A Pal-umporium of Experiences!

So before we get into the ins and outs of placement in week 2, we have to describe the incredible first weekend we had in McLeod Ganj, home of none other than the Dalai Lama himself. While we were not able to visit him personally we got to see the temple and were both amazed and deeply moved by the enlightening Tibetan museum.

Our favourite meal was exquisite Mo Mos (like dumplings) at the Tibetan Kitchen. Matty wanted Ti-bet who could eat the most Mo Mos. Justin won that competition hands down, as he just ate Mo and Mo! We also got to do an overnight trek to Triund and the snowline in the Dhauladhar mountain ranges. The hiking was truly world class and the views were so expansive and clear that Jack wanted to Tri-and spot Palampur! Unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy day with an abundance of clouds and fog – nonetheless we train our best to push on through the ter-rain! After 20km of climbs and descents each day, we were quite tired by the end. Charlotte said she was so exhausted she sore stars. It was a truly hard work out for the collective squad-riceps.

This week, the physios have been split between 3 clinics. We are really starting to get really involved in patients’ treatments, and have been given freedom to assess, treat, develop treatment plans and prescribe exercises. The patients and staff have been incredibly friendly and open to us. We have enjoyed chai breaks, learning body parts and counting in Hindi. One patient was being a bit lazy so Cassie told him to chai harder. In all seriousness, we have really enjoyed being in a tea-m environment. Jen had a patient with a rare hip concern. The symptoms were exacerbated with the cold. Thus her primary hip-othesis was that the patient was suffering from brrrrrrrr-sitis. 

Sophie has been treating one lady with knee osteoarthritis. It was clear that the patient knee-ded to strengthen their thigh muscles. Eric has been at a clinic next to the police training centre. One patient had shoulder pain. Eric thought it was due to overuse of the rotator ‘cuff’s, and advised the patient to take ‘arrest’. The health sciences students have been shadowing a local GP, seeing lots of patients with kidney stones, gallstones and diabetes. Justin was so concerned when he saw a young child in pain, he said ‘this kid-ney’ds urgent treatment!’  

Eloise’s favourite part of this week has been the daal-ightful food back at the house. Alison has been at a school with younger children and enjoyed the triumphs and challenges that inevitably come with corralling younger humans. They’ve enjoyed counting to ten, although one or two have been a bit ten-tative. Although she’s always been ‘four’ their learning, once in a while the kids have been in a silly st-eight. We have all come to discover that Palampur really does have a ‘number’ of interesting areas with an a-pun-dance of invaluable experience to be gained.

Namaste in India, thanks

No one can believe the trip is over already. We've had the most amazing experience - from meeting new people at the different placement sites to teaching others and learning so much ourselves and weekend getaways that don't always go to plan. All the things we've learnt along the way will undoubtedly help us in our future physio careers and in our lives. So I thought I'd finish off this blog by telling you some Do's and Don'ts we've learnt in India

Don't say yes to being in a photo with one Indian. This one Indian will soon become 100 Indians and instead of the Taj Mahal being the attraction, it will be you. We're still not quite sure what they do with all the photos of us but everyone seems to need one with the tallest whitest, blondest haired people in the group - special thanks to Swedish Giants Jack and Elise for taking the bullet most times on this front.

Don't get Om tattooed on your foot. The foot is a negative place and you'll end up offending your yoga teacher and have to be pulled aside from the class to have a "talking to." This chat will also cause you to be late to the only meat meal of the week.

Don't always believe your trekking tour guide's weather forecast. Although they dress and act like they're "one with the earth" and have done this hike over 1000 times, even if they say it won't rain, it might definitely rain... And hail... And be windy as anything. Your tent might collapse and they might not get out of their cosy tent to help you fix it or cook you a warm dinner. You might have to wait out a 7-hour storm while propping up your tent with your head. So yeah, just trust me, don't always trust them!

Don't try to understand the Indian head nod. It might mean yes, it might mean no, it might mean that they have no idea of what you've just said and it's the Indian equivalent of smiling politely because that usually suffices as an appropriate response to any question. Either way we never could quite work it out and generally assumed it was whichever response we wanted it to be!



Now on the flip side

Do take up the offer to visit a 150 year old tea plantation. We were lucky enough that our host dad's family owned a 100-hectare tea plantation just a 15-minute walk from our house. His father, the most passionate tea maker I've ever met, showed us around the expansive property full of bright green tea hedges while explaining the difference between the techniques of preparing green and black tea. We learnt about the sorting, packaging and exporting of this tea to many countries around the world. It was such a beautiful place to spend an afternoon.

Do try extreme sports. The views while paragliding were incredible and we can now all say we've paraglided in the same spot the world championships were held. We also tried our hand at white water rafting, arguably the best activity we did on the weekends. We set off from Manali in two rubber rafts and followed each other down the Rapids. Our guides were excellent and ensured our safety while sending us straight for waves ensuring we were soaked with the biggest smiles on our faces by the end of the 14km trip. All for only $12!

Do try paneer. And any other meal you're served for that matter. We ate predominantly vegetarian the whole trip with the exception of chicken on a couple of meals we ate out and chicken or lamb once a week at the house. Our wonderful chef never disappointed, to the point some of us (previously "carnivores") weren't even craving meat.. For the first week anyway! Paneer is the most delicious cottage cheese often in a tomatoey sauce with peas or spinach sauce. We also had a mixture of Dahl, chickpeas in curry and beans in curry accompanied by a variety of breads; chapati, kulcha and naan.

Finally,
Do take up the opportunity to visit India! Whether it be for study, work or a holiday, it's a beautiful place to visit and the people aim to look after you, on the most part, and show you all that India has to offer. We've seen and learnt so much of the culture, their physiotherapy treatments and the attractions to see and unless someone is keeping really quiet about it, none of us regret coming here for our advanced physiotherapy practice placement. We're so thankful for the experience and now it's onto further travels around the world or home to rest, relax and enjoy our mid-year holiday!!

Dust, hail and sweat with some physiotherapy in between

We carried on this week at our respective placement sites in the morning and completing tutorials and case studies with our teacher, Julie, in the afternoons. One of Heidi's patients, a paraplegic post-surgery complication, is becoming more independent and we've ordered her a wheelchair that will fit her so she is able to get around more easily. One of Ryan's patients has progressed from not being able to sit for 10 minutes to now sitting for more than 6 hours with ease, which enables them to make the necessary travel requirements to see their family and friends.

