlook and better keep his records in a western style. I also tried to institute the new communication system that Michael had me develop for Citta. So far so good.

After Bhaktipur we went to Roadhouse (again) but I didn't have the pizza this time. Had a few glasses of red wine and talked about The meaning of life, the universe, and everything. It was David's last night in Kathmandu so we decided to celebrate by going out to Reggae Bar and have a few drinks. Weeeeeeeellllll a few drinks turned into a few more drinks and a fun time was had by all. The music was really good, the staff was really friendly, and the drinks were cheap enough. On this momentous occasion, David officially Dubbed Kathmandu the city of Then, Now, and Tomorrow.

The reason we came up with this name was because Nepal is experiencing a political revolution, agricultural revolution, industrial revolution, sexual revolution, woman's liberation, Bad hair of the 80's, AIDS epidemic, rise of cellphones, and the Age of the Internet all at once. Kathmandu is like looking at NYC develop in stop-motion. Skyscrapers are being built next to goat farms. Marijuana is being smoked openly in bars that are forced to close at 11pm due to strict public policing. Cellphones are being used by people who don't know what a radio is.

Because of all this development, Nepal has some serious growing pains. Things in the west happened slowly, over time. In Nepal, everything seems to be happening all at once. Because of the rapid development here, the population does not have the (very little) wisdom of the proper use of technology we have in the west. Seeing some of the social policies and unspoken rules of Nepal has given me insight into the impact of technology on society. I am not passing judgment on the advances of civilization, I just realize that left unchecked, and without wisdom to accompany knowledge, the modern world can be a pretty intimidating place.

Wrap Party, Nepali Politics, Miami and Morocco, Don't Drink the Water

So the past few days have been very busy(fun).

Monday night was the wrap party for David's filming project. It was hosted at Cafe Mitra in Thamel, Kathmandu. This place has some amazing food, and a great atmosphere. I had the opportunity to talk to Renu Chatra, David's translator for his film, and starting that day she is a senior journalist at the Kathmandu Post. First day on the job and she got on page one. After many congratulations and some red wine I asked her to describe her perception of the political situation in Nepal. I figured if a senior journalist didn't have an opinion about it, no one would. Here is a run down of what information I was able to gather.

The Maoists essentially ran on the platform of we will fix Nepal and repair the shattered(and mostly non-existant) infrastructure. Renu was kind enough to remind me that what little infrastructure Nepal had was in fact shattered by none other than the Maoists. Despite their violent history, Renu felt that the Maoists were the best bet for the rural and more-backward regions of Nepal.

That being said, even though the Maoists control most of the 601 seats of their "Congress" They are essentially crippled due to the fact that they do not have an overwhelming majority. Due to this lack of voting majority, the Maoists have been forced to form alliances with other parties. The other 2 major players in the congress refuse to deal with the Maoists on principle, so the Maoists are forced to court the smaller WGF. The WGF is a brand new political machine in Nepal that was formed in the wake of the Maoist success. This party is largely located in the Terai region of Nepal, that realized its power and influence when it decided to completely cut Nepal off from all Indian imports for a few days. The Terai region of Nepal is the low flat land that shares a border with India, and most, if not all of Nepal's imports come through this region.

This interim government has a 2 year time-line to write a new Nepali Constitution, and they haven't even started. So Renu, and many other locals I have spoken to, are not optimistic about the way the government is heading, but they are happy for peace, and security.

After the wrap party, we joined a woman named Wanda for some drinks at a very stylish place called Thomas. White sheets hung from steel rafters, low lights and dramatic shadows, and low table with couches around it gave this place what David Driver described as a "Morocco meets Miami" feel to it. Good drinks, and even better company ended the evening on a very high note.

More to come, My stomach problem is back.

The Election (as not seen from Nepal)

One thing that I have been constantly thankful for on my trip here is that I have heard blessed little from McCain or Obama. Every time I see a headline with Obama or McCain's name in it I immediately turn my head away and keep walking. This is something I would not have been able to do in the US.

Most of the people who I have met here feel the same way I do. The election is going to happen, I have cast my vote, and I do not care anymore. I don't need to know who McCain is getting money from, or what Obama did as a child. It is not important. It doesn't matter. Have I said that it isn't important?

The reason is this. They have been campaigning for over a year. IF you don't know about the candidates now, you either a) don't care, b) live in Nepal, or c) live in the US, but under a rock.

