Day 3 - 4 in Kathmandu

Well we got here OK and our bags arrived so can't be bad, though I already think we've brought all the wrong clothes. Never mind, everyone keeps telling us how cheap it is here so an excuse for a shopping expedition!

First impressions of Kathmandu: well the reports of pollution are not exaggerated. You can see the smoggy haze when flying in and there are no real mountain views here, except in the early morning when the air is a bit clearer. You don't really notice it when you're breathing, though eyes do geta bit scratchy so not sure how often I'll wear my contacts here but we'll see, maybe I'll acclimatise?

It's busy and noisy too, with cars and motorbikes everywhere and horns honking all the time - worse than Italy! - and dogs barking a lot particularly at night. The really annoying thing is that the dogs seem to sleep all day.

On the positives, the people are as friendly and welcoming as we were led to believe, the guest house is nice and we amazingly have an ensuite room and hot water so far, and the food here has been pretty good and is cheap to. Just as well, as we have calculated that our living allowance works out at around £4 each a day but as we got lunch yesterday for about £1.50 for the two of us and dinner is only slightly more than that we should be fine. It only gets expensive if you start drinking beer too often - £1.50 a bottle - so I'll have to keep G under lock and key!

Yesterday we had our first in country training session which was really just a bit of security stuff and a tour of the VSO office building followed by a party with the current volunteers. It was really interesting hearing about their experiences. Most were very positive though one guy who is working in the Ministry of Education is packing it in early and going home as he found it impossible working in the Ministry. He found them really uninterested and it was clear that VSO wanted to work with them more than they wanted to work with VSO. This is obviously a bit worrying for Gordon who will be working in the Ministry for Women, Children and Social Welfare but he thinks he can shake them up a bit - if anyone can, Gordon can!

I had a good chat with Melinda, the girl I'm replacing in the charity for Untouchables, or Dalits as they are now known. It apparently is a very good organisation and there is another volunteer, Marinela, starting with them at the same time as me so it will be nice to have the support there. But it does all feel a bit daunting when you don't really have any idea what's expected of you. It's all rather more real than it felt before we left Edinburgh! Never mind, it will probably all fall into place eventually.

After that a few of us went on to a jazz bar near our guest house. I have found that everyone sits on the floor here and after falling down stairs at G's parents and still having a tender backside this is not ideal for me. I spend most of the time fidgeting about and changing position! And as I said it is quite difficult to stay under our £4 a day budget in that sort of place so I don't think we'll be going there regularly. But we do feel like tourists just now so we might as well enjoy it for a while!

Today we're going on a treasure hunt with some of the current volunteers as a way to help us orient ourselves in Kathmandu and see where the good shops, bars and restaurants are - I shall have to find how the rest of them can afford it on the allowance!

So, interesting so far.All the people that we've met, place where we're staying and food are great, but I think we both are feeling a bit more nervous now we've realised all the things we just don't know and are going to have to assimilate in the next couple of months. But I'm not complaining. After all we wanted adventure and lots of others have done it so how hard can it be!

We plan to explore Kathmandu fairly thoroughly over the next few weeks so we shall take lots of photos to show you. We'll upload a few today but we haven't been out in the city itself much yet so - don't expect anything too glamorous. We will try and update this weekly as before. The one issue we have had so far is not being able to get e mail and internet through our mobile connection.We are having to go to a cafeto upload this and do e mail so we will not be quite a obtainable as we were round Europe, at least until we get our own place and an internet connection there.

Day 4 - Update from G

Well the treasure hunt was fun and a great way to get orientated and we had some beers and food afterwards with the other new volunteers and the guys who organised the day, which was even better. M and me decided to go in separate groups so we both got to see different bits of the city.

We've already managed to pick up a few useful Nepali phrases and I suspect will be fluent in the language soon !!!...the first is of course the essential"dweet beer" (two beers), "tourist nooheena" (I'm not a tourist) and "cheedeena" (I don't need). The last two are particularly useful for fending off the tiger balm salesmen, beggars and rickshaw drivers who are numerous around the more touristy bit of town.

I've also managed to fit in a couple of early morning runs (which also helps in getting to know the place). There are less people around at 7 in the morning and you can get off the beat'n'track a bit more, if you head out of the city instead of into the centre. At that time it's all Nepali's going about their business, so nobody really pays any attention to you (unless you're singing along to the i-pod but hey that happens in the UK too !).

The weather's been great since we got here, warm (not too hot) and sunny. A big change from a couple of weeks ago we're told, when it was freezing cold and everyone was going to bed fully clothed to keep warm. This is good as there's a "load shedding" (power cut) rota for the city so no electricity for about 4 - 5 hours a day. Thamel was 5 until 9 pm last night. The local people just seem to get on with it so it's not as if the place shuts down. Main irritation for me was that it meant we couldn't watch the Man U match in the bar we were in and had to make do with beer by candlelight!

Alarmed to hear about M's plan to keep me under lock and key, while she shops for a new wardrobe... so we've agreed to discuss priorities over a quiet beer this evening.

Anyway must sign off, as we start "school" on Monday, with the first of many language and culture training classes. We have to get the bus across the city to get to the place too - so anything could happen !