My House

The house I live in is one of the best in Bharatpur. It was built by the Chief of Police, and the neighbors say he got all his materials and labor for free. It is now owned by someone else and provided as a home for the flight instructors.

All the floors are made of marble, including the front porch. The high ceilings are painted white and decorated with gold filigree designs and stars. My room has a large ceiling fan for hot summer nights. The temperature is cooler now, and fans are not needed.

All the buildings here are made by hand - the bricks are formed by hand and fired in underground pits, the foundation is dug by hand, the cement is mixed and poured by hand. Sometimes a power saw is used, but other resources are not available. Everyone works on the house - the children, the grandparents, friends and neighbors. Most houses are built to be 2 or 3 stories high, although they are built in stages: first the ground floor, then everyone can move in, then the next floor for more bedrooms and another bath. Rooftop balconies and gardens are common.

The ground floor of my house has a large living room, formal dining room, kitchen, bedroom, and a traditional Nepali bathroom - with a pit in the floor instead of a toilet. When Nepali guest spend the night, that is the room they use.

My room is on the second floor. There are 2 bedrooms, one bath (with toilet), and a sitting area with a TV. We have cable, and we get all the Nepali stations plus CineMax, HBO, and Stars. There is a vast network of pirated cable here, so premium channels are "free". I have a private balcony off my room which faces the morning sun.

When my boss is in town (maybe one or two days a month), he stays in the other bedroom.

Paul, the other instructor, lives on the third floor, where there is only one bedroom and bath. From here are stairs to the roof, where you can get a pretty good view of the town.

The front of the house once had beautiful gardens and lawns, but the owner brought in a baby pig. The baby grew up into an adult boar and destroyed almost everything. We now keep him penned up in back. I am not sure what Shivendar has in mind for this fellow.

We also have 2 miniature deer, male and female. They are the size of large dogs, and are as friendly as dogs. They keep the grass trim and eat the leaves off the trees.

Cooking in Nepal is an adventure, because they do not have stoves. But more about that later.

Thanks

I want to thank everyone for their comments and emails. Although I might not be able to reply, I read what everyone has to say. Thanks again, and I hope to be able to share my adventures in person with each one of you.

My Life So Far

I now have 5.5 Nepal flight hours. Flying here is so different from the US. For one thing, we are the only flight school in the country, so there is no one else up there practising. The airport has about 3 flights a day that arrive from Kathmandu: 2 from Buddah Air and one from Yeti Airlines. If there is a demand, more flights come in. There is no such thing as General Aviation; everything is commercial. Most of the airline pilots have gone to the US for training. Also, there is no Avgas in Nepal. My boss has it trucked in barrels. The feuling process is quite a production. The roll a barrel out to the airplane, hook up some kind of a siphoning system, and fill the tanks. It takes about 5 people to do this.

We have a full crew at the airport: engineers, mechanics, security guards, and others. The students like to hang around also. They help each other out and practise their hand signals. They bring the aircraft into the ramp just like the Big Guys. They are all on the Airline Pilot track, so it is good for them to be familiar with procedures.

Starting the airplane is quite interesting. They hook up the APU each time (just like the airlines) and have a fire extinguisher standing by (required by Nepal law). Then the pilot has to call the tower and ask permission to start the engine. The full crew stands around and waits for this to happen. When the engine has started, the APU is removed, and then the crew signals the pilot it is OK to proceed.

The tower was intimidated by all this at first, having only dealt with commercial airlines. But now they take it in stride. They get a little stressed when a flight is due in and a student is in the pattern. Usually, the student must do some 360s from the time the airline is within a mile of the airport until they have landed. This is complicated by the fact we have no taxiway. We must back-taxi on the runway before we can take off.

Once in the air, the Himalayas really shine. It would be hard to get lost with that landmark. We are very close to India, however, and must be sure not to fly too far south. Some day we hope to get permission to fly there.

On the Internet At Last!

Internet access in Nepal is dicey at best, and getting to my blog in the past week has been harrowing. I will post what I can, but I might get kicked off at any moment.

My plane ride to Kathmandu was 3 days long, although it seemed more like one continuous day. I finally made it! I expected to spend 3 days in the capital city, because that's how long it took the previous instructors to get through the paperwork. My boss picked me up at the hotel and took me to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal offices, and walked me through the process - it took about 5 minutes. Shivendar is a man with connections.

That afternoon, he had his driver take me down the scenic and depressing road to Bharatpur. It is very beautiful here, if you don't look at the squalor some are forced to live. The himalayas are everything you would expect.

OK , It's Official

I received final confirmation of my travel schedule, and I leave TOMORROW. Depart OKC for Chicago around noon. I will spend about 8 hours in Chicago, so will try to sight-see while I am there. Maybe a nice dinner on the lake shore. Then I head for London -- a long overnight flight.

Arrive in London about noon the next day. Again, another 8-hour layover. Will definitely sight-see -- probably head to the British Museum. The Tube takes me right from the airport to the museum. I didn't get to see as much as I wanted the last time I was there, so I will take advantage of the time I have. Plan on another nice dinner in London.

Then I head for Bahrain. I only spend a few hours there, so not enough time to see the city. Then, a long flight to Katmandu, the capital of Nepal. I arrive there in the middle of the night (their time; I will probably be wide awake). Hopefully, my new boss will be at the airport for my arrival, because he is in charge of my transportation from there to Bharatpur, my final destination.

The whole trip takes 3 days. That should be a breeze for a bus-traveler like me.