Kathmandu - the last days

And so I've ended up thinking that Kathmandu is a nice place after all :) I've located Matilde and had some fun with her, though we're staying in different places, but tonight we're gonna go out together and dine with Kamal. He wants to show us this nice restaurant and I'm sure we're going to have fun! I also found Krishna and at last - always nice to see him again :)
I've been strolling around in Thamel thinking about hot chocolate, books and christmas gifts. I found a good bookstore and bought (another) Murakami book - he is a genius writer! I've also located the only place in Nepal where you can get something that looks like a burgerking burger, a sad need I've had since the daal bhaat in Kantipur ;)
I'm going out to find Manoj today and say hello and goodbye to him and maybe take a walk to one of the temples in the city before I leave monday. The ticket home is (almost) confirmed, but the truth is that I never really want to leave (though I miss my family) and I believe that I now am what you call addicted to travel - and loving it ! All in all not bad at all :)

On my last day I managed to go with Kamal to the Shiva Temple which is the place where the Hindus burn their dead relatives. It is something special to see dead people being carried to the water, washed, blessed and then set on fire! I haven't really seen any dead people in Denmark (they are mostly enclosed in a coffin) and it is kind of strange to be confronted with dead in this most physical way. We also found a holy stone which protects against skin deceases (so now I can go into the sun without any block on ;) ) and some funny deers and a badminton court in the middle of the temple!! Nice :D I love driving around Kathmandu on a motorcycle (a dangerous adventure) and seeing the city, all the women wearing saris, kutas and western clothes - a nice mix! The small shops along the road and the many insane drivers.
I found a new friend Kishan, who took me to the palacegarden and made me laugh my head off - he's even more crazy than me, believe it or not! He took me to a nice reggae club in the evening though they played more rock than reggae... but nice people and nice environment :) A nice surprise exposed itself in the afternoon; Bijay came from Pokhara to say goodbye :D Really nice, so we spend the evening together with Kishan and other weird people - it is so much fun to meet new friends !
Now Delhi, London and Billund are waiting for me, I'm taking the flight in three hours and hope to be home soon; my headphones are gone, so it's kind of boring with so much time on your hands, though I've got a good book...
Goodbye to Kathmandu, Nepal and the best experience in my life - so far :)

Kayaking

Back in the capital and . . . NOT enjoying it! The city is just not for me - I miss Pokhara and true nature in remote areas, too many cars and people and trouble - I'm beginning to look forward to getting home :)

The kayak trip down the Seti has been a great experience! In the end I got really good at forcing my way through the rapids though I had to swim a little to get to it - it's much easier to make the eskimo roll in calm water than on the river with a stone in your shoulder! But I made it though without any real damage done (if we forget that I burned my hand in the campfire and now have huge blisters on my fingers) and can now call myself experienced in the real kayaking adventure! The trip has been a real beauty through wild rapids and enormous valleys made by the ever falling rain during the monsoon time. I have fallen down through rocks and butterflywaves made by the river and collected driftwood in a big sandalgraveyard by the shore, been drinking roksi (still don't like it) with the local people and made myself friends with the guides in the rafting company. It's been wonderful and I see it as the perfect way of saying goodbye to Nepal - the wild way :)

Eskimo Roll

First day of the kayak school and we took it slow on the Phewa Lake, no currents, rapids or dangerous sharks ;) I'm on the trip with three Swedish guys, who all seem very nice though they've, surprisingly, never been in a kayak before! The kayaks for the wild rivers are much different from the Danish ones I'm used to - much smaller and easily affected though also very easy to navigate - perfect for the adventure I'm going on! We started learning a little about how to row and steer and then spend the day in the lake trying to the eskimo roll! A very wet, cold and fun day!! In the end I learned how to make the eskimo roll, eventhough I'm cheating a little and holding the paddle easier - but I'll learn. I'm really proud of myself, because I never thought I would succeed, but I did - because of my iron will (thanks Emil). Tomorrow we hit the Seti River and will spend some days there forcing our way through the rapids.

The two extra days I got gave me the time to go the Peace Pagoda again and take a little boat out onto the lake having a little lunch and swim with myself - the water is surprisingly hot here - IN DECEMBER! I hope everbody in icy Denmark is jealous of my swim in the lovely lake and sunshine :) I had a sleep over day and now feel ready to take on the next adventure before heading for Kathmandu and Europe.

WTF?

When I went to start the kayak tour today it turned out that my instructor is sick, so the whole thing is postpones two days! Interesting... Now I have time to relax even more! Wow I'm gonna have fun :)

The Day Night Cafe

Since Matilde left for her meditation I have been wandering around Pokhara doing sight seeing and buying myself hot chocolate and goood food :) Bijay from the Day Night Cafe has taken me to see different things, so now I've been to the local market, into the Bat Cave (which was much smaller than I thought), the Mahendra Cave where I got a tika and a blessing from and old hindu and to Devi's Fall, a huge waterfall (though only during the monsoon) which we saw from inside a dangerous and exciting cave made by the water. I've enjoyed myself looking over the Phewa Tal and I have made myself known and friends with all the people who work in the Day Night Cafe, my favorite place here - I eat there at least once every day :) Tonight they're having a jazz-jam party, so I'm going to embarrass myself by singing something I don't really know - I'm looking very much forward to it :)
I've been enjoying myself, relaxing, talking to weird, interesting and funny people all day long and experienced what it is like to be locked out of the lodge because I came home too late - don't worry I didn't sleep on the street! I've been having fun and laughing my head off with all these nice people :)

NO!!!