I say all these negative things about the election, but in reality I miss all the hype, the illusion I used to have that any bit of information about the candidate was so important and necessary to my every day life. It took a few thousand miles, a few rounds of Puja with the local Porcelain Deity, and 2 weeks of detox, but I finally understand that the election has been over for months. The only thing keeping it going was the lack of a vote.

Here whenever someone is trying to sell you something they will ask who you are voting for. Its their way of getting you invested in them, and by extension, their product. Ahh.... reminds me of home.

Kathmandu Art Scene

So after a brief bit of work at the Citta Nepal office (This time without the overpriced Taxi) I arrived back in Thamel for some R&R. I am coming down with a cold, so R&R primarily means black tea with lemon and a nap.

A few hours later I am awakened by Michael Daube RUSHING into the room and telling me to get up we are going to an art gallery opening on the other side of the King's Palace.

Now.... I like art. I appreciate art. And I even like some of this guys pictures. However I am not an art gallery guy. Thankfully this was a gallery/cafe called Imago Del. Good food, nice atmosphere, and there was even a nice warm fire to warm up by.

I just hope this cold doesn't get the better of me.

On to some musings. I have been learning Nepali while here. And while it is VASTLY different from every western language, some things apparently never change. It was something I had learned from Anthropology, but until you experience it it is hard to internalize. People communicate more through their body language than their mouth.

Gestures reign supreme when you can't talk to people. And it is such a basic and pure form of communication that you can get a lot of information accross than if you wasted the time to try to teach each other the language. A few things to note about gestures in the east however. Shaking the head from left to right, while in America and most of the western world means "No." Here it is "Yes, Ok"

Another gesture that I find very interesting in Nepal is the 2 handed pass off. Nepali tradition states that it is considerd polite to hand someone something with both hands. That goes back many thousands of years supposedly. However in the modern day and age it has evolved into a new type of gesture. Now you are polite by touching your left hand to the inside joint of the elbow while handing with the right hand. You see it happening everywhere, and unless someone points it out to you, or you spend enough time here, you may just miss it.

Speaking of miss. I miss you all, but it is time to go for dinner.

What to do?

Today was my first day of actual work here in Nepal, and it felt goooooooood. As much as I enjoyed the fun times and the parties I really came here to help Mike out with some communication and budget issues. So I met with Sushila today at the Citta Nepal office and went over some of he things Michael wanted me to talk to her about.

The Citta Nepal office is located about 10 minutes from a place called Bhouda Stupa, which is a HUGE shrine that you are supposed to circumambulate an odd number of times while reciting a Bhuddist mantra. After a few hours of office work with Sushila she insisted that I must see the Stupa.

It was impressive to say the least. The Stupa occupied about 1 acre as far as I can tell and has huge white walls on top of which sits an extremely large dome. The dome is then topped with a large minaret that appeared to be plated in gold. The eyes of Buddha stare at you wherever you are while walking around the Stupa.

The best part? Getting ripped off by the taxi driver going to AND from the Citta Nepal office. Ke Garne? Which translates loosely to "Eh, Whatever." and literally translates to "What to do?"

Nepali Socialites, Crazy Scots, Polite Canadians

So the past few days have been kinda crazy.

I went from living in my hotel room only leaving for work, to go to Java for some internet time, or to grab a fresh roll of toilet paper, to going out to weird clubs, meeting Nepali socialites, and hanging out with some crazy Scots. There is no "short story" on this one so I am just gonna go for the long one.

Monday was the first day I started feeling better from my "Delhi Belly" as my Scottish friends call it. So I tried to haed to Bhaktipur to do some work at the Women's Center. I called Binod (Presidend of Citta Himalaya) and asked if he or Prakash would be around today. The short answer was "No." The long answer was if I left for Bhaktipur immediately I might have 20 minutes to do some work. So I asked him if Tomorrow would be good. Turns out Tuesday is the beginning of the "full swing" of Tihar, so all the offices would be closed and Binod said he would not be available. So that completely shot all my hopes of getting any work done there before Friday.

I decided to head over to Java and grab a cup of tea and read my new book, Skinny Legs and All by Tim Robbins. I was working on the internet when I was approached by an Indian guy named Maneesh. He was having some difficulty connecting to the internet and asked if I could help out. I tried, but just as we were getting somewhere the power went off. So Maneesh invited me to sit down and have some company. We started talking and I found out some interesting things about Maneesh.

