Ayurveda

I've had headaches for 20 years and I've eaten more medicine than anyone should do.
Three weeks ago the pharmacy declared that it was shortage of my migrain medicine and I panicked. When I get the migrain attachs there is nothing that helps except this medicine.
For days at a time I stayed in bed and if you have headaches you know you're on the verge of insanity when there is nothing you can do to stop it.
By chance, or fate according to me, I happened to wander a street I've never been on before and there was this ayurveda shop.
Just a small, small shop with lots and lots of buckets and plastic bags of mysterious roots and herbs.
In the middle sat a young man and I followed my senses and sat down with him.
It turned out he was an ayurvedic "medicine man" (my words) and the knowledge has transfered down from father to son for generations.
This is Madhu. A 27 year old man with a wish for travelling, but he is stuck in his shop since he has to support his whole family.

Uptil now I've only come across shops selling readymade ayurveda medicine, but Madhu is the real deal.
I told him about the problems with my health and he said he could help me.
At that point I had nothing to loose so I told him to work his magic.
He put together about 20 different herbs and roots with strange names, most of them picked in remote places in the Himalayas.

Then his worker crushed and mixed it all in a big mortar and it was hard work for him.

This is the final powder that I mix with honey, about one teaspoon, morning and evening.

He also gave me a paste that comes from a black stone that is exposed by water, maybe from a waterfall, I can't find any information about it, and I eat a pinch of it every morning.
It's horrible, sticky and tastes like tar.

I hoped this would help, but I had no idea it would help so fast and permanent.
After five days of the daily intake I woke up and felt everything was different. No headache or heavy head since then!
It's a true miracle and I really want to share this with you.
Read more about ayurveda here.
This is ancient medicine based only on natural ingredients and Madhu makes the medicine to each individual's needs.
If you are interested in trying this, please let me know.
Maybe you are like me. You have tried the pharmaceutical options available, but it only ease your symphtoms for a while. Maybe you don't have anything to loose either.
You can eat ayurvedic medicine even if you don't have a medical condition. Just to keep your immune system intact and keep your body and mind in shape.
I can definately recommend Madhu's magic!

Rato Machhendranath festival in Patan

Last year we went to see the Rato Machhendranath chariots when it was standing on the square in Patan, but since a relative of Alina had died, and the tradition says the whole family is not allowed to celebrate anything for one year, we never saw them pull the chariots down the street.
This year we got the chance and since Alina's house is located next to the street where they pulled the chariots we had the perfect view for this intense, crowded event.
Read more about the festival here.

See more photos here.
Here you can see videos:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi is the famous democracy fighter in Myanmar, (former Burma,) who has been in house arrest for 15 years and has won the Swedish Nobel Peace prize.
Read more about this remarkable woman here.
She is in Nepal right now, for a program arranged by B P Thought Academy, named after the Nepalese political legend B P Koirala.

Yesterday we decided to go to Hyatt today and have brunch and I couldn't believe my eyes when we practically ran in to this heroine.
I was completely star struck, but I managed to click one photo.
I sure will remember this special day!
Aung San Suu Kyi is the women in the white and pink dress.

Gary

Our customer and friend Gary has come to check out Nepalese clothes for his shop.
His homebase is New York, but he lives in Cambodia, the new Thailand for expats, for tourists who wants to live the luxury life next to the beach and for backpackers who wants to live and eat cheap.
Today he went to Nagarkot, a small village in the mountains not too far from Kathmandu.

Here you can read more about Cambodia. I must confess I didn't know much about it before I met Gavin.
The beach in Cambodia looks heavenly!

Kevin

We are working with the American Kevin, who has a project where Nepalese women are making t-shirts to earn their own money.
Read more about his fine work here.

New road

Finally they are putting asphalt on the road outside our house. It's been so dusty in dry weather.

Puja in our house

We've had a puja, a religious ceremony in our house.
The landlord honored his dead father with a 24/7 loud puja, when they sang the same melody over and over again day and night.
They borrowed one of our rooms for the Brahmin priests and of course they used our toilet too.
After 32 hours we were almost insane from hearing the music and since the priests didn't know how to flush the toilet we decided to escape to a hotel.
They had transformed the drive way to a temple.

In this hole, they made for this occasion, there was a fire burning the whole week.

Here you can see and hear 2 minutes. We could take 1920 minutes before we moved.
And this is our toilet after it's been used by priests for a week. Not very nice.

New glasses

Leya needed new glasses and I must say it's not very expensive here.
Only 20 USD/150 kr to make this pretty face even prettier.

Kitty company

When I had lunch in town this little cute cat joined me for some chicken.

Before I knew it she had jumped up next to me to be closer to the food.

She took a power nap and when she realized the food was finished she trotted of to the next animal lover.

