DAY 59 (Saturday 17 September 2011)

Well poor Charlie didn’t make it out for the ride this morning, he wasn’t feel too good, so he just stayed at home.  We did head for KAKANI today, so that made a difference; even though it is Saturday there was still a fair bit of traffic out on the roads, even at 0645hrs.  On our way through town we managed to not lose anyone and we more or less stuck together, but when we finally made it to the quiet of the road that we wanted to be on, that’s when everyone got into their own rhythm of pace, me as usual was at the back, well come on this road was a constant climb up, but once you get in the gear you need you just keep your pace going, however, for me, I wasn’t alone at the back for long as BK, the RAO and a couple of the Gurkhas, (I think one of them is known as PK) always came back to see how I was getting on, to get to where we were going I noticed that there were a some signs, just like town ones in the UK, one was called MUDKA and the other TINPIPPLE, if these were showing you little villages, let me just tell you, that the only buildings I saw were dotted around and not grouped together.

The scenery today was blanketed by a bit of mist, me personally, I think it was the clouds as we were constantly climbing, (hence no photos) but the good thing that came out of this constant climb was knowing that I was going back the way we came so downhill would be quicker and less taxing, but you had to watch out for the lorries, as they wouldn’t think twice about NOT getting out of your way, at the end of the day I suppose they were bigger than me.

When we had our tea break and headed back to town, we had just come across a road and going up very tight side street, that it is virtually impossible to have to vehicles go past side by side, anyway, someone (who wasn’t in our group) came tear arsing down the road passed us lot, but then slammed on his brakes, all I saw, was the bike go past, back wheel come up and the feet come up and over, he must have been putting on a brave face when we stopped to see if he was alright as he must have hit the ground with some force, anyway, to be honest it’s one of those moments that you wished you had a video camera so you could send it to one of those TV shows that airs video clips.

We left the bloke as his friend was with him, and carried on so that we could get home, after riding down the ring road we were to turn left, and I am not joking you, even though the hill was short and sharp, it was steep too, not right at the beginning, but half way up it just suddenly went up, well I must admit I mentally hit a brick wall, I just couldn’t get up it, so I am ashamed to say that I had to get off and push.

When we got back to camp, the boys washed down all the bikes at the jet wash (it was working properly this time) then it was home for a shower and something to eat.  However, when I got back I found Charlie to be dressed in the most clothes I have seen him in since we got here as he was feeling cold, trust me when I say, that it has not been cold since we got here and it’s still another couple of months or so before it should be getting cold.  Needless to say, he must be seriously not well if he has got that much clothing on.

Can’t believe that I got called over to the Mess to sort out the accommodation bookings, the Mess if you will is in a mess at the moment, rooms have had to be blocked off due to circumstances beyond the Mess Staff’s control, water leaks and damp carpets, but I can’t believe that I have just had to go and change people round in the accommodation, surely that is the Mess Manager’s job????

Anyway, that was it for my day, nothing much to tell.  I doubt we will be going out in a group as such next week as it’s the KATHMANDU Marathon and I am going to follow Nicky round on my bike as I am her water girl.   I may speak of tomorrow, but as nothing is planned it could be a quiet Sunday for a change.

DAY 58 (Friday 16 September 2011)

Lie in, ppfft, no chance the electric kept tripping, it started (that I was aware from) at 0500hrs this morning, tried, tried so hard to go back to sleep because I still had 2 hours before my alarm was due to go off, but no such luck, just laid there then decided to get up and do my normal morning things before heading off to work.

Can’t believe when I got into work that I wasn’t able to do much to start with as they computer geeks did an upgrade last night, but for whatever reason, non of our drives were available, such a shame, no work to be done for the next few hours, at least hope not, could do with a break from all the programmes and amendments that I have been doing over the past week.

At least I hade email, but that is only good when people that are in the UK are in work, I had to wait until after lunch before I could have any outside communication.

BK came to see me today to make sure that we were cycling this week as it has moved to Saturday, so it looks like we are going to head towards KAKANI (at last).  Just hope he doesn’t think we are going to bike all the way there as it takes about 1½ hours in a vehicle.  We shall see, at least I have my padded shorts and now I have my camelbak, so no stopping for me to take on water, probably stop just because I am knackered.

