Nepal

We spent our one year Bangladesh anniversary outside of Bangladesh, oddly enough. On our list of “to-dos” while living here, was a visit to Nepal. A short 45 minute flight gets you from Dhaka to Kathmandu, but unfortunately there are few direct air carriers available. Originally, we planned to leave on the 5th, but due to flight time changes, we bumped our flight up a day so not to miss our connection to Pokhara.


The Dashain holiday fell October 1-10, so traffic was much milder than usual. We spent Tuesday night at the Samsara Hotel in Kathmandu. Nothing fancy, but we were close to the tourist area of Thamel, and since we had no plans to be in town on the 4th, we just grabbed a hotel through an airport vendor. It turned out fine, though we couldn’t find our key when we checked out. Luckily, the hotel overlooked it... and we found it upon unpacking back in Dhaka. It was tucked inside a certain 4 year old’s coin purse.

On Day 2, we hopped a small turbo prop on Yeti Air west to Pokhara, where we stayed 3 days and 2 nights at the Fish Tail Lodge on Lake Fewa. It is a really cool small resort on an island outside of town. To get to the lodge, they have small ferries that are pulled across to the mainland. Ceiba loved the ferry and even caught a small canoe ride across on another day. Chris let her go across with just the boatmaster, while he waited ashore. She was proud of herself, and he was amazed she went without him.

While in Pokhara, we mostly relaxed in our neat bungalow, soaking in the mountain air (though warmer than we anticipated), swam, enjoyed room service (as dinner started after 7PM when the mosquitoes were out) and napped. We did take a quick day trip to Devi’s Falls and shopped around the Tibetan craftsmen community. The Tibetan people are so smiley and do such beautiful jewelry work. Several of the ladies also enjoyed jostling Avocet with our driver, while Chris and I walked around with Ceiba. We also stopped at an amazing suspension bridge on the way back. The bridge spans the gorge, linking two separate mountain communities, hosting heavy foot traffic. A beautiful, clear river head watered from the Himalayas wound its way beneath.

We flew back to Kathmandu on Friday afternoon, after a lengthy delay at the airport, and enjoyed a few more days in the city at the Yak and Yeti Hotel. We shopped a bit (jewelry weakness!) and enjoyed green space with the girls. Chris picked up a cool Gurka knife, and we couldn’t leave without wool caps and a few pashmina wool scarves.

On Saturday, we ventured out for another small guided trip to Bhaktapur, the old capital, though the trip was a whirlwind tour. We were assured of an air conditioned car, only to get half way out and learn it was definitely not a/c. Plus, one of the back windows didn’t roll down, so before we even got to the destination, we were about toasted and the kids were less than chipper. A quick run through and photo snaps, and then we headed back to the hotel for a nap in the a/c. Bhaktapur is beautiful however, and Chris & I were both glad to have gotten to see a small glimpse.

Our kids never ceased to draw attention wherever we went. With everyone thinking Ceiba was Nepali and the oddity of a white baby in Nepal, we felt like the paparazzi was  behind us all the time snapping photos. Avocet drew many smiles, squeezes and words from passers by. We spoke of Ceiba’s Guatemalan heritage more times than we could count, though most still had no idea where Guatemala is. Every time we travel, people think Ceiba is from there (Hawaii, Bali, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal, etc). Chris even had to tell a few Indian ladies to go easy on the goods, when they tried to pinch Avocet’s cheeks. By the end of the trip, we were ready to be out of the limelight. 

Another flight delay on Sunday (seeing a pattern here?), and we were home Sunday night only to sit in Dhaka traffic for another hour. We were all happy to be in our own beds for the evening, but enjoyed our time in Nepal and the opportunity to see the Himalayas and Mt. Everest. Traveling in a developing country is no small task when toting two small children, but so worth the adventure and effort!

You'd drink it, right?!

Gosh, what some people will do for drunkedness!!

Mein brewmaster is at it again!
Chris continues to brew and bottle homemade beers as often as the kits arrive. He enjoys brewing and has generated quite a following at the chancery.

