Jason Wall returned to Forget Me Not Children's Home Nepal for the second time as part of the RAWCS team constructing a stone wall to retain the property where our Eco Village will be built. This is Jason's story....
So, I returned myself to my seat, I fastened my seat belt, I returned my seat to the upright position, I secured my tray table......... and thought......... I’m ready........ HAAAAA
The second descent into Kathmandu was just as impressive as the first, the thick layer of what some may call Fog.... was just as thick. It’s in fact a Hybrid of Fog, and Pollution..... Dusty and thick and just lies there.... and its revolting.... You can’t see through it.... You just hope the pilots can. The mountains around the valley of Kathmandu well I was going to say they don’t change... but three weeks or so into the trip I learnt .... They Do.... Every angle you look at them, every angle of the sun or shade they have the ability to give you a different perspective.
As you fly in its like a circular blade almost, a very old one that has teeth missing and others that have survived the test of time, some that have rubbed against something over years of use and have a gleaming shine to them and some that are menacing and old and look like they are about to crumble or fall off. Impressive and a tiny bit scary at the same time, considering that’s all you can see for a fair bit of that decent you are half way through.
So all of a sudden you can see the patch work of Kathmandu. Its starts with the look of almost some farming land, although its layered and looks quit dry and arid, it then builds up too the odd three of four story scattered building, generally in some state of non finished-ness.... Then it hits, the city... no high rises, just a scattered patchwork of incomplete buildings that look old.... old and incomplete and streets that weave their way through the maze of buildings that increase in number and compactness in seconds until all you can see is this amazing built up ant farm like chaos below and i think that’s when I was happy and excited about being back in Nepal again.....
For those, like me, without pre organised Visa’s you stand in line, after filling out a second form inside the terminal, and for the first timers, that haven’t been so diligent in there preparation, you might be told prior to the first half an hour of standing there that you need a passport photo, if you haven’t one, you leave the line and stand in a queue to get one, then back in the other line again... Eventually you reach the part of the queue where you split into a few lines then eventually you reach the part where it says, stand behind the line and wait to be called.... You don’t of course, because as you will learn in Nepal, in any kind of traffic situation, if there is a gap in front of you and your not filling it..... Someone behind you will try and fill it very bloomin soon, and with no airs and graces... just a beep of the horn, a squeak of the bike hooter or just a simple grunt and shuffle of the feet....
So after being told and shown how you have filled the form out incorrectly and changing a few things and the immigration folks determining how long your here for, you pay your money and get through, you weave your way through to where your luggage has generally been pulled of the conveyor belt and placed in a heap, where lots of “Porters” are waiting, you ignore the pleas from them as to where are you going and do you need a taxi and try not to make eye contact, then eventually make your way through to the luggage x-ray area...... “Yeah Right” two huge machines that I swear are bigger than any Hospital Xray room I’ve seen, manned by a couple of uniformed folks... that are waving you through.... You think great... I don’t look like a terrorist.... than realise that no one is getting their luggage checked.....
Then the fun begins.... Taxi, Taxi, sir, you need a hotel sir, Change sir, excuse me sir, taxi, taxi, you need a lift sir, change sir, Hotel sir, where you going sir, you need a car sir, bus sir, what hotel, where you staying, sir sir sir a taxi change hotel, you need change sir..... and it doesn’t stop.... But hears where my first and second trip vary so much..... Last time.... well, ..... No one knew I was coming.... suffice to say, I don’t plan any more surprises like that again.... Three hours in the airport waiting and enduring constant sir, sir, can I help you sir, taxi, taxi, taxi sir hotel.... not again... I avoided eye contact, and weaved my way through to the outside, the first thing I noticed was that it wasn’t Holli Day.... I arrived on a very colorfull and wet festival day last year and wondered what the hell was going on and try hard to avoid being plastered with color and water for the time I was waiting.... This time I had hardly breathed my first breath of Kathmandu air, or coughed my first dusty cough, or growled my first, gutterall flem from the bowls of my througt when I heard..... Mr Jason, Mr Jason, welcome mr Jason.... and bobbing up in the distance behind the crowds was the familiar and ever smiling face of the one and the only.... Manjit..... How happy was I to be back in Nepal......
This happiness increased tenfold when we visited the girls..... It was like I was being accepted again for the first time.... but this time was more powerful as I felt an acceptance a familiarity from the girls as they welcomed me to their home once again, and the happiness to see a familiar face they came to recognise and trust again so quickly.... again it was really overwhelming.... I didn’t realise what it was until I later was sitting and talking to some of the girls and they remembered many things from what we talked about nearly a year ago..... I was blown away.... and so pleased I could rekindle the relationship with these both very special and lucky girls, both beautiful and intelligent girls and girls that I am once again so confident that will grow and evolve and in turn make such a difference and allow real growth and goodness to reign.... through love and education, with the ability to grow and live and learn in a safe and nurturing environment. Yep........ Its good to be back.....
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