13/6/06 Very lazy day - went swimming at the Shaligram hotel and got burnt - woops - wearing factor 60 as well how rude!!! Went for lunch at the german bakery where they only employ deaf people, then went to Patan Durber Square to meet Osso (Friend we made last time we went) but he just tried to sell us stuff whilst all we wanted to do was chat to him. 14/6/06 mum (kate)camre back today so collectedf her from the airport on the motorbike yippee!! met bridget there as she went home today though her flight was delayed for ages because the plane was broken eek!! mum went to bed - nasty jet lag and we went to the Monkey Temple. it is a huge white mound called a stupa (buddist) with budda eyes on it. It was cool to walk about veruy colourful and lots of silly bowls of burning stuff - made it even hotter than it already was. There were loads of cool shops and we found a small art gallery and ended up buying a painting each - about 20 quid each for massive picture - good value. we met the artists and chatted for ages with them and they gave us nepali names. Claires is Nisha and mine is Jasmin. they wrote them in Nepali too which looks really cool. they then asked us to give them English names - all we could think of were David and Peter (after a ghecko we named) but they seemed really pleased with them. We climbed down the many steps leading down from the temple - really steep and saw quite a few monkeys on the way down. Apparently they come and steal toursts bags but they didn't take much notice of us phew!! From the temple we walked into Thamel and went to K-Toos for a bacon buttie yum!!! Went home and mum and dad took us to Patan Durbar Square for a roof top meal yum!! Helped mum write her pupil reports as she is rubbish at typing so she dictated and we typed - fun!! Our language lesson for today: bya - left Cedar - straight on dya - left 15/06/06 We got a minibus (local transport) to Ratna Park and went to the shopping centre on New Road with the first escalator - was rubbish and tacky. We walked up to Thamel via bead alley and saw lots of Guinea pigs and birds being carried about in tiny cages to sell - felt very sorry for them!!! We bought lots of thgings in Thamel - wooley coats and scalves (with gloves sewn onto them haha) and Claire bought amusing earmuffs ready for the freezing coldness of New Zealand. We were walking along the street when an English couple stopped us and asked me if I remembered them. Apparently i had served them in Blacks in Reading before they went travelling - how bizarre!!!!!! We went to Helena's Rooftop Restaurant - named after me obviously and then went to Rachel's cafe (a friend of Bridget and my parents) opposit the kings palace. 16/6/06 We went to the school to help with decorating. We were in charge of a group sanding down and repainting the rusty fire escape stairs. Our group of kids weren't very helpful and kept skiving and playing rubbish music. It was fun though, got covered in paint and had lunch at school. Tried for ages to get the paint off - in the end scrubbed really hard with a scourer - quite painfull - white spirit wouldn't even work. In the afternoon - whilst regrowing our skin - we got a taxi with mum out to Bangmati - a quaint little Nepali village where there were loads of sheep and goats and women washing and rice being sorted etc. There were lots of Falic stones that the locals worship sticking out of the ground at random - very odd. We went for a walk out of the village and saw lots of bamboo and pretty scenery. Got a taxi back and on the way a bus crashed into us (we were parked and it was only going at about 5 miles an hour so dont worry). it scrapped the front corner of the car and the taxi man had a big argument with thwe bus peoiple for about half an hour before he took us back. Had bacon and egg for tea yum then watched Lord of the Rings to prepair for NZ. 17/06/06 We went to Pashupatinath - the local cremation site - where we saw a childs cremation and the whole cremation ceremony for a political leaders wife. The Braman the cast of priests in Nepal, were all dressed in white, which is the colour of death in Nepal. they performed most of the ceremony along with the eldest son. First they washed her in the river, then undressed her (as you are born and die naked) thenlay her on the pyre after walking her around it 3 times (cant remeber why) then the son with a flame walked around her 3 times and set the fire going - firstly in her mouth to help her souls passage to heaven, then the Braamen helped to light the rest of the fire and ytotally covered her in wood - mainly cedar tree to mask thre burning smell. When just the ashes remain they throw them in the river (the same river that people drink and wash in yuk!!1). We then waked to Bouddha - another buddist stupa - bjut massive and you could actually walk on the