As you can see they looked and I will confirm they also tasted delicious.
Tomorrow I shall have to sit down and catch up on my letter writing as I was away last weekend so did not write my weekly letters.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
DAY 81 (Saturday 08 October 2011)
Today there really isn’t much to tell, all we really did was go into THAMEL to buy a couple more DVD box sets, a bit of shopping for food and then my main thing that I was going to do was my letter writing but I got weigh laid with ironing (had to get that out of the way) and cookie baking
Peanut Blossom Cookies
DAY 80 (Friday 07 October 2011)
Today was personal admin day, so there really isn’t anything for me to tell you as I don’t think you will want me to tell you about the amount of washing that needed to be done, so I shall leave it at that.
DAY 79 (Thursday 06 October 2011)
Today was the day that we had to travel home from POKHARA, to be honest I didn’t want to go back and I don’t think Charlie really did either, I know one thing though, if I was actually posted in POKHARA at the British Camp there then I know that I wouldn’t save any money as every chance I got I would be out exploring, rafting, paragliding, trekking, etc... anyway, once we had finally managed to get our little Maruti Jeep (now known as Mickey) out of the hotel carpark we were on our way. The journey back was quieter, there was less traffic on the road, but there was one point that I actually turned to Charlie and said ‘the drive home was like a ride at Theme Park where you have had enough and just want to get off’, I felt like that because the road home was bumpy with all the pot holes (ok I mean craters) well that is what some of the holes felt like if you actually hit them head on, sometimes there was just no getting away from them because you’d have a stupid pillock try and overtake you whilst there was still traffic coming the other way, but that is the NEPALI way out here.
We stopped off at Riverside as it is the halfway point for a bite to eat and something to drink, then headed on our merry way again. When we got back to KATHMANDU itself, Charlie was actually not looking forward to the drive at the main junction as he had to get across it and turn right, that meant battling with the locals and they way that they drove, but we were pleasantly surprised that it was a smooth transition and we were home in no time.
Once we got home we saw Marion who had just returned from her few days away at the KAKANI bungalow that we are allowed to rent for a few days, she was happy to have got away and recharged her batteries too.
I think next time I have a few days to spare, even if it’s just a long weekend, I might see if KAKANI is booked and if not, me and Charlie will have to go for a couple of days break again.
DAY 78 (Wednesday 05 October 2011)
Today was White Water Rafting day, we got up and had to be down at PADDLE NEPAL for 0930hrs, but with us the excitement or maybe apprehensiveness of going down a fast river had us up early so we were at the shop for 0900hrs, it gave us a chance to look through some of their past customers experiences whilst we waited.
Our river guide MIM (I think that’s how it’s spelt) was very good, he took us and 5 other poor soles to the SETI RIVER, we were going to do the Upper part of the SETI, along with 3 safety rowers who were to be in front of us in their one person kayak, when we got to the location on the river where we were going to launch the boat from MIM gave us a safety brief and whilst he was doing that, even though I had been rafting twice before I was actually thinking, ‘do I really want to do this?’ the river was flowing pretty well as it had just recently been having a lot of rain in POKHARA and with the snow coming in off the mountains, it was quite high, nonetheless, Charlie, me and the 5 others that came along (3 British girls and 2 foreign speaking people) donned our life jackets and helmets, picked up our oars and got into the raft where MIM placed us, poor Charlie who hasn’t done this before was stuck at the front with another raft guide so he would see everything coming first, that’s if we had the boat facing the right way down the river. After a couple of practise strokes in the calm part of the river MIM decided we were ready and pushed off, this was it, we were on our way and no turning back.
