I'm back on English soil, so this will be my last post under the guise of Far From Home, although I'm considering keeping up the blog but about different things... I normally hate lists but so many people have asked what were my favourite/worst moments, how many miles did I travel etc that I've decided lists are the best way to do it.
The stats: 6 months travel , 28493 miles in airplanes(~ 4 metric tonnes of CO2 = 8 trees to offset), >3000 miles in buses and 5 countries.
Top 5: beautiful places
1. Sunrise over Annapurna range from Poon Hill, Nepal
2. Grand Canyon - Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia
3. Night sky - Western Australian Desert
4. Parsa Village - Dang, Nepal
5. Coral Bay - Western Australia
Top 5: Moments
1. Walking with the girls, Blue Mountains
2. Evening prayer at HVP school
3. Gliding over vineyards in Hunter Valley, Australia
4. Counting stars in Parsa
5. Dancing to New Orleans Jazz in New York.
Bottom 3: Moments - because it wasn't all fun!
1. Loosing my Camera in Boston - kind of self explanatory here!
2. First night in youth hostel in Perth Australia - the air con was noisy, the dorm was full of unfriendly people who snored and it was my first day away from Phil.
3. Arriving in the noisy, smelly, bewildering and sticky city of Bangkok - not sure I'd go again!
I travelled on the train back up to Leeds today, the train manager advertised cheese and onion pastie as the lunch special of the day - home sweet home!
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Are you Californian?
I soak up accents like a sponge, I was the only girl at school who could 'do' a Geordie accent due to spending one week with some geordies at a horse camp. So travelling around must be playing havoc with my accent, even though I am unaware of the changes. Today i have been accused of being Californian, Australian, Scottish (by an American who was particularly proud at not calling a Scot English, I let him think he was right!), Texan and most surprisingly someone who was convinced that my accent sounded like I'd lived in South America for a couple of years! Very very confusing.
I arrived in the old town of my namesake town Philadelphia yesterday evening, to be greeted by a rather ominous looking 28 person dorm room - I'm sure even boarding school students don't have 28 bed dorms! in a hostel decorated entirely in a hideous orange and green colour combination... not a good start. However after my initial trepidation, Philly has proved really interesting. As one of the oldest towns in American, the home of the Declaration of Independence, and the Liberty bell I've been stocking up on my American history (history older than 1800!) and getting my fix of really cute rows of houses with beautiful coloured shutters. I also ran up the famous Rocky steps at the museum of art, although I have to admit I've never seen Rocky and so initially had no idea why all these people were running up the steps to the art museum...
Aside from the history though there is a really bustling art scene and i spent most of yesterday afternoon wandering round teh Magic Gardens on South Street. this project was started in the 60's when the town council was threatening to knock the whole area down. A group of artists started to cover a whole block of houses with mosaic tiles. the area survived and today there are three houses covered inside and out with a variety of mosaics made from mirrors, tiles, bicycle wheels, broken plates, wine bottles - you name it and these artists have put it into a mosaic. the whole effect is amazing. Its so colourful, bright and yet strangely disorientating. The area surrounding the houses has become a mecca for local art galleries and street artists. Some of the work for sale in teh streets was amazing (and incredibly cheap) I had to restrain myself from buying a 3ft x 2ft canvas of London for $60 (it was really beautiful I'm now kinda regretting not buying it) with the reasoning how was I going to get it home! (I didn't reject the piece without first taking it to the UPS shop and asking how much it would be to ship to England, needless to say the cost was prohibitive for a $60 piece of art work.
As well as lost of history the sounds of the pier last night rocked to a free concert of jazz music, which I attended with some of the girls from the giant hostel room - I love cities that promote free music concerts, its such a good way of getting different types of music to those who can't afford to see it otherwise, plus concerts add a whole new element to teh music. Tonight I'm going to another concert R&B this time, followed by fireworks. Should be fun :)
I arrived in the old town of my namesake town Philadelphia yesterday evening, to be greeted by a rather ominous looking 28 person dorm room - I'm sure even boarding school students don't have 28 bed dorms! in a hostel decorated entirely in a hideous orange and green colour combination... not a good start. However after my initial trepidation, Philly has proved really interesting. As one of the oldest towns in American, the home of the Declaration of Independence, and the Liberty bell I've been stocking up on my American history (history older than 1800!) and getting my fix of really cute rows of houses with beautiful coloured shutters. I also ran up the famous Rocky steps at the museum of art, although I have to admit I've never seen Rocky and so initially had no idea why all these people were running up the steps to the art museum...
Aside from the history though there is a really bustling art scene and i spent most of yesterday afternoon wandering round teh Magic Gardens on South Street. this project was started in the 60's when the town council was threatening to knock the whole area down. A group of artists started to cover a whole block of houses with mosaic tiles. the area survived and today there are three houses covered inside and out with a variety of mosaics made from mirrors, tiles, bicycle wheels, broken plates, wine bottles - you name it and these artists have put it into a mosaic. the whole effect is amazing. Its so colourful, bright and yet strangely disorientating. The area surrounding the houses has become a mecca for local art galleries and street artists. Some of the work for sale in teh streets was amazing (and incredibly cheap) I had to restrain myself from buying a 3ft x 2ft canvas of London for $60 (it was really beautiful I'm now kinda regretting not buying it) with the reasoning how was I going to get it home! (I didn't reject the piece without first taking it to the UPS shop and asking how much it would be to ship to England, needless to say the cost was prohibitive for a $60 piece of art work.
As well as lost of history the sounds of the pier last night rocked to a free concert of jazz music, which I attended with some of the girls from the giant hostel room - I love cities that promote free music concerts, its such a good way of getting different types of music to those who can't afford to see it otherwise, plus concerts add a whole new element to teh music. Tonight I'm going to another concert R&B this time, followed by fireworks. Should be fun :)
Thursday, 25 June 2009
I think I've found my ideal job... while at one of the Smithsonian museums yesterday i found the children's science lab. Inside there we're three chemists playing with Lego (to explain organic chemistry) and making bangs and explosions for the kids - what fun.
So I've finally made it to Washington D.C. and the last week of my trip. Back into full tourist mode, after the relaxation of Cape Cod, I've been on tours of the White House, the Capitol building, National Museum of American History (highlight being Kermit the Frog...), the Holocaust museum, danced to Welsh folk music (?!? - Smithsonian folk festival which basically consists of Welsh, Mexican and African American folk, they are showign teh similarities between them all with a final concert with a welsh harpist and male voice choir, performing with Maraichi band and a gospel choir - wish I was here for that). I am currently in the student union of Georgetown University (Alma Mata of Bill Clinton).
D.C. is hot! 97 F for the Imperialists ( ~35 C for the Europeans amongst you). But the city is really great, I've learnt more about American history than I really ever needed to know, and its pretty amazing to see the places where decisions that affect us all take place. For instance did you know that the room that originally housed the Senate (I stood on the square where Lincoln had his desk) has a strange acoustic trait that means its impossibly hard to hear the person sitting next to you, but you can hear people at the other side of the room loud and clear? Or that the original Capitol building was nearly burnt to the ground by the British in 1815? Or that the oldest house in DC was built in 1765 - which makes it more modern than most Oxford colleges. A host of stereotypes were then displayed by two lovely ladies from Mississippi "oh my god! its so old, (then turning to me), I bet you've never stepped foot in a building this old before" - then upon learning that I'm from England where many buildings are this old "my ancestors are from England, from London, do you know any of my relatives" ?!? Surprisingly we failed to find any of her relatives that I knew - I tried explaining that the UK has a population of ~60million but...
Seriously though D.C. is a great city, there is an efficient and clean public transport system (admittedly the metro crashed on Monday killing 9 people, so maybe the systems not that safe), the museums are free (thanks to a legacy set-up by Englishman James Smithsonian who wanted to educate the American people, even though he never went to America) and everyone I've met has been extraordinarily friendly.
I've finally found a way of using the internet so should be able to update my blog more often for the last couple of days. Finding internet access during the second half of my trip has been harder than expected! Australia had internet cafes on every corner, I think due to its status as a backpackers mecca. Nepal had a number of internet cafes, I suspect this is how most Nepalis get online, but the power situation was so bad that finding and internet cafe with power got to be quite difficult at times. At the other end of the scale America has no power troubles, but is also not as popular with backpacker type travellers. Every second cafe has free wifi access, but i have no computer to access it with. Sublime to ridiculous?!? Anyway I finally found out, via a trip to Borders to browse the travel guide section, that FedEx Kinkos offers internet access. This took looking in 12 separate DC travel guides, asking bewildered student attendants at book shops and getting hopelessly lost in possibly the largest book shop I've ever been in. Its the simple things that are hardest right?
Oh well today I'm taking a break from monuments and museums and am exploring Georgetown, looking round some amazing boutiques that would make Paris proud and reading Obamas book in the Park. Tomorrow I sample the wonder that is Amtrak (Americans have pretty much abandoned trains for long distance travel, so I'm quite intrigued to see what the trains are like?) and head north to Philadelphia.
So I've finally made it to Washington D.C. and the last week of my trip. Back into full tourist mode, after the relaxation of Cape Cod, I've been on tours of the White House, the Capitol building, National Museum of American History (highlight being Kermit the Frog...), the Holocaust museum, danced to Welsh folk music (?!? - Smithsonian folk festival which basically consists of Welsh, Mexican and African American folk, they are showign teh similarities between them all with a final concert with a welsh harpist and male voice choir, performing with Maraichi band and a gospel choir - wish I was here for that). I am currently in the student union of Georgetown University (Alma Mata of Bill Clinton).
D.C. is hot! 97 F for the Imperialists ( ~35 C for the Europeans amongst you). But the city is really great, I've learnt more about American history than I really ever needed to know, and its pretty amazing to see the places where decisions that affect us all take place. For instance did you know that the room that originally housed the Senate (I stood on the square where Lincoln had his desk) has a strange acoustic trait that means its impossibly hard to hear the person sitting next to you, but you can hear people at the other side of the room loud and clear? Or that the original Capitol building was nearly burnt to the ground by the British in 1815? Or that the oldest house in DC was built in 1765 - which makes it more modern than most Oxford colleges. A host of stereotypes were then displayed by two lovely ladies from Mississippi "oh my god! its so old, (then turning to me), I bet you've never stepped foot in a building this old before" - then upon learning that I'm from England where many buildings are this old "my ancestors are from England, from London, do you know any of my relatives" ?!? Surprisingly we failed to find any of her relatives that I knew - I tried explaining that the UK has a population of ~60million but...
Seriously though D.C. is a great city, there is an efficient and clean public transport system (admittedly the metro crashed on Monday killing 9 people, so maybe the systems not that safe), the museums are free (thanks to a legacy set-up by Englishman James Smithsonian who wanted to educate the American people, even though he never went to America) and everyone I've met has been extraordinarily friendly.
I've finally found a way of using the internet so should be able to update my blog more often for the last couple of days. Finding internet access during the second half of my trip has been harder than expected! Australia had internet cafes on every corner, I think due to its status as a backpackers mecca. Nepal had a number of internet cafes, I suspect this is how most Nepalis get online, but the power situation was so bad that finding and internet cafe with power got to be quite difficult at times. At the other end of the scale America has no power troubles, but is also not as popular with backpacker type travellers. Every second cafe has free wifi access, but i have no computer to access it with. Sublime to ridiculous?!? Anyway I finally found out, via a trip to Borders to browse the travel guide section, that FedEx Kinkos offers internet access. This took looking in 12 separate DC travel guides, asking bewildered student attendants at book shops and getting hopelessly lost in possibly the largest book shop I've ever been in. Its the simple things that are hardest right?
Oh well today I'm taking a break from monuments and museums and am exploring Georgetown, looking round some amazing boutiques that would make Paris proud and reading Obamas book in the Park. Tomorrow I sample the wonder that is Amtrak (Americans have pretty much abandoned trains for long distance travel, so I'm quite intrigued to see what the trains are like?) and head north to Philadelphia.
Monday, 22 June 2009
Pilgrims, Rain and a visit from Phil
Phil arrived on Thursday evening for teh weekend. Being the dutiful girlfriend I made my way on the bus up to Boston and sat in the airport for 2 hours waiting for his plane to land - the difficulty of th American public transport system meant a two hour wait. Unfortunatly in this two hour period I have managed to loose my camera and with it all my Nepal photos... The irony is I was getting worried about not having backed up that I was taking the camera to Boston to find a photo shop that would accept my 8GB card as no shops on the Cape had the equipment. After much tears and ringing every lost and found office in Boston I've accepted that the camera and more importantly my photos are gone. Luckily I have a CD of Australia photos up until the last week of Sydney and there were other people in Nepal who I can steal from. So really all thats lost is a fantastic shot of Mount Everest that I was planning to enlarge and frame and my photos of New York...
