Weekly Photo Challenge: Between

June 24, 2014June 24, 2014 / wrightsolution / 7 Comments

There’s no better place in the world to fall asleep than between mom and dad. Even in Kathmandu traffic!

This post participated in the Daily Post’s Weekly Challenge: Between

Weekly Photo Challenge: Extra, Extra

June 15, 2014June 15, 2014 / wrightsolution / 7 Comments

A farmers wife heads home at the end of the day. Her cow’s red tika matching her dress. Unbelievably a seagull swooped down and arrived in my shot with perfect timing. (Seagull? In Nepal? Well, maybe not, but do you know what it is?)

A beautiful pastoral Nepalese scene. For the full story see ‘Til the Cow’s Come Home.

This post participated in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Extra, Extra

Happy!

June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

One of the most amazing memories of my time in the Philippines was the attitude of Filipinos, especially those that had little but somehow managed to be happy despite all the hardships. These two kids were having fun, playing chase in the mud and puddles in Tondo–a garbage dump city on the outskirts of Manila–shortly after a major hurricane had passed through. Somehow they had fun anyway.

The visit to Tondo was eye opening and heartbreaking. Here’s the full story.

This post participated in A Word in Your Ear’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy

Carry!

May 29, 2014May 29, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

Moving stuff around in Nepal happens on the streets right in front of your face, all day. Its not that it doesn’t happen in other places of course, but here there are less trucks and more individual sellers, all independently trying to get their goods from A to B any way they can. If you can’t afford a truck or don’t even have a bike, then you get to carry things by foot….which is how most people get things done. So, the traditional “dokos” or cone-shaped baskets are ubiquitous here. Everywhere you look they are either being sold or used, secured to the carrier with a very painful looking headstrap. I have watched tiny woman carry loads this way that look twice their size and three times their body weight. They look like ants carrying impossibly large loads.

The load-bearing cyclists are everywhere too. I did an post a while back on the Nepalese trusty bicycle, and they still grab my attention on a daily basis today.

the broom bike guy

Or there’s the head-basket method that I see in the rural areas, especially in the South. Its mostly women carrying laundry loads or small items for sale on their heads with only a mat or straw for padding, which levels their loads and helps protects their heads from the strain of the heavy, precariously-balanced weight. And they are very good at it!

h too. At Pashnupati temple, family pallbearers carry the deceased to tfuneral

Life is always on display here…and death too. At Pashnupati temple, family pallbearers carry the deceased to the funeral pyre.

..and last – but by no means least – had to include this little guy! Carrying, monkey momma style!

This post participated in A Word in Your Ear’s, A Word a Week Challenge: Carry

Weekly Photo Challenge: Twist

May 28, 2014May 29, 2014 / wrightsolution / 4 Comments

Rasta in a Dreadlock Tree!

Two twists with a twist for this post! Firstly Bob Marley in a twisty banyan tree.

And then this fish who seems to be suspiciously eyeing a new camouflage spot…

This post participated in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Twist

Hitting the Trail: On the Move

May 14, 2014May 17, 2014 / wrightsolution / Leave a comment

This week’s photo challenge inspired me to look at my favourite way of moving…along trails. And what a lot of different trails, leading to beckoning destinations just over the horizon..! Suspiciously missing here are Nepalese mountain trails. I’ve yet to do any real Himalayan trekking. Still working on that one….:

Family hike on Spetses, Greece

On the Coast to Coast in Northern England

The long haul across Lairigmor, West Highland Way, Scotland….

…a couple of sheep friends join us on the trail…

…with more of our sheep friends on the Ridgeway, Southern England

Cliffside trail, Dumaguete, Philippines

Trekking through the Himalayan hills, Namobuddha, Nepal

Desert climb, Phoenix, Arizona

And just for good measure, Southwark, an urban hike on the London end of the Thames Path. I guess I prefer it when I’m not on the move with others.

This post participated in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Move.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Spring

May 5, 2014 / wrightsolution / 6 Comments

I was having problems with this challenge as its been a long, long time since I’ve experienced (or photographed) anything that is remotely “spring” from my personal definition and memories. No daffodils, tulips, or melting snow. So I decided to pick a nostalgic route using my most favourite memories of spring: Easter in Greece when my son was little. Spring was Easter egg hunts, wild daisies on the mountainsides, fantastic flower displays in the garden and hikes before it got too hot. I miss much!

Easter egg hunt with Susie and Stephanos

Oh the Spring flowers and clear blues skies!

This post participated in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Spring

A Word a Week Photo Challenge: Watch

May 4, 2014 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

Kathmandu school kids watch a concert by an American eco-rock band….but the party really gets started when they play a few Nepalese folk songs. Then the audience gets up to dance and we are watching them…great fun! For the full story see Power of the Sun.

This post participated in A Word a Week Photography Challenge: Watch

Pet Peeves

March 31, 2014January 3, 2015 / wrightsolution / 17 Comments

Cartoon Credit: http://grooverpr.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/prca-2330-topic-of-the-week-pet-peeves/

Pet peeves are a ridiculous thing. We know that, but we continue to nurture and feed them anyway. I don’t have universal pet peeves for everywhere like bad grammar or rude language (well, maybe chewing with your mouth closed)… but mostly mine are country specific!

Nepal: I start with my absolute major peeve at this point in time: spitting. Do I ever hate it that people spit here! OMG! Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street, quietly minding my own business and before I can turn my head fast enough, there comes the sound of someone hacking deeply–all the way down from their toes– as they deliver a disgusting, ugly splat of phlegm just inches from my feet. And as I turn my head to the other side in disgust, yet another person –with horrendously perfect timing–hangs another, equally loud and disgusting. There is no escape!

Philippines: Manila is full of zebra crossings, or pedestrian crossings if you prefer. Unfortunately in Manila, I couldn’t help feeling they serve only to spruce up the city a little, make it look more modern. Decoration, if you will. They certainly serve no function. (Kathmandu at least has the good sense not to even bother wasting the paint.) In Manila, they are like death traps for expats who have the deluded notion that when you step out onto one cars will stop. I found myself drawn to them out of habit and then felt utterly frustrated when drivers would seem to speed up as I used them to cross the street.

UK: “Sorry! I’m so sorry to bother you, but this microwave you sold me doesn’t work. I’m really, really sorry to make a fuss, but would you possibly consider replacing it with a new one?!” Why do the British feel the need to apologize profusely for everything, even when something is clearly not their fault, even when they have been more than put out by someone else. When I go back to the UK and complain about something – people look at me aghast that I haven’t gone through this ritual. I’m not rude. But I am direct. “This microwave doesn’t work. I’d like it replaced please.” What’s wrong with that?

US: Last week, on a Nepalese airport transit bus from the terminal to the plane, I sat with a group of about 20 young trekkers from all over the world. The bus was crowded and uncomfortable, and as we all sat there tolerating the jolts and jostling, a young American guy told his friends in very loud detail about his adventures the previous day. Finally someone said, “Speak up a bit, John, the people at the front are complaining they can’t hear you!” It did actually shut him up for a while, and it made me realize how much he had added to the discomfort of the situation. Dear loud Americans, cliched or not, please stop. We don’t want to hear it.

So sorry dear Nepalese, Filipino, British and American friends and readers of my blog. I do usually try and focus on the positive…really I do. But just occasionally, I think I deserve a rant as much as the next person. And I’m sure its not you that spits/drives badly/over apologizes/or arrogantly takes over every conversation. Its the other guy! ;o)

This post participated in the Daily Prompt:She Drives Me Crazy!

Here are some other pet peeves:

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.