Pokhara Steak House
Our river guide MIM (I think that’s how it’s spelt) was very good, he took us and 5 other poor soles to the SETI RIVER, we were going to do the Upper part of the SETI, along with 3 safety rowers who were to be in front of us in their one person kayak, when we got to the location on the river where we were going to launch the boat from MIM gave us a safety brief and whilst he was doing that, even though I had been rafting twice before I was actually thinking, ‘do I really want to do this?’ the river was flowing pretty well as it had just recently been having a lot of rain in POKHARA and with the snow coming in off the mountains, it was quite high, nonetheless, Charlie, me and the 5 others that came along (3 British girls and 2 foreign speaking people) donned our life jackets and helmets, picked up our oars and got into the raft where MIM placed us, poor Charlie who hasn’t done this before was stuck at the front with another raft guide so he would see everything coming first, that’s if we had the boat facing the right way down the river. After a couple of practise strokes in the calm part of the river MIM decided we were ready and pushed off, this was it, we were on our way and no turning back.
There was one part where we actually got stuck for a minute on a rock, but the river eventually pushed us off the rock for us to carry on our way, I must admit, the first wave of water that came over the boat was flipping freezing, but after that you didn’t really feel the cold of the water as the adrenalin that was pumping around you was keeping you from feeling the cold.
After a few near misses and flips we managed to get back to where the vehicle had been taken too for our landing area to get the boat out of the river, the guide MIM had a camera strapped to his helmet, but unfortunately there was a problem that we were to find out later on so we were not able to purchase a DVD of our time going down the SETI RIVER, so that really leaves one alternative; we will just have to go and do it all over again.
Our last evening meal was to be at the POKHARA STEAK HOUSE, purely because we were recommended this place by BK because of one of the steaks, now to be honest I wished I had taken my camera out for that evening meal because this steak which actually melted in your mouth so you didn’t have to chew much was actually meant for 3 people to share, it was actually about a foot in length, me and Charlie couldn’t believe it when we saw it, it was massive, but needless to say we had a go and between the 2 of us we managed to polish it off including the vegetables and chips that came with it. I shall have to get a picture next time I go back.
DAY 76 (Tuesday 04 October 2011)
To be honest there really isn’t much to tell about today, the only constructive thing that we did was book a half day White Water Rafting with PADDLE NEPAL,
Paddle Nepal
Oh and do my shopping that I wanted to get done that I had decided I wanted to do whilst I was in POKHARA, it was so much easier than shopping in THAMEL, at least with POKHARA you didn’t get dragged into shops like you can do in THAMEL. I must admit I was well happy that I managed to do some constructive haggling with one of the locals, but I had done my homework and got a quote for one item the night before and went back the next day and managed to knock the shop keeper down from his first initial price of NRs 6000 to NRs 3800, I am not saying what I did buy as it will spoil the surprise for a couple of my friends.
DAY 75 (Monday 03 October 2011)
Well today is the day that Charlie and me are allegedly going to chuck ourselves off a mountain, ok maybe not a mountain, and maybe not chuck, but from the size of the thing we had to get up it sure felt like a mountain, as for the chucking ourselves of bit, well that wasn’t that far from the truth, to be told you have to run and keep running, even though you are in the air, it’s just in case you come close to the ground before you are completely airbourne.
Charlie taking off with Jamie
C harlie with Jamie
Charlie had Jamie (British) and I had Ivan (Spanish) as our pilots to get us from where we were at the launch site to get us both safely down to the landing site by the lake, not before may I add having a fun time up in the air riding the thermals, not only did I see Black Kites, I also got to see a couple of Egyptian Vultures, but I was glad to know that they weren’t circling us.
The views that both Charlie and I had whilst we were paragliding were absolutely amazing, anyone who is thinking of having a go at paragliding must certainly give it a try, the experience is brilliant, I would quite happily to it again, (Tandem of course), not so sure about doing it solo, but I suppose with practice and a proper course then maybe, but it is not something I shall be doing in the near future.
Charlie and me with Ivan (my pilot)
Me with Ivan and the cracking views
I will however come back to POKHARA and do the what is also called Para Hawking, one of the guys out here get his Egyptian Vulture to fly around you as he is has a small camera strapped to him, so you are actually being filmed by a bird. This particular bird that he has trained to do this is called Kevin, he was washed out of his nest during the Monsoon in 2006 and was hand reared.