Aside from loosing my camera on the way between the Cape and Boston I visited the Plimouth Plantation which is a replica 1627 village representing the colony from the MayFlower. As well as the period role play actors in the pilgrims village there are Wampanoag people the native American tribe who origionally settled the New England area. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon learning about the Wmapanoag people - i was shocked to learn that there are only 2 museums in the US that have Native Americans as staff to talk about their own culture, all other museums about the native Americans have non-native American curators! It was also interesting to find out about the share arrangements that let the Mayflower and other Plymouh pilgroms sail out. Its quite incredible to think that in 1627 North America was really sparesly populated (1/2 colonies) and yet by 1700 the population had exploded and its easy to find evidence of proper houses from that time all around New England.
The next days we explored Boston (in the rain), which is a great city, our tour was helped by Phils old boss who showed us round the best parts and then showed us an amazing bar at the top of a sky scrapper with amazing views of the city. We then spent a rainy weekend on the Cape, exploring the old towns and looking in art galleries.
Today I made it to Washington DC - after a flight which was delayed by boston storms for 6 hours... had a great time exploring Capitol hill, the Library of Congress and the Mall. Tomorrow I do more museums and then head to Gerogetown for the day on Thursday.
Aside from loosing my camera on the way between the Cape and Boston I visited the Plimouth Plantation which is a replica 1627 village representing the colony from the MayFlower. As well as the period role play actors in the pilgrims village there are Wampanoag people the native American tribe who origionally settled the New England area. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon learning about the Wmapanoag people - i was shocked to learn that there are only 2 museums in the US that have Native Americans as staff to talk about their own culture, all other museums about the native Americans have non-native American curators! It was also interesting to find out about the share arrangements that let the Mayflower and other Plymouh pilgroms sail out. Its quite incredible to think that in 1627 North America was really sparesly populated (1/2 colonies) and yet by 1700 the population had exploded and its easy to find evidence of proper houses from that time all around New England.
The next days we explored Boston (in the rain), which is a great city, our tour was helped by Phils old boss who showed us round the best parts and then showed us an amazing bar at the top of a sky scrapper with amazing views of the city. We then spent a rainy weekend on the Cape, exploring the old towns and looking in art galleries.
Today I made it to Washington DC - after a flight which was delayed by boston storms for 6 hours... had a great time exploring Capitol hill, the Library of Congress and the Mall. Tomorrow I do more museums and then head to Gerogetown for the day on Thursday.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears...
Mmm one post a week... not good, I'll try to do better!
So the Cape is experiencing one of the coldest Junes in a long while, its raining and not yet touched more than 20 degrees! Which means rather than laying on the beech working on my tan, I've been helping Mikey (my cousin) with Junior English homework, "Describe how Shakespeare uses rhetorical questions in persuasive speech, illustrate your point uses text from Anthony's funeral speech in Julius Ceaser"... Answers on a postcard please :)
So this week has been graduation and prom week for Katrina, my eldest cousin. Leaving high school is such a big deal out here, its kind of overwhelming. Very different from BGS's "see ya and don't fail your A-levels speech"... although to be fair I do remember getting dolled up for the sixth form ball. On Wednesday after endless rounds of hairdressing appointments, manicures, pedicures (me and my Aunt did this one) etc etc Katrina and friends left for the Prom. They looked gorgeous! Some of the dresses alone were worthy of the red carpet. Before arriving at the prom they all made their way to various friends houses and then onto the park by the ocean for hundreds and hundreds of photos. I've never seen so many stretched limos and beautiful dresses congregate in a park! Quite an experience...
The prom (and prom worry by my aunt) was soon over to be replaced by graduation worries. Basically all the year group, class of '09, get together in the gym for speeches, get given their diplomas and throw hats in the air. I learnt lots of new terms, that somehow years of cheesey American teen dramas have failed to teach me:
Valedictorian: Person who gets highest grades in class.
Class President: I don't think we had anything like this at school, I suppose the closest would be head boy/ girl. I think they arrange the class events etc including prom.
Salutatorian: Second highest ranking student.
Basically all these students got up and delivered addresses at the graduation ceremony. The children then all went off with hidden bottles of alcohol to various graduation parties around the cape: great fun - more worry for parents!Oh well, I'm home in 2 weeks. Next stop Boston, then Washington before heading to Philadelphia (for Ken).
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Travels on a Greyhound
New York is quite un-American in some respects... I think this is why I enjoyed the city so much. For instance most people don't own a car (rather like London) and get around on a rather excellent (if a little confusing) public transport system that runs throughout the night (why can't the tube run throughout the night?!?) or make their way on foot (revolutionary as most US cities are strangely devoid of pavements). I was most worried upon leaving the party on Friday and noticing that it was 4am... taxis to the other end of Manhattan are not cheap and I assumed that public transport would be out of the question - surprisingly though I wandered to the subway stop and up pulled a train that made its way helpfully to the stop just outside my hostel - amazing. It was interesting that even at 4am the subway was quite packed, and not only with hobos and drunkards, perhaps NYC really is the city that never sleeps...
The next day I awoke at 7am (why my body can't let me sleep in is a complete mystery!). I spent the day wandering round lower Manhattan and the villages - stopping off again at teh Brooklyn bridge (for sunny photographs!) Around Brooklyn bridge I heard a strange thing - the sounds of Metallica, closely followed by a Pink Floyd tune. Being a fan of music and a definite lover of street performance (free!) I decided to investigate. Stepping under the bridge (something my sense would normally tell me was probably a dodgy area!) I was confronted by the sight of hundreds and hundreds of youths all with skate boards... Again my sense of self preservation would normally kick in and thinking the worst of people carrying skateboards I would probably have left. Then I noticed a couple of police officers drinking cans of Red Bull and rather comically trying to skate board - something about officials on skate boards is hilariously funny. So I investigated further, it turns out I'd stumbled quite haphazardly on some kind of skate competition. On closer inspection there were cameras from MTV as well as loads of young boys idolising their skating hero's. The whole set-up was quite cool, the bridge had been made into an impromptu skate park, there was music (I heard everything from Bob Dylan through to the Dave Brubeck Quartet right back round again to some scary rap types) and the obligatory Red Bull girls in skimpy shorts. Quite an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a bit.
The next day I spent a very enjoyable morning reading in Central Park and watching the world go by. On a completely side note since being away I have read over 40 books - which is an average of one every 3 days... I've just started the first offering from Barack Obama about the life of his father and race issues in America (written before he became a politician). The afternoon was spent at an open gallery in a converted warehouse in Brooklyn, before heading out for pizza and beer.
The next day I travelled to Cape Cod. It was really quite interesting to watch New England pass by. Including some rather beautiful little towns just off the highway...
This week is Prom week for my eldest cousin - which is great fun. We've had dress alterations, nails to be manicured, hair dyed... watch this space. Interestingly prom night is one fo the most dangerous nights on America roads as lots of illegally drunk 18 year olds try to find their way home from after prom parties! Wish us luck :)
The next day I awoke at 7am (why my body can't let me sleep in is a complete mystery!). I spent the day wandering round lower Manhattan and the villages - stopping off again at teh Brooklyn bridge (for sunny photographs!) Around Brooklyn bridge I heard a strange thing - the sounds of Metallica, closely followed by a Pink Floyd tune. Being a fan of music and a definite lover of street performance (free!) I decided to investigate. Stepping under the bridge (something my sense would normally tell me was probably a dodgy area!) I was confronted by the sight of hundreds and hundreds of youths all with skate boards... Again my sense of self preservation would normally kick in and thinking the worst of people carrying skateboards I would probably have left. Then I noticed a couple of police officers drinking cans of Red Bull and rather comically trying to skate board - something about officials on skate boards is hilariously funny. So I investigated further, it turns out I'd stumbled quite haphazardly on some kind of skate competition. On closer inspection there were cameras from MTV as well as loads of young boys idolising their skating hero's. The whole set-up was quite cool, the bridge had been made into an impromptu skate park, there was music (I heard everything from Bob Dylan through to the Dave Brubeck Quartet right back round again to some scary rap types) and the obligatory Red Bull girls in skimpy shorts. Quite an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a bit.
The next day I spent a very enjoyable morning reading in Central Park and watching the world go by. On a completely side note since being away I have read over 40 books - which is an average of one every 3 days... I've just started the first offering from Barack Obama about the life of his father and race issues in America (written before he became a politician). The afternoon was spent at an open gallery in a converted warehouse in Brooklyn, before heading out for pizza and beer.
The next day I travelled to Cape Cod. It was really quite interesting to watch New England pass by. Including some rather beautiful little towns just off the highway...
This week is Prom week for my eldest cousin - which is great fun. We've had dress alterations, nails to be manicured, hair dyed... watch this space. Interestingly prom night is one fo the most dangerous nights on America roads as lots of illegally drunk 18 year olds try to find their way home from after prom parties! Wish us luck :)
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Sightseeing
Its quite strange to be a tourist again - quite lonely being on my own again - but nice to be in charge of my own time! My sightseeing has been somewhat marred by the exceedingly heavy rain to hit the Manhattan Island the last couple of days... seeing the drizzle on Thursday I decided to opt for a museum day, I should however have checked the weather forecast and realised it was going to get worse and save museums for today. Oh well hindsight is a wonderful thing, right?!?
Thursday morning I set off across Central Park towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Central park is actually surprisingly small, in fact Manhattan is surprisingly small, very walkable if you have the time. After racing the joggers (some of whom were jogging slower than I was walking) I made it to the Met, which is a caviverous maze of a building with lots of different wings and three floors each dedicated to different areas of art and design. Armed with the Lonely Planet, I checked out the Egyptian collection which is probably the most famous collection at the Met. Sorry to all the Egyptologists out there but Ancient Egypt just doesn't do it for me. Its amazing to look at all the statues and the mummification's are cool (if not a little gruesome), but there just isn't the wow factor for me... or at least that's what i thought until i reached the Egyptian jewelry section. Wow! I didn't realist how much gold, beads and intricate jewelry the Egyptians had, some of it is just stunning and its amazing how alot of the pieces wouldn't seem out of place if worn today. Another impressive part of the exhibit is the Shackler wing which house a temple donated to the Americans to save it from being flooded, it was quite surreal to be walking through an Egyptian temple housed inside a very modern (very beautiful) glass exhibition room complete with its own moat to surround the temple.
After making my way haphazardly through the Egyptian collection I found myself in the American rooms exhibit. This covered three floors and involved walking through living rooms from famous houses through the ages of America. Again i am showing my ignorance, but I didn't realise how wealthy some parts of America became so quickly. Some of the interior design was incredible and wouldn't of looked out of place in the palaces and gentry homes of Europe. Although it was interesting walking through all these rooms and quite impressive looking at wealth of these early American, it would have been quite nice for the exhibition to show more variance. I am quite sure that not all Americans lived in such opulence! I'm also quite certain that alot of the immigrants to America brought alot of their own culture with them and it would have been nice to see more on how these people married their own culture with the American one in their homes. The high point (for me anyway) was the open storage at the end of the exhibit, this consisted of a huge room with rows and rows of glass cases each containing hundreds of chairs, clocks, chests, dolls houses etc all lined up. This represents the part of the collection that couldn't be placed in the exhibits. Its nice to see it all on show, I know lots of museums lock away the non-permanent collections in the vaults, it was quite nice to see some of it on display - although to be surround by all these cases was a little disorientating.
Next I headed up to the Model as a Muse exhibition, which is sponsored by Marc Jacobs and details the rise of the super model and how models help designers change the face of fashion. This was a really well put together exhibition, there were some incredible exhibits showing some beautiful dresses ( I sneakily took photos of loads to see if I can recreate them at home - although just how many Galliano, and Dior imitation ball gowns does a girl need?). It was particularly interesting to note how the ideas of what a model should look like changed through the ages, and also to chart the fame of the super models...
It then took me 15 minutes to find the exit to the museum as I skipped through European painting (interesting but...), suits of armour (not that interesting), photography (really good, but I was hungry at this point!) and eventually the gift shop (which seemed to be larger than most exhibition halls...)
I then finished my stroll through central park along 5th Avenue, stopping for a hot dog and pretzel from a street vendor. I then reached the the end of Central Park and Millionaires row, complete with the De Beers, Bulgari, Gucci and Armani shops to finally reach the Rockefeller center my next port of call.
The Rockefeller center land was originally intended as the home for the Metropolitan opera, but then the Great Depression hit and the opera pulled out. Rockefeller decided that he still wanted to build something on the site and decided to fund the project himself. The resultant 70 floor building is now home to part of NBC studios - I saw the end of the 'Today Show' being filmed - the Rockefeller music hall (home to the Rockettes) as well as being a business and shopping complex. My destination is the 'Top of the Rock' observation deck on the 67,68 and 69 floor which afforded some stunning views over the city.
I ended the evening at a Belgium themed jazz evening, complete with moules et frites! A half of Belgium beer cost $8! All in all quite a good night though and I was defiantly ready for bed by the time I climbed off the subway at 11pm.
