Republic Day

Today is a very special day in Nepal, the celebration of the first Republic Day.
It has been a year ago that the Monarchy was abolished and replaced by a Republican system. There are several events planned, among them, this morning the recently elected PM Madhav Kumar Nepal laid the foundation stone of the Republic monument, at Ratna Park in Kathmandu.

Nepal no O Globo

Olha que legal! Saiu uma reportagem sobre o Nepal no jornal O Globo.
Interessante para quem quer saber mais sobre o país, a cultura e atual situação política.
http://oglobo.globo.com/viagem/mat/2009/05/28/alem-das-montanhas-religiao-cultura-historia-atraem-turistas-ao-nepal-756073290.asp
Enquanto isto estou super atarefada, cheguei de viagem na quarta e, provavelmente viajo novamente hoje e só volto na segunda. Estou indo para a região do Parque Nacional do Chitwan, visitar mais uma biblioteca, Jhuwani.
Tudo aqui é super interessante e diferente, está sendo uma experiência muito boa! As vezes indescritível...
Ontem jantei na casa da Sanjana, diretora da READ Nepal, ela é Newari, e nos ofereceu um delicioso jantar Newari. Newari é uma das etnias do Vale de Kathmandu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newar_people Foi uma noite inesquecível, conversando sobre os hábitos e costumes do Nepal e saboreando comidas simplesmente deliciosas!! No jantar também estavam presentes o pai e o marido da Sanjana, Bob Reno, Diretor da READ Global na Asia e Toni Neubauer, fundadora da READ Global. Pena que fiquei tao entretida no evento que me esqueci de tirar fotos... mas a noite ficará gravada para sempre na minha memória...

More Pokhara...

On my second day of work, I woke up early to go back to Pokhara where we would spend the following night. Going back on the same winding road, we had again the chance to enjoy the scenery and even stop for some wonderful pictures of the valley and Mt. Macchapuchhare.
Arriving in Pokhara, we checked in at Hotel Barahi, a wonderful hotel located a half block away from Phewa Lake, in the heart of the tourist district of Pokhara. Then, Indra and I stopped for a delicious lunch at a Thakali restaurant in downtown Pokhara According to http://www.visitnepal.com/nepal_information/people.php the origin of Thakali is Thok Khola, a high valley in central Nepal along the Muktinath region. They have Mongolian features, a fair complexion and narrow eyes. Thakalis are divided into four major groups: Gauchan, Tulachan, Sherchan and Bhattacan. Their religion is a mixture of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jhankrism. They are known for their hospitality, good salesmanship, and cleanliness. Some say that when it comes to daal-baat, no-one does it better that the Thakalis of lower Mustang. As traders between India and Tibet, the Thakalis adapted dishes and together with local favourites, created a culinary tradition of their own. And I have to agree, the food was awesome! (I guess I already mentioned that Daal baat is delicious, right? but I can't say it enough... it really is! :-)

After lunch, we hit the road again towards Syangja, a district south of Pokhara, to visit the Laxmi Memorial Community Library in Putali Bazzar.
The road was again unbelievably beautiful: mountains, valleys and small communities along the way.

The library and community center are very nice and located at the heart of the village.

As their sustainability project they have storefronts, some rooms to rent, a meeting hall and they are currently in the process of building a radio station that will serve the community and generate additional income to sustain the library and fund additional community projects. I believe this radio can become a great asset to the community!

Once a again Flat Stanley and I checked the books in English, Hindi and Nepali. Flat wanted to check out a English Nepali dictionary, he thought it might come very handy in our current predicament...

Now Flat Stanley also wants to learn Hindi so that he can read the newspaper covers that Josh's posts on his blog... as if Nepali wasn't enough.. :-)

The children section was also lovely, full of toys, books, games and an inviting video area. It really is a very conducive environment for learning while having fun! Again I was grateful for the opportunity to visit the library and meet members of the community. I only wish I could speak Nepali so that I could talk to them directly... Indra was very good in translating everything and helping me, but I would have loved to be able to understand them and tell them how happy I was to be there.

Back in Pokhara, we went for dinner, drinks and debriefing in the lovely Cafes, bars and restaurant along the main road in the central lakeside area.

It was another perfect day at work!

My first day at work

After 6 days enjoying and exploring Kathmandu, on Monday my work with READ Nepal officially began. And what a way to start a project!

