The scissor sharpeners.

I took this picture just this afternoon near our hotel. The men were sharpening scissors. They had this wheel on a spindle thing and the man on the left was pulling a chain, just like a bicycle chain, back and forth which turned the wheel. The man on the right was sharpening the scissors on the wheel. Very interesting I thought.

Banana boy, Chitwan.

This boy, about age 9 I suppose, sold bananas to tourists to feed to the elephants at bath time. It was fun to see his business skills. He'd shout out "bananas, bananas for the elephants" in English. Then when somebody came over to buy bananas they would ask "how much?" and he'd look them up and down and say a price according to what he'd think they'd buy! To some he sold for 5 rupees a banana, then to some 10, and they'd buy!! He did a pretty good little business. It was a school day and I asked him why he wasn't in school and he said his parents made him do this 'business'. So I had a good talk with him about the importance of school. I saw him playing with some kids when they got off the school bus so I'm sure he would like to go to school. What child would rather be alone on the street doing 'business' rather than be at school with his friends? I asked the waiter at the restaraunt at our hotel if he knew the boy who sold bananas and he said, "yes, I know the banana boy". Evidently the boys parents live quite aways away, he didn't know where the boy stayed. I asked why the boy's parents made him sell food instead of being in school and he said he didn't know but two times he had talked to the boy about the importance of school, the importance of learning. He said the boy's parents were 'short minded', in other words thinking about today instead of the boy's future. Somehow I liked this boy. One day we sat by him as he sold and a woman was grouching about the price of bananas and I got fed up and told her the boy was wanting to go to school and trying to earn the money. She bought a few but she continued to complain that she didn't know how many boys she was helping go to school! Then I told the banana boy that since I helped his business he must know that I thought school was very very important and I hoped he would go. There are many private schools here (big money machines for the rich who can afford to open one--they're usually boarding for the kids from the mountains) but there are also government schools that are free for 10 years. They have to pay for paper, pens, books, uniforms and small amounts for test taking during the year. This is another story but from what I have read many of the boarding schools are little more than fronts to get small children and sell them into prostitution in India. Very sad stories. Last week in the paper was a story about a group of older children found in India who were rescued and brought back to their parents in Nepal, in the mountains. They had been gone for many years but found and rescued, a great story.

Farmers fields near Sauraha, Nepal.

We see mustard growing in fields in California but I've never seen clothes drying on clotheslines in the fields like in this picture. Alisa, I'm glad you like to dry clothes on the clothesline outside. Don't the clothes smell so sunshiny good?

Dad enjoying the trip back to Kathmandu!

Evening photo of Chitwan National Park

Our elephant.

This is the elephant we rode on. Dad had seen other elephants take the tip money in their trunk and raise it up to give it to the mahout so he tried it and 'our' elephant did it too! It is fun to ride the elephants and all that but it makes me sad to see such a magnificent animal corralled, forced to do unnatural things, etc. Seems like all animals should do what nature intended them to do. I like the story of the elephants in Africa who are turned loose every night but return every morning of their own free will to take tourists for rides. The incentive for them is that they are given free food. But the elephants are really free to come and go as they please. Would love to go for a ride on those elephants.

Ma, the Mahout and the elephant.

We had watched this mahout give this elephant his bath in the river and he invited us back to the place (right in town) where they lived. He is mahout #1 but we didn't meet mahout #2. This elephant is 27 years old and seemed quite docile but it is important to be cautious around them. I really didn't want to sit there but the mahout insisted and dad wanted his picture!

Finding the rhino in the wild was like finding the prize!

Chitwan

It was crowded on our elephant and impossible to take pictures of ourselves so I took this one of dad and the pretty pink pampas grass.

