What do you do in the last week of an epic adventure? Cram in as much as possible in our case!
We're trying not only to make the most of our last project visits and to reflect back on all our experiences, but also to soak up Nepal as much as we can. So since we last posted, here's what we've been up to...
On Saturday we visited the incredibly beautiful ancient town of Bhaktapur- complete with majestic temples, allotments filled with marigolds,and squares full of drying harvested rice being raked by locals (mostly women!) wearing traditional dress. The whole town felt like a film set- it was like nothing we'd ever seen before in real life.
Yesterday, we visited the KTS Primary School (that's right-Sunday is the beginning of the week here). This is the school that is fully supported by KTS, the knitwear, carpentry and carpet project we visited last week. We were invited to visit by Coruna, the school's headmistress, after meeting her at Tihar dinner. This joyful, creative place was brimming with happy students and staff. It really was great to see this social enterprise in action and Coruna proudly pointed to the smiling faces of former pupils on a fading photograph, telling us about their various achievements in life-whether that be emigrating to Australia, teaching in the school or being happily married with kids . Her personal interest in the lives of both past and present students was testament to the spirit of this great lady and her family- it was her father who began KTS 30 years ago.
Today we decided to try and catch a better view of the snowy peaked Himalaya and headed to the sleepy town of Dhulikhel. After climbing what felt like about 1000 steps to a temple/ army lookout (strange combo we know) we retired to an in-the-middle-of nowhere coffee shop. Yes, we do have a knack of finding them! We were the only customers until a lovely group of Yorkshire folk broke the silence with a brilliant laugh. Over a cuppa we talked about fried rice, knock-off North Face puffas and, wait for it, climbing Everest. That's right, not only had this group of intrepid explorers all previously reached Everest Base camp, the lovely Chris had been the oldest Brit to reach the summit and had held onto this world record until good old Ranulph knocked him off his perch (quite literally) 10 years down the line. Or should we say up the mountain. What a truly humble and inspirational gang they were. Suffice to say it was too foggy for good views, but we didn't really care after meeting them.
So what's left now? We've 2 more appointments and many plates of momo's to get through before we leave on Friday. We hope our brains and bellies can take it! We'll let you know...
We're trying not only to make the most of our last project visits and to reflect back on all our experiences, but also to soak up Nepal as much as we can. So since we last posted, here's what we've been up to...
On Saturday we visited the incredibly beautiful ancient town of Bhaktapur- complete with majestic temples, allotments filled with marigolds,and squares full of drying harvested rice being raked by locals (mostly women!) wearing traditional dress. The whole town felt like a film set- it was like nothing we'd ever seen before in real life.
Yesterday, we visited the KTS Primary School (that's right-Sunday is the beginning of the week here). This is the school that is fully supported by KTS, the knitwear, carpentry and carpet project we visited last week. We were invited to visit by Coruna, the school's headmistress, after meeting her at Tihar dinner. This joyful, creative place was brimming with happy students and staff. It really was great to see this social enterprise in action and Coruna proudly pointed to the smiling faces of former pupils on a fading photograph, telling us about their various achievements in life-whether that be emigrating to Australia, teaching in the school or being happily married with kids . Her personal interest in the lives of both past and present students was testament to the spirit of this great lady and her family- it was her father who began KTS 30 years ago.
Today we decided to try and catch a better view of the snowy peaked Himalaya and headed to the sleepy town of Dhulikhel. After climbing what felt like about 1000 steps to a temple/ army lookout (strange combo we know) we retired to an in-the-middle-of nowhere coffee shop. Yes, we do have a knack of finding them! We were the only customers until a lovely group of Yorkshire folk broke the silence with a brilliant laugh. Over a cuppa we talked about fried rice, knock-off North Face puffas and, wait for it, climbing Everest. That's right, not only had this group of intrepid explorers all previously reached Everest Base camp, the lovely Chris had been the oldest Brit to reach the summit and had held onto this world record until good old Ranulph knocked him off his perch (quite literally) 10 years down the line. Or should we say up the mountain. What a truly humble and inspirational gang they were. Suffice to say it was too foggy for good views, but we didn't really care after meeting them.
So what's left now? We've 2 more appointments and many plates of momo's to get through before we leave on Friday. We hope our brains and bellies can take it! We'll let you know...
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