una got to the computer first. again. but it ok, i was buying a yak blanket... its the warmest comfiest thing ive ever owned i think, and reminds me of all the giggling nepali women who are all so beautiful. the houses in the himalayas are crazily perched just under the sky in places we couldnt believe. and now i understand the talent of sherpas who carried most of hillary's equipment up everest - they are so strong because thay have to carry everything slung on their backs for about 2 days up steep steep steps - we saw them carry door frames, blankets and curtains, a dozen chickens and even a fridge!!
now we're just floating about pokhara admiring our newly acquired calf muscles. buff!

(Una) 5 Days, one "Hill" and 35 leeches later....

We've just come back from a 5 day trek in the himalayas and are now sporting calves as toned as Hungarian shot putters. On retrospect the hiking was do-able but at the time going up and down all those steep valleys was torture (with a view). The scenery was amazing - crashing waterfalls, precarious landslides and MASSIVE mountains. we were below the 8th and 10th highest mountains in the world ( around 8100m)
I loved seeing the tiny Nepali settlements perched on the mountainside with their steeply sloping rice paddys. The smells of cooking over fires and clucking chickens reminded of living with the Karen hill tribes in Thailand.
On our first night we stayed at this lovely guest house full of character run by 3 sisters who seem to spend all of their time laughing. We felt so at home huddled round their fire with spicy tea, and the laughter was flowing as we helped (or hindered) them to make Nepali steamed dumplings and rice pudding. We told them that we're coming back again when we're all married and bringing our husbands with us - and we weren't joking. The 3000 steep steps leading up to their village took us about 2 hours to drag ourselves up - and then we saw the school children canter up them in no time.

On the 3rd day we got up at 5am to climb Poon Hill - which is a very misleading name we think as it stands at 3210m (4 times higher than Northern Ireland's Slieve Donard!) We didn't get the spectacular himalayan views promised as it was so misty - but worth it anyway.

I dont think I'v ever been paralyzed with laughter so often in 5 days - maybe it was the lack of oxyen (25% less at 3000m than the Mountsandel road) or all the endorphins from the trek, but anna, lynn and i had to put a ban on making each other laugh so as we could at least attempt to get up the steep passes.

We're doing some R and R back in Pokhara - lynn is still going on about the wild monkeys we saw. We'll let you know if we decide to stay here for ever,
una. xx

(ps - photo to the right shows Lynn in midst of her bowel-adjustment to Nepal. "Still better than a nightclub"... I concur.)

(Lynn & Una) - we found each other!

Una - so lynn was about the LAST person off the plane, but it was awesome to see her. We'v tried to ease her into the developing world but i think we ended up jsut chucking her in without a spade to dig!



Lynn - I've arrived! Plane was v delayed, but that turned out almost worth it because they put me up in a very VERY swanky hotel. sweet! i am now with una and therefore whole again. and sweating extraordinarily. its very hot.


Una - yesturday, we took an 8 hour rickety bus East to Pokhara - beautiful countryside (but also with a constant chanting coming from the Tibetan woman sitting adjacent to us). Pokhara is really lovely - its in the heart of the Annapurna Himalaya Range with a very chilled out atmosphere, no noisy traffic and lots of hiking/cycling/kayaking/beers by the lake...

Lynn - una got to the computer first and i have nothing else to say. im with una! and anna and its lovely, and i no longer have to talk to myself. or skin kangarooos. just eat LOTS of rice. yum!



Una - Going on a 5 day hike tomorrow into the mountains, we'v got a guide and a porter to look after us, we'll only be going up to about 3000m but i cant wait to see the himalayas up close! Anna and i have got on really well and its lovely to be able to include Lynn in all the fun. We'll be home in 2 weeks time to continue the adventures - only this time on white rocks beach instead of Nepal, so if anyone wants to join in, you'll know where to find us...

Lynn - yep. what she said. yay!

(lynn) una im coming!

ah. una that was so nearly so good...pity you're the third finnegan. sad goodbyes and 8 hour journey back to city on wednesday. i was going to hitch a lift with the weekly food lorry that passes by, but then government person happened to be up for a funding something or other so that was a bit more comfortable, although involved alot more bluffing and government speak. gradually seeing the landscape change from red red rock to grey grey concrete was horrible, until grey filled up every corner of my brain and i finally burst out crying when i got out of the car and smelt city and petrol! i felt like a girl. a GIRL. urgh.

una n anna i will see you in kathmandu. mwah!
over and out.

4th Finnegan feels forelorn;- farewell family, philantropy and forgein friends....

