Nepal Day 4

Namaste... Here in Nepal saturday is a holiday.. and they start the week on sunday.. so only 1 off day per week...

We went out to the Pashupatinath temple.. so called the holiest temple in kathmandu.. Its a shiva temple and the ppl there do cremations by the bagmati river.. so we see them carrying dead bodies out n burn them.. then throw the ashes into the river.. (well, no river left, cos all black n clogged..) in belief that the ashes will flow to Delhi, a holier n better place to be..

Hopefully when it rains the river will run again.. i want clear sky..the air all full of dust n smoke, surprised that I din get some infection yet.. RAINNN.. gona try n do some rain dance on the roof tonight..hehe..

We took a 1 hour walk there.. we could take the bus, but the walk there was nice...
Its the first time i carry my tripod out.. just to get this:

We went up some hill on the way.. and some kampung road.. our tour guide do extra time, brought us there... There is this small huts that we saw, Bishal told us they are restaurants.. quite creative.. cos can sit there n watch the view..

As u can see, the sky is very foggy n cant reeli see the mountains.. It wont be the raining season till jun or july.. huhuhu.. so I probably wont get to take nice pictures of the mountains.. so sadd...

This is the bagmati river..

on the other side is where they cremate the bodies.. but I dun wana put it here la.. later they come n cari me ka..

Namaste... popi popi dont come and cari me.. but this place is very touristic 1.. so alot of ppl with camera bigger than mine, tripod longer than mine.. i malu to take out my tripod here la.. haha..

cos i have friends to take pics for me!
The compound is quite big, but non hindus cant enter the main temple.. so we just walk about..

There are some stairs to climb to the cafe and another temple...
but the cafe tak menarik 1 la.. i tot like got cakes or kuih or interesting food.. but the shops here all dark dark 1 cos save electric kot.. dats y my food fotos alot have to flash..

So thirsty.. there are ppl selling nanas at the road side.. i want to eat.. I din getto eat any roadside food yet..
panipuri.. I wantt!!
While waiting for bus back:
Rainn. pleasee rainn..

Nepal Day 3

Namaste...

Well b4 jalaning, our tourguides brought us for food..
They ordered for us.. althought its not proper for nepali to share food that has been eaten, but we tried each other's food..hhaa.
This is samosa tarkari... taste abit like karipap.. but with the sauce is excelente..


n this is paratha.. which u can see..its paratha aka roti canai.. with some potato stuffings.. lazy to upload the rest..
and this is daal bhaat... bhaat means rice.. this is cooked by sugandha's wife, erm.. still cant get her name right.. i just call her aama.. we basically have this every day.. but with different colour n different curry.. ppl here dont have meat that much. its almost always potato n vege.. good for detox i guess..hhaa


We had a short afternoon trip to Thimi, a very poor ceramics village. The bus ride..wah... maciam roller coaster.. we laughed all our way there.. every 2 minutes we get a big jump.. and I didn;t get dizzy at all!! maybe that's the cure for motion sickness..hoho...

We had to walk up the hill abit to the village.. They are mostly the Newari people, so they have their own language that I cant understand.. that our local friend couldn't understand as well. haha..

We get to see them making the potteries, drying them, moulding them.. such a long process.. but in the end, 1 pot can sell about 10 rupees..

There are few temples around there too..


As requested: the language family...

Well.. sure you are wondering y are there so many pictures today.. wakaka.. cos i found this photo editor program on the com and can resize them.. takes only 2 mins to upload a photo now.. cools..

Well here, people sleep early and wake up early.. It was good that I am very tired on the first day.. if not how la to sleep so early.. after dinner 9.30pm sleep liao.. then wake up at 7am..
and their electricity cut off at about 6pm at night 1.. so we had to walk about with torchlights.. wow.. luckily I had my EBS 3pds headlight with me..

some use candles some use battery generated lights.. but have to save.. so i just use my headlight..hehe..

our day end early, so me and annie climbed up to the roof to lepak..

nice view up there.. we're planning to make more cool pics..haha..

Since its duda's last night here, we're goin to The Hut.. which is a hut nearby for dinner..

This... is DUDA ... a holland guy that told us u can plant trees in canada for a month n earn 4000 euros..
just outside Sugandha's house,
egg yolk sunset.. wonder how it is at the mountains..

now 1 month is NOT ENUF!!.. the everest base camp needs at least 16 days.. all the volunteers here come for like 3 mths at least..some 6 months, and going to tibet, russia.. so coooll.. i'm the only 1 going back to study for finals.. grrrr...

all the famous treks like annapurna circuit etc takes 2 weeks, 9 days..etc.. but there are afew short ones that i can get nice view ..might try that..

We had a great night at the hut.. althought the lemon juice that annie ordered tasted like longkang water, and my milk tea tasted like bitter cheese, herm.. the food was not bad.. the safest choice we concluded is 'Everest' the beer that duda ordered...n we had a great laugh..

Nepal Day 2

Namaste again! Well, today I could speak more Nepali.. Tapaai: Laai kasto chha?