Kevin (Egyptian Vulture)
There is also another breed of bird that they sometimes use, but as yet she has not been trained up for a camera to be attached to her and her name is SAPANA, she is a BLACK KITE.
Sapana (Black Kite)
After both Charlie and I had a very successful landing, albeit I did end up on my bum (Ivan pulled the breaks a bit too quick) we had a look at Kevin and his flying buddies and then walked (it was too nice to get in the back of the landrover) back to FRONTIERS to collect our CD of our adventures in the sky, on our walk back around the lake we came across some ponies that were used for pony trekking, however, the black and white one you see in the picture is actually a cow.
Ponies by the Lake in POKHARA
The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the pool at the hotel before we got showered to head out for something to eat in the evening at MONSOON.
Monsoon Restaurant
DAY 74 (Sunday 02 October 2011)
Well today I got up to go for a swim to find that the pool wasn’t going to be opened until 0800hrs, so we decided to get up go for breakfast and then set off to see where we were going to head for, Charlie by this time had already looked at the map as he saw temple on the hill over to the left of FEWA LAKE a temple so we decided we would give it a go to get there.
We headed out of POKHARA around the lake but taking the road as we were following the little map in our trekking book that we bought before we came out here, whilst we were headed to what we found out was called WORLD PEACE PAGODA we stopped off and took a look at DEVI’s FALLS
Write up about Devi’s Fall
Devi’s Fall
We finally made it to the WORLD PEACE PAGODA about 2½ hours from setting off from our hotel; the views from the top were absolutely amazing as you can see below.
View on the right of the FEWA LAKE
View on the left of FEWA LAKE
Charlie on the steps of the temple
Me on the steps of the temple
View over Charlie’s shoulder at the top level of the temple
View over my shoulder at the top level of the temple
The World Peace Pagoda
We stayed to have something to eat and drink at the little cafe that is near the PAGODA and to top it of she was British, Juliette (that was her name) has been living out here for the past couple of years with her Nepali partner and she was very welcoming. Not only is it a cafe, she also has rooms, so if you wanted you could stay for the night for a small price if you couldn’t be bothered trekking back down the massive hill come mountain.
Juliette had also recommended a place for us to go and book our Paragliding session; it was called FRONTIERS PARAGLIDING
Frontiers Paragliding
and is run by a British bloke, so yep you guessed it we are booked in for a session of Paragliding tomorrow. I know what you must be thinking, ‘Are you nuts?’, well to be honest I am asking myself that same question, but at the end of the day it is an experience that I may either never do again or never want to do again. The good thing that will come out of the paragliding tomorrow is that there will be photographic proof that I have done it so as soon as I can I shall get a couple of pictures put on here.
Well true to form for a Sunday, we got absolutely wet through so before going out for our evening meal, we came back to the hotel for a shower and some dry clothes before waiting for the rain to stop or even ease off so that we could go out for our evening meal.
La Pizzeria
Back to the hotel, for an earlyish night as we have to be back to FRONTIER tomorrow for 0900hrs to take the 25 minute drive to the launch point ready for take off. So if I make it back in one piece I shall tell you of mine and Charlie’s adventures of the day.
DAY 73 (Saturday 01 October 2011)
Today we set of to POKHARA, it was to be at least a 6 hour drive and what did it in our little Maruti jeep known as Mickey. The most harrowing part of our journey was actually getting out of KATHMANDU, even though we did leave just before 0630hrs, the roads were already pretty busy, and for a Saturday we were surprised at as there is not normally much traffic on the road at that time of the morning on a normal day.
