Good morning! It is 5:22am in Kathmandu. I’ve been up since 3:30am….still working to get over jet lag. “They” say it takes a day for every hour time difference. That would be a 10hr and 45min time difference from Toronto to Kathmandu. 10 to 11 days…so I’m ok. Blair and Willis are doing much better then I am. I get tired….all I can think about is bed and sleep. I’ve always been a sleeper. I love to nap. To me there is nothing better then an afternoon nap on sunny afternoon after a very active morning, Â hence I’m awake at 3:30am on Sunday morning.
This first week has been all about orientation. Orientation on our sponsoring Canadian organization UNITERRA (CECI) and it’s programs in Nepal. Orientation on Nepal: history, culture, politics, geography etc.. Orientation to Kathmandu, Blair’s partner organization in Kathmandu (whom he’ll be volunteering for), house hunting, a welcome lunch with other UNITERRA volunteers and yesterday a city tour. It’s been an amazing week!
My first impressions of Kathmandu. Crazy, chaotic, quite, alive, colourful, accepting…I cannot believe how quiet this city is at night. Kathmandu is a city of over a million people living very close together, high density living! The occasional dog barking but that’s it. Maybe it’s just where we are living in the city… But it blows my mind each night. During the day the city is filled with life and all sort city noises, by 9pm you’d think you were living in the country. Getting around Kathmandu is nerve jarring. We have been spoiled with a driver, thank god! I have yet to see a traffic light or people staying in their appointed lanes. Horns are used to communicate. Mostly to alert your vehicles presence, at an intersection or going around a blind narrow corner or coming up behind pedestrians. Friendly honks though, not laying on the horn.
The pictures that follow are the ones I took on our city tour. They are from my perspective. We all took cameras and it was really interesting seeing Will’s perspective. To see them check out Blair’s pics on facebook.