Routines

So I haven't been blogging, the reasons being I have since settled into the routine of things here and don't see much to blog about, the constant lack of electricity everyday (when there is the few precious 4 hours of power blogging is not really my priority), and most of the interesting things are negative and since this blog is currently being scrutinized by not just friends but my uber protective mum, I shall censor myself.

The house has been pretty peaceful and silent recently, since Yen Lin is away at Dhaka, Bangladesh attending a photo exhibition there and Zi Liang has gone away to Chitwan National Park for 3 days to do a story. So it's just me and Zak at home, and since we have different rest days I am now home alone.

The weather has been fluctuating, probably due to the changing of seasons, so sometimes it gets very hot in the afternoon and still pretty cold at night. I'm just hoping that the nights start to get warmer soon.

Oh and I've finally found my Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens in a bookstore here, and so I bought it, for only 3 bucks! My two main indulgences here are buying books and eating chocolates, the first because they are so cheap here and I can't resist and the latter because I'm becoming almost vegetarian here so chocolates somehow help to keep me warmer. There is not much seafood here and chicken meat costs twice as much as buffulo or pork or mutton, none of which I eat. And now with the bird flu I guess chicken is not what I should be eating anyway. So my lunch these days consists of either a big plate of 40 cents vegetarian Mo-Mos (dumplings), veg Thukpa (Tibetan spicy noodles) or a plate of veg chowmien (fried noodles). And Dudh Chia (milk tea) of course. And snacks include Pokora (fried potato/flour balls with onions and capsicum and spices) or Samosas (self-explanatory) with curry or cakes or some cookies made of coconut which taste like our CNY goodies. And dinner is either Dal Bhat (staple meal for all Nepalese consisting of rice with lentils soup/curry) or any of Zak's wonderful creations (Nasi Lemak, chicken rice, fried rice, potato salad, etc). Occasionally we splurge on treats, such as Japanese or Korean food, but those are not as authentic as the ones we get in Singapore.

So nothing much else to talk about besides food. Pictures of the week below:

I don't know why the traffic police here have to be on horses to direct the traffic in Kathmandu. Maybe they think they can see the chaotic traffic better on horses...

Street scene in Thamel, the local tourist area.

The old lady who lives in the house opposite my office, smoking while beating her dusty carpets.

All I really want is some peace man

I was listening to this song on my daily walk to work today and it struck me how ridiculously funny it was that the lyrics describes exactly the social alchemy between two people I know (yes this is me trying to be cryptic). Alanis rules.


In case you can't catch her infamous uber long lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanismorissette/allireallywant.html

On another note, we spent CNY eve with a group of Singaporeans at the house of a Singaporean lady who married a Nepali. Nothing too great, just a simple get-together. After years of not really celebrating CNY, I realised I've kind of lost touch with it. Either I'm getting too old for ang paos or I'm becoming less Chinese. Either way I don't really care, since celebrate something that dosen't mean much to me personally seemed a rather fake and tedious thing to do. Call me a social hermit, but I actually find it a relieve to not have to deal with more people and crowds during festivals like these. And no, I am not homesick. Nothing but the truth from me.

And life still goes on

Three days of lost internet connection due to load-shedding and loads of walking around Kathmandu later, finally we are back on the virtual world. I blame my internet woes on Prachanda (google him if you don't know who he is).

Another street scene, this time in Thamel, a major tourist area in Kathmandu.

Constipated face from Miss Kong aka Yen at the Bakery Cafe, Thamel.

Protesting against the 16-hour load-shedding along New Road. And life still goes on...

Here are the ways in which strikes and protests are affecting the commoner in Nepal:

Traffic jams that lasts for the whole day, and a family on a bike.

During the rubbish collectors' strike, in which half of Kathmandu's streets are filled with rubbish.

Nandita and Eliz, ECS colleagues of mine. Slacking in the office because there is no electricity to do work and no place to go due to the massive jams on the streets.

And life still goes on.

Give me back my power

As the Maoist government announces yet another increase in load-shedding to 16 hours a day, I decided that instead of complaining and whining about how I can never get anything done in my office, I should probably write an article for The Enquirer and see if they will publish it. If they do, then good, if not, I'll post my article here. Here's the link to The Enquirer if you haven't gone and read it yet. Oh and I should probably mention that both the founders of The Enquirer are currently sitting in the bedroom opposite mine watching Chelsea playing against some other team on their laptop screens. Here's the link to their website though, so that I can't be blamed for not helping them promote The Enquirer: http://enquirer.sg/

In the meantime, back to charging my laptop battery in time for the next bout of long load-shedding hours.

