This last weekend was a really exciting weekend for me photography wise. On Saturday night I took part in Scott Kelby’s third annual photowalk. The event is an international one. The basic premise is that groups of photographers come together in various locations (33,483 people took part in 1111 locations) and spend a couple of hours walking around that area looking for photographic opportunities. It was a great experience, and the first time I’ve gone out taking photos with people who are as passionate about photography as I am! I’ve been thinking about trying out Street photography in Scotland for a while now, Saturday was my first taste of it in Scotland, and I loved it. Below are some of the pictures I took that night.

If you are interested, you can view my whole set here.

My other exciting news is a first for me. Just after I returned from Nepal, I noticed that STA Travel were running a competition titled ‘ Exotic cultures’. I decided to give it a shot, I then received an email on Sunday morning telling me that one of my entries had been selected as a finalist. I was, needless to say, delighted! I’m still buzzing. As of Saturday it will be part of an exhibition in London. Details can be found here. Below is the picture that was chosen.

I was definitely changed by the people I met. Everyone I met over there changed me in some way – some more than others. I’m trying to be an intentionally more joyous person. Years ago, I thought of myself as a really positive person, always looking for the best in people and in situations. Various things that happened in my life have knocked that out of me a wee bit, but I’m done with that. I want to be positive again, and I’m going to be. I can make the choice to be like that – my new friends have taught me that much! There is so much around me that is truly awesome and God-sent, I want to make an effort to see these things and to take the time to wonder at them.

Dancing, I want to keep check on the pride that as often held me back from expressing myself. I don’t want to be embarressed to dance, like I have been in the past. Dancing is such an incredible experience. At the Crossing the Bridge conference, despite all our cultural and societal differences, we were all brought together at many points during the week by the language of dance. Whether it was just shoving some music on and doing our own thing, surrounded by others doing their own thing or learning a dance from another culture. When the music played and we started dancing, all the language and cultural barriers were forgotten and we all just melted into the moment, into the atmosphere of enjoying ourselves and having fun together!

On a more serious note, my faith has been seriously challenged while I’ve been away. I’ve been guilty over the last few years of becoming quite apathetic in my faith, not really putting as much effort or focus into cultivating and feeding it as I should have. I’ve allowed myself to often become sucked into the trap of Church politics – at a local and national level. The people I met, the strength of faith I met in Nepal has really challenged me to climb out of my rut, to stop being so blasé aboutmy faith. In Nepal, I met Christians who live in countries where Christians are persecuted, I met people who live close to villages where Christian homes were burned and a family burned alive, I met people who themselves have suffered for their faith, and through all of this, I saw more passion for God than I ever have at any large Christian event in the UK – including the General Assembly, the National youth Assembly, CLAN gathering and Spring Harvest. There were none of the trappings of the institutional Church that we have here, or they were at least not as pronounced and deified as they are here!

One thing that struck me was the timing of the trip and how that challenged me. Since 2001, at this time of year, I have attended the Church of Scotland General Assembly 6 times as a Youth Rep. It has always been a great experience, meeting other young Christians, being involved in the Church of Scotland at that level, seeing how decisions are made and meeting many of the people working in the Church of Scotland. But it is also a week of religious trappings, of institutional mumbo-jumbo, of pedantics, arguing over individual words and, dare I say it, tension between Christian and Secular living. I thought I would miss not being there this year. I didn’t, not a bit. Hearing the stories I did in Nepal, encountering the people and Churches that I did helped me realised how skewed my focus has so often been in my faith and the outworking of my faith. I have put to much effort and energy into things in the Church that, ultimatly, don’t make that much of a difference, compared to the difference standing firm in your faith in the face of persecution and hatred does. It has not all been in vain, although undoubtedly some of what I have been involved in has been. It’s just been an eye opening experience. I don’t judge myself, or others, for the perspective I worked from, I worked from and with my personal experiences as I knew them. But I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to have my eys opened and my mind opened to the reality of wat Christians in parts of the world are facing. I’ve always known about the persecuted Church, about Christians who live in fear of attack because of their faith, but knowing about such things is completely different from knowing people who live with such things. I pray I never forget what they taught me about following and serving God.