Me, on our elephant. There are tourists from all over the world here and we have met very few American tourists (or even heard English in the streets) but wouldn't you know that the people on our same elephant were from Southern California! The place where we bought the tickets for our ride (two hours) guaranteed that we would see rhinos and we did! Will post a rhino picture next. We saw a mother and baby, although the baby must have been quite old as it was about 3/4 the size of the mother. The two hour ride cost 1,000 rupees plus a 500 park fee per person. 1,000 rupees is about $13.00. It was well worth it.

Washing clothes in the river.

In Sauraha this woman washed her clothes in the river right in town, right downstream from the elephant baths. In her defence she was there first, but when the elephants started arriving she didn't leave, just kept washing her clothes, then washed her hair, splashed water all over herself for her bath, then left. Never mind that the elephants use the river for their toilet during their bath time, didn't deter her one bit! Actually, I think Nepal is just one big toilet.

Bath time in the river. Chitwan National Park.

Every morning, right in town, the elephants take their baths. They let anybody who wants to get in and help. A lot of people do it but it is dangerous. Last month an elephant rolled on a tourist and smashed her hip and she had to be helicoptered out, to who knows where. I'd hate to have treatment in this country. It is fun to watch them though as the elephants seem to enjoy their bath.

Elephant Grass in Sauraha

It is possible to stay inside the park itself and to do that I think it is easiest to go on a packaged tour but most independent travellers stay in a very small town (Sauraha) right outside the park and then take tours inside the park itself. It's possible to take a number of tours as there are many tour agencies, so I don't see the point of staying inside the park. Among the possibilities are walks, jeep rides, canoe rides and elephant rides. Since the park is protected (or somewhat protected anyway) the main draw is the wildlife. There is a type of grass that grows inside the park that during certain times of the year people are allowed to gather. This grass is gathered and then used for many things. It is stored as in the picture above. This picture was taken right in the town where we stayed. Sauraha is very small, two main streets and at that the streets with the banks, money changers, shops and guest houses are short streets. I'd say that Mill Street in Grass Valley is probably the equivilent to the entire size of Sauraha. Nepal is very short of electricity and every day the government does what is called 'load shedding'. They just totally cut the electricity. People of means and business' have generators. But generators are noisey so in Suaraha the government makes all generators shut off at 9:30 p.m., which makes it nice at quiet at night. The electricity usually is on during the day and goes off about 6:00 p.m. and sometimes comes on later in the evening and sometimes I think it is off all night. This morning we had no electricity until about 8:00, but now we're back in Kathmandu. In Kathmandu they run the generators until later at night but now it is dark early so when we go out in the afternoon we always take our flashlight with us. We have changed hotels now, to Tibet Guest House and it has an elevator. There is a sign by the door that says "No electricity, No elevator". We are on the 5th floor so guess we'll have to hike up after load shedding. We have just moved here this morning. Have kind of a nice room, with windows on two sides so it's nice and sunny. Dad is sick so I splurged and got a room with a heater. It is a heater/a.c. combo like we used to have in Riyadh. They are actually pretty good. He is in bed today but at least we have a good t.v. with satellite stations so maybe he can find something he likes. It is sunny and warm today so I've handwashed a lot of clothes and have them strung all over the room. I'd have them washed in the laundry but after seeing how they wash by hand, just along the road and use the water until it is filthy I'd rather do them by hand, myself. We leave next Wednesday so need to have clean clothes to last until then, the place we stay in Bangkok has washing machines we can use. There are a few places here that advertise electric washing machines but I don't want my clothes washed with other peoples dirty clothes either. Since dad is sick I did wash his clothes but I refuse to wash his socks. He can get out of bed to do that!!

Our trip to Chitwan National Park

I'll just give a small description of our trip to Chitwan National Park today and will write more later. We took a bus from Kathmandu to CNP last week and spent four days there. A lot of the trip is along this river. Kind of reminded both of us of our Yuba River going from Nevada City to Downieville.

Dad's Trek11

The potatos, cabbages, marigolds, mustard, etc., growing on the terraced hillsides were beautiful.

Dad's Trek10

Manager, cook and coordinator with his wife and daughter in our hotel kitchen at Chisopani.

