Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life

March 29, 2014 / wrightsolution / 16 Comments

March 2014. Bhaktapur, Nepal

The street is cleared at the end of the day, as an old lady picks up the pots that have spent the day drying in the sun alongside parked cars and motorbikes. Here the pottery is still spun by hand on a stone wheel and baked in fire kilns.

This post participated in the Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life.

Here are some other takes:

Making Hanging Baskets

March 26, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

After living in a high rise apartment for almost three years, we were thrilled to get a house with a garden here in Kathmandu. The weather is warming up and the time has come to get outside and enjoy a little gardening. Our wire hanging baskets floated uselessly around the Manila apartment, but here they were ready for Spring! There’s no gardening centre here, so we needed to find all the components independently: chains for hanging, compost, seedlings and something to line the baskets. For the last part we decided to use jute, the hair from the outside of coconuts which a local store sold by the kilo. A lot of basket liners in places like Home Depot sell liners made from jute, but they are already pressed and pre-shaped. I would have to start from scratch.

A sack of jute, or coconut hair.

Five wire baskets ready to start

First step is to make thick, birds nest-like bases for the baskets by shaping the jute into thick layers

Then the nest are filled in with compost and the side plants are laid down along the edges. We used miniature pansies and allysium so they would make wonderful trailing bases for the baskets.

Next continue building up a wall of jute and fill the basket to the top with dirt. Plant. Looking good!

Our TDY cat, “Pickles” (or temporary feline visitor for non-FS types)….giving us a hand

The finished basket. Now to watch them grow…..

The Bhatbhateni Experience

March 24, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

Figuring out how to feed yourself is, of course, a basic first step when you arrive anywhere. As I’ve been blogging regularly from Nepal, I’m surprised I haven’t told a story yet about Bhatbhateni, our local supermarket. After a while in a new place, food shopping becomes a way of life and the story disappears into daily routine, as there isn’t so much to say. However, six months into our life here, I found myself shopping one lunch time at another supermarket, Saleways. I started marveling at how clean and organized it was. Remarkable even. Everything was neatly stacked, the shelves were clean. I could find what I was looking for. Then I realised that it wasn’t remarkable, it was normal. At least normal elsewhere, and my usual Bhatbhateni experience had lowered my standard of expectation to such a point that chaotic had become the new norm.

That’s not to say that I’m not grateful for Bhatbhanteni’s offerings. Its almost the only place in the city where you can shop department store-style (sort of). You can practically get anything you need from olive oil to shoe polish, without having to hunt it down in the small stores locally.

But, boy, is that place a mess. Here’s a little photo story of what its like to push a cart around the store:

This is probably one of the neatest sections in the store. The aluminum ware is all stacked and sparkly. Only one third of the floor is covered with stuff. It gets worse….

….and here’s an example of how bad. Not sure who thought it was a good idea to dump stuff and completely block the plastics aisle, but I was glad I wasn’t pushing a cart.

And from bad to worse. This is actually a cross section between two aisles, but is it so blocked with stuff that it looks like a dead end.

As for the shelves themselves….I say “just chuck it in!”

If you use the floor along every aisle (on both sides) as a storage area, the bottom shelf gets completely blocked. Then someone will come along and start pulling out everything in front because they cant’t get to the stuff on the bottom shelf. And guess what….the aisle gets blocked even more!

To really top off the confusion, you must maximize the number of people aimlessly wandering around the blocked aisles by hiding stuff in weird places. Shaving brushes and razors? Next to the orange juice. Eggs…? Why they are under the coffee! At least this week.

Come on Bhatbhateni. If Saleways can do it, so can you.

Lingering in the Garden of Dreams

March 17, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 28 Comments

This very pretty bench is the perfect place to take some time to enjoy the sunshine, read a book, or just linger for a few minutes and take in the view. There’s nowhere else like it in Kathmandu.

Literally, nowhere. Kathmandu streets are dusty, noisy and difficult to navigate. Motorbikes don’t pay much attention to sidewalks. And pedestrians have a very loose idea of where they’re supposed to walk. So both mingle in a continual stream of near disaster and, if you’re not vigilant, you may well be standing in the wrong place when disaster happens. And if you’re not looking down, you can trip, or twist your ankle or tread in something nasty. There are no benches, public parks or quiet spots, only gaps in the chaos where people dump their garbage. It ain’t pretty. Not surprisingly–especially as a foreigner–there is nowhere to stop and take a breath.