Today I decided (rather stupidly) to brave the rain and check out Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty and then the original plan was to walk back through Soho, Little Italy and into Greenwich Village (the 'hip and arty' areas of New York). However as the rain got worse and my shoes began to leak I called it a day and decided to head back after seeing only Wall Street and the site of the World Trade Center (now just a big building site). I've decided that sky scrappers are distinctly unimpressive from under an umbrella!
Tonight I'm heading to the Lower Eastside to hear a New Orleans DJ doing something new with 60's dance tunes.... could be interesting!
Thursday morning I set off across Central Park towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Central park is actually surprisingly small, in fact Manhattan is surprisingly small, very walkable if you have the time. After racing the joggers (some of whom were jogging slower than I was walking) I made it to the Met, which is a caviverous maze of a building with lots of different wings and three floors each dedicated to different areas of art and design. Armed with the Lonely Planet, I checked out the Egyptian collection which is probably the most famous collection at the Met. Sorry to all the Egyptologists out there but Ancient Egypt just doesn't do it for me. Its amazing to look at all the statues and the mummification's are cool (if not a little gruesome), but there just isn't the wow factor for me... or at least that's what i thought until i reached the Egyptian jewelry section. Wow! I didn't realist how much gold, beads and intricate jewelry the Egyptians had, some of it is just stunning and its amazing how alot of the pieces wouldn't seem out of place if worn today. Another impressive part of the exhibit is the Shackler wing which house a temple donated to the Americans to save it from being flooded, it was quite surreal to be walking through an Egyptian temple housed inside a very modern (very beautiful) glass exhibition room complete with its own moat to surround the temple.
After making my way haphazardly through the Egyptian collection I found myself in the American rooms exhibit. This covered three floors and involved walking through living rooms from famous houses through the ages of America. Again i am showing my ignorance, but I didn't realise how wealthy some parts of America became so quickly. Some of the interior design was incredible and wouldn't of looked out of place in the palaces and gentry homes of Europe. Although it was interesting walking through all these rooms and quite impressive looking at wealth of these early American, it would have been quite nice for the exhibition to show more variance. I am quite sure that not all Americans lived in such opulence! I'm also quite certain that alot of the immigrants to America brought alot of their own culture with them and it would have been nice to see more on how these people married their own culture with the American one in their homes. The high point (for me anyway) was the open storage at the end of the exhibit, this consisted of a huge room with rows and rows of glass cases each containing hundreds of chairs, clocks, chests, dolls houses etc all lined up. This represents the part of the collection that couldn't be placed in the exhibits. Its nice to see it all on show, I know lots of museums lock away the non-permanent collections in the vaults, it was quite nice to see some of it on display - although to be surround by all these cases was a little disorientating.
Next I headed up to the Model as a Muse exhibition, which is sponsored by Marc Jacobs and details the rise of the super model and how models help designers change the face of fashion. This was a really well put together exhibition, there were some incredible exhibits showing some beautiful dresses ( I sneakily took photos of loads to see if I can recreate them at home - although just how many Galliano, and Dior imitation ball gowns does a girl need?). It was particularly interesting to note how the ideas of what a model should look like changed through the ages, and also to chart the fame of the super models...
It then took me 15 minutes to find the exit to the museum as I skipped through European painting (interesting but...), suits of armour (not that interesting), photography (really good, but I was hungry at this point!) and eventually the gift shop (which seemed to be larger than most exhibition halls...)
I then finished my stroll through central park along 5th Avenue, stopping for a hot dog and pretzel from a street vendor. I then reached the the end of Central Park and Millionaires row, complete with the De Beers, Bulgari, Gucci and Armani shops to finally reach the Rockefeller center my next port of call.
The Rockefeller center land was originally intended as the home for the Metropolitan opera, but then the Great Depression hit and the opera pulled out. Rockefeller decided that he still wanted to build something on the site and decided to fund the project himself. The resultant 70 floor building is now home to part of NBC studios - I saw the end of the 'Today Show' being filmed - the Rockefeller music hall (home to the Rockettes) as well as being a business and shopping complex. My destination is the 'Top of the Rock' observation deck on the 67,68 and 69 floor which afforded some stunning views over the city.
I ended the evening at a Belgium themed jazz evening, complete with moules et frites! A half of Belgium beer cost $8! All in all quite a good night though and I was defiantly ready for bed by the time I climbed off the subway at 11pm.
Today I decided (rather stupidly) to brave the rain and check out Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty and then the original plan was to walk back through Soho, Little Italy and into Greenwich Village (the 'hip and arty' areas of New York). However as the rain got worse and my shoes began to leak I called it a day and decided to head back after seeing only Wall Street and the site of the World Trade Center (now just a big building site). I've decided that sky scrappers are distinctly unimpressive from under an umbrella!
Tonight I'm heading to the Lower Eastside to hear a New Orleans DJ doing something new with 60's dance tunes.... could be interesting!
Thursday, 4 June 2009
NYC...
Its been awhile since I've updated my blog - hopefully with better Internet and 24 hour power supply I should be better. I left Nepal on Monday evening - the trip to teh airport was in itself quite an adventure. The Newari community of the Kathmandu Valley had called a general Bhanda (strike) for the 1st of June. Apparently one year ago the Newari petition to the government to have the Newari language taught in schools and to have Newaris more involved int he leadership of the valley was rejected (the Newaris are the traditional inhabitants of the valley and are famous for their fantastic metal work skills and tired temples). The Newaris have now moved on to asking for the Kathmandu valley to be a semi-autonomous area run by a Newari government. This is one of the main sticking points in the Nepali constitution at the moment - part of the peace agreement is that he government should set up different administrative districts in Nepal but there is disagreement whether this should be done along ethnic lines or geographical lines. I suspect that geographical lines is the best option if Nepal is to be divided (although why such a small country needs to be divided is systematic of how far from cooperation the Nepali people have come) - the ethnic communities in Nepal are now so spread out (due in part to refugees from the Maoist conflict and in part from economic migration to teh Kathmandu Valley), that borders drawn on ethnic lines will mean that some ethnic groups are alienated in their adopted home... This doesn't look good for the future peace of Nepal! Anyway the general strike meant that all the roads, shops etc were closed (think burning tyres and young boys with guns and no brains!). I was left with two options - my personal favourite of walking the 40 minutes to teh airport and the schools favourite (driven by a desire to look after the volunteers) to carry my bag on the back of a motorbike and sneak round to the airport via the small roads... needless to say I lost the walking argument (they were worried that the quickest way to walk was on the main roads and they didn't want me to see the blockades) Oh well I eventually reached the airport and made it through to Abu Dhabi for a 12 hours stop over - very very boring!
Now I'm in New York -immigration that I'd been so worried about (horror stories abound in the back packing community) was easy. A case of how long are you here, what are you doing? Ok enjoy your trip! I reached my hostel at 6pm and set about exploring Broadway to try and keep myself awake for a couple of hours. I enjoyed my first hot shower in too long - I'd forgotten how nice it is to not have to brace yourself for a shower - ate bagels (yay!), drank some wine, had a hair cut (4 inches off and hair now looks acceptable again) and went to a beauty parlor for a facial to try and remove some of the ingrained dirt from Kathmandu.
Yesterday I went shopping - ok i should probably be more touristy and see the sights on the first day, especially as it is now pissing it down so i'm forced into a museum day today! But I'd run out of clothes - in my bag were two kurtors, sari material, wrap round trousers, 5 pashminias (presents), a Nepali flute (gift for me) and some Nepali hats (gifts for brothers)... however my bag only contained one pair of western style trousers and 2 western style t-shirts... Shopping completed (well at least to a passable level of clothes now) I looked round Times Square and ate more bagels (when in Rome).
Its been quite a culture shock (as expected). Mainly I am amazed a the sheer quantity of food on other, I have yet to get close to finishing a meal. Also I'm amazed by the number of obese people walking the streets. I suppose it is more evident after Kathmandu, where a serious number of the population suffer from malnutrition, but really...
Oh well today I go to the Met. and then hopefully the rain will have stopped! I need to walk only small distances as my feet are now unused to shoes and I have hideous blisters (but beautiful new shoes!)
Now I'm in New York -immigration that I'd been so worried about (horror stories abound in the back packing community) was easy. A case of how long are you here, what are you doing? Ok enjoy your trip! I reached my hostel at 6pm and set about exploring Broadway to try and keep myself awake for a couple of hours. I enjoyed my first hot shower in too long - I'd forgotten how nice it is to not have to brace yourself for a shower - ate bagels (yay!), drank some wine, had a hair cut (4 inches off and hair now looks acceptable again) and went to a beauty parlor for a facial to try and remove some of the ingrained dirt from Kathmandu.
Yesterday I went shopping - ok i should probably be more touristy and see the sights on the first day, especially as it is now pissing it down so i'm forced into a museum day today! But I'd run out of clothes - in my bag were two kurtors, sari material, wrap round trousers, 5 pashminias (presents), a Nepali flute (gift for me) and some Nepali hats (gifts for brothers)... however my bag only contained one pair of western style trousers and 2 western style t-shirts... Shopping completed (well at least to a passable level of clothes now) I looked round Times Square and ate more bagels (when in Rome).
Its been quite a culture shock (as expected). Mainly I am amazed a the sheer quantity of food on other, I have yet to get close to finishing a meal. Also I'm amazed by the number of obese people walking the streets. I suppose it is more evident after Kathmandu, where a serious number of the population suffer from malnutrition, but really...
Oh well today I go to the Met. and then hopefully the rain will have stopped! I need to walk only small distances as my feet are now unused to shoes and I have hideous blisters (but beautiful new shoes!)
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Dang
I haven't wrote for awhile. I returned from Dang at 11pm on Wednesday, and have spent the last couple of days writing and marking class tests for over 200 students! I've really been enjoying the teaching thing but don't think I'm cut out for all this marking! But as promised i will give the story of my trip to Dang.
Two other volunteers, Head Sir, the drivers wife and one of the kitchen girls set off at 4am in the morning on Saturday. Dang is only 400km away but the quality of the roads leaves alot to be desired and there are some quite significant hills in the way meaning that our estimated journey time was over 12 hours. As it happened we completed the journey in a little over 13 hours but we stopped lots for food breaks. Driving out of hte Kathmandu valley we followed one of only 2 roads out of Kathmandu towards the south west of hte country. The first part of the road winds round the edge of an incredibly steep hill while avoiding the river raging below in the valley. This is the most dangerous road in Nepal and we saw the wreckage of a couple of trucks and a bus as we travelled down the valley. At Mugeling the road spilts and you can either keep in the mountainous region and head towards Pokhara (the start of most treks) or head into the plains, towards India and the Terai (the bread basket of Nepal), we choose the later. In Mugeling we saw a group of Spanish game show contestants who were trying to get around Nepal spending no money. They climbed on our roof for 20 minutes of the journey until reaching Gorkha (the town from which the famous Gurkha regiment gets its name). From Mugeling onwards the scenery starts to change from breathtaking hills into never ending plains, the rivers that rushed down the valley start to slow down and join up with others to head on their way to India and to joint the Holy Ganges. At a junction of three of these rivers we stopped to pick up head Sir's mother -Ama.
The Nepalese belief that the junctions are holy and so the junction of three rivers all heading to the Ganges is an incredibly holy place. At this junction is what can best be described as a Hindu home for the aged. As the elders of the family increase in age, to lessen their contact with the family and hence their connection with the world, the older people spend more and more time on retreats and in meditation centers. It was from one of these centers that we picked up head Sirs mother from. We were greeted by tens of very old ladies stuffing bananas and sweets into our hands and placing tikas on our head as blessing. The village itself had an incredible atmosphere - not like the slightly sad and desperate atmosphere that is so prevalent in Western old peoples homes. Each and every person was approaching old age with such serenity and peace, having accepted that they will leave behind the body that they now occupy and will go on to another life ( Hindus believe in cycles of birth, death and rebirth). That is not to say that the folks were resigned and waiting for death more that they were enjoying their moments in these bodies but were not scarred or anxious about the next stage.
Moving onto the next part of the journey (rather uncomfortably wedged between Ama and the kitchen girl - with Ama stroking my arm as she couldn't believe skin could be so white!) we reached the Terai area. We were slightly nervous about this part of the trip, in teh last couple of months the Terai area has been paralysed a number of times by strikes which stop all movement on the roads and could have left us camping in scorching hot, humid weather until the boys (definately immature boys rather than men - more later) decide that they have had their fun and allow normality to resume. Although I am scaving of the strike perpetrators they actually have a point. The Terai area used to be occupied only by The Thauru ethnic group as this was the only group of people that were immune/ had herbs that cured malaria. However once malaria was eradicated from teh incredibly fertile land people moved in from the surround hills. The largely uneducated Thauru people were ejected from their homes and many ended up in a cycle of bonded labour... The strikes are part of the campaign for land rights, education rights and the rights to used their language. However a good cause does still not justify the means!