That alliteration took me a whole bus journey - I'm now floundering for feeble fillers ;o)

Despite my host family still not being able to pronounce my name even slightly, we only have 2 days left here in pepsi cola. I'll miss the family atmosphere, although maybe not so much the constant questions, demands from the children for attention and the 6am wakeup calls.
At the health clinic family planning day is definitely my favourite. All the women come in for contraception and its such a party atmosphere with laughing and jokes (until i muck up one of their Depo injections and have to stab them twice with a blunt needle).
After much insistence from our ten year old Nepali little-sister, anna and I went to the village tailors to get some Nepali clothes made. Either the language barrier was too big to cross or the wee woman was crap at her job - but neither anna nor myself could get any of the tops pulled down past our broad Western shoulders despite numerous measurements. At least i can steal Lynn's clothes in 5 days time when she arrives. Iv now decided my decision to only bring minimal clothes was a bad one. (I recently discovered that Anna brought 3 times the amount of bottom halves than i did! And then she slags me off for wearing dirty shorts!)
Other recent happenings include a trip to a national park (no bears - just alot of thunder and rain), a "halfway feast" at an Australian restaurant where a group of us ate so much food we were fit to burst (and then we ate carrot cake straight afterwards), and helping out with the Sisters of Mercy for the final time. We saw the orphanage the sisters also run, i might raise money for them during my Great North Run - but its time they need, not neccasarily money.

Enjoy the Olympics onslaught on TV, and look out for the 7 nepali athletes that managed to qualify! In a while crocodile.......
x

(pictures show Anna and me on top of a bus, "D-Day" at the orphanage ("De-licing day") and a Sister of Mercy)

(lynn) - ah. cant stand interviews.

thought i should maybe write something even if its crap cuz ive just realised how pathetic i am at this blog business (and that it has 72 views - una was that all you?). well, i hate words. especially counting them incessently to check if ive reached 12,000 yet. blargh. apart from that, im having a ball. felt like part of the community yesterday when we were all sitting round the fire, cooking kangaroo (kangaroo celebrations happen once in a while for no apparent reason, except nowadays its often because travellers/tourists are passing through) when some of the elders started berating me on how awful my bread baking skills were and i had to work on that 'directly' if i ever hoped to get a boyfriend. ah well. the chairperson of the community also said that his grandfather, who was a witch doctor, now has an eagle spirit, and will watch out for me when im at home and check im behaving myself and if not 'well, bad things will happen'. somehow that made me more nervous than comforted.

but eagles, or 'wildus' here are INCREDIBLE. theyre massive and theres so much space and sky (and always good sunsets) that they must just be having the best time of it. i've decided i want to be an eagle. we climbed wayanha/ mt mckinley, the other weekend and the views were the best id ever seen (even though we werent v high, about 1050m), i could see half of australia, and almost to ireland i think. someone had left a notebook and pen in a bottle under a stone so we had fun reading all the messages people had left ... there were only a handful of people who had climbed it recently.

heres a cool photo - its a rock carving - just a circle (which represents a water hole) but it looks like the rock must have split ages ago ... just reminds you how long the aborigines have been living on this land - 40,000 they say. its in a gorge with hundreds of rock carvings made by many tribes walking through, i think its a bit of a cross roads because nearby is a huge ochre pit that the Adnyamathanha use to make paints and dyes.

so leave here on wednesday, then fly to nepal on sunday whoop! any last minute orders from australia? aboriginal paintings? boomerangs? witchety grubs?! i have like minus space in my rucksack though! maybe v v small models of boomerangs...

(Una) canyoning, orphans, holes in feet and more rice..

Only one more week of volunteering left!
Anna and I went canyoning yesterday - 5 hours of absailing down pretty powerful waterfalls in the nepalese jungle with guys who make their living leading montain climbing in the everest region. Times like that when you think "crap - nobody else in the whole world knows where i am right now". We brought along two other European volunteers along - one for his aryian-like looks for protection, and one for the comedy factor (balance worse than Jamie Wilson and pathologically afraid of leeches).
The Volunteering is going really well, we'r getting regular customers at the health clinic for wounds needing to be cleaned out. The other day we went to a special needs school ran by a guy from northern ireland that Anna's mum (vagualy) knows. It was a fantastic place, and when we got there, a team from Belfast were there. The Northern Irish banter was immediate and a nice wee break for us. It turned out that i had travelled with one of them before on a youth peace conferance to Wales as well - you can't escape your past at all - even in nepal.
I'v visited two hospitals in the past week, its been really interesting, and the maternity ward of one stole my heart immediatly. I saw 2 hour old babies the size of your hand. i dont know why im in med school, i definitly want to be a midwife instead.
Last weekend i got a bit sick, and the lay health beliefs of my host mum were pretty annoying ("no cold water, cover your head while you sleep, its all because i walk too far"!). I tried to placate her but i way prefere abiding by my own lay health beliefs instead.
Im spending as much time as i can at the orphange - the kids are really good fun and love the one-on-one attention. Also, the dedication of individual volunteers here is so inspiring. Take care in whatever your doing, and lets hope the transport strikes end here pretty soon. xx