Dear Iceland...it seems that you have misread our demands for cash or....how I got stuck in Nepal and learnt not to worry.
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Posted by Moray Bayliss, on 04 Sep 2010 10:28   

Cheryl Cole, who is scheduled to fly in the afternoon, receives a call from the airport

"I am sorry to tell you Ms Cole but you cannot fly today because of ash"

"Why? What has he done this time?!" she says.

It had been a great trip. We had done some useful work in Tang Ting and I had opened the village festival and given out the prizes for the tug of war, bamboo carrying race ( you had to be there !) and volleyball competitions.There were some new developments in the village and all of the houses now had water taps,there was even a ‘phone line and some computers in the school-progress.We trekked back to Pokhara in the steaming heat and had a day’s r and r before heading back to the choking  pollution, crazy traffic, stray dogs and cows and congestion of Kathmandu all ready for our flight back to the UK.


We managed to check e-mails (not easy when you have approx 4 hours electricity a day and an internet connection that works slower than dial up ) to find that all of European airspace was closed. Our hearts sunk.When would we get home,who would look after the animals, how would our son get back to University, what was going to happen at work ( one of our friends was a freelancer and was losing contracts and money) What would happen when my medication ran out etc . We hung around for several days, but couldn’t get through to the airline either in Nepal or in the UK to rebook,( ‘your call is important to us’ ) and how long were we going to be away for, some reports mentioned days, others weeks, we tried not to look at the ones that suggested months. The airline office had no information and hardly any staff ( it turned out that 10 staff had just walked out) just a perfunctory ‘no flight’ when we queue jumped and asked what had happened to the London flight.

We soon realised that we were in for the long haul ( not the flight you will understand) and headed back to Pokhara until the ash cloud cleared and we could get some reliable information. We were fine money wise but a road trip was cheaper than a flight so we took the bone jarring main road,a 200km 7 hour journey in a jeep ( suspension and tyre tread optional) where we amused ourselves reading the signs on the trucks. “ Road of the King “ “ No time for love”  and on a school sign “ Gurkha school for probable boys” or in a wayside food halt “ Lemon sugar craps” ( pancakes we think). We counted twelve trucks and buses which were examples of what we were told was ‘bad parking’, at the bottom of the ravine or in the ditch, burnt out or being parasitised for spare parts, often by small boys whose nimble fingers can remove a car part in minutes.

30km from our destination we had a spectacular tropical storm with torrential rain and hailstones the size of gob stoppers but finally made it to our destination ( the rain caused a landslide behind us which closed the road overnight) and were glad to rest up for a few days.We met a rather sheepish Englishman who was an insurance broker in the travel business and very kindly informed us that we would not be covered by our travel insurance.

When the ash cloud cleared we tried to rebook our tickets home through an agent who kept saying ‘come back tomorrow’, unfortunately when tomorrow came there was a Maoist strike and  march past ( I sneaked into a cafe and had to be locked in for ¾ hr until everything calmed down)  and everything closed down for 24 hours, so we lost another day in the process of getting home.

Finally the tickets came and we were confirmed on a flight home ..relief, although we had a long wait to get home... oh and there was a Maoist rally and all out strike planned for our departure date in Kathmandu.

The repeat journey 6 days later was better, as we went for a car with suspension and 4 fully treaded tyres and our driver was chosen for his ability not to overtake on blind corners,nor to speed up on bends in the road.However on entering Kathmandu the traffic slowed to a snails pace as we encountered busloads of Maoists, mainly young men with shaved heads waving red flags and shouting rather a lot.They drove up and down and marched ( and rather bizarrely picked up litter in idle moments, a useful job as Kathmandu has no proper rubbish disposal system) but fortunately there was  no violence.

We crawled into the city and stayed in a guest house by a Buddhist monastery ( we needed some good karma) and fortunately managed to get to the airport for our flight the next day, although the day after we left the only way to get there was on foot as no taxis were operating for fear of reprisals.

So plenty to worry about, but our friends in Nepal were their usual charming,reassuring and kind selves,  friends and neighbours rallied round to help,our work places were sympathetic to our absences and an extra two weeks in a poor country with the nicest people you will ever meet was well spent.

We returned, relieved and pleased to be home but realising that a week here or there was no big deal, and despite a few hardships and uncertainties we had emerged unscathed and  that there are many good people here and in Nepal who will help out in a crisis.    



