DAY 39 (Sunday 28 August 2011)

Well, I didn’t expect that, I woke up this morning to find that the sun was shining for a second day, over a Bank Holiday weekend too, what is that all about, unless.....I hadn’t woken up yet and it was all a dream.......nope I was most definitely awake.

Well there were 5 of us (me, Charlie, BK and 2 others) that went riding this morning, Marion not being one of them; I think she decided to feign a cold so that she could have a lie-in.

Just before setting off for the ride

Anyway we were setting off along the route for the Botanical Gardens, it was a route that I did on Thursday for PT when I got absolutely soaked, well along that route we took a right turn and headed to a place called GODAWARI, I can understand why it was called that as it felt like you were trying to get to the Gods because of the climb that we had to get there.  We turned off and headed along a rougher track, most of the riding today was off road which really pleased Charlie as he prefers off roading to road riding, anyway as we climbed higher into the hills the views were spectacular.

This view on our way up

 This view on our way down headed home

I may have to confirm the names of a couple of places that we passed through en route but none the less the ride out was actually pretty good, we ended up going through some wooded areas where the recent rain had made the tracks muddy, at first I tried to pussy foot around the muddy puddles so as not to get too dirty but that was a feat I shouldn’t have bothered with as in some places there was no escaping the muddy puddles, in the end I just ended up riding right through the puddles as it was a better line of travel than trying to go round them in the mud.

We did have a 15 minute stop at a tea house, this was all before the muddy puddles, but it was also before a climb, in the end I had to succumb to the hills and walk up some of them as it was very tiring, but, I didn’t walk where it was muddy, I preserved and managed to get through on the bike.  I must admit, it was fun getting muddy, not something I normally relish, but what can you do?????

We finally got back to camp around 1100hrs a bit muckier than when we set out and very tired, Charlie had taken his GPS thingy and it told us at the end that we had travelled just over 23 miles, (no wander my poor backside was killing me), I really can’t wait for my padded shorts to get here, I think I am going to need them on a regular basis.

 

Me & Charlie with my muddy bike

My not so clean and new bike

 

BK not as muddy as he thought

All I can say is, even though Marion had the right idea to stay home, I think she missed out on a very good albeit mucky ride today.

DAY 38 (Saturday 27 August 2011)

Seeing as today was supposed to be a biking day but it has been changed to tomorrow Charlie and me decided that we would walk into THAMEL, (we were going to that Sunday anyway), we set off and it took us about an hour to get there on foot, that was going at a nice steady pace, which is what was needed as the weather as it turned out was absolutely gorgeous.  THAMEL as you are probably aware is the main place where the tourists hang out and is where all the walking gear shops and souvenir shops are, the only problem is with it being a tourist area is the tourists.....no not really, the problem is if you stop outside of a shop to just have a look the owner comes out and tries to drag you in, what they (the owners) don’t realise with me and Charlie, is they have more chance of us buying something if we see something we like by not pestering us than if they do pester us  as we will just end up walking away., which we did on a number of occasions, in the end we just didn’t bother stopping to look anymore. 

Another thing about Nepal that really grips me is the taxi’s, if I want to use a taxi I shall hail one, what the taxi drivers have a habit of doing is stopping alongside you even if you are going in the opposite direction and ask if you want a taxi, when will they ever learn, besides most of the vehicles are not really road worthy, especially the little tuc-tucs, you can actually see some of their wheels leaning to the side or even wobbling as they are being driven down the road, I think all told the safer option is to walk.

Other than the fact that we made it to THAMEL and back on foot in the glorious sunshine, not much else really happened today.

Tomorrow, could be another story, you just know that because we are going out on the bikes the weather is going to be an absolute nightmare, especially as today was beautiful.

DAY 37 (Friday 26 August 2011)

Woohoo, it’s Friday and it’s a long weekend, yes we are not in work on Monday with it being a Bank Holiday, Monday is going to be a girlie day as I still need to get some stuff to wear with my Sari for the Teej on Wednesday.

Enough about Monday, let’s get Friday out of the way first, so, what happened today, I shall tell you what happened today......nothing, no really nothing other than sorting out with BK that we wouldn’t be going out on the bikes on Saturday due to bad weather, well what do you expect, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, so we are changing days and going out on Sunday instead as the weather is supposed to be better.

DAY 36 (Thursday 25 August 2011)

Oh the joys of being woken up at in the wee hours with a downpour, I looked at my clock to see that I still had a couple of hours of sleep to go before I had to get up for my PT session.  Today, there were to be 2 of us on bikes and 2 runners, the rest of the boys were to meet us at a location somewhere out in the sticks by minibus so that they then could run back to camp.

