Bed , Blog and Beyond

We are exhausted.   I mean that in the carbon monoxide sense of the word. We traveled today with the Room to Read organization to visit their libraries. ( See the photo of the road with the dust and exhaust hanging over it.) The children at the school were happy to have visitors. We took a few photos and crawled back to Kathmandu in the most sickening of traffic. As Rebecca said afterwards "I would rather have seen the movie." Rebecca sat in the back of the van and got airborne a few times.

Room to Read is doing remarkable things with their local language publishing and scholarships. We traveled with a few other people who were working in development in Nepal. We got to view some of the great efforts people are making to improve literarcy in Nepal. The paper today said the population of Nepal is about 27 million with a 53 per cent literarcy rate.

We have mastered crossing the street in Kathmandu. We hold hands, count the cars, wave our arms, yell ready and go quickly. Rebecca likened it to a live action game of Frogger. And we do get to the next level alive. Everything that moves in this city can hurt you. Even the bicycles are an obstacle for the pedestrians. We saw a motorcycle leave the road and ride on the sidewalk today. People jumping out of its way and the motorcycle kept on going.

We are tired and giddy tonight. Tomorrow we may start our trek. Pemba is hoping we can hitch hike a ride on a helicopter up to Namche so we will wait for a few days to see if that is available. If not we will have to go by airplane like everyone else. Can't wait for the fresh air of the mountains. Here are some more of Rebecca's photos. My camera has not been recognized by the computer. I am waiting for the expert help of Tenzing's brother to help me with my camera in Namche.

So we head back to our room now and pack our bags for trekking. Pemba will call tonight and let us know if we will leave tomorrow. If we have to spend another day here we may just sit in the hotel garden and rest.