Father's Day

On Wednesday morning, after the usual ward round I decided to try to attend an orthopaedic clinic, as the consultant seemed quite friendly when we popped our heads around the door on a tour in the first week. Although a little surprised to see us (Yan, Paul, Laura, Cat and myself – en masse!), true to my expectation he gave us our first real ‘teaching’ since we have arrived. Previously we just get quick explanations of what they are talking about, but in orthopaedics we were grilled and questioned as we discussed differential diagnoses for a girl with a week history of fever and painful hip causing a limp (septic arthritis down to osteosarcoma).

In the afternoon, I decided to visit Durbar Square. Rather confusingly there is a Durbar Square in Bhaktapur and also in Patan, because it is where the Royal Palace is, and these all used to be separate cities (and I believe Kingdoms), before uniting. I don't have my guide book on writing this now, so I will fill in the names etc at a later date, but here are some photos of the beautiful architecture, dating back to the 17th Century.

A newer addition, the Royal Palace was built after the King went on a visit to Europe in 1907. The design is supposedly based on The National Gallery in London

Intricate carving

On Wednesday it was Father's Day in Nepal, a rather different festival to that celebrated in the UK. After my visit to Durbur Square, Dr Yogindra again invited Yan and I into his family celebration. We ascended the very small wooden staircase in the private building in the corner of the courtyard of our hotel, ducking as has become habit due to my height! When we entered the top floor, I think a bedroom and sitting room had been combined to form a long room as you can see in the photo below.

Sitting around the piles of food in the center were Yogindra's father, mother and at least another 3 or 4 women, who I think are his sisters, plus 3 boys (aged about 6, 10 and 20 I think). The 10 year old is a maths genius (but very shy/modest!), and the eldest who chatted for a while is nearing finishing a degree in hotel management. Yogindra's wife and children were not present as they were at her father's.

We were first presented with a plate of fruit, drink, biscuits, and some local 'sweets'. One looked like a ball of marzipan, but turned out to be very different! Apparently it is made from milk, and when I bit into it, juice ran down my chin, which was not what I was expecting! I think the sweets are an acquired taste, but the hospitality was heartwarming. We also tried the local alcoholic drink, which was a clear fluid served warm in a small dish, and strong enough to warm all the way down! The main food was rice with different curries - cottage cheese, mutton, chicken, potato, and the vegetables and relish, all of which was refilled almost as quickly as you could eat it! Needless to say I was full up afterwards, and was given a bag to take the rest of the contents of my plate home in. I cannot think many tourists in Nepal experienced Father's Day (or even knew it was happening), but once again I feel I have experienced so much more of the local culture.

In addition tonight (Thursday), we were invited to attend the local meal where about 200 people from one community gathered in their communal space to have a meal. I am led to believe the meal would not have been to western tastes, so after the tour and a few photos (above), I had a massuka in a nearby restaurant.

As tomorrow is a festival (there are many!), Yan and I are taking a long weekend to do water activities nearby. We will cover kayaking, white-water rafting and caynoning - more on those to follow!