Wednesday March 11
Commercials
I’m sure it’s just me that’s blazé when it comes to advertisement but I have a feeling that the ads on billboards and TV down here are a tad on the naïve side. I mean it’s been a while since car and MC commercials back home were fronted by slogans like “Admiration Guaranteed!”, “Always In The Limelight,” “For Real Men,” “Are You Man Enough,” by a deep resonating baritone voiceover, while the hero is surrounded by beautiful young women… Or this amazing TV commercial for an all terrain car: “When you’re on your deathbed, what will you remember? The corner office? The corporate jet? Your portfolio?” *pan camera across gorgeous landscape, ending up at a 4wd on a cliff* “TATA SAFARI DICOR!”
Shampoo commercials are a tad less sex fixated, but they always make sure to throw in the word “Guaranteed” several times for good measure, without really letting on exactly WHAT is being guaranteed.
Religion
On Tuesday the Nepali hindus celebrated a different kind of religious holiday called Holi. I’m not entirely sure what the religious significance of the rituals are, but they consist of everything shutting down, then everyone who can walk, crawl or roll go out onto the streets to throw water and smear paint on each other. I would’ve taken pictures, but I didn’t dare to bring a camera out into the mayhem… Biking down the street to the shop (which was futile, seeing as everything was closed) literally EVERYONE I saw, young or old, men and women, were covered in bright colors, and dripping wet!
Health
I’m guessing it’s not the most interesting thing to read about, but whenever my health is not as it should be, it is strongly on my mind, so I don’t give a crap. Or rather I do so way too often. For the fourth or fifth time in the past eight weeks I am suffering from diarrhea. This time around it’s a bit different, it started with a strong fever on Monday, and the diarrhea set in that evening. On Tuesday the fever settled down, but my neck got sore and stiff. This morning I went to the private clinic at Patan hospital with a stool sample and a description of my symptoms. It might be a recurring viral or bacterial infection, or it might be a chronic amoebic infection. I’ll get the answer from the lab tomorrow. Until then I will be taking antibiotics to help my stomach fight the infection, and rehydration powder to stop from getting dehydrated. The rehydration solution is basically sugar, salts and electrolytes that you dissolve in clean water, and that tastes like sweetened brackish water. No matter what it is, it will be a relief to find out, and get some professional assistance in killing it.
Politics
I had tickets to go to Royal Chitwan National Park on Monday, and come back today. I have not been to Chitwan, and it is not because of my health. Late last week there was a Bandha (demonstration/blockade) in the Terai region near the national park, and two people got killed. When this kind of thing happens, there are no systems in place to care for their families unless they are declared martyrs by the government. Now the local communities are blocking all the roads in and out of the area, and say that they won’t open them again until the government agrees to declare them martyrs. It seems quite safe to assume they will be declared such but it might take some time. There is a small chance I might be able to go on Monday March 16 instead, but that will be my last opportunity, as I leave Nepal on Thursday 19. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to go bathe elephants and spot rhinos and crocs and bengal tigers! *fingers crossed*
Environment
Elephants in Chitwan can bathe in the river, but the river here in Kathmandu is dry. I mentioned that the water situation is getting worse, and it’s escalating quickly. Kathmandu is now a city where only the rich have clean drinking water. Even the “clean” water needs to be uv-filtered to be drinkable, a single unfiltered drop swallowed can make you sick. However, the trucks that deliver water are now so over worked, and clean water has to be transported so far, that there’s a three week wait to get clean water delivered, and the clean water has become so expensive that a normal Nepali working family can not easily afford it. You can still get dirty water at a lower price, but that’s so dirty you have to boil it to use it for washing. Kathmandu is a city of about a million inhabitants, and not enough clean water to keep sanitary standards to a necessary minimum. We all try to save water, but even I realize that flush toilets which use about 10 litres of water in a single flush are probably the biggest waste of clean water ever. When I shower, which I now have cut down to a couple of times a week, I stand in a little plastic tub, to gather up the water, so I can re-use that water to flush the toilet later. Still, I use over a thousand litres of water a week, and more when I have stomach trouble and need to flush more often. Right now I am out of water again, which means I have to climb into the cistern again, to scoop up some of the water that the pump doesn’t get to… Some technical genious ought to come up with a system that can effectively flush a toilet with a lot less water! (The squat toilets that are typical for Asia use less water, but they hardly ever flush clean, which is why they so often smell.)
Work
My time working here in Kathmandu is almost over, and although I’ve enjoyed it, I would have to think hard about staying here on a more permanent basis. I think I need a place with less filthy air, and definately closer to the sea! I am really looking forward to moving on, and to travelling Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia with Annikken. Only about a week to go, and I am counting days!