Dear Family & Friends,
I am finally back in home in California. The trip home was particularly long but allowed me to catch up with some new friends and a very old friend I haven't seen since high school.
As most of you know, I flew to Delhi on this trip with frequent
flyer points and then bought a ticket to
KTM. So, on the way back, I flew back into Delhi and had to stay overnight. I picked
Ajanta Hotel out of a website, and it turned out to be a hotel staffed by Nepalis! They were all very concerned about my safety and comfort because it is not everyday a Nepali woman travels by herself. Little did they know ...
From Delhi I flew to Singapore, where I was met by Lynn
Ee, a friend from my
PLC days in Perth. Lynn is doing some wonderful work with high school "dropouts" and working hard everyday to preserve what little is left of Singapore's farming area (yes, I didn't know that existed either!). We had dinner with Nepali friends and talked about our various adventures. Lynn, of course, is
beyond hospitable and I thank her from the bottom of my heart.
I knew I had been in South Asia for a long time, because as I turned the shower on, the water on the floor turned a luscious muddy brown colour!
The next day I attempted to catch a flight back to San Francisco, only to be told at the gate that my plane was broken and they had to wait for a comparable plane to arrive from
Hong Kong before we could leave Singapore. Under normal circumstances, I would grit my teeth and return to the lounge, but in this case, it would mean that I would miss my connecting flight to SF from Tokyo. After pleading with Singapore Airlines staff to be put on another flight to SF, Tom received a call from me asking him to call United to see if they can get me on SQ2 to SF because
SIA refused to do it because I was flying on a United free ticket.
An hour or so later of Tom talking to various people at United, I was allowed on SQ2, and I made it home 7 hours later than planned, after being escorted to my seat by airport police in
Hong Kong because I was carrying an
EpiPen.
Anyway, I now home, allowing my medical team to put me back together, and missing the girls so insanely much. Our home suddenly seems too quiet, the appliances too loud, and even Bijou seems subdue. Each time we have to leave the girls, it just gets harder.
I came home with a cough/flu that I picked up from
Apsara and have since passed on to Tom. Poor Tom!
Tomorrow we are hoping we will make it to
Interplast's Gala Dinner (spluttering coughs and aching bones withstanding) in San Francisco where Dr
Shankar Rai from the Kathmandu Model Hospital is being awarded a humanitarian award for the work he does for Nepali people.
http://www.interplast.org/ Shankar is one of the new friends I made on this trip and it was the least Tom and I could do to support him at his award dinner.
Once again, my sincerest thanks to Michael and all the staff at Papa's House for their generous and wonderful hospitality. If you ever have a moment where you wonder where you want to travel or what you want to do that is different from your everyday life, Tom and I definitely recommend you check out
http://www.volunteernepal.com/ and consider spending some time with these wonderful, and amazing children.
I made so many new friends on this trip, and I thank all of you for sharing my journey with me. I cannot wait to see you all again.
Namaste,
Fiona
