COLOURS OF AUSTRALIA | home
May 2008
Early evening, the view from our work room.
I love this time of the year in Nepal. It's a little wetter
than usual, there are some early rains, but it freshens up after warm days
and it is a nice balance between warm and cool.
I'm very busy this trip, as we have many projects to
get finished but there's always time for a party!
Celebrations for Santos and his lovely wife Bhrikuti,
who got married a short time ago.
We had a roof top party in their honour.
relaxing time for staff
gorgeous girls, lots of giggling.
This young boy , 12 years old, was
beautifully dressed in traditional garb and
he was one of the 'brave' ones to talk to me!
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I wanted to find some nice papers for gift wrappping
and we visited one of the largest papermaking businesses
in town. I learned papermaking in the Phillipines in the
early 90's and it was a pleasure to re-aquaint myself
with the process.
scooping the vat with the paperpulp.
drying the sheets...
The local fibre used for the paper, Lokta, has
special qualities. It is extremely strong and the
paper can be re-wetted without it falling apart.
These ladies are making crinkled paper,
dipping the paper in water and rolling it up
into a little sausage. After drying the'sausage'
is undone and the paper has a lovely crinkled
effect. The paper can be finished with dyeing,
printing, batik, handpainting or a combination of these.
My rainbow stash!
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Saturday is the day-off day here
and it provided me with some time to go to town.
Kathmandu is a rabbit warren of little streets
and I love observing the local colour.
I left Nepal the day before the historic event
of the King being de-throned and the Republic
welcomed in. Kathmandu was a madhouse,
with a large demonstration happening on
the way to the airport. It will be interesting to
see if the Maoists can live up to the big
promises they made to get elected into government.
Nepal needs strong and honest leadership,
it needs good roads and it needs government
help to develop small businesses, as the benefits will
flow into the wider community. It is a beautiful country
with many possibilities, and we can only hope
a better future is on the horizon.