Nepal 34, Christmas

Returning to Kathmandhu with Durga was like travelling with the God Father, only I can’t quite see him killing a horse.
Durga calls me to explain our flight is delayed, there was nothing on the website, he has insider information. He knows the owner of the Airline! That’s not how he knew though. When we do get there, a Nephew books us in smiling broadly. When we are about to board and are on the tarmac we step out of the queue to have our pictures taken with said Nephew and aircraft. Everyone is looking at us!
In fact its been like this all along Durga has family connections everywhere! I’ve also discovered he has hidden talents, he can play the guitar and sing! On one of our trips he found a guitar in a restaurant and fixed a string and tuned it too!

I was not looking forward to the bustle of Kathmandu. I think I may be going native though because it didn’t bother me that much at all once I did arrive.

Christmas Eve, I booked myself into a four star hotel. I just wanted to be a bit insulated from the city and pampered a bit. I wasn’t sure if I would feel homesick. Up to that point I’d just been envying you at home with your Christmas Dinners!

The hotel put on their own version of a Christmas Dinner. Whoop whoop! It was close enough and not curry so, I booked a table. It all looked rather beautiful and even more so when I looked at the scene from my room…..and there above it all…….was my Christmas present, a climbing wall towering over it (I’ll visit that soon).

I was slightly disconcerted by the two young Asian Santas as I entered the dining room giving out sweets, Hey ho! Or should I say “Ho Ho Ho!” Actually in Nepali that means “It is, It is, It is”!
Durga was staying with relatives, getting ready to return to England and I thought I could hole up in my hotel and have a duvet day with room service if I wanted.

Christmas day, wasn’t a duvet day, Durga and I went to look at a plant nursery that specialises in fruit and nut plants. It was very interesting, even more so when I think of our sterile nuseries and garden centers. This guy was making his own compost from leaf matter and local soil, adjusting the PH by adding rotted pine needles, you can’t get more organic than that. He had such a huge range of plants all bundled into a small suburban yard. He had been talking to Durga for years but, hadn’t met him before, he was genuinely happy to meet him finally.
Now to earn my keep for when I come back! I said to Durga afterwards he could buy a few of the fruit trees he wanted and I could propagate a quantity by grafting, (I’m sure its like riding a bike but, its been 40 years) then show others how to do it too. I think he was impressed…….not sure! I might have to practice first!
After lunch we said our goodbyes, he’s off back to England for his last year before retirement. He’s achieved all he set out to do for this trip.

I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to my family over the internet and listening to BBC Sounds Christmas stories, a world away from Kathmandu!