Dad's Trek9

Our hotel in Chisopani. My room was on the 4th floor.

Dad's Trek8

Millet wine in the making process.

Dad's Trek7

A beautiful view from here.

Dad's Trek6

The views were spectacular from the 6500 ft to 7000 ft elevations. All of those snow capped peaks are above 19000 feet! Some are over 21000 feet.

Dad's Trek5

These were porters from another group of trekers. I actually saw these guys running down some hills with their loads! I couldn't even begin to keep up with them.

Dad's Trek4

My guide was a true Sherpa. His name is Dawa Sherpa, and he has been guiding since he was about 12 years old.  I never saw him huff and puff once!

Dad's Trek3

Dad's Trek2

The first day we climbed about a 1/2 mile of steps going to our first place of lodging. We entered this National Park and Refuge on the way.

Dad's Trek

I took a short trek through the "foothills" of the Himalayas. The maximum altitude was about 7200 feet, but we had to go up and down over, so many ridges. My guide and I stayed in the local "hotels" along the way. Overall we covered about 24 miles. We went through many villages which grow their food locally, in terraced farms.  The hillsides were so steep that the terraced garden plots had cut banks often 6 and 8 feet high.  Here are some photos of the scenery.

Hotel Ganish Himal, Kathmandu, Nepal

The past couple of days have been quite hectic. Should slow down now for awhile. The hotel had a better room available and asked if we'd like it so we said yes. It was all of two dollars more. The room is larger and has a bathtub with shower. No shower curtain though! Dad has strung up my clothesline over the tub and we've done some handwashing. Dad complains about all of my 'rules', sometime, as he calls them. I have another, new rule, if that's what you want to call it. We are each responsible for our own clothes. That's the rule. I take care of mine, he takes care of his. So I wash out my clothes each evening and he lets his stack up until there is a mountain of them staring in his face. There are many places here that will do laundry by weight. I'd just take myclothes there if I were him. The problem here is that now it is quite chilly and the clothes are taking so long to dry. Days. Seems like they might mold before drying! Our new room is on the fourth floor, no lifts here! Good exercise, but the problem is that the wifi doesn't reach clear up there so I have to use the computer in the lobby now. No problem, but it is cold in here with the open doors. Sitting here is entertaining. The women who clean the rooms here are Tibetian, I think. They carry huge loads of dirty, and clean, launtry on their backs. I mean huge loads that must weigh almost as much as they do. On the streets you see people carrying such heavy loads, dressed in poor clothing and cheap well worn flip-flops (I'm wearing warm socks and nice comfortable tennis shoes). It would be nice to get pictures of them but sometimes photography seems so intrusive. The paper today said there are over 700 street children in Kathmandu. Last night walking home from dinner, with our bellies full, we saw some young boys digging through trash looking for food. In the same paper was a picture of a group of children being given warm blankets  from a charity for sleeping  in the open. Poverty is thought provoking for sure.

All over town are ads for travel agencies that include trekking (hiking) trips. Dad talked about trekking and asked if I'd like to go with him. I said no. So, he contacted the travel agency in our hotel here and has arranged a 4 day trek. He and the guide left a couple of hours ago. We ate breakfast here at the hotel and when we finished the guide was early, waiting for him. So I stayed and talked to him while Dad went up and got his pack. I asked him if he enjoyed trekking and a big smile crossed his face. He loves the outdoors. Loves hiking. He seemed like a happy, fun man. I'd guess late 30's or early 40's. He said the elevation isn't too high where they will be going, so it won't be too cold. They go through some forest, so they will stay below the treeline. He said the hotels are fairly nice where they will be staying. Hard to imagine 'nice' hotels where they cater to trekkers only, where there aren't even roads, where even all food items have to be taken in on somebodys back. This trek is supposedly all inclusive, hotels, food, guide, transportation, everything but drinks. Makes it very convenient. I hope dad understood everything right because he didn't take much money with him. He bought a lightweight windbreaker-rain jacket last night. There are so many nice clothing stores but none are fixed price and the time wasted in bargaining is ridiculous. I get frustrated with it. I hope both, Dad and guide, have a good time. He took the camera so maybe I'll ask him to write on my blog when he gets back.