Bank account

When you open a bank account in Sweden you only have to show your id card. The banks are practically begging you to open an account in their bank.
Here it's a different story.
All the forms were in Nepali, I had to write down my father's and mother's name and passport numbers, I had write down all Nicholas indormation and even my dead grand father's name, lucky I didn't need his passport numer too, I had to write down all the contact information to our landlord, draw a map to our house and sign four times in the same page so they can compare my signs when I'm withdrawing money.
Of course this is very strange to me, but I had two heroes with me. Suresh did all the paper work and talked to the bank staff and Suresh' friend came along to recommend me as a current account holder in the bank.
Since I know all the hassle with the visa applications I didn't think I would get the account without some additional fuss, but the day after Suresh could go to the bank and pick up my check book.
In about 45 days I will get an ATM card, but before then I have to use the checks.
I remember when my parents used checks when I grew up. It feels like ages ago and getting the check book in my hand was a major flashback.
I'm so happy to have my own bank account in Nepal!
I could never have done it without these guys!

Super arm

This is an instant post directly from the bed. It's 12.31 am and everyone is sleeping.
This is my favorite time of the day when I can listen to 80's music in my head phones and surf around the web for inspiration.
The reason why I'm writing today of all days, right now, is because Nicholas just said something hilarious in his sleep.
He speaks at this time almost every night, but he usually mumbles so I can't understand a single word of what he is saying.
Tonight was a different story. He said it in Swedish, but I will translate it for you:

8 hours super arm.
You get it ever day.
8 hours super arm.
You get it from this god.
Don't you get it?
It's time to charge the arm.

The reason why I heard him through the nostalgic tunes was because he was shaking his arm frenetically while talking.
I love my husband so much! 13 years together and he can still make me laugh. Especially when he's asleep.

Happy Buddha Purnima!

Yesterday we enjoyed the kids at Leya's school's first parents day.
Leya said a few lines, she sang, played keyboard and danced.
She loved being on stage, so hopefully it wasn't the last time.
Click here to see more photos.
They were so cute!

Leya's new dress

Tomorrow it's parents day at school so Leya got a new dress and shoes.
She wanted an orange dress, but marron is also one of Buddha's "colors".
The kids are going to preform a tribute to Buddha's birthday.
We are very excited to see her first school show.
She has some lines she will say to us parents and the children will sing and dance.

Guess the plant ...

The summer has arrived in full speed. Better late than never, as some may say.
For me it's just too hot. 30 degrees more or less, but I shouldn't complain.
In Sweden I know people are longing for the summer with only 12-15 degrees today.
Can you guess what plant this is?
We've had it for a few months and when I bought it it had big red, beautiful flowers.
For awhile I almost gave up since it looked so bare and boring, but now it's starting to come alive again.

Yes, it's a Poinsettia, also known as Christmas star.
So, now you know you don't have to throw them out after Christmas.

Happy birthday Buddha!

Today it's Buddha's birthday and it's celebrated with a national holiday here in Nepal.
In Tibetan Buddhism Buddha is sometimes painted in a dark blue color, the same blue as the stone lapis lazuli.
Since the Tibetan Buddhism is a big part of Nepal you can find a lot of the blue Buddha, also known as Medicine Buddha since the lapis has a history of healing, here.

NepalSisters

Last weekend it was the last Sunday in the Nepalese month of Baishakh, so Leya and Eva were free from school both Saturday and Sunday.
We picked up Eva in Thamel and then we went to pick up Leya at school. Leya was so happy to see Eva again.
They are truly sisters and best friends.

Sunday we went to Fun Park for a fun day.

New friends who wanted to take a photo with NepalSisters.

A rat in the kitchen

Since we are trying to get my mother-in-law to move to Nepal, Nicholas didn't want me to post this picture, but I can't help myself since the ratsie was so cute.
If you are able to ignore the wormy tail, that is.
It's only the second rat we've had in this house and the first one Angel took care of like the expert rat killer she is.
We caught the rat on the kitchen counter after we've seen her run there like the speed of lightning a few times.
She apparently liked honey dipped bread and she was so cute that Leya wanted to keep her.
Well, she wasn't that cute to Nicholas and I, so I let her go on an empty field not too far from our house.
So, now she is someone elses problem.

The Guru mystery

I promised to get back to you when I had investegated about the mysterious disapperance of the Guru who was supposed to perform the 24/7 puja in our house.
It wasn't that mysterious after all.
He died of age, 82 years, the day before it all was supposed to begin.
I must admit we hoped for something to happen to prevent this event from taking place, but we never wished for this old man to die.
But, nature has it's cause and this puja too apparently.
They are just waiting for another date and another Guru and we have to move out for a week so we don't get insane.
I don't think those Pashupatinath sadhus, holy men, will attend this puja, but they are crazy cool.

Lizzie in Thamel

Nowadays I bring Lizzie evertime I'm going to Thamel for work.
She just falls asleep where ever I stop and is just happy to be with me.
Today I bought 10 kg saris for a customer and of course I just happened to buy some for myself.
Lizzie enjoyed the good energies flowing from all the vintage saris.

Order from Asianet

Finally things are moving with Asianet and the teleshop video with our Prana nail mat.
We are told the video will be dubbed in Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada and be shown in the states Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka, covering approx 200 miljon people.
This is breathtaking and we can only dream of what this will do for our future.
The first order is only 25 mats, but this is just the beginning.
Soon you can find Prana nail mat here. Yiippee!