DAY 57 (Thursday 15 September 2011)

So far the only thing that really is worth mentioning is that 'woohoo' I stood on the scales in the gym and the weight is definitely coming off, so happy that all my hard work in the gym, swimming pool and out on the bikes up and down those bloody hills is finally paying off.

Lie in day tomorrow, no PT or swimming to get up for so my alarm will be well and truly set for 0700hrs.

DAY 56 (Wednesday 14 September 2011)

Today, what happened today, ah yes Marion is what happened today, she was out and about selling raffle tickets for the Big Brew that we are holding on a week on Friday, she managed to get me to buy 10 tickets, so at least I have 10 chances of winning, but knowing my luck it won’t happen.  There are supposed to be some pretty good prizes for the main raffle, spa treatments, return flights to Pokhara, meals out in different restaurants and hotels, etc.  However, we shall see next Friday, but I am not holding my breath.

DAY 55 (Tuesday 13 September 2011)

Swimming day to day, it was supposed to have been last week, but BK had other plans.  Again who knew you could sweat in a swimming pool.

It was a tough session but also a fun one, at one point in the pool we were split down into three groups, one group had to ‘skull’ for those that don’t know, that is lifting your feet off the bottom of the pool in a sitting position and just using your arms to move you around the water, the second group had to step into the water (no diving) swim to the other side of the pool (widths) then climb out without using the grab bar and do that all over again and finally group 3 had to hold on to each other’s shoulders to form a circle then go in a circle one way then change direction and go the other way, it was a bit like playing ‘Ring A Ring A Roses’, there was just no falling down.  Capt Fox didn’t work too hard on that one as she just lifted her legs and got carried round (wished I thought of that), I just ended up hopping around so that me feet weren’t stood on by the person next to me.

After swimming it was home, shower, breakfast and back to work.  That was it for the day, other than the normal working day that is.

DAY 54 (Monday 12 September 2011)

No news to report today.

DAY 53 (Sunday 11 September 2011)

Well as per the norm with anything to do with the Army it was all change again as to where we were riding to, instead of biking towards KAKANI as planned it has been changed to the route that I have now done for the past 2 weeks, however, I must be getting better as I have managed to get up the hills in question without getting off, OK well maybe not all the hills, only one that beat me this week.  I must be getting better though as we actually got back in quicker time than last week and it still included a stop at the tea house.

One of our local Tea Houses



KAKANI is now supposed to be getting done next week as BK said that it would be safer to try and ride up there on there on a Saturday as there is actually less traffic on the roads on that one day, it seems to be a day off for some people but not all.  We shall see.

We were actually dirtier this week than the past 2 weeks as the rain came down with such abundance that when we going down one part of the track through a little living area, they were blocking off vehicles (except bikes) as it was just churning up the track, bless the locals they were trying to sort it by putting rocks and stones on the track to have some sort of way to get through without becoming completely filthy themselves.

Me a little dirtier than last time

Well as we tried to bike through, the muck was that churned up that Charlie was doing his hardest not to fall into the ditch at the side of the track as he tried to make his way through, he nearly became a cropper but managed not to do it, however, the majority of us ended up having to walk our bikes through, no matter how hard we tried to pedal through we lost the battle.

As you can see from the picture below, my bike was actually muddier than the first day we did the route.

After again trying to get the bikes washed down, (the jet wash didn’t really want to play this week), it was a quick goodbye to everyone so that we could go home and have some food.

 Charlie washing his bike down at the jet wash

DAY 52 (Saturday 10 September 2011)

For a Saturday, there really isn’t much to tell, just caught up on my letter writing, did a bit of baking, shopping for food and chilling out, ready for the bike ride tomorrow, apparently we are supposed to be heading up to a place called KAKANI, that is where we have a bungalow that we can hire for a few days, it takes about 2 hours to drive there, so we are going to see where we get on the bikes, I do know that BK has actually ridden there before, but I don’t think that will be happening tomorrow.

