Short visit to Nepal

If you read this blog before I get back to Mukdahan, some pictures will not appear because I forgot to bring the cable to download my camera pictures.   The picture that are posted were taken by others.   

I will add my pictures in a few days if you want to go back and look at the rest of the pictures.


Our travels to Nepal took three days.   We did not make the connection on the 2nd day so we had to stay overnight in Katmandu and not arrive until Saturday.    We were flying Thai Lion airline and when coming into Katmandu, it seemed the plane was coming in too fast and at the last minute the pilot pulled up and climbed to a high altitude and made the approach again.    Once we were up, he announced it was an "unstable landing" so they decided to make the approach again.    We are glad he did because we had a safe landing on the second try.   We were an hour late landing and as we were on the bus heading to the terminal, our plane heading to Narayangarh was on the runway ready to take off.    After we went through immigration, we walked to the domestic terminal to change our flight for the next day.

Ron had searched for a hotel on-line and saw they had one Holiday Inn so he asked a taxi driver to take us there.   After a bit of discussion with other taxi drivers and pulling it up on his GPS, he said OK and we took off.   Last year, we stayed in a hotel near the airport but it was even below Ron's standard and he didn't want to stay there this time.   It was rush hour traffic at 5 p.m. so we got right in the middle of traffic and bad driving that would take your breath away.    I literally closed my eyes a couple of time because I believed we would crash.   Motor scooters and all types of vehicles were everywhere merging in and out with inches to spare.   We went through the downtown area and through market areas and alleyways and it did not appear that we were anywhere near a hotel district.  Ron and I looked at each other with a worried look.   The GPS had the driver turn down an alley and said our destination would be on the right.   (The GPS language was in English and our driver spoke very good English, to our surprise).   We were in an alley too small for the van to drive down and above a door way in that alley was a sign that said "Holiday Inn."    They probably did have rooms in that building but it was not an area of town where we felt safe.  They had only copied the name "Holiday Inn."

The driver said "This is not the Holiday Inn you thought it would be?"  We said "NO."   He said he would take us to a good hotel not far away so we ended up at a Marriott and had a really beautiful room with a senior discount.    Ron is still groaning about the price but we had all free rooms here, a free guest house room in Bangkok and I told him one night was not going to make that much difference in the expenses.

We had to be at the airport by 8 a.m. for our 9 a.m. flight the next morning..   We didn't know how the traffic would be early morning but it was not bad at all and we were there too early.   We got a muffin and coffee and waited for our flight in a very cold airport that is much like a warehouse with no heat.  The plane was delayed due to fog in Narayangarh so it could not take off until 10:30.     We flew Yeti Airlines with a very young Nepalese female pilot.   It was a small plane with about 14 seats.   I did get a few pictures of the mountains in the far distance.  


When we landed, our workers were there to meet us with a taxi for us.   When we arrived at the Himalayan School of Preaching which is next to the small guest house where we stay,  we were greeted by the staff of the school and our girls that live in this location.  It is traditional to give flowers and drape scarves around the neck of visitors to welcome them.  

You'll see from the pictures that we received a royal welcome.

The little girl in the pink coat has a tumor in her throat (maybe on the thyroid gland) and one doctor has taken a biopsy and said it is cancer    We have given advise to get a second opinion and then give us the results and we will try to work things out with Christians in Bangkok to help and get her treatment there    If it is cancer, she needs to get there soon.   She has been in one of our safe houses for a year.  The minister who oversees her brought her to meet Ron in hopes of finding medical care for her.   Her father is dead and her mother said she had never had a problem before.    She is 14 and in the 7th grade.  Her name is Sonu Rumba.   We would appreciate prayers for her.   

Our girls had to return to school so the welcoming party did not last long.   We unloaded our bags and our workers took us to the market to get things we wanted for three days (breakfast items, things for sandwiches, some soup mixes, drinks and fruit).

Saturday night we went to Ranjit's house (he is one of our workers) for his nine-year-old daughter's birthday party.   A lot of people were there so we had good fellowship with them.   They were happy to see us again this year and had many questions about our health and life.

Early Sunday morning our workers had a power point video to show us about our girls in the various locations since we were not able to travel to visit them this year.    We got a very good overview of the work and how things are going.

The church services began at 12:00.   Ron preached and Sagar, the director of the preaching school, translated.    A few of our girls skipped class and came to attend the worship.   We had the afternoon free to rest and then had dinner at Sagar's house on Sunday night.

Monday morning, we went over things with our workers.   In the afternoon, we spent some time with the NGO members (Non-Government Organization) that is registered to keep us legally working in Nepal.  All of the board members are symbolic leaders.   They are mostly from the staff at the preaching school or wives of the staff members.  

Some of our girls came by to visit with us.   Two of our girls have lumps (one in the breast and one under her arm) that I looked at and we have explained to our worker that each girl must get a needle biopsy to be sure its not cancer.   They are sisters and their names are Menuka and Kalpana Sunar.

It has been cold to Ron and me.   A small heater in the house has kept the temperature inside about 65 degrees.   The morning low is about 48 degrees and the sun brings the temperature up to about 70 outside about mid-afternoon.    They love the weather even though they have no heat in their homes

We will leave tomorrow about 11 a.m. and hope the morning fog has lifted by that time so we can make the connection in Katmandu to arrive in Bangkok about 7:45 p.m. tomorrow night.    We will stay overnight at the airport hotel because we have an early flight the next morning.   We will take the Air Asia van back to Mukdahan by the end of the day on Wednesday.