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.