An couple interesting experiences yesterday. I went into Thamel to, hopefully, finish up my last bit of shopping. Parked my bike in the usual location, just before the main streets and walked in. My destination was a shop that Natalie and I had gone to a few days back so that she could get a purse. What we got was an education on Pashmina and silk carpets. The owner, knowing full well that neither of us was buying those things, spent an hour talking with us about them. It was alot of fun. Needless to say, I thought more about it, and went back to see him to get an item. Honesty pays. We ended up chatting for over two hours about all sorts of things. His life in the Kashmir, how he came to Nepal, my family, his family, business, honesty in business. It was really great. I ended up buying the item that I came in for, didn't even have to haggle over the price, he knocked 40%, and I wasn't complaining. It was just nice to chat with someone for that long and really learn about them.
The other fun experience was when I went to pick up my bike. I walk up to it, and this gentlemen approaches me, pulls a wad of bills out of his hand, and says "Parking charge." HUH? "Parking charge." No thanks. I've parked here for three month and never been asked for a parking charge. Nice try though. He smiled sheepishly and walked off. I was mildly entertained. The vast difference between those two experiences is just like Nepal. You have people who genuinely want to get to know you, then you have people who are only after your money and will do what it takes to get it. I smiled at the ingenuity of the guy who was after my money, it reminded me of a friend's experience in Pittsburg losing $20 to someone over a "parking charge". My lesson would have been cheaper, but knowing that I didn't have to learn it was better. Pays to be a local.

Another quick visit to the doctor's today. Some strange gasesousness. Some pretty foul smelling belchs that feel like they have vomit behind them. The nurse told me that this is not a good time for expats in Nepal. The change in weather causes lots of bacteria to grow. Her exact words "stick to food you are used to eating to make your last two weeks more comfortable." I love it. As I write this my stomach is gurgling. Yea. I don't feel really ill, just lots of gas. Grrr.
I've been trying to figure out why life in Nepal isn't as interesting as it was the first two and a half months that I was here. At first I thought that it was because I had seen most of the things that I wanted to, but have since come to the conclusion that it is due to the amount of time that I am spending with the other volunteers. Not that this is a bad thing, but I just feel that the blog isn't as interesting to read and that I'm not having the insights into myself that I was having. Again, it's nice to have other people to spend time with, but those aspects were very fulfilling. Oh well, I strike out on my own again in a few weeks. And the protests regarding Pakistan have begun in earnest. While I understand the fear, it comes from a place of love, this feeling was also felt before I came to Nepal. And look at how I fared here!!!

A few notes: A common sight around Kathmandu these days are people lined up at the public taps to get drinking water. Apparently this is a common problem at this time of year. Not enough water for 1.3 million people. Whoops. They will shut off the water with regularity, there are shortages, the government will truck water into areas that have extremely limited access. The house that I live at has a storage tank on top that has enough water for about a day. That includes three or four showers. The system is just not solid. They rely on the water table to much and don't replenish it. The long term thinking is just lacking. Apparently the only system that is reliable is the one put in a few hundred years ago that survived a major earthquake. Everything else is going good, I'm planning the rest of my trips through various countries. Shaping up to be a grand old time. I am trying to get in touch with an old friend that lives in Turkey and another friend will be teaching pottery classes there this summer. Confusing what will be limited time in Turkey is my friend's mom, who's 88, and lives an hour off the Turkish shore in Greece. Grr. Life is to short and there are to many places and people to see.

So the banda is done and I got checked out. Bacterial. I'm feeling better already today, not that I was deblitated, but solid waste is a nice sign. Here is the basic travel information post-Nepal: 10 June-20 June-Thailand. 20 June-30 June Pakistan, 30 June-10 July Turkey, 10 July-?? July Morocco. If Morocco is as cool as it seems, then not past the 20. I meet Nico on the 21 of July, go to Munich on the 28 of July, and Denmark on 8 August. A rough outline until I figure out exactly what I'll be doing in each place, so much world to see, so little time.

