Settling in

My hands are green. My stomach is constantly full. My toilet visits have become more frequent. And I am a good 6 inches taller than everyone. Yes - I am back in Nepal finally.

Well, the snow as predicted came to the UK, and for a few moments driving past Swindon and Reading I thought I might not make it to Heathrow on time. All fears in vain, as the bus arrived 5 minutes early and I checked-in in super fast time, negotiating my over 10 kg of excess baggage down to 2 kg. The flight to Qatar was uneventful, and when we landed in Doha at midnight it was still 35 C. A bit different from the freezing UK, especially with my 2 jumpers and 2 t-shirts on.

Flying into Kathmandu is one of the most amazing sites in air travel in my most humble of opinions. You look out of the window and see the sky and the clouds. After a while, you realise what you thought were clouds actually are mountains creating a wall between China and India. As you turn onto the approach into Kathmandu, it looks as if you are descending. However, in reality the ground is coming up to you as well. The middle hills of Nepal appear out of the mist like green and blue icebergs in the sky. And then through the smog of the Kathmandu Valley, buildings start to appear and within a minute you are on the ground.

Coming back to the house, it's like I've never left. My bed and quilt are still here - these were made especially made for me as everything else was too short, not that I actually cared - and overall not much has changed since christmas. The main change is now that Saru, my friend's sister, is married and so lives in her husband's family house. This makes everything a bit quieter, and means Rachhu, another sister, is left to do most of the work around the house. I've been trying to get use to everything again, but it's taking a bit longer than usual. I'm still working on UK time, so falling asleep at 5 am Nepali time, and my stomach hasn't quite adjusted to Nepali food. Hopefully after another couple of days I'll get better.

As for my do-gooding, Buwa, my friend's dad, is still in their village after doing some work during the elections, so not much can happen until he returns. I am going to start to make some contacts around and about in the funding bodies just so we can get going when he returns.

The Nepali elections have passed off with little incident. It appears the Maoists will win, a transformation from ruthless terrorists to leaders of the country in 2 years. Not bad really when you think about it. What this will mean for Nepal is not quite known yet. Will everyone accept being ruled by people who killed, tortured, extorted money and caused over 13,000 deaths during their self-titled "People's War"? However, do they want to be ruled by the same corrupt politicians that have kept their country in the most hideous poverty for the last 15 years? It appears change is certainly in the air, and let's hope for the people of this wonderfully resilient country that it will be change for the better.

Interesting times lie ahead.

SAM