Well, I met up with Maj Kelsall (BK), Capt Fox and Neil Dolan, (the last 2 were the runners), at 0600hrs as we needed to have a good half hour head start as everyone else was meeting at 0630hrs.  The weather wasn’t too good; it was still raining but not badly, just the fine sort of rain that you get when you end up getting really soaked through.  BK decided that it was alright to head of on our session, but as we got further out the weather really came in harder, it wasn’t that fine rain anymore, it was big fat drops, we moved on for another 5 minutes before BK headed back to camp to tell the other runners not to bother leaving and they would have their PT session in the gym, me being me decided to stay with Capt Fox and Neil (he’s a WO2) as I was already wet, so we ploughed on, the weather actually did get better.  I was absolutely wiped out on the route today, not because of the weather, but because it was a route I hadn’t done before and it was a long steady hill, it was murder on my poor knees (I have knackered knees), I finally managed to catch up with the runners, but only because they stopped at the top of the hill where we were to meet the bus. I must admit, because I had lost sight of them for a while, I really had it in my head to just turn around and go back downhill (I like downhill), but I persevered and made it to the top.

As I said, going back was easy, it was downhill most of the way back, but by the time I got back I was sore (my derriere) at least I have now got a pair of padded cycling shorts on order, but they won’t come through until next week so I am seriously going to dread going out this Saturday, oh well, let’s just hope it is absolutely chucking it down with rain that they decided not to bother. God I hope so.....

I am absolutely disgusted, disgusted I tell you, I wanted to have some cake tonight to go with my coffee, but all Charlie could offer me was biscuits; why? I hear you ask, well the reason is, I can’t believe it myself, we finished it last night, how could I have forgotten, looks like I shall just have to console myself and make another one at the weekend.

Well with the fact I have not had my chocolate fix tonight I think I shall go to bed to sulk.  See you tomorrow.

DAY 35 (Wednesday 24 August 2011)

OMG Charlie did what it said on the cake tin, he got up to come for a swim with me, (well if that is what you call it).  The alarm went off around 0600hrs as the pool was due to be opened at 0630hrs, as it only takes about 5 minutes to walk to the pool from our flat I thought that would be plenty of time, yes, yes it was, I think next Wednesday I shall set the alarm for just a little bit later.

We got into the pool and it was such a nice surprise as the water was quite warm, you could actually see steam coming off the top of the water, well as it was just about 0630hrs when we got in the pool I decided that I shall do either 20 lengths or 20 minutes and then get out after which ever one came first; what you have to remember is that the pool is not a standard size swimming pool, I think it is only about 16 meters in length, so needless to say that the lengths went by a lot quicker than the time.

Charlie however, didn’t even manage 10 lengths, admittedly the last time he actually probably swam was when he did his military swim test all them years ago (yes, he is that old) sorry hunni.  Anyway Charlie bobbed around a bit but got out of the pool the same time as me, he has said though that he will still come with me each Wednesday and do at least a couple more lengths each time.  (We shall see), I am hoping to have a budding Olympic swimmer on my hands by the time I leave here, but I shall let you know if I meet one.......

Other than the swimming, nothing else really happened today.

Tomorrow though could be interesting as it will be my first time out on my bike for a PT session, but after the fun I had with it on Saturday I think I may take it a little careful just in case my handlebars decided to loosen off again.

DAY 34 (Tuesday 23 August 2011)

Well when I woke up today it was absolutely chucking it down with rain, so me being me thought ‘happy days’ there will be none of the circuits that Maj Kelsall had planned for us outside.  I was right, there was no plan to do the circuits outside, but I was wrong about not having a session, Maj Kelsall decided to do the same circuits that I first did when I got here, it was murder, even though we were only doing 45 seconds on each piece of equipment for the first session, it was a killer, also we were supposed to do it to our best ability, so I put my all in to do it to the best of my ability thinking that we were going to only do the circuit once, again, how wrong was I!  We had a minute or 2 water break and then we had to do the session again, this time it was only for 40 seconds, as I put my all in the first time I tried to do the same again, but my body just wasn’t wanting to play, I still tried though.

After the session had finished we had to do our warm down and the leg lifts that we had to do was just as bad as having to do some of the actual PT session  When we finally finished our session, I went home to get showered, even though it was still raining I didn’t get to wet on my way home as I was able to duck under some overhangs to be slightly sheltered, when Charlie saw me I told him that it wasn’t the rain that made my clothes that wet, it was actually me, (eeeww I hear you say), well let’s put it this way, I actually sweated more than when I was working out in the gym in Afghanistan and I worked hard there too.

After getting home, showered, dressed and breakfasted, I headed to work where I carried on with my Visiting Programmes.  There is nothing more to be said about work today.

It is now time for bed for me, but tomorrow will be my first day to get up early to go for the early bird swim and Charlie said he will come with me.........................we shall see.

DAY 33 (Monday 22 August 2011)

Yep I was right, today wasn’t really interesting at all.  Let’s see what tomorrow shall bring as it’s PT day and Maj Kelsall (BK) is back from leave and rumour has it he wants us to do his special session of circuits, oh the joy, I don’t think I can bear the wait. 

Oh before I forget, the cake was scrummy, it turned out alright and was still nice and moist, the only downside was the bottom burnt, the machine has a pre set timing for baking (45 minutes), but all you would have to do is finely trim the bottom off the cake to get rid of the burnt bits, or just do what Charlie and I did, eat it.

