Garden parties and sightseeing

Since I last posted, I have had lots of fun, and many Nepali experiences, but still, unfortunately not done a great deal at the clinic. I have mainly been offering medical advice for the dogs at the clinic, and cleaning more maggot wounds. Becoming a bit of a pro at pulling out maggots! Thursday was really quiet, so Laura and I went down to a little shack just down the road from the clinic, that does amazing banana lassis. On the way, we spotted a dog in a terrible state - it had horrendous mange and a huge wound across his neck, and some locals were throwing stones at it. We bought some biscuits with the plan of trying to walk him back up to the centre, but he ran off to hide in a nearby shed. Laura went back up to KAT to get some of the dog catchers and a chain, whilst I sat with the dog, trying to calm him down, and feed him some biscuits. The guys from KAT arrived before too long, and without too much difficulty managed to get a chain lead on him to walk him back up to the centre, where they cleaned up the wound.

The next day was similarly quiet at KAT, but Mo, Laura's dog was ill, and had a seizure, so I went with her to a private clinic on the other side of Kathmandu. It was amazing to see the facilities they had - Xray (something I have not yet seen here), Ultrasound, MRI, and full intensive care and hospitalization facilities. The problem is though, the clinic is in such a remote location and is prohibitively expensive for most locals, so it seems the facilities largely go to waste! We managed to get some blood tests for Mo though, and it seems the most likely diagnosis is tick borne paralysis.

The drive across town was a great insight into Nepali life - over the Bagmati river - which is the filthiest river I have seen, huge mountains of rubbish, with dogs foraging around in it. We were driving during the daily downpour - which is a quite a sight in Kathmandu. There are still hoards of motorbikes on the road, but all either covered with ponchos, or holding umbrellas up whilst riding with one hand! On the way back, we stopped at a little roadside shack, for some sekuwa, a Nepali snack. It is buff meat (water buffalo) barbecued with spices and served with rice krispies (!!) The woman was barbecuing it over a very smoky fire, so that we could barely see her, and the stall was very popular with locals, and numerous street dogs that obviously were living on the scraps! It was a bit spicy for me (which admittedly is not saying much!) but really nice.

That day was Suraj, one of the Nepali volunteers' last day. We arrived back at the centre and were told that everyone was going for wild boar at a garden centre that belongs to Suresh, one of Suraj's friends to celebrate. Laura and I didn't really have a clue what to expect, but piled onto the bikes with Radeep, Suraj and James (two bikes, 5 people, not a problem in Nepal!) We drove across town for quite a while - a not entirely comfortable journey, in the dark and the pouring rain! We arrived at said 'garden centre'...in fact a plant nursery, with a small room nearby, and a tin shelter as a toilet. First of all we were all ushered into the room, where there was a bed, a gas ring and very little else. When we realized we didn't all actually fit into the room, we went to investigate the garden centre. At first it looked like were going to be settling down in a foot wide corridor between potted plants, but then we came across a bit of a clearing in the mud. Luckily there was fairly effective tarpaulin to keep us dry from the continuing rain, and someone brought out a couple of rugs. Already quite a surreal experience, Laura and I were wondering where wild boar fitted into it all, and quite how long we would be sitting in the nursery before we could get back home to read our books! Soon though, a woman emerged from the room with the single gas ring, with plates and plates of freshly cooked prawn crackers, masala poppadoms and vegetables. Then the drinks appeared. Numerous bottles of whisky, beer and sprite. We were joined by Suresh, Ramesh, Rajesh and a few others, and they introduced us to the Nepali drinking rule of never being allowed an empty glass, and not really having any sprite with the whisky! They also taught us 'campai', meaning 'down it'!! They then brought out the most amazing plate of wild boar stew - it tasted amazing - I am trying to get the recipe for it so that I can treat you all to it in the UK! There was lots of singing to obscure English songs (in Nepal, as I also found in Africa and Malaysia, the English songs that are popular over here are things like old Boyzone songs, Baha men and various other songs that were barely given airtime in the UK!!) It was a really fun night (helped along I'm sure by the vast quantities of whisky drunk!) with conversation centering around language, (the crisps, cheesy balls caused much hilarity!) and humane ways to kill chickens.