1. He is originally from Winnipeg Canada
2. He is a Med Student at a teaching hospital in Pokhara
3. He was meeting some Nepali friends

He invited me to hang out with him that night. We met up with a few friends of his and went to a place called the Reggae Club. It is a rooftop Rock Bar in Thamel Kathmandu. The band was simply excellent. The lead singer was a little Nepali guy with a pony tail and he was belting out the Rolling Stones, U2, Bob Marley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and many others perfectly. I was simply amazed.

After the club closed at 11PM (everything in Kathmandu closes at 11 due to a curfew) We exchanged numbers and Email information and decided to meet for brunch at Java.

The following day I met him and his friend Nabina at Java and we went to a really good Indian food place called Anatolia. Nabs is a very sweet, very interesting, very rich Nepali 20 something who just finished her Nursing school and is planning on moving to New York to be a nurse. She would not be out of place on Park Avenue.

After lunch we met up with a friend of Nabs named Amit and he drove us around Kathmandu. Amit is a well to do owner of an Import/Export company. We ended up at a very chic place called Ga Zebo on the Kings Way. We all sat around and talked and had a few drinks. During the course of this little get together about 10 of Nabina and Amit's friends showed up. All these people are the daughters or sons of very well to do Nepalis. I went from knowing near no one in Nepal to hanging out with the rich hipsters. It was surreal.

I got a ride back to Thamel from Amit and while walking back to my hotel I got stopped in a lot of pedestrian traffic. It was here that I ran into my new Scottish friends. The asked me if I knew anywhere good to eat, and when I responded with more than one option they insisted that I join them for dinner. So we went to the Roadhouse and had some delicious Pizza. Turns out these Scots had been traveling in India for the past month and a half. Needless to say they ravaged the pizza. After doing some club hopping with my new friends it was time to say goodnight. We agreed to meet in the morning at Pumpernickle for some breakfast.

Today (Wednesday) I hung around with the Scots and took them to most of the interesting places that Michael had showed me. We headed down to New Road to try to find an SD card for their camera, hit up the bead market to pick up some trinkets, and even tried to get some of the Samosa's that Michael had boasted to be the best in the world. Everything went fine except for the Samosa. Turns out they shut down the shop for Tihar.

Today everywhere we went was a HUGE party. People had set up speakers in the streets and were blasting Nepali Techno and dancing. The best way to describe it is about 2 steps down from a riot. At around 5pm today we decided to take a break and try to get a nap in so that we could be refreshed for tonight's festivities.

Well the nap never came for me because I headed over to the internet cafe and met up with a very nice Canadian man in his 60's named Ken. He asked me for some help because he was not sure if he was sending email properly. I agreed, but all the computers at the Cafe were occupied. He urged me to accompany him for a cup of tea.

Turns out Ken is 67 and just got back from a 14 day trek around one of the mountains near Everest. This guy was in shape. We had some polite conversation regarding what we were doing in Nepal and wht we did back home and our families. After which he again urged me to accompany him for some dinner. He asked me if I knew any good spots. All I could think was here I go again. I asked him what he was in the mood for and he replied "Pizza." So yet another trip to the Roadhouse for me!

After dinner we went back to the internet cafe and I helped him with his email issues, and that essentially has been my past few days. Michael comes back tomorrow, and I need to clean the hotel room. It got a little messy due to my convalescence. My new Nepali friends insisted that I attend a Halloween Party on Friday, so hopefully I will have time to attend that. And my Scottish friends have just walked in and we are about to head out for my 3rd fun night in a row!

Thank you to everyone who comments, its nice to hear from you guys!

Travel Sick

Ok.

So I am sitting here in Java (my local internet café) and for the first time in 3.5 days I feel like it is ok to eat something. One thing I have discovered from my travels is that when you get sick. Do. Not. Eat. Anything. At. All. The only thing that food will do is feed whatever is making you sick in the first place. So I spent the last 3 days eating almost nothing. I say almost because on day 2 I tried a little bit of food and found it to be a mistake.

