New Year in Nepal

In India we always get a week's holiday for Holi - the festival of colours that marks the end of winter and the start of spring.  Holi is traditionally the Hindu New Year.   It's a pretty crazy time in India, so this year we decided to try our luck in Nepal.  We planned to fly to Kathmandu, spend a few days there, travel to Pokhara, and then back to Kathmandu again for the end of the week.  It was a lovely time to visit Nepal - the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler than in Mumbai.  Actually on the first day that we got there it was cold and rainy.

We walked through the muddy streets as far as Durbar Square.  It was immediately clear that there was a lot of damage from the earthquake 2 years ago, as some of the buildings had been completely destroyed.  Others were propped up or were in the process of being rebuilt.

Kal Bhairav (representing Shiva in his destructive manifestation) 

Basantapur Durbar - a 9 storeyed tower built in 1770.

Part of the palace complex

We went into the Kumari-ghar Temple of the Living Goddess, and then went back again at 4pm to catch a glimpse of her at the upstairs window.  She didn't stay long - someone had a camera and she quickly disappeared.

 

After Durbar Square we went to Swayambhunath, the "monkey" temple.  It was quite a walk up to the top - but there was a great view over Kathmandu.

Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh

I attended the Vietnam Technology Conference along with several other ASB teachers.  I was making a presentation there about sustainable innovation.  It was a long flight to get there - via Singapore.  I've been to the north of Vietnam before but never to the south, so I was keen to see how it compared.

Saigon South, where the conference was held, was quite a way out of the "downtown" area.  We stayed in a hotel downtown which meant we could walk to all the major sights.  These included the statue of Ho Chi Minh and the Notre Dame Basilica.  Some of the architecture had a definite European feel (as did some of the food).

But there were also other parts that were very reminiscent of South East Asia, for example take a look at this woman who has set up her entire shop (selling pop-up cards) on the back of her motorbike.  Not quite Thailand - most of the pavements were very wide, well maintained, and clear of people selling things on them - and so definitely very different from India.

One of the most moving things we did there was to visit the War Relics Museum.  Outside the museu in the yard there are various pieces of military equipment, for example helicopters and fighter planes and bombers.  Inside there are several rooms devoted to photography showing the impacts (even right up to the present day) of the use of Agent Orange and napalm, as well as photography of various war atrocities such as the My Lai massacre.

The War Remnants Museum is close to the Independence Palace (also known as the Reunification Palace).  It was the home of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and symbolized the end of the war and the fall of Saigon in 1975 when the North Vietnamese tanks crashed through its gates.  We took a walk around the outside of the palace, before heading off to the market to go shopping.

New art in Bandra

There's some great new art popping up around S.V. Road in Bandra.

Not so boring Bahrain

I came to Bahrain for 2 days for a NESA PD Meeting.  I arrived early on the Saturday morning so had most of the day to myself before meeting up with some of the other members of the Ed Tech leadership group.   Once I'd dropped my bags at the hotel, I set off for a morning wander through the souk.  On the way back I stopped and took a photo of the World Trade Centre (quite an amazing looking building)

The hotel courtesy car took me to the Bahrain National Museum which is full of great interesting art and other exhibitions.

It was also possible to take a boat from the museum to a local fort at Bu Maher.  On the way there was also some lovely art.

I met up with these IT teachers from Bahrain and Pakistan and they went with me on the boat to Bu Maher Fort.

 

It was great to have the opportunity to visit this country - though a weekend was just about enough to see most things!  I spent the last evening I was there hanging out at the Movenpick by their pool, before heading back to the airport.  It was a great weekend!

A foggy day in North Norfolk

We decided to have a day out on the North Norfolk coast - unfortunately the day we chose turned out to be less than ideal as it was cold and foggy.  As we had been on holiday to Cromer as children, we decided we'd take mum back there to see if she could remember any of it.  On the way there we stopped at the run of Baconsthorpe Castle.

 

The weather had improved slightly by the time we got to Cromer.  We had a short walk down the pier and then went for fish and chips.

On the trail of Duleep Singh

The search for the story behind the Koh-i-Noor diamond continues. One afternoon we went in search of more facts from local history about Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of the Punjab. We started at Elveden church, where Duleep Singh is buried.

Basically the story is that the British forced Duleep Singh to resign his throne and exiled him to England.  The Koh-i-Noor diamond was "passed" to Queen Victoria and ended up in the Crown Jewels.  Duleep Singh settled at Elveden Hall (up the road from mum's).

Duleep Singh wanted to be buried in India, but the British refused to honour his request and brought his body back to Elveden where he is buried in a Christian graveyard, despite the fact that he had re-embraced the Sikh religion. Duleep Singh is buried next to his wife, the Maharani Bamba, and his son.

There's a statue of Duleep Singh on Butten Island, Thetford, so we went there next. Duleep Singh wanted to return to the Punjab but was not allowed as the British feared it would cause unrest.  He tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the Czar of Russia to invade India from the north and reinstate him as the ruler of the Punjab. Until his death, he struggled to reclaim his throne.

"To this day the Sikh nation aspires to regain its sovereignty."

Ice-skating at Hampton Court

A bit of a foggy day at Hampton Court Palace, but a wonderful backdrop for ice skating.

This year for our Christmas holidays we flew overnight to London from Mumbai, arriving on the Saturday morning early.  We picked up our hired car and drove to Rachel's where we were joined by Joal and Jenny.  Our plan was to go ice-skating for the afternoon.  Hampton Court is not far from where Rachel lives, and they were all keen to go there.  I didn't actually go on the ice myself, however I went and investigated the story of Sophia Duleep Singh, who was the daughter of Duleep Singh (of the Koh-i-noor diamond fame). 

Duleep Singh's daughter, Sophia, was a suffragette and a revolutionary. She lived in a grace and favour apartment outside the gates of Hampton Court Palace (unfortunately it's not open to the public - I checked when I was there . There has recently been a new book published about her life. My research into this amazing family continues.  My aim is to go back to Hampton Court with Rachel in the summer when we have time to explore it fully.  However this was a good activity to do on a winter's day.