Luci enabled one of her patients to get out of bed independently using a rope attached to his bed so his wife now won't have to drag him out of bed using her strength. Alexa, Alice and Elise continue to improve the motor skills of the children at the Rotary school so they are able to socialise with other children in the playground. The other students at the private practices continue to minimise the negative impact of the various injuries they've been presented with.

Dust and sweat 
Two weekends ago we travelled as a group to Amritsar, in the nearby state of Punjab. As the hours crept up on the bus ride so did the Celsius outside. 6 hours later we arrived at our hotel in 44-degree heat. It was a struggle to leave the comfort of our big fluffy beds and aircon to head out and drive to the India/Pakistan border. Our driver got us as close as he could then we were on our own. Outside and covered head to toe for cultural purposes, we squished in between the crowds of thousands who lined up to get through the first gate towards the border. Two gates further on, lots of sweat, plenty of selfies and we were sat down in the special "foreigners" section awaiting the spectacle. It was an hour wait in the sun once we had our seats but, definitely worth the wait!

Each country had an MC whose job was to hype up the crowd and dance along to the loud music blaring from the speakers. Then the guards from each side appeared and essentially had a dance off! Swinging guns around, jumping up and down and carrying out high kicks better than a cheerleading competition. The ceremony lasted for about 45 minutes with a confusing combination of the guards shaking hands to show friendship and threatening each other to show who's boss.

We followed the swarms out of the ceremony to meet our driver to head back to Amritsar and visit the beautiful golden temple. This Temple is open 24/7 and serves food for free but don't forget to walk through the water on your way in or you'll be smacked by the security guards with a stick, Alice learnt the hard way!

Hailstorms for hours
I'll start by saying we're all safe and alive! Just last weekend we set out for a blissful hike up the beautiful Himalayas to a well-known camping spot called Triund. We were prepared for spectacular views during the day and cool weather at night but that's not exactly what we got. The hike up was magnificent, with the view getting better and better at every turn. We shared the hiking path with donkeys and were greeted by thousands of cows and goats when we reached the campsite after the 9km trek.

We found our tents and the storm set in. Strong winds, hail and thunder had one tent collapsed within minutes and 12 of us bunking into 3 tents suitable for 7. We had a few laughs and made the most of the situation until even stronger winds, more hail and a broken zipper meant the second tent collapsed and 12 of us squished into 2 tents for the remaining few hours of the storm (7 in a 4-man tent and 5 in a 2-man tent). We held up the remaining 2 tents until the first storm passed. We ran to the closest market for snacks and drinks and feared worst. The second storm hit and we were bunked down in our overpacked tents once again!

We missed dinner and packed like sardines to attempt sleep and waited out the storm which ended up lasting from 3pm to 10pm. Wet and cold we exited the tents at 5am for sunrise and trekked back down the 9km path. A quick look at the markets, some lunch and a visit to the Dalai Llamas monastery and we were on the bus for the drive back home. It's safe to say we all enjoyed warm showers and sleeping in beds with fans more than ever before!

Helping Hands

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: Faculty Placement
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY: Ali Thomas

Karan hospital
Amanda and Ryan have been completing placement at Karan hospital physiotherapy clinic. In the morning, they look forward to a refreshing fruit box on arrival and greeting their Indian physiotherapy educator who is "Indian Fonz" says Ryan. There is no strict appointment schedule like we're used to in Australia and gradually, the waiting rooms fill up with patients. "Indian Fonz" does the translating and asks the patients what their main problems are (ranging from lower back pain to old fractures, paraplegia and tennis elbow) then Amanda and Ryan are able to practice manual techniques they've learnt at home to treat pain, stiffness or weakness. The techniques we use at home are quite different to India where they tend to use a lot of electro therapies. Amanda and Ryan have found it interesting to teach the Indian physiotherapist a few of the manual techniques we use in Australia and educate him about the evidence of their effect.

Goenka private physiotherapy clinic Heidi and Jack have been at Goenka physiotherapy clinic from the start of the placement and Kath and I have joined for the last 2 weeks. It has been an interesting experience with only a handful of the patients speaking English and no Indian physiotherapists around all the time to translate. One Indian physiotherapist wanders between the rooms to check in on patients and treatment techniques. The experience here is quite similar to the other private practice with the Indian physiotherapy course focusing on electro therapies and minimal manual techniques. Each patient receives their electrical modality from the Indian physiotherapists and then they are seen by the students from UniSA for manual therapies. At this private practice, there isn't an appointment schedule either and we filter through the patients throughout the morning. At both private practices, the students are able to practice their clinical reasoning for different patient presentations and practice a variety of manual techniques.

Rotary children's school Kath, Luci, Jacquie and I attended the Rotary school for the first half of placement and now Alice, Elise and Alexa are attending the school for the second half. The school has 20 boarding students and 20 who arrive by bus each morning. All the students are mentally and/or physically disabled, with the most common presentations being cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome. The morning is spent with select students who need a physiotherapy focus to improve their ball skills, fine motor skills and general function of everyday activities so they can interact more easily with other children. The children have already made so much progress in the first half and we all can't wait to see their overall progress at the end of placement. The last half an hour is spent dancing with all 40 of the students to traditional music. The children are so sweet and the pure joy on their faces while they jump around together is one of the most rewarding images. A photo of the girls with some of their students they've been working with can be seen above. 
Home visits Elise, Alice and Alexa attended the home visits for the first half of placement and now Jacquie and Luci are carrying on with the same patients for the second half. They attend three homes of patients who would find it too difficult to leave and make their way to a physiotherapy clinic. This placement site takes on a rehabilitation focus for patients who have had strokes, leg fractures and other long term physical issues. The families are all so lovely and welcome the girls into their homes with traditional tea, juice and snacks throughout each of the treatment sessions. The patients in these sessions have already made such great progress as well with one in particular being able to get down stairs for first time in 3 months and almost ready to return to work. A photo of the girls with some of their clients and families on home visits can be seen below.

All the sites have shown a completely different side of physiotherapy to each of the students and seeing something so varied to the hospitals and sites in Australia has been an experience we've all learnt so much from.