His latest is a maple syrup beer, now gestating in the front bedroom (since we NEVER get house guests... hint hint family and friends). Beer drinking friends are patiently awaiting its due date.

School Bento Boxes

Last year, preschoolers had snack time at school. We went through numerous ziplock bags for carrots, pbjs, goldfish, you name it. Occasionally, I would be at school during snack time and see a few cute little bento boxes being pulling from tiny backpacks. This became my mission... find these bento boxes!

I finally got around to searching for said boxes a few days before school started. Why I didn't do it a few WEEKS before school, while we were still in the States, is irrelevant (you know why... new baby memoryitis). I found a few really cute ones online, but I wasn't keen on the small fortune prices. After searching several places, I bought some on Amazon (from www.easylunchboxes.com) for about $12 for 3. One DAY after ordering online, I walked into a Korean grocery in Dhaka and found some little divided tupperware containers for even less. Of course, I bought a few extras (hoarder that I am). Now Ceiba and Chris are stylin' for lunches and snacks every day.

 It seems silly that such a little thing can bring joy to me in the mornings when packing lunches or snacks, but it really does. They are cute, easy to use and GREEN, which makes us all happy. It's actually even a little fun to find just the right snack to fill each little hole, knowing Ceiba will light up when she opens her backpack each day for snack time.

Road Work

In the summertime, most travelers in the Midwest cuss the construction workers for screwing up their vacation road trips. People sit for hours in traffic on hot summer days while IDOT/MODOT/whoeverDOT workers lean on stop/slow signs. While I'm sure there are state workers in the US who earn their paychecks out on the roadways, they'll likely never work this hard :

The work involved in asphalting the roads here is jaw dropping. Most tasks involve hours of manual labor from underpaid workers whose stomachs are rarely full and lives are shortened by the working conditions. Workers are either busting bricks with a hammer, shoveling hot asphalt onto a bicycle or old women are fanning caustic flames under 50 gallon drums of fire hot tar.

So to the government road workers back in the States, appreciate that $50 an hour. Here workers barely make $0.50 an hour, and they don't have air conditioned cabs.

Groundhog Day - Mama Style

Yesterday, sleeping in sounded delightful, but as we have 2 small children, that really wasn't realistic. Some days I can lay Avocet in bed after a morning feeding, and persuadeeeeee Ceiba to lay in bed with the portable dvd player and quiet movie for maybe an extra hour. Poor parenting, I know, but sometimes ya just gotta do it. And the night time feedings take several precious sleep hours out of most nights for me. But Chris was out town, out of the country for that matter, for work, and Ceiba had dance, so no sleeping or trying to sleep in for us.

We got up on time, even managing to Skype with grandparents for a couple minutes before having to bid them adieu in order to make class on time. On Fridays, our house help have the day off, so I loaded up the kidlets in the car and off we went to ballet class, early too, I might add.

Upon arriving at 0850 for the 0900 class, the lights were off and no one around. One would think my brain might kick in at this point, but alas it did not. So we turned on the lights... and the fan... and the a/c... and pulled out some chairs... and sat alone... and heard noises so thought someone MUST be getting things ready... and then sat some more. I wondered if I'd missed a memo about a holiday or got omitted from a phone tree for a sick teacher. I read the bulletin boards and saw the instructor's name and number... so called her to ask if I'd missed the memo.

Nope... just showed up on Friday when ballet is on Saturday. Wrong day. Nice.

I had felt so accomplished for getting out the door, kids dressed and fed, me dressed and fed, drove ourselves, didn't turn on the wrong road (like I did last week... when the driver called off on SATURDAY),  and we arrived a tad early. But instead of watching others scramble to kick off shoes and push tushies into the room 5 minutes late, we sat in the dark and waited. Ooops.

Then we missed Bollywood dance, which was scheduled on FRIDAY, because both girls were fast asleep and it was pouring rain. So today, we went BACK to ballet class, where I got to be the 5 minute late- kick off shoes- push tush parent. Don't I get 'atta girl points for yesterday? Please.