The Return to Nepal

It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I was last in Nepal. In someways it feels like it was yesterday and it others it feels like a lifetime ago. One thing I am sure of....it still feels like home to me.

As all that know me can attest, traveling is typically a series of bizarre and often unfortunate events that range from humorous to downright appalling. I certainly don't want to provoke Murphy or his laws, but I have to say that my travels to Nepal this trip were the best ever. I was lucky enough to get an emergency row seat on every leg of my flights and an entire emergency exit row on my flight from JFK to Doha, Qatar. I flew on Qatar Airways from JFK to Doha and then on to Kathmandu. I can say I have never flown a better Airlines. The plane was new, the food and service was amazing and they served haagen daz ice cream(although I slept through that particular service). I don't understand how airlines in our country a failing even though they provide skeleton services and an airlines like Qatar with services above and beyond and very reasonable fares is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world....go figure!

Anyway, I digress.....I flew Qatar Airways because I wanted to spend some time in Doha, Qatar on my way back from Nepal. I have a friend who is there doing an internship. Since I had never been there, and this being the perfect opportunity....I decided to go. I landed in Doha and was through customs and immigration in 11 minutes (an all time record I might add) and within a short time was at my friends apartment on the outskirts of Doha.

I have never been to the middle east before.....I have certainly been near it and flown over it.....but never in it. I have to say that I was amazed at how clean and well manicured the city is. The architecture is stunning and the people are so kind and gracious. Although I was there for only 12 hours I very much look forward to spending a few days there on my return trip from Nepal. One thought I could not help but having, and i realize that for some this might sound silly, but it dawned on me that I was just across the Persian Gulf from Iraq and Iran. I certainly was not frightened at all....its just that it made some thing more real to me.

I arrived in Kathmandu at about 5pm last night. I only told Ramesh and the Tophams that I was coming. I was hoping to avoid any fanfare and for at least a few people I was hoping to surprise them. Well, that was not to be. I was surprised by Ganesh, a friend of mine that I met at OR2K during my last visit. He was there with the traditional flower lei in hand to greet me. It, of course, was great to see him. I also ran into 3 other people who I had met on previous trips who just happened to be at the airport at that time. I guess that comments, to either the good or bad, on the frequency that I am here....I tend to think that it is a good comment.

The Tophams, an American couple who live here 6 months out of the year and with whom I have been become great friends, invited me to stay with them in their home. They are definitely some of the greatest people I know. They are approaching their 70's but still run a nonprofit organization here and spend their days helping those in need. They focus on education and libraries, but they are the ones who organized the water project that the Waterfalls did during their visit a year ago. They are the most kind-hearted people I know and I feel very lucky to know them. We will all be leaving tomorrow to travel back to Pokhari Banjang, the place we did the water project with the Waterfalls and also the home of Bharat. Bharat is the gentleman who had fallen out of a tree and is now paralyzed. I spent a great deal of time talking about him in last years posts. We will be checking on the water system, but more importantly we will be checking in on him to see how he is doing and how things are going with the store we built for him. We will then head down to Chitwan to see the hospital and how things are functioning there. It will be a great couple of days as we travel the all to familiar roads back to the places I spent so much time at last year.

The lights are about to go out again. The power shedding is now up to 16 hours a day. I am not sure how people here function, but they do. There is an electricity shortage in the country, so for 16 hours a day there is no power....the government just shuts everything down. I will try to keep up on the blogging...but it might be a day or two delayed.