DAY 32 (Sunday 21 August 2011)

Well we didn’t do much really, just popped down to Bhat Bhateni’s for bits and pieces, no food shopping today as we decided to take advice and go to Vespas a restaurant for our tea.  Oh I did manage to get the eggs that I needed for my baking so let’s see how I get on as I am using my multi cooker that can not only slow cook, make porridge, rice and other bits and pieces, it can also bake, so today is my first run, I shall let you know how I get on.

The only other thing that we did was take both of our mountain bikes down to a shop called EPIC to see if they could fix them for us, and guess what, they managed to do it for a very cheap price to, a heck of a lot cheaper than what we would have been charged back in the UK.  The guy at Epics, said that if we were interested, on a Saturday at 0700hrs a whole group of them meet up and go for a 2 hour bike ride, we have said that we will definitely go, but not until I get my padded cycling shorts sorted out as doing all this biking with a very thin saddle is taking it’s toll on my poor derriere.  It’s also handy having someone else to tag along with just in case we can’t for whatever reason go with the others on Saturdays.

So there really isn’t anything else to tell today, tomorrow probably won’t be that interesting as it’s just work, start of another week.

DAY 31 (Saturday 20 August 2011)

I cannot believe that I have been here a month already, where has the time gone?????

Today, what have we done so far, please bear in mind that it is now 0945hrs (0500hrs your time) and we have already been out for a bike ride, somewhat shorter than we expected as I was having a problem with my bike, so instead of seeing if I could make it to the destination we had in mind, we turned around a came home, I managed to bike most of the way home, but the clunking of the pedals (apparently the grease may have frozen and then degraded on the flight over) was really annoying so we got off and walked the rest of the way home.

So far that is all we have done today, probably won’t do much more than just go out and get some shopping in for tea tonight.

Well as I suspected, we went out for some shopping for tea which was a plate of bangers, mash and beans and it was absolutely scrummy.  When we got home, I decided that I should write a couple of letters to my friends as I now have their addresses and it was a good way to relax after our long hot walk to the shops.

The rest of the afternoon was chilling in the front room watching a bit of NCIS.

Tomorrow, let’s see what tomorrow brings, I hope to do a bit of baking, all being well that I can get some eggs, they don’t sell them in the local shops, you have to either get them from people on the street or from people that have what we call ‘Hole in the Wall’ little shops that actually have no proper meaning to them, all it is is a brick shed and that is it with a few bits a pieces in, mainly fruit and veg, ah yes the veg, something I have not tried is there local veg, purely because I am unsure what things are as they look so different to some of the stuff that we get in the UK.

Well hubby has gone to bed to read, so no doubt, by the time I finish this and go up he will probably be long asleep.  Oh nearly forget, haven’t mentioned it in any previous days, but Charlie has decided that the volunteering at the school thing was not for him.  At least now I know my tea will definitely be ready for when I get home at night.

Nighty Night all.

DAY 30 (Friday 19 August 2011)

OMG what a boring day, I had an Induction Day today, which basically was ‘Death by Powerpoint’, seeing as I had to endure a day of hell I decided that Charlie would have to join me, the day started at 0900hrs and finally the torment finished at 1640hrs, I couldn’t believe that we had to sit through briefs and presentations that we had already seen in our first week here.

DAY 29 (Thursday 18 August 2011)

Woohoo, our boxes have finally shown up, they got here just before I came home for lunch, Charlie started to unpack whilst I was having my dinner and he finished just before I headed back to work, the only thing that he needed to do after I had gone back to work was to find homes in cupboards for the things that we brought out, but the best thing of all is finally having my own bedding, the pillows I had been using were feather filled, (I hate feather filled pillows), I think tonight will be a very good night for sleeping.

I also received a letter from a friend of mine Vikki, she said her letters were just going to be rambles and she wasn’t wrong, but I don’t mind as it was good to get it and it took me away from the computer in work for a little bit as I decided to read it there and then, I can happily say Vikki’s ramblings made me smile.

Another friend of mine Pat, sent me a parcel, I know she knows that I am not in an Operational area anymore, but again her parcel was well received as it contained some items that I couldn’t get here, not that there isn’t much I can’t get out here.  Pat kept my moral going whilst in Afghanistan and she has become a very dear friend, including her grand daughter Riannon.

Finally on a good note too, my DVD player that I ordered from Amazon has also shown up so at long last I can stop watching NCIS on my laptop and watch it on the big telly.

Life is once again sweet.

DAY 28 (Wednesday 17 August 2011)

No news to report today.

DAY 27 (Tuesday 16 August 2011)

No news to report today.

DAY 26 (Monday 15 August 2011)

No news to report today.

DAY 25 (Sunday 14 August 2011)

Ah, today started off with our normal Sunday walk out, we didn’t really have a place in mind to go to so we just decided to walk the route that I have taken a couple of times on the bike when I have gone out with the runners.  We set of on what was a fairly sunny day, we went up University Drive stopped and looked at some cows in a field lazing around then headed off again.

