Entries about kakani

SANY0302

This week end Simon invited us to the British Embassy cottage situated in Kakani, north west of Kathmandu on a beautiful ridge.... We went to the Lucas house for 10.30 with our bags and got ready to go to the other friends Duncan and Anne-Marie. Anne-Marie is Canadian and Duncan British and they have 2 kids Fin (Ed's best friend since 2 years ago) and Taby who is Anna's good friend too... We went to their house and Ed and Anna got on their land rover to make the journey there and I sat next to Simon changing gear as he has broken his hand 2 weeks ago.. We must be a funny site to see!!!

The journey was long as Dashai holiday makers were swamping the streets and we made very slow progress through the city, seeing all the goats being taken on their last holidays as they are due to all be sacrificed during Dashai and eaten as a ragout!!!!

Once we left the city we made quick progress and we got there for 1, just in time for lunch. Simon had bought some nice sandwiches and rolls and cakes and we were all ravenous so we sat down to eat ...

The cottage is great, very colonial and very grand!! We stayed in the bedroom to the left and when it came to sleep the shutters and the thickness of the wall ensured we had a sound sleep till 9 am!!!

After lunch we set off for a walk through the village, the forest and the climbing wall Anna had gone to with some friends before. It was nice to escape the city fumes and walk through nature and smell all the fragrances of the animals, grasses and trees surrounding the place...

We arrived at the rock climbing wall and had a go and then we decided to head back as it was looking like it would rain anytime... We managed to loose both Ed and Anna who had decided to go another way but had not quite communicated clearly where that would be !!! At last we found them and made our way home where we all looked at our feet and legs for leeches... Anna was the worst hit as she wore crocs and her feet were bleeding with so many leeches bites... then Ed ...

Teo & Ed went running outside in sandals and when they came back they had at least 7 leeches on their feet... yuck!!!!

The others starting playing games, we played scrabbles, the kids chess and the jumping frogs game and we all had fun!

Diner was Simon's Didi lasagna and they were awesome, we had some refreshing salad too and the carrot cake Anne-Marie had baked... Yummy!!! after diner we played a game of Cranium which is a very fun family game... remind me to get that one for Christmas! And then it was time to go to bed...

In the morning we had a lovely brunch cooked by Anne_Marie and Duncan made of pancakes, pomegranate and watermelon fruit salad, bacon and egg and muffins.... fantastic!!!

The kids set off to explore the vicinity and climbed on trees.. we then decided to collect leeches and we all set of with our jars, some salt to ensure they did not climb out of the jar and walked around and got 5 leeches... When we came back we all took our shoes off and Ed had another 4!!!!

By that time it was time to head back to town as Duncan's land rover did not have very good wind screen wipers and it was looking like it would rain any minutes!!!!

We went home and posted some letters on the way, dropped the keys back at the embassy and then headed off to the american commissioner to buy some milk... The place was like a fortress and the car is checked for bombs and I had to have a pass and kids and I had to go through the metal detector prior to being allowed in the compound.

As we were all a little pickish we went to the cafe and had some lunch.. we then headed back to Simon and after half of the Harry Potter we went home with the kids ...

It was a very nice week end and I will probably go back there to do some walking on the ridge when we get back to Kathmandu.