Mickey the Maruti Jeep
There were plenty of places to eat, shop and book activities if you so required to do, we just did a bit of window shopping and then ended up going for a meal at the LEMON TREE restaurant,
Charlie did all the driving, we were supposed to have swapped half way at a place called Riverside which is near MUGLING, but when we stopped for a quick break I was more than happy for Charlie to carry on driving as Mickey doesn’t have power steering and it would have been harder for me to turn the wheel than Charlie, besides he was used to the way the vehicle handled, now once we got to our location in POKHARA, the BARAHI Hotel I could have given the driving a go as it was a straight road all the way through from KATHMANDU with no turn offs until we go into POKHARA and as usual we ended up having to ask directions to the hotel and Charlie had to do a couple of 3 point turns, but in the case of the Maruti not having power steering it was more of a 6 point plus turn.
We got to the BARAHI hotel and settled into the room, sorted ourselves out and went to explore POKHARA, well the tourist area anyway.
Hotel Barahi
Me on the balcony of outside our room
The Lemon Tree
the weather had turned and it was throwing it down with rain, a street dog managed to sneak into the restaurant and lie down in a corner out of the way to keep out of the wet.
View to the right from my balcony
View from the centre of my balcony
View to the left of my balcony
We went down to FEWA LAKE and I just had to take this picture of the sun coming through the clouds, this was before the clouds broke to release the rain.
After it was back to the hotel to chill before bed as we were going to head out for a bit of a walk tomorrow. Not sure where we are going to go, but I am sure we will find something to head for.
DAY 72 (Friday 30 September 2011)
Just the usual work stuff today and then on for the DASHAIN Party as today was the main party day for the DASHAIN, it was held on camp but after working hours, to be honest I am not totally sure what is happening at the function as I am not going as we are having an early start in the morning for our drive to POKHARA.
However, I do know that there was a raffle, (for which I got a couple of tickets), but I don’t think I have won as one of the prizes for the raffle was a goat, yep you read it right, a goat, that was the main prize, fortunately the goat was alive, but that is the sad thing, whoever won it (especially a Nepali) would probably have it slaughtered, if I won it I told Marion that it was not to be slaughtered as I would not be there for the drawing of the raffle; seeing as I didn’t have a knock at the door tonight I don’t think I did win it.
However, I do know that there was a raffle, (for which I got a couple of tickets), but I don’t think I have won as one of the prizes for the raffle was a goat, yep you read it right, a goat, that was the main prize, fortunately the goat was alive, but that is the sad thing, whoever won it (especially a Nepali) would probably have it slaughtered, if I won it I told Marion that it was not to be slaughtered as I would not be there for the drawing of the raffle; seeing as I didn’t have a knock at the door tonight I don’t think I did win it.
DAY 71 (Thursday 29 September 2011)
PT, well it was a 0600hrs meet up for the runners for the EVEREST MARATHON training and also for me and BK who were on our bikes. We were out for a good couple of hours, but we also had to go and meet up with the main PT group who were bussed out to the PFT location where 3 guys had to do their PFT and the rest had to do the main run up towards a place called CHAMPI, all I know was I was shattered when we got back it, but it was worth it has I knew I wouldn’t be out on my bike this weekend with me and Charlie going to POKHARA on Saturday for a few days.
Other than work that was it for the day.
DAY 70 (Wednesday 28 September 2011)
Happy DASHAIN. DASHAIN otherwise known as BIJAYA DASHAMI is the biggest festival of the year, this is where the goddess DURGA in all her manifestations are worshiped with innumerable PUJAS, abundant offerings and thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual holy bathing, thus drenching the goddess for days in blood.
The Goddess Durga
There will be some animal sacrifices here as I believe that only British Gurkhas Nepal is the only military place where Gurkhas are based that are allowed to do the official sacrifice which is a KASHI (goat) but I shall not be in attendance.
We had a LEC (Locally Employed Civilian) lunch today, it’s where we get all our LECs together who work for us and thank them with drink and food for all the hard work that they have done, to be honest without them, a lot of things wouldn’t get done. It was a good afternoon, they got the afternoon off whilst the majority of us returned to work, albeit a very short period for some.
