Nepal 4: Creatures big and small

The boys were fascinated by the spiders...



These ones had to be coaxed out of their dens...



There were butterflies everywhere



we managed to photograph 3 different kinds





Brahminy ducks

Stork



Spotted deer



Gaur (Indian bison)



One-horned Indian rhinos



Langur monkeys



Wild boar

Marsh mugger crocodile



and of course, the Asian elephants.



The closest we ever came to a tiger!

Nepal 3: Craft

Thamel is the tourist suburb of Katmandu. It is where you will find all the backpackers and budget accommodation, the trekking and adventure companies and of course the craft shops.



The narrow streets are lined with small shops selling everything from clothes to trekking gear. Buddist and Hindu statues, traditional crafts and other obvious touristy trinkets are everywhere.



I loved the clothes!



Felt made from yak-wool is very typical of Nepalese culture. Obviously it had to be adapted for the tourist trade.



Yak wool



Cotton yarn



Rayon from Bhutan. I always thought rayon was a synthetic material, but apparently not. Although it is a manufactured material it is made from natural fibres. I bought a piece from this shop to make into a tablecloth. I have since found out that the process of producing the material causes a lot of environmental pollution. I am now less impressed with my purchase.



Silk shop



Sari shop



A woven throw from a road-side stall



Crocheted truck-decorations sold next to the road. We never had a chance to stop at one of these stalls, so this is the best photo I could get. The women sat on the ground next to the road in small groups crocheting. The trucks coming from India are all heavily decorated inside and out.



This boy was working his pedal-powered Singer at high speed. He works in a shop that sells decorated t-shirts. He can make any design you want, even brands like Reebok and Hard Rock! He was wearing a school uniform so I assume he was the owners' son and not child labour (which is rife in Nepal).



Street art on the side of a delapidated building.



This man carried a tray with small bottles of coloured pigment. He had a range of minute little stamps with which he could make beautiful patterns on your body. He made one on my hand. It is really pretty but unfortunately it doesn't last very long.

Nepal 2: Bricks and Stones

The temples and older buildings in Katmandu are all decorated with detail brickwork. They sometimes get lost in all the other colours and chaos of street life.



A dado here..



and a corner detail there..



When I go back (yes, I'll be back) I will look for a building supply store to buy some of these.

Outside the city we were surprised to see the quality of the stone masonry. Simple rural houses and walls were built with the greatest precision and skill.



In the building walls the openings were filled with mud, but in the garden walls they were just dry stacked...



..and moss covered

Nepal 1: Wood carvings

My family spent the past week travelling through Nepal.



It was kind of a whirlwind tour as there are far too much to see in one week.



We travelled by road from Katmandu to Bandipur and Pokara and from there to the Chitwan National Park and back to Katmandu.



In the next few posts I will share a few of my favourite images from our trip.



Hinduism is the main religion, with Buddhism also very popular.



Every building or property has a shrine or temple devoted to some or other god.



The religious aspect really did nothing for me,



but I loved the architectural detail everywhere.

Welcome to our home...

The lilies in the entrance hall are really beautiful today.



I love lilies. It is one of the few flowers which still has a smell. When the front door is open the breeze carries the fragrance through the whole house. I sit upstairs at my desk and I smell them...

Blackwork

I am trying my hand at blackwork...

watch this space...

Look what I found on the beach this morning...

Arabian Gulf sea snake (Hydrophis lapemoides)


Still very much alive! This is what the ARKive website has to say: Prey is caught by means of a swift bite, administering a highly toxic, fast-acting venom, which kills the victim and also breaks down its tissues to aid digestion. Despite the venom being highly toxic to humans, sea snakes are usually placid and present little threat.



Fish traps (gargoor) Traditionally made from palmbranches, these 'modern' ones are made from wire.



and of course a walk on the beach wouldn't be complete without a collection of shells...

Old t-shirts become new... what?

The boys are in that pre-teen phase of life where they grow so fast you can almost see them getting taller by the minute. It means their wardrobes needs adjusting on a regular basis.
During the summer I threw out loads of t-shirts which was to small, not worn enough to throw away, but not new enough to pass on either. So I had to find another use for them.

I decided to cut them into strips to make 'yarn'. I found a tutorial on Instructables (I really searched but I can't find the link anymore!) on how to cut a t-shirt into a continious strip.


Soon the pile of t-shirts turned into a pile of yarn-balls.


The balls sat around my work table for a month or so as I did not have a hook big enough for the thickness of the yarn.


But today I finally got around to trying out my new 10mm hook. Now I have a t-shirt-yarn hexagon. It feels thick and strong but also soft and plyable at the same time.


So what will it become? Any suggestions?