DAY 51 (Friday 09 September 2011)

Well today we got up, yes even Charlie to go and say goodbye to Alison and Mark as they head back to the UK for their next posting, it was a really good turn out as the picture below shows, Alison and Mark have the KATAs round their necks.

Alison & Mark Dennis with us from work

Woohoo, I got parcels and letters today, because we had no post yesterday because of a Bank Holiday, we were able to get our mail today, I got mail from my mum, well happy about that, I was getting worried, and I had parcels and the best parcel of all was the one that showed up with my padded shorts, so happy, as my bum will be comfy on Sunday’s bike ride, if not then they will most definitely get sent back with a bad review.

Tonight is Games Night in the Combined Mess, we have invited the junior ranks over to play the games, however, as is the normal case, there will probably be plenty of cheating going on so as not to let the Juniors win, (that is the rule of the Mess, well any Mess really).

We had to be at the Mess for 1900 hrs ready to greet the Comd (Col Andrew Mills) at 1915 hrs and then for the juniors to be welcomed into our Mess at 1920 hrs, however, for them to actually come into the Mess, they had to do a quick obstacle course across the grass to the door to the Mess.

Junior Ranks doing the Assault Course

Once inside they were properly welcomed with a drink and then the rules of the games were to be read, then the cheating (oops I mean the games) can begin.

First up was the Altitude Sickness game, all that was really was a race on stilts across from one side of the  Mess to a cone, round the cone then back, for the next member of the team, each team consisted of 5 people.

Video Stills of the Altitude Sickness Game

Andy Vick staying strong

Second game was basketball, however no baskets were involved, just buckets.  The aim of the game was to get the basketball into the bucket to score, now this is where the Combined Mess was lucky, purely because the bucket we were using was actual in fact an outside bin and the Juniors had an actual bucket, well if it taught the Junior Ranks one thing, it was to see if their Wednesday sports afternoons on the basketball court actually paid off.

Third game was golf, however, to win this game you had to putt the golf ball against the wall and it had to stop on the white sheet of paper, this is where some cheating really did go on, the paper was moved to make sure the ball stopped on it, others put their hands in front of the ball to stop it from leaving the paper if it was hit too hard against the wall.  We as the Combined Mess were using a different club to the Juniors, but I think because they actually had the putter they won that one.

 How the golf was played

The fourth game was the horse racing game, (no picture), there was definitely cheating going on with both teams, but it’s all in the name of fun.

The fifth and final game of the evening was Wine Draughts, however, instead of just 2 people playing, all members of each Mess took a turn, the rules for this one was if you were too slow in making your move, you were made to drink the glass of wine, if the opponent jumped your move, you had to drink the glass of wine, if you made a wrong move you drank a glass of wine and so on and so on. 

 Col Andrew Mills opening with the first move

Let’s just say, it wasn’t a game that the Junior Ranks were going to win.

There was one final adhoc game that Stevie Bye (postie) decided to do and that was the boat race, 5 team members were to down a pint of beer each but in turn, needless to say the Juniors Ranks didn’t stand a chance against the members of the Combined Mess.

Video Stills of the Boat Race

A good night was had by all and the Junior Ranks left the Mess beaten, not shamed and in good spirits.

DAY 50 (Thursday 08 September 2011)

PFA day today for PT, for those who don’t know was PFA it is the Personal Fitness Assessment, something I am glad that I don’t have to do ever again as I am downgraded for my knees, so no more running, not unless I want to be in pain, but I don’t like pain.

Nothing else happened in work, it was supposed to be mail day today, but when Steve the postie went to get the mail, it turned out to be a public holiday for the Nepali’s so no post was dished out, which was a bit disappointing for we because I was hoping to get my padded cycling shorts today ready for the bike ride this coming Sunday.

Tonight though we are heading over to the YATRI NIWAS Mess which is just opposite my flat for a drink with Alison and Mark Dennis before they depart tomorrow for pastures new, Mark is posted back to the UK, apparently if first posting within the UK since he joined up all them years ago.

Just back from the Mess, it was a pleasant evening but we didn’t stay too long as we have to be up early in the morning to meet Alison and Mark at the Chatura to say goodbye in the Nepalese way by presenting them with a KATA each.  At least I have Alison as a friend on Facebook so I can keep in touch with her as she was an amazing laugh, especially in the short time that I got to know her.