DAY 69 (Tuesday 27 September 2011)
How often do you get as an adult whilst in work to officially play on the kiddies play set, well it’s what we got to do for PT today, well when I say play, I actually mean workout. As per the norm we had a bit of a session today from BK as there was no PTI to take it, today’s session was upper body work, just what I wanted seeing as I had pulled my shoulder the evening before.
Our PT Workout Frame
After our main workout we did BK’s (yes you guessed it) favourite action of all, the dreaded leg raise and hold.
Again, it was shower, dress, breakfast and work for the rest of the day.
DAY 66 (Saturday 24 September 2011)
Well it was difficult getting out of bed today, I am absolutely shattered. I met with BK and Steve to bike down to the start point of the KATHMANDU MARATHON which didn’t take us long as it was at the stadium in town. We got there and found our runners; we made our way to the start point waiting for the race to begin.
From Left to Right SSgt Mark Rochester (on bike),
Charlie was back at home, he was going to take pictures of our runners as they went by, at the bottom of our road, he managed to get a few of them
Major Kevin Thorpe, Capt Frances Fox
& no one from our camp
WO2 Steven Roberts
SSgt Nicky Young with me on the bike
As I came past with Nicky, I stopped and asked Charlie for the camera so that I could get a picture of all our runners together at the end of the Marathon, however, as I had taken the camera before Maj Jim Thompson came past I was able to get a picture of him coming over the finish line inside the Athletic stadium in KATHMANDU.
Maj Jim Thompson coming over the Finish Line
Our Runners from Camp
DAY 65 (Friday 23 September 2011)
It’s “Big Brew” day. We still had to work as normal, but at 1000 hrs for an hour it was like an extended tea break, we were went to the basketball court where it was being held, the tea was free, but the food you had to pay for. The Gurkha wives had cooked the main food, and the majority of the British wives had done the cakes. We had to pay NRS150 for a plate of food, but if you wanted both lots of food you had to pay twice. The girls who were taking the money for the food were being quite cheeky, if you gave them NRS200, they would ask for you to donate the extra NRS50 to the charity, needless to say, they only got the NRS150 out of me, sorry, but I though it was a cheek to ask anyway.
There were a couple of other stalls there too, there was clothing (second hand stuff), bric-a-brac, a tinned food stall, drinks (soft drinks) and stuffed toy stall. The tinned food stall didn’t stand a chance, all their stock was gone within that hour, so there was nothing left for the afternoon session of the “Big Brew” where there was also going to be a raffle and tombola stall and some games, this was all to start at 1430hrs when the day was officially opened by the HMA Ambassador John Tucknott.
As the afternoon was opened to the Staff, LECs and the housekeepers (known as ‘Diddy’s’) there were loads of people around, the HMA cut the tape with a KUKRI (nepali sword) and the gates were opened, well it was like a jumble sale rush, the Nepali women could have quite easily knocked people out of their way as they rushed to the clothing stall, and the tombola stall didn’t stand a chance against them too, I think the tombola managed to last for all of 15minutes before everything was gone.
The raffle was held later on and there were some really good prizes that were donated by local shops, one shop a jewellery shop donated a gold ring with a diamond and blue sapphire worth NRS 11,000, just shy of £100, there were spa treatments, restaurants had donated vouchers, clothing stores had donated Saris, there were just loads of stuff, unfortunately as is normally the case I didn’t win anything.
The afternoon ended at 1700hrs so that was a good time to go home, besides the heavens had opened, so it was a good time to call it a day too, which I did and went home.
It’s an early night for me tonight as I have to be up at 0515hrs to get ready to meet up with BK, Steve Williams and one other as we are the bike support for those out of my lot who are going to be running in the KATHMANDU MARATHON, however, they are only doing the Half Marathon as they are still in training for their EVEREST MARATHON.
DAY 64 (Thursday 22 September 2011)
Can you believe 2 months ago to this date Charlie and I arrived in Nepal, where has the time gone? So that is 2 months down and another 22 months to go, well that is if they don’t disband my job an earlier.
