Bhojan Griha

The CECI crew and remaining volunteers went to a restaurant called Bhojan Griha the other night, and I can't believe I had not been there it until now! I had heard it was a good restaurant, but now I regret not having gone sooner. It is located in Dilli Bazaar in Kathmandu in a wonderful old building that has been nicely restored.

The meal was one of the nicest Nepali set meals that I have experienced yet. In case you are wondering what a Nepali set meal is, it is essentially what Nepali people refer to as Daal Bhat. Daal Bhat is the staple meal of Nepali people which consists of Daal (lentil soup) and Bhat (rice). Usually along with the meal will come vegetables (some form of leafy vegetable such as spinach - saag, or cauliflower etc.), a curried potato dish, and sometimes meat such as mutton or chicken.

What sets Bhojan Griha apart from many restaurants is not only the atmosphere, but they also provide entertainment. We were treated to some traditional Nepali music along with traditional dances from four different indigenous groups of Nepal. This included dances from the Gurung, Tamang, Thapa and Newar indigenous groups. The performers were very lively and looked like they were having a lot of fun!

My Thai Fish Pedicure...

On our first trip to Thailand, Jenn and I were wandering through the Suan Lum Night Market when we happened upon a little shop with a bunch of fish tanks set up inside. I didn't think too much about it until I saw somebody inside with their feet dangling in the tank...


I had heard about a treatment where a certain species of fish will eat the dead skin off your feet, or hands or any part of your body really. Some may think this sounds really creepy (I think Jenn still does). It seemed really strange, but oddly intriguing to me. I debated having the treatment done, and then cast it from my thoughts. Besides, I didn't have my camera with me to document the event anyway.

A month later, we found ourselves back in Bangkok again on an unscheduled visit. While we weren't there to be tourists this time, I made the decision to go back to the night market. My decision to go back wasn't solely for the fish pedicure, but I must admit, I felt as though I missed out on something the last time around.

So we went to the market armed with money and a camera in tow.

A little bit of information about the Garra Rufa fish (also known as the Doctor Fish)... small tropical fish is in the cyprinid family of fish. It is a non-migratory freshwater fish that can be found naturally in Jordan, southern Turkey and nothern Syria. It is normally a bottom feeding type of fish. It was discovered in Turkey in a hot spring that the fish would feed upon dead skin, and not only that, had some positive health effects on those who have skin conditions such as psoriasis.

So, after locating the shop amongst the myriad of stores in the night market, paid my money, washed off my feet and dipped them in the fish tank. It was a bit disconcerting to see all the fish immediately swarm around my feet and ankles. It looked as though they hadn't had a meal in weeks! They started nibbling my the bottom of my feet where I am notoriously ticklish (perhaps I should have thought this through before trying it), but after a fit of laughter I started to get used to it. The only way to describe the feeling is to liken it to the pins and needle type feeling when parts of your body fall asleep or have their circulation cut off. It definitely didn't hurt, but it was a little weird and definitely surreal. I could see someone getting freaked out by it with the thought of ferocious pirañas attacking your flesh. But it was nothing like that, they were gentle but quite persistent. So I had my 15 minute treatment and I got to document it with photos. Just another day in Bangkok....

Thailand Part 2.

The saga of our health problems continue, as no sooner than we got back to Kathmandu from our trip to Thailand, both Jenn and I came down with the flu. A really bad flu... While we cannot confirm it, because we did not get any tests done, we are pretty sure that it was the H1N1 strain that the world has been on alert about.

I spoke to a doctor on the phone about it, and he told me to treat it like any other flu. We just waited for 5 days and it passed, but not without lots of aches and coughing, fevers and such... Had we reported it, we probably would have been quarantined in a hospital... not my idea of fun. We would have been the 4th and 5th case reported case of swine flu in Nepal!

So only a couple days after recovering from the flu, I developed some strange symptoms. I went into the clinic and after a thorough check-up. I was told that I would need further treatment, which could be done here in Nepal or I could have it done in Thailand. The doctor told me that Thailand might be the better choice, as the ability to diagnose here in Nepal is somewhat limited. So, the next step was to talk to the insurance company to see if they would pay for my expenses to see a doctor in Thailand.

So we flew to Bangkok on July 22nd and had our consultations the next day. spent a week going back and forth to the hospital, which was a fabulous facility! I have never seen a hospital quite like this one. It was extremely modern and comfortable. The rooms were equipped with a kitchen, a 42" LCD TV, WiFi for your computer, everything was on remote control, including the curtains! Crazy stuff...

Both Jenn and I had appointments to see the doctor. procedures were all out-patient procedures, while Jenn had to stay in the hospital for a few days. I have included some photos of the hospital to give you an idea what it was like.

We didn't get a chance to do much touristy stuff, but we still managed to enjoy our stay a little bit. The food there is soooo good! I will post another blog soon on something else I experienced in Bangkok....