I can only imagine that over the next few weeks and months, more and more thoughts will pour out of me about this trip, perhaps not always in the most sensible order! Let me thank you all in advance for your prayers, support and encouragement in working through these thoughts.

Peace Out

Anyway, we’re now at Kathmandu airport – waiting to board out first flight to Doha. The last 2 weeks have been awesome, the places we’ve seen, the people we’ve met, the things we’ve experienced! I’m quite sad to be going home – I shall miss this land and the people I’ve met here, but I’m excited to see Linda and be home!!

We don’t have long on this Wifi coupon – so this won’t be a big post, we’ll do more reflecting and writing once we’re home in the UK. Although this trip is ending, the relationships started on this trip are just beginning. I’ll certainly be keeping in touch with many of the people I’ve met on this trip – shall hopefully see them again at some point too! I’m very thankfull to CMS and the Church of Scotland for allowing me this opportunity and I look forward to sharing the stories from the trip and reflecting more upon what I’ve learned and what I’ve exprienced. i’ll be spending time over the next few days doing much writing and sorting through my photos – many of the delegates are waiting to see my photos appear on my website and on flickr!

Anyhoo, I shall pass over to the rest of the gang so that they can share their thoughts on leaving the country…..

Hey all! So last couple of days have been very busy but all good fun!! Our last day at the conference was great – during the workshops and studies I was still meeting new people which was lovely!! So the last nigth ended in a lot of dancing and not much sleep! All was fun and the last morning we had an awesome view of the mountains which was a lovely ending to our time in Pokhara! The journey back to Kathmandu was hot and pretty fast most of the way in a little bus! Until we hit traffic up the mountain road and then sat there for an hour and half!!

The last day and half ended back in Kathmandu and finished with a lovely meal with a great couple we met at the conference and a shop today!! At last i’m back to myself in the shopping world!! Hehe . . so just sat in the airport now and ready to be home!! Will hopefully post something when we’re back home reflecting on the whole journey of Nepal!! Thanks so much for all the support!!

We’re in the airport now, waiting for departure.  In the last few days I’ve gone from the massive low of being ill and being unable to eat enough to have any energy, to the enormous high of spending time with such a fantastic group of people in such amazing surroundings, and back again, several times over.

I have had some of the best experiences of my life.  We spent the last night dancing – more ceilidh dancing, some salsa, some South Indian, some Pakistani (ask Chris for a demonstration!), and then I watched the sunrise over Anna Purna and Fishtail (can’t spell its proper name, don’t have time to check).  I’ve met people who I would have loved to be able to get to know more, and who I hope to keep in touch with.  Now when Pakistan is mentioned on the news I’ll think about Daud teaching Chris to dance, and when I hear about India I’ll remember Sanjay’s laugh.  I’ve had some awful experiences as well – primarily illness related.  But overall the good times have outweighed the bad many times over.

Chris is asking if I’ll be much longer, so I’ll leave it at that.  If I type any more I may start crying anyway.  I blame tiredness entirely, by the way, nothing to do with me being a soppy big moosh!

The morning started with one of the country groups leading us in worship – I only caught the end of the session, but the song was beautiful. I don’t know what it means, but I copied the words down:

(mingalabar) x 2 Swe tha har twe myar mingalabar

(mingalabar) x 2 Arr loneku bel mingala lope the notekhon sett par tel.

I’m doing my best to find out what it means – as soon as I know, I’ll post it up here!

I was asked by Adrian to take a group photo of the whole conference today. It didn’t really work – people didn’t turn up on time and so we would take a photo and then another 10 people would turn up! We’re going to try again tomorrow – straight after one of the main sessions so that as many people as possible are in the same place at one time!

Pete and John led a workshop today about Youth Participation – it was interesting, but I don’t want to go into it until I’m back home in the UK and have processed everything – my thoughts on the conference will colour my thoughts on the result of their seminar. It was a good seminar and well run, just the responses need carefully thought about once I figure out more about the context they are coming from!

I’ve been getting on really well with the group from Pakistan – especially Daud, Sehrish, Eric, Mehboob and Raheed. That group is crazy! They love their dancing too!

The talk tonight was interesting – speaker was talking about the dualistic life many Christians seem to lead between their work life and their Christian life. He spent a lot of time and energy encouragin, beseeching us all to not live a double life, but to involve our faith in everything that we do.

