The journey so far...

Hearty Namastes from Kathmandu!I have done the Samunnat silver shopping and paid off some debts (accompanied by the delightful Becky from California!).   I found some mint pote (seed) beads at a not too exorbitant rate in the wonderful bead bajaar at Indra Chowk and successfully negotiated the streets of Thamel and their proliferation of purveyors of various forms of pleasure.  The choice was diverse - spiritual, recreational and chemical-and the purveyors persistent.  But good natured.My Nepali is rattling around in my head a bit more accessibly and I was able have a basic conversation in the plane with a gorgeous woman and her sprightly 87 year old mother who were returning to their village after three months in Singapore.  Well, I am pretty sure that is what they were doing!  We were the same age and she had an unmarried son the same age as my daughters.  Or something like that!My challenge for this afternoon will be convincing the nice young man at the domestic terminal that while the scales may read a tad over the permitted 20kgs, that really the bag is a feather weight.  The presence of the pasta machine, the corn bread mixes, the tins of tuna, the polymer clay, hundreds of jewellery findings donated by lovely Barbara and polymer moulds etc may be giving him a misleading impression of weight and really we can swing on through with nary a worry.  What are my chances?Oh, I will be SO glad to finally reach Birtamod where the Dashain festival will be just starting to pick up.  More from there soon!