Day 8 

Sleeping last night was a real luxury and I skipped breakfast to lay in bed until 8.15am. The gong woke me at 5am but it was nice to lay there and doze.

Eddie left at 8.30 and I quickly moved my stuff into his room. It is good to have my own space again, even if myspace only consists of 2 beds made out of prayer cushions.

I introduced myself to 2 new volunteers, 16 year old Chinese girl Vi and 17 year old boy friend Charlie. Lola and I then taught the first 2 classes, level 1 and then level 2. They were both hard work! Nobody had told me that I was expected to teach Maths, so I taught fractions. Both classes were quite demanding, with boisterous monks. I was glad to finish at 11am. I skipped lunch and laid on my bed dozing until the level 3 class at 1pm.

Teaching here is chaotic. There are no resources or any sort of curriculum to follow. No one checks up on you. Therefore it us all very haphazard; you teach what you fancy, with no form of continuity. There could be different people teaching different things differently every week. It is a wonder the monks have such a good verbal vocabulary.

I had tried to establish a routine for myself by thinking I would visit the one local internet cafe after the last lesson and before I visit the orphanage. I walked down to the cafe, only to end up completely frustrated. The internet connection was so slow I could upload no photos and the computer crashed, losing my blog. I gave up and used the wifi listening to the torrential monsoon rain. When it stopped I left, calling into the supermarket for a gift of a bottle of Pepsi to take to the orphanage.

I returned to the monastery and sat outside the office using the wifi.

I then returned to the orphanage for my scheduled 2 hour visit between 5­-7pm. This managed to totally lift my spirits as I had begun to feel quite down and feared the next week would drag. I was greeted like an old friend and feel so much like part of the family. I have really bonded with 17 year old Pema. She is now my Nepali chori, (daughter) and she in return calls me Aama (mother) as a mark of respect. She is beautiful and as bright as a button.

I had taken Pema a magazine I had got on the plane, called Essentially America, which had beautiful photos of different places in the US. Pema’s geography is very limited so I thought she may enjoy looking at it. She was blown away by it, and kept stroking it. We spent ages looking through it together while I explained places such as the Grand Canyon, Arches, Yellowstone etc. I had to explain things such as volcanoes and canyons. I also gave her my Welsh flag. I have told Pema I will send her magazines from home. I think she will enjoy receiving them and it will help her English. She said she loves to cook and would love to see what food we eat. Her family does not have an oven, like most Nepali homes. She was surprised when I said all Western homes do.

They cooked me an omelette and toast to eat which was delicious. We chatted about all sorts of things from weddings to penguins and meditation. Big Pema gave me a cd of mantras to take home and we swapped facebook and email details. They have no wifi or computer in the house, but use an internet cafe. It was soon time to leave at 7pm before it got dark. 

I got back to a power cut, so laid on my bed dozing and reading. 2.5 hours later and there is still no power. I feel much better now. I had worried the days would drag and I would be bored, but I think the highlight of this trip will not be the monastery and the monks, but the friendship I have made with Mingma, Pema and little chori Pema.

Day 9 ­

Today, right now, if someone told me I could go home, I would swallow every Imodium I have and do just that! I know you are not a true traveller until you have experienced Delhi Belhi……well, let me just say a Boudha Belly is every bit as bad. I won’t go into details, except to say imagine one very dirty grotty toilet, a toilet door that doesn’t lock and you have to remember to take your own loo roll on your 20 yard dash. Not fun!

Also not fun when you are expected in the orphanage at 5pm and feel like dying. You cannot let the Nepali down, they would not understand, and there was no way to get in touch with them. I swallowed 4 imodium and hoped for the best. On the way there I fell, flat on my back, in inches deep mud! I struggled into the orphanage and explained to them I was ill and also needed a shower. They could see by the mud on me what had happened.

So, now I also had to wash my clothes. Bear in mind there is 1 tap, no hot water and nowhere to dry stuff except over the railings. I only have 3 pairs of trousers with me and was actually already wearing a pyjama top as I was so short of clothes.

I made full use of the bathroom in every sense of the word and am now flat out on my bed feeling sorry for myself. I had intended to go to a meditation class at 7pm but can’t see me risking that. Anybody got a private jet?

