The joy of phones

Another warm fun day in the 'du. Met up with some friends at the after hours office yesterday - the Professor (who isn't really a professor) was in a very good mood which means one thing - he will hug you all night! And then I was lucky enough to run into him this morning as well! Lots of mates are coming back to town now so I am never surprised who I bump into on the street.
This morning I went to immigration to extend my visa which runs out next week. usually it takes several hours, so you go and come back and waste all day basically. To my complete surprise, for the sum of only Rs 500 (less than 10 bucks) I could get it issued in 10 minutes. So of course I took advantage of this 'offer'.
Now that I am back in Nepal it is very difficult for Robin to call me in the afternoon/evening as the mobile network here is completely jammed. The 'best' time for him to get through is 6am. Or so he thinks! So here is what our phone calls sound like:
ring ring (well it is a Punjabi dance song but you know what I mean)
mrmph
good morning darling how are you? It is a beautiful day here.
mmm
are you in bed?
grrr
so how was the engagement party?
mrph blmph sari glub beautiful glmph rsft food
oh that sounds great! Packing the yaks now so I'll go and I'll call you tomorrow. Go back to sleep now.
F%*&^@
Love you too.

So romantic!
For some reason we have had extra electricity yesterday and today but of course because it is unannounced nobody knows when it is coming or for how long. So I never use the bonus time for banking!
Speaking of which, new banking rules here and in India are a real pain in the butt. In order to combat money laundering in both countries, the maximum withdrawal at an ATM is Re10,000 in India, and Rs15,000 in Nepal. BUT you can make up to 5 withdrawals in a day. So that stops people laundering money HOW???? So the queues at the ATM are very long now as people try to get enough money out to pay for a trek or whatever.
Only another 8 days till the deadline for the constitution passes without it being written - and we are all expecting trouble, which is why I got a multi entry visa just in case I decide to scoot off somewhere if the situation gets bad. Though Bangkok doesn't look like an option! And I can't go back to India (in theory) for 2 months - another new rule to combat terrorism. Don't ask. Pakistan looks nice? or Bangladesh for a beach holiday?  Perhaps Tibet would let me in now!

Well, here's a picture of the view I get in my after hours office:

Like a Wir-gin

Sorry, I promised I would make that the title of this blog. Because that's how well brought up Indian girls sing Madonna's song. I laughed till I nearly choked. Lucky I didn't have a mouthful of the snack Manish keeps ordering for us to eat, which he and his friends call Elephant Peni$. Here's a photo of it so you can make your own mind up, and if you've never seen an elephants one don't blame me.

Not a lot has happened since I last bloggerated you - I made that word up can you tell? The power kept coming and going yesterday so I ended up having a shower and getting dressed in the dark - the first thing I grabbed last night was only half an outfit, so I had to have another go. Never try to co-ordinate a matching outfit in the dark - always just go for the black dress.
So I was back at Harry's Karaoke last night and the joint was jumping. Quite a big crowd - me the only foreigner as usual here in the 'burbs - but they were all competing with each other to sing so I just sat back and enjoyed myself. It's rather good to be in a foreign country and not hang out with other tourists or expats - get out and see what the local people do for fun. And I'll say this for Indians in general - give them a microphone (or a loud hailer) and you will struggle to get it back again. Poor Manish was running from one side of the room to the other grabbing microphones as 2 tables were taking turns to delight us with all sorts of musical offerings. And then they screamed and screamed for Dancing Queen and I ended up on the dance floor with one...a little bit Oxford Street!
The next adventure was getting home. Manish very kindly gave me a lift to save the driver hanging around all night waiting, and we had to try a few entrances to the gated community before we finally made it here. It's like a crazy maze, but so much more difficult in the dark. Hauz Khas by Night is not a tour I expect to be booked out anytime soon! Gawd.
The news this morning shows me that Greece has gone bonkers, Nepal is still bonkers and heading for total bonkerdom, and that today we will all surely learn that the Mumbai gunman will be executed for his trouble. Well, I'd be very surprised if that wasn't the sentence handed down. Though of course here in India, like many other countries, these sentences take years to finally, if ever be carried out. India rarely carries out the sentence, unlike some other places I could name.
Heard from Robin while I was eating lunch - he went for a visit to a monastery this morning and then found some local weavers and bought me a dress - the weaver apparently had her loom set wrong, and so the material came out as 1.8m wide by 2.5 m long - which is way too big for your average Bhutanese lady. So he got it cheap for me. How the hell I am supposed to wear a length of material as a dress is anybody's guess.... hope I don't have to wear it to meet the king!
The sat phone saga continues - I am now trying to get hold of the man in Abu Dhabi to tell him to call Robin in half an hour, as his phone is on the horse but will arrive soon. And now I get the Abu Dhabi answering service in 8 different languages I don't speak. GRRRRR. This could turn out more annoying than last years broken stoves. For those of you who missed that palaver: http://www.adventure.com.au/webforum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=55 will bring you up to speed.
LUNCH BREAK INTERRUPTED BY PHONE CALLS....
Well you won't believe this - a breakthrough! We have an iPhone which didn't seem to be working anywhere, so I just used it to play hangman. Anyway, Robin can call the iPhone from the sat phone, but can't call my phone with Indian Sim. I can't call the Bhutan phone or the sat phone from the iPhone, but I can call the Bhutan phone from the Indian Sim, and the iPhone doesn't work at all in Nepal. ARE YOU KEEPING UP???? So, it does appear that what the nice man at Thuraya told me was true - the  Indian government are blocking all calls in their area (not just their country) to or from sat phones and phones they can't trace (like the roaming iPhone). How bloody ridiculous.
I'm off to buy another phone - 2 just isn't enough to carry around in my opinion!!!!!
And have a lie down