The worst thing ever has happened! (Okay not the worst, but still...) ALL my videos from the two months in Kantipur is gone!! I had a man make a back-up on a dvd for me, and then yesterday I deleted everything, thinking I had it on the dvd... but the stupid man made a mistake!!! There's only the pictures - no videos! I cried myself to sleep last night, those videos were the best ever made and their like does not exist :(

BUT! Today I had a great day, so I don't mind :) Matilde left at 5.30 in the morning and I have spent the day with Bijay my new friend and musician from a nice little cafe here... We went to the local market to see real Nepalese people and then went walking in the streets. I've booked a kayak school from saturday (four days on a wild river) and bought myself a nice cup of hot chocolate - a very nice day indeed :)
AND it is also the first of december today - christmas is coming! Even though you can't tell in this part of the world ...

PARAGLIDING !

I'VE DONE IT! I've done the most crazy and wild thing in my life! I threw myself off a 3000m high cliff only supported by some cloth!!! I must be insane .. .. but I survived (and so did Matilde) to tell the tale: Paragliding is AWESOME! It has to be the best thing I've done so far, it's just wild and the best :) We paid for an hour and hang above the Phewa Lake enjoying the view over the valley and the mountains - through the clouds we could see Annapurna and Fishtail clearly - it was SO beautiful! Amazing experience! In the end my Koreaen pilot (we flew tandem) wanted to show me something fun, so he made some acrobatics in the air!!!! It was the wildest rollecoaster I've ever tried mulitplied by ten!!! SO wild to turn around in the air and feel your body dropping down towards the lake.... wow I had problems with my stomach afterwards!! But I survived and must say that it's the funniest thing to do in a place with mountains :) Everybody should do it at least one time in their short lives, is my advise - it gives you a new perspective :)

In Pokhara we've found peace and quiet at a lodge with a beautiful view over the lake! Great way to wake up :) We have located the most cozy bar in town with cushions and good food (a rarerity here) and drinks served by some friendly nepalese jazz-lovers who are now our friends :) We love their mentality :) Matilde is going to a meditation and yoga school tomorrow which leaves me alone for some ten days, so we are enjoying the last evening together and I'm preparing for my future alone... which is quite empty actually! Wonderful :)

Lumbini

Lumbini is the birtplace of Buddha himself and also the best place to exactly what we need: peace, silence and beautiful surroudings !!! When we arrived late at night two days ago we quickly realised that something was going on. No rooms in any hotels were available!!! A big tibetan Lotus Lantern Festival is taking place and thousands of buddhists are filling up the rooms. That turned out to be our luck, because we are now sleeping in the Korean Monastery INSIDE the garden! And that is really nice :) No sounds at night and everbody is walking around silently saying quiet hello to each other - we're loving it! A big disapointment about the place though is that there's no really good food here! It's kind of crappy and we had to go far away to find a decent meal yesterday; which on the other hand turned out to be worthy of the royal family!
The place is filled up with monasteries and statues of Buddha and there's also a crane sanctuary ahich we will visit tomorrow - it's really beautiful and nice to bicycle around and discover funny temples and frightning animals in the night. A good way to spend a few days before we go back to Pokhara, paragliding, meditation and civilization...

Leaving Kantipur

is the most difficult thing I've had to do in a long time! We've been so warmly welcomed that it's a new family for us and it really hard saying goodbye when you don't when you'll return. But the last days were a party and we had a great time!
We went for a picnic with both schools and sacrifized a goat (!) and ate it all!! I've never eaten brain or lungs before... it was an experience!! We held a ceremonious goodbye on both schools the next day and went to visit one of the teachers from Ayodhyapuri, Soma, who had become our good friend. It was very nice, a quiet place, and her children were nice and gave us small gifts - it seems to be something all nepali do a lot, give gifts to each other. It is both wierd and lovely to get presents from people who are much more poor than yourself. Manoj came down from Kathmandu and took us to yet another sacrifice, this time a gandharba festival (it never ends), so we are now experts in killing hens and goats in a quick and very effective way !
The very last day in Kantipur was a gift: we spent it alone home on Siddhi Lal's farm - all the kids were in school! A very lovely surprise and we spent it talking to Mommi China and the animals, we had goats, hens, buffalos and cows to converse with :)

All in all our stay in Kantipur has been lovely and something that has changed us and taught us a lot. We are going to miss our family and the children and it has been an amazing experience.

Ayodhyapuri School

After ended job in Kantipur we moved to Ayodhyapuri School to teach; the school is a lot bigger - five classes - and also a lot richer, they had money to give us lunch :D The minut we arrived on the first day in the school we felt better. They had a lot more structure in every aspect of the work and the teachers were all more easy to communicate with. We spend three weeks in Ayodhyapuri and became much better teachers. We learned about mistakes we made in Kantipur and got new ideas and were able to take the teaching to a much higher level - great for the kids and us :) We also made a book for the next volunteers, so I won't bore everybody with the details ;) In class 4 and 5 we were able to let the children write essays about themselves, so now there is a book on the way to Kragelund Skole in Denmark with photos and writings from Nepal. We had a lot of fun with teachng the children songs and games, so they are able to play and sing bankeboef, funky chicken, lille peter edderkop, aramsasa, bro bro brille, mester jakob, boogie woogie, en lille and med vinge og go down moses!!! It was really fun to let the children sing the danish songs that we know from our own chidhood ;D