Day 10

It is nearly half way through my holiday now. I am getting used to life in the Monastery now. I think I had been panicking about trying to impose some sort of structure onto it, whereas now I have found it is simply easier to just go with the flow. I always moan about not having any time to myself, yet strangely I was panic stricken at the thought of having too much time! I have now adapted to enjoying the time I do have and choosing what to do with it. As I am still not sleeping I find that after my second class which finished at 2pm I can just about keep my eyes open, so today I went back to bed for a siesta and slept deeply for an hour and a half. Bliss! Strangely the sounds of Tibetan chanting seemed to really help. Maybe I need to get Lyn trained up in chanting.

I went back to the orphanage today. Mingma and Pema had been really worried about me after my fall yesterday so were glad to see me. Had a lovely meal of omelette and home cooked chapati. I took loads of photos of them, and am going to get some printed out for them in Thamel. It was lovely to see the Welsh flag I had given Little Pema is now draped over the office desk! I feel I have made really good friends here, definitely a highlight of my trip. It really made me laugh when after taking a photo of us all I looked at it with Mingma, and we both shrieked and said “motti” (fat) at the same time. Women are the same the world over, aren’t they?

Day 11­

I woke up early this morning, bang on time at 5am. I had decided to go to early Puja (prayers) in the temple and  took my place, cross legged on the prayer mats at 5.30 and watched open mouthed for the next hour.

There is no way I can describe it. It was a seemingly discordant cacophony of Tibetan chanting, drumming, incense swinging, trumpet blowing, cymbal clashing, candle lighting, conch shell blowing noise that is obviously sacred to the monks. They celebrate 2 pujas a day, every day.

After this, I went back to bed and slept deeply until 8am. I got up and taught Level 1 about body parts. I went down to the internet cafe for lunch and to check my emails. I’m such a regular here now I just go straight to the fridge, unlock it, take a bottle out and open it. I had an omelette today, with a very greasy spring roll.

I taught the level 3 class on my own (all about travelling), then retired to my room for reading/siesta time before going back to the orphanage at 5pm, in a big thunder storm. This is my last but one visit; my final one is on Monday. Travelling back to the Quest House tomorrow for night. Got a complicated weekend planned, but should be good IF it all works out! On the countdown to coming home then!

Day 12. ­

I was awake early this morning to sort my stuff out. I’ve got stuff in the monastery & stuff in the Quest House. So much stuff!! I taught the Level 1 class, (the only one to show up,) then walked the 30 mins down to Boudha Stupa where i chilled for an hour with a diet coke and a pizza.

I jumped in a taxi back to Thamel, then walked back to Quest after getting some photos printed out for Pema and Mingmar. I spent a good hour in my internet cafe sorting out my blog and finally getting to upload some photos . Time for a nice shower then, it’s been so hot today, then time to sort yet more stuff out. I need to be prepared for my weekend!

I’m back in Thamel now waiting for Sanju to take me to pay for what I have planned tomorrow.

 Luckily for me my credit card was all accepted, so the weekend is a go; that is as long as the taxi turns up at 5am! If it doesn’t, I don’t know what I will do!

Day 13 ­

Woke at 4am today, to heavy rain; not good as today was the day the taxi was booked for 5am to take me to the airport to catch the Everest Mountain flight; a 1 hour scenic flight around Everest that would not run in bad weather, Ended up waiting 3 hours before it took off. It was amazing to see the peak of Everest poking through the clouds.

I stayed on the same flight then to fly to Nepal’s second city Pokhara for 1 night only, just a 30 minute flight. I  was not impressed with my hotel; it did not bear any resemblance to the Holiday Inns I know!

Went for a look around and had some food. I toyed with the idea of paragliding. Was I brave enough?? Before I knew it, I was in the back of a pick up truck with 4 Chinese people heading to what felt like the top of the world! Not sure if it helped or not that my instructor was a gorgeous Matthew McConnaughty look alike! He strapped me in, talked me through it and we were airborne. Needless to say I loved it. It was so quiet apart from the noise of the wind, I can see why this is the best place in the world for paragliding. Dilon did some acrobatics all the time filming me on the GoPro then we made an elegant landing.

