On the Road Again
We are finally leaving for our new home in Tansen, Nepal. It is a 9 hour journey by bus that should prove to be an interesting experience. We will get to see lots of the countryside and experience the true rural Nepal. We also will finally get to unpack our suitcases. It has been about 7 weeks that we have been living out of suitcases now (including our training and last couple weeks in Canada).
As we leave Kathmandu we want to give you our initial impressions of this BIG city (written by Robert, with input by Kristy).
There are horns honking continually - initially I thought it was quite annoying, but upon further observation I realized it was just a warning system to alert those around that they were coming through. It is not the angry annoyed honking of NA drivers.
Shop keepers – There are store fronts as frequent as every 4- 6 feet. They are Individual stores specializing in a specific product, or a general 7-11 type of shop (but in a small store front). To do our shopping we have to go to many stores to find what we need, and then we have to bargain and ask “Best Price?”. It helps to have learned some Nepali in Language classes for our dealings with the shopkeepers, as we have the privilege of getting the “Nepali Price vs. the Tourist Price” because we have taken the effort to learn some Nepali (or so they say). It was especially useful to learn the Nepal terms for expensive “mahungo” and cheap “sasto”. We have even started to think of things in terms of Nepali Rupees (NPR) instead of how much things cost in Canadian Dollars CND.
There are some Department stores here as well. Each store has several levels, with the groceries on the main level. When you walk into a store you have to leave your bags with the guard, who will give you a bag tag. Then on each level that you go to you either pay on that level, or you leave your items with the floor clerk for them to bring down to the main checkout. You mostly can’t carry around your items; the clerks take them from your hands for you.
Everyone seems to have a motor bike of the 100-125 cc variety but gas stations are sparse (although the 150, 180, 250 cc varieties are also seen). I have seen one gas station so far in our neighborhood. A motorbike is used to carry 3-4 people in a family. We have seen children perched on the handles or sandwiched between two parents. It is only the law for the driver to wear a helmet.
There are many different types of vehicles on the road: Cars - Suzuki/Maroti (manufactured in India) 3 cylinder variety; Buses - carrying school children; 3wheeled - contraptions called Tempos (mass transit- up to 10 11 people); Vans- VW size (up to 20 passengers); individual bikes; tractor-like contraptions for heavy delivery (rototiller/tractor front end and truck box rear end). They are all fighting for space on the road (they drive on the left side here – like the UK) and the road lines seem to used as general guidelines.
Pharmacies seem to be found every block or two. They are usually associated with a hospital or health clinic, as you would in NA. There are no big box stores though.
There is garbage everywhere, but there are also trash collectors cleaning up the street at the end of the day. Some of the garbage collection is done by a tricycle collection vehicle.
There have been 2-3 protests on the streets since we have been here. It seems that if people want to be heard they need to take to the streets. The police shut down some of the streets in preparation for one of the protest walks, which is good because the students were throwing bricks, damaging property, and burning vehicles.
We have started to see UN vehicles around town. They are coming to help with the peace process and to help the Maoists to become a legitimate political party (by getting rid of their guns and stopping abducting/enrolling school children)
Children go to school starting at age 3. They wear uniforms and have lots of homework every night. The parents are concerned if their children do not have homework and do tests. It has started to be illegal for schools to give tests to the young children, but it is not enforced because the schools have to keep the parents happy. If a parent really wants something they can always bribe the principal – they can even convince the principal to let their child pass onto the next grade (whether the student can read or not).
Theodore is happy that there are dogs on every street. He often stops and points out each one. We have been told that people get their guard dogs by picking up one of the puppies off the street (there seem to be puppies and nursing mothers everywhere) I have also seen cows, a bull, sheep, chickens, goats, chickens, ducks and water buffaloes.
---
So now we are off to Tansen. We will have more stories and pictures for you then. Right now there are some pictures of our home here in KAT (click the pictures link on the side of the blog)
Blessings to you!
As we leave Kathmandu we want to give you our initial impressions of this BIG city (written by Robert, with input by Kristy).
There are horns honking continually - initially I thought it was quite annoying, but upon further observation I realized it was just a warning system to alert those around that they were coming through. It is not the angry annoyed honking of NA drivers.
Shop keepers – There are store fronts as frequent as every 4- 6 feet. They are Individual stores specializing in a specific product, or a general 7-11 type of shop (but in a small store front). To do our shopping we have to go to many stores to find what we need, and then we have to bargain and ask “Best Price?”. It helps to have learned some Nepali in Language classes for our dealings with the shopkeepers, as we have the privilege of getting the “Nepali Price vs. the Tourist Price” because we have taken the effort to learn some Nepali (or so they say). It was especially useful to learn the Nepal terms for expensive “mahungo” and cheap “sasto”. We have even started to think of things in terms of Nepali Rupees (NPR) instead of how much things cost in Canadian Dollars CND.
There are some Department stores here as well. Each store has several levels, with the groceries on the main level. When you walk into a store you have to leave your bags with the guard, who will give you a bag tag. Then on each level that you go to you either pay on that level, or you leave your items with the floor clerk for them to bring down to the main checkout. You mostly can’t carry around your items; the clerks take them from your hands for you.
Everyone seems to have a motor bike of the 100-125 cc variety but gas stations are sparse (although the 150, 180, 250 cc varieties are also seen). I have seen one gas station so far in our neighborhood. A motorbike is used to carry 3-4 people in a family. We have seen children perched on the handles or sandwiched between two parents. It is only the law for the driver to wear a helmet.
There are many different types of vehicles on the road: Cars - Suzuki/Maroti (manufactured in India) 3 cylinder variety; Buses - carrying school children; 3wheeled - contraptions called Tempos (mass transit- up to 10 11 people); Vans- VW size (up to 20 passengers); individual bikes; tractor-like contraptions for heavy delivery (rototiller/tractor front end and truck box rear end). They are all fighting for space on the road (they drive on the left side here – like the UK) and the road lines seem to used as general guidelines.
Pharmacies seem to be found every block or two. They are usually associated with a hospital or health clinic, as you would in NA. There are no big box stores though.
There is garbage everywhere, but there are also trash collectors cleaning up the street at the end of the day. Some of the garbage collection is done by a tricycle collection vehicle.
There have been 2-3 protests on the streets since we have been here. It seems that if people want to be heard they need to take to the streets. The police shut down some of the streets in preparation for one of the protest walks, which is good because the students were throwing bricks, damaging property, and burning vehicles.
We have started to see UN vehicles around town. They are coming to help with the peace process and to help the Maoists to become a legitimate political party (by getting rid of their guns and stopping abducting/enrolling school children)
Children go to school starting at age 3. They wear uniforms and have lots of homework every night. The parents are concerned if their children do not have homework and do tests. It has started to be illegal for schools to give tests to the young children, but it is not enforced because the schools have to keep the parents happy. If a parent really wants something they can always bribe the principal – they can even convince the principal to let their child pass onto the next grade (whether the student can read or not).
Theodore is happy that there are dogs on every street. He often stops and points out each one. We have been told that people get their guard dogs by picking up one of the puppies off the street (there seem to be puppies and nursing mothers everywhere) I have also seen cows, a bull, sheep, chickens, goats, chickens, ducks and water buffaloes.
---
So now we are off to Tansen. We will have more stories and pictures for you then. Right now there are some pictures of our home here in KAT (click the pictures link on the side of the blog)
Blessings to you!
posted by The Riegels at 9:11 PM
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