Biker Babes in Bhaktapur

When in Nepal, do as the Nepalis do... hop on the back of a motorbike and honk your way through traffic until you reach your destination. Ours was the ancient city of Bakhtapur, a living heritage displaying the vibrant depth of Newari culture. The city is rich in architecture, paintings, carving, masonry, bronze casting, jewelry and pottery.

We arrived on motorbikes, thanks to our Nepali pals, and after shaking off the many touts who wanted to be our guides, we explored the town on our own. We came upon many Lonely Planet "recommended places" to visit but soon found ourselves in a paper making factory that was quite fascinating.
The paper was made by a painstakingly tedious procedure... from scooping the pulp and sometimes dying it, to the cutting, hand gluing, stitching and silk screening of each card. We were convinced to come see the factory, above the famous peacock window, but then not only enjoyed the visit, we managed to drop a few rupees on beautiful handmade cards. The tour peaked when he took us up to the 7+ storey of the house to see the view of the entire Bhaktapur area.

We then were treated to the local version of potter's square where we received a full demonstration of how to make a little bowl in 16 seconds. Truly remarkable! The potter's wheel he used was an old truck tire that he made spin using a long stick. Then, after applying a big blob of clay he made bowl after bowl after bowl.

After a delicious lunch we were back on the bikes for the thrilling ride home!

Up on the roof...

We are writing to you from the rooftop of the Padma Hotel, with a view of the stupa while sipping an Everest Beer. First full day in Kathmandu and lots to talk about already. Arrived in KTM on time and were greeted by Karma's smiling face and a lei of marigolds. Drove through the craziness that we've come to love to arrive at the Padma hotel in Boudhanath.

Exhausted but feeling completely relaxed, in a zen-like state we had a big pot of Nepali tea with Karma, Nyima, Pemba, Neema, Lhakpa Yangzum, Tashi and Tashi! We faded during dinner but not before we secured our plans for the next 3 days.

Day 1: loooooooooooong breakfast with lots of tea, local bus adventure ride to Thamel to Neema and Karma's place for more tea. This, according to Tanya, has been the best tea (cinnamon leaf and masala) ever. En route Tanya jumped out of the way of another pedestrian on a narrow precipice and landed her left foot in a giant pile of mud/who knows what that claimed her shoe... the first casualty of the trip. Tashi, her now knight in shining armor, first rescued and then resurrected her shoe. Not only did he scoop it out of the mud but he then washed (cleaner now than the other) and hung it to dry in the sun. After a satisfying dal bhat. with more refills than we cared for, we set off on a mini shopping adventure.

Souvenirs now in hand we headed to Ratna Park for a microbus trip home. Squeezed, and I mean sqeeezed, into the back (picture face plastered on the glass) of the microbus we had an amusing ride back. Then, off to our favourite Garden Kitchen for chili fried momos and paneer tikka masala with garlic naan. We met computer/director/magic/banner Tashi who gave us a sim card that we put in Mads spare device and we now have a phone! That's a first!

Plans are...breakfast with Chaudhary Sir and Roshan, then Bhaktapur by motorbike. Thursday, Pati Banjang by jeep and a 2-hour walk to the village of Thakani to visit the school and the health post. Next day off to Sermathang... walk, bus, walk for 2 more nights to visit Yangrima school.

More tomorrow.... Namaste and goodnight.

What can you do?

We are now on our way to Nepal, sitting in the airport in Abu Dhabi and looking forward to our trek up to the village of Thakani to see the school, the playground that the students from SJK built last year and the new health post.

The first time we met Roshan Chaudhary in 2003, son of the Headmaster of Dhauleshowary, R.N. Chaudhary and his wife Sabita Miss, also a teacher at the school, he was a young boy. Although he was shy and soft-spoken, he had a smile that could melt your heart. He proudly showed us around the village, including an abandoned health post, in perfect condition, just on the outskirts of the village boundary. We were told that this was built and stocked by a Scandinavian group but the project was cancelled because visas and interest ran out. He proclaimed then, that he would like to one day be a doctor and reopen the health post because it was badly needed by the people of the region. Our tour continued to see the school, then quite small, the village shop, and finally his family’s home, a tiny adobe room above the stable where the water buffalo slept – pretty basic by any standards.

We are about to embark on another visit back to the Dhauleshowary School – now a lower secondary school – offering classes up to grade 8 to some 130 children from the surrounding villages. We have had a close relationship with R.N. Chaudhary and his family over the years and have watched both his children grow. We sponsored their daughter, Joyti, through her nursing education and she graduated in Sepetember 2009. Their son, Roshan, is the younger sibling and is now finishing his second year at the Lord Buddha Academy, Nepalgunj Medical College. We have talked about the health post each time we’ve visited as it is the parents’ dream to see it reopen and be staffed by his children. Both Joyti and Roshan have promised that if they would be given the opportunity to do so, they would practise medicine at this health post.

Roshan is in need of sponsorship as medical college in Nepal is very expensive. Although R.N. Chaudhary is the headmaster at the village government school, his salary is the same as that of a teacher in Kathmandu. He is able to live comfortably in the village on this salary but is by no means able to pay for tuition, boarding, lodging and books for Roshan.

Roshan remains motivated and positive and hopes that sponsorship will be found for his medical education. He wishes to continue his studies and work towards this dream of bringing health care back to Thakani and the surrounding villages of Sindupalchowk.

How can you help? For those who would like to donate online you can do so through the organization, called the Canada Nepal Medical Society (CNMS www.cnms.ca) and click on 'associated projects for specific information. You can then specify which project you would like to donate to. 3% is taken by “Canada Helps” which is the organization that provides an internet presence for many charities and the ability to make a donation on line. Tax receipts will be issued for donations over $20.00.

Stay tuned for updates and pictures as we near our destination. Thanks to those who have already given so generously.

We are back!

Hi Everybody,

It's been a while. But we are back now. We are about to embark on our next adventure to Kathmandu. We that is Jude and Rob, Liz and Eric and Tanya, Zena (I hope I got the spelling right) and myself, Mads. Tanya, Jude and I will leave this Saturday, February 25th. We will be checking on our friends in Sermathang, Thakani and Kathmandu before the rest of the gang arrives the following week. This time around we are not organizing any races. Very sad, I know. It was just way too amazing and we didn't want to try to top a once in a lifetime experience. So this time we'll be just hiking a little bit. We're going to be in the Annapurna region and hike the circuit. They keep telling me that the pass that we are going to cross is about 5416m high. Yikes. So somebody please tell me why I live in flat country farmland Waterloo on about 5m above sea level with no mountain anywhere close by to train for that? But of course we're not just hiking a little bit? We are doing a little fundraising here and there as well. No big events or anything. We decided that we want to support a graduate of the Thakani school, Roshan, to go to medical school. Thakani has a little medical post that is unstaffed and abandoned. The headmaster's daughter went to Nursing school with the help of fundraising that Jude and Rob did. Both 'kids' want to go back to their village to staff the medical post and bring health care to their home village and the surrounding villages. Medical school is expensive even in Nepal where everything seem to be so cheap. We have decided to help out. How can you help us help? Stay tuned for more details. Soon we'll post more details about the trip and also the fundraising efforts.

Namaste,
Mads