Day 14 ­

I had a half decent night’s sleep in the Holiday Inn, once the Nepali pop music stopped. I mooched around until 9am and then went down for breakfast……toastbutterjam (it’s how the Nepali refer to it, all one word) and an omelette with a glass of orange juice.

As I walked out of the hotel I began to realise something special, when 3 people told me the same thing within 5 minutes. “the mountains, the mountains!”.

Before I go any further I had better try to explain the geography of Pokhara to you. It is Nepal’s second city, and I was staying in the usual tourist spot of Lakeside, where Lake Fewa or Phewa nestles at the bottom of a load of green mountains. There is the usual load of cafes. Hotels, shops etc catering for tourists strung out along the lake.the whole area is great for tourists as it is a popular start off place for trekking .

Now, what I was totally oblivious of yesterday is that the Himalayas (Annapurna range) are visible right behind the green mountains…..unless they are obscured by clouds.

Today, they were visible. Wow!

I walked the two minutes to the lake, found a taxi driver, negotiated a price for an hour and said take me to see the mountains. For 900 NPR I had my own driver for an hour ( about £5). I may have paid over the odds, but did I care??

He took me back up to a viewpoint up on the Sarangkot, where I had paraglided from yesterday. The view was amazing every way you turned. What you took to be clouds suddenly turned into forbidding white evil peaks peeking out. Just unbelievable, and I know my photos will not do them justice. It was also good to get another view of the paragliders. I still find it hard to believe it was actually me up there yesterday. What a buzz. 

I got back to the Lakeside and had a lemon soda in one of the cafes to cool down. It is so hot here. No monsoon rain for 2 days! I went back to the hotel to check out, then back to a cafe to have a cheese toastie for lunch.

Taxi to the airport at 1.30 for my 2.45pm flight. The flight ended up being delayed by over an hour with no word of explanation. It was so hot in the waiting area I really thought I was going to faint. I had to go and splash myself with cold water. We eventually took off for the 30 minute flight and I was back in the hell that is Ktm traffic before I knew it. I took a taxi back to the monastery, knackered.

I realised that being knackered yesterday meant my blog was pretty poor on what was such a special day. Reading back now it all sounds quite boring, so I thought I’d just fill in a few gaps.

Forgot to say that my room was up 4 flights of stairs, (50 steps) with no lift! What is it with me and steps??

Also, I chose my paragliding firm on the basis of the cute Will I Am lookalike working inside. He obviously remembered me as he kept waving to me as I walked past 3 times today!

The paragliding firm was called Team V (5). This ultimately meant they were a team of 5 amazingly fit international hotties with all the confidence and swagger of surfie dudes. Imagine tanned, long curly hair, ripped ……shall I go on. Like I said, I had the Italian one, but to be quite honest, any one would do!

When I told Dilon I was a mother of 3 and could not die, he told me it was Ok, we were in Nepal, everyone believes in reincarnation and I would not die but simply be reborn. Comforting!

Imagine the pickup truck on the way back……paraglides on the roof, 3 paragliding hotties in the front, me 2 Chinese girls and a para hottie on the seats and 2 chinese boys and 3 hotties in the pick up bit. So glad I wasn’t sitting next to one of them, as it was really really close. I think the Chinese girl enjoyed it!

I was most worried about take off. Dilon said all I had to do was do what he said when he said it. Yeah right, like I can take things in when I’m shitting myself! It was a question of being harnessed up in front of Dilon, (real close!). Then we had to walk, then start to run. Not as easy as it sounds. (Me, run??). It’s not the most elegant thing, as you are not running in a straight line as the wind takes you. Luckily it worked well, and I was soon airborne, albeit screaming briefly!

The view was out of this world. You are higher than the birds. I can’t really describe it other than it’s exhilarating and relaxing at the same time. I loved the acrobatics he did. He gave me the choice of whether to or not and I think he was quite surprised when I told him to go for it. I love surprising people! Forget fairground rides, this is the real deal!

The landing was amazingly easy….we just touched down and walked. Cool!

Anyway, I think this weekend in Pokhara was just the change of scenery I needed. It’s got a really laid back hippy vibe to it, with loads of hippy clothes shops. Bliss.

Oh and I just realised, I just flew to spend 2 days in a place where I didn’t know another soul.