Today’s PT session consisted of us all putting up the marquee in the basketball court ready for the “Big Brew” tomorrow. It didn’t take too long to put the marquee top up as there were loads of us, but I don’t know why we bothered because when I was heading back into work I noticed that the LECs (Locally Employed Civilians) had untied the sides from the fencing of the basketball court and was redoing it, oh well it got me out of doing some major activities, BK did say that we could do our own PT after doing marquee top, some went for a run, some went to the gym, but the majority of us sacked it (me included), I went back to get showered, have breakfast and then headed straight to work as I had plenty to do.
The rest of the working day went without a hitch and then it was home time. The evening consisted of a quiz night in the Mess, it wasn’t only us Mess members that were there, there were some of the teachers from the British School and KISC (another school). For the quiz teams there were only supposed to be 6 in a team, but clearly there was some cheating going on (but isn’t there always)! Everyone seemed to have a good night, the winners of the night came from the British School, they one the NRS3000 (just shy of £30), the runners up, which had the COS in the team, they won NRS1500 and have to do the questions for the quiz for the next one and the third prize (didn’t matter if you won or not) was donated to SSAFA and that was also NRS1500.
Well after a good night at the quiz it was home and to bed as tomorrow was going to be the “Big Brew” which I had backed chocolate brownies for the cake stall.
DAY 62 (Tuesday 20 September 2011)
Yay (that is supposed to be a sarcastic yay) PT today and another session of circuits (BK Style), I must admit with his sessions there is no slacking off and if you aren’t sweating you’re not working hard enough, the worst part about his sessions, that I might be right in saying that we all dread is when the session has finished and we do the cool down which consists mainly of one more torture and that is the leg raises that we have to hold about 6 inches from the ground, that is the worst part of the session for me at least.
DAY 61 (Monday 19 September 2011)
Well we managed to get through the night not feeling another tremor, but I did find out in the COS Prayers this morning that another 43 tremors were monitored throughout the night, not sure if anymore were here in KATHMANDU, but at least there were no more big ones, we reckon that the 43 tremors dissipated any chance of a bigger one for us.
Our little Gecko
Saw my first reptile since I have been here, it was a little lizard that was in my shed just above a shelf, Charlie had gone out to the shed to put the washing in the machine and called me to have a look, so as soon as I saw it I ran back into the house the get my camera.
As you can see from the picture it was only little.
Also found out today that there is a good possibility that my post here in NEPAL is going to be given the boot, Defence Cutbacks and all that, I don’t know yet whether I shall seem my tour out here in Nepal or if it will end next year, hopefully I shall get to see my tour out.
DAY 60 (Sunday 18 September 2011)
Well there I was thinking that I would have absolutely no news to tell you, how wrong I was! Earlier this evening Charlie and I were sat on the settee watching Prison Break when he turned and asked me if I was jiggling my leg, something I have a habit of doing when resting my foot on the coffee table, to be honest, I had to actually look at my leg to see if I was as I couldn’t feel it jiggling. When I told Charlie I wasn’t he said well the settee is wobbling so I must be, but I wasn’t. The settee started to wobble a heck of a lot more, which is when Charlie realised we were having a bit of an earthquake. We got off the settee and moved to the doorway of the living room and stood there until it was over, as we went outside after to see if anyone else was around, everyone from our block and the buildings nearby were also outside, we just couldn’t believe what had happened, fortunately for us no one was hurt, wish I could say that about some locals on the other side of Kathmandu as 3 people were killed.
I had to put it on Facebook just in case it got into the news back in the UK; just as well as I did as my sister had seen it on the news.
Fortunately for us we only had a tremor; the main earthquake had hit SIKKIM which is about 272 km away from us. All I can say is that I hope I don’t have to go through that again, OK I know it was only a tremor, but still it was enough to put the willies up you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)