Namaste

Namaste.
With hands held in prayer position level with the chin and head slightly bowed "I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me." So far along our travels this greeting (hello, goodbye, thank you) has been wonderful to use in communication with people. I am not sure of any other language or country that uses this greeting (well perhaps India), but it's such a beautiful way to honor the greatness in others.

Well our time in Nepal has come to an end. We fly back to Bangkok, Thailand tomorrow morning and will probably head to Laos for a week before we fly back to Vancouver on Feb. 12th just in time for the opening ceremonies for the Olympics!

A couple last words on Nepal. When I mentioned in a previous post how unstable politically and economically this country is I didn't mention any specifics. Let's begin with the economics. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, and it's quite obvious walking outside the main tourist areas how poor this country really is. It's not uncommon to see young children selling cigarettes with ragged clothing and scars all over their bodies, or trash filling the streets. or the dilapidated buildings about to collapse. And to top things off the Government does not do much to help these people probably because they don't have the funding. This is where the political crash happens. Currently, the Maoists are in charge of running this country, and they are not doing a good job, and people are saying that within 12 months the Maoists are going to be overthrown. An Australian living in Pokhara informed me that the US has thousands of troops stationed here in Nepal to dampen the fallout about to happen. So like I mentioned earlier...if you want to come to Nepal do so very soon, or wait until the country is more stable politically.

The whole time we've been here, Kathmandu (and Pokhara and the rest of the country) is being severely crippled by the electricity cuts set up by the government. For only 11 hours each day people have electricity, and this typically fluctuates between 5 hours in the morning and 6 hours in the evening. How are the people to manage their stores, or cook food, or do the multiple things that electricity provides us with? I feel for these people after not having any heating for the last 3 weeks and trying to buy things in complete darkness using my headlamp. It will be hard for the country to grow economically when the electricity cuts are supposed to worsen in the coming months. It is predicted that 8 hours per day of electricity will be allocated to each town and city. Crazy!

After saying all the above I have to say that traveling in Nepal has been life changing. I would definitely visit this country again, although, I would wait until the tension in the air clears.

See you in Thailand!

Namaste.