Namaste India

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: Faculty Placement
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY: Ali Thomas

Taj Mahal

Before the hard work began, there was some sightseeing to be done! After a day of flights on Monday and a nights sleep in 30 degree heat, our group of 11 and our teacher followed a guide to the Taj Mahal. We were told the history, the do's and don'ts and most importantly, the best angles for photos! No one was underwhelmed by this wonder of the world and our love for India’s beauty, architecture and amazing people had begun. The day was hot as we wandered around being amazed by the symmetry and beauty from every angle. 1 of the 100 group photos taken in front of the incredible Taj Mahal can be seen above.

Trip to Palampur

We had a day to visit Delhi. We caught underground trains to the Red Fort and a few different markets before finding some souvenirs and heading back home for dinner before the trip to Palampur. The overnight bus was an experience for all! Once we had escaped the mosquitoes and found a comfy position, a few of us were able to get some sleep on the bus before arriving at our new home in Palampur. Our little house was nestled in a valley, with beautiful views of the snow-capped Himalayas in the background. A photo of us walking down to our new home for the first time can be seen below. After settling in, we visited our placement sites on Friday for orientation and to get an idea of what the next week and a half had to offer.

Paragliding

Before we knew it, it was the weekend and time for activities. Saturday was the day to experience the local bus ride to visit the traditional Palampur market, a strip of shops catering for all things local; fruit, street food, clothing and toys. We now visit the markets every few afternoons to walk around and usually buy snacks, mainly Nutella! Sunday was a time to conquer fears and get the best view of our surroundings: paragliding over the Himalayas! The drive up to our take off spot was possibly more scary than the paragliding down. A thin road shared by too many cars on the cliff edge left most of us with jelly legs before we even saw where we'd be jumping off! The safety briefing was just that; brief! Before we knew it, we were strapped in with our pilot and running down a hill before the parachute took us up off the ground and we enjoyed 15 minutes of spins and floats down to the town. A photo of the amazing view from the top can be seen below.

Let the Physiotherapy Begin

After a few tourist activities and plenty of sight seeing, it was time to become immersed in the culture by attending our placement sites to see how physiotherapists worked in India. During week 1, 4 of us went to private practices, 4 of us attended the Rotary school for children with special needs and 3 of us carried out home visits to those who had difficulty leaving their house for physiotherapy treatment. During the middle of the second week, a few of us will swap over to experience a different side of physiotherapy in India at a difference site.

The first week and a half has been an amazing whirlwind of activities, new experiences, sight seeing and getting to know each other better. Next week will give you an insight into our day to day experiences at each of the different placement sites.

All the photos in this blog have been taken by myself, other students or our teacher. Thanks to everyone who let me borrow them!

Giving back to the community in Siem Reap

COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY: Jess Garner

Week 3

We have now surpassed the halfway mark, and are at the end of our third week here in beautiful Cambodia. Most of this week was spent partaking in the annual water festival that ran from Tuesday to Thursday. The usually quiet river was inundated with boats racing down the river, and people from all around flooded the streets. It turns out nobody knows quite how to party like Cambodians! The number of street vendors seemed to triple almost overnight, fireworks went off daily, and once dusk hit the pubs exploded and people were dancing in the streets (us included!). We did manage to get a few days of placement in as well however, and met with patients Monday and Friday.

Mr. C, an elderly gentleman who had had a trans tibial below knee amputation (due to an accident with a land mine during his time in the army, kindly volunteered to be our first patient (and model!) for the home exercise program for the physical rehab centre (PRC). These exercises included hip, leg, arm and core strengthening. Although most of the amputees assessed at the PRC are highly functional, we believe this will be beneficial to new patients, as well as help maintain the strength and prevent secondary complications in current patients also.

At the CDA, the main focus was again assessment, exercise prescription and education. Patients were willing to sit and talk with us briefly after their CDA appointment concluded, where we determined main physical limitations, and prescribed exercise based on findings. Like at PRC, a variety of conditions were seen, ranging from patella femoral pain to stroke. All received education about how nutrition and exercise can help with the management of their diabetes. A lot of patients had little understanding of their diabetes, or how diet and exercise could help, and were quite grateful to learn more. We then tailored exercises to suit each patient. For Mr. T for example, we gave a variety of upper limb reach to grasp exercises, as he had suffered a stroke one year previously, and mainly had difficulty with his right arm.

At the school, the guys started teaching the kids some basic anatomy and assessments. They got the kids to trace the outline of their hands on paper, then draw in the bones, so they could start to have more idea of what the body is made of. A lesson on pulse taking was also included, and the kids learnt how to measure their heart rate before and after exercise, and why it is good for you. We also played games, such as handball, in order to help with basic developmental motor skills.

At the military clinic, patients that had previously been referred from the home visits had started arriving. A surprising amount of problems reported turned out to be related to back or neck pain, and where we could we implemented a variety of treatment options, including massage, trigger point and combine and repeated movement patterns to help elevate pain and improve functional and quality of life where possible.

All up, I feel that although we are all getting so much out of this experience, we are hopefully giving a little back as well, and helping patients to manage their conditions in order to get the best outcomes possible.

Week Two in Cambodia: Challenges, dances and learning about prosthetics

COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY: Jess Garner

Week 2

Week one flew past, and before we knew it we were heading into our second week, where the real challenges began! Our first? The dreaded, yet also expected ‘travellers gut’ (maybe the street food wasn’t the best life decision after all). However, after a few good doses of our new best friend ‘Buscopan’ we were feeling slightly less green, and keen to get back to it. Our newly formed ‘PhysioTribe’ headed out to the location sites, with Chiefs Cath and a Clint leading the way!

The diabetes association was an exciting new location that had previously had little physiotherapy input, so Beth, Eddie and Ari had to figure out exactly how and where to see patients. One of the first challenges they faced was lack of space. Before long though, there was a physio and nutrition section being set up in the waiting room. This turned out to be an ideal spot, as the girls could grab patients whilst they were waiting for medications, or after they were done, and give advice on exercise and nutrition.

At the rehab centre Bee, Tiara, Libby and I learnt a lot about how the prosthetics were made, and had exposure to conditions rarely seen in Australia, such as polio and congenital amputations. I think we were all amazed with the patients. During our assessments, we learned that they could do most ADLs with relative ease, with their main complaint being that they required a new prosthesis. We struggled a little on how best to help, but came up with the idea of a basic home exercise handout, with the hope that it will help patients learn and remember the exercises prescribed by the physio.