Today marks day 10 of my travels. 10 days back home doesn’t really seem like a lot. But here… time takes its time. It is really odd, because when I am walking around going to all these ancient sites in Nepal and walking through the old city, it seems like an hour passes too quickly. But the minute someone tries to pass off some worthless piece of plastic as an “antique” that 10 second interaction feels like it takes forever. If you walk for 10 minutes through Kathmandu you will have this conversation 10 times.

Street Vendor “Hey, Sir!” “Hey, Sir!”

Me: “No thank you.”

Street Vender: “Very pretty, you take look”

Me: “No thank you.”

Street Vender: “You want Knife/Chess set/Flute/Violin/Purse/Taxi/Rickshaw?”

Me: “No thank you.”

Street Vender: “Where you going?”

Me: - silence – (Never tell them where you are going, they will always try to suggest somewhere better)

Street Vender: “Very good deal! I make you good deal. Only X Rupees.”

Me: “No thank you.”

At this point it is usually best to cross the street or weave through traffic to escape. Oddly enough I find myself missing the subtle advertising of America. Where I am staying in Kathmandu is the embodiment of commercialism. I also miss the subtleties of American drug dealers and pimps. I am offered Marijuana, Hash, Cocaine, Heroine, and Prostitutes whenever I am not having something else sold to me. I really miss Bahktipur, where the woman’s center is. Things are much quieter there. The people are also more friendly.

Its odd how that works, the less people are trying to sell me something, the more friendly they seem.

So I was supposed to start working on some projects for Citta this week while Michael is up in Humla, however I ran into a snag. Tomorrow the festival Tihar starts! The entire country is going to be basically shut down for one week. From what I have been able to gather from people is Tihar is a festival celebrating siblings, specifically sisters celebrating brothers. During this festival all sisters are supposed to give their brothers some kind of charm that will provide good luck for the upcoming year. (I don’t know what it looks like yet, but I bet by tomorrow I will have seen enough of them) So apart from some other work I have to do, It looks like I will just be hanging out in the Thamel section of Kathmandu for a few days waiting for this festival to end so I can get back to work.

The reason I haven’t really uploaded any new photos is because it takes about 10-15 minutes to upload one picture. So when I have a chunk of time to just sit at a computer at an internet café and watch a status bar slowly slide toward 100% I will be sure to show you some of the sights I have seen.

Java

I am sitting in a cafe in Kathmandu called Java right now. Michael has gone with filmmaker David Driver to a clinic that Citta runs which is about 4-5 hours away by jeep. So today I am finally on my own in this really amazing city. So what am I going to do today to celebrate my independence? Work.

Michael has figured out what he really wants me to do here in Nepal. Citta is a fairly spread out organization. And there is A LOT going on in the organization. Many many projects and all of them are growing. But something that has not grown with the organization is the available information on what all the projects are doing, what they have done, and who is involved in them. So I am going to gather information and find a way to communicate this information both internally in Citta, and externally to the general public.

A quick recap as to what I have been doing so far in Nepal.

2 days ago I went to Bhatapur which is an ancient city not too far from Kathmandu. It is where Citta Himilaya's Woman's Center is located. This center takes impovershed women and gives them an opportunity to better their situation by teaching them a trade, and then employing them in that same trade. The women are found from the local community and taught how to knit, sew, weave, and many other crafts, and then they are employed by Citta Himilaya for a wage that will help feed their families, pay for their childrens education, and also improve their general quality of life. It is essentiall the exact opposite of a sweat shop.

One of the other things that is important for the women to learn at this center is their worth. The center does not only train women in their craft, but empowers them to realize that as people, they have rights and privelages, as well as responsibilities. The women who work at this center are very proud of the work they do, and because their needs are being met, they realize that they have a responsibility to help others in need.

While at the Woman's center I spoke at length with the President of Citta Himilaya. He is a well to do man who is extremely good natured. He is the kind of person I hope to become good friends with. He took some time to show me around his shop and I learned about the different qualities of Pashmina and Silk. He and Michael talked about some women that might be good additions to the center and also how to help the center grow and become completely self-sufficient.

Yester day Michael and I stayed in Kathmandu for most of the day and worked on the type of information that he wants me to gather, and came up with a plan of action. I really hope that I am able to get everything he wants.