Banda Day Three- Still no protests. A few minor adventures were had last night. Riding back from Thamel to Battisputali, we came accross a large puddle, feet raised off the pedals(this is done b/c you don't know WHAT is in the water. And lately there have been lots of overflowing sewage lines), we coasted through. In the "street lights" we saw another ahead, same tactic was adopted. It worked. For about 15ft. before the wheels began plowing through more water. "OH SHITE, PEDAL!!!!" I shouted. Slowly the wheels were getting lower and lower into the water, the right foot hit the water, the left travels through the water, the right ankle, the lower left calf, the right mid calf, peddaling is not difficult, I cannot see the end of the puddle. How deep does it go? What if I hit a pothole? PEDAL, PEDAL, PEDAL!!!! The diffcultly of this is not large, if you haven't recently brused your right knee. The left mid calf, the right lower calf, the left ankle, the right foot, the left shoe. Nasty.
I'm going to the clinic today thanks to the suggestion of my parents that my, shall we say "condition" could affect the rest of my travel. Damn them for being practical. I also found out this morning that there will be another Banda on 2 June, then again a three day starting on 10 June. The day I leave, that would be appropriate.

Banda Day Two- Well this internet place is open again today. Nice for me. Yesterday there was a plan to ride to Kopan Monestary but while seaching around for the school of another volunteer that teachs near my school, another cyclist decided to try and make like the Four Runner that ran over my dad last year. Well, it was alot less violent, but still not fun. I landed on my knee, didn't lose much skin, but brused the knee pretty good. It's funny in situations like this to realize just how easy these types of injuries are to take care of in the states. Just grab a bag of peas/lima beans/mixed veggies, take some motrin, and ice it up. Not once in Nepal have I seen ice for sale. Not in one freezer, only in a few restaurants. As Jenny and I slowly rode back to Nima's, I could feel the swelling to begin. I laid out on the bench in the garden, pain starting to set in. We began to discuss with Nima how in Canada and the States, it is so easy to deal with this, ice and motrin. "Oh, you need ice?" he says. "I have some." Relief. That combined with 1200mg of ibuprofin, and relief was purchased for 10r. The knee is a little sore today, not ready for the long bike ride that was planned, but Stijn's knee is also not doing well, so I think that we're going to keep it short.
In other brief Nepal news, the Maoist are active due to the Banda, a few bombs here and there, some clashes with the police, NO large scale protests have been spotted by our intrepid travelier, a relief to those at home. The guy at the internet is playing The Backstreet Boys, now I'm truly feeling ill. "Bring me a bucket"-Meaning of Life. That's for you Sketch!!!

Today is Banda (Maoist) Day One. There are less places closed than last weeks, more cars on the street, and internet places (a few) are open. Takes awhile to find one though. Apparently the photos of the protests have people concerned, I understand that, but the protests are very peaceful and the people involved just want you to understand what they are fighting for. I don't like to tell them that democracy won't really help them. Today I'm riding up to Kopan Monastary despite not feeling well, perhaps this is not the best choice, but whatever. It'll be nice there. This morning (somewhat graffic content to follow) I found some blood in my stool. I've come to the conclusion that I have amoebic dysentary. Got some medication, so hopefully that'll help. It's always fun to read the guide book and say "whoa, that's what I've got!!"

The past day or so has been a bit rough. I've been making frequent trips to the bathroom, this is not so fun. I'm taking today off from school in order to recover. Other than that, I had a great time on Friday night with the other volunteers, we spent 5000r on dinner for 10. I had spaghetti with chicken, bruschetta, tiramisu, Baileys, and an espresso. That was wonderful. About 5 of us were out till 12:30. It's interesting how spending time in a place like Thamel makes me feel uncomfortable. All the people who "don't" belong are there. But aren't I one of those? This isn't my country, I am only a vistor, however I feel as though this has become a place for me, so when I see people who are just traveling through I feel like they aren't really seeing Nepal. One of the other volunteers, Stijn from Belgium, and I were talking about this on Friday. I get the sense that he's a lot like me when at home, and doesn't really do the bar scene. I'm supposed to bike to Bhaktapur where he is teaching during the Banda this week and hang out. That'll be fun.