Well, my day is free today. I'm cold, sitting in this lobby so maybe I'll go for a walk. After my birthday dinner last night I suggested we walk to Freak Street where there is supposed to be a restaurant with excellent chocolate cake but after dodging the traffic for awhile I lost interest and we didn't do it. Maybe I'll try to find it today. That's a good goal, don't you think? Chocolate cake!      Love, Mom

The rope maker.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

An elderly man was tearing apart woven plastic sacks (rice sacks?), twisting the fibers together and making a rope! He was selling the rope.

Kathmandu with surrounding snow covered mountains.

Nepalese woman.

The women here all dress so colorful and pretty.

Vegeburger

We walked a lot today and stopped at a small shopping center for lunch at a nice little restaurant. My vegeburger came dressed so nicely. The 'flower' on top is a piece of carrot. This nice lunch was under one dollar! I've noticed all menus have extensive vegetarian options, whether 'mains' or snacks. Dad had fried vegetable momos today with two chutneys for dipping. Momos are a national snack, either steamed or fried. Kind of like samosas in India.

Kathmandu mini bus.

It's amazing how many people they can squeeze in one of these little things.

Construction workers. Kathmandu.

Disposable plates made of some type of leaf.

Need something new to wear?

$1.00USD=72NPR

Schoolgirls in Kathmandu.

Street scenes, Thamel area of Kathmandu

Rickshaw ride anyone? Kathmandu.

Hindu decoration in the center of a book store.

Marigold petals float in water in the bowl.

Vegetable Sizzler in Kathmandu

For anybody who wonders my dinner cost a bit less than $5.00. The hot lemon drink is about 50 cents. I just have to find out how they make the vegetable patty (served over noodles) as it was very very good.

Helens Restaurant, Highest Roof Garden Restaurant in Kathmandu.

We walked around last night looking for something to eat and saw a sign that advertised it had the highest rooftop restaurant in Nepal. No elevator of course. I kidded dad asking if he was up to walking up and he said let's go for it so we did. We got there about sundown and the sunset was pretty. We had a wonderful dinner. Dad had vegetable stroganoff and said it was excellent. I had vegetable sizzler and it came so pretty I had to take a picture of it (next). It was probably the best meal I have ever eaten! The vegetable patty had peas, grated carrots and mashed potatoes and I don't know what else, over noodles. The vegetables were steamed to perfection. The cheese on the baked potatoes tasted different, probably yak cheese. We had hot lemon to drink. That is available everywhere and seems to just hit the spot. Just fresh lemon in hot water with honey or sugar.

Hotel Ganesh Himal Kathmandu, Nepal

We're staying here. We have a corner room so we have windows on two sides. It is just an average inexpensive Nepal hotel. It has warts and all, but it does have comfortable beds and warm blankets. It is cold at night and perfect during the day.