I woke up early to catch the first flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara for a three day tour of READ libraries in the area. I went with Indra Bahadur Bhujel, program officer for READ Nepal and Bob Reno, Asia Managing Director for READ Global.

Pokhara is only a 25 minutes flight away from Kathmandu and it is major tourist destination. The city is located around the Phewa Tal (Lake Fewa), there are lots of restaurants, bars, cafés and shops, as well as many attractions from the Peace Pagoda and Varahi Mandir to paragliding and boating on the lake. Pokhara is the starting point for the famous treks in the Annapurna Range, so all over town you can meet trekkers either coming or going to the mountains.

Unfortunately on Monday, we had little time to enjoy any of that, after all we were there for work, not tourism. As we landed in the small airport of Pokhara we were greeted by our driver for the next two days and headed to our first destination: Myagdi Community Library. Before hitting the road, we briefly stopped at the scenic Boomerang Restaurant and ate a delicious breakfast enjoying the peaceful view of Phewa Tal.

I strongly recommend a visit to Pokhara and I hope to go back in the future to enjoy more of this wonderful town!

After breakfast, we started our journey to Beni. From Pokhara to Beni it is 73 km of narrow and winding road, and the beauty takes your breath away in every turn. Along the way you can see Mt Machhapuchhare (Fish Tail Mt.), countless small pagodas, temples, prayer flags and terraced fields. The journey took almost three hours, in paved and rough unpaved roads.

Along the way, I also practiced my Nepali skills talking ( or at least trying to talk) to Indra and our driver. They were so patient with my endless questions! I have a long, long way to go before being able to understand what they say, but I am working hard and I hope at least to be able to minimally communicate before this project is over! Nepalese people are so nice that I feel sad to miss the opportunity to directly interact with them...

Arriving in Beni, we checked-in in our Hotel and went to see the Community Library. Beni is the starting point to an alternative trek that leads to Jomsom, so it is a small town but very busy due to the trekkers and mules caravans coming and going to Mustang region.

Visiting this library was a great experience that allowed me to know a little more about the work READ does in Nepal. Thanks to Bob and Indra, who patiently answered so many questions, I have learned a lot!

I fully enjoyed every moment of it. Flat Stanley visited the library with me and enjoyed seeing the kids playing at the Children's Area, he tried to read some books, but like me, he still has a long way to go before understanding Nepali and

being able to read a book in Devanagari... :-)

We ended our day at the hotel, eating Daal Baat and sipping some Apple Brandy (produced in the mustang region), talking about READ work, learning nepali and nepalese culture and planning the activities of the following day. This is how work should be, hard and enjoyable! It was an awesome start!

I fell asleep listening to the sound of the Kali Gandaki river, right outside my window. I had to pinch myself to check if I wasn't dreaming... but then I realised that this was, in fact, a dream come true! I only wish I can come back some day to trek all the way to Jomsom and beyond...

Swayambhunath

Mais um dia de passeios e muita caminhada. Esta stupa é muito bonita e vale a pena subir os 219 degraus para chegar nela. ( será que são só 219.. me pareceu mais...)

Sightseeing in Kathmandu

I have been in Kathmandu for almost a week now. I love going to Thamel and Durbar Square and every place in between. The city is always full of people and in every alley and corner there is something unexpected. The contrasts are huge! This is a very unique city!


I put together some of the pictures I took in these past few days, they do not tell the whole story but they give an idea of what Kathmandu is... to experience the smells and sounds you would have to be here!


Namaste

Delicious food

Food in Kathmandu is very, very tasty!
Mitho chha as I have just learned in my Nepali language lessons.

Nepalese people eat Daal-baat (translation:lentil-rice) twice a day, lunch and dinner.

The Nepali Thali has been my favorite choice for lunch and momo's for dinner. Nepali Thali is basically Daal-baat with the option of meat or additional vegetable. I have already tried

Nepali Thali with chicken and mutton and both were delicious!

Momo's are tibetan dumplings and you can also choose the filling, I have tried chicken and buffalo (they call it, buff momo). Both delicious!

Flat stanley is also enjoying all these meals with me and if it goes on like that he will not be flat for long... :-)!

These pictures were taken at Trendy Cafe, a restaurant just around the corner from READ.