At the military clinic the others managed to successfully sweat their way through outpatients, home visits and school sessions. Being a more rural area, a lot of the patients in clinic and at home had long and complex case histories, but with little access to adequate treatment. This was especially hard, and at times the group felt rather helpless. A referral system was set up so that patients seen at home that required further assessment could be seen in clinic too.

At the school, the guys managed to improve on their very stylish dance moves, and taught the kids some games from back home they could play to keep active. Apparently “What's the time mister wolf?” was the winner, hands down! And of course, us being physio students and all we just had to add the old anatomically correct "head and shoulders, knees and toes" routine. Overall, it's been a tough, yet equally amazing week. Looking forward to heading to our new sites for the next two weeks and learning as much as possible, but for now, PhysioTribe out!

Cambodia: Learning the value of strength and resilience

COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY: Jess Garner

It happened! The time finally came when we were stepping onto the plane heading towards our home for the next 4 weeks - Siem Reap, Cambodia! Our first week has flown by, and no amount of study could have prepared us for it! Day one we went on a walking tour of the city, where we got our first real glimpse of Cambodia. We wandered through the meat markets, dodged the traffic like pros, and even bravely attempted the infamous street food (delicious, by the way!) We also got to meet with our interpreters, who valiantly attempted to teach us some Khmer by the pool. Although it was a bit hit and miss we all had a good laugh, and learnt to say “Soosaday! Tear Neak Sok Sabai Te?” or “Hello! How are you?” Well at least I'm pretty sure that's what we’re saying!


Week 1

Day two was eye opening, to say the least. We received our training for placement, which included a brief history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge regime. We were blessed with an amazing teacher that had a true passion for the Cambodian culture and child protection, and all of us left there a little different than when we came in.

Day three was spent visiting our placement sites - the military hospital, a local school, the Diabetes Association, and the physical rehab centre, and before we knew it it was finally day four, and our first official day of placement! The fourth years had the confidence, the third years the enthusiasm, and together we set off to our sites for the day. I think that's when it hit us all that this was not going to be your typical placement.

Upon walking into the rehab centre, people with prosthetics were walking on poles, over rocks, and up what I like to refer to as the ladder of insanity! The people were truly lovely, and more than willing to talk with us (despite our questionable Khmer!), and I think we learnt far more from them than they could ever learn from us (but we gave it a crack anywho!). The girls at the diabetes association met with clients, educated on the importance of exercise for diabetes management, and constructed unique exercise programs. At the school Gem and Gabby got thrown in to the deep end and came back swinging – literally – by getting the kids up and moving with some rather stylish dance moves.

The experiences we have had over the past week has been truly invaluable, and the strength and resilience of the clients almost unbelievable. I think I speak for everyone when I say: bring on the next few weeks!

Temples, Take-Away and The 'Things We Take for Granted' List

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy, University of South Australia
WRITTEN BY: Suzannah Michell

Week three in Palampur started with a bang! Our weekend was spent in Amritsar where we were lucky enough to visit the Pakistan border and the Golden Temple. Fun fact: the Golden Temple has more visitors annually than the Taj Mahal!

Whilst our trip to the Golden Temple was vastly different to our experience at the Taj, there seemed to be some common themes: it was hot. Like, really hot. 45+ degrees hot. We planned the day to visit the border and the changing of the guards in the afternoon, and then see the temple on Saturday night to cope a little better with the sauna-like conditions. Our little bus spluttered it's way triumphantly the 5 hours to Amritsar and then the further 2 to the border between India and Pakistan WITH air-conditioning (for most of the time).

The border first: this bewildered author had no clue of Pakistan and India's long term and ongoing wars, violence and feuds prior to the spectacle that occurred at changing of the guards. Imagine two soccer games going on side by side - cheering and all - separated by two metal gates. But the soccer players specialize only in high kicks and yelling. And they're wearing peacock-esque hats and military uniforms, sometimes holding guns. Yeah, well that happened for a good hour. Pakistan and India performed similar displays of gymnastics, strongman posing, screaming and marching whilst separated by the border's elaborate gates. All the while, the extremely large crowds gathered on either side of the border cheered and yelled and danced to the music of their country, trying to outdo each other.

The closing ceremony featured the opening of the gates and quick synchronized lowering of the flags. The finale: a really high, high kick and a scream. Really, I'm not lying - it was strange. Bobby, one of the main organizers here, said that the kicking was to show the opposing side the sole of their shoe as a sign of strength. Whilst Julie mused that it really seemed like a show of good faith to each other to keep the peace. One thing is for sure, it was kind of fantastic, and the vibe was electric and intriguing. If that wasn't enough to round out our trip to the border, we were also patted down and searched 4 times on entry to the event, and it was by far the most number of photos we've been asked for. We were even asked to hold people's babies.

Note: 45 degrees + large crowd + 7 hours by bus + multiple photos with people's children and families = slightly disgruntled travellers. Enough said.

So the Golden Temple next: so nice we visited here twice! Once by night, and then again in full sun. Holy moly batman, that's a nice temple. You have to remove your shoes and place them in lockers on entry then walk through water to cleanse your feet, but the shoelessness was worth it. (Thanks Julie for teaching us all about parasites that can enter your feet by burrowing through your skin that live in water). At night it was like this shining beacon surrounded by water hovering in the darkness. By day it was an immense feature of light surrounded by the vivid colours of India. The first night we stumbled into the temple we may or may not have exited out of a different gate than the one we entered. After some shoeless strolls through the overpopulated city, our shoes were recovered! Whilst dirty, we were thankful that night of India's obsession with burning all roadside rubbish and the lack of glass or suspect liquids in our path.

One more important note from our weekend trip: if you thought we fought over chicken bones, you should've seen the lengths we went to acquiring McDonalds and KFC. The latter was more difficult due to Amritsar's, the holy city’s, pure vegetarianism. But after some crafty Google searches and an excessively long tuk-tuk ride we all had some Kentucky fried solid food to consume. McDonalds was actually located very close to our hotel though! And McPaneer ain't so bad! The McFlurry was arguably better though. Ice cream solves all problems in 45 degrees, let's be honest.

My goodness and that was only the weekend!

This week we started at new placements - rotating around to gain a better spread of experience. Everyday we arrive back at the house for lunch after placement and share stories of confusion or success from our days, revel in the contrasts of Indian physiotherapy, or boast about what delicious treats we were offered on home visits.