He spoke about the protestant work ethic allowing the countries in the west to become rich and prosperous, but at the expense of the faith. That too many people put work before nurturing their faith, that money and riches were the goal, not God. He went on to warn the group to not allow South Asia to fall into the same trap: to make sure that God stayed central as the economies of the countries improved. He said: ‘Our life is not based on a 1 hour weekly Church service, our faith should not be either!’.

He was a very focused, passionate speaker – there were 3 power cuts during his talk and he barely broke stride!

Again tonight, I only caught a part of the worship – one of the delegates was leading the conference in prayer and many people were crying out ‘Hallelujah’ and ‘Amen’ during the prayer – was amazing to hear the passion, to share in it with them. Some folks here have talked about some young people in South Asia only going to Church because they feel it is their duty too, not because they want to worship. After my experience this week, I can’t believe that to be as big a proportion of young people as it is in the west. The passion for worship, for God that the people have shown at this conference is just astounding.  One of the things I’m learning here is that I need to take more joy from life. The young people at this conference are amongst the most joyous people I have ever met! Their faces light up in worship, in conversation, in prayer, in dance, it’s beautiful! My faith is definetley being inspired and strengthened by those that I have met this week!

Tonight was pretty awesome! It was the last of the ‘Cultural experiences’ where different groupd can bring a part of their culture to share. The things that stood out for me were the Pakistanis and the UK folks! The Pakistanis did a couple of songs, then a beautiful dance based around a courting couple. They also did some Pakistani dancing (think Punjabi dancing, very fast and big!). I was taking photos of it (as I do!) when Sehrish, one of my new friends pulled me on stage and insisted that I dance with them. That was an experience! Not being the most confident dancer, I felt very exposed on the stage with them, but figured that I”m here to learn and experience South Asian culture. I certainly wasn’t the greates dancer there (the Pakistanis are awesome dancers!) but they appreciated my efforts! The UK addition was: Joanna and I taught eveyone how to do an Orcadian Strip the Willow  – that went down a storm! Not everyone really understood what they were doing, or got the moves (I was very confused that everyone was struggling with a dance where, to my mind, you just spin you way down a line! But then, I’m very used to the dance!). Everyone who took part loved it though! Chuli also started to teach some Salsa moves – again, not everyone got it, but everyone loved it. At one point some of the people around me asked me to teach them what to do because they couldn’t see Chuli – so I ended up teaching Salsa to 15 of the delegates – not bad given I’ve never really done it before!!

All in all it’s been a really good day, I’ve had a great time, especially tonight! I’ll be taking Linda dancing when I get home – make up for all those years I’ve been to proud and embarressed!

Peace

So today was interesting!! Firstly Joanna, John and Jonny haven’t been too well and so pray for them to get better for our last day at the conference tomorrow!! And journey back to kathmandu sometime friday! Having a great time still though. We went to some of the bible studies today and one we were spoke to about the Gates in Neh! But things they said i didn’t always agree with – soem things are so old and traditional that we get stuck in that way and don’t ever seem to get out of it or better – so how can we possible help out youth to come to church to christ if our tradtions are not suiting the culture and times?? Our foundation should be based on God but with newer traditions or the old ones made to fit all! So interesting – so I just wrote lots about what i wanted answering!

Anyways we got back in our GupSup grouts and was all good chatting about our encounter visitis yesterday – great to talk to people from different nations on how they see things differently from myself!!

We then had the workshops and I went along to John and Pete’s which was really good and showed some of the people in the conference of how we can start to chance ways in our church to get more youth involved!! Was so great to see people inspired!! Although for most of the session i made a new friend – hehe – a little girl from Nepal and she was three and a half – gorgeous!! Well actually i met her on the playground – yes i was playing as a kid myself!! haha – we had a massive group photo and there was a climbing frame so i was jumping/climbing up and back rolling off – she saw me and wanted to climb with me too – so we climbed up and sat on top – was fun!! Her mum was then in the same sworkshop session and so the little girl remembered me and came over and sat with me!! We drew and played with my bag – everything in it came out and back in several times, played with my bangles – got shown how to where them properly she also stole my phone and was properly chatting away on it – hehe soooooo cute!! She drew in my book and was so much fun playing with her – i was made to make time for kids!! Was brill – highlight of my day!! Oh and dancing!!

