Birthday babbles

So everyone’s been asking me how I spent my birthday this year. The second consecutive one spent overseas. Well 21st last year was sweet, and 22nd was normal as hoot. Had a boring day at work and the boys gave me a dinner treat at a nice Aussie restaurant called Red Dingo and that was it (Yen was out of town but she gave me a lunch treat me to chips chilly the day before). I’ve received some cards (thanks Aiping for your very early one, a very tacky one from my family, Su San and LJ for your prompt ones and my longest friend HL for your thoughtful and hand-drawn one every year), emails from my aunt and uncle, Ms Lil’ Star and my crazy Romanian roomie and tonnes of FB birthday wishes from people all over the world, some whom I haven’t seen for more than 5 or even 12 years. So yeah, however evil everyone claims FB to be, it sure does keep people in touch. So, altogether an unassuming birthday for me, nothing rah-rah like the “oooh, let’s throw a big birthday party cos it’s my 21st and I have so many friends!” kind of birthday but that’s the way I like my birthdays. Everyone has a birthday, so to me nothing special about it. I’ll rather celebrate the day I win the Nobel Peace Prize. Or the literature one.

The following day was the Nepali new year, so it was a public holiday and we had a day off from work. We went to catch Fast and Furious at the local cinema, not because we really wanted to watch that movie but because it was the only English one showing in Nepal that time. The movie theater is somewhat like Lido 6 in Singapore, except for the intermission where you can go out and buy something to eat or drink or go to the toilet. Which prompted Otosan* (see footnote) to comment that maybe Nepalese have weak bladders (the movie was only less than 2 hours). Then we went to have milkshake in Thamel, at the place that is owned by my colleague’s dad’s friend. The shop has been around for the past 20 years and is even included in the Lonely Planet guide to Nepal. Cheap and good milkshake, and I think it’s one of the places we’ll miss when we get back to Singapore.

So it seems that we’re almost there, down to the last month or so before we have to leave Nepal (visa issues and hey we work 6 days a week here...). So we’ve decided to head over the India, specifically Delhi and Bombay for Otosan and I while Zak heads for Pakistan after Delhi. Yen may still be hanging around in Nepal since she has more days due to her trip to Bangladesh back in January. We might head to Vietnam or Cambodia after that, but with the way things are these days, anything’s possible. So please don't ask me to give any specific travel plans. I'll be back by early June, and that's all I can promise.

Well, I have more things to blog about but I’m tired. Some interesting stories and pictures to come next, hopefully soon. Off to bed with all the musical lamkhuttes (mosquitos) buzzing in my ears.

*It all happened when my Japanese friends were here and Yuko-san cooked dinner for us and Kyoko-san our Japanese neighbour was also invited. We were happily eating our omuraisu and soba that Yuko-san cooked when Jagat stretched out his hand across the table without a word and Hiroko-san automatically passed him the tissue box. Kyoko-san laughed and said it’s such a typical Japanese man behaviour (imagine an otosan coming home and laying in front of the tv watching baseball and drinking sake). So she called him Otosan (father) and from then on the name kinda stuck. So right now he has the most alter egos amongst all of us-Jagat, Kangcha (what the youngest son in the family is known as), Otosan and who knows what other nicknames he has. Me I’m just contented with my full moon name.