Back in the Kathmandu

So after a week at the United Mission Hospital (UMH) in Tansen, Palpa, Nepal, woke up early this morning to catch the UMH buck (half bus, half truck - a bus whose back 4 rows was converted into a storage area to transport goods). To my surprise, the bus took off promptly at 0600 not waiting for anyone. Reminded me of the GO trains back at home and refreshing to know that I had not been late for this one. The buck does a weekly round trip leaving Wednesday morning for Kathmandu and returns the following day. Got to see a fantastic sunrise as it slowly crawled lazily over the hills and illuminated the beautiful landscape that surrounded. A noticeable haze filled the air from small garbage fires and crop fires as locals prepare for the monsoon season soon to come.

 

The thing I love about travel is that there is always something interesting to see. As soon as we started to leave the relatively smooth pavement of town, all passengers were issued a small black plastic bag. Passengers took this readily in the expectations of the undesired. Only a few brave souls declined. And so the trip began at first on newly paved roads that twisted and turned along the narrow ridge leading down the hills toward the Terai (lower 1/3 portion of Nepal where the land is flat and sun is unrelentingly hot). It was as if we were playing a game of hide and go seek with the sun. As we careened down around another hill, we'd loose the sun only for it to find us again just in time as we made the next turn. Despite the blind corners our skilled driver would unleash our comic polytonic horn to alert the world that we were coming around the corner at break-neck speeds and not going to stop for anything. I think drivers here to more reckless when they drive on the mountain side of the ridge, cause if someone will get bumped off, it'll be whoever is driving cliffside. I didn't think much of this at first, but before our 10hr ride back into town was complete, I saw, 1 bus tipped over on it's side, 1 truck halfway down a steep hill (how it stopped I know not - although, when we went by, there were 3 steel cables leading down to the marrooned vessel), and another half truck on the road with it's tail embedded into a roadisde house. And I was only awake for 2hrs of the entire ride...

 

On the bright side there is lots of development going on around here. Although it's arguable whether if that is best for rural Nepal. Most of the roads seemed like they have been paved within the last 3yrs, cause they really didn't look that good last time I visited Nepal. That being said, much of the roads in the hills had sunk in sections or were totally obliterated due to landslides. Roads in the Terai are actually quite decent. About 1hr east of Butwal, I saw a procession of a sweeper, followed by 2 stencil holders and then a painter with a yellow brush painting a dotted yellow line on either side of the roadway. A white dotted centreline was already present but hardly acknowledged by everyone from pedestrians, cyclists, rickshaws, micros, cars, buses, trucks, motorcycles overtaking each other with just inches to spare. I wonder whose I idea it was to paint the lines... Things run very differently here but they do function. I think that's part of the excitement in travel - seeing how people live. To an outsider, the transportation system seems chaotic but it functions; and they don't traffic lights, which would fail whenever there is a powercut.

 

Anyway, our driver skillfully maneuvered the traffic and roads to return us back to Kathmandu.

 

At home now. We hit up a flower shop with Sandip, potted some plants and now hanging out. The electricity came back early so we're getting an update on news and cartoons. Apparently the Maoists are planning a bandha (strike) of some sort but so far no one knows when yet.

 

Teaching hospital is back at full tilt after practically not seeing patients for 2 weeks. Although reading the paper the other day it seems that they are still having issues with the unclaimed bodies of 20% of all the atopsys they do...

 

Time at UMH was encouraging to see that people were trying to make the best of the situation. A constant stream of expatriate physicians and surgeons are always there to share their expertise and passion to serve the people. And it's affecting local medical officers and interns as they realize that there is more to life than the pursuit of material wealth. And with that, continue to live each moment as if it's your last. Carpe Diem. Soli Deo Gloria