Moray Bayliss

Dear Iceland...it seems that you have misread our demands for cash or....how I got stuck in Nepal and learnt not to worry.

Cheryl Cole, who is scheduled to fly in the afternoon, receives a call from the airport

"I am sorry to tell you Ms Cole but you cannot fly today because of ash"

"Why? What has he done this time?!" she says.

It had been a great trip. We had done some useful work in Tang Ting and I had opened the village festival and given out the prizes for the tug of war, bamboo carrying race ( you had to be there !) and volleyball competitions.There were some new developments in the village and all of the houses now had water taps,there was even a ‘phone line and some computers in the school-progress.We trekked back to Pokhara in the steaming heat and had a day’s r and r before heading back to the choking  pollution, crazy traffic, stray dogs and cows and congestion of Kathmandu all ready for our flight back to the UK .

We managed to check e-mails (not easy when you have approx 4 hours electricity a day and an internet connection that works slower than dial up ) to find that all of European airspace was closed. Our hearts sunk.When would we get home,who would look after the animals, how would our son get back to University, what was going to happen at work ( one of our friends was a freelancer and was losing contracts and money) What would happen when my medication ran out etc . We hung around for several days, but couldn’t get through to the airline either in Nepal or in the UK to rebook,( ‘your call is important to us’ ) and how long were we going to be away for, some reports mentioned days, others weeks, we tried not to look at the ones that suggested months. The airline office had no information and hardly any staff ( it turned out that 10 staff had just walked out) just a perfunctory ‘no flight’ when we queue jumped and asked what had happened to the London flight.

We soon realised that we were in for the long haul ( not the flight you will understand) and headed back to Pokhara until the ash cloud cleared and we could get some reliable information. We were fine money wise but a road trip was cheaper than a flight so we took the bone jarring main road,a 200km 7 hour journey in a jeep ( suspension and tyre tread optional) where we amused ourselves reading the signs on the trucks. “ Road of the King “ “ No time for love”  and on a school sign “ Gurkha school for probable boys” or in a wayside food halt “ Lemon sugar craps” ( pancakes we think). We counted twelve trucks and buses which were examples of what we were told was ‘bad parking’, at the bottom of the ravine or in the ditch, burnt out or being parasitised for spare parts, often by small boys whose nimble fingers can remove a car part in minutes.

30km from our destination we had a spectacular tropical storm with torrential rain and hailstones the size of gob stoppers but finally made it to our destination ( the rain caused a landslide behind us which closed the road overnight) and were glad to rest up for a few days.We met a rather sheepish Englishman who was an insurance broker in the travel business and very kindly informed us that we would not be covered by our travel insurance .

When the ash cloud cleared we tried to rebook our tickets home through an agent who kept saying ‘come back tomorrow’, unfortunately when tomorrow came there was a Maoist strike and  march past ( I sneaked into a cafe and had to be locked in for ¾ hr until everything calmed down)  and everything closed down for 24 hours, so we lost another day in the process of getting home.

Finally the tickets came and we were confirmed on a flight home ..relief, although we had a long wait to get home... oh and there was a Maoist rally and all out strike planned for our departure date in Kathmandu.

The repeat journey 6 days later was better, as we went for a car with suspension and 4 fully treaded tyres and our driver was chosen for his ability not to overtake on blind corners,nor to speed up on bends in the road.However on entering Kathmandu the traffic slowed to a snails pace as we encountered busloads of Maoists, mainly young men with shaved heads waving red flags and shouting rather a lot.They drove up and down and marched ( and rather bizarrely picked up litter in idle moments, a useful job as Kathmandu has no proper rubbish disposal system) but fortunately there was  no violence

We crawled into the city and stayed in a guest house by a Buddhist monastery ( we needed some good karma) and fortunately managed to get to the airport for our flight the next day, although the day after we left the only way to get there was on foot as no taxis were operating for fear of reprisals.

So plenty to worry about, but our friends in Nepal were their usual charming,reassuring and kind selves,  friends and neighbours rallied round to help,our work places were sympathetic to our absences and an extra two weeks in a poor country with the nicest people you will ever meet was well spent.

We returned, relieved and pleased to be home but realising that a week here or there was no big deal, and despite a few hardships and uncertainties we had emerged unscathed and  that there are many good people here and in Nepal who will help out in a crisis.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moray Bayliss