In general we decided this week was a bit of a "things we take for granted week" though. So here's the short list:
- Running drinking water
- Air conditioning
- Electricity
- Medicare and private health insurance
- Opening your mouth in the shower
- Fresh and safe meat and poultry
- The ability to safely cool and store meat...
- Currency with less 0's
- Relative social equality between men and women
- Automated washing machines
- Long-handled brooms
- Solid foods
- Australian Heath literacy
- Knives
- Napisan oxidation plus
- Less hand sanitation requirements
- Access to basic groceries
- Beer
- Road rules
- Less need to give way to livestock
- Indicators
- Quiet streets
- Animal welfare league and the RSPCA
- Beaches
- Alan keys (you can't fix a wheelchair without one!)
- Blending in
- Understanding conversation
- Rabies shots

A special thank you to Bobby's dad who also hosted a private tour of his tea plantation this week! His resemblance to the monopoly man was uncanny, and his touring skills were unparalleled!

Golden quotes for the week:

"Things like this just wouldn't happen if I had a knife and fork!" Luke

"Laurence, you should put henna on your face. It will come off straight away" Leah

"I've given up! I'm boycotting pants!" Alex

"I'll bring my Alan key tomorrow!" Undisclosed

"If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball" Laurence

"That's 133 beeps! In only 3kms. A new record." Tobi

This weekend we're going for a 9km 'moderate' walk through the foothills of the Himalayas. I'm forecasting it as a bad episode of survivor... "12 people begin the journey and only the strongest will survive..."

Suzannah, on behalf of Tobi, Luke, Leah, Viv, Maddie, Tina, Alex, Laurence, Teagan, Nadia and Julie

Settling In To Working Life In Timor Leste

 COUNTRY: Timor-Leste
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Health Science
WRITTEN BY: Talita, Jocelyn and Alice - University of Queensland

Saturday
After an emotional morning farewell (Ruth didn’t believe we would get up for her – we love you Ruth!), the CNR bus arrived at our hotel for an adventure to Maubara. Little did we know, the treacherous nature of the roads that we would face in the 17 seater bus - the CNR staff played on our emotions as they encouraged us to get photos of the cliff that was less than a metre away. Despite this, they treated us to a fantastic day at the beach (pigs and all) as well as a wander through the local markets, an exhilarating 4WD competition and topped it off with a visit to Pope John Paul for sunset. We can’t move on without a massive shout out to Bec’s husband, Kane, who filled his carry-on for the weekend full of muesli bars and vegemite chocolate – you do not know what this means to us!

Sunday
We slept in. After an action packed few weeks, we revelled in the opportunity to relax for a bit and get some work done on the presentations that we are to present next week. We fit in a morning stroll to Santa Cruz cemetery – a sombre moment amongst the hustle and bustle as we gained a greater understanding of the sad history and suffering of the community.

Monday
The Occupational Therapy students had the opportunity to accompany the CNR Community Based Rehabilitation team staff to clients’ homes in the Dili region. This valuable experience provided a better understanding of the home environment of our clients to help guide our planning of therapy and goals. We were warmly welcomed into the homes, but it was a sad moment to learn that one of the clients does not leave her room due to disability and spends her days sitting. We recognised several areas in which therapy could help her and encouraged the CBR staff to get her to CNR for treatment. Monday night, it was time to break out the Vegemite chocolate, and to our surprise, it wasn’t half bad. At least it was almost as good as the mung bean muesli bars the Speechies decided were fabulous (definitely give these a go!).

Tuesday
Everyone is starting to relax and become more comfortable with each other, which is a good and bad thing. The good is that the teams are working well and we are becoming a fully functional IP team (/BFFs 4eva). The flip side is that pranks have started, and certain members of our team are one up, as another member returned home to find they could not reach their bed as their floor was covered in water filled saucepans. Retribution has not yet been received.

Wednesday
After a generally positive morning, we had an emotional afternoon. After giving a modified chopping board to a very grateful patient, we had a teary goodbye as she’d been treated at CNR for the last 5 years. This was followed by an upsetting realisation about the differences in medical treatments here compared to back home in Australia. A young teenager had a severely displaced femur that had not been operated on, and presented at CNR for physiotherapy. Unfortunately, the recommended management is surgery, and in the absence of that, there was very little we could do. This awakening to the reality of developing countries was upsetting to most, as it was probably the first scenario where we felt utterly helpless.

Thursday
Everyone was really upset that NSW didn’t win Origin, but had enjoyed the mid-week break at a restaurant watching the footy. The last clinic day for the week was spent working with clients and finalising the program for our presentations next week. The presentations revolve around areas of our professions that the staff at CNR had requested information about. These include: cerebral palsy, safe feeding, stages of play and gait retraining. We are very much looking forward to passing on this information in a more formal setting.

Friday
A district visit was again planned for today, where we attended a private NGO funded health clinic in Hera; a short drive East of Dili. We were taken through the clinic, and spoke to the Cuban doctor about the challenges he faces. Some of these challenges included the lack of resources, the isolation, the large number of people that he services (177 families), and the fact that whenever it rains and the river flows, they get flooded in. Paulo then took us to his composting centre, the first, and only, of its kind in Timor. Throughout the drive, we experienced our first attempted hitchhiker trying to join us in the mikrolet; the Timorese are very competent in stepping into moving vehicles.
Tonight will be a quite night as we prepare for our 60km, 6 hour journey to climb Mt Ramelau on Sunday morning.

Cricket, Curry and Clinics - Week 2 for Physios in Palampur

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy, University of South Australia
WRITTEN BY: Suzannah Michell

Another week in Palampur has flown by, and I'm sure all the parents will be relieved to know that we mean that figuratively. Paragliding was a no go! Fun fact: apparently the Indian government have banned tandem paragliding! And since none of us had the courage to jump off a cliff alone, we ventured to the markets for the weekend. And boy, oh, boy do we stand out at the markets! To keep it short, we've had a dramatic effect on the Palampur economy - flooding it with Australian money in exchange for scarves, hats, tailored clothes and exotic sweets. And chocolate.

Our lunches and dinners here always come with rice, chapati (flat bread), sliced cucumber, red onion, tomato and a lentil dish. In addition there is usually another delicious vegetarian dish and once a week it's chicken! Bones, liver and all! You've never seen students fight over chicken bones like this before. And despite our cook's amazing, authentic and delicious meals, we just can't bear to give up the dairy milk chocolate stash in the fridge; in fact, it is constantly replenished! What a trap 40c Cadbury chocolate can be.