Today I am sick. A little bit of traveller's stomach it seems. Nothing too serious and nothing I can't handle. The jetlag is finally completely gone, and I have adjusted to the elevation of Kathmand which I have been told is 1,000 meters. The elevation mixed with the jetlag was a debilitating combination. But I seem to have finally settled into a groove. I am going to be posting photo's to my Picasa site after this post and they can be found here:

William's Photo Album

I dont know when I am going to be able to post again, but I will try to keep it every 2-4 days.

Out

Kathmandu!

So after a rush to the airport and a mad dash for the plane we have arrived in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. The flight was short, only about an hour, but the view for the last 15 minutes was absolutely spectacular. I really wish I had had the foresight to have my camera ready for some amazing pictures of the base of the Himalayas. I will be sure to have it ready for the flight out of here to Delhi.

Dr. Yeshe Lodoe Lama met us at the airport. He is the President of Citta Nepal, and also the primary doctor at the hospital in Humla. He seemed very down to earth and an over all good man.

Michael gave me a brief tour of Kathmandu. This city/country is leaps and bounds different from India. The population is much less dense here than in India. Wheras India has over 1 billion people, nepal has less than 30 million. Kathmandu is a very happening city, with interesting night clubs and fantastic restauruants.

Michael and I went to one of his favorite places called the Roadhouse. This place has the best pizza I have had more than 50 miles outside of New York. It was well decorated and charming, in an west-invades-east sense. After wandering around our area (called Thamel) we went to a dance club/cabaret that didn't really have a name. It was a really hard to get a read on the place. There was traditional Nepalese singing, which seems to be centered around the relationships between men and women. The songs all followed the same structure. First a woman or group of women would sing, then there would be a chorus, then some random drunk man would be handed the mic and sing a verse, followed by yet another chorus. Michael explained to me that they were singing folky tongue in cheek verses meant to amuse. The part I found the most funny was watching the drunk Nepale men try to come up with something witty on the spot. A good time was had by all.

It looks like I am going to be spending about 3 weeks in Kathmandu working with the office clerk of he Hospital.

Out

Arrived

After a 14 hour flight from JFK in NYC I arrived in Delhi International Airport at 4pm local Indian Time(5:30 AM NYC time). The flight was rather uneventful, apart from some minor turbulence. Michael and I sat in the very last row of the plane, and there was an extra seat between us, so we had some elbow and foot room to spare. The in flight movies were all things I have seen, things I did not want to see, or Bollywood Movies. So I ended up watching a very funny, and shamelessly Ironic Bollywood movie called Om Shanti Om. The movie itself was iconic Bollywood. It had shameless dance scenes, and referenced many other Indian Cinema, most of which needed to be explained to me by Michael. All in all I would give suggest this movie to anyone who wants to see an Indian film but does not know anything about Bollywood.

Leaving the plane is always an experience in developing nations or foreign cultures. Everything seems normal and routine until you inhale. That first breath is the first real indication that you are in a completely new world. While European and American airports are sterilized of pretty much everything, the airport in Delhi is heavy with the smell of people. There is no reference in western society for the smell of India.

After passing through immigration, customs, and baggage claim with no problems, we headed over to the duty free shop to pick up a bottle of wine for dinner with our hostess in India. Wine in India is notoriously bad. Not like cheap wine bad, but like undrinkable swill bad. However we managed to find something drinkable and moved on to the Taxi.

Our taxi driver was careless, reckless, and lost the entire trip to Sashi's house. It was pretty much a normal car ride in India. Michael and I counted only 7 times where we almost had a head on collision, which is pretty much as good as one could hope to get from a taxi ride in Delhi. After a few "personal" stops for our taxi driver, and another 10 or so stops for him to ask directions, we finally arrived at Sashi's house in Subhash Nagar. Subhash Nagar is a middle class neighborhood in Delhi, and Sashi has a beautiful home. This area of Delhi can be compared to brooklyn for those of you following along at home.

After a delicious dinner and a bottle of wine Sashi, Michael and I stayed up till about 1 am Delhi time talking about Religion, Politics, Philosophy, Art, Culture, History, Math, and why none of that stuff matters anyway. At this point it was getting hard to keep my eyes open or concentrate. I was perceiving the world through a filter of exhaustion. So We all decided to call it a night. I fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.

Woke up after only 5 hours of sleep (damn jetlag). And now I am writing this blogpost before heading off to the first shower I have had in over 36 hours of travel. Needless to say I am looking forward to washing my trip off myself. More to come later.