We had the culture evening tonight and all was good – we were asked to propare something and because we have two Scots – we decided to teach a Scottish dance – we learnt it this afternoon and then i was teaching it this evening!! Haha – the skills of a coach!! Also we did a bit of Salsa with Chuili – was so much fn – i need to learn that dance – lovely!! So a brill evening – very eventful and lots of fun!!!

Anyways thats me off to bed – tired and need to be awake for our last day tomorrow in Pokhara at the conference!! Love to all xxx

Today was a little different and we went on the cultural trips – so each group went to visit different projects or cultural things within Pokhara – I went to visit two projects – one called ‘Happy Homes’ which homed children at any age that were struggling in their home lives – to get into the home they had to pass certain criteria. it is funded through different countries – the main being switzerland.

The second project we went to was a child development centre – which was called … which meant ‘Rainbow’ – So really hit home for me (those who don’t know me – (My grandma was a big fan of rainbows!) and this project set up different activities and sports once a week for the children from the area to come play, have fun and learn about God! The building was a little place but had a big area for playing outside and also a hockey pitch – steven would of loved it! (Although it was only just bigger than a badminton court!) So this project was great as very similar to my work – with the younger children they would spend more time doing activities in the project and with the older teenages they would take them out to do things such as climbing and jungle safari.

We then spent some of the afternoon visiting the second biggest lake in Nepal – in Pokhara also – was so gorgeous and the weather is sooooooo warm!! I went on a little boat trip (via big canoes) to the middle of the lake where they had a little temple and more lovely views! And the back to the conference for final sessions!

So a brill day – been thinking way too much and too deeply – so all i want to do right now is be at home! So will hopefully brighten up tomorrow and enjoy the rest of the trip! x

Todays been an interesting day. The morning worship was, as ever, inspiring and heartfelt. I picked up an Bengali phrase during it: He Probha, Amader Prarthons, Groajjho Kuro. Which means: O Lord, Hear our Prayer. At the end of the interecessory prayers, we were all asked to say the Lord’s prayer together, in our mother tongue. That was awesome! 250 people, speaking in who knows how many languages prayer out lud together, just astounding!

Today we were doing our exposure visits – I’d been hoping to visit a rural Nepalese village and a Buddhist monastary. I’d picked up that we each chose which one we would like to do, and then go from there! It turned out, we were going in our gupsup groups to 2 assigned locations. The group I was with went to an HIV Clinic and a local University campus. It could have been really interesting, but our bus driver got lost and stuck a few times, so we ended up with only 10 minutes in each location. Those 10 minutes were very informative though. At the HIV clinic, we only saw 4 rooms and 4 people – but we had no method of communicating other than our limited Nepalese and various hand signals. And those that we met were so far along with the disease that they barely had energy to talk – although they seemed buoyed by the fact that we wanted to speak to them and that we weren’t afraid to go close to them.

The university was interesting – we had a short tour of their natural history museum (lots of butterflies and stuffed birds – and an incredibly evil looking flying squirrel! The university has 16,000 students – which many of the Asians in my group thought was huge. I think it is for Nepal, but I know nothing about other South East Asian educational facilities!

After these visits, we were dropped at the tourist area at the Pokhara lakeside. Our driver dropped us late and way past the intended area, so Pete and I spent most of our time walking instead of on the lake – but it was great to have the chance to wander down the street and not be distracted by a beautiful view!

The bus journey was intense! Aside from getting lost many times, our bus was overcrowded and transformed into a boiler! Even sitting at the window I was roasting – I’ve never been so glad of a cold shower in all my life! Even those from parts of Asia where it is normally really hot are finding the weather here uncomfortably hot – I keep getting told it must be far too hot for me here!!

Found out an interesting part of Christian life here in South Asia. When someone becomes a Christian, they are given a new Christian name. I hadn’ realised this happened and have been confused a few times when people were talking about not being ashamed of their Christian name – but it all makes sense now!