On the weekends we aren't provided with lunch, so we found Palampur's best restaurant. Rookie error on the first visit: just because the curry is cheap does not mean you need one each. On our second visit our table looked less like a medieval-Indian feast with one curry between two instead.

But fear less mum, we aren't too fat just yet. There's really no snacking outside of the three meals and we've been doing regular exercise this week too! Shock, horror. Our once a week yoga sessions have progressed well. This week we sat cross eyed, poked out our tongues and roared in unison. True story. Edit: we laughed in unison... Mothers Meeting United may as well be sponsoring our 6:15am walks through the hills too. No brave boys have joined the girls for their chats and hour-long walks, but we'll let you know how the next week continues. Many thanks to Bobby, one of the group organisers, who showed us the walk route. Although Suzannah in particular thought she might be dying on the first loop as they walked over a bridge without railing along the train tracks 20m high above a meandering stream. Unsure of when the train would actually be coming...

Placement has had its ups and downs, but distinctively more ups than downs! And all downs have been resolved diplomatically and promptly. Furthermore, a few students have begun at the school for disabled children in the area. It has been best described as chaotic, full of energy and a lot of fun. Nadia, Luke and Tina have each been assigned a child to set goals for and work towards them, such as catching a ball in two hands or counting to 10.

Alex and Tobi finished at Amit's private physiotherapy clinic, with an extensive knowledge of EPAs and Indian physiotherapy.

Leah and Viv at a local physiotherapy clinic started doing home visits this week too and had a great time applying their physiotherapy skills in a more rehab-environment. Although their favourite part was probably the pasta that one family cooked, served and made them eat on one visit in particular.

Suzannah, Teagan and Maddie have all had a lot of success with their paraplegic patients on home visits. Laurence played tag team and helped the girls this week in prep for handover. He chose a good week to do so too! Friday was their last day with the patients and their families before handing over to the other students on Monday. There were a lot of family photos taken and tea given that day! Our kitchen might as well be a tea factory with the three large plastic bags of tealeaves next to our kettle!

For a comparison, we visited the Palampur tea factory this weekend. Wow, that was a good Segway! It's like I planned it or something?! Crazy. Shout out to our Indian homeboy, Viv, who can speak enough Hindi to not only organise the tour on a Sunday, but also translate the entire tea drying and fermenting process! (We think?)

Other highlights include consistent cricket matches with the local Indian boys in the field next to our house, catching dragonflies in the kitchen and doing the dishes feat. Kanye West and, naturally, dance competitions next to the sink.

One challenge we struggled to overcome this week was the consistent inconsistency of power and Internet available. We'll probably never forget trying to access Uni emails like this... It was a solid hour out of our lives, after all. Nor the Tute sessions we had by headtorch. Not only did we take in a great deal about clinical reasoning, but some bugs were also ingested when they flew dangerously close to our illuminated faces.

However, with power we have been able to do physiotherapy tutes we wouldn't have otherwise been able to do. Such as Julie's headache tute at 9pm on Tuesday when Tobi asked her about headaches referring from his neck.

In all, we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves, even when slightly out of our comfort zones! We've had a few gastro issues, but everyone is fit, healthy and happy on the closing of week 2!

This weekend we have planned to visit the Golden Temple and the Pakistan boarder! So back into the bus we go for a "6 hour" journey. Will keep you posted on that one!

Suzannah, on behalf of Tobi, Laurence, Teagan, Maddie, Alex, Luke, Leah, Tina, Nadia, Viv and Julie.

Sweat, Tears And Physio Placements in Palampur, India.

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy, University of South Australia
WRITTEN BY: Suzannah Michell

The first week in India has come and gone already! Like the heat in Delhi, we just can't believe it. With 11 students and 1 professor, Julie, on our trip and several hours in a plane and car, we finally reached the halfway-student house in Delhi at 9pm to rest and recuperate.

On the second day, we stumbled into the 44 degrees and tried to scrape our jaws off the ground at the Taj Mahal's Royal Gate entrance. There were tears, there was sweat. There was a lot of sweat. Okay, the tears may have been sweat, we're not really sure. What we are sure of is this - the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. Period.



We then embarked on our "8 hour" bus trip from Delhi to Palampur. And by 8 hours, we really mean 13. Which was both a beautiful painting of India's vast and contrasting scenery and a terrifying, thrilling submersion into Indian culture.

It must be noted, just like a horror film, it was the pretty blonde who was most willing to try new things who was struck down first. By food poisoning. But what a comeback she had! And we were back on the road! Until we got a flat tyre.

Things we learnt in India this week:

- Road rules are more of a guide and an actual rule in India.
- The car horn can also double as an indicator. Or to tell someone you're coming around a blind corner. Or to say “hello”. Or “goodbye”. Or “I'm passing you”. Or "Stop, I'm cutting you off". Or "Get out of my way". Or "I'm braking now".
- One hour can mean one hour in Indian time. But sometimes it means an hour and a half. Or two hours!
- The food may look the same as yesterday, but may taste drastically different. But it's always devastatingly delicious and you'll want to lick your plate.
- Cricket transcends all languages. But Viv finds talking to local Indian children in an Indian accent a necessity of communication.
- Do not stand near Tobi when he bats
- You will need to buy the local Indian children a new ball if you hit it over the river.
- "Internet" doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to access the World Wide Web. Although, if standing on one leg and facing due east, there is a sweet spot on the roof for 2G data downloads.
- Just because the currency is in thousands, doesn't mean you are spending very much.
- A 4 person badminton kit can be acquired for $4 AUD at the Palampur market.
- Anything can be acquired at the Palampur market.
- The roof isn't necessarily the best place to play badminton. But it has the best views and you're out if you hit too close to the edge. And you're definitely out if you fall off the edge...
- When playing badminton, innuendo and puns are a must.
- Common toilet etiquette is that you do not flush the toilet paper down the toilet.
- Palampur will always have a more beautiful view than you do. They have the Himalayas. You just can't compete! Sorry.
- Tobi hates geese.
- If you're blonde, you're a celebrity. People will want photos with you and their children and their cousins and their distant relatives too. Brunettes just don't cut it.
- Rooftop yoga is the best, regardless of hamstring length.
- Livestock can live on a farm, but it's much more likely that they will sleep on the road.