The night came to a natural end, when none of us poor English people could stomach any more whisky! After a bit of a debate about how we were all getting home, and us refusing to get in the car with drunken Nepalis, it turned out the only 'safe' way to get home was back to Laura and James' on the bike again. So off we went. Turns out Laura was too drunk to actually hold on to the bike, so I spent the journey home, up the mountain and through the muddy, rocky tracks, holding Laura onto the bike, whilst she focused her efforts on singing Molly Malone!

We arrived back at Laura and James' and Suraj and Radeep came in to continue the party. I tried to drink water Nepali style from the kettle. Here, they have lots of shared bottles/jugs/cups/bowls of water, so you have to pour it into your mouth without touching the container, and without pouring it all down yourself. I had been practising at KAT, but seemed I had lost the art that night!

After a good night's sleep, we all headed back to KAT, to check quickly on the particularly sick dogs, and then I went back to Thamel to spend a quiet day in a café, reading my book. I put off my day of sight seeing till Sunday when I had a much clearer head!

On Sunday morning, I went for breakfast in the deaf bakery café - which I am becoming a bit of a regular at, and met a lovely German girl, Anna. She had just arrived in Kathmandu the day before, and was planning on a day's sightseeing too, so we decided to keep each other company and set off to Patan, to visit the famous Durbar square.

We got a taxi there and were immediately accosted by people wanting to be our guide for the day. We fended them off, but followed one guide's directions up to a terrace that gave us a great view over the square, which is a complex of amazing Hindu temples. There was a little stall at the top, selling the usual Nepali wares of laughing Buddha ornaments, beaded jewellery and bangles, and the not so usual copies of the Karma Sutra. They were selling them as 'family planning guides' which we found quite hilarious!

We spent the morning in the baking hot sun - for once no rain, wandering around Patan. It is a fascinating place. There are hundreds of different Hindu temples, stupas (4 big round white decorative domes, one at each corner of Patan), chowks (squares) and monuments just dotted throughout the city. Every corner you turn you come across something worth stopping at, but daily life just carries on around it all. We were followed around for about an hour by a little girl - she didn't speak to us, and wasn't asking for anything, but just followed us round the streets, chatting away to herself.

There are lots of little bazaars, and people selling street food, and we had some delicious samosas on the way. I even got to try out a bit of the Nepali that I have been learning, as, despite being one of the Lonely Planet's 'must sees' , many of the locals don't speak any English. After we decided we had just about seen all the sights, we went for lunch in a little rooftop café overlooking the main square. We then got a taxi to Swayambhu, a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Kathmandu - also known as Monkey temple, for the swarms of monkeys that live there.

Swayambhu is notorious for the thousands of pilgrim's steps leading up to the temple. Somehow though, our taxi dropped us just 85 steps from the top! It's a beautiful temple - white and gold with lots of brightly coloured flags strung all over it, and Buddha's eyes on each side of it it- I will try and put some pictures up so you can see it. Buddhists go there to spin the prayer wheels that surround the main stupa - and you have to walk in a clockwise direction around it. There were monkeys climbing all over the temple, and lots of naïve tourists nearly getting attacked as they got their cameras, and faces too close to them! We could go inside the temple, as it is Buddhist, unlike at Patan, where they are Hindu temples, and non hindus are not allowed in. There was a group of Buddhist monks all chanting and playing various drums and wind instruments - it was really interesting to watch.

After we had had a good look round the temple, we headed back to Thamel and met up with Laura, James and Marianne, and played a few games of pool and then went for Chinese (again!) We were all suffering a bit last night though, so have vowed, despite its deliciousness, not to go back to that Chinese!

I am now sat at KAT, and have FINALLY been into the operating theatre today and seen my first flank bitch spay. It's amazing how fast they do it, and all through such a tiny incision! Anyway, I am hoping that I will progress from observing in a few days - who knows, maybe I'll be putting in the odd suture by the end of next week!! We have had a bit of an outbreak of diarrhoea in some of the in house dogs - we're not entirely sure what it is, but are hoping against hope that it is not distemper, as some of the dogs are showing other signs. It could wipe out the lot of them, as they're not yet vaccinated, so fingers crossed I will have some good news on that front for you next time....