Life

There wasn’t a great deal of time for extra-curricular activities in this, the final week before my exams started for the children. What little time I had was devoted to the hunting of antique, hand-carved masks for my good friend, Uncle Al, back in Harrogate. He’d given me a crash course (via e-mail) on identifying authentic and replica masks, in the hope that I’d be able to pick him up some Billy Bargains to add to his (already extensive) collection. Once I’d learnt to identify the real thing, I must admit I was hooked and found myself arrested by the sight of masks adorning the many shopfronts surrounding the Bouddha Stupa. With my borrowed knowledge from Uncle Al, I was able to impress the proprietors who were obviously used to dealing with your average ignorant tourist. As well as honing my mask-hunting skills, I soon became adept at the local style of haggling – and, before I knew it, I was the proud owner of 10 fine Nepali and Bhutanese masks for Al and myself. With Don’s imminent arrival the next Thursday, I’d already planned to get the majority of them home safe before I even left Kathmandu.
On Saturday – after a particularly satisfying set of purchases – I was able to sit down in the tranquil quiet of the Lotus Guesthouse’s gardens in order to write the listening comprehensions and develop the role play scenarios for the children’s oral exams. After a hard afternoon’s graft I wandered into Thamel and decided to pay a visit to a chap called Santosh who ran an establishment called the Lotus Gallery. Some of you may recall that my friend, Crazy Bill, had rhapsodised about chicken tandoori and butter naan on the floor of a friend’s gallery in Kathmandu…well Santosh was this friend and Lotus was that same gallery. I had popped my head in during my first week in Kathmandu to say hi from Bill and had been unable to come back since, after moving to Bouddha to be nearer to school. Santosh was pleased to see me and insisted that I sit down and join him for a cup of tea while I found my eye drawn towards the beautiful selection of traditional arts covering his walls. One painting in particular – a beautiful thanka (religious art, traditionally hand-painted on cotton) of the Hindu God, Ganesh – caught my eye and I was crestfallen to discover that it was over $200, even to a friend of Bill’s. Art definitely hadn’t been among the things I’d envisaged picking up on my travels, especially high-end stuff like this and I quickly put the idea out of my mind. I spent a pleasant half-hour nattering with Santosh and swapping tales of Bill’s escapades and I promised to return with the laptop sometime to show him photos of the places Bill and I saw in Laos. After this pleasant interlude, I met Michael for a couple of quiet beers in Tom & Jerry’s before heading back to Bouddha for an early night in preparation for exam week.