Wow is it hot here. It's been running in the high 80's to early 90's. With 70-90% humidity. And we all know how I love the heat. I've been riding to school in shorts and a t-shirt for over a month, but the past week I've been sweating on that ride. At 8am. I've been getting asked questions about the family lately, the one that I live with. I would have to say that thier idea of hospitality is certainly not what I am used to. In my family (Trimble), if you come to our house, anything that you need, we make an effort to get. If we have family over, you are part of the family. In this family this is not the case. They had a family dinner and I was essentially told to just stay downstairs and watch TV. Last week on Buddha Jayanti, the mother told me that they had a family prayer on Monday night so it would be nice if I could stay at a friends house until Tuesday evening. That was nice. They have also taken to eating next door at the wife's mother's house. I feel like I belong. It didn't really bother me until I was talking with the other volunteers and hearing how some of their famlies are towards them. Oh well.
Tonight a bunch of the volunteers are getting together for a nice night on the town. Dinner a few bars. None of us have had much to drink so it's light weight night. The bars have "Crazy Hour" which is three hours and two for one. "Houston, we have a problem..........."

Okay, so the banda is over. It was pretty serious. The previous post was written on Tuesday evening, there were no open internet places during the day. The banda was in full effect again yesterday. Thamel was fairly well shut down till about 6. I spent most of the day with four of the other volunteers. We were cycling from Mike's Breakfast in Naxal to Durbar Marg, rode past one protest twice (don't ask, someone said they knew where they were going and didn't) and got caught in a HUGE protest on Durbar Marg. They went ahead and I got out the camera. I can feel this making ma nervous. It was pretty interesting. People were asking me questions, trying to explain the situation. I didn't feel like telling them that Democracy, the one they are looking for, is an Ideal, and doesn't exist. I spent alot of time trying to figure out why the Five Party Banda is so much more effective than the Maoist ones, and this is the best explanation that I can come up with: The Five Parties are everywhere. They live in your house, they are you neighbor, your friend, your sister, brother, etc. When they call a banda, they will know every shop that is open, every driver of every car, motorbike. So it is dangerous to open, "they" will know. The Maoist, on the other hand, operate in the rural areas (primarily). They won't know every shop that is open, who is driving. Their methods of dealing with those that they catch is far more severe, but they are not the most popular people right now, so the people of Nepal are less inclined to listen to them. That being said, the three day Banda they called for next week is happening. Welcome to Nepal. What to do?

Well the Banda is on in a big way. Most of the stores in Thamel are closed, there were a few protests on the street, but for the most part, a quite day. I did some gift shopping that I had set up last night on a trip through Thamel. It's is still surreal to see a very wide street with only people walking on it in the hundreds. This past saturday Nima and I went on a cycling tour south of Patan. Riding through some of the towns I would swear that I had traveled back in time. There were women threshing wheat over stone that had a groove in it that likely was created over centuries. Some had taken to the modern convenience of vehicles by laying the wheat in the road an letting the trucks, cars, buses and motorcycles run over it in order to thresh it. We road about 18k south when we reached the top of a hill that was about 2-4k down to our destination. The road was so bad that I felt as though I was riding a jackhammer down hill at 5kmph. What a blast. When we got to the bottom there was a festival at the temple, Tiki Bahirab. To our, mostly my, good fortune this festival only happens once a year. We'll just chalk it up to the long list of good luck I've had with festivals here. Needless to say this involved the beheading of a few hundred male goats. Seems as though the men were really losing out on this day. I took a few pictures, I don't have an obsession with the beheading, but we just don't have a belief system like this in the US. They sacrifice animals in order to appease their gods, we practice ritual canabilism on Sundays (body of christ, blood of christ). We ended up walking back up the hill as neither of our bikes is particularly good.
I have considered Nima a good friend for most of my time here, but last week he showed me how good a friend he considered me. one of the other volunteers is planning a trek when her volunteer portion is done. The trip would be 2-11 June, Nima said, no I can't Joe leaves on the 10th. It's so nice to know that our friendship means that much to him that he wants to see me off to the airport.
Oh, and there won't be pictures of the festival at Tiki Bahirab, that chip got fried by my camera