Tonights talk was about the struggle for identity amongst the youth of South Asia. They pretty much face the same kind of issues that youth do in the west – breaking free of the perception of them as a child, breaking free of culture, independence, struggling to define themselves amongst their peers and elders, struggling to define who they are as a person – often relying on lists of what they do to do the defining for them etc etc. As well as they ’shared’ struggles, the issue of identity for youth here is further compounded by caste system, tribal systems, a hangover (real or percieved or both) from the colonial period and the culture shock many experience when moving from rural areas into urban life.

After all this, and dinner, there was time for some cultural sharing – people sharing music and dance from their homelands. It’s awesome to watch, to be a part of. Despite all the language barriers, once the beat gets going, everyone is up on their feet joining in! I have the fun job of being amongst the melee taking photos for SACYN to use in their newsletter or on websites or other publications! Don’t worry though, we are taking part! Tomorrow we’re taching them some Ceilidh moves! We’ll be teaching them the Gay Gordons and the Orcadian Strip the Willow! we didn’t bring any traditional scottish music – so I’ve put a requst on facebook for some to be emailed to me. Failing that, we’ll be using Deacon Blues ‘Real Gone Kid’ for the Gay Gordons and a mixture of Chris Tomlins ‘Let God arise’ and Motorheads ‘Ace of Spades’ for the Strip the Willow!

Today was a good day.  I love the smell of aftersun on hot skin.  The last of the Winter Blues have definitely burned away!

We went on Exposure visits to different groups around Pokhara today.  I visited the Child and Women Empowerment Society, which works with sex workers, migrant workers, trafficked or at risk children and people who are HIV positive.  By the sounds of it, they do a lot of good and much needed work, but they seemed rather short of money and resources.  The government does not appear to view sex workers as a priority, so the work falls to NGOs like the CWES.

After that we went to Pokhara Lakeside, which is the touristy bit by the lake (as if you couldn’t guess).  I went boating with a group of Nepalis.  It was fantastic to actually just get to know people, and being on the lake itself was incredibly beautiful and much cooler than the city.  I didn’t do any shopping – really need to start spending the money I exchanged.

This evening we again had a culture/stories session, which involves people fromn the different countries doing cultural songs and so on.  Ordinarily I’d hate that kind of thing, but the enthusiasm is infectious, and we all had so much fun.  It is especially nice to see groups from India and Pakistan singing, dancing and laughing together.  It’s what this is all about.

We left Kathmandu at 12noon today, and arrived in Pokhara, 200km away, 7 hours later!

The journey to get here is fantastic! surrounded by mountains, lakes, villages, rice fields, so many amazing sights I still can’t compute them all!

For most of the journey, I was hanging out of the window taking photos – not easy on a very windy road with traffic coming at you from all directions and the bus bumping up, down, sideways and varying in speed from 5 – 40km/h! In the past I have been accused (unfairly I think!) of living life too much through the lens – not taking enough time to savour the atmosphere of where I am (which I do constantly!) – today was the first time that I’ve been so blown away by the beauty of a place that my camera has just been hanging loosely in my hand as I gaze in wonder at wants around me!

I had a ball though – and am caked in dust and dirt as a result, totally worth it!

We had Pete’s ipod with some awesome cheesy music to keep us going too – Grease, Macarena, Thundercats…etc etc it was awesome!

The Fulbari resort is awesome! I can’t wait to see it in daylight – especially the surrounding area! Until they found a room for me to stay in, I was hanging out in Suzi and Joanna’s room, spent ages on the balcony listening to the crickets while watching the lightning, the golden crescent moon and the dancing fireflies. It was incredible!

I feel like I have tons to say about today – but I just can’t find the words to describe them! The mountains were incredible – saw some that were at least 5000m high (I think!). So far this trip has broken a few geographical barriers for me – its the highest I’ve ever been on land, the farthest East I’ve ever been and the farthest South I’ve ever been. The road today topped out around 2400 – 2500m, and the whole way there were mountains towering above us! We also got our first experience of rain in Nepal – not quite Monsoon rain, but awesome nonetheless! The drops were huge! Lovely and warm, although some of them were quite sore when they hit you square in the eye!

Today taught me something about myself and photography – for so long now I’ve been focused, in photography, with creating the technically best image that I could, always driving to get better with the equipment – which I still think is important. But some of the photos I took today are far from my technically best, but the part of me they hold, the joy I felt all the way along that road whilst taking them, means that they will rank among my favourites for a long time to come!