The hike that never was

So I didn't managed to complete the hike. Due to a few reasons, the main ones being high altitude sickness and being too "lucky" to have my period come on that very day of the hike. Others included not having a full-enough breakfast and a naturally low blood sugar level and a slightly low blood pressure. And being totally unfit. So less than 45 minutes into the hike my cramps got worse, and then I began panting so hard it was as if I had ran the Standard Chartered 42km marathon (even though I was climbing the steps at such a snail's pace). And still I couldn't get enough oxygen into my lungs. Then I started feeling dizzy while climbing up the mountain carrying a 15kg backpack. Then there was ringing in my ears and I quickly sat down on the rocky steps overlooking a cliff. Then the nausea came and before I knew it, I was vomitting out my digestive juices and then even the green bile came out. So I couldn't continue after that. I managed to take a grand total of 6 photos. And I was put back on a micro (minivan) and back to Kathmandu (in between I was stuck in a jam for 3 hours). The writer who continued came back today and was walking funny, and when I asked him how was the hike he said it was really tough. Which made me feel better because maybe I'm not such a weak Singaporean city-girl who suffers from high altitude sickness at just 1500m (usually it only sets in at 4000m and above, and the Everest base camp is 5000m). But I saw the pictures that the writer took (I passed my camera to him when I couldn't go on), and the view was awesome at the top. Here's how it looks like (I only took the first photo out of the four from the hike, the three was taken by Amendra):

On our way up, when I was still not too sick to take a few pictures.

Chandra, our guide, and the fellow lady trekker setting up the tent for the night

Amendra, the writer, almost dead after the trek

The view at the top which I didn't get to see...

Other scenes of Kathmandu:

Durbar Marg, the high-end shopping area of Kathmandu

They have Zara and a brand new Adidas concept store here but no Macs or KFC. Yet.



Roundabout at Durbar Marg

This looks more like Singapore than Kathmandu. It was taken during my first assignment at an art gallery where all the expats and rich Nepalis hang out.
Well, maybe I'll try again next time for the hike. When I am more fit. In the meantime, back to shooting rich Nepalis hanging out at art galleries.

Spontaneous hiking and Thurkpa at the Didi Shack

So I've finally started work. Didn't really know what to expect when I first got there, so I just hung around and observed what the others do. It's pretty amazing what a small editorial team such as ECS can do. I think the core team consists of about 10 writers/designers/reporters and they have to churn out two magazines monthly. The two layout guys basically design every single page of the magazines. My first day of work I had a simple assignment - taking pictures of architectural models made of waste materials at the opening ceremony of an exhibition at an art gallery. So that was an easy start. And today I just hung around the office and edit my photos, and read the new issue of ECS http://www.ecs.com.np/ . Yesterday, my editor asked me if I wanted to go hiking for a story on adventure sports. So I said sure thing and then he said he'll let me know the details soon. And from the way he said it I thought the hike was maybe one week later. So today my editor told me to get ready to meet our guide who will be briefing us about the hike tomorrow. That left me quite unprepared mentally but I just went along and we went to Thamel to get some trekking supplies right after. I bought a North Face windbreaker for less than SGD18 but that was beside the point. The main point is that the spontaneous nature of Nepalis needs some getting used to for a rigid person like me who is used to the order and stiff Singapore way of life. So the news is I'm going on a two-day hike. According to the guide it's a 5-6 hours trek, and we are carrying our own stuff (no porters). So wish me luck and maybe I'll lose some serious weight then.

And I've been eating lunch at this small provision-shop/place for the past two days. Alex and Wei Yang who came here last year called it the "Didi Shack", Didi meaning "sister" in Nepali and is an affectionate and common term to call middle-age women here, just like how we call Aunties in Singapore. And I think my favourite dish there is the Thurkpa, a Tibetan noodle soup which tasted like a cross between Mee Soto and Maggi Mee, minus the beansprouts and plus alot of spices and hot chilli paste. Plus a cup of steaming hot milk tea and a nice Thurkpa meal is just 35 rupees, which is about 70 cents. And my stomach has pretty much settled after that bout of stomach flu, and I hope it'll turn Nepali soon coz there are so many street food which I would love to try but don't dare to yet.

So off to the hike I go, and more details when I get back. I hope they have nice Thurkpa in the mountains.

This took more than 1 hour and half to upload

View of the distant mountain range from our house

View from our balcony of the landlord's garden

Our balcony

Our living room. The tv has HBO and Star Movies, provided there isn't load-shedding that is...

Me and Yen Lin's room. Mine is on the left.

Zak cooking up a storm in our nice kitchen, with Zi Liang our sous-chef helping out

End product

Nothing beats home-cooked food

The Halal meat shop that me and Zak finally found so that we could finally have meat

Bagus!

Charming meat boy

Protest for press freedom outside the government offices which me & Yen Lin attended last week.

Here is my mailing address at last:

GPO 2053, Kathmandu, Nepal

Please do not send anything bigger than a letter. The postbox is tiny and I am not sure if it will even reach. Besides, I have to travel through the chaotic traffic just to collect my mail from there, since roads here do not have names and thus do not make good mailing addresses.

My internet connection is up but only available from 8:30pm to 12 pm Singapore time on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends. Skype is also good for me if you want to talk. I start work in two days. Wish me luck.