Except the charming Garden of Dreams, a paid park close to Kathmandu’s tourist district of Thamel, and a little haven of quiet and solitude amid all the chaos. Getting out of Kathmandu to the beauty of Nepal is not always possible, but here at least you can escape for a little while.

Hanging out on the grassy amphitheater at the Garden on Dreams. Here in the dusty dry season, its not so green. But is pretty, calm, and no one bothers you.

The park grounds are from the former Kaiser palace and still retain their feeling of Neo-Classical splendor.

This post participated in the Daily Post’s prompt, Linger

Special places for others:

Happy Holi: Run!

March 16, 2014March 16, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

You better run if you don’t want to get hit! Today in Nepal it is Holi, a colourful local festival that celebrates joy and happiness. On this day, men, women and children throw colored paint, vermilion power and plain old water on each other and (hopefully) unsuspecting passersby. It gets pretty messy!

After dousing his sister in purple paint powder, this little devil is about to super soak her too!

Above every street or around any corner is someone with a paint bomb, ready to take you out!

This little guy was hidden on a roof, waiting for his next victim. Little did he know I was watching him!

This little red-faced guy was hidden on a roof, waiting for his next victim. Little did he know I was watching him!

Holi is a religious festival with its own set of legends celebrating Krishna, but I prefer its social message: putting color on each other symbolizes amity, friendship and mutual trust….although I’m not quite sure how ambushing someone with an unexpected shower of coloured water quite installs trust! But its fun and the kids love it.

It was very hard to take photos surreptitiously. The second they saw a camera I would have been a major target! However I did manage to sneek a few through the window. Here are some very colourful people returning home from the festivities:

Waiting for a lift?

For some very colourful people, they are looking very sombre. Maybe they lost the pink powder fight?

A Word a Week Photograph Challenge

Sign Language: A Sign of Corruption

March 11, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

When we first arrived in Nepal, we noticed this sign. Its in front of quite an impressive new building, close to our neighbourhood. It caught my eye as the concept of a Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority, seemed quite startling. Its no secret, however, that this country has a record of corruption and the existence of this type of commission is a good thing. I would stare at the sign every time we drove past it, wishing I knew more about what the commission does and how it effective it is. It was intriguing to me, but I never felt able to blog about it as the corruption subject is huge and I don’t feel qualified to comment.

However, the State Department recently posted it 2013 Human Rights Report for Nepal on State.gov, and I learnt a little about what goes on there. Here’s an excerpt from the report:

Corruption: After five years without commissioners, the interim government named a chief commissioner and one associate commissioner to head the NEPAL 18 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA), which is mandated to investigate official acts of corruption. Under new leadership, the CIAA took high-profile actions against the Nepal Energy Authority, the Department of Immigration, and the Department of Foreign Employment. In August and September, the CIAA arrested 18 officials from the Department of Immigration, 15 from the Department of Foreign Employment, and nine from the Tribhuvan International Airport Labor Desk for sending 77 Nepali migrants to Qatar with fraudulent or improper documentation – a human trafficking-related offense. The most senior official arrested was the director general of the Department of Foreign Employment. All the officials were in detention pending trial. There were numerous reports of corrupt actions by government officials, political parties, and party-affiliated organizations. The UCPN(M) and CPN-M, in particular, reportedly demanded money from schools, businesses, workers, private citizens, and NGOs. There were less frequent reports that student and labor groups associated with other political parties also demanded contributions from schools and businesses. Corruption and impunity remained general problems within the Nepal Police.

From the State Dept NEPAL 2013 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT

Nepalese Frames

February 27, 2014 / wrightsolution / 1 Comment

Temple bell in Dhulikel

Restored gilded door near Patan Dhurbar Square

A glimpse through the 17th century wooden arches into the main courtyard at Patan Royal Palace

Nepalese millers making flour in Bhaktapur

Word a Week Photo challenge – Frames

Bicycle Balancing Act

February 25, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 16 Comments

25 years ago, I used to ride a bike as my only form of transportation along the coastline in the suburbs near Athens. I cycled along the paralia into town daily. One morning, laden down with groceries, dog food and dry cleaning, my bike literally snapped under the weight of the load, crumbling to the road and taking it me down with it. I wasn’t hurt, but my bike lay on the ground contorted, with its neck snapped — fatally wounded with the handlebars still in my hands but joined to the bike’s main frame only by the brake line. I looked like a freak show. With my shopping scattered everywhere, I had to leave the tangled mess abandoned on the curbside to frantically find a phone and call home for someone to come and scoop me up. Turns out my faithful bike was a bit of a wimp.

