Thoughts of Nepal

I visited Nepal for a month in 2010. It is stunningly beautiful and one of those places you cherish in your heart and hope to return to. Kathmandu had an ageless charm and the villages, lost in the steep terraced hillsides radiated peace and friendliness.
I realised that change would come to this tiny Asian kingdom as it started to modernise, but in my wildest nightmare I had not envisaged the stark brutality of an earthquake. It is difficult to think of the loss of people, their homes and their culture.
Here are a few photos of the Nepal I saw in 2010 which lie in stark contrast to the destruction now pictured on the television. I hope these will show some aspects of the people and the culture which will need rebuilding.
Please help these people. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. You can donate following this link    http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals/nepal-earthquake-appeal
I apologise for showing off my pictures in this blog, it seems inappropriate but it is the only way I have to show everyone what is being lost.
First are some pictures of Kathmandu 5 years ago when Nepal had just survived a fairly bloodless civil war.

 











From Kathmandu I travelled to Pokhara and walked the Annapurna Sanctuary trek which takes around 5 days to get to Annapurna 1 base camp. There are no roads and the path wends up and down hills, through small villages until you reach base camp, passing through some epic scenery. These villages are so remote and still no one has been able to get there to get food and drinking water to the inhabitants. Outside of the major towns Nepal has little infrastructure.








Then three pictures of the mountains by Annapurna base camp.




Finally, this is Bhaktapur, one of the most historic towns in Nepal and a world heritage site. This was badly hit when the earthquake struck.








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