I did think it was a shame we had no time to stop along the road – I could spend weeks photographing the people and scenery we whizzed past today!

Looking forward to the conference starting! It’s great meeting some of the people we’ll be sharing the next few days with! Met a guy called Daoud (I think thats how you spell it). He helped me get better the other day by giving me some great advice at the Youth fellowship at Koinoia Patan Church, good to see him again and thank him!

I am so in love with this country!  The journey here was absolutely amazing, with spectacular scenery, and some monsoon rain.  And I didn’t throw up, despite reaching what I affectionately term “the 30-seconds” point – when you know you could, but it could still go either way – and the Imodium worked its intestine-stopping magic, so it was all good.

The bus was late, naturally, or rather it was on Nepal time.  It was meant to arrive at 10/10.30.  At 11ish we headed to a cafe for some tea, and then the bus arrived and we set off properly at about noon.  The hot tea and the bumpy ride and dust made me feel really ill, but I realised I was probably also hungry so I munched some crackers until the sick feeling went away.

The climb out of Kathmandu and the Kathmandu Valley was difficult.  We were told by someone earlier in the week that lots of trucks overheat on the climb and end up blocking the road, and while we weren’t held up too much, I could certainly see why they would break down.  We the switchbacked our way down the other side – magnificent scenery with the terraced fields up the sides of the hills and the view.

The rest of the journey was fairly similar, but not so that you ended up bored of it.  The total time was over 7 hours, including a couple of breaks, but I could have sat through it all again and again and seen something different each time.  I would have needed several showers and changes of clothes to do that, though, as the heat and the humidity made for a sticky trip.  When we got out for lunch we all felt like we had been sitting in a bowl of water.  Warm, sticky water.  Mmm.

As we neared Pokhara, the sky got darker, and then the lightning started.  I couldn’t hear any thunder because of the bus.  Eventually, it started to rain and it got heavier and heavier.  It was the first rain we have seen since getting here, and pretty much the first clouds.  We got into Pokhara (presumable greater Pokhara rather than the city itself), and then took some fairly hairy back streets to the hotel.  It was getting dark by the time we arrived, so after registering, showering, and having dinner there’s no way to tell what the view is like.  We’re going to go for a wander in the grounds, and try to avoid the gorge outside!

Hello! So 200km and 7 hours later we arrived in Pokhara! Woooo – the journey was great – i couldn’t sit still so kept playing around – sitting forwards, sideways, backwards – hehe and I’ve managed to learn a little about photography – love playing with Chris’s camara but can’t quite use it properly yet!!

The journey was brill – a little like the Italian job feel with very bendy corners – but the most amazing views of the hills, valleys, waters, little villages and even the ligthening storms towards Pokhara! The resort here is fantastic – it is soooooo lovely and i feel a little out of place here – but its great we’ve meet so many different people so far and going to meet more which will be good!

Chris enjoyed the journey so much his head was stuck out of the window for most of the journey!! I can’t believe the journey here took so long – but we had such a good time seeing views and chatting to everyone that time flew by and glad to be in Pokhara now! I’ve seen one lizard already! So time to go to bed soon and start afresh the day tomorrow with the start of the South Aisa Chrstian Youth Conference (SACYN) which is titled ‘Cross the Bridge’. So night all – hope everyone back home is well! x

Today has been a fascinating day, a fun day, a busy day, a beautiful day!

It has been a touristy day – we went to see some of the major tourist attractions in Nepal – we start meeting some of the local Christians and their projects tomorrow.

We started at Bhaktapur, an ancient city to the east of Kathmandu. the jeep journey there was….interesting? We often complain about potholes in the UK, but we’ve got nothing on the nepalese roads! At one point Joanna actually left the seat because of the force of the bump (back seat passengers do not have the luxury of having a seatbelt!). The city itself is a beautiful place, there a mountains just next to it that tower over it covered in lush green trees, the smell of incense and spices permeates the air. It is a very small, narrow streeted (I know thats not a word!) city, but it doesn’t feel crowded at all! It has a very relaxed atmosphere about the place – when we were having lunch (apparently at an expensive place, but it was only £23 for 5 people to have lunch and drinks!) we all wanted to stay. Try and picture the scene, we on the balcony of the 3rd story of a resturant, there is Hindu music playing from a local shop and the quiet murmur coming from people walking underneath and the occasional truck or bike tooting their horn. To the right of us is a narrow street with some vendors selling their wares in front of a temple, to the left there is a big open square with temples on 2 sides, shops on another and our resturant on another. In front of us their is a street winding its way away from us going deeper into the city. All the building are ‘rustic’ looking – wooden shutters, red tiles, red bricks, and over the top of the far away buildings we can see the foothills of the himalayas. Gorgeous, just gorgeous!

