The rice planting is almost finished

the green of the rice shoots is amazing...

Last nite after work the driver let me drop off my things and then took me to Thamel… the tourist, upscale part of town… I have been living in a more typical neighborhood… and to be honest I was in culture shock. Thamel has a lot of stores selling things that tourists might want, or things toursits do not want, as well. There are some very good restaurants, etc… nice but a bit overwhelming… with in 50m two guys wanted me to see them charm a cobra (no thank you), someone asked if I wanted a pipe for ganja (no thank you!); and another person asked if I wanted buy some hashish... (again, no thank you). I was just looking for tee-shirts… so I walked around for a while, found what I was looking for, and just marveled at the different Kathmandu than I had seen… and got in taxi and went home for dinner. I prefer my neighborhood, and the places my colleagues have shown me so far.

So this morning the car came early so we could attend a dedication of the Chinese –Nepali Confucius Institute (on the third floor of this building). The Chinese Ambassador came and other important people assisted in the dedication. I thought it most interesting that the Ambassador told the audience that he had instructed all personnel in the Chinese Embassy to learn Nepali… and he ended with something in Nepali, which made everyone smile. We had tea on what will be the new 3rd floor terrace overlooking the rice planting…

So we are planning our work in the village next week – either we are going to Chitlang or Bajrayogini next week… it will be great to get out into the countryside.