Golden quotes for the week:
- "I'm not blonde enough, though!" Nadia
- "I'm at a point where I just can't trust my farts, you know?" Tobi

But, okay, placement!

As a group of 11 we are split across 4 different placement sites - physiotherapy hospitals and clinics, and home visits.

Physiotherapy in India is very different from both Australian physiotherapy and what we expected. They use a lot of electrical therapy tools, such as ultrasound, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, short and long wave diathermy. Parents: Google them. And they use much less conservative prescriptions of the electrical stimulation (e-stimm) than we would. There have been studies about the therapeutic effect of e-stimm, and they all point to "more is better" but in Australia, we shy away from using such parameters because of the increased risk of injury with them. It has been very interesting to see the way they use these machines.

In this first week of clinic we've done a lot observation. We've tried to gauge our patients' health literacy, conditions and treatment so far through Pictionary and stunted English-Hindi. Or else had Physios translate for us. Or if we were especially lucky, we had patients who spoke full English.

The patients are warm and welcoming - there have been offers to stay at their houses, eat their food and constant offers of (crazy-delicious) tea on home visits. I believe one student has already been proposed to!

The home visits are to 3 paraplegic men in the nearby towns who couldn't otherwise afford regular Physio at home. They all live in beautiful parts of Palampur. At first, they found our Physio-rehab strange and unfamiliar. However they have, thus far, been incredibly enthusiastic, willing to engage and to try things in a different way.

The other clinics are roughly the same, and are as the description above. Some extra details though:
- One centre is a naturopathy-yoga-hospital-Physio clinic, which is highly esteemed in the area.
- One of the physiotherapy clinics is owned by one of the main organizers of our trip, Amit who is one of the most highly revered Physios in the state.
- The physiotherapy hospital has a much more neurological-rehab focus than the others, but deals with musculoskeletal conditions as well.

This weekend we plan to visit tea plantations and jump off cliffs. That is, we are going paragliding!

From the group: sorry about any lack of communication, our Internet and phone coverage has been in and out. We all received Indian SIMs the other day and hope to be in touch with families more regularly in the coming days!

Our first few days on UniBreak in Nepal

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY: Kerryn Dignam

We have just finished the most amazing hike, surrounded by the Himalayas, small villages and potato plantations – it was the perfect finish to our first week.

Staying with a host family is a unique experience. So many differences in culture, yet the same feeling of homeliness, with hot meals by our ‘aama’ (mother), chats with our host siblings, and doing our own laundry. Aama laughed at us when she saw our attempts at hand washing, and our younger brother made us promise him we would eat dinner with our hands.

Delicious tea greets us when we arrive home; we feel like we are part of the family.
Placement has been harder to adjust to. Wanting to help, but feeling unsure of 'usual' procedure and, of course, not speaking the language, makes it difficult with patients. Each day we are more comfortable at our placement, and confident in where our help is most needed.

One patient orders us coffee whenever we walk with him, and others laugh at us when we try to act out the exercises we want them to try. The physios are keen to teach us, but also interested in what we focus on back home. Most importantly, we have finally figured out the best meal to order at the hospital canteen!

After three days, and almost 50 km of walking the group is much closer. Sharing chocolate, stomach pain medication, and complaints about our sore muscles has secured a strong friendship between us. We are all excited for the three weeks to come.

Ho Chi Minh welcomes UniBreak volunteers

COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT:  Teaching and Mixed Health
WRITTEN BY: Melissa Muang

During our first night in Vietnam, our supervisor took us to eat traditional Vietnamese cuisine near our hotel. A dish that we had all tried was ‘Bun bo Hue’, which is a popular Vietnamese soup containing rice vermicelli and beef in extremely spicy broth (see photo below). As the majority of the group grew up eating Western cuisine, the spiciness and new flavours were a definite shock to our palettes. That being said, it was wonderful and only $3 too! After dinner, we were guided to our nearby laundromat for those of us who needed to clean our dirty garments. When we got there, it shocked us all to see how the Vietnamese did their washing. It involved hanging the washed garments onto a pole, which was then placed outside the second story window to dry (and for everyone to see!).

Another shock to the system was the amount of traffic on a Sunday night. It was pandemonium! There were hundreds of motorbikes travelling around on the streets, whizzing back and forth, in a state of harmonious chaos. As such, we always had significant trouble crossing the streets trying to avoid getting hit. We always had to be on our toes, as motorbikes would come out from unexpected directions, from small laneways, to turning into streets without warning, and sometimes even drive directly towards you. As you can imagine, we all initially hesitated to cross the road as it felt that there was a high likelihood of one of us getting hit. The tip we got from our supervisor was to 'cross when there was a small gap on the road and avoid hesitation'. Thus, one of the goals to achieve by the end of the work placement is to ‘cross a road in Vietnam without getting hit’.

On our first full day in Vietnam, we were taken around by a tour guide to explore Ho Chi Minh City. We got to see to different places, the Reunification Palace, the Historic Post Office, the War Remnants Museum, as well as many other historical buildings. The group also spent some time at the local Ben Thanh markets where we experienced first hand the hot and humid environment in which tourists try their best to snap up a bargain with locals vendors. After that, we stopped by a Vietnamese Coffee Shop, Trung Nguyen Café, which is the Vietnamese equivalent of Starbucks.

On our first day of placement, we left the hotel at 7am. No one knew what to expect or what we were going to be dealing with when we got there. On arrival, we were given the opportunity to meet the director. She allocated us to different age groups depending on what we studied. The standard work day commenced at 8am, with lunch at 11:30am, and nap time between 12pm and 2pm. What we found interesting was that naptime is actually a norm in the Vietnamese culture!

Our day ended at 5pm where our bus took us back to the hotel. Despite being so exhausted on our first day, we decided to treat ourselves by seeing a Vietnamese show at the Saigon Opera House. It was somewhat similar to Cirque De Soleil, but the acrobatic show incorporated elements of the Vietnamese culture, which was very insightful and enjoyable.

On reflection, my first week of work was very intense but inspiring. The centre took care of 250 abandoned children, ranging from newborn babies to 23+ year olds, who had illnesses from autism to cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. On my first day of placement, there were a few times that I felt I was going to become overwhelmed with emotion. It was quite difficult to see children who were bed ridden, crying, and struggling with deformed limbs. I knew pretty soon that this was going to be a real eye opening experience. After the work placement, I found that it was definitely helpful to speak with the other students about their experiences and how they found it as well, as we were all in a bit of shock and somewhat overwhelmed by what we had seen.