After Bhaktapur, we went to a Hindu crematory on the banks of the Bagmati river. This was an interesting, if slightly strange, visit. Watching families cremate their loved ones as we watch from a distance, ashes being swept into a ‘river’ where little water actually runs – it is blocked by human waste of all kind and mounds of earth that make it more of a stream, and a random cow having a nap under neath the cremation platforms. It was an interesting place though – learning who is allowed to be cremated (pregnant women, children nder 6 months and Holy men are buried rather than cremated). Learning where people come from to be created – bodies are flown in from around the world to be cremated here. It was also interesting to hear their approach to death – they are born naked, so they are cremated naked (wrapped in a cloth) and the see the cremation (or burial) as a giving back of the elements the body is made of to the earth. We met some very friendly Hindu holy men while were there, a very relaxed and reflective group of men!

We also went to the Monkey Temple – we knew it was high up, but didn’t realise that you had to climb 365 steps before you got to the top, not just 365 steps, but 365 very steep steps! The top reminded me of my trip to the Holy Land in November 2008, a religious site covered in Gold plated religious artifacts and the smell of incense being very over-riding. The view from the temple at the top was incredible – a fantastic panoram of the Kathmandu valley and of many high Himalayan foothills – we were scoffed at by Bibin, our guide for the day, for calling them mountains – despite them being 2-3 times the size of the highest mountian in the UK!

We were able to enjoy some Lassi with our dinner, a sweet Banana milk drink – it tastes quite like the yoghurt in this Muller Corner. we also had some Momo, little packets of meat in a lovely pastry case, simply gorgeous!

As those of you who know me would expect, I have been busy documenting our day in photos as well as words. This country is such an incredible place, i haven’t felt this at ease and safe in a city since I was in Jerusalem, it is such a spiritual place – and people are not afraid to talk about spiritual matters! Something we could learn from in Western countries!

One thing that made me laugh today – on the back of many trucks driving on the crazy roads, they have painted the words ‘Good Luck’ on their rear bumper – very fitting I thought……

Hi, Joanna here.  Just a quick message because I’m shattered after such a busy day.  Spoons may have to wait, alas.

As Chris said, today was Bhaktapur, Pashupatinath, and the monkey temple.  Bhaktapur was odd – it was such a quick visit that I didn’t really have time to process what I was seeing.  It is definitely a place that would require a longer trip to fully appreciate.  We went up the first level of what Lonely Planet describes as the highest temple in Nepal.  Sadly we did not have time to visit the naughty elephants temple.

Pashupatinath was frankly weird.  The smell was more smoke than BBQ, but the arm with its fingers burnt off dangling off the pyre was rather offputting.  The Sadhus (holy men) really just sat there and had their pictures taken.  I assume they do holy stuff when the visitors aren’t around!  It was, however, a fascinating glimpse of a side of Hinduism that can’t really be experienced in the UK.

The stairs to Monkey Temple were challenging at time of the afternoon and in that heat, but the view was worth it, even with the dust/smog haze prevening us seeing the Himalayas.  It was definitely interesting to see the Buddhist imagery and architecture.  The monkeys were very used to visitors, so Chris got some lovely photos.

On the way from the restaurant were we had tea back to the hotel, we passed an enormous cart which Bibin said would be dragged through the streets.  Slightly Wickerman-esque to look at, but a pillar rather than a body.  We may go out tomorrow night to see if it and the associated ceremonies/celebrations are still there.

For those of you who are interested in such things, you may be pleased to know that none of us have upset stomachs yet!

Hello! So today was our first day and very busy. The weather was mega hot – which was lovely apart from when your climbing a lot of steps to get to a temple!! Which had monkeys – oh yeah they were so cute!! The old city of Bhaktapur was lovely – why would anyone want to ruin this?? It had a few temples – which seem to be everywhere here in Nepal – but are great to see them!!

