Catchin' up...

We're half way into our trip and it seems all we've done is "catch up"...i guess a bit of a "break" from reality. Caught up with family...farm visits-fashion shows-rice feeding festivals-weddings-birthdays.

Brian's been consulting with a family friend in the restaurant industry. He's had a few interesting "adventures"...farmers' markets-restaurant warehouses-wholesale markets-tourisim boardmeetings. He's also been busy trying out recipes...made some killler apps with imported "chipolte" peppers, parma ham, turkey and local tomatoes. Here's some other fun things he's tried out...

We've also visited a few places to dine...Jhamel: Chai Chai Cafe-great illy coffee; Roadhouse Cafe-great wood fired pizza; Black Pepper-creative decor; Tamrind-lively bar scene. Thamel: Cafe Kaldi-chill atmosphere and pretty good coffee, free wi-fi; Dechiling-delicious Butanese/Tibetian food; Thamas-much to be desired. Dwarika: Mosoko-great japanese restaurant, pricey but beautiful decor. Darbar Marg: Pizza Hut-unique ingredients, ok pizza; KFC-ummm where's thr TUMS!?!; Nanglo's-stick to the chinese menu; 1905-great open layout with a beautiful garden, mellow atmosphere, tasty apps!

Been vegging out a bit too...caught up on all our favourite shows on dvd (when they worked)...weeds-entourage-true blood-boardwalk empire. Zoned out on old movies on local cable tv, not so memorable features but what to do!?!

The Start to a New Adventure...

We're off to Kathmandu once again!

This will be our third trip together to my homeland. A little different circumstances this go around...we're looking at this trip as a trial run of sorts, seriously thinking about making a move out there! One might say we're a bit crazy for choosing to move to a country with such daily struggles such as lack of clean water, fresh air and common power outages. Not to mention the lack of modern conveniences like paved roads, super marts and dunkin' donuts!

But, there's a part of us that wants to know how the rest of the world lives. We seek adventure and knowledge...learning how to cope without the luxuries of the American lifestyle. The possibilities and opportunities are somewhat endless, not with out struggle of course but then what fun would that be...

We hope to keep our family and friends updated with our future plans...we're off tomorrow and experiencing every emotion under the sun!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

Last day in Shangri La (for this time)

Well, it’s been a whirlwind trip to say the least. We are off to the States tomorrow morning (9:15 am flight). Guess we learnt the hard way…next time we are definitely going to pay more attention to our travel schedule…the flights times and layovers are killing us.

We have a lot of stories…sorry we haven’t been able to keep everyone as updated as we wanted to. It’s been interesting trying to find a balance with meeting family members and showing Brian the sights of Nepal. To be honest, it’s been exciting for me as well. Even though I am from Nepal, having never lived here has limited me to all the beauty the country has.

We’ve taken tons of pics and will update everyone on all the travels when we get back. Sorry for the general post…I’ve got tons of last minutes things to take care of and unfortunately Brian has come down with a slight stomach bug…nothing to worry about. Just bad timing!!! Luckily my dad’s best friend is a doctor specializing in internal medicine and we’ve gotten some great advice.

Miss everyone tons and wish we could inform everyone more but timing seems to be our biggest enemy. See you all soon…we’ll be back in Ohio on the 4th.

The Long Road to Recovery

Wow, the reception was amazing! It was held at the Yak and Yeti Hotel Reception hall, one of the renovated Rana Palaces built in the early 1900s . We had met an overwhelming amount of people (500) all of which were very welcoming and courteous. Our heads are still spinning after meeting so many people, we can’t wait to show all the pictures, just need to collect them from the people that were taking them. The heavy night of drinking and partying took its toll and Saturday was spent in recovery mode. Thulo Buo threw a “cozy” dinner party for us the following evening which was beautiful; it was mostly immediate family and a few friends (about 50). He had given a very touching speech and we were a bit taken aback when he said that our family (Swigers) is probably closer then there’s (Simhas).

Today I (Brian) am going to the Nepal chef association monthly meeting, have not figured out what I am going to be doing but they wanted to meet and talk with an “American Chef” (hmmm). After that we are headed out to Bhaktapur, an ancient town close to Kathmandu, for the day and then to Nagrokot to hopefully catch a glimpse of Everest, weather permitting. We expect to get some beautiful landscape photos. Hope everything is going good back home and thank you all for the support and wonderful comments. We look forward to seeing everyone in Michigan, for the Swiger family reunion. We will definitely have some stories for everyone!

And some more pictures enjoy!

Much Awaited

Well, this is the much anticipated update to our blog. Much has happened in past days for the good and bad.

Our first day we went around and met many of Shibanis family members within their compound (Large house divided between Mr.Simhas three brothers) called Kaldhara. In the evening we had a celebration for our 1st wedding anniversary. Unfortunately I was getting very light headed and easily confused due to the jet lag, we thought. Later on we realized it was from the antibiotics our doctor prescribed which had a side effect of dizziness. Well needless to say we had to leave the party early because I thought I was going to faint.

