Kathmandu Girl

My flight to KATHMANDU left on time and there was no delays - think I arrived in Kathmandu at 7.45pm but not sure exactly as I hadn't adjusted my watch from Abu Dhabi time who are only 3 hours in front of UK. Nepal are +5.45 hours GMT -Apparently the 45 mins thing is so Nepal can differentiate themselves from India who are +5 hours GMT

Well the second leg of my journey involved me talking to some Nepalese people on the plane - they seem to think I look Nepalese so at least I may fit in a bit. Only thing is you can tell by my clothes that I'm a bit of a 'westerner' so may need to dirty them up a bit! The Nepalese people are always smiling and so sweet. My first friend on the plane was called 'Hira' and he said he has some contacts who might be able to assist with me getting a trek sorted out to Base Camp Everest in November. Haven't heard from him yet but apparently he has retired from serving 22 years in the British Army and now lives in Plumstead!

Went through Immigration no probs although I was told I'd have to renew my VISA on 30th Dec 09 so I can stay on for longer. Got picked up by the volunteer programme people who had 'NADINE' written onto a board for me. There were three men in total but little did I know that one of these men was pretending to work with them and was helping me with my trolley. It was only when we got to the van that I realised he was begging and wanted my money - the driver shouted at him to leave me alone and he did, but not before turning round to give me a dirty look! I was getting a bit scared in the van because it was night time, people were driving with no lights on, there were no streetlights and I thought we were going to crash into people or cars or both! I kept thinking to myself - don't be scared, it's because it's not like it is in England. We got to the hostel in about 20 mins and K was shown the room that I'm now sharing with another volunteer called 'Betina' from Denmark. She is really nice and is with me now using the internet at the same time. It's only us two in the hostel at the moment - think there are other volunteers arriving on Monday but not sure. I had my first cold shower and it wasn't too bad - only thing was I saw a COCKROACHE having a little walk above the door in the bathroom. I thought, "don't scream - it's normal here". Saw a few flies in our bedroom so I put the mosquito plug-in thing in our room, slept underneath my mosquito net (literally underneath it because there was nowhere to hang it!). Betina thought it was hilarious so she took a photo of me. Then all night the dogs were having some sort of party outside and wouldn't shut up! I woke up feeling fine even though I haven't caught up on the sleep I never had while flying here.

Just now we got ripped off on our way to Thamel - the very touristy area of Kathmandu. Some bloke came up to us telling us it was the end of the Dashain holiday so to give us luck, wanted us to put a flower in our hair. Then after he had put the flower in our hair and put paint in the middle of our eyebrows he said "that's 500 rupees please." It was so funny how quickly he did it - he was being all nice and sweet while putting the flower in our hair, and then his face changed as soon as he asked for the money. This other man then came up to us and said "don't give him any money!" but by that time we had parted with 200 rupees (between us!). Won't be making that mistake again...

There are lots of stray dogs in Kathmandu, the pollution is awful - I think I might get one of those masks because for 3 months I'm gonig to be breathing in this air! Next week is all Language and Cultural awareness training at the hostel plus a few days sightseeing - think they are taking us to some Hindu, Buddhist and Monkey temples! My volunteer placement doesn't start until the following week but for some reason Betina has 2 weeks 'language and cultural immersion' training while I only have 1 week. At the end of her second week, she gets to go to the Royal Chitwan Park for 3 days so I asked if I could go too and take some time off from my placement to go. Should be fine to do this apparently...

Thank you for all your messages so far. Oh, the airport lounge - I did eat and drink what I wanted in Abu Dhabi - and guess what I had...Perrier Water. Not living it up just yet! They offered me a shower - must have looked like I needed one - they even provided towels, shampoo, conditioner, comb for me. It was so nice to have a refreshing shower - and when the water was hot, I thought "Yessssss!"

The saddest thing about my trip so far is that I lost my chelsea fc towel in the Abu Dhabi airport - it must have fallen out my bag and guess what "no one saw anything". Well, hopefully another chelsea fan can enjoy it instead of me. It was supposed to be going to be hostel family in Nepal when I start my placement at the monastery. Maybe I could order them another one on the internet. By the way, I only stay with a hostel family for 6 weeks when I teach the monks. The rest of the time I'll be living at the orphanage and at the hostel.

Hopefully I'll have some photos for you soon. I have yet to buy a SIM card and charge card but will keep you updated as to what my mobile number is going to be. Byeeeeeeee for now!

Love Nadine xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx