Kathmandu 9/30/2013

Back at our Hotel Tibet, but today is our last day at this hotel.  Trekking season is in full swing, so we are being moved to the original Hotel Tibet International, where we started.  So everyone packed and got ready to have our things relocated, and then to make our way to work.  We have two persons not feeling great who are staying home; the hotel has promised to arrange for their comfortable transfer.

Today is not an operating day, so we did some teaching.  I talked about policies in the OR, and positioning for a spinal.  The nurses talked about more peri-operative care issues.  We did see some of our patients roaming the halls, looking very happy and healthy.

Because we were being moved and a couple of our lecturers were home recuperating, we finished early and made our way home to our new hotel, Tibet International.  Once we got back to the hotel and had some delicious Tibetan and Nepali food, we took a walk to the Boudha Stupa across the street.  It was like a large Buddha Disneyland. 


Someone said the Buddha ashes are here, so it is a very holy site, and a circular structure which must be walked in a clockwise direction.  Across the circular street that surrounds the temple are shops of all varieties.  A bit oxymoronic to indulge in material pleasures next to a monument that honors the ways of the Buddha, but so goes our modern world.

On the way from and to the hotel, we were surrounded by tiny women with their tiny underfed babies, both mom and baby always looking wistful, hollowed, and fatigued.  They didn’t want money, but milk for the babies.  Probably the worst food for a malnourished gut, and often these are a scam – not even a baby belonging to the woman.  It is a very difficult and uncomfortable situation however, and if one gives money or food, the street fills with other takers and one realizes the effort made was so miniscule and brief.

Our burn specialist Len made a walk and had a first hand experience with a woman and her baby.  He visited their “home” and took some photos.  Sobering tale.

Everyone met for dinner, but as we had such a late lunch and I was trying to upload photos and get questions answered for the machine issues, I stayed in my room and tapped on my computer.  Internet did not work well and eventually went out, so I didn’t upload photos.