Started the day with Tea at 7am and Dhal Bhat for morning meal at 9am.. (vege curry n rice..n some achar.. n sup) .. well, its just like having nasi lemak for breakfast in Malaysia... I'm really into the Nepali culture already!! I forget to mention that I am staying at this town called Pepsicola.. hhaa..named under the pepsicola factory there.. Its a new town of 15 years..

We quickly went to the VSN office for internet.. which is surprisingly quite alright.. We then had 2 hours of nepali language lesson by a cute lady guru.. 'Anjila'.. afterthat.. hohooo..

She and another language teacher Bishal brought us for half a day of sight-seeing!!.. me, annie and Duda( a holland guy) at first, then we met the two singaporean volunteers at the door and they decided to join us.. coolz.. group is getting bigger..

We took a bus which I have no idea where its going cos the destination is written in nepali and the bus conductor was speaking in nepali as well.. but well, we had tour guides..

We went to the old town area. Ratnapark.. wow.. so so busy.. not at all like pepsicola..
There's the market area and this is where we could get everything..


We walked along to the Kathmandu Durbar Square, which is a world heritage site.. woww.. so many temples there. I had to check lonely planet later on to know the names but cant remember now.. We climbed up one of the temples and get a great view of the surrounding.. its so cool.. After that the house of living god etc..

There are many stalls by the road side selling snacks..

so tempted to try.. This is when i miss les.. cos she's sure to try with me..

One of the ball ball thing that i saw looks interesting.. anjila promised that we'll have that sometime..hehe..

Finally got my atm.. I'm now complete with some nepali rupees..haha..din have money b4, just pounds..haha

I had my first mo-mo afterthat at Layaku restaurant.. which is reeeeli gooddd... alex told me yesterday some mo-mo weren't that great.. but ofcourse our tour guides did their job well. Me n annie ordered a veg mo-mo and a 'c' momo to share.. She suggested the sharing part and I was delightedddd.. cos that was what I would have done any other time.. share and try all!!.. and luckily we were quite similar, she likes taking pictures, and pictures of food b4 eating them..haha..

I couldn't find any postcards around.. n the postal service is not great here.. only certain big post office is reliable.. we'll see.. My pictures are uploading quite slow.. will upload more when i get the chance.. need picassaaaa...

The bus back was quite packed n there were ppl on the roof of the bus..wana try that 1 day..haha.. but i have been in bus that are even more packed that this, so still ok..haha..

thik chha.. namaste..

Nepal Day 1

Namaste... yeah.. finally in Kathmandu..

Well.. I arrived yesterday at the Tribuvan airport.. Just as i landed, the announcement said 31 degrees in kathmandu.. wadd? i tot it would be cooler..

My plane...

Biggest relief would be to see Sugandha waiting patiently for me at the airport.. feuhhhh... but I read someone's blog the day b4 about his everyday in VSN.. reeli good.. and I am not too worried afterthat.. thats y i decided to blog more..haha..probably some1 will be reading this next time..

supposed to arrive at 1.55, but by the time i got to the arrivals its already an hour later.. Getting the visa on the spot was quite alright, and they accept pounds..hehe.. cos i din have any rupees yet and only 12 US dollars with me at that time..haha...

Sugandha mentioned there is another volunteer on the same flight as me.. Annie.. yeii.. means I have company.. while waiting for her, few strangers approach me and some speak in mandarin.. I can imagine if I am here all by myself, it would be damn scary... like when I was in morocco.. but well.. Sugandha was there.. so i was much more relaxed and chatted with them..

Hmm.. I'm not reeli good at describing..hmm.. i'll try to upload a photo of the airport.. maciam a rumah terbiar that is still under construction.. Sugandha then drove us around abit to see the town.. the i realise alot of buildings are like that.. bricks n all everywhere..

Afterthat.. went to Sugandha's house.. wow.. not bad. and I got my own room.. glad that my host family is actually Sugandha's family.. dinner and breakfast is good.. good.. good..

I have to hurry..haha..

starting my language lesson today and a tour of the city.. yeaii.. n we'll be chilling for 4 days before starting to work.. coolss...

okie.. bai bai..

namaste..

fly..

Final post with my iPhone while it's still functioning with wireless..

in 29 mins the flight gona take off liao..n in 10-12 hrs I'll be in Delhi n few hours transit to Kathmandu..

namaste


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Pre Nepal haircut

Since I'm in London, went or the vidal sassoon academy haircut for £4.50 pds..

I owiz heard bout these but din have time to try cos erm I owiz cut my own hair..hahaa..

I din have confidence that it's gona turn out nice actualy cos student cut ur hair wad..but it was actually not bad..my hair dresser was from Italy,she own her own salon there 1,they came over for the seminar n class,owhh,so not actually student student la.. they r qualified already 1..just here to learn more skills..

The cut lasted 3 hours but my hairdresser was very professional..n I enjoyed it too cos I was trying to learn as well,n now I finally understood the complexity of haircut,nowonder I can't imagine how I want my hair to be cos it involve many technique n procedure also 1..

hmm now I wonder if I could be a hairdresser..


cutting process..


tada..hmm u all probably won't see the difference kua..but it's much layered n lighter n mobile at the back..n wadever terms that they use..hehe..the tutor was very happy with her work..me n her too..generally a great experience..


afterthat...
went to japan centre yang dipromote-promotekan..
doraemon!! I rambang mata see all the cute cute stuff haha..


tapau doriyaki..






