Nepal Experience - by Pia

Heya, I'm Pia, I've just arrived in Nepal and will be blogging for Seven Women, I'll take some pictures, show what's happening with the Seven Women projects and also share my own experiences of how I see Nepal for the first time. Arrived early yesterday morning and was greeted by Padam, who despite his really sore leg came and got me, and he and his friends drove me to Hotel Moonlight. I slept most of the day, was just ridiculously tired, and then I think I fell asleep around 5pm yesterday afternoon and didn't wake up till 7am this morning.

However today I woke up ready to go, had a shower and went for a long walk, keeping it pretty much straight so I'd know how to get back hehe... was pretty quiet at that time of the morning, weren't that many people out to begin with actually, people sweeping and opening up their shops and wanting to sell me banana's or give me a taxi ride, but I kind of just wanted to keep on walking. I got to a big crossing, cars and motor bikes and regular bikes everywhere, everyone’s beeping no traffic lights or too many rules seem to exist, it's a mad house, a mad house I tell you haha! So you just kind of swiftly cross the road when it looks most free... then I just kept on walking. I've only been outside Australia once before this - to Bali when I was ten, so the poverty here is kind of over-whelming at the moment. A lot of people are really desperate. There's a lot happening! Especially if you're not used to it, there are a fair amount of tourists like me wondering about not really knowing where to look. There are some teenagers in uniform going to school, others helping family out at their family stores, kids running about down alley ways, there was a thunderstorm last night so there was a lot of mud about. Lots of construction bits going on, but not like you see in Australia with mass machinery, and guys hanging around smoking (no offence hehe just what I see), here the guys working on construction are working really hard! This old guy had a basket attacked to his back and was madly chucking bricks into the back of it, so fast, and the weight of it didn't even seem to come into consideration. In Australia if an old man was doing something like that we'd be like 'oh my goodness what are you doing?! You'll hurt your back!' And probably insist that he stops...

On my way back I got a red bindi on my forehead, before I could say a word he held up the mirror 'beautiful! Now you have some change?' I had been told people did this, and you really don't have much choice in the matter :), he was lovely though, asked where I was from and said he was from India. While talking with him I noticed that I didn't feel so short, everyone's around a similar height here, we're at eye level which is really not that important but kind of nice hehe... (And on another really silly topic, the toilet paper here doesn't have the little square dotted lines where you rip off the paper :p) Any way I stopped to have a drink at a place called 'Funky Buddha' it had things saying 'think positive' 'be positive' but the guys working there really didn't seem very happy, and when I paid, you're meant to give a tip, so I did but he still didn't seem very happy about it, I don't know if you're expected to give more than that :s? I'll check it out ha, ignorant bloody tourist :p... I came back to the hotel again pretty exhausted, I'm just getting so tired so quickly like I don't have a choice really but to sleep, so I ate lots of figs and almonds and feel asleep... 'Khatta Meetha' most addictive snack food ever! A sweet and spicy blend of gram noodles, puffed rice, green peas and peanuts