Sunday in Kathmandu

I had an enjoyable two hour breakfast this morning with Linda, who was due to leave for home in Holland later today. She counts as nearly Scottish, because she likes the place and her boyfriend is national bagpipe champion in Holland. Maybe we will meet again when the two of them are in Scotland this summer for the piping festival in Glasgow and for some of the Highland Games competitions.

This afternoon I had a two hour meeting with Chuda of the Namuna School trustees. He seems to be in agreement with my proposals regarding how I can best help. There is a small issue of access to computer facilities, but we are meeting again tomorrow to take things further.

Some clarification today on yesterday's road blocks. It seems that Gyan was right, but didn't have the complete story. Apparently it was all part of a protest here against the killing of a businessman by Maoist thugs. I'll include a link to a newspaper story rather than repeat it here.
http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullstory.asp?filename=aFanata0sa2qzpca4Sa4pa.axamal&folder=aHaoamW&Name=Home&dtSiteDate=20080518
I do worry slightly about the future here. There has been great expectation of the "new Nepal", but there is increasing uncertainty about this. The people have elected the Maoists as the largest party, but they seem to be having difficulty throwing off their past as bullies with their own brand of justice. The parties are supposed to come to an agreement about the new government in the next couple of weeks. One thing seems to be for sure: it probably isn't a good time to be king here, at least if you expect to hang on to your position!