The Montessory School

Two of our children have been accepted in the high-quality and expensive Montessory School. It charges 100 euros per month and aamaa Nirmala could have never afforded to send the children to this school if not for her good connections. She knows a few from the management of the Montessory School who agreed to teach two children for a month. 

River Road

This dusty road winds its way near Bishnumati river. The dog had a piece of meat in its teeth and for a while he was trotting after me.

The Pancake Day

On May 18 the Danish volunteers made pancakes for all of the house - children and staff.  

The yard

In the mornings the yard serves as a place where to exercise and dress in the school uniforms, in the evenings the children group according to their class and do their homework.

The school

The little children go to a boarding school where all the lessons except for Nepali are carried in English. The volunteers were welcomed to stay and teach in the school. Each one of us at any one moment could at best teach only two children, which eventually led to a chaos as those who didn't have a volunteer by his side sat alone and most often did nothing productive.

A morning in Aishworya

Children getting ready for the school

The children of Aishworya

Here the little ones are welcoming a new volunteer from Poland - Kasha. Others are struggling with a thousand-piece puzzle. A bit too much for the youngsters.

Bamboos

These could be found not only on the roads outside Kathmandu but also in the center of the city - the former king's palace is full of them.

The children of Shivapuri

The children in the Shivapuri National Park. The one on the right has black circles around his eyes - the locals believe that would protect him against the harm.

The children run after us for quite a long time. The best strategy was to ignore their shouts for another picture.

Shivapuri National Park

The ride to the Shivapuri National Park could substitute a bungee jump - each sharp turn in the narrow road up fills every part of the body with adrenaline. However, the reward is sweet - a day full of fresh air, which is a remarkable improvement over the Kathmandu's smog that had been choking us for a week already.

Pramod and his friend Robek leads us through the park and we stop to rest at a local Nepali house, whose owner treats as with a bit of spicy meat and drink.

Patan's Durbar Square

Patan or Lalitpur is a city adjoining Kathmandu. The river Bagmati sets them apart. We went there with our new brother Promod and his cousin as our guides. Till now we had gotten everywhere for free by showing our volunteer cards, but the guards of Patan's Durbar Square wouldn't let us in. They asked for a paper of the local municipality office stating that we are volunteers, so there we went to get the paper. However, the bureaucracy of Nepal is not much different from the one everywhere else in the world and we ended up floating from one office to the next until at last we found out that the guy we needed was out and nobody knew when he was coming back.

Thus we ended our pursuit for the official paper and returned to the Durbar Square in the hopes of bargaining with the guards. It turned out that Promod's cousin knows the main person responsible for the gate-keeping, who in the end let us in for free. Thus we learned that the power here is in the connections.

Bouddha

Next day we went to another Buddhist place - Kathmandu's region Bouddha, which is said to be one of the two most important holy places for Tibetan Buddhists outside Tibet. Indeed we spotted many lamas roaming around the place. The stupa itself is the largest one in Nepal.

Not far from the stupa there are a few monasteries for the lamas to pray and live in. We went to one called the White Monastery. We had to wait an hour till 16:00 when the monastery opened its doors for non-lama visitors. However, when we entered a ceremony (puja) had just began and we silently slipped along the wall. One of the lamas closest to us put a soft mattress on the floor indicating a place where to sit.

At first the praying lamas were staring at us shamelessly. For one we were non-lamas, for another we were not even men, so I could understand the stares. And soon they died away as the men in crimson robes returned to their prayers. For the next hour we enjoyed the beauty of Tibetan Buddhist prayers - they were chanting and singing in the rhythm of drums and trumpets, from time to time changing the tone and rhythm. The drums beat through our ears and a horn made such a high note that it seemed to penetrate our bodies. An unforgettable experience.

During the ceremony a man rounded the monks, pouring each a white liquid from a pale can. They gave us a little cup too and poured the queer liquid that tasted awful. Later we learned that it was Tibetan ciyah - made with a butter and salt.

Swayambhu

On the next day we went to the main Buddhist temple in Kathmandu - Swayambhu. It is located on the top of a hill in the outskirts of the city. Tourists have named it the Monkey Hill as it is full with these animals.

A prayer made in Swayambhu is believed to have thousand times greater strength than one made anywhere else. And truly the places holds some magic - it is very calm and peaceful on the top of the hill.

The temple, however, is no exception to the general trend of pollution all around the city. Although women were cleaning the rock plates comprising the floor of the temple, the hillside was spoiled with rubbish. A holy man, praying at one of the smaller temples, had donations of flowers, rice and food all around him, some of it  rotted, black and circled by flies. A serving boy cleaned the space around the praying man by brushing the donations in a pile and throwing this pile five steps farther from the man. There a bunch of pigeons and stray dogs ate the most of it, while the cleaning women took care of the rest.

The Monkey Hill and the temple is not only full of monkeys but also of dogs with various illnesses. From the very start we learned better to make a wide circle around every one of them. Besides the dogs also numerous beggars spot the Hill. Some of them lay quietly on their blankets, others stir whenever they see a tourist coming their way.

The most interesting part of the journey, however, was the part of getting back home. The Ring Road that encircles the city passes by the Monkey Hill as well. Buses for 15-20 rupees would take us anywhere from here, but the trick is to find the right bus. There are no numbers or destinations written on the buses, at least not in understandable letters. Each bus has a boy that collects the money and shouts out the destinations, but for our unaccustomed ears he could shoot whatever he liked and we wouldn't have understood anything.

The only thing left to do was approach every single bus passing by and shooting the destination of our home - Baluwatar. For fifteen minutes the best response we got was a shake of head or a "No!" The others just stared at us like seeing people for the first time. Disheartened by our fruitless attempts we approached a nearby policeman and asked how to get back home. 

At once the police officer led us to a bus that just seconds ago had passed by after declining to get us to Baluwatar. The officer asked the boy of the bus to get us to Baluwatar and without a word he shook his head in agreement. We thanked the officer and got into the bus with a little more understanding of how things are working here.

Later I understood the problem - numerous buses were going our way, but they were driving the road that passes through Panipokhari not Baluwatar. Now we are shooting Panipokhari and getting home every time without much problems.

The sunset from the hill of Pashupatinath

Pashupatinath

Pashupatinath is the main Hindu temple in Nepal. Hindus from all over the country see it as a great honor to be burned in a pyre on the steps of Pashupatinath. The river that flows through the temple is Bagmati. Full of rubbish and pollution it has been reduced to a narrow stream. The ashes of the burned Hindus are scattered into the river and the remaining bones as well. Bagmati is considered holy for Hindus and many of them each year make a pilgrimage to this place.

The price for entrance is 1000 Nepali rupees for the tourists. However, there is a way around, through a deep gorge that requires no fee but for a bit of exercise.

In the temple itself only Hindus are allowed but the vicinity is free to roam for everyone.