Here in Kathmandu, I remember that experience sometimes when I see workhorse bicycles passing by, laden with extraordinary heaving loads. These aren’t wimpy, modern bikes. But antiqued, sturdy, bone-rattling warriors of the road…which may, or may not, have brakes. They almost always don’t have gears. But what they lack in suspension, they make up for in brute strength.

Sometimes they are so overladen they can only be slowly pushed by their owners, who precariously try to balance their load without being run over by traffic or toppled by the many potholes. Or sometimes they’re driven by vendors bringing produce from a farm outside the city on a bicycle-towed cart, or some other creative incarnation of a bicycle that has been cleverly adapted for its owners cargo: the straw broom guy, the furniture sellers or the amazing construction assistants with 50lb bags of cement slung over their handlebars. I’m awed at what I see ferried around by bike.

And sometimes I am just horrified. I see people carrying plates of glass or mirrors, untethered small children, or horrible breakable, dangerous things that would end in disaster if someone mis-timed or mis-stepped in Kathmandu traffic. And yet — at least for now — I’ve yet to see that happen. These guys do this everyday, and are very good at it, and their amazing, trojan bicycles keep them in business.

This post is was part of the Weekly Writing Challenge, Object ,at dailypost.wordpress.com.

And the whole reason we went….

February 19, 2014February 19, 2014 / wrightsolution / 3 Comments

Trains, rickshaws, temples and Mithila art were all experiences grabbed at the beginning or end of each day, but the real reason I was in Janakpur was work-related. The Embassy does a roadshow each year, visiting a different part of the country each time to engage with schools, share books with the kids, and share American culture and movies with them. Its a busy couple of weeks for everyone involved. I was just there for a few days at the end of the trip.

The best part of the experience was meeting the kids, and answering their many questions about America and American life. Here are a few scenes from the week:

Early on…before the crowds descend

Books for the kids to view. They are later donated to schools, but they’re available for kids to look over as many of them don’t have access to libraries or there are very limited books in the schools.

Two boys engrossed…sharing a book and a chair

Mass Read-a-thon

Sharing eco-friendly cooking techniques with the kids. Many eco-friendly cookers were old-school techniques – like cooking with dung. Some of these were still alive and well in Janakpur already….

The kids loved the book bus with its mobile library, solar panels on the room and mobile theater

One of the best scenes for me was seeing kids engrossed in books. It made a pleasant change from all eyes on an ipad.

I talked myself hoarse answering all the questions. I’d answer three, then look up and I’d have 20 kids circling around me.

Movie time

Meeting Janakpur’s Mithila Artists

February 18, 2014February 17, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

I loved the Mithila artwork I saw in Kathmandu, long before I knew anything about it or where it came from. Mithila paintings and painted objects, such as mirrors, trays and cups, have a distinctive primitive style that is colorful and appealing. You can find their handiwork in most “Fair Trade” shops in Kathmandu for a very reasonable price, and before I had the chance to go down and see the artists at work, I had collected quite a few pieces that I loved, as well as sending them as gifts for friends and family.

So when I learnt we were going to Janakpur, I hoped that I would get a chance to see some of the art being produced. I’m not sure what I expected but it wasn’t to see the art incorporated into everyday life such as government buildings and schools. Even the otherwise, very shabby airport building had a wonderful collection of Mithila paintings. It was surprising and delightful to me that the tradition still held strong without tourism spurring it on.

So when I had the chance to visit the Janakpur Women’s Development Center, I was very excited to see what their operation and watch the artists at work.

The Center is located in an attractive wall compound about 15 minutes outside of Janakpur town. Screenprinting, art and pottery studios surround the internal courtyard and the ladies showed me around all the activities going on. The walls and pillars are decorated in a traditional local style that reminded me of South Western native american Adobe. It was a very peaceful place.

Mithili art at the nearby Janaki temple

The Center provides a great opportunity to keep the Mithili art tradition alive, as well as providing an independent income to rural women in the area. Its open to the public by prior appointment for tours and they have a small sales room were you can buy their works. Totally worth a visit if you are in the area.