Well night, all have pleasant dreams.

DAY 49 (Wednesday 07 September 2011)

No swimming today, just couldn’t be bothered, well there were other reasons but I am not going to tell you.

Oh my lord, I hate my neighbours, at the best of time it is normally the family that live opposite that can wind me up because they have a 2 year old that quite happily swings on his front door early morning and slams it then does he same again, trust me when I say I could more than happily swing his head of the door if he carries on, also he has one hell of a set of lungs on him, especially if he doesn’t get his own way, god can that boy scream. 

However, that is not the thing that bugged me the most today, upstairs neighbours were in their kitchen tap, tap, tapping away, (what you have to remember is yes, even though the walls are actually quite thick, this building can carry the noise, especially if your wall is up against where the noise is coming from, OMG it went on for half and hour before I went upstairs to speak with them, when I got there, Charlie had beaten me to it, but no one was answering the door, Oh by the time I finished they would answer the door.  I knocked very loudly so that I could be heard, (hurt my knuckles in the process) but still no answer so the next best thing, I rang their door bell until someone answered, eventually an old woman did, but didn’t speak English, then the little boy came to the door, eventually after going round the houses (literally) I managed to get the wife to the door, but she just played ignorant, god I wanted to slap her, why is it me that always gets the neighbours who are pains.....aaaarrrrrgggghhhh.

Well I shall say no more on the matter for now, but god help them if I have to go and speak to them again.  With that I had one hell of a restless night. If anything, I know one thing, I want to move to the country and have absolutely no neighbours, EVER.

DAY 48 (Tuesday 06 September 2011)

Today was PT day, it’s was supposed to be swimming as it is the first Tuesday of the month, but BK (Maj Kelsall) decided to change it as he wanted to do is ‘Special Circuits’, well BK’s special circuits seemed to be very much like ton ups, I won’t bore you with the complete details but there were about 9 different exercises and we had to do 10 of each, but after completing each full set, you had to jog the width of the basketball court, (that is where we were doing our circuits as we don’t have a gym hall), the jog was for a maximum of 20 widths, however, each time the widths went down but the amount of the exercise didn’t, I wasn’t able to do the jog because of my knees, but instead I had to do step ups whilst the rest jogged, to be honest I don’t know who had it easier.  Well that finished and it was home, shower, breakfast and back to work.

Work went by without a hitch today so I was well happy with that, busy but happy, we had a Mess Meeting that evening too, my first one here so it was sort of interesting, this ran on for about an hour, so when I left it was home, shower, change and then round to Kath and Jims home for our curry tea that was prepared for us by their Diddy, well I’m not sure what the male version is actually called, I think I had better find out, but he was known as BK (no it wasn’t Maj Kelsall doing the cooking) and he did a very nice curry, but the apple pie afterwards was absolutely scrummy, I think Charlie had better learn to do apple pie, especially if he can do it like BK, but then if he did I guess I wouldn’t keep losing the weight.  Tonight with Kath and Jim it was a very pleasant evening, made a change to go out and do something different.

DAY 47 (Monday 05 September 2011)

I had such an amazing day today, I got 2 letters in the post, one from my new bezzie mate Vikki and one from my neighbour Shirley, all I can say is that when those letter landed on my desk, I just couldn’t help myself, I had to stop what I was doing and read them, it was great, because even though my work is important as far as I am concerned it is not as important as getting the post, especially as we only receive mail twice a week if we are lucky.

OMG, tonight I went to my first Yoga class and all I am going to say on the matter is I am NOT going back, I have decided Yoga isn’t for me, I know what you are all thinking, ‘But you have only been once’, well let me tell you, ONCE was more than enough for me, I think I will stick to my swimming, gym, cycling and walking.

All I have to look forward to for tomorrow is PT, a Mess Meeting and a meal round Kath and Jims’ joint, looking forward to that as it’s somewhere different to go.

