Last legs... Thailand

Just to let y'all know I'm safe in Bangkok for a short detour/rest break and flying back to Oz tomorrow. No sight of flooding here though it was raining last night. I'm on top floor in my hotel (Le Meridien and it has been very nice, albeit an empty experience ;-) ...)

(For your collection Katja - I thought you'd like the bathtub with open door)

And there was a poem on the wall too - translation on a bookmark -

Upon my heart I feel her touch

How it lingers on my mind

Glittering trees teasing with the wind

Sweet air, blows soft, how love begins

Luckily, 'she' did not wake me up by biting my foot... ;-)

Yesterday the work bit of my luggage (banner) was left behind in London (FINALLY - I didn't do it!!) Those who travelled with me know this has been a DREAM of mine to loose that damn banner, but at the beginning of a trip, not on flight 22 out of 24!!! But as a saying goes - don't look a gift horse in the mouth...

And today on my To Do list:

1. Post Office to send a Turkish gift for my parents and unload 5 kgs from my 31kg suitcase... More of the sale-cats of Istanbul later (when I write the Turkey section)

2. Barbie doll shop (I have 3 with me already and they were my abaya buddies but I need a SPECIAL one)...

3. A visit to the flesh eating fish (when they're hungry too!)

4. Massage or 3...

5. Ginger tea (well now that my luggage will be 5 kgs lighter...)

I had a very philosophical discussion about 'To Do Lists' in Istanbul under the influence of shisha, Turkish chai (tea not raki!) and cats and decided to do these lists again and see if I can control them rather than grow them exponentially like before...

Cat City - what life is all about!

In order here:

1. ICM - Istanbul Cat Mafia - you don't pay, your building burns down... (bottom right window)
2. Head Custodian of Aya Sophia (in his office)

3. Security at Blue Mosque (was NOT sleeping under the bushes!)

4. Manager and Trainee hard at work at a Shisha Cafe

5. Ginger Tom graciously accepting one of the sacrifice piles at a restaurant (and he still bothers the customers for better stuff, if he feels like it)

Garden of Dreams, Kathmandu

I took lots of photos here so another photo heavy post. The garden and buildings, because of the recent rain, remained me of the 'magic realism' South American books I read a while ago, like Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Then there were the lush flowers and trees....

Then it rained again and I found a little god altar...

This picture to the left, which was taken from the car - hence the rainy window. Look closely at the hairdresser shop at the back, see the blue ad for the hairdresser? That's Avril Lavigne right in the centre - now you know where she gets her haircuts! ;-)

And finally, on the way home, I saw another magic realism view. The best about it was I wasn't expecting it at all. As we departed rainy Kathmandu and flew above the clouds, about 10 minutes into the flight suddenly the tops of the Himalayas emerged from the clouds. Magical! I couldn't take a photo and this was one time my camera wouldn't have done the job, but I found these on the internet... That's exactly how the view from the window looked like for a few minutes. Enjoy :-)

Kathmandu

I've been ill with a bad flu and had to recover a bit, hence my updates are again delayed. Sorry.

OK Kathmandu update...

It rained in Kathmandu almost the entire time I was there. There was one 1/2 sunny afternoon when I got there and luckily I ventured out as soon as I got there and visited some Buddhist Stupas that afternoon - so there are some photos.

These are photos of a little square in Kathmandu streets where there are two monasteries: the first photo shows the monk one, more square. Second photos is of the domed nun Buddhist monastery. The last of above photos shows the actual Stupa and invariably has the eyes painted on them. Buddha's eyes, sometimes described as all knowing, sometimes as uncaring. I really like that everything here contains its two opposites.

I brought myself a painting here (well I was talked into buying it 'to support poor students', but now I'm glad I got it) it portrays the Monster of Permeability (it's a traditional Wheel of Life painting but the monster is my favourite part) - the monster reminds me that nothing stays the same...

Otherwise, there is still a lot of Hinduism here. Lots of different traditions actually, mixed up and co-existing together peacefully.

I'm not sure which religion the photo on the left depicts...

The day I was leaving a major Hindu festival was starting - Dashain. I've seen it before mentioned before in Kolkata, India - celebrating Durga the girl who killed the demons. I didn't see much of it as I was leaving, but everything got decorated in orange flowers.

And finally some rainy Kathmandu photos. First one in the touristy Thamel area of Kathmandu and the second of a more usual street - where no matter how much it rains, life and buying and selling food, goes on. I had many such trips through 'normal' areas

while visiting agents for work. Seems my taxi driver was taking shortcuts through Kathmandu all the time.

Notice too all the mud?

So what was I to do on such a rainy day when work is over and I'm all shopped out?

I had a massage, two in fact. I'm not much of a fan of non therapeutic (= painful) massages. But the one I got here was amazing! For the first time I had a massage that actually energised me! The moves were really energetic and almost like pulling or pinching sometimes, I felt really good after it and ordered another one. If anyone ever stays in this amazing hotel, make sure you go for a Nawari style massage.

After that I also splurged out on a 6 course traditional Nepali dinner in a traditional Nepalese restaurant - "Krishnapan". The entire dinner is a ritual, the menu individually printed which is kept as a souvenir. Mine is the bottom 1/3 of the first photo, with a view of the restaurant (it filled up later).

Pity I didn't have a companion to enjoy it with me. Instead I focused on a wood carving, which represented flowers but very soon started to look

like a face.

And here are the first three courses:

Some fried beans, crunchy rice flakes and other 'stuff' on the first photo. Notice too at the back beyond the spoon a little plate with some food on it? That's the offering to the Gods. :-)
Then came local mushrooms (yes I couldn't resist!), some spinach and local bread.

And then tree momos - meat dumplings with peanut sauce.

Then came the vegetable soup (spinach mostly I think) and the main

course: rice with (anticlockwise) the usual dal (lentils), eggplant (aubergine) curry, vegetable and peanut curry, fried potato and chicken curry and in the middle is fried green beans. My favourite was eggplant curry. On the side were also pickled plums (dark) and a spicy pickle (orange-red) in a beautiful dish made of a leaf.

And finally came the dessert - spiced yogurt with fruit. The yogurt had loads of cinnamon and some other spices. They had it at breakfast too. I overdosed on it! Loved it!!

At the end came a little gift - a clay tile with 2 fish for me (all tiles were different) - very appropriate to the Pisces. :-)

On the last day in Kathmandu, went to a restored garden called The Garden of Dreams. Very beautiful and romantic place. For now I'll post this panorama shot I took (with my mobile phone!) and will post some more pictures later. For now I have to get dressed in my abaya and depart for Saudi Arabia!