Finally we reach the area of Dang and the city of Gorahi where the Hindu Vidyapeeth school, Dang is situated. A couple of miles outside of the town is the small village of Parsa, home to the Children's Peace Home who were our hosts for the next 3 days. The CPH is a home for children from disadvantaged communities or orphaned children. They provide a secure environment and teach valuable life skills like organic farming, sewing, cooking and basic building skills. Never before have i been in such a place which has such a peaceful atmosphere. The children all work like a large family (despite some of the horrible stories that some have associated with them). There is such a sense of hope and gratitude for the opportunity they have been provided with. Each evening they get together for singing hymns (Hindu hymns) and dancing (Hindu hymns have a bit more life than the majority of English ones!). The buildings themselves are incredibly simple mud huts surrounded by farmland ( had a go at ploughing the land using the Ox's!). The children are all sponsored through HVP-UK and attend the local HVP school Dang. The CPH is still in its infancy (2 years old). I worry what will happen to the kids when they leave school as they have no family, so will rely on teh schools contacts to try and get scholarships to college or to find a small patch of land on which to farm. One of the students Sagar is just finishing his school leavers certificate and dreams of studying engineering. He's incredibly clever but will probably have to give up on his dream as he doesn't have the money to study in Kathmandu or apply for a visa to the US or UK (which would cost around 500 pounds) I promised him i would look into ways to help him but i think he is slowly giving up on his dream and accepting that maybe a teacher in the local school is as high as he can aim...
The next couple of days we attended a couple of programs in the local area. One day we were blocked from reaching our venue by one of the impromptu strikes set up on the road. Head Sir still wanted to go so we had to get some of the villagers to give us a lift on their motorbikes across the fields. It is considered immodest for a girl in this part of Nepal (quite a conservative area) to ride a motorbike the proper way - so we had the comical image of three white girls, dressed in saris trying desperately hard to look elegant while riding a motorbike side saddle fashion! I nearly fell off two times much to the amusement of the local children who chased by bike for the whole 5km journey... Oh well perhaps a career as a dare devil is not the best path for me!
In addition to the programs we were also privileged to be invited into teh Yogi temple in Ghorahi. Non-Hindus are normally not allowed inside the temples so this was a great honour. The head priest spent well over an hour explaining the Yoga philosophy to us which was really interesting and made a lot of sense... I particularly liked the willingness of the priest to admit when his religion did not have an answer for something - rather than resorting to answers which sound ridiculous in the light of modern science.
Finally it was time to head back to Kathmandu, this time the journey took 17 hours due to strikes and a visit to Lumbini - the birth place of Buddha. More on that in another post!
In other news a bomb went off in Kathmandu today, the target was a Christian church that had been converting Hindus. Two people dies including a 16 year old girl. It makes me so sad that in a country which is famed for its religious tolerance such acts can happen.
Also if anyone wants to make a donation to support the good work for the Childrens Peace Home they can do so by contacting HVP-UK http://www.hvpuk.org.uk/ .
Two other volunteers, Head Sir, the drivers wife and one of the kitchen girls set off at 4am in the morning on Saturday. Dang is only 400km away but the quality of the roads leaves alot to be desired and there are some quite significant hills in the way meaning that our estimated journey time was over 12 hours. As it happened we completed the journey in a little over 13 hours but we stopped lots for food breaks. Driving out of hte Kathmandu valley we followed one of only 2 roads out of Kathmandu towards the south west of hte country. The first part of the road winds round the edge of an incredibly steep hill while avoiding the river raging below in the valley. This is the most dangerous road in Nepal and we saw the wreckage of a couple of trucks and a bus as we travelled down the valley. At Mugeling the road spilts and you can either keep in the mountainous region and head towards Pokhara (the start of most treks) or head into the plains, towards India and the Terai (the bread basket of Nepal), we choose the later. In Mugeling we saw a group of Spanish game show contestants who were trying to get around Nepal spending no money. They climbed on our roof for 20 minutes of the journey until reaching Gorkha (the town from which the famous Gurkha regiment gets its name). From Mugeling onwards the scenery starts to change from breathtaking hills into never ending plains, the rivers that rushed down the valley start to slow down and join up with others to head on their way to India and to joint the Holy Ganges. At a junction of three of these rivers we stopped to pick up head Sir's mother -Ama.
The Nepalese belief that the junctions are holy and so the junction of three rivers all heading to the Ganges is an incredibly holy place. At this junction is what can best be described as a Hindu home for the aged. As the elders of the family increase in age, to lessen their contact with the family and hence their connection with the world, the older people spend more and more time on retreats and in meditation centers. It was from one of these centers that we picked up head Sirs mother from. We were greeted by tens of very old ladies stuffing bananas and sweets into our hands and placing tikas on our head as blessing. The village itself had an incredible atmosphere - not like the slightly sad and desperate atmosphere that is so prevalent in Western old peoples homes. Each and every person was approaching old age with such serenity and peace, having accepted that they will leave behind the body that they now occupy and will go on to another life ( Hindus believe in cycles of birth, death and rebirth). That is not to say that the folks were resigned and waiting for death more that they were enjoying their moments in these bodies but were not scarred or anxious about the next stage.
Moving onto the next part of the journey (rather uncomfortably wedged between Ama and the kitchen girl - with Ama stroking my arm as she couldn't believe skin could be so white!) we reached the Terai area. We were slightly nervous about this part of the trip, in teh last couple of months the Terai area has been paralysed a number of times by strikes which stop all movement on the roads and could have left us camping in scorching hot, humid weather until the boys (definately immature boys rather than men - more later) decide that they have had their fun and allow normality to resume. Although I am scaving of the strike perpetrators they actually have a point. The Terai area used to be occupied only by The Thauru ethnic group as this was the only group of people that were immune/ had herbs that cured malaria. However once malaria was eradicated from teh incredibly fertile land people moved in from the surround hills. The largely uneducated Thauru people were ejected from their homes and many ended up in a cycle of bonded labour... The strikes are part of the campaign for land rights, education rights and the rights to used their language. However a good cause does still not justify the means!
Finally we reach the area of Dang and the city of Gorahi where the Hindu Vidyapeeth school, Dang is situated. A couple of miles outside of the town is the small village of Parsa, home to the Children's Peace Home who were our hosts for the next 3 days. The CPH is a home for children from disadvantaged communities or orphaned children. They provide a secure environment and teach valuable life skills like organic farming, sewing, cooking and basic building skills. Never before have i been in such a place which has such a peaceful atmosphere. The children all work like a large family (despite some of the horrible stories that some have associated with them). There is such a sense of hope and gratitude for the opportunity they have been provided with. Each evening they get together for singing hymns (Hindu hymns) and dancing (Hindu hymns have a bit more life than the majority of English ones!). The buildings themselves are incredibly simple mud huts surrounded by farmland ( had a go at ploughing the land using the Ox's!). The children are all sponsored through HVP-UK and attend the local HVP school Dang. The CPH is still in its infancy (2 years old). I worry what will happen to the kids when they leave school as they have no family, so will rely on teh schools contacts to try and get scholarships to college or to find a small patch of land on which to farm. One of the students Sagar is just finishing his school leavers certificate and dreams of studying engineering. He's incredibly clever but will probably have to give up on his dream as he doesn't have the money to study in Kathmandu or apply for a visa to the US or UK (which would cost around 500 pounds) I promised him i would look into ways to help him but i think he is slowly giving up on his dream and accepting that maybe a teacher in the local school is as high as he can aim...
The next couple of days we attended a couple of programs in the local area. One day we were blocked from reaching our venue by one of the impromptu strikes set up on the road. Head Sir still wanted to go so we had to get some of the villagers to give us a lift on their motorbikes across the fields. It is considered immodest for a girl in this part of Nepal (quite a conservative area) to ride a motorbike the proper way - so we had the comical image of three white girls, dressed in saris trying desperately hard to look elegant while riding a motorbike side saddle fashion! I nearly fell off two times much to the amusement of the local children who chased by bike for the whole 5km journey... Oh well perhaps a career as a dare devil is not the best path for me!
In addition to the programs we were also privileged to be invited into teh Yogi temple in Ghorahi. Non-Hindus are normally not allowed inside the temples so this was a great honour. The head priest spent well over an hour explaining the Yoga philosophy to us which was really interesting and made a lot of sense... I particularly liked the willingness of the priest to admit when his religion did not have an answer for something - rather than resorting to answers which sound ridiculous in the light of modern science.
Finally it was time to head back to Kathmandu, this time the journey took 17 hours due to strikes and a visit to Lumbini - the birth place of Buddha. More on that in another post!
In other news a bomb went off in Kathmandu today, the target was a Christian church that had been converting Hindus. Two people dies including a 16 year old girl. It makes me so sad that in a country which is famed for its religious tolerance such acts can happen.
Also if anyone wants to make a donation to support the good work for the Childrens Peace Home they can do so by contacting HVP-UK http://www.hvpuk.org.uk/ .
Thursday, 14 May 2009
More on Politics
You may remember I posted some time ago about the political situation in Nepal, in particular I used the example of the Chief of the Army Staff Katawal. Since that last post the situation has rapidly worsened. The prime minister (Maoist) forced Katawal to resign and put in his place a man more sympathetic to the Maoist cause. The President of the country then rang up Katawal and reinstated him. The President of Nepal according to teh terms of the peace process agreement signed last year is really only a ceremonial role and there to rubber stamp the constitution as it goes through parliament - understandably the Presidents intervention caused great anger in the lower house, ultimately leading to the resignation of the Maoist prime minister. So Nepal is now left with no prime minister and hence no government running the country! Interestingly as soon as the government fell the strike which was crippling food and duel supplies into the Kathmandu valley was called off, leading some commentators to suggest that the country would be better off without a government...
So where does this leave Nepal now? The main political parties are all canvassing support to form new coalitions to lead the government and the people of the city are sporadically organising protests in favour or against the main parties. What surprises me the most is the lack of interest that most Nepalis now seem to have in the whole political process. the politicians wrangling over issues that are just irrelevant to most people whose daily life revolves more around a struggle for clean drinking water, safe food and basic health care. the really sad thing is that all the political arguments and games have caused some of the major NGO's who invest in improving the lives of ordinary Nepalis to pull out or reconsider funding. Indian companies who are involved with a number of infrastructure improvement works have just announced that they wont be investing anymore due to the disruption caused by government interference. I was talking yesterday to a lady who runs a charity that educates women about the dangers of HIV who is also considering closing the branch of the charity on Kathmandu because she can't keep up with the ever changing regulations from a government which chances every 2-3 months.
In other news on Saturday i will be travelling with the Head Master to visit his family in the west of Nepal in Dang. We will also be visiting the Childrens Peace Home which is an orphanage for the children whose families were torn apart by the Maoist insurgency. the Orphanage is attached to teh HVP school in Dang - should be quite interesting and it will be nice to see another less touristy part of Nepal.
So where does this leave Nepal now? The main political parties are all canvassing support to form new coalitions to lead the government and the people of the city are sporadically organising protests in favour or against the main parties. What surprises me the most is the lack of interest that most Nepalis now seem to have in the whole political process. the politicians wrangling over issues that are just irrelevant to most people whose daily life revolves more around a struggle for clean drinking water, safe food and basic health care. the really sad thing is that all the political arguments and games have caused some of the major NGO's who invest in improving the lives of ordinary Nepalis to pull out or reconsider funding. Indian companies who are involved with a number of infrastructure improvement works have just announced that they wont be investing anymore due to the disruption caused by government interference. I was talking yesterday to a lady who runs a charity that educates women about the dangers of HIV who is also considering closing the branch of the charity on Kathmandu because she can't keep up with the ever changing regulations from a government which chances every 2-3 months.
In other news on Saturday i will be travelling with the Head Master to visit his family in the west of Nepal in Dang. We will also be visiting the Childrens Peace Home which is an orphanage for the children whose families were torn apart by the Maoist insurgency. the Orphanage is attached to teh HVP school in Dang - should be quite interesting and it will be nice to see another less touristy part of Nepal.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Festivals, parties and ceremonies
I am just back from 6 days trekking with Philipp which explains the long time with no posts! The trekking was beautiful again, we were lucky with some fantastic views and also got the chance to visit a hot springs, which was great for those aching trekking muscles... the only down side was after a whole month feeling very smug at having no illness I came down with food poisoning on the first day trekking - believe me climbing up mountains with food poisoning is not an experience I want to repeat or wish on anyone. I am all better now and looking forward to my last month in Nepal.
