Didn’t have the energy to write yesterday. Oh what a day! Started with a call with Anita Kerr Nepali who is one of the ladies running the org 7 Women – assisting disadvantaged women in Kathmandu and Nepal. Her enthusiasm and excitedness at speaking with me encouraged me so! Mum and I availed ourselves of state of the art dust masks in the morning from a local entrepeneur’s scooter seat though the atmosphere thankfully was much clearer so we are yet to test them out. After a wander in to Thamel’s shopping district (and another bottled water run – will be boiling water and using the AHA Filter from now on – the plastic waste is making me cringe so) we met with Mahesh Acharya – the wonderous and chilled out guide Doug Grant recommended to me. After walking us through the designated mall part of the district (an absolute boon for me with even paving and no motors or scooters squeezing past – i didn’t have to endlessly focus on my feet and balance!) he showed us to a bakery then to Utmost Adventure where my long list of places suggested to me in Kathmandu and Pokhara is being fashioned into a schedule by Subin Thakuri We then visited the magically designed Garden of Dreams before a night time rumble through increasingly familiar streets and streetlets where Mahesh left us to eat a traditional dinner from the North (I think it was called Thaamel?)
I am overcome with the easy, honest and generous nature of these people and an image stays with me of a lady on a building site crouching as she sorted through bricks. Our eyes met and hers twinkled as her fuschia-red be-lipsticked lips spread in a smile that I matched as I blew her a kiss x
Tis 8am, another day awaits…