At the monkey temple there was a great prayer thing – this rolers were built around the ‘monkey temple’ and people could walk past and role them – apparently whilst saying a prayer and ringing the bell at the end!! Was great – the rolers had lots of patterns and pictures which when rolled looked brill! Also another prayer thing that we have seen is the prayer banners – they have mainly sqaure shaped clothes with prayers on them and they hang them all around – in all temple places and even just hung up in houses – brilliant ideas and look great so maybe be taking them ideas home with me!!

So i will go – you heard most of our days events from Chris and Joanna – but i didn’t really like the crematory – just can’t get me head around the idea!! Anyways thanks for all the prayers! Hugs xx

hey, hey, I am blogging for the first time on Chris blog and I am not sure who in the world is going to read this, but I am on top of world both literally and symbolically.  Chris has given you the highs and the lows of today, but I am still stuck in the crematorium near Kathmandu  by the Bhagmati River.  Seeing all those dead bodies lying in state (according the caste system) got me thinking about how life and death is openly visible here in Asia, whereas we do not talk about death in the UK.  One sad part was that women were not there to mourn the death of their loved one.  Anyway, much more at some point tomorrow – watch out for news about Yeti Airlines!!!

It’s been a wee bit of a tense week leading up to leaving – the eryognsdioghdgfklgdj!?!??!!? volcano still seems to be spewing out ash which disrupts UK air traffic now and then. There have also been some Maoist led strikes out in Kathmandu, thankfully they are over now and remained peaceful (for the most part).

While I was packing all my things, i came across a very interesting sheet that we were given at the training weekend a few weeks ago. It’s a list of things that we should ‘come with’ on these types of trips:

Come:

With flexibility – visitors come to be part of what is going on already. They should be ok if their need to ‘do something’ isn’t met right away

To build relationships – A good ‘missionary’ will focus on the people they have come to be with, rather than the events they have come to do.

With an attitude of listening and learning – not only does this help understanding about local people, but it empowers local people to explain their ways of thinking and doing things.

To follow instead of lead – while we are called to ‘go and make disciples’ it is only after we ‘come and follow’ Jesus.

With appropriate gifts – sharing resources is part of God’s call on our lives, but make sure they are useful and have a positive long-term impact.

Ready to encourage anyone – it is not just the poorest who look forward to cross-cultural exchange, but there are many people working behind the scenes to keep these programmes going. They should also be part of a cross cultural exchange of ideas and support.

Without a to-do list – being task focussed limits the impact you can have, and the impact the local people can have on you. Come prepared to stand with people, rather than doing something yourself.

Without a guilt-trip – don’t feel like you should come, and don’t think one trip lets you off a lifetime of resonsibility as a member of the global church.

Without unwanted stuff – most locations you are going to do not need western consumerist junk.

Without thinking you are the ‘centre’ – the people you meet were there before you arrived and will be there after you leave.

With questions, they can be more important than you think!

Peace Out

Chris

We’re all very excited to go out and meet people out there – I’m particularly excited to be able to meet and learn from Christians who love out their faith in a culture that is so different to any I’ve ever experienced. 4 of us were able to meet together a couple of weeks ago at a training weekend down in Oxford – it was good to meet some of the folks I’ll be traveling with!

Before we leave there are still things I need to get done – I’m reading up on Nepal and cross-cultural experiences – using a book given to us by the CMS crew. It’s interesting reading, throws up lots of food for thought. I’ve manage to be prepared enough to have a lot of the things I need to take so I don’t need to worry too much about that side of things!

While we’re away, there are a few ways you can keep tabs on what we are doing, providing we are able to get internet access! I’ll be updating this blog as often as possible, we’ll also be posting updates on the cosyblog and tweeting whenever possible. We’ve also set up a group on Facebook where you can recieve prayer points while we’re away and read updates before, during and after the trip.

It should be an awesome trip – I’m sure we’ll all have a lot to write about while we’re away and when we return, we’ll be doing our best to make sure that the trip is well documented – in writing and in image.

The picture below is of 2/3rds of the team. Once we have a picture of all of us, I shall upload it!

Peace Out

Chris