Computer Problem

My computer's power cord is broken so unless I'm able to get it fixed or replaced, I will not be able to make any more blog posts until I get home.

Change of Plans

I met with Uttam and Raju this morning to talk about my stay in Rinescot. It turns out Raju is the director of the Friends of Needy Children (www.fncnepal.org) run by Olga Murray, a thoroughly amazing humanitarian. My friend Colleen’s real estate firm finds tenants for Olga’s house in Sausalito where she lives for half of the year, when she’s not in Nepal. Small world!

 After a pleasant breakfast, Raju remembered that Rinescot school lets out for a three week vacation at the end of this week, which put all my plans into flux. Now I have three weeks to spend any way I want. Raju called his friend, another Raju (which means Happy, a good description of both men) who has a travel agency and would present some options to me. I went to his office and worked out a tentative plan to do a short seven day trek from Jomson, a short visit to Chitwan, the jungle in the south (couldn’t resist the elephant ride), a couple of day trips around Kathmandu valley, and, if all goes well, a week-long tour in Tibet. The Tibet journey has me the most excited, but it’s also the least assured of the options since it requires assembling a group.

I’ll post some photos of the Kathmandu area day trips in the next few days. Meanwhile, here are some from Hong Kong. The pink and blue city building is the Hong Kong History Museum, which I visited on my one full day in Hong Kong. The others are of the neighborhood near my hotel.

Hiking in Marin Headlands

This was the test hike of my new hiking skirt. Mandy suggested I add a way to shorten it for creek crossings, so I added that improvement before I made the second skirt. Sorry I didn't get a photo of the skirt! I'll send one as soon as I can.

Arrived Safely in Hong Kong

I arrived safely in Hong Kong, glad that I opted for the hotel to pick me up since I was disoriented by the long flight. Since this is my third time in Hong Kong (1983 and 1999), it’s nice to have a moment of semi-familiarty on my road to the totally unknown. Before I left I was so focused on learning about Nepal, and learning Nepali that I neglected Hong Kong entirely. I used the extra time at SFO to find a tiny Hong Kong tourist guide for my short stay here. My hotel is a block away from the Temple Street Night Market, a mass of stalls selling mostly touristy stuff and a dizzying array of street food vendors. Right across the street was an Indian restaurant where I had a quiet, delicious dinner. Afterwards I walked in the market for a few minutes before I came back to my room and took a hot bath.

The hotel is perfect for me. The room is clean, there’s free internet and local phone calls (not the norm in HK, last time I was here I spent a small fortune on calls). The bed is firm, with sheets covering the down comforter instead of  a bedspread of dubious cleanliness ala Super 8. My room is too tiny to do some of my favorite yoga poses but well designed, with a tiny fridge and electric kettle.

This morning I was chagrined to find that all the web sites on my computer display in Chinese! I couldn’t figure out how to sign into Skype or post to my blog. Google searches didn’t have a solution. At the hotel’s free buffet breakfast I asked a guy who spoke native English if he knew how to fix it, and he did, yay.

Tomorrow I’ll get to see the Super Full Moon from the plane, 16% bigger and 30% brighter than usual.

 

I’m going to wander around for a while and take some photos of the neighborhood. If I don’t post again before I leave HK tomorrow, I’ll post when I get to Kathmandu.