Friday Fun

Well it didn't start off as much fun - I had the random phone calls from Qatar - started at 12.30 and went for about 45 minutes. Many Nepali people have gone to work overseas and call home on a regular basis, and this fellow was obviously trying to phone home but had the wrong number. Repeatedly. No matter how many times I tried to explain that I didn't know who he was trying to call, and that this was MY phone number which I had had for 2 years, he insisted that last week he spoke to his friend on it. He wouldn't give up so after I hung up a few times, and then let him shout into the pillow since he was convinced he had the right number, the phone got turned off and I managed to get some sleep.
And of course last night was the play at the British Embassy 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. it was a surprisingly good production, and my acquaintance Adele who played Cecily was hilarious. The man who played Lady Bracknell had everybody in stitches. I think it fair to say that a good night was had by all, and the buffet afterwards certainly got cleaned out in a hurry.
Robin called me briefly from somewhere or other yesterday, but the connection was absolutely dreadful, so I said I would call him back. I spent the next 90 minutes trying to do just that. What a waste of time. Friday afternoons/evenings are terrible for the phone system here because everyone is trying to organise their one day off (Saturday) and the system just can't cope. I spoke to Robin this morning and he made it to Simikot about 9ish and is trying to get on the last flight out to get to Nepalganj today and catch the late afternoon flight to cone back here. Of course, I've not heard back so am none the wiser but I will just have to wait and see. The fun of logistics never stops.
And the big local news, apart from the fact the the former PM (several times) GP Koirala is once again 'on the way out' (well he is 87) is that the cops raided the Babylon disco yesterday morning at 8am and found 356 school students (mostly in their uniforms)who were 'dancing, lying on the floor and some were committing lewd acts'. Apparently. The students were outraged that they were arrested and taken to the infamous Hanumandhoka lockup (a most unsavoury place)and their parents are horrified to see their little darlings on the front pages of the newspaper. Well of course. I am outraged that the normal entrance fee is Rs200, but on Friday mornings at 8am it is Rs50 - schoolies special price perhaps. I may have to go there one Friday morning and check it out - NOT.
Oh and a great photo today in the paper of a chap in some kind of patterned overalls with one of those backpack spray thingies squirting a bicycle while the bemused owner looked on. The caption? " A member of the Rapid Response team disinfects a bicycle in Nawalparasi to avert the spread of bird flu". Thank goodness for the Rapid Response Team.
OOOH Robin just rang - he got out of Simikot to Surket and is now about 3 hours drive away from Nepalganj. Time for Basecamp team to try to change his flights from tomorrow to this afternoon. Wish me luck.