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Bangkok: A not so friendly greeting

Saturday, July 21st, 2007

Our last morning in Kathmandu was spent visiting the kids at our orphanage (didn’t take long did it – three months there and all of a sudden it’s our orphanage), and the kids at Dhaulagiri House who we continued to visit frequently while Conor was away in the United States.

The tradition in Nepal is to wish a departing visitor good luck by presenting them with a tikka; a big red dollop of gluggly rice that is stuck to your forehead. And so at each house we had our foreheads smeared red by the house managers. At Sagarmatha the kids also broke out into song for us. Quite humbling.

We arrived in Bangkok in the early evening, and headed to a backpakers hostel in the Sukhimvit area, The Suk 11, away from the traditional backpakcers haven of Khao San Road, after it received glowing recommendations on Bootnsall.com, the website that hosts this here blog.

[read on]

Kathmandu: Your Moment of Zen

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

Three months have flown by. We’ve left Nepal. We’ve said goodbye to all the kids. There were a few tears, none of which were shed by them. We will miss them tremendously, and are already considering how we can get back to the orphanage in a year or two. But ahead of us is a bit over two months of travel around Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, before returning to Australia and the real world.

But before I finish up, here’s a little tidbit that I neglected to include in my previous posts:

In NepaL I often wore a Mighty Mouse t-shirt. The first time I wore it, one of the young kids (unfortunately I can’t remember who it was) looked up at the shirt, pointed at it in excitement, and enthusiastically proclaimed; “Mickey Mouse Superman!”

Like I said, we’re gonna miss those kids!

Kathmandu: The Daily Show, Evening Edition

Monday, July 16th, 2007
Life at the orphanage is rigidly structured. It has to be when you're trying to control forty kids. Bec and I pick the youngest ones up from school at 3.30pm. Before they leave, the whole school lines up in the courtyard ... [Continue reading this entry]

Kathmandu: The Daily Show, Morning Edition

Sunday, July 15th, 2007
Bec and I have less than a week left in Nepal. Wow. They say time flies when you're having fun. And apparently, they were right. Before we leave, I thought I'd better at least try and give you an insight ... [Continue reading this entry]