DAY 46 (Sunday 04 September 2011)

Sunday, oh how nice it is to be able to have a lie.....oops no nearly forgot it was cycling day and both Charlie and I were due to meet up with the rest of the cyclists at 0630 hrs, so last night I set my alarm on my I-phone for 0600 hrs, well we live on camp just around the corner from where we were to meet so there was no point in getting up too early now, is there?  Well like I had done I set my alarm, however, what I had forgotten to do was to change the actual day for the alarm, it was still set as Saturday because that is normally the day we go out cycling.  I had woken up and looked at my phone to see what time it was as I thought it was still early, only to find that I had to do a double take at the time because is showed as being 0615 hrs, I couldn’t believe, Charlie was still hard fast asleep but not for long as I shoved him and told him we were late.  As it happened that is the fastest either of us have ever gotten out of bed, especially on a Sunday morning.

We met up with the others, this week Marion Nicky and Kath (my DCOS’s wife) also made it, in total there was about 8 of us out on the ride, the ride this week was actually the same as last week, so I didn’t really get to take any pictures, my aim for this week was to actually try and make it up as many of the hills that I walked last week, and guess what, I managed to do a couple of the hills, so I am getting better, saying that though, having the bike in the right gears to start with before you start up a hill is a pretty good move too.  We were actually out quicker than what we were the previous week, so it must be true, I must be getting used to not just the cycling but to the altitude too.

As Sunday is our day for eating out (our weekly treat) we decided to go and try a restaurant called ‘Black Pepper’, we had to take our brollies with us this time as the heavens opened earlier than normal for a Sunday of late.  Black Pepper is supposed to be a nice place to go and eat, but I can’t confirm that as we never actually found the place, we actually ended up back at the Roadhouse, even though we were given directions to get to Black Pepper it was down a little side street and we were told if we make it to the British School then we had gone too far, yep you guessed it, we made it to the British School, hence we gave up and went back to the Roadhouse.

After returning from our evening meal, not as damp as we thought we were going to be, we just settled into a relaxing evening of watching a bit of TV before bed.

Nothing much else went on tonight so time to sign off and see you tomorrow.

DAY 45 (Saturday 03 September 2011)

Today there isn’t really anything to report, yep even with it being a Saturday we decided today was going to be a leisurely day doing absolutely nothing.

I think we are waiting to see what tomorrow will bring as it is a another 0630hrs meet to go for a bike ride, not sure who is coming, but Marion promised she’d be there this time as she skived off last week, I think Nicky is coming too, definitely BK as he organises getting us together at the weekends for the ride and most definitely me and Charlie, the only thing that I am not looking forward to tomorrow is the fact that I still don’t have padded cycling shorts, they are in the post.

DAY 44 (Friday 02 September 2011)

Today, as yes Friday and it’s the start of the weekend.  Not much happened in work itself today, but tonight a load of us went out to a restaurant called

It was a lovely restaurant; well actually it is a hotel which is right next door to the Spanish Consulate. I did try to take photos of the actually building but as it was really dark the pictures didn’t come out too well, I shall have to try next time as we will no doubt be going back again.  The food of the evening was a BBQ and for the set price of about 1500 NRs (Nepali Rupees) it worked out to be just under £15 per head, the food was really nice, it was good as you got to sample a load of different varieties of their food, on one of my plates, (yes I had 2 helpings) I had Mo’Mos these are little dumpling like things with meat in, you can get them with vegetables in too, I also had skewered chicken, gherkins, little onions, vegetable skewers, (not sure what some of the vegetables were, but it may have been best not to ask, at least with the meat you knew what you were eating, I even had wild boar on my plate, the first lot was really nice but Boar can be quite fatty so I passed that to Charlie to eat.  They also a dessert section, mainly mousse’s, and different cakes.

The hotel itself has a history of how it became about and the architecture who basically restored  it all from a dilapidated wreck, to look at the pictures on the wall as to what it was like before it has certainly taken on a transformation.

The reason we all went out for the night was because Alison and Mark Dennis are leaving us to go back to the UK so what better way to end a posting here is to go out for a really good meal, mind you when you are due to leave Nepal, the amount of leaving functions that people have are unbelievable, especially if you were head of a Department out here, so when I leave in a couple of years, I should hopefully get a quiet send off as fortunately I am not a head of any Departments.