We walked down some steps, instead of following the road route and at the bottom of the steps we turned left so that we could cross a bridge, however, part way across the bridge we stopped because the sight of all these hawks were lovely to watch, there had to be a least 3 pairs of hawks just circling around, catching the thermals then gliding down to the water before flying back up to catch the thermals and do it all again.  It was such a lovely sight to see that we must have stayed there for a good 15 minutes just watching them.

One of the hawks in the thermals

We set off again and as we were getting further round on the route you could see that the clouds over the hills in the not so far distance were starting to get darker by the minute, we just knew that the rain was going to come and we weren’t sure if we would make it back home before the heavens opened, well we were right, we didn’t make it back before the heavens opened.  The rain decided to descend on us in big fat drops, everyone was either running for cover or putting up their umbrellas to get some sort of respite from the rain, even the street dogs were huddling in doorways of shops to try and get away from it too.  Well by the time we got home we so wet that we had to take off our shoes and socks (we even rung the socks out) before entering the block where we lived.

It looked like the rain was to stay for the rest of the day, so we decided to stay in for a couple of hours to see if it would ease off and it did, so we were able to go out to a place called ‘Roadhouse’ for our Sunday meal, we even had ice cream at a place called ‘Os’.

Well that was the only thing for us today.

DAY 24 (Saturday 13 August 2011)

Well today I was up at 0600hrs to get sorted ready for our bike ride, there was only 3 of us in the end, there was me (of course), Marion (our nurse practicioner) and Capt Mark Dennis (he’s leaving in a few weeks).  Anyway, we set of just before 0645hrs, the first part of the ride took me along the normal route when I go out on Thursdays with the Everest Runners, but instead of turning off at one particular spot, we carried straight on, now I know Mark said he was going to take it easy and he did, what you have to remember, is I have only been out here 3 weeks and I am still acclimatising to the physical activity side of life, I manage to get up most of the hills without having to get off, but there was this one particular hill near to where we were headed that was a bit of a killer, well me and Marion ended up walking most of it.  Mark did however come back down to check to see if we were alright, so looking at it, he actually did more distance wise than me and Marion.

Marion getting her camera out of her bag.

Mark and Marion with the local dog outside the tea house (well shack)

The one thing that kept me going when going up the hills, is the plus side, we were going to go back the way we came when we had a break at the tea house we were heading for.  So going back was going to much easier and my god it was, we set off and I decided to see how far down the hill I could get without having to pedal when I came to a flat bit, let’s just say it wasn’t often I had to pedal, I even managed to overtake motorbikes on the way down, (they turn off their engines when going down hill to save on their fuel).  Being on a small bike and only having me on the bike (not like the Nepalese people where they can put a whole family on a motorbike) I was able to build up speed and momentum and get around the corners better, the only thing you had to watch out for was anything coming the other way and overtaking, as they really don’t have much road sense out here.

View from the tea house (shack)

Another view from the tea house (shack)

Mark had to stop at one point because the excessive use of his back break had made it cease up (he has disc brakes on his bike), so to cool them down he pour some of his drinking water over the disc, well you should have seen the steam that came off it, it was really that hot.

I’m not entirely sure on how far we actually rode today, but I know one thing, it took us just under 2 hours to get to the tea house at Hattiban, but coming back down and getting back to camp, it took us only 1 hour total, all I can say is ‘I love going downhill’.

Well other than that it has been a relativity quite day, and if Charlie is feeling better tomorrow it will be out for on of our walks, so until then........

DAY 23 (Friday 12 August 2011)

Today was quite interesting, for Charlie anyway, I went to work to do my normal stuff but when Charlie went down town to go and get the shopping for tea, he didn’t get much further than the roundabout at the top of the main street, this is because there was a Bhund.  A Bhand can turn into a bit of a riot, you know when one of these are going to kick off if you haven’t had a text message to warn you off, there are no cars on the roads and all of the shops are shut, we are advised not to leave camp when one of these are on, so when Charlie realised what was going on he did the right thing and came home.

My day was the same as normal, sorting out programmes for most of it, so that was it for me, but DCOS did come and tell me to disappear at 1600hrs as everyone else had done one for the day.

Tomorrow I am going for a bike ride up to Hattiban, not sure how many of us are going but I know Charlie won’t be as he is still not a 100%. 

As it’s another early rise on tomorrow I shall sign off and get an earlyish night in.

DAY 22 (Thursday 11 August 11)

Today started off with PT, I met the guys who were running just before 0600hrs, we set off on a different route today, this was because the rest of the PT lot were being bussed up to where we were running/cycling to.  It took about an hour for us to get to the drop off point for the bus, 5 minutes later the bus showed up with everyone else on.  After about a 5 minute warm up for those who just got there, we set back off the way that we came, it was so much better going back, purely because for me it was down hill so not much pedalling was needed on my behalf, however, the brakes on the bike are a lot to be desired.

