time for rice planting...

Right now, all around the monastery are the activity high out on the fields, its time to plant the rice.,,

 ...here are the plants, just waiting to come down into the water....

... mostly women work on the fields, barefoot in the water...

 The plateau plantations are  now filled with water after all the  heavy rain, so perfect time for planting ..

I am so amazed, that i walk around here, and live here, and can see all this beauty right outside my door!!! 

Outside my widow...

Early this morning was full activity outside my window. The Monsoon started for real! WOW, our whole front yard is overflowing! And it´s threatening to enter the building.

 Everybody are up, looking at the mess the rain is creating... But I´m lucky, I can stand in my room and take my photos...

 The smallest ones are most fascinated of all the frogs that starts to pop up... hmmm... I don´t want frogs in my room. I have a huge gape under my door, and this is 50 -60 cm from it... And I remember from Thailand when that happened..

 It´s a dirty work, but some has to do it...

 and all do, without complainings. It´s very near that the water flow over...

The guys were working hard, fast and energetic. After a while they were able to concur the water masses...

 Look at the sky... wow... I guess we will have a couple of month of this now...hm... This is only the beginning...

 ...everybody were soaking wet, from top to toe... (I don´t even wanna think about what this can do with the health and fever that started here)

 Dancing in the rain :) when the water was beaten ( for now anyway) everybody started to play and have fun instead :)

And right now....... activity stopped, the rain lost a bit of its intense & power... and outside my room is silence... But the water made huge holes in the ground... that must be taken care of, otherwise we will have real problems.

Boudha, the area I use to live in when I´m in Kathmandu...

After a bumpy, scary, hectically ride on a scooter from Pharping (I´ll never do that again!) and some shopping in Thamel I arrived to my hotel in Kathmandu.

I surely can recommend this Hotel if you are nearby. It´s near The Boudhanath Stupa, but it is so quiet here comparing to the rest of Kathmandu. Hotel Norbu Sangpo.

  You find lots of fruit & vegetables, this is the backstreet...

.... between my hotel and the Stupa.

 For dinner I went to an neighborhood restaurant, and it was not even a "hole-in-the-wall- restaurant",  I felt I was in a private families backyard  There was their scooter, only 1 tables for guest (like a garden table set), and one ordinary dining table for them, an a TV they were watching :) Behind that curtain is the kitchen.

And for the first and only time since I arrived I had meat, or to be exact, chicken. But it was probably one of the best chicken I ever tasted. Yum!

 Other vice, this is typical street views from the main street in Boudha... Colors...

 Cows, they are all over, usually in the middle of the streets, or among the garbage...

The trucks and buses are so nice decorated! I love them!!

And not to forget  the sleeping dogs! They are everywhere, sleeping! They don´t care about, people, cars or noise.  This dog for example, didn't move a bit even when this lady started to ring in the bell!

Another thing about the streets are that they are in so bad shape. This is normal as you see on the pic above, and much worse. When you go between the areas in Kathmandu,this is how it looks like. It is so bad roads  with large holes and pits, one time I thought the taxi were gonna turn upside down! Not to mention the dust, sometimes you can not see more that a couple of meters ahead of you. As well as bumpy, after a ride it feels like the body been through  a combat. And this is the capital city :)
Everybody tells me, now when the monsoon is starting... It will be big problems!  Yeah yeah, we will see...

Thamel - a shopping area in Kathmandu

This weekend I went in to Kathmandu, and I visit some different areas, one of them is Thamel, known as the tourist area. And that's true, it´s a huge commerce here.But last time I was here I found a great book shop " "Himalayan book House", that I really liked. And they have so much more than books. And good prices comparing to others.
Anyway, here come some pictures from this area.

 If you go of, from the shopping streets, you can find so many beautiful wives... It´s breathing old tradition and culture...

 A woman doing here laundry, in a surrounding of beautiful old houses, sculptures etc....

 Intensive shopping streets.... There is a lot of mobile "fruit stores"from bicycles...

 a mix of tourists, shooters, rickshaws, and tourist shops are all over. All are selling the same thing more or less if you ask me.

It was a heavy rain for about 30 minutes, then the sun showed up again. the monsoon just started...

Among a lot of things I found a beautiful head of Buddha in wood. its big, more or less 45-50 cm high. And I love it!!! This kind of things I could fill a whole container with to take back home to Spain :)

After my my shopping round I went  straight to Bhouda. Were I was going to stay the night.

more or less 24 hours until I leave...

