Wow. I'm sitting here in Bangkok on our last night in Asia. In twelve hours we'll be boarding our planes to return home from this whirlwind six-month adventure. The time certainly feels like it has passed quickly since last November, and neither of us are quite ready to step foot back on home turf yet. While I feel like we've accomplished a quite a few pretty cool things over here, I can't seem to get rid of the questions: did we do enough? could we have done more? have our trajectories and efforts even been relevant to our own actual needs and the needs of the world-at-large? is there anywhere in the states that makes thirty-cent sticky rice with mango that's as yummy as in Thailand, or fifty-cent veg curry that's as mouth-watering as in Nepal or India?We were fortunate to be granted with heaps of praise during our last week in Kathmandu as we were treated to a jam-packed schedule of dinners, events, and good-byes with the friends and colleagues we've worked and played with in Nepal:
- I had a very productive meeting with Sanu early in the week regarding a CAD model I whipped up for a new briquette-press idea we had earlier in April. . . which uses a car-jack to apply force. Once I get him drawings, he'll have a proto made at a fabrication shop we visited a few weeks ago. If the proto works as we hope it will, it could drastically boost productivity vs. the screw press. We also discussed a pending grant with a US-based foundation, which if played right could place a huge solar cooker at Papa's house.
- We rolled up to Papa's House(s) in Dhapasi two nights in a row to talk with Michael about Dumrikharka and the future of the project we began there and say 'bye' to all the kids, staff, and volunteers. Michael, Peter, and a few of their associates have been excited about the report I wrote up on Dumrikharka, and want to both take that project to the next level and replicate the project at other NOH-funded sites. I've agreed to continue volunteering with the organization stateside to help grow this project into something really cool...
- We spent one evening at Martyr's Memorial Hospital, where Ashley's been volunteering/observing, to watch a leg amputation (a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I absolutely couldn't refuse!). I thought we'd be watching from a distance, but the surgeon handed us his camcorder and had us film the whole thing just a few feet from the bed. It was pretty cool to see the whole process as the surgeons cauterized everything as they cut through it, pinched and cut off the femoral artery and ciatic nerve with quick precision, broke a sweat and switched off as they worked through the femur with a hacksaw, and finally stretched and sewed the skin over the mess of tendons, muscle, and bone to tidy up the stump. Even cooler than the amputation was the anesthesia: the patient was semi-conscious and talking to a nurse for short periods late in the operation (thankfully NOT as the surgeons were violently shaking his leg with the hacksaw), and although was vaguely aware that something was going on behind the screen that blocked his face from the rest of his body, didn't express any pain or sensation. It was difficult to watch all this without wondering if the patient would have even needed an amputation under more developed Western medical care, but it was incredibly interesting nonetheless.
- Sanu invited us to attend the first ceremony (of four official ones) of this niece's wedding in Kathmandu, in which the bride receives an initial array of offerings from the groom (who doesn't attend this particular event) and his family. By accepting the first gift, the bride commences the celebration, and over the next week a host of rituals are played out between the new couple and their families. Although Ashley and I only saw a tiny part of the whole, we really enjoyed meeting Sanu's extended family. He even brought us to his brother's home to introduce us to his semi-bedbound father, a lanky and completely coherent 98-year-old professional singer/musician who spent his career singing traditional Newari songs at events around Nepal and was a star on Radio Nepal.
- Sanu also organized a well-attended dinner at a delicious restaurant in Lazimpat to send us off a few nights before our departure. Amongst the forty or so attendees were nearly half of FoST's board members, many of Sanu's family members we'd met at the wedding, a few of FoST part-time employees, and two of our friends who own adventure-travel companies and are interested in utilizing FoST's ideas in their business. Of course, Sanu couldn't throw a party of this magnitude without also getting everybody riled up about FoST's latest projects and successes, and showed the two BBC World Challenge clips plus GORP Productions' mini-documentary on FoST before presenting his latest award granted by the US EPA from the recent Partnership for Clean Indoor Air conference he attended in Uganda. It was absolutely fantastic and heart-warming to have all these FoST-people in one place recognizing the small contributions we've made to the organization and Nepal.
- Throughout our last week in KTM we spent quite a bit of time eating, drinking, and hanging out with Bishnu (owns Adventure Aves, a new rafting/kayaking/adventure tour company) and his business partner of sorts, Gopi (owns Cold Feet, a new trekking/climbing/adventure tour company). These guys are young, progressive, active, cosmopolitan, smart, and endlessly friendly -- and although they're entering a pretty crowded market of adventure-tour companies in Nepal, I'm sure they'll do very well. Gopi has already acquired land and set up the beginnings of a program that will combine community-volunteering with treks and other adventures for people visiting Nepal with tight schedules, and is very interested in utilizing FoST's briquettes and stoves within this operation.
We will definitely miss Kathmandu and all the friends we've made there, and the warm & caring spirit we were sent off with has ensured a return in the not-so-distant future.
Meanwhile, Bangkok has been a fun trip all on its own. We've been uber-tourists the past few days and have pampered ourselves silly with beautiful temple tours, delicious food (including a fun breakfast with Rob and Jai), haircuts, massages galore, and ample time in dental chairs. As Bangkok is far larger, more developed, and more cosmopolitan than Portland or Seattle can ever hope to be, we've kind of been through *extreme* culture shock here, so shouldn't wig out TOO much when we arrive in Portland tomorrow.