The students in the first group are blind, so it was a massive help to have a fluent Vietnamese speaking student with us. The second group of students are girls who have experienced some form of abuse during their childhood. We work closely together with the both groups in their school homework. The Vietnamese student on our team was able to help them with geography, mathematics, biology, and chemistry. The other students were able to assist them with English. Overall, in the first week we felt that this was an emotional journey. We learnt lots about how to work the blind students and young girls. We need to be very gentle working with the girls at all time as they are very fragile.

Another huge challenge that we found as a collective group was communicating with the local populace. Due to the language barrier, it was difficult to converse. Having to work with children, our main way of communicating was through body language and hand signals. Simple words, such as "Xin Chao", which is 'hello' brought a smile to their faces and we felt like that suddenly helped us build a bond with them. As a social worker, I am currently working with students who are in primary school and assisting them with their maths homework every weekday when they finish school. So naturally, I have learnt how to say a few numbers from 1 to 10 in Vietnamese and have found it very helpful.

On the last day of work placement for the week, we were invited to a picnic with a number of the children. A public pool was rented out for a few hours to enable the children to splash around in the water with inflatable toys. After swimming, the children played soccer in the park with us. There were smiles all around and plenty of laughter. It was so heart-warming to see these children so happy, as they got to run around and enjoy the day. The morning ended with a lovely lunch by the water. We then headed back to the centre where the children got ready for their nap. As a group, we all enjoyed going to the picnic as it was a new experience and provided a different environment to interact with the children.

Before we knew it, it was the weekend. Some students decided to stay around Ho Chi Minh city, whilst others planned to catch a plane to Nha Trang (which is a beach), and Hue, or traverse on a 3-hour drive to Ho Tram. There is so much to see and do both in and out of the city centre. It is an understatement to say that we needed some rest and recreation after our long and busy first week! We will all return on Sunday night to prepare ourselves for a second week of work placement. We'll keep you posted!

Top 5 must do's in Nepal

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Physiotherapy
WRITTEN BY:  Tessa Rawolle

Before I get to the top 5 must do's in Nepal, here's a brief update on our progress here.

Now well and truly into our placement, most of us have have settled into our different sites. We are split into groups and placed at different hospitals in the city. At our various hospitals we are completing a variety of tasks and learning something new every day. Between us all we are independently doing physiotherapy treatment with patients, assisting and offering our personal ideas, performing nursing ward rounds, observing in the emergency department, and taking initiative in seeing our own patients. Some of us deal with difficult cases of children with disabilities, which is confronting, challenges our skills, and opens our eyes to the different way of healthcare in Nepal.

We all enjoyed a weekend in Chitwan together, including ensuring the bus driver didn’t leave us stranded 20 minutes from home on the way back! Three of the group trekked to Nagarkot as they are visiting Chitwan later in their stay. This left them with very sore legs but amazing memories of the mountains.

Now without further ado, here are our top 5 must do's in Nepal so far:

   1.   Shopping in Thamel

The streets are lined with endless stores selling everything you can think of- scarfs in numerous materials, bags, beanies, and gloves in a rainbow of colours. There's also hiking shops selling all your trekking needs and shops with small statues, souvenirs, and basic supermarket items. Here you can pick up all your presents to take home in the tourist centre of Nepal. Make sure you bargain to get the lowest prices. And if you get hungry stop at one of the restaurants for a meal with Thamel House, Utse Restaurant and Yak Restaurant our top picks for delicious Nepalese or Tibetan food at bargain prices. Don’t leave Kathmandu without a stop here! 

   2.   Chitwan National Park

This is a must for a weekend trip. Take the bus on Friday morning and arrive in the afternoon for a village tour and sunset view by the river. After dinner attend the Tharu cultural dance for a traditional evening of entertainment and to see some amazing skills. The next morning wake up early for breakfast before heading out for a canoe ride along the river. The fog makes for a peaceful and beautiful trip to start the chilly morning. A walking safari through the forest is a great way to see the animals and explore the midst of the jungle on foot.

Next up, don’t miss the elephant bathing. You get to sit directly on the elephants as they wash both themselves and you, before tipping you off. Make sure to take bathers or clothes that can get wet! Head back for a warm shower before lunch, then definitely pay the extra for a 4hr jeep safari ride through the park. Take warm clothes as the wind picks up in the late afternoon, but this is the best way to cover a great distance in the park and get up close with animals.

On the final morning, wake up early once again for an elephant safari. I think this is the most authentic way to see the forest. The bumpy ride is both enjoyable and memorable as you sit atop an elephant to venture through the park. This way you get the closest to animals such as rhinos, peacocks, deer, wild boar, monkeys, and birds. The jam-packed weekend is one not to miss as the beautiful scenery and fresh air is one of Nepal’s treasures.

   3.   Boudha Stupa

This is a short bus ride or 1-1.5hr walk from Thamel. As Asia’s largest stupa it really is a sight not to miss, as many pilgrims gather daily for a clockwise walk of the dome below the watchful eyes of Buddha, spinning the many prayer wheels with (or course) your right hand. The monument is magnificent, and the best time to visit is in the afternoon when it really comes to life.

   4.   Durbar Square in Kathmandu

This is the palace where the city’s kings were once crowned. The square remains the heart of the old town and a place to see traditional architecture. There are many sights throughout the square, with three loosely linked squares and many shops lining the streets. This is only a short walk from Thamel. You can even walk up the steps of one of the many amazing temples.

   5.   Walking the streets

To really experience the Nepali life, simply wander through the streets. Many little shops line the roads, from basic snacks to fresh produce and personal care items. You will also see bicycles selling in-season fruit as well as popcorn and roasted peanuts. In the morning there are many people awake and starting the day, however by late afternoon the streets begin to fill up. From beeping horns to people greeting you, there is never a quiet moment!

Other things to do in Nepal which we are yet to experience:

• Pokhara – for a trek atop the mountain for sunrise, paragliding, and for a peaceful location beside a lake. Here is the place to see Himalayan peaks.
• Swayambhunath – the ‘Monkey Temple’
• Trekking – from one-day hikes to the trek to Everest Base Camp, you can’t leave Nepal without a trek in some form or another!

Tessa Rawolle