On the second day we tried to relax but I really wanted to get out and explore my new found surroundings. We woke up early around 5 am and I got some pictures of the sunrise from the balcony here. We then headed out to the temples so that Shibani and her mom could perform puja which is there way of praying. We went around to four temples around Kathmandu for this and went back home for some lunch. We hung out around Kaldhara and met with family members till the early evening. Shibani and I then headed out to Thamel in the evening which is the overcrowded and pollution packed market district here. We wondered around for a bit then the power went out and we decided it would be best to return home and have some dinner.

Wednesday: Today we spent most the day around Kaldhara and met with all the family members here because there was going to be a party tonight for Amar’s (“brother in law/cousin…depending on culture) twenty fifth wedding anniversary. We got to the party and the power was out, so only some lights were running from generators. Shibani and I got extremely hot and lost just about all our water weight in a matter of minuets we tried to rehydrate ourselves but the heat was too much for us. Dinner was served while watching a Nepalese dance which was very interesting I am just kicking myself for not taking our camera. Dinner past and I got better but unfortunately Shibanis condtion worsened. We decide it best to leave and got a ride back to Kaldhara. We laid down for a bit and Shibanis state continued to deteriorate. I then decided we needed to seek medical treatment this was about midnight. Luckily Shibanis parents returned and we made our way to the hospital. The hospital stay is a story in itself but to continue on she got better and had suffered a mild heat stroke. We had to stay overnight for observation both of us very uncomfortable as she didn't want to be there and I was sleeping on a plastic patio chair for the evening with the wall as my pillow.

Thursday: Shibani’s felling better and her condition stabilized she was released from the hospital and we made our way back to Kaldhara. We had to take an ambulance because of the bandh which is Nepalese for strikes and this one was against transportation so the only safe means of travel was in an ambulance. Needless to say we slept all day and night.

Friday: after much needed rest we are getting ready for our reception that is scheduled for tonight. Taking it easy Shibani is going to be getting a spa treatment to help relax and prepare for the festivities.

Well despite all the ups and downs since we have arrived I feel that I have become much closer to Shibanis family likewise I think they feel the same. It was nice to see how the whole family cousins, aunts, and uncles all pulled together to help us and I can not thank them enough for all they have done to help us out and feel welcomed at the same time. We are truly grateful for all that they have done for us. This entry should bring everyone up to date as I am sure most of you are wondering what has been going on about the lack of posts, and I hope this answers most of your questions. Well I am going to end it hear as I am not trying to write a novel and we have to prepare for tonight which we are looking forward to. Till next time this is Brian and Shibani signing out.

Check out our pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/CousinOpey

In Transit

Saturday 21st around 4 PM CLE...Well we are finally underway...albeit in a very very small plane on its way to New York. This might be the smallest plane we have ever been on. We could barely stand straight in there...fortunately the flight attendant was a shorty (with an attitude...not so fortunate). We have been traveling for only 4 hours...28 more before we reach Kathmandu. We are definitely not looking forward to the 7hr flight to Paris and cringing at the fact we still have many hours left. I wonder how we will be feeling in 20 more hours. We will keep you all posted as much as possible given that we have internet.

Saturday June 21st around 7 PM Paris
After sitting on the tarmac for about an hour we are finally on our way to France. Not too much excitement, someone got thrown off the plane. It was funny, they announced over the PA “John Doe your luggage is being taken off the plane” lol. That's about it, just trying to catch some zzz's to pass the time. I (Brian) look forward to leaving France before we even land.

Sunday June 22st around 9 AM local time
OK..so Charles De Gaulle airport sucks!!! The place was desolate and it's not like we got here at an odd hour...7:30ish...as soon as we got off the plane we were stuck in this huge line not really sure what for. Any airport crew we did see just wizzed by us...after about 45 min of waiting and not knowing if we were in the right line, even the French were confused about it(we needed to get to the gulf counter to get our boarding passes for our 11:15 flight) we did find one airport crew member that let us follow him thru the line to some stairs that took us to a bus to terminal 1-gulf air. Never did get to a gulf air counter, just 2 ladies with air-france...they issued us our boarding passes and we were off to security and our gate. Another desolate area...got some “american coffee” in other words some horrible espresso(I still don't get it but thats what the man said)...luckily was able to get some milk to help it out. Then we have a 7hr flight to Barhain and 6 hr layover! Then finally a 5 hr flight to Kathmandu.

Sun June 22 1pm Paris Time
Well we must say we are very impressed with gulf Air. Compared to the horrible time we had in France we are looking forward to finally getting to Barhain. The plane even has a ground camera so you can see what you are flying over. The next leg we will be going over Iran looking forward to that one. All total we have about have about 15 more hours of travel time I am glad to say we have pased the half way mark. Lets just hope this goes quick.

Sun June 22 8 PM Bahrain
Well we are here and this is no comparison to the French airport hands down Barhain wins. Its like Disney world here and we will post some pics latter on when we reach Kathmandu. Anyway getting low on battery so this will be it for a while.

Nepal Videos

While we are getting things together here are some videos of Nepal.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com