Trevor's Travels

Happy First Birthday!

No Comments »6th March, 2007; Category: General

This blog is officially one year old today.

Happy First Birthday to my travel blog.

It has been an interesting journey of discovery, frustration, elation and a very steep learning curve. This blog commenced while I was staying with my son and daughter-in-law in Sydney last year. We were having a short holiday there and Simon did all the technical stuff setting up my three blogs. He still does all the maintenance on our blogs.

Thanks Sim’.

What have I learned?

Connecting: The writer’s life can be lonely at times – but on the positive side, I’ve made many contacts with people all over the world through their comments and links to this blog and my other sites. Thanks to all of you.
Selecting: The blogging world is an interesting place to live in; there are many wonderful writers who are forward looking in their thinking and express that in their writing. There’s just not enough time in each day to read it all, so one has to be very selective.
Focussing: The writer’s and blogger’s life needs to be very focussed on the task at hand. The internet can be a huge distraction and hours just fly off into the unknown leaving little time for the real work of actually writing.
Absorbing: There are so many things one needs to learn how to do to make the writer’s life and one’s blogging ventures successful. At times I felt like a giant sponge soaking up all the information about this new venture. Putting it all into practice was a challenge. Sometimes, like the sponge, I felt so bloated; at other times all wrung out and dry.
Rewarding: Being able to write over 900 blog posts for the last year has been very rewarding, giving me a great sense of achievement. Having a readership in the many thousands every month has its own rewards, especially when people connect via comments, some returning frequently. Receiving my first payment from my blogging was another reward and, though modest at this stage, it is a start.

So there you have it.

Happy First Birthday.

Reader’s Questions:

How long have you been blogging?
What have you learned from writing and blogging?

Buildings in Kathmandu

No Comments »5th March, 2007; Category: Kathmandu, Nepal

Building in Kathmandu

I was fascinated by the great variety of buildings in central Kathmandu. This was another to catch my eye and have my camera trained on it. I was puzzled by the brickwork where the grey building in front of me met the red brick building on the left. It is best viewed enlarged (click on the image).

It seems that the grey building, by its style and ornate decorations, is from an earlier era. Part of this building seems to have collapsed at some stage, possibly during the earthquake of 1934. The red brick building appears to be a more modern building, more functional than beautiful.

Notice the spaghetti tangle of cables in the lower left hand corner of the photo.

Street stalls in Kathmandu

2 Comments »4th March, 2007; Category: Kathmandu, Nepal, Shopping

Street scene in Kathmandu Nepal

It is really quite amazing what you can buy from the street vendors in a city like Kathmandu. The variety is staggering. The noise is constant. The movement of people is never ending. The smells are something you can only experience first hand. And the colours are magical.

In this photo I have shown the very colourful wreaths that were for sale everywhere, especially near temples like this one. I should have asked someone there about the religious significance of them, if that is what they are for. Perhaps readers of this blog can enlighten me by leaving a comment.

Life in central Kathmandu

No Comments »3rd March, 2007; Category: Kathmandu, Nepal

Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal

Central Kathmandu is a mixture of modern buildings, run down older structures and a variety of temples, some dating back many centuries. Some of the prominent temples are situated at the junction of several streets, others are in a small square between medium high-rise buildings. The temple shown in the photo above is one of the latter. Much of life revolves around such temples.

Throughout the day people can be seen sitting around on the steps leading to these temples. Some of these are there attempting to sell a variety of items. Others gather there to use the taps and to do their washing. All the time there is movement, pedestrians, cyclists, taxis, rickshaws and motor bikes.

Fair Trade Handicraft shops of Kathmandu

No Comments »2nd March, 2007; Category: Kathmandu, Nepal, Shopping

Temples seemed to be on every corner of every street in central Kathmandu. These vary from small structures only a few square metres in size through to very large buildings. This was one of the modestly sized ones.

Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal

If you click on the photo you will get an enlarged version. This will show up the sign in front of the temple which reads “Cottage Handicrafts Exhibition and Sales.” I didn’t visit this one but I did go to several others in different parts of the city. These are generally cooperatives selling handicrafts produced locally with a “fair trade” policy. I felt pleased to patronize several of these as the profits were going directly to local women in need. I’ll write more about that in another article.