Well it took about 45 minutes for the other runners to get to where the bus was waiting for them to take them back to camp, however, the RAO decided he was going to run the rest of the way in so as I was on the bike I accompanied him.  Boy can that man shift, I had trouble to catch him up, especially as we had another hill to go up, which was pretty steep and took all my stamina to get up the damn thing.  Well I made it back at the same time as the bus so I didn’t feel to bad about that.

It was then back into work for the normal stuff, but today again, we were to leave work at 1600hrs as we had Hails and Farewells in the Mess, me being a Hail.  Charlie would have been there, but the poor soul hadn’t been feeling well today, (I shan’t go into details, you might be eating), but you could probably guess and no doubt be right.

Well that was it for the day, so I have come home to see if hubby is alright, to find him laid in bed reading, but not far from the necessity of the bathroom.

Tomorrow is Friday woohoo, just another normal day so I probably won’t have much to tell you, but if I do I shall be sure to let you know.

TTFN.

DAY 21 (Wednesday 10 August 2011)

The only really thing that was worth talking about today was that the COS has finally left the building.  He and Estella were pulled out of camp in a white landrover which was pulled by all us SNCO’s (senior non-commissioned officers) by the aid of white ropes, however, it was made easier for us as the simple fact is that the engine was turned on and the hand brake off.

Other than that, there is again nothing else to speak off.

So once again, when I have something of use or worth talking about I shall do so.

DAY 20 (Tuesday 09 August 2011)

Well to be honest there really isn’t anything to say about today, just a normal working day for me today, PT, work then home.

I might have a bit more to say tomorrow as we are towing the COS out of camp as it is his last day before he fly’s off to his next job.

Night all.

DAY 19 (Monday 08 August 2011)

Week 2 in the Big Brother House.......

Today was the same as the first 2 Mondays that I have been here, nothing much to tell, just found out though that I have been rubbered for something at work that Neil did not tell me on my Handover week with him, bit like the other stuff that he hasn’t told me that I am finding out about when they come in, some not bad but some things are a nightmare, can’t wait for this year to slow down as it will do in the next couple of months, that’s only because the recruiting season for the Nepali’s to join the Army will be over for another year.

Charlie has landed himself a volunteering job, working 3 mornings a week, as long as he is home to make my tea he can please himself what he does and also as long as it keeps him out of mischief, can’t have him sitting at home thinking he is on holiday, bless him though he does work hard around the house, I mean not that hard, but out here the washing has to get done everyday as there is no tumble driers and there isn’t a lot of room on the washing line to get a big load out (that is probably why my neighbours take it upon themselves to use my line if they think I am not going to use it).

Well time to go as it’s getting on, so I shall bid you all a good night until tomorrow.

DAY 18 (Sunday 07 August 2011)

Today we decided to go out and explore the East side of Kathmandu.  Firstly though we went down to the top end of RATNA PARK so that I could get a picture of the Monument in the Queen’s Pond.
 

Monument in the Queen’s Pond

After I had taken the picture we headed up to the top of the road where we went right and headed down towards the East, we followed the road (using a guide book this time) and found a massive big Civil Shopping Complex, to be honest it really looked out of place amongst all the other scruffy looking buildings.  In the Complex it was about 6 floors tall and on the top floor was a Cinema and a Bowling Alley, I tell you, this place was huge and if you decided to go down the stairs (which we did) instead of using the escalator you found shops in the stairwells too.

Well we left there and carried on with our walk, we came across a wooded area that was actually marked on the map in the guide book so we decided to walk around the perimeter to see if there was a way to get in.  Whilst we were walking round this otter looking creature ran out in front of us, but it was too quick for me to get a photo, then we saw some bigger cows laying around, however, when we got further round, you could see some monkey’s in the trees

Sleeping (we think) monkey

Slightly further round there was a monkey sitting on the wall, now if it is one thing that today has taught me about monkeys’ it is not to make a noise (I sucked my teeth) to get his attention, well his head snapped round and because there was nothing between me or the monkey, I tensed up and quickly took the picture and ran away before the monkey could make a move at me.

If looks could kill

Because of the way the monkey snapped his head round, unbeknown to me, Charlie my brave husband was already backing away leaving me alone to fend for myself if the thing launched itself at me.

There wasn’t really anything else exciting to talk about after that, but to be honest, I think that was more than enough excitement for me.  We tottered off home, so that we could sort ourselves out before heading out for our Sunday treat of having tea out, then it was back home to chill in front of the telly, but chill we couldn’t as the DVD player started to play up and wouldn’t read the discs so we ended up watching our programme on the laptop, looks like I may be ordering a cheap DVD player from Amazon.

DAY 17 (Saturday 06 August 2011)

Again rudely woken by my alarm at 0500hrs to go biking with Charlie whilst the rest of them ran, we were joined by Prakash Gurung (my RAWO) and a civvie called Melissa (I think that was her name, she was very nice), anyway we set of the same way as Thursday to do the same route but with a little extra added on as they wanted to extend the route slightly, well it wasn’t extended by much it must have been only a couple more Kilometres, but today I felt it and so did Charlie, but it was his first time out on a bike in a very long time that doesn’t have an engine attached to it.