Upon arriving back with Philipp we have been invited to 2 ceremonies with friends and family of the school. First we attended a baby feeding ceremony. At 6 months of age the Newari people (traditional residents of the Kathmandu Valley) hold a big party to celebrate feeding a child his/her first solid food (this is usually rice pudding). We walked to a massive party palace on the other side of Patan filled with an amazing collection of colourfully dressed people. There we were treated to a feast of Newari traditional food which included Buffalo meat, various sweet pancakes and some lovely home made yoghurt - as well as teh traditional Dal Baht. The baby girl herself seemed a little bemused with teh whole event and was more interested in chewing the wrapping paper from presents than eating any rice pudding or greeting guests. It was however a great opportunity to meet some very influential people in Nepal, including a business women who organises loans for Nepali men to go work in the Arab Emirates (where they are usually treated appallingly but at least earn enough money to support their family back home) and various doctors who having all trained in Britain were keen to talk about their student days in Edinburgh or London.
The next day after a full days sightseeing we were invited to a ceremony to remember the one year anniversary of the death of the vice principals grandma. The Nepalis believe that one year is the same as one day for a soul, so every year on the death day anniversary they have special food to feed the souls. We all congregated in a marquee type construction in the families courtyard and ate (most gatherings seem to revolve around food). I suspect there is more to this ceremony that we didn't see... the heavens opened half way through with massive thunder storms and hail which made the last part of the event quite interesting (Nepali marquees are not waterproof!)
Oh well back to teaching now, class 7 English is calling - more soon.
Upon arriving back with Philipp we have been invited to 2 ceremonies with friends and family of the school. First we attended a baby feeding ceremony. At 6 months of age the Newari people (traditional residents of the Kathmandu Valley) hold a big party to celebrate feeding a child his/her first solid food (this is usually rice pudding). We walked to a massive party palace on the other side of Patan filled with an amazing collection of colourfully dressed people. There we were treated to a feast of Newari traditional food which included Buffalo meat, various sweet pancakes and some lovely home made yoghurt - as well as teh traditional Dal Baht. The baby girl herself seemed a little bemused with teh whole event and was more interested in chewing the wrapping paper from presents than eating any rice pudding or greeting guests. It was however a great opportunity to meet some very influential people in Nepal, including a business women who organises loans for Nepali men to go work in the Arab Emirates (where they are usually treated appallingly but at least earn enough money to support their family back home) and various doctors who having all trained in Britain were keen to talk about their student days in Edinburgh or London.
The next day after a full days sightseeing we were invited to a ceremony to remember the one year anniversary of the death of the vice principals grandma. The Nepalis believe that one year is the same as one day for a soul, so every year on the death day anniversary they have special food to feed the souls. We all congregated in a marquee type construction in the families courtyard and ate (most gatherings seem to revolve around food). I suspect there is more to this ceremony that we didn't see... the heavens opened half way through with massive thunder storms and hail which made the last part of the event quite interesting (Nepali marquees are not waterproof!)
Oh well back to teaching now, class 7 English is calling - more soon.
Monday, 27 April 2009
A Typical School Day
Well I have finished my teaching for the day and as we still have power (a novel, brilliant event!) I thought I would write a quick post describing a typical school day.
5am Wake up and go for a 30 min walk. It is still quite unusual for Nepalese people to exercise, being chubby is considered beautiful and a sign of wealth. This attitude is slowly changing and in central Kathmandu and richer areas there are gyms and adverts for personal trainers. Balkumari has not seen this change yet, so the only time I can exercise is a morning walk with the junior maths teacher. Its actually quite nice to walk through the town watching everyone get up and go to the temples for their morning Pooja (prayer).
6am- 6:15am this is our allocated shower time. The water is pumped up to the roof when the electricity is running, we have to get in early otherwise the water is all used up by the boarders!
6:30- 7am Prayer and yoga time for the boarders. I often sit in on this, although i don't understand the prayers the Hindu hymns are really beautiful and its quite refreshing to do the yoga lessons
7-8: Study time for the boarders: I use this opportunity to finish off any last minute marking and lesson planning as well as helping the boarders with any homework trouble.
8-8:30 - get dressed in school clothes for the day. We are teaching wearing traditional Nepali tunics so i get changed out of my western clothes into the beautifully embroidered tunics. These are very comfortable, however I am still to find a way of arranging my scarf - it is considered immodest to be seen without it, but mine keeps falling off and getting in the way!
8:30 - Breakfast! My favourite meal of day :) Usually we have sweet tea, toast with mango jam and some form of curry or noodle.
9am - morning assembly. The children all stand in rows and do some exercises including standing to attention and about turning. The school song is sung and morning pooja done.
9:30-12:30 - Morning lessons. Each lesson is 40 mins long and there is a 5 minute break
12:30 - 1:15 - Lunch time.... Dal Baht (And I treat myself to a hob nob to satisfy my sugar craving)
1:15 - 4 pm - Afternoon lessons
4-7pm - Boarders study time. I use this time to volunteer at the Ashram which provides after school care and homework help to underprivileged children (usually from the Dalit, untouchable Caste - more on caste in later posts!)
7-8pm - More prayer and yoga, sometimes we do some dancing and singing.
8pm - Dinner - Dal Baht and curry. My favourite is potato curry and Aachar which is a spicy tomato pickle.
9:30pm - Bed...
In other news I am going to be a Nepali TV star! (Ok I will have a bit part in a soap opera) One of the ex-students has asked Sarah and I if we will take bit parts in a popular Nepali soap about college life (think Nepali Holyoaks). The program is broadcast on cable channels in 86 different countries. One of us will play a teacher and the other will play the part of a foreign student... very exciting.
5am Wake up and go for a 30 min walk. It is still quite unusual for Nepalese people to exercise, being chubby is considered beautiful and a sign of wealth. This attitude is slowly changing and in central Kathmandu and richer areas there are gyms and adverts for personal trainers. Balkumari has not seen this change yet, so the only time I can exercise is a morning walk with the junior maths teacher. Its actually quite nice to walk through the town watching everyone get up and go to the temples for their morning Pooja (prayer).
6am- 6:15am this is our allocated shower time. The water is pumped up to the roof when the electricity is running, we have to get in early otherwise the water is all used up by the boarders!
6:30- 7am Prayer and yoga time for the boarders. I often sit in on this, although i don't understand the prayers the Hindu hymns are really beautiful and its quite refreshing to do the yoga lessons
7-8: Study time for the boarders: I use this opportunity to finish off any last minute marking and lesson planning as well as helping the boarders with any homework trouble.
8-8:30 - get dressed in school clothes for the day. We are teaching wearing traditional Nepali tunics so i get changed out of my western clothes into the beautifully embroidered tunics. These are very comfortable, however I am still to find a way of arranging my scarf - it is considered immodest to be seen without it, but mine keeps falling off and getting in the way!
8:30 - Breakfast! My favourite meal of day :) Usually we have sweet tea, toast with mango jam and some form of curry or noodle.
9am - morning assembly. The children all stand in rows and do some exercises including standing to attention and about turning. The school song is sung and morning pooja done.
9:30-12:30 - Morning lessons. Each lesson is 40 mins long and there is a 5 minute break
12:30 - 1:15 - Lunch time.... Dal Baht (And I treat myself to a hob nob to satisfy my sugar craving)
1:15 - 4 pm - Afternoon lessons
4-7pm - Boarders study time. I use this time to volunteer at the Ashram which provides after school care and homework help to underprivileged children (usually from the Dalit, untouchable Caste - more on caste in later posts!)
7-8pm - More prayer and yoga, sometimes we do some dancing and singing.
8pm - Dinner - Dal Baht and curry. My favourite is potato curry and Aachar which is a spicy tomato pickle.
9:30pm - Bed...
In other news I am going to be a Nepali TV star! (Ok I will have a bit part in a soap opera) One of the ex-students has asked Sarah and I if we will take bit parts in a popular Nepali soap about college life (think Nepali Holyoaks). The program is broadcast on cable channels in 86 different countries. One of us will play a teacher and the other will play the part of a foreign student... very exciting.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
A Fragile Peace?
Some of you may know that Nepal is just emerging from a long Maoist insurgency that crippled most of the country and made travel around Nepal quite difficult. As part of hte peace process elections were held and a new constituent assembly has been formed to draft a constitution and develop a new government. However as with all these things, bureaucracy is slowing the process and fighting between the main political parties is causing problems. I thought I would recount one of these arguments that is being played out at the moment...
For the Nepali new year the 2nd National Games were held in Kathmandu. These games include every sport from swimming and athletics to football, badminton and chess! Each major group in Nepali society entered a team including the police, the armed police, the western states etc ect. However the games were shrouded in controversy as the Nepali Army (NA) refused to compete in events that had participants from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA - Maoist). They claim that the PLA, which should be being integrated in to the NA as part of the peace process, hadn't entered properly and thus were breaking the rules. In reality the NA have spent so long viewing the PLA as the enemy that them both competing on an even platform was probably never going to work. General Katawal of the NA withdrew all his contestants from events with PLA competitors and in doing so angered the Maoist led political party the U-CPN (I think this stands for unified communist party of Nepal). General Katawal has also angered the U-CPN by reinstating 8 army generals who had didn't have their contracts renewed at the end of the last year, this was part of a process to shrink the army to allow space for the PLA.
The situation escalated to such a point that on Tuesday both sides were reportedly planning minor coupes to regain control. The NA plan involved sending the UN monitors of the Maoist cantonments home and seizing all the PLA weapons before overthrowing the government. the U-CPN threatened that unless Katawal steps down, retires and is replaced by a Maoist friendly general they will quite the government and start the agitation (terrorism) that thwarted the country for so long. I wonder if the army will ever accept responsibility to the government (whatever colour) and whether the PLA combatants will ever be able to accept joining the army who they fought for so long?
This example shows just how fragile the Nepalese political process is. Everyday there is political demonstration of some sort in Kathmandu center and large parts of the country are brought to a stand still by strikes which stop all movement along the roads and the airports.
I do not understand enough about the previous conflict to comment on which party or process is the best for Nepal (although my gut says that a party which still teaches children as young as 5 how to soot and still threatens families with torture for not supporting their cause is not ideal), I just hope that the country manage to sort their political process out as there is no hope for development until the situation is stable.
For the Nepali new year the 2nd National Games were held in Kathmandu. These games include every sport from swimming and athletics to football, badminton and chess! Each major group in Nepali society entered a team including the police, the armed police, the western states etc ect. However the games were shrouded in controversy as the Nepali Army (NA) refused to compete in events that had participants from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA - Maoist). They claim that the PLA, which should be being integrated in to the NA as part of the peace process, hadn't entered properly and thus were breaking the rules. In reality the NA have spent so long viewing the PLA as the enemy that them both competing on an even platform was probably never going to work. General Katawal of the NA withdrew all his contestants from events with PLA competitors and in doing so angered the Maoist led political party the U-CPN (I think this stands for unified communist party of Nepal). General Katawal has also angered the U-CPN by reinstating 8 army generals who had didn't have their contracts renewed at the end of the last year, this was part of a process to shrink the army to allow space for the PLA.
The situation escalated to such a point that on Tuesday both sides were reportedly planning minor coupes to regain control. The NA plan involved sending the UN monitors of the Maoist cantonments home and seizing all the PLA weapons before overthrowing the government. the U-CPN threatened that unless Katawal steps down, retires and is replaced by a Maoist friendly general they will quite the government and start the agitation (terrorism) that thwarted the country for so long. I wonder if the army will ever accept responsibility to the government (whatever colour) and whether the PLA combatants will ever be able to accept joining the army who they fought for so long?
This example shows just how fragile the Nepalese political process is. Everyday there is political demonstration of some sort in Kathmandu center and large parts of the country are brought to a stand still by strikes which stop all movement along the roads and the airports.
I do not understand enough about the previous conflict to comment on which party or process is the best for Nepal (although my gut says that a party which still teaches children as young as 5 how to soot and still threatens families with torture for not supporting their cause is not ideal), I just hope that the country manage to sort their political process out as there is no hope for development until the situation is stable.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Finding the way.
"Chabhilchabhilpashtinatpathbaddnarthbaktipil...." The sing song of the bus conductor as the bus crawls past. This cry is muffled by the incessant beeping of the passing trucks and other buses, as well as the lady at my arm pestering me to buy a necklace 'Very cheap, only 50ruppees, very pretty, bring good luck miss'. 'ChabhilChabilPash...' Accepting that I will never be able to locate a singular place name in the cry of the conductor (although it doesn't stop me trying each time I neeed to catch a bus) I run to the door and questioningly ask Pashtinathpath (or Chabhil, or Boddnarth etc). This is a slightly risky business, firstly although I am trying Nepali sounds are really really difficult and although I think the the place name is right I can never be truly sure, secondly I think the bus conductors like to have westerners on the bus (this is maybe through curiosity at our dress, white skin etc or more likely they can charge us whatever they like and pocket teh difference because we are too dim to know better!), thirdly the Nepalis like to be helpful so will often answer yes just to be polite even if they have no idea what you just asked. Actually I'm not being entirely truthful, I have another weapon at my disposal... It appears that the buses on certain routes tend to be of similar colours, for example the ring road bus going east is always blue and white stripped, whereas the bus going to teh center of town has always been yellow and green. However I'm not sure on the reliability of the colour method for finding directions as I often see the wrong colour bus going along a road that I don't think it should be ?!? ( I asked Vishnu Sir about my colour theory and he had no idea, saying that the Nepalis just listen for the place names and its really not that difficult!) Once committed to a bus I carefully follow the route in the Lonely Planet map (where would we be without the wonder that is the LP), this is also complicated by the Kathmandu roads having no names and often there being no space on teh bus so we are squished in the middle without being able to see a window. Surprisingly more times than not we have arrived at our destination although not always by the most direct route.