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Nepal Here I come!!

Kathmandu, Himalaya, Everest?


Hehe.. Blog owner will be in NEpal for a month starting tomoro.. if semangat she will update her blog often.. If you dont see me after 1 month, probably dijual jadi buruh kasar oredi.. please come save mee...

Excited.. with my camera n my tripod..(if din hilang on flight) gona snap snap snapp..

City Break: 1st stop Harrogate

This is gona be the longest of me being away from my Edinburgh home i think... except in first year when i go back to my Real Home in Msia..

Of course with the Scone Craze still onz, the first stop will have to be a Scones Stop..

I've alwiz wanted to go to this Betty's Cafe Tea House in York for their big fat rascal scone, said to be 'the mother of all scones', 'so far best scone she ever tried'.. so of course I HAVE to try it too.. hehe.. But erm, Betty's original branch is in Harrogate! and my tea buddy had been to York...
soo...

Since I'm going down to london, lets meet in the middle... 9.30am train from edinburgh

Trust me, this 4 picture is really what I remembered of the city of Harrogate... headed straight for the scones!

Oh, and I remembered this:

After 5 mins walk + 5 mins photo time on the way, finally I'm there!
-1.10pm

wow.. n there's a queue outside!! hmm, luckily some1 came 40 mins earlier... hehe...
by the time i reached:

nice warm seat waiting for me at the corner! Just the perfect spot to lepak long and not get noticed for sitting too long and great view of outside and the whole restaurant...

Ok.. ORDER!!! (1.20pm)

First round:
Betty's Specialty Afternoon Tea... with a pot of single estate Darjeeling Tea...
and of course the Big Fat Rascal...


Notice there is the normal scone on the left and the big fat rascal on the right.. Yeah, I would say it was one of the best scone.. number 1 criteria fulfilled: served warm.. number 2 criteria: crispy on the outside.. it was abit crumbly on the inside i would prefer not so.. but it was quite special..

After finished that, the waiter came and ask if we want any desserts... and brought us around to see the cake counter... but ermm.. that was actually our starter.. We want to have something savoury now...

We had a Traditional Breakfast Rösti (Wiki says its a swiss dish, shreaded potato fried with butter plus toppings)
also the
Leek and Spinach Tartlet.. (cos my tea buddy is vegetarian for lent.. so u know where all the bacon on the Rösti went)...

And so we chat and chat sit and sit till 7pm when its time to chao for train.. they even started lighting up candles for night and the waiter that served us b4 changed shift.. its now a lady waitress..

oh..

I forgot to mention the man playing the piano.. dint notice when he started actually, only noticed when the candle lit up.. but definitely makes the environment so warm and cosy...


Before we leave Harrogate, finally had a chance to stroll around the town.. which as expected is quite small.. and tapau some dinner for the journey back...

The train that we took, was almost empty!! who would go from harrogate to london on a tuesday night anyway..haha...

Reached Floyer at 12am.. chun chun.. wow.. a complete and satisfying Afternoon Tea

Final Fantasy XIII

I wana playyy...

n Leona's songgg!!

The little nyonya

So touching...



如果把你的眼神默背好
ru guo ba ni de yan shen muo bei hao
就可以无视寂寞的悬崖
jiu ke yi wu shi ji muo de xuan ya
我想，我不会像现在这么糟
wo xiang, wo bu hui xiang xian zai zhe me zao

如果把走过的路都 记牢
ru guo ba zou guo de lu dou ji lao
就可以面对断 线的依靠
jiu ke yi mian dui duan xian de yi kao
至 少，孤单不用如此的骄傲
zhi shao, gu dan bu yong ru ci de jiao ao

不止热雨的微笑
bu zhi re yu de wei xiao
增加跟脑海的湿掉
zeng jia gen nao hai de shi diao
抓不紧，也放不掉
zua bu jin ye fang bu diao
未 来的某个街角是否转身就找得到
wei lai de mo ge jie jiao shi fou zhuan shen jiu zhao de dao

爱是一种需要，却不一定要得到
ai shi yi zhong xu yao, que bu yi ding yao de dao
只要你觉得快乐就好
zhi yao ni jue de kuai le jiu hao
梦会温热眼角，让回忆像水草般缠绕
meng hui wen re yan jiao, rang hui yi xiang shu jao ban chen rao
却总能让人勇敢不笑
que zong neng rang ren yong gan bu xiao

爱是一种需要，聚散却没办法预料
ai shi yi zhong xu yao, ju san que mei ban fa yu liao
只能在心里 做个记号
zhi neng zai xin li zuo ge ji hao
直到 哪天遇到，还会是同样的味道
zhi dao na tian yu dao, hai hui shi tong yang de wei dao
下雨也好驱风也好 心想着就能不会难熬
xia yu ye hao qu feng ye hao xin xiang zhe jiu neng bu hui nan ao