Barely 24 hours before I´ll leave my apartment to go to the airport! And I can say that I have not packed a single thing, yet. But my suitcase is lined up and just waiting to be packed. It should be quite concealing clothing,  no short shorts or tank tops only, it does not work on the monastery. I must cover legs, shoulders etc.. And to think of using jeans when its 30 degrees or more fells not that tempting...

Now I'll go out and get the last things on my "to do list", as well as arrange with extra keys to my apartment, buy all the medicine I was recommended to take with me. I also got the  advised to bring a kettle, its good to boil the water before drinking it.


Well well well, we'll see what happens, but I'm sure that if about 24 hours, I will be both hugely tagged and tired, so is ideal when to make a long flight of 22 hours.

Next blog will be written in Nepal guess hihihihi ....

Searching & finding information...

Now it¨s like 2 weeks left before my take of to Nepal! Woohoo

And I´m trying to get info about all necessary  preparations  I must do before I go.

this is what I found out:

Weather:
Mar – May = good weather, tourist season, but not as busy as Fall.
Jun – Sep = rainy, and July & Aug. Monsoon. Not the best time to come. 

Okay, this is when I do go! So, no pasanada! Then I´w be there during the monsoon, so what :) Anyway, Now I know and It will be good.

Thribuvan Airport – Visas, Customs, and Transportation

The visa and customs are easy to get through, but you need to be a little prepared. Visas to Nepal are issued upon arrival; here is what you will need:
1) A pen to fill out the forms (there are none available in the airport).
2) Two passport size photos (bring plenty of spares as you will need these for trekking permit, visa extensions, and any other official document in Nepal.)
3) US dollars or convertible currency (15 days is $25; 90 days is $100).
4) Address and contact of where you will be staying.

Ok, then I have to get some photos, pen, and I need to get my address, cos that I still don´t have. 

Ant the people from the monastery will come and pick me up. So this is nothing to worry about, but good to know.

And then comes the toilette issue :) which is rather fun! When I told my flatmate about this she said:
 - Oh my god, that could make a "normal person" not to go!

Sorry, this is a lot of text, but rather funny (or scary if you want)

Toilet – This is the obvious next topic. Some Westerners will understandably never be able to break the toilet paper habit and totally go native, but here’s what to expect and what to do. 

In Nepal, when there is an actual toilet, it is usually a “squat” toilet, which if you think about it, is great because you avoid the issue of the dirty seat that no one wants to sit on anyway. So learn to love the squat toilet, it is your friend in Nepal. Beside the toilet, there is a bucket of water with a little pitcher hanging off the side. You are meant to fill the pitcher with water, pour it over your backside and wash yourself with your LEFT hand (never the right hand, that is the eating hand). Then you are supposed to wash your hands too. Remember to hold your hands over the toilet, and NOT the bucket. Most places will have a sink or tap with soap, somewhere nearby, so use that too to wash your hands – you can’t be too careful. If you want to use toilet paper, you need to bring it yourself and be prepared to dispose of it yourself if you are in a rural village. You can carry a plastic bag for trash, and then dispose of it at an appropriate location; ask if there is a place to burn trash. Remember, a lot of the rural villages have no plumbing or septic system, so where are you going to through all this paper? And NEVER throw feminine hygiene products in the toilets, just make yourself a durable trash bag, and get rid of the contents later. Trash is a big problem in Nepal, so if you can get used to the local way of using the toilet, then try, but if not, then just take care of your own trash. My recommendation is carry some anti-bacterial soap, and use if for this purpose. Keep your hands and nails really clean and you will not have a problem and you will actually be cleaner than the other way. Sorry, if this grosses anyone out, it is a reality that I felt I had to address. 



If you are on the bus or micro, you hold up your pinky finger and let the driver see to tell him you need to stop to urinate. On these stops, usually several people get off the bus and go. The men go right next to the road and don’t try to hide anything. The women try to go behind some bushes or what they can. This is normal. The sign for “long toilet” (defecation) is your thumb, but I have never seen anyone hold this up on the bus! But think twice about giving someone the “thumbs up” sign if they ask you if you are okay, or if you liked something. Sometimes your guides will say, “Do you need to do long toilet or short toilet?” Short toilet means urination. They are not embarrassed to talk about or ask about this. It’s just normal. So, you have been forewarned about the basic needs…

all of this info I found an this link:  Before I Came to Nepal, I Wish I Would Have Known..., Do's and Don'ts -- Scams & Jams to Avoid in Nepal its a westerner woman that wrote all info and so much more that I added here, and today she is married and lives in Nepal.  I just must say Thanks to her, cos this was so valuable for me!!

jajaja... now I have to keep on planing, fixing and prepare for this journey! 

Does it scare me of? No way!  I can do it, I will do it and Im looking forward to it :)