The chaotic bus system is actually quite a good descriptor of life in Nepal. In that I have no idea how it works, and am often quite lost but somehow everything seems to work out. Take for instance a side project that I am helping out with. Head Sir also runs an organisation Santi Sewar Ashram which is an umbrella organisation for a number of projects including a street children feeding project, drug rehabilitation and an after school homework help club for the local children. I have volunteered to help with the homework help (although I will also be helping with the street children next week). The program starts with chanting and a spiritual direction all in Sanskrit or Nepali. Children sitting everywhere, no apparent order. Then the children come to me individually with various questions about science or maths (yesterday I had the whole of grade four acting out the solar system to describe how day and night come about - I was the Sun :) )yet still there is no order or method in the people who come one minute I am explaining how to form the past tense to a 13 year old and the next helping with basic counting for a 7 year old). Yet somehow the whole system seems to work!
Its actually quite harrowing helping at the Ashram, take one boy Jaggared who to look at you would guess his age at 7. He is fact just severely malnourished and is 15! Yet despite his situation he is incredibly intelligent, hard working and so polite. I have a huge sense of uselessness that teaching in English is just not going to help him that much.
Oh well I must get on, Maths with grade 10 in 15 mins. They are studying for the equivalent of GCSE and yet are doing maths that most English A-Levels students would struggle with (2nd order differential equations). Kind of embarrassing to realise that these students have better maths skills learning in a foreign language than most English people do learning in their mother tongue.
The chaotic bus system is actually quite a good descriptor of life in Nepal. In that I have no idea how it works, and am often quite lost but somehow everything seems to work out. Take for instance a side project that I am helping out with. Head Sir also runs an organisation Santi Sewar Ashram which is an umbrella organisation for a number of projects including a street children feeding project, drug rehabilitation and an after school homework help club for the local children. I have volunteered to help with the homework help (although I will also be helping with the street children next week). The program starts with chanting and a spiritual direction all in Sanskrit or Nepali. Children sitting everywhere, no apparent order. Then the children come to me individually with various questions about science or maths (yesterday I had the whole of grade four acting out the solar system to describe how day and night come about - I was the Sun :) )yet still there is no order or method in the people who come one minute I am explaining how to form the past tense to a 13 year old and the next helping with basic counting for a 7 year old). Yet somehow the whole system seems to work!
Its actually quite harrowing helping at the Ashram, take one boy Jaggared who to look at you would guess his age at 7. He is fact just severely malnourished and is 15! Yet despite his situation he is incredibly intelligent, hard working and so polite. I have a huge sense of uselessness that teaching in English is just not going to help him that much.
Oh well I must get on, Maths with grade 10 in 15 mins. They are studying for the equivalent of GCSE and yet are doing maths that most English A-Levels students would struggle with (2nd order differential equations). Kind of embarrassing to realise that these students have better maths skills learning in a foreign language than most English people do learning in their mother tongue.
Friday, 17 April 2009
Temples, festivals and paragliding
Happy Nepali New Year (2066) ! We brought in the new year in the Busy Bee bar in Pokhara serenaded by a Nepali rock cover band and surrounded by prayer flags... This was possibly one of the funniest events I have ever attended. It was completely surreal to be surrounded by Tibetan prayer flags, Nepali motorcycle clubs and the rock band. Apparently teh Nepalis love rock music, however the rock band was hilarious. Picture the scene, there is a young boy with long hair wearing traditional Nepali dress head banging to Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon), surrounding him are a couple of other lads (they honestly looked no more than 12) in various degrees of western dress playing the guitar and the drums. In the audience stand women in saris and boys in jeans and t-shirts with the motorcycles club logo all head banging. Once Pink Floyd had ceased there was an awkward pause while the lead singer changed page to find the words to his next song - I'm afraid I couldn't contain my laughter when he started up with Chris Rea, Lady in Red! This was followed by Aerosmith and then Celine Dion... After I had got over the shock and the hilarity of the situation we actually had a really good evening. We met up with the paragliding instructors from earlier in the day and chatted about flying.
The next day we caught the bus back to Kathmandu which took 8 hours winding through the hills - I decided it was prudent to take the tourist bus this time to avoid 8 hours sat on teh roof! We were met with a traditional Nepali new years day celebration in the school. We ate a feast of Momos (dumpling like food with spicey vegetable filling and spicey tomato sauce), Paprika (I admitted that i had actually never eaten paprika before, much to the amusement of the children), mangos, coca-cola (a delicacy) and Dal Baht. We were made to feel so at home it was just wonderful. Then we progressed to dancing and playing Nepali games.
There are still a couple of days until we start teaching so we have spent them visiting various temples and the older parts of Kathmandu. My Nepali has now improved to the point of asking directions ( and understanding the answers), asking prices and boarding buses ( although this is still a little haphazard, today I managed to go teh wrong way round the ring road - twice!)
The temples are amazing, only in Nepal are teh Hindu and Buddhist faiths so closely related, you can be happily enjoying a Hindu temple and round teh corner there are hundreds of Tibetan Buddhists worshiping on the other wall. I think its really amazing how tolerant and understanding of other religions the Nepalese people are. Despite my wonderment at teh colours and the architecture of the temples it can also be quite a gory time. I have seen more animal sacrifices than I thought possible in such a small amount of days and today i also witnessed 3 Hindu funeral pyres. Teh Hindu people believe ( and I apologise for anything i have got wrong here I do not mean to offend anyone) that the cycle of life, death and rebirth can only happen if they are burnt on a pyre lit by the oldest son of the family. The corpses are carried to the temple on teh day of death and surrounded by incense, offerings and flowers and then placed on a stone pyre according to which caste the deceased belonged to ( the higher the caste the closer to teh temple the stone slab is). The fire is then lit by the son won walks around teh body chanting Sanskrit incantations. Quite interesting but also quite macabre to watch. Particularly macabre was all teh western tourists crowding on the bridges to get a closer look and shoving their telescopic lens in the faces of the deceased family - sometimes I am ashamed to be a western tourist in lands such as this.
It was also interesting to note that further DOWN steam from the funeral pyres people were washing their clothes and collecting water for cooking. It made me realise just how poor some of the people are here. It is very easy to forget that Nepal is very defiantly a developing country as everyone is so positive and friendly and there are so few beggars, but sites such as people washing and cooking surrounded by rubbish in a river really bring it home again...
The next day we caught the bus back to Kathmandu which took 8 hours winding through the hills - I decided it was prudent to take the tourist bus this time to avoid 8 hours sat on teh roof! We were met with a traditional Nepali new years day celebration in the school. We ate a feast of Momos (dumpling like food with spicey vegetable filling and spicey tomato sauce), Paprika (I admitted that i had actually never eaten paprika before, much to the amusement of the children), mangos, coca-cola (a delicacy) and Dal Baht. We were made to feel so at home it was just wonderful. Then we progressed to dancing and playing Nepali games.
There are still a couple of days until we start teaching so we have spent them visiting various temples and the older parts of Kathmandu. My Nepali has now improved to the point of asking directions ( and understanding the answers), asking prices and boarding buses ( although this is still a little haphazard, today I managed to go teh wrong way round the ring road - twice!)
The temples are amazing, only in Nepal are teh Hindu and Buddhist faiths so closely related, you can be happily enjoying a Hindu temple and round teh corner there are hundreds of Tibetan Buddhists worshiping on the other wall. I think its really amazing how tolerant and understanding of other religions the Nepalese people are. Despite my wonderment at teh colours and the architecture of the temples it can also be quite a gory time. I have seen more animal sacrifices than I thought possible in such a small amount of days and today i also witnessed 3 Hindu funeral pyres. Teh Hindu people believe ( and I apologise for anything i have got wrong here I do not mean to offend anyone) that the cycle of life, death and rebirth can only happen if they are burnt on a pyre lit by the oldest son of the family. The corpses are carried to the temple on teh day of death and surrounded by incense, offerings and flowers and then placed on a stone pyre according to which caste the deceased belonged to ( the higher the caste the closer to teh temple the stone slab is). The fire is then lit by the son won walks around teh body chanting Sanskrit incantations. Quite interesting but also quite macabre to watch. Particularly macabre was all teh western tourists crowding on the bridges to get a closer look and shoving their telescopic lens in the faces of the deceased family - sometimes I am ashamed to be a western tourist in lands such as this.
It was also interesting to note that further DOWN steam from the funeral pyres people were washing their clothes and collecting water for cooking. It made me realise just how poor some of the people are here. It is very easy to forget that Nepal is very defiantly a developing country as everyone is so positive and friendly and there are so few beggars, but sites such as people washing and cooking surrounded by rubbish in a river really bring it home again...
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Poon Hill Trek
I'm resting my aching muscles after a 4 day trek of some of the most beautiful walking I have ever done up to Poon Hill and Ghandruk. On Wednesday morning after eating a hearty breakfast of porridge and honey Sarah and I set about trying to negotiate a taxi to take us to Nyapol the entry point to the Annapurna Conservation area and the start point of most of the Annapurna based treks. We arrived into Nyapol and were greeted with the site of nearly 30 trekkers all layden up with enormous bags, shiny boots and beautiful down jackets all with their guides and team of porters. I had a moment of doubt- we had decided that as teh trek was a short one (and on the advice of another teacher) that we could carry our own bags and wouldn't need a guide... yet suddenly this idea seemed a little foolhardy. However after talking to some of the other trekkers and looking at the map again we decided to carry on with our no guide, no porter plan.
The first day involved walking through the villages of Nyapol and Birenthanti along the banks of the river before starting a rather gentle climb up to the village of Tikkedhungda. The path meandered along the edge of the mountain and we climbed only 500m that day giving me confidence in our plan. (My trekking companion however was ready to kill, she'd never walked far before and was exhausted by lunch time so I volunteered to carry most of her luggage as well!) The path went through some lovely forested areas, giving beautiful views of the hills, however the mountain views proved invisible due to the large amount of dust in the air. Arriving in Tikkedhundga we located a nice guest house advertising hot showers and good food. All the prices are set by local lodge management committees and I suspect that it doesn't really matter which lodge you stay at as they all seem to have the same basic facilities (all I really needed was hot food and a bed!).
The second day involved an impressive climb up 5000+ (I lost count at 5300ish) stone steps up 1000m to the village of Ghorepani. This is possibly some of hte most exhausting climbing I have ever done, the steps seemed to go on forever. We stopped a couple of times for a cup of Nepali tea (a great drink made by heating milk, cardamon, cinnamon, sugar and ginger and then adding black herbal tea.) to provide sustenance as well as the obligatory Dal Baht lunch stop. After the steps the path carried on through the forest following a small stream up to teh top of Ghorepani hill (2700m). The last part of the journey was conducted at great speed as I noticed the ever growing black looking clouds forming above us. We arrived at the guest house just 2 minutes before the heavens opened with monsoon like rains which quickly turned into hail and then snow. I felt very smug sitting by the fire drinking tea as group of trekkers trooped past wearing make shift coats made out of rice sacks and plastic bags! It turns out that their porters had rushed on ahead (I suspect they knew about the on coming rain!) leaving the poor unsuspecting tourist with nothing but their summer clothes as their coast were in teh bags with the porters!
The next morning we rose at 4:30am to trek up to Poon Hill 3200m to watch the sunrise over Annapurna 1, Annapurna south and Fishtail mountain. The torrential rain the night before had the effect of washing all the dust out of the air so we were greeted with one of the best sunrises I have ever seen ( A Nepali boy who had been walking with us for most of the way told us that this was the best view he had seen since October!) The trek down the hill was a little more treacherous - the rain the night before had all fallen as snow up here which mean that my descent was a rather ungraceful slide to the bottom. After a quick breakfast of porridge we set off for the climb up Ghorepani hill (3500m ish). This is possibly some of hte most beautiful walking I have ever done. Once at the top we walked along the ridge for 1 hour with the views of the mountains to our left. Every 5 minutes I stopped to take a photo... The path then descended gently though the forest next to the river to the small village of Deurali and then up some steep steps to Tadapani. We were then faced with the option of stopping the night in Tadapani or carrying on to our original planned destination of Ghandruk. By this stage we had been walking for 6 hours (including the Poon Hill climb) so were quite tired and the views from Tadapani were quite stunning. That coupled with what looked like building clouds for a downpour we decided to stop the night in Tadapani. Unfortunately ever trekking group on the circuit had the same plan. Although we arrived a the village earlier than most of the big groups they had sent ahead a runner to book rooms so we were left with no rooms available for the night. So armed with my Nepali phrasebook (I found the locals much more helpful if we tried to speak Nepali) I traipsed round the village to find a bed. After much negotiating and sign language we secured a room which was just large enough to lay two mattresses side by side! We then spent a very enjoyable evening and afternoon playing card games with a group of Belgium trekkers who were also travelling like us with no guide or porter. I found out later that some groups couldn't find any beds and ended up sleeping on the tables or trekking the further 3 hours to the next village!