Half way round the route, Prakash left us via a shorter route as he had other plans that he had arranged for today and needed to get back.  When we got to the top of the hill that looked over Kathmandu I stopped to take a picture or two of the extent of buildings that are in Kathmandu

 Left side as I was looking at it

Right side as I was looking at it

 

On our way back the road forked off and we had to go up a slight (OK steep incline) to get to where we wanted to be, DCOS was suffering a little so he decided to go the other way which wasn’t so bad (apparently) and would meet up with us down at the junction by the bridge heading back into town.

 

Charlie at the 12km marker on the running route.

 Well as I looked behind me, I didn’t see Charlie so I automatically thought that he went the same way as DCOS to keep him company (how wrong was I!) It seemed that the chain had come off for the second time on the bike that he was riding and had stopped to fix it, bless his heart, he had no idea as to what route that we took as he hadn’t been out riding with us before, fortunately for him though there were a couple of friendly Nepalese people who, when Charlie came to a junction actually pointed him in the right direction, Charlie eventually caught up with us and told me off for abandoning him, (I didn’t though) at least he was alright though, I must admit though if he wasn’t with DCOS when we met up at the junction on the bridge I would have gone back the way I came to see if I could have found him, but thanks to the 2 locals I didn’t have to do that.

After we had finally got back, (we had been out for about 2½ hours), we got showered and had breakfast, we weren’t really in the mood to do much after that so we just wandered down to Bhat Bhateni’s to get the stuff for tea and just chilled out for the rest of the day.  It wasn’t a bad idea considering in the afternoon the heavens just completely opened for the rest of the day.

DAY 16 (Friday 05 August 2011)

Today nothing exciting happened in work, it was mainly spent chasing people up to find out exactly what they required for transportation when they got back to the UK as part of my job is filling in the T&S Budget Approval forms and sending back to 4 Div for approval (this is allegedly my bread and butter most days in work). 

Woohoo, I have survived my first week in work.  I finished work earlier than normal, but not too early as we had another function to attend tonight, I shall tell you all about it when I get back in, that’s if I am not too tired as we are not due to finish until 2300hrs.

Charlie had an interesting day again today, he went to the Partners Club for a meeting and yet again he was given another KATA as a welcome with it being his first time in the Partners Club.

Right, that is me back from the function, it was another leaving do for my COS, by the time he leaves the country he will have had about 7 leaving functions, he has another one tomorrow, let’s hope it’s indoors as it’s due to rain again tomorrow as it has done tonight and it’s big fat rain. 

The function wasn’t bad, admittedly I didn’t stay long, I had what was supposed to be a double Jack Daniels and coke for my drink but looking at how much went into the glass, I can safely say I think it was a quadruple, (it didn’t go to waste).  There were little spicy snacks set out on the tables, before the main meal of the evening, and in good Gurkha fashion, it was a Curry.  I did put the meat on my plate but I really wasn’t sure as to what the meat was (and I wasn’t going to ask), I tried it, but the texture just didn’t seem right so I left it and ate just the rice and salad.

After the meal everyone was to go over to the basketball court where there was a marquee set up for the cultural show, but that is when I made my escape as I really couldn’t be bothered, only because it was going to be going on for an hour or so and I really had to get some shut eye as I was shattered, so with that, me and Charlie snuck off.

Right well I am off to bed as I have stupidly agreed to get up at 0500hrs on again (yes I am getting up at stupid o’clock on a Saturday) to go riding, this Charlie says he is going to come along too as he has got the use of Frances’s bike as she is now on leave and not needing to use her bike.  So, with that I shall bid you a good night.

Day 15 (Thursday 04 August 2011)

Today started with a wake up call from my alarm at 0500hrs as I had to be round at Nicky’s to get her bike before she, the RAO, Capt Frances Fox and my boss DCOS went out for a run, I was going along not only as part of my PT session but to be the water carrier.

We set off at 0600hrs, once everyone had met up and headed down to the main road so that we could start to head out of town and get a bit into the country side which is where the volume of traffic was considerably less, however, getting out of the town was fun, I have found with the people over here, that it does not matter whether they have the right of way, they are coming regardless.  I managed to make it out of town unscathed.

It took the group about 2 hours to run 18 km but not all of the runners did the full 18 km as some kept doubling back for the slow coaches, (DCOS), but give him his due he isn’t the slightest of people and has been out of it for a while, I am not sure if he is doing the Everest Marathon with the others in November or if he is just going out on the runs to get fitter.  I know from here on in though that I shall be going out on the bike more (especially when mine arrives) as there is definitely loads of other off road routes to explore.