huge mound. There were loads of prayer flags and shops. We had lunch on a roof top restaurant where there was a good view over the whole area. 18/06/06 I went to church with my parents whilst Claire stayed behind. The church looked very modern and church like on the inside but looked like an unfinished building from the outside - scafolding and bricks everywhere. It was an amusing service and a lot the hymns had funny typo errors. Met lots of mum and dads friends. We then went home and out to Higher Grounds cafe for lunch. Khim and his fiance were there as well so talked to them and had yummy mango smooties. Claire and dad went off to book our flights to mumbai on the motorbike. In the evening me and Claire went to the Bakery cafe for a beer hurrah and Ja Zoo - stayed out till 9.30 - really late. We told the doormen at kisc (where we go in to get to our house) that we would be back at: No bodge or Dos bodge (9 or 10 o clock). 19/6/06 We are sleeping really badly at the moment grrr Went to the Shaligram for a swim - very nice and cool but whenever we try to dive or jump in or swim a bit to vigerously our bikinis try to come off - its very embarrasing especially as a load of nepali guys were sat next to the pool. We got very hungry so went home for chocolate and crisp butties hurrah!!! We went to best tailors and ordered a top for claire and a dress for me to be made - quite excited!! We designed them and chose the material. Went to higher grounds for a smoothie, then to the gift shop down Acantakoona (also known to us as the hakuna matata street as we cant remember the name). Watched more Lord of the Rings 20/06/06 Got a minibus again today (we love em, costs about 8p!) to near Ratna park to go up Bimson Tower. Knew it would be evil before we got there as our landlord at uni was horrid and called Mr.Bimson! It cost us 300rs to go up, which isn't much but when locals go it only cost them 10rs so it's quite irritating. Plus the man was really rude too. There were well over 300 steps up a big spiral staircases and the drop was quite scary when you got too the top. Whilst we were up there they decided it would be a good idea to wash the 300 plus steps so of course on the way down I slipped (again) much to Hellys amusement! Grr stupid Bimson! Anyway the view was good. On our way to kathmandu Durbar Square we stopped at a really posh shopping mall for lunch. The clothes were still really tacky eurgh! It took us 3 attempts to get into Durbar Square up sneaky little side streets so we didn't have to pay tee hee!! The square has lots of temples and a big statue of Ganesh. We are still not sure why they worship an elephant god with 6 arms and boobs but it looks pretty cool! The sqaure is nice but not a pretty as the Durbhar Sq in Patan. We came out and tried to find Freak St (where all the hippy went in the 60's) which was 2 streets away from the sq. An hour and a half later we found it! Was a bit like a mini Thamel but is a bit rubbish now compared to the 60's. Then it started to rain so we walked back and got a minibus back home. Me n Hels made tea and then we were going to watch LOTR's again but there was a huge power cut because of the storm nooooo! We played LOTR top trumps instead and a few other games too. 21/06/06 Kate woke us really early this morn as the mountains wee visable from the roof top. We have come in a really bad season for mountain spotting so any glimse is really excting! We went to Baber mahal in the morning via Tuk Tuk which all the locals find amusing as we are far too big to really fit in them! Baber mahal was an old ministry converted into lots of little boutiques and restaurants. Got there so early non of the shops were open so we have a really early lunch of chicken kebab and spicy chips!! (would only dream of having that at 2 in the morning at home!) Had a look round the shops and then got minibus back. Hels attempted to teach me how to ride her dads push bike since I've not riden since I was 6! It hurt my bum too much soo I gave up! And I didn't fall of which made a change! We all went to Hosanas bead shop in the afternoon, which is more like somones house, but is actually a charity for widows and singles mothers. It's a jewellery factory where they try and sell as fair trade to make an income. Widows here are treated really badly as when there husband dies everythig goes to his side of the family and she is left to fend for herself. Went to the bakery cafe for tea on the way to cinema to watch x-men III. The cinema was actuall quite modern. But the Nepalis tend to talk all the way through and answer there mobile phones n stuff! There are no ads at the beginning it just goes straight in and about half way through the film suddenly stops mid sentence for an intermission! Came back and watched yet more LOTR's!!! Bye for now!!! Bear and Boot xxxxxxxxx