Day 4 and our final day... We were faced with an 8 hour walk down the hill (mostly stone steps) in the bright sunshine to the bottom. The hillsides here would have been covered in trees, however most of these have been cut down for fuel to feed the huge amount of trekkers. Teh Annapurna Conservation area council is now trying to introduce solar power and other sources of fuel to stop this deforestation but it was obvious how much damage has been done on this last leg of the journey. The way was also complicated by lots of land slides - I suspect this is also due to lack of stabilisation from trees?!?
Once in Nyapol we joined the rather large queue for a local bus back to Pokhara. After waiting for half an hour I dug out my phrasebook again to try and discover the source of our waiting. (Most people speak exceptional English, however these are normally taxi drivers who are unlikely to tell you when the next bus will arrive!!) It turns out that there had been an accident further down the road and all the buses were stuck behind. Eventually a bus arrived and we rode the roof of the bus back to Pokhara enjoying incredible views of the sun setting turing the mountains a golden yellow.
It was on the bus ride that the triop was slightly spoilt. the bus driver obviously didn't like tourists - he tried to charge us 4x the normal price and we only managed to negotiate down to 2 x the normal price. He then made all the tourists get off the bus at the taxi stand on the outside of the city rather than letting us ride to teh bus stop like all the Nepali people on the bus. this is the first time I have encountered an attitude like this in Nepal where so far everyone has gone out of thier way to be friendly.... We didn't have enough money for a taxi into town so had to walk the last 5 km to our hotel - finally arriving at 9pm where we showered an fell into bed eating a highly nutritious dinner of crisps and a mars bar!
So another day in Pokhara - I may try paragliding over the mountains :) and then back to Kathmandu.
The first day involved walking through the villages of Nyapol and Birenthanti along the banks of the river before starting a rather gentle climb up to the village of Tikkedhungda. The path meandered along the edge of the mountain and we climbed only 500m that day giving me confidence in our plan. (My trekking companion however was ready to kill, she'd never walked far before and was exhausted by lunch time so I volunteered to carry most of her luggage as well!) The path went through some lovely forested areas, giving beautiful views of the hills, however the mountain views proved invisible due to the large amount of dust in the air. Arriving in Tikkedhundga we located a nice guest house advertising hot showers and good food. All the prices are set by local lodge management committees and I suspect that it doesn't really matter which lodge you stay at as they all seem to have the same basic facilities (all I really needed was hot food and a bed!).
The second day involved an impressive climb up 5000+ (I lost count at 5300ish) stone steps up 1000m to the village of Ghorepani. This is possibly some of hte most exhausting climbing I have ever done, the steps seemed to go on forever. We stopped a couple of times for a cup of Nepali tea (a great drink made by heating milk, cardamon, cinnamon, sugar and ginger and then adding black herbal tea.) to provide sustenance as well as the obligatory Dal Baht lunch stop. After the steps the path carried on through the forest following a small stream up to teh top of Ghorepani hill (2700m). The last part of the journey was conducted at great speed as I noticed the ever growing black looking clouds forming above us. We arrived at the guest house just 2 minutes before the heavens opened with monsoon like rains which quickly turned into hail and then snow. I felt very smug sitting by the fire drinking tea as group of trekkers trooped past wearing make shift coats made out of rice sacks and plastic bags! It turns out that their porters had rushed on ahead (I suspect they knew about the on coming rain!) leaving the poor unsuspecting tourist with nothing but their summer clothes as their coast were in teh bags with the porters!
The next morning we rose at 4:30am to trek up to Poon Hill 3200m to watch the sunrise over Annapurna 1, Annapurna south and Fishtail mountain. The torrential rain the night before had the effect of washing all the dust out of the air so we were greeted with one of the best sunrises I have ever seen ( A Nepali boy who had been walking with us for most of the way told us that this was the best view he had seen since October!) The trek down the hill was a little more treacherous - the rain the night before had all fallen as snow up here which mean that my descent was a rather ungraceful slide to the bottom. After a quick breakfast of porridge we set off for the climb up Ghorepani hill (3500m ish). This is possibly some of hte most beautiful walking I have ever done. Once at the top we walked along the ridge for 1 hour with the views of the mountains to our left. Every 5 minutes I stopped to take a photo... The path then descended gently though the forest next to the river to the small village of Deurali and then up some steep steps to Tadapani. We were then faced with the option of stopping the night in Tadapani or carrying on to our original planned destination of Ghandruk. By this stage we had been walking for 6 hours (including the Poon Hill climb) so were quite tired and the views from Tadapani were quite stunning. That coupled with what looked like building clouds for a downpour we decided to stop the night in Tadapani. Unfortunately ever trekking group on the circuit had the same plan. Although we arrived a the village earlier than most of the big groups they had sent ahead a runner to book rooms so we were left with no rooms available for the night. So armed with my Nepali phrasebook (I found the locals much more helpful if we tried to speak Nepali) I traipsed round the village to find a bed. After much negotiating and sign language we secured a room which was just large enough to lay two mattresses side by side! We then spent a very enjoyable evening and afternoon playing card games with a group of Belgium trekkers who were also travelling like us with no guide or porter. I found out later that some groups couldn't find any beds and ended up sleeping on the tables or trekking the further 3 hours to the next village!
Day 4 and our final day... We were faced with an 8 hour walk down the hill (mostly stone steps) in the bright sunshine to the bottom. The hillsides here would have been covered in trees, however most of these have been cut down for fuel to feed the huge amount of trekkers. Teh Annapurna Conservation area council is now trying to introduce solar power and other sources of fuel to stop this deforestation but it was obvious how much damage has been done on this last leg of the journey. The way was also complicated by lots of land slides - I suspect this is also due to lack of stabilisation from trees?!?
Once in Nyapol we joined the rather large queue for a local bus back to Pokhara. After waiting for half an hour I dug out my phrasebook again to try and discover the source of our waiting. (Most people speak exceptional English, however these are normally taxi drivers who are unlikely to tell you when the next bus will arrive!!) It turns out that there had been an accident further down the road and all the buses were stuck behind. Eventually a bus arrived and we rode the roof of the bus back to Pokhara enjoying incredible views of the sun setting turing the mountains a golden yellow.
It was on the bus ride that the triop was slightly spoilt. the bus driver obviously didn't like tourists - he tried to charge us 4x the normal price and we only managed to negotiate down to 2 x the normal price. He then made all the tourists get off the bus at the taxi stand on the outside of the city rather than letting us ride to teh bus stop like all the Nepali people on the bus. this is the first time I have encountered an attitude like this in Nepal where so far everyone has gone out of thier way to be friendly.... We didn't have enough money for a taxi into town so had to walk the last 5 km to our hotel - finally arriving at 9pm where we showered an fell into bed eating a highly nutritious dinner of crisps and a mars bar!
So another day in Pokhara - I may try paragliding over the mountains :) and then back to Kathmandu.
Monday, 6 April 2009
Bangkok and Kathmandu
I spent 1 day in the noisy, humid and very hot city of Bangkok - which was honestly probably enough! The city is hug with winding streets full of traders, touts and others trying to sell things, recommend temples to visit (only if going via a factory shop) and trying to talk about English football (I disappointed many by not personally knowing their favourite stars). However once I had got other the extreme humidity and the loudness of the place there are definitely some beautiful gems which I am glad I have seen.
I got on the bus from the airport clutching the name and address of my guest house neatly printed out in Thai script. It so happened that a British boy starting out his gap year was also going to teh same place and it was nice to have some company for the 2 hour bus ride through the rush hour traffic of Bangkok. The guest house was not too far away from Khao San road - the main backpacking hub of Bangkok which has everything from dodgy hostesl to upmarket hotels, and street traders selling everything from tailored suits to knock off DVDs and Thai souvenirs. Quite an interesting place but I have never been anywhere so manic (until the day after and walking through China town). The next day i started my Bangkok in a day tour -organised for me (and the English boy Andrew) by me, with teh trusty Lonely Planet as my guide. We started at the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha temple. I have never seen so much gold and glittering buildings - every wall was adorned with something shiny and every room held at least 2 statues of Buddha with various offerings scattered around the edge. The Bangkok temples seemed like their city in someways - busy and loud (people were even talking on mobile phones in the middle of chanting) and yet so different in others - spotlessly clean and easy to get round! Teh Emerald Buddha itself is actually not made of Emerald, sits on a throne made of gold and mother of pearl and is housed in a building covered in tiny pieces of coloured mirrors. Next onto the Grand Palace which is one of the Royal residences. The Thais have huge respect for their royal family - an Australian author living in Thailand found this out recently when he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for writing a book which contained unfavourable references to a Prince who sounded a lot like the Thai crown prince (his sentence was later changed to deportation after appeal) - this respect means that the whole Grand Palace compound is closely guarded and watched over by photos of the royal family on every corner. After the serenity and grandeur of the Grand Palace we walked east through China town. China town is the are traditionaly used by Chinese merchants. Even today there are hundreds of street sellers selling Chinese herbal remedies, meals and Chinese tat on the streets. Add the prevalence of vendors to the massive amounts of traffic on the streets and the whole place has a very fast moving and busy atmosphere.
The next day I rose at 6am to catch a taxi to the airport and continue my trip on to Nepal. The flight over was quite nice, i sat on the right hand side of the plane and got fantastic views of the mountains coming into the city. Greeting me at the airport was Vishnu, who I arranged my stay at the school with. If Thailand was a culture shock then Kathmandu was a culture earthquake! The school is full of beautifully polite and friendly people- but I had to quickly get used to the idea of no hot showers for 2 months, only squat toilets and eating Dal for every meal. Actually after the initial feeling of arggh I have no settled in quite well and it has defiantly made me appreciate the finer things back home .
School is actually on holiday for Nepali new year for another week so i have taken the opportunity to travel down to Pokhara and get in some trekking before settling in to teaching. Feeling very brave and worldly wise I decided to take the advice of one of the teachers and shun the tourist bus for a local micro bus down to Pokhara. Armed with my Nepali phrase book and bottles of drinking water i set off through the city to the main bus terminal where i managed to find a mini bus to Pokhara and successfully purchased a ticket for teh 7 hour journey (it cost 250ru about 2.50 GBP!). My elation at managing this most simple of tasks soon faded when I realised that there were no seats on teh bus and I was pushed up onto the roof along with my backpack. The bus then set off at break neck speed along some of the most hair raising roads i have ever driven along. Along the way we passed no fewer than 7 busses that had driven off the edge of teh road or crashed into on coming trucks while overtaking on blind corners... To add to teh spirit of adventure the bus then had to stop for 3 hours as there were protests on the road between the Maoists and local people. I took the opportunity to chat with a Nepali girl sat next to me - who politely expressed amazement that I had reached the grand age of 23 without producing at least one child (preferably a male child!) - she then said ever so nicely that she was surprised that I hadn't had children because I possessed the figure of a lady who has had at least 2! (just lovely...) We finally arrived in Pokhara at 11pm and fell wearily into the closest guest house.
Today I spent the day exploring the lovely lake side town and organising maps etc for trekking up to Poon Hill a viewing hill to see the Himalayas. Now for a nap and to read my newly purchased history of Nepal 1990 - 2008 (incidentally the Nepali year is currently 2065).
I got on the bus from the airport clutching the name and address of my guest house neatly printed out in Thai script. It so happened that a British boy starting out his gap year was also going to teh same place and it was nice to have some company for the 2 hour bus ride through the rush hour traffic of Bangkok. The guest house was not too far away from Khao San road - the main backpacking hub of Bangkok which has everything from dodgy hostesl to upmarket hotels, and street traders selling everything from tailored suits to knock off DVDs and Thai souvenirs. Quite an interesting place but I have never been anywhere so manic (until the day after and walking through China town). The next day i started my Bangkok in a day tour -organised for me (and the English boy Andrew) by me, with teh trusty Lonely Planet as my guide. We started at the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha temple. I have never seen so much gold and glittering buildings - every wall was adorned with something shiny and every room held at least 2 statues of Buddha with various offerings scattered around the edge. The Bangkok temples seemed like their city in someways - busy and loud (people were even talking on mobile phones in the middle of chanting) and yet so different in others - spotlessly clean and easy to get round! Teh Emerald Buddha itself is actually not made of Emerald, sits on a throne made of gold and mother of pearl and is housed in a building covered in tiny pieces of coloured mirrors. Next onto the Grand Palace which is one of the Royal residences. The Thais have huge respect for their royal family - an Australian author living in Thailand found this out recently when he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for writing a book which contained unfavourable references to a Prince who sounded a lot like the Thai crown prince (his sentence was later changed to deportation after appeal) - this respect means that the whole Grand Palace compound is closely guarded and watched over by photos of the royal family on every corner. After the serenity and grandeur of the Grand Palace we walked east through China town. China town is the are traditionaly used by Chinese merchants. Even today there are hundreds of street sellers selling Chinese herbal remedies, meals and Chinese tat on the streets. Add the prevalence of vendors to the massive amounts of traffic on the streets and the whole place has a very fast moving and busy atmosphere.