It was Hem’s birthday today; Hem works in the Finance office downstairs from me dealing with the cashing cheques for personnel.  Here for birthdays (as is probably the case with most office dwellers) the birthday person buys in the cakes, (normally in my case I make them), anyway Hem bought in some lovely cakes from the local baker and for whatever reason we all ended up going to a little restaurant for lunch, everything was ordered beforehand so when we showed up it didn’t take long for our meals to arrive (Charlie came with us as well as he seems to have been adopted by my lot), we both had Steamed Chicken Mo Mos, Charlie didn’t have much choice as to what he wanted as I ordered for him, but from the way he polished his plate off he seemed to enjoy it.

Once lunch was done it was back to work for a relatively normal afternoon, nothing untoward happened.

DAY 14 (Wednesday 03 August 2011)

Woke up just as the electric went off, which was just about the time that my alarm was due to go off anyway, fortunately though my alarm isn’t electric, could you imagine, that would be a good excuse if I were to be late for work, but out here I don’t think they would buy it as an excuse.

Anyway, today was nothing exciting, just work again, there was a sports afternoon, but I didn’t have one as I wanted to play catch up on a programme that needed a little amending, and I have plenty to do tomorrow without adding that to my To Do List.

I did get asked if I wanted to go with the clan that are training for the Everest Marathon tomorrow for my PT session, as I can’t run I didn’t think it would be a good idea, but the RAO (Maj Kevin Thorpe) said that I could follow on a bike, that way I shall still be able to do it with them and not have to go into the gym, me being me said ‘Can’t see why not’, so I have now inadvertently agreed to get up at stupid o’clock (0500hrs) to meet them for 0545hrs so that we can be out for the 2 hours that it will take to get around the route they are doing.  I shall let you all know tomorrow how I get on, have a serious feeling that I shall not only be knackered, but also most probably going to end up walking like John Wayne.

Well until we meet again.  TTFN.

DAY 13 (Tuesday 02 August 2011)

Today started out with our PT session being in the outside pool, it was quite a strenuous session, whoever said you can’t sweat when doing swimming hasn’t had one of these sessions with Maj Kelsall (OC/QM) taking it.  We spent a very knackering 45 minutes doing life saving techniques (being told that we are not qualified life savers, we are only there to assist if need be) then we did laps of the pool doing various stupid things, you also have to realise that the pool is only a 16 meter pool so it doesn’t do well to have loads of us at one time.  However, I did get told to stop cheating at one point, that was when we had to swim across the pool, haul ourselves out go round the float and lower ourselves back into the water and swim across and do the same again, well instead of hauling myself out and standing up to go around the floats, I just stayed sat down, swung my legs over the float then lowered myself in the pool, to me that is not cheating, it is using my initiative.

Anyway after that we just went to work where again, it’s just the mundane stuff with a few extra things thrown in.

However, tonight is the night for the COS Dine Out, this will be my first Mess function here even though we are in our Mess Dress we are in Summer Mess dress.

 Me in my Summer Mess Dress

 

Back now from the function, it’s not stupid o’clock but it is certainly past my bedtime.  Well it was a good night was had by all, we all had cocktails to start, then other drinks were drank whilst we waited to be seated for the food.  The meal was nice, starters were Battered Mushrooms with Garlic Sauce and a bit of Salad, main course was Chicken with a white sauce and the usually customary vegetables, even though there was a sauce, gravy was also provided, dessert was Lychees with ice cream, however the Lychees weren’t fresh, they were out of a tin, but it still tasted nice all the same.  Of course you can’t go forgetting the cheese board with crackers, if you say biscuits over here that is what you will get, biscuits (Oreos have been known to accompany the cheese board before now).

After dinner there was the obligatory toasts with the Port, the Vice for the night did the toasts, however, when it came to toasting the Queen, all he said was ‘Sir’s, Ma’am’s, Ladies & Gents’, that was it, he just did the hand gesture for us to stand instead of saying ‘Please be upstanding’, still everyone got the gist with the hand movement.

The evening ended not too late but late enough, at least I didn’t have to get up for PT.

DAY 12 (Monday 01 August 2011)

Today was the day that I flew solo, (no I wasn’t flying a plane) I was actually in my office on my own.  Nothing too exciting if truth be told, but I did manage to get a programme done and sent out.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot, we had COS (Chief of Staff) Prayers at 1030hrs in the Kathmandu Room, before I went down I had to print off a couple of documents to take with me, but when I printed off the first document I just couldn’t think for the life of me what was the second one I had to print.  It wasn’t until the end of the meeting when COS asked me what new visitors had been added to the list that I realised what it should have been.  Oh well we live and learn, so I have added that to my notebook of things that need to be done and when.

DAY 11 (Sunday 31 July 2011)

Well we set of for THAMEL at a reasonable hour as we weren’t sure how long it would take us and today was busier than yesterday so crossing the road would be more of a challenge as over here there are no such things as pedestrian crossings or even traffic lights (well saying that though there are traffic lights on the freeway outside of the centre of KATHMANDU. 

