A couple of days ago I met Agnieszka (or Aga) from Poland at the Pilgrim (half bookshop, half restaurant). This is is one of my favourite places in Kathmandu - comparable to that converted church in Inverness where Alistair and I had lunch not so long ago! Our common interest was in locating a supply of Proguanil pills. This is an anti-malaria pill, as recomended by pharmacists and doctors in the UK. I have supply for another few weeks, but trusted the Glasgow pharmacist's advice that I would be able to buy more in Nepal and India. As it happens Aga is a pharmacist (currently based in Sheffield, UK), and she came here with exactly the same view. Trouble is that she was due to head for Chitwan - which has a greater malaria risk than here in Kathmandu or in the mountains (where it is zero). So we agreed to set off on a joint mission and tried lots of pharmacies without success. Eventually a doctor advised us to go the to Bir Hosptal (Kathmandu's main hospital) where there is an extra large hospital pharmacy, and lots of smaller pharmacies. A taxi delvered us to the Bir - at the A&E entrance (where the big pharmacy is). I won't go into detail here, but the bottom line is that we failed to get the proguanil, and we had the extremely interesting experience of witnessing A&E proceedings for a while. I can assure you that we each came away with a thankfulness for the sort of hospital services that we have at home!
Aga has now gone off to Chitwan for a safari trip (and with a supply of an alternative anti-malarial which I won't bore you with here). Yesterday we went together to Kirtipur, an ancient Newar village near Kathmandu. This was a genuinely fascinating experience - almost as a living museum, e.g. with women manually threshing grain using ancient methods and tools. We seemed to be the only tourists in town, and had one of the best meals of our trips so far.
I'll include a pic of the two of us at lunch, me eating from a plate made of leaves (and our Newar waitress), and of a Kirtipur temple.
By the way, I welcome any comments you care to make on the blog. The way it works is that I'm notified by email and have to accept or reject the comments. The commenter is usually identified - but I cannot see the email address. I didn't come away with much of an email address book with me; so I am unable to reply to many individual comments. Sorry about this, and please don't take my lack of response as ignoring you in any way. I'll also be pleased to hear from you by email at alanmacw@yahoo.com.
Aga has now gone off to Chitwan for a safari trip (and with a supply of an alternative anti-malarial which I won't bore you with here). Yesterday we went together to Kirtipur, an ancient Newar village near Kathmandu. This was a genuinely fascinating experience - almost as a living museum, e.g. with women manually threshing grain using ancient methods and tools. We seemed to be the only tourists in town, and had one of the best meals of our trips so far.
I'll include a pic of the two of us at lunch, me eating from a plate made of leaves (and our Newar waitress), and of a Kirtipur temple.
By the way, I welcome any comments you care to make on the blog. The way it works is that I'm notified by email and have to accept or reject the comments. The commenter is usually identified - but I cannot see the email address. I didn't come away with much of an email address book with me; so I am unable to reply to many individual comments. Sorry about this, and please don't take my lack of response as ignoring you in any way. I'll also be pleased to hear from you by email at alanmacw@yahoo.com.
1 comment:
Great stuff ... soul therapy. Stay away from hospitals though.
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