Pizza at airport in Bangkok, waiting for the flight for Nepal

Ever had a pizza with corn on it?? We had some meal vouchers from the airline during our long wait and this is one meal I got with a voucher. Actually, the pizza was pretty good. Fresh pineapple is always good. When we arrived in Nepal we were dismayed to find the TSA lock from one of our bags missing. Not only missing but the metal tabs were also missing that the lock went through. We knew somebody had just somehow removed the whole thing. But for what, there were only clothes inside. We looked when we arrived and couldn't think of anything missing. Then, last night, dad remembered his knife. Dave H. had given him a nice knife that had belonged to his brother. He loved that knife, it was very useful. Gone. That's what those crummy people were after. It had to have happened during our long wait in Bangkok, they had seen it during the scanning check. My nice TSA lock is gone! As well as now we can't lock our bag at all as theres nothing to put a lock through. Locking bags is extremely important here in Nepal to keep sticky fingers out of it on a bus, which we'll do tomorrow.
One of the first things I saw yesterday, in the morning when we were out walking, looking for a place to eat breakfast. A group of young boys, about a half dozen of them, about age 10, just standing on the street, were huffing. It deadens the hunger pains. Very sad. There are lots of beggars here too. One mother with a young baby was obnoxious shoving an empty baby bottle in my face. These countries discourage people from giving to beggars in any form. Don't give money, don't give pens, candy or anything as it just encourages more begging. They say to give money to temples, to charities, to foundations, etc. In Thailand you often see lepers begging and it really frowned upon because there are government places for lepers. They are taken care of and they are given their medication. On the street they are not taking their medication like they should. It is really hard sometimes on the street to NOT give. I have been known to buy food for a hungry small child on the street but I don't give money. It is common in India for parents to purposly disable a child so people will find pity and give so even  buying food is probably not a good idea. Hard. Sara, you'd like to know that the dogs I have seen so far here seem well fed. I did see a really obese dog in Trat, Thailand. It was huge and I wondered why. Then I looked around and it was living right in front of a bakery! One smart dog.

Ladies room at the airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

As I read this sign in the ladies room at the airport in Bangkok, when we were leaving, it reminded me of some of the mysteries of life. Why, just why, would people be putting their stockings in the toilet? Statistically speaking, how many stockings in a year do they have to fish out of the toilets? Adult stockings? Mens stockings? Womens stockings? Childrens stockings? Hmmm.......When you are delayed eight hours at the airport there is a lot of time to look around and find interesting things! Finally our 2:30 flight left at 11p.m. Our best laid plans all gone up in smoke. We had actually arrived at the airport really early so we could ask for seats on the right side of the plane. With Nepal Airline it's impossible to ask for seats when purchasing tickets or online. Don't ask me why, third country airline is all I know. But we were early enough to each get a window seat so we could see Mt. Everest as we flew by. We've done this before and the view is spectacular. In the U.S. when you fly across country and go over the Sierras and the Rocky Mountains you fly high above and look down on the mountains. Here, when you fly to Nepal you are flying high but still when you look out your window you look UP at Mt. Everest. It is almost 40,000 feet tall. Very majestic. But of course when your flight is at night you don't see a thing. It was disappointing. Anyway, we are here and were going to get up early this morning and walk to Monkey Temple to see the prayers and singing but were so tired we overslept so will try to do that tomorrow.

Place of Respect

Nice plaza at Ari BTS Station.

We went for a walk today, just to see what is in the opposite direction of the way we usually walk, near where we stay. Found a nice plaza and shopping area near the Ari BTS (Skytrain) Station (in the picture the sky train is above, in the background of the flags). One place has quite an upscale grocery store with good looking bread. Since we're leaving tomorrow we didn't buy any. The place also has quite a large Starbucks where dad is planted right now. I got tired of waiting so came back to the room. Lots of people were in Starbucks, and it was a large one too, much larger than the one in Grass Valley. They do a booming business. The fact that they have a fantastic air conditioning system doesn't hurt them one bit! That is why dad stayed, he bought a coffee and is reading the paper and is enjoying the a.c.! Down that way we also found a McDonalds and they have a Breakfast Sandwich, which is egg, cheese and bread. I had one and it wasn't bad at all. I had the papaya afterwards so all in all a fairly decent breakfast. Wish they had good bread but those fast food places never do. That I know of anyway.   Mom

Dad bought a bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice, about 60 cents. Trouble was she had added a touch of salt, made it an off flavor, I suggested it was good for the electrolytes and let it go...

Nice Thai man selling fruit. Dad bought a bag of pineapple and I bought a bag of papaya, for a little less than a dollar. Can you see the vendor making the peace sign?

In this Coke ad she is offering him rice! I guess rice and Coke go together!