Charlie wanted to try and get to the KASIER MAHAL which is inside the GARDEN OF DREAMS, so that we could stop there for a little bit and have a drink and relax.  We were supposed to go to the Garden of Dreams first before heading to THAMEL but it took us a little longer as we took a wrong turn (thinking we were going the right way) and ended up at the Durbar Square in Central Kathmandu.  We had a look around there, took some photos and headed on our way.

From our home we headed down the ring road (took a picture of the SACRED COWS)

2 Baby Cows on the sidewalk outside a car showroom

 this took us over the BAGMATI RIVER

 

Traffic going over the bridge out of our part of KATHMANDU

and up past one hell of a big park called RATNA PARK, we walked and walked and came to a road that we thought for some reason would take us towards THAMEL, how wrong were we, this is where we turned down NEW ROAD and GANGA PATH that took us into DURBAR SQUARE,, KATHMANDU.

From there we went down loads of back streets (had a look at our compass and it said we were going North) so off we went thinking we had a bit to go before we got to the Garden of Dreams, oh but we most definitely did have more than a bit to go as we actually ended up past the other side of THAMEL on a road called NAYA BAZAR, however, it wasn’t until we got to the VISHNUMATI RIVER and could see the hills that we thought we had been going in the wrong direction but weren’t sure, so with that we had a look at our map to make sure we were going the right way and realised we had to turn around and head back the way we came until we got to the top of the hill and took a different road, this actually took us into THAMEL and I managed (after all these years) to recognise where I was as I had been here about 14 years ago.

We walked through all the tourist area of THAMEL (I shall be going back to get some bits and pieces and also to buy some souvenirs for myself at a later date).  When we got to the other side, we actually knew where we were as we saw an Irish Pub that we had passed last Sunday on our way to the Sterling Club with the Hetherington’s.  Just up the road and around the corner was the Garden of Dreams, so happy that we had finally made it as I was really ready for a sit down and a long cold drink, once we were inside the Garden of Dreams we went to the KAISER MAHAL for our drink and also ended up staying to have a spot of lunch.

View from inside the KAISER MAHAL at the GARDEN of DREAMS

 As time was sort of getting on and we knew we had at least another hour or more to walk back home we set off (in the right direction this time).  As we were walking back I took a photo of the Traffic Control Cop as he was having a pretty busy day. 

Traffic Control Cop (traffic coming just out of picture shot)

We also came back down along RATNA PARK where we passed the part of the park that is called RANI POKHARI which is also known as THE QUEEN’s POND. I shall have to take a picture at a later date as I was on the other side of the road and really couldn’t be bothered to cross it to get the picture.

We headed back across the BAGMATI RIVER and took another photo of how some of the poorer people live.

 

How the poorer half live.

 

It took us nearly 2 hours to get home.

DAY 10 (Saturday 30 July 2011)

Well today after a relatively good sleep we got up had a bit of breakfast and decided to head out, set with our back pack for any shopping that we may pick up along the way.  We went to BHAT BHATENI’s (supermarket) to get the ingredients for tonight’s tea.  Charlie’s idea was to get the meat and it would be able to defrost whilst we were walking around, however, we managed to get a bit more than we needed, so headed home to drop off the shopping before setting out again.

When we set out again we headed to have a look around DURBAR SQUARE in PATAN, yes I know you are probably thinking ‘but you only went there last week’, well this time we took our camera to take some pictures of the temples that you can see, yes couldn’t resist, me and Charlie albeit separate had to have our photo took too.

Anyway, after leaving Durbar Square, we headed off and had a look around the side streets to see what there was, as is the norm when you are in a touristy location the shops are full of tourist stuff, some of it was really nice, some of it was the usual sort of tat that you would find, but this time with a Nepalese theme to it.

Well when we finally recognised where we came out at we decided to head down the Ring Road (picture below is the Ring Road on a quiet day) to the river to see how long it would take us so that for tomorrow we could judge

what time to leave to have a full day of exploring without being side tracked for shopping for our evening meal.

When we got to the bridge to cross the river (just a normal road bridge) we crossed it and we stopped as I saw something moving in the tree to my left, when I look I noticed there was a monkey so I had to show Charlie as he had not seen a monkey since we got here, as you can see from below I was not making up the fact that there are monkeys over here.

We noticed the time was getting on and that there were some dark clouds starting to head our way and also as the weather out here is quite humid at the moment with the monsoon season, any cool breeze that you feel, you automatically know that there is going to be rain following it and not that far behind, so with that we decided to head back home, but to do so we went the way we came, (less going back around PATAN) and going up hill over here when you are still not used to the altitude can be quite tiring.  On our way back we went via the Hot Bread shop and not only did we pick up a loaf (if you can call it that) we picked up some yummy looking chocolate cake (I have decided that I shall try their local food over here and if I fall ill I know not to touch it again, so far so good I we have both been alright), we managed to get home before the rain really set in.

 So that is all that has really happened today, tomorrow we are going to go for a walk again, probably will try and get over to THAMEL and see how long that takes us, THAMEL is the real touristy area.