Help Nepal

DEC, the Disasters Emergency Committee is a coalition of 13 different aid charities.  If you want to donate money to help the Nepal earthquake crisis or any other crisis it's best not to just blindly donate money, check where your money will go to first and how it will be spent.  Often aid money goes through the wrong channels and is misspent, wasted and eaten up in admin which is what happened with the Haiti earthquake appeal, that's why a coalition of charities might be best to ensure funds are dispersed more effectively.  As far as I can see DEC looks like an appropriate organisation to donate to.  You could also consider the Oxfam appeal who are building a multi stage plan starting with providing clean water and sanitation to those who have been displaced.

Not forgetting several other humanitarian crisis in the world such as Syria, Sudan, Gaza and the island of Vanatu in the South Pacific Ocean which was devastated by Cyclone Pam last month.
You can spare £10 or just a fiver right?  What's that?  a bottle of wine?
I have today donated £12 to the Nepal appeal with DEC and £8 to the Vanatu appeal with Oxfam.  I doubt I'll even notice, I'd only fritter it away otherwise!

oxfam.org/en/emergencies/cyclone-pam

Nepal Earthquake

In November 2011 Bec and I visited Nepal, it was one of the best experiences of my life.  It is a unique place and I feel really sad to see much of Kathmandu reduced to rubble and that thousands have died there and across the region.  We visited many of the places that we are now being shown in ruins.  It is a very busy city, rich in culture with a real old world feel compared to what we know in England.  There are many many Buddhist and Hindu shrines, temples and monuments which are often side by side and very much in use by the people. The buildings and culture seemed very important and well respected by everyone and the Durbar squares in Kathmandu old town, Patan and Bhaktapur are like a social hub with tourists and locals intermingling.  

It looks like many of these old buildings are now unfortunately destroyed along with many people's homes, it must be terrifying to be there right now.  

The loss is huge, thousands have died and although eventually the wreckage will be removed and gradually rebuilt nothing can replace hundreds of years of rich heritage and tradition.

 Here's a few of my own photos of Bec and myself enjoying the amazing sights in and around Kathmandu only a couple of years ago.  My great memories now make me feel sad.....

EDIT 27/04/15: see blog post Help Nepal to donate money to the right places.

 Here's a link to the journal I wrote on our travels in Nepal
http://traveltalesfromanywhere.blogspot.co.uk/p/nepal.html

Exploring Kathmandu

Tuesday 15th. In the morning
Exploring Kathmandu
Currys eaten - 1,  momos eaten - 10,  yeti sightings - 0
Went to a rooftop cafe called Helenas for breakfast, Bec had pancakes and I asked for an Indian breakfast not knowing what I would get although correctly suspecting curry.  Yum, curry for breakfast with chapatis and roti bread, great way to start the day.
Went to find out how to get to Pokhara tomorrow which turned out to be easier than expected, bus tickets are 500 rupees which is about £4 and its a 7 hour journey starting at 7am.
Guided ourselves on a walking tour through the medieval looking streets of Kathmandu old town passing by rows and rows of little shops, temples and shrines with incense and butter lamps burning, holi men covered in red and yellow paint, scabby stray dogs chasing past, rickshaws rattling along and people carrying ridiculously large loads strapped to their heads.  It feels like there's too much stuff for my eyes to look at, its a visual feast and my brain is gorging itself.
Right now as I'm writing this we're sat on a rooftop overlooking Durbar square eating vegetable momos (a plate of stuffed dumpling type things) and I have to say this delicious taste sensation may start a new obsession.

we're here

Monday 14th November  (blogged retrospectively from diary)
Kathmandu
Cows seen on streets - 3, powercuts - 1
Well we're here! First experiences of Nepal mostly involve confusion.  All the taxi guys are waiting to pounce outside the airport and because I didnt want to be mithered I just carried on walking up the road as if I knew where I was going, I dont know why because we do need a taxi and I definitely don't know where I'm going.
Anyway we ended up in a taxi that possibly wasnt a real taxi with two lads, one drove while the other tried to sell us things.  The "big traffic" as the driver described was a free for all with no street lighing, no traffic lights, make your own rules while dodging bikes, potholes and cows.
Reach the Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse where we thought we'd booked a room, they seemed to have copies of my emails but didnt have a room for us.  After a confusing hour of waiting in the dark due to a powercut it turned out there was now a room for us, however just to make things a bit more weird the manager called us into the office, sat us down with tea and coffee and started by apologising for having had "a few beers", he wanted to talk to us about trekking but we wanted to just get our bags in our room and get out for some food.  Everyone is so so polite that its difficult to moan about anything, one of the staff even guided us to the restaurant we wanted to eat at so we didnt get lost.  Had some dal bhat at a place called Thakali Kitchen and a Gorkha beer (comes in a giant 660ml bottle).  Went back to get some sleep ready to start exploring tomorrow, have hardly slept in 24 hours with all the travelling.  First impressions?  this is gonna be a crazy adventure!
Amusing anecdote of the day
The fella's name at the guesthouse is Rat but he pronounces it "Raart" a bit like Mrs Bucket in that 90's comedy show who pronounces it bouquet

chillin with the yetis

On reflection of my previous post i had a word with myself for being so depressive and now feel much better although probably still a bit lazy.  This week will need to be spent sorting out our plans for Nepal.  been having odd dreams about being in Kathmandu for the past few weeks probably caused partly by eager anticipation and partly by feeling anxiously unprepared.  We have booked flights only and so all travel and accommodation will be done spontaneously although i have contacted a guest house in Kathmandu to book a room for the first two nights.  From then on our slightly sketchy plan includes a trek  in the Himalayas for 4-5 days where I hope to become famous by finding the first conclusive evidence for the existence of the yeti.  maybe i'll befriend one and we can go for a few beers and a game of darts, maybe catch a film then go bowling?
The theme of the dreams I've been having is that we don't come back! I don't know why though, the dreams haven't explained this yet.  Maybe we'll get lost in the hills, maybe our bus will plunge off a mountain road, maybe we'll take up residence in Kathmandu or maybe i'll get killed by a yeti.....

kathman can do? kathman can't do?

the nepal trip is not quite on yet.  looked at booking the flights this week and all of a sudden the price has jumped up by £500 with less availability.  going a week later will bring it back down to about £1200 but we need to book it asap before those flights go too.  just cobbling the last of the money together now and keeping fingers crossed.  we have to go, its my ultimate "holiday".  the plan is to book flights only and wing it when we get there by finding accommodation as we go along.  the reason being is we want to do some trekking and travelling about and probably wont be based in kathmandu all the time.  its exciting but trekking through himalayan foothills is not quite happening yet.................

Kathmandu is calling.....

Went to Manchester with Becci yesterday. I wanted to go to the travel agents to price up travelling to Kathmandu in November and Becci wanted to watch a film.

Went to STA travel and spoke to the same girl who booked the Vietnam trip last year, she remembered me!  I've become a bit obsessed with going to Nepal, it looks absolutely amazing but the only problem is the flights alone will cost £850 although that is via Mumbai so a few nights in Mumbai would be quite mad too.  I've promised myself that if £600 can be saved by August then i'm booking it.

So if i ever make it to Nepal then Mount Everest base camp is near Kathmandu, maybe i'll trek up to the summit if I have a spare day or take the cable car, mountains always have cable cars right?

Couple of drinks and some food at my favourite place Tampopo and then on to the cinema to watch The Hangover 2, it was amusing enough, watchable but the humour is a bit too American for me also theres some weird scenes with a monkey smoking ciggies which I wasnt keen on, dont know how they got away with showing it actually.