Tuesday, January 13, 2009

I'm hurrying, we'll begin boarding soon...

Such lovely friends to visit...
Outlets for plugs in surgery theatre
A dead pangolin was found on the property! (Nepalese anteater-relative of the armadillo)
Deb sent me her first quilt to help stay warm!
New years at the chandlers
Arden Olivia, day1
Anandaban is the tiny white speck of buildings on the hill in the middle. Kathmandu is the valley city behind. The himalayas are visible in the distant back. A valley of farms, brick kilns and gravel pits lies below anandaban. Beautiful!!
Holly giving lessons in cake decoration
Elisa and a slug (part of the exponential upsurge of critters post monsoon)

Taking advantage of the internet at the BR airport...

My bathroom and bucket laundry, snake killed behind the lab (had a bird in its stomach), the hospital staff (plus a handful of visitors), Saraswoti and Chhatra in the lab, the guys in the footwear and prosthetics department...

Rapid fire pics while I sit at the BR airport for departure!!

Enjoy!!
Battery backup supply for a few key pieces of lab equipment (3-5hrs worth), playing with the kids dudring a free medical camp, visiting Bhaktapur with Elisa, dressed for surgery, Shovakhar, the Napit family and some visiting pastors from Sri Lanka...

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Power Cut for 16hrs a day from Sunday in Nepal

Kathmandu (PTI): Nepal will have 16 hours of load shedding a day from Sunday due to the declining water level in its hydro-electric reservoirs and the government is working to import power from India, officials said. "Due to the receding water level in run-off rivers and Kulekhani Reservoir, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is unable to meet the power demand and there is no option but to increase the power outage time," said Sher Singh Bhat, director at NEA. Sixteen hours of load shedding in the country's capital and other parts would begin from Sunday. It will be 25 per cent increase from present 12 hours power cut, NEA officials said. The 70 MW Mid-Marshyangdi hydro-electric project will generate electricity in the next two weeks and the government is working to import 90-MW power from India through Koshi-Kattaiya transmission line by mid February, they added. Nepal's current power generation is around 350 MW, which is far less than the present demand of 800 MW, Bhat said. However, the government has decided to resume regular electricity supply of five days a week to industrial estates including Balaju, Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Butwal, Dharan and Biratnagar. If the country succeeds in importing the 90-MW from India and the Mid-Marshyangdi starts power generation then the duration of load shedding will be substantially reduced by next one and half months, an NEA official said.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Thank heaven for little girls

While home in Louisiana over the holidays, Diane arranged for a little girls slumber party in her home. I found it very entertaining. :)

We played the "no smiling" game, for which Cydney broke out in a rap song to make Ashton laugh. Then Hannah performed "Your my little honeybun."

Elephant Bathing in Chitwan

When Holly visited me in September, we traveled a bit in Nepal. In the southern flatlands, called the Terai region, there is Chitwan national park where elephants and rhinos freely roam about. Trainers bring their elephants to bathe daily in the river with willing tourists. Holly and Linda were willing. I, however, had heard too much about elephant TB testing by trunk washes and was content to video the process. Enjoy! (I have to blog these kind of things quickly before I leave again for Nepal next week. See the post below. Power supply issues.)

16 hrs a day without power?!?!?

Sixteen hours daily load shedding likely from next week The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) officials have said that they could increase the daily load shedding hours from 12 hours currently to 16 hours from as early as Sunday. Earlier the NEA officials had been saying that they could impose 16 hours of daily load shedding only after one month. But, they have changed their tone now. “We thought we could gradually progress the load shedding hours from 12 to 14 to 16 hours a day. But it looks like we have to jump to 16 hours very soon,” said Sher Singh Bhat, chief of system operation department of NEA. Bhat said the primary reason for the scaling up in load shedding hours is due to receding water flow in rivers, which has severely limited the generation capacity of most of the hydro projects. The NEA has said that while the peak demand has risen to around 800 MW, it is able to supply less than 300 MW. nepalnews.com Jan 09 09