What an interesting time the past few days. After posting the blog on Wednesday, I called my buddies at the store to say hello. What a pleasure to talk to them after so long. They are all happy, Ty thinks that Dal Ba'at is Dogs Butt, but I'm not really surprised. After that I started riding home, it was about 6:45. I made the usual right just off the palace towards the Amarit Sicence College, when things went a little awry. The police were still there, they are usually gone around 5, the rode still blocked except for cycles and stupid tourists. I'll take number two, Chuck. The students were still protesting. Yea for me. I stopped, what the hell, I'll get a few pictures. Survey SAYS: WRONG. How about a little tear gas? Oh, sure I'll buy that for a dollar. 15mins later after it had dispursed, I ran through the vast expanse of broken bricks and rocks. As I looked back, the students were gearing up for another assult, I think they were using me b/c the cops couldn't throw back. Another canister of TG. RUNNING. SPRINTING!! MOTHERF'ER!!! Remount the cycle, ride through the onlookers, and bam, the restaurants are open and life is normal. Just another day in Kathmandu.
I'm renewing my visa today and am having "trouble" so I can't make it to school. Nima and I are going on a cycle tour that we didn't finish a few weeks back tomorrow. Next week there is a two day Banda, then the week following a three day one, and the week after that I miss three days for the rafting and Chitwan protion of the trip. The time is starting to run short. I can still recall getting off the plane, and the first car ride. I blinked and it was gone.........

Well, Swayumbunath didn't happen. Okay, I didn't make it there. It was a combination of really bad luck, illness, and sheer exhaustion from the days events. I meet up with two of the volunteers from April and our plan was to get to Sway around 2:30 to meet up with a few others. We spent a few hours wandering around Thamel, something that I haven't done, then we decided to take a bus out to Balaju to relax at my house for an hour or so. We somehow got on the right bus, and rode it to about a kilometer from my place. As we were getting off the bus, Natalie one of the Dutch kids, reached into her pack to get her wallet. Not there. Okay, we quickly scan the bus, not there. In her wallet was: credit card, ATM card, 10,000r, and HER PASSPORT. Whoops. We quickly get to my place, rummage the bag a little more throughly, not in there. Race back to the restaurant, not there. Then we started with the police. It being a holiday, they didn't feel like working very hard. She had to go back today, then to the Embassy, then back out to Baktapur, then to Patan, the back to Kathmandu. She has to back to the police tomorrow and the embassy. While we are dealing with all this, the Canadian volunteer Jenny, starts having bad stomach problems. It was such a "relaxing" day. I'm taking friday off to renew my passport, and am expecting to encounter "trouble" in order to meet with Beth (library ma'am) for a beer. I look forward to that. She may be bring my sounvier bag home when she leaves at the end of May. Cool lady.
In other news, today was, by far, my best day with the kids. They were really listening to me. I may not have taught alot today, but they were very cooporative. At several points during the day, I was really amazed at how much was being done, and how everyone was working really hard. I think that I made a difference today. :D

All is well in Nepal. This past weekend I went to a town call Kirtipur with the volunteers from the April program. Several of them asked why I didn't spend time with the volunteers from my program. They were quite surprised to hear that I have been here on my own. When I think about it, all that I have seen, done, and experienced has basically been mine. I didn't have other people to share this with, so I told them I was despirately trying to be adopted by their group. We're having pizza tonight. :D I'm pathetic. J/K. In other news, I spent a bit of time today (in class) mapping out the rest of my time Kathmandu, and then trying to put together the plans for the rest of the journey. Time, althouth it looks long, is actually very short. Tomorrow is a holiday here, Bouddha's Birthday, so no school. The majority of the festival will be in Lumbini, his birthplace, 7hrs from KTM and locally at Swayumbunath. I'm thinking that I'll go there. Spent yesterday evening in Patan, what a wonderful place to be in the evening. The view over Durbar Sq Patan was amazing. After sunset they lit hundreds of butter lamps in the Square, I got several pictures that will be up on Wednesday here, you should have them on Wednesday there. Thanks for reading. Oh, and has anyone gotten a postcard? I have send 20 or so. Just wondering.