The next day I rose at 6am to catch a taxi to the airport and continue my trip on to Nepal. The flight over was quite nice, i sat on the right hand side of the plane and got fantastic views of the mountains coming into the city. Greeting me at the airport was Vishnu, who I arranged my stay at the school with. If Thailand was a culture shock then Kathmandu was a culture earthquake! The school is full of beautifully polite and friendly people- but I had to quickly get used to the idea of no hot showers for 2 months, only squat toilets and eating Dal for every meal. Actually after the initial feeling of arggh I have no settled in quite well and it has defiantly made me appreciate the finer things back home .
School is actually on holiday for Nepali new year for another week so i have taken the opportunity to travel down to Pokhara and get in some trekking before settling in to teaching. Feeling very brave and worldly wise I decided to take the advice of one of the teachers and shun the tourist bus for a local micro bus down to Pokhara. Armed with my Nepali phrase book and bottles of drinking water i set off through the city to the main bus terminal where i managed to find a mini bus to Pokhara and successfully purchased a ticket for teh 7 hour journey (it cost 250ru about 2.50 GBP!). My elation at managing this most simple of tasks soon faded when I realised that there were no seats on teh bus and I was pushed up onto the roof along with my backpack. The bus then set off at break neck speed along some of the most hair raising roads i have ever driven along. Along the way we passed no fewer than 7 busses that had driven off the edge of teh road or crashed into on coming trucks while overtaking on blind corners... To add to teh spirit of adventure the bus then had to stop for 3 hours as there were protests on the road between the Maoists and local people. I took the opportunity to chat with a Nepali girl sat next to me - who politely expressed amazement that I had reached the grand age of 23 without producing at least one child (preferably a male child!) - she then said ever so nicely that she was surprised that I hadn't had children because I possessed the figure of a lady who has had at least 2! (just lovely...) We finally arrived in Pokhara at 11pm and fell wearily into the closest guest house.
Today I spent the day exploring the lovely lake side town and organising maps etc for trekking up to Poon Hill a viewing hill to see the Himalayas. Now for a nap and to read my newly purchased history of Nepal 1990 - 2008 (incidentally the Nepali year is currently 2065).
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Bangkok and onwards to Nepal
I will keep this short as there have been lots of black outs in Kathmandu so I may be cut off at any second! I am keeping a paper diary of my time here and will update the blog properly when i get back to somewhere with more reliable power...
Saying that Nepal is amazing, the people are really friendly and the views incredible. I am leaving today for Pokahara which is the main trekking/ tourism center for a weeks holiday before school properly starts and then i should be going to Dang in the far west of the country for teaching English. More soon. (Possibly Pokahara will have better power?!?)
Saying that Nepal is amazing, the people are really friendly and the views incredible. I am leaving today for Pokahara which is the main trekking/ tourism center for a weeks holiday before school properly starts and then i should be going to Dang in the far west of the country for teaching English. More soon. (Possibly Pokahara will have better power?!?)
Monday, 30 March 2009
Bars. Beethovan and Blackouts
So I finally made it to backpacker central - Sydney. On every street in the CBD there are backpackers hostels and lost looking gap year types. I am staying in the Kings Cross area which is is just south of the botanical gardens and about 10 minutes walk from circular quay and the Opera house. the area itself used to be a red light district (and still has that certain seedy feel) but is now really a travellers haven with some very cheap hostels - ok to stay at with a friend but I wouldn't come here on my own!
On my first day in Sydney I walked down to the Rocks area (just by the harbour bridge), explored the Circular Quay, harbour bridge and then went to teh Opera house and botanical gardens. The rocks used to be the Italian and Irish immigrants area and used to be full of mafia type gangs that ruled that area of the city. The place now has a covent garden feel to it with street markets on teh weekends and 'posh' alternative shops selling expensive tea, interesting books and boutique clothes shops. The whole area is in the shadow of the harbour bridge and the pylons rise out of the gardens - apparently the pylons (granite towers at each corner of hte bridge) were an after thought and don't really have a useful engineering function other than to make the bridge more pretty as the early commissioners of the bridge wanted something that would be a tourist attraction.
After lunch in the Rocks I climbed one of the pylons for Birdseye views of the city - although my original plan was to climb the bridge itself I decided that $170+ was too expensive for view that I could get for free! Once high up it is amazing to seee how much of the city is actually in contact with some form of water. the whole harbor area is huge and stretches for quite a way inland - i suspect some of the suburbs around the nothern edge of the harbour would be really quite nice (ther were definitely some huge houses!) It is also interesting to note from the vantage point how large the Sydney CBD is and how unlike the other Australian cities I've visited the city seems to have no real center - more lots of little 'villages' each with a different feel (More like some of hte big European cities). It is also the first Aussie city that its uncomfortable to walk round entirely on foot!
Onwards to Circular Quay which stretches from the bridge to the opera house - a stretch of nice restaurants and ice cream bars - dominated at eh moment by a huge cruise ship (Millennium) docked on the western edge and the opera house on the other side. This is where most of the Sydney ferries depart from and where most of the tourists seem to congregate while getting their bearings of the city. After the obligatory opera house steps photo and purchasing a ticket for a concert that evening we walked on through the botanical gardens and then up the main shopping streets back to the central station. The Botanical gardens are beautiful a really nice place to relax. It being a Saturday we also encountered 9 weddings in the grounds of hte garden - a little exhibitionist but a lovely spot... the gardens is also home to an area of trees filled with bats - no idea about the story behind this but its kinda cool.
After much fusing and swapping of tickets with fellow travellers I managed to secure myself a seat for the 'Beyond Beethoven' concert by the Sydney Symphony in teh main concert hall of the Opera house. Inside the opera house is actually quite nice although it has a very 70's -tastic feel to it (think stained pine and brown leather). The hall itself is just huge - and the acoustics weren't too bad. The program consisted of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 1 with the piano solo played by Paul Lewis (who had a very Brendel feel to him and was very very good), then Haydens Symphony no 67 and Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. The orchestra (except for a very out of tune brass section) were really very good so quite an enjoyable evening - although I wasn't able to convince Karen that a classical concert was a good way to spend the evening!
After my dose of culture I went to the Side bar to get a fix of a very different tpe of music! The Side bar is one of the big backpackers bars in Sydney - full of English and German backpackers (and Australian men who have heard that backpackers are easy prey!) i was amazed at how many people seem to spend their entire travelling time drinking away their nights and sleeping through the days only coming out when the money gets low and they need to find a job. Also amazed at how some girls packs obviously contained more shoes and dresses than anything else! Karens term 'Flashpacker' describes them very well...
The next day I caught the ferry to Manly and enjoyed the views of the harbour from the boat. Manly is quite a cute seaside suburb with a lovely surfing beach - the waves were too large for swimming but I quite enjoyed watching the surfers!
So now having covered Beethoven and bars I move onto blackouts! Yesterday afternoon while waiting for some photos to print (I am printing photos of my family and scenes to help with my teaching in Nepal - the bottle is ON the table etc etc) all the power went out - everything from hte Air con to the traffic lights outside. Curious I went outside and looked up and it appeared that the whole cities power had failed. After 15 mins of waiting i accepted defeat for the photos and started to walk home - actually quite perilous with no traffic lights working! 2 hours later the lights came back on. Amazing the Aussies didn't seem to mind and used the time to leave work early and go for a beer by candle light! (I wonder if the same attitude would hold if the whole of central London blacked out ?!?) It transpires that there was a fault in one cable coming into the city as that failed it took out the other 3 cables. Quite amusing that 1 day after earth hour when everyone was urged to turn off their lights for 1 hour a fault turns off the entire city for 2 hours!
Oh well today is my last day in Sydney - i am heading to Bondi and doing the bondi to Cudgee beach walk and then sorting out all the admin stuff for the next stage of my trip. I suspect i wont access the internet in Bangkok (where I go for 3 days) so my next update will come from Nepal...
On my first day in Sydney I walked down to the Rocks area (just by the harbour bridge), explored the Circular Quay, harbour bridge and then went to teh Opera house and botanical gardens. The rocks used to be the Italian and Irish immigrants area and used to be full of mafia type gangs that ruled that area of the city. The place now has a covent garden feel to it with street markets on teh weekends and 'posh' alternative shops selling expensive tea, interesting books and boutique clothes shops. The whole area is in the shadow of the harbour bridge and the pylons rise out of the gardens - apparently the pylons (granite towers at each corner of hte bridge) were an after thought and don't really have a useful engineering function other than to make the bridge more pretty as the early commissioners of the bridge wanted something that would be a tourist attraction.
After lunch in the Rocks I climbed one of the pylons for Birdseye views of the city - although my original plan was to climb the bridge itself I decided that $170+ was too expensive for view that I could get for free! Once high up it is amazing to seee how much of the city is actually in contact with some form of water. the whole harbor area is huge and stretches for quite a way inland - i suspect some of the suburbs around the nothern edge of the harbour would be really quite nice (ther were definitely some huge houses!) It is also interesting to note from the vantage point how large the Sydney CBD is and how unlike the other Australian cities I've visited the city seems to have no real center - more lots of little 'villages' each with a different feel (More like some of hte big European cities). It is also the first Aussie city that its uncomfortable to walk round entirely on foot!
Onwards to Circular Quay which stretches from the bridge to the opera house - a stretch of nice restaurants and ice cream bars - dominated at eh moment by a huge cruise ship (Millennium) docked on the western edge and the opera house on the other side. This is where most of the Sydney ferries depart from and where most of the tourists seem to congregate while getting their bearings of the city. After the obligatory opera house steps photo and purchasing a ticket for a concert that evening we walked on through the botanical gardens and then up the main shopping streets back to the central station. The Botanical gardens are beautiful a really nice place to relax. It being a Saturday we also encountered 9 weddings in the grounds of hte garden - a little exhibitionist but a lovely spot... the gardens is also home to an area of trees filled with bats - no idea about the story behind this but its kinda cool.
After much fusing and swapping of tickets with fellow travellers I managed to secure myself a seat for the 'Beyond Beethoven' concert by the Sydney Symphony in teh main concert hall of the Opera house. Inside the opera house is actually quite nice although it has a very 70's -tastic feel to it (think stained pine and brown leather). The hall itself is just huge - and the acoustics weren't too bad. The program consisted of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 1 with the piano solo played by Paul Lewis (who had a very Brendel feel to him and was very very good), then Haydens Symphony no 67 and Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. The orchestra (except for a very out of tune brass section) were really very good so quite an enjoyable evening - although I wasn't able to convince Karen that a classical concert was a good way to spend the evening!
After my dose of culture I went to the Side bar to get a fix of a very different tpe of music! The Side bar is one of the big backpackers bars in Sydney - full of English and German backpackers (and Australian men who have heard that backpackers are easy prey!) i was amazed at how many people seem to spend their entire travelling time drinking away their nights and sleeping through the days only coming out when the money gets low and they need to find a job. Also amazed at how some girls packs obviously contained more shoes and dresses than anything else! Karens term 'Flashpacker' describes them very well...
The next day I caught the ferry to Manly and enjoyed the views of the harbour from the boat. Manly is quite a cute seaside suburb with a lovely surfing beach - the waves were too large for swimming but I quite enjoyed watching the surfers!
So now having covered Beethoven and bars I move onto blackouts! Yesterday afternoon while waiting for some photos to print (I am printing photos of my family and scenes to help with my teaching in Nepal - the bottle is ON the table etc etc) all the power went out - everything from hte Air con to the traffic lights outside. Curious I went outside and looked up and it appeared that the whole cities power had failed. After 15 mins of waiting i accepted defeat for the photos and started to walk home - actually quite perilous with no traffic lights working! 2 hours later the lights came back on. Amazing the Aussies didn't seem to mind and used the time to leave work early and go for a beer by candle light! (I wonder if the same attitude would hold if the whole of central London blacked out ?!?) It transpires that there was a fault in one cable coming into the city as that failed it took out the other 3 cables. Quite amusing that 1 day after earth hour when everyone was urged to turn off their lights for 1 hour a fault turns off the entire city for 2 hours!
Oh well today is my last day in Sydney - i am heading to Bondi and doing the bondi to Cudgee beach walk and then sorting out all the admin stuff for the next stage of my trip. I suspect i wont access the internet in Bangkok (where I go for 3 days) so my next update will come from Nepal...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
