WE MADE IT!! 

Barbra and I arrived on Monday the 28^th after a long journey from Birmingham to a not so busy Kathmandu. Previously, when I have arrived in Kathmandu there have been hordes of taxi drivers wanting my custom but the taxi rank was unusually quiet. According to our taxi driver there is a fuel shortage caused by the minority (who are not happy with Nepal’s constitution) blocking the boarder to India and therefore stopping the importing of fuel and some foods.

After checking into Stupa guest house and meeting Jack (the resident pug) we were able to cool off and then go out to explore Thamel and get some food.

On Tuesday the 29^th we were able to visit two big book shops and start collecting resources ready to be delivered into the schools. Ektor books had a large collection of both English and Nepali books and some with both Nepali and English translations. We then visited ECEC and were able to buy a big collection of toys and other, more tactile, resources; including a small tent, blow up balls, Lego and many other things.

On Wednesday the 30^th Barbra, Ruth (a lady we met staying in Stupa house) and I went to visit Durbar Square in the morning. After most of the city looking intact from the earthquake apart from the odd house or wall having severe damage it was really brought home in Durbar Square the destruction that the earthquake caused. As can be seen in the pictures many of the temples have been completely destroyed and piles of rubble are left in their place. After some food and a cold drink we all headed back into the sun to go to the Garden of Dreams. As always the gardens were stunning with a whole variety of different plants and flowers. The main building for the Kiser café had been shut due to earthquake damage, which again was a constant reminder or the destruction that it had caused. We thought that going to explore the Kiser library was another good option however, that was also closed due to earthquake damage which was a real shame.

The morning of the 1^st we got ready for the 10 hour bus journey out of Kathmandu valley and across the country to Tansen, Palpa. Up to midday the journey was okay as the air wasn’t too hot, but as soon as we got onto the Tari the heat was unforgiving and the bus driver was constantly stopping trying to get more fuel. We were about half an hour out of Tansen when we found a petrol station that allowed us to have 2L of fuel, even though we weren’t regular customers, which was a relief. The views along the way were absolutely stunning which did make putting up with the heat a lot more bearable. Once off of the bus we were greeted, with Tika of course, by Saran (our coordinator) and Sargaar (a friend of Manisha UK) who helped us carry some of our things up to the office and then get a taxi up the steep hill to Horizon Homestay. Once we had arrived there we were then greeted again by the Bashyal family, more Tika and lots of photographs. We then had our first proper Nepali meal of rice and curried vegetables which were just as delicious as I remembered.

We allowed ourselves a lie in after our traitorous journey the previous day. We had a small breakfast at Horizon and then we started to make our way down the town to have a second breakfast with Saran’s parents. Along the way Barbra was able to say hello and greet people that she has already met previously. Do a little bit of shopping for the office for things that we needed then arrive back at the homestay to send emails back home.