Power to Gudel

The best news to discover this week is that electrical power has at last been connected to Gudel. With all the bad news hitting the headlines it is so good to think what opportunities this will provide for the locals. We will always remember standing outside the guesthouse at Gudel with headlamps on, surrounded by blackness, while across the deep valley, lights from the village twinkled. How much easier it will be for them not to cook over smokey fires built into the earthen floors of the kitchens, not to have to chop firewood to heat the water, having 24hr refrigeration, to access the outside world from there instead of walking to that other village.... Of course it will also bring tv, the internet and other technologies that will not only have positive influences. It will be a minefield but the positives for the school are enormous. Fancy not having to rely on battery power to run the one computer and printer. Now the satellite dish can go in and the senior science lab can be built. Lots of work to be done and money to be raised. With the devastating earthquakes of late I had expected that the deposit Gudel paid to have the power connected back in 2011 may well have just evaporated. 

Meanwhile, schools here have closed for annual holidays and so have a number of tuition centres, but we still have a week and a bit to go. Keep trying to not think about that 'bit', would have been so much better to have left the weekend before. Not to worry, we are well placed to make it to the end in good health and good spirits. Easing the way for us is that we have negotiated to stay in Cherry Hill Condo for the final year, and at a reduced rent to boot, so very happy about that. There are many new condos around here now, so demand has dropped in this area. Some of our colleagues are busily looking for options to relocate, don't envy them all the hassle.

On Friday we took a trip to Tampines to visit Eco Green and there were plenty of little birds to keep us on our toes, they flit so quickly between perches! Eric got some terrific shots of the brown-throated sunbird. Other highlights were the blue-tailed bee eater and the sooty-headed bulbul. Then we walked through to Pasir Ris Park and finished up at the newly refurbished Pasir Ris Mall. 

Highlight of the end to our week was Bev's farewell at Roosevelt's in Outram Park. It is an American style cafe serving mostly burgers and pasta but the service was good. Peter took the Aussie classic 'Way Out West' and reworked the lyrics to fit Bev, our stalwart walker who often reminded us how she traveled more than most get to our meeting points.  She is off to Canberra to join the ranks of the Public Service in Immigration and Child Protection. Don't envy her that career shift.

On Monday we joined the walkers at VivoCity at Harbourfront to walk the 11-storey (181 meters) Skywalk trail among the treetops en route to Fort Siloso which opened in July this year. It was obvious school holidays have started as there were plenty of people at the popular attractions like Universal Studios but the fort area was deserted other than us. In fact after that we walked right along the coast in the shade of the overhanging jungle and had the whole place to ourselves and the wildlife. 

Being an important sea trading port for the British, they built three forts on Sentosa Island as defence against sea invasion. At the time, the island was known as Pulau Blakang Mati. During World War II, the Japanese troops invaded Singapore from the north and the guns of Fort Siloso were turned landwards to support the ground troops. Fort Siloso is the only preserved coastal fort in Singapore complete with a military museum and interactive exhibits. We didn't see many birds in the canopy but we came across plenty of peacocks on the ground. They are not natives, but were released here in the 1970's as a tourist attraction. 
When we made it back to the busy 

World Square, I noticed a package had fallen off a trolley delivering to different outlets and ran after the man to alert him. In so doing I upset something in my neck again and in the afternoon was quite locked up. A trip to the local acupuncturist has me on the mend now. She began with needles in the back of each of my hands. This made a big difference to my left side but not the right so then I had 7 implanted down that side of my neck and into the top of my shoulder. There was no current attached this time, but a heat lamp for 20 mins, after which I felt some relief. She finished the treatment with a deep massage which was painful but I was confident would be helpful as she really hit the spots. I did get a good night's sleep and felt much better the next day. 

On Tuesday afternoon we headed off to Singapura Plaza to spend our vouchers, compliments of the MAE Annual Dinner lucky door prize. We each now have new shoes. From there we had a drink at Sque Bar in Clarke Quay and made a booking for the end of year drinks there for all the branches. On the way home we called in at Godhuli Sanjh where we had left our Nepal photobooks for Martin to make selections. Eric is now busy putting the electronic copies onto a thumb drive for him and then he will either be printing them or using them in a slideshow. This is one he chose and named 'Golden Evening', the name of his restaurant. It is actually sunrise from Poon Hill lookout, but only we know that. 

We met Bimal, the Chef from a village near the Indian border, who struck us as having some good business ideas. There is a blockade of Nepal’s border posts with India over political differences arising over Nepal’s new constitution, signed in Sept after years without one. Although the charter was passed by a large majority of MPs, members of the ethnic Madhesi political parties boycotted the vote, claiming the constitution failed to guarantee them fair representation in parliament and public office. They have imposed a general strike across much of the Terai, the southern plains that run the length of Nepal’s border with India. The blockade has led to acute shortages of petrol, cooking gas and other essential supplies across the country. Makes the problems we face pretty trivial doesn't it?