Unfortunately in the picture below you cannot see Alison, however, if you go back to DAY 42 Alison can be seen at the back of the picture near the number 2 in 2011.  Mark however, is in the picture below he is sat between Jill and Kathleen.

Alan, Kathleen, Waiter, Mark & Jill (Alison’s Hands)

Rest of the mob, Kim, Beth, Imran, Frances, Steve, Steve & Nicky

The night ended with everyone having full bellies on food and booze, so I think everyone had a good time.  So until tomorrow, goodnight.

DAY 43 (Thursday 01 September 2011)

No news to report today.

DAY 42 (Wednesday 31 August 2011)

Today is the day of our Teej, Teej is the fasting festival for women, however, I can safely say though that none of us Westerners fasted, but I am not sure about the Nepali women in the photo.  The Teej is for women only but as Charlie is a member of the Partner’s Club an exception was made for him and trust me, there was no way he was giving up food for the day either.

Members of the Partners Club and invited guests

 It is where all the women get dressed in red Saris and men (this means Charlie) had to wear a red tie, fortunately though it wasn’t just the red tie he had to wear, he was allowed to wear a suit.  As Charlie is the only male member of the Partners Club he was the only male at the function, normally males do not attend the function as in a normal world it is the husband who is working out here and not the wife.

As guests we were all given a welcoming present which consisted of a beaded necklace, bangles and tika’s (tika is the ornament that is placed on the forehead of the female when she is in traditional dress.  As Charlie is a bloke he was presented with his present which was DHAKA TOPI which is the traditional headdress for the Nepali men, and apparently you are not officially allowed to wear one of these unless you have been presented with it.

 

Charlie sporting the Dhaka Topi

At the function tonight to end the fasting for the women, we were fed appetisers known as Tipan Tapan, this is normally the case before the main mean, which in this case and every case so far to all the functions that I have been to that curry is the main meal.  I wouldn’t mind but the just chop up and cook the meat with the bones still on, even the chicken, so needless to say, I think from now own I shall be having something to eat prior to going to a function as I don’t like the idea of have the meat still on the bone, especially the chicken as they just cut anywhere.

The night was still good though as a few of the Nepali women got up to do there traditional dance, I will just add one thing here, I did stay to watch, but before they had a chance to get me on the floor to dance I did actually do a bunk, but not before Nicky and Jill.

 Traditional Dancing

 I have added this final bit on the day after as I found out that Kathleen and Alison were the last western females to leave the function that night, I have absolutely no idea what time the Nepali women left, but what I do know is that a good night was had by all.

DAY 41 (Tuesday 30 August 2011)

No news to report today.

DAY 40 (Monday 29 August 2011 – Bank Holiday)

Today, Marion, Nicky and I went into THAMEL, for Nicky it was to price up gear that she needs to for her Everest Marathon, for Marion and me it was to finish getting our stuff to go with our Sari on Wednesday, let’s just say Marion had more luck than me, at this rate I shall be going bare footed under my Sari as I don’t see the point of paying a ridiculous price for a pair of shoes that I may not wear again, oh sorry, I have the Teej next year to look forward too so I may have gotten another evenings usage out of them.  I shall have one last ditched attempt to getting a pair of shoes to go with my Sari after work tomorrow, to do this I shall be heading to Bhat Bhateni’s to attempt this final act.

So as you may have gathered today for me was rather fruitless, however, I did manage to get a couple of pictures taken out of today, one is a street in T’HAMEL, as you can see it’s the sort of madness that is about everyday with not just people trying to get down a road, but also vehicles.  The vehicles don’t even care if they have to squeeze their way through, all you need to do is to remember to get out of the way.

The other picture was of pigeons, yes pigeons, I couldn’t believe how many of them they were and it wasn’t even Trafalgar Square in London, but you wouldn’t have been blamed if you though that is where it was, but not it was the pigeons of DURBAR SQUARE, KATHMANDU.

So with not much else to tell you of today’s efforts or lack of, I shall say goodnight as once again it is PT day tomorrow and back to a 4 day week this week, yay.