Kia ora whanau
SOPHIE'S BLOG 2: KATHMANDU: So ... a lot has happened since I last blogged. Where to begin??
Okay, so we flew 6 hours from Hong Kong to Dhaka, India, then an extra hour from there to Kathmandu. The airport was this old brick building that kinda looked like the Cossie Club, and once we had picked up our bags and were out onto the street, we saw hundreds of people crowding together shouting out names, and I spotted my name on a little sign. The guy (from the hotel) lead us to this little van - one of those ones that look as if they have been squashed on both ends - and hurled our luggage in. We zoomed off on this wild ride throught the streets of Kathmandu, eventually reaching our destination. Awesome.
Pretty much went straight to sleep when we got here, then the next day we were up early and headed downstairs for breakfast. After brekkie, Lei helped me put on my piupiu and korowai to prepare for the Inauguration at the City Hall. We caught a cab there and it was so amazing! The building and grounds looked so majestic, and everyone wore their national dress. I got so many stares, and many of them came up to us asking about our Māori culture and our country.
They performed a welcome dance for us outside the hall, which involved men hopping around their womenfolk who swayed along very gracefully to the cymbal music. We were then invited to come inside to the auditorium, where a group of young people performed a breathtaking piece on stage that included firebreathing and a combination of many cultural dance forms.
Tanya Ruka's projection work was screened after this, with the three projections being placed in front and on either side of the audience to create a feeling of being enveloped in the piece. Tu meke!
All of the filmmakers were invited on stage where Renchin, the festival director, read out a declaration of indigenous women's rights prepared by the group the day before. It was a very humbling experience.
We then went outside for a bite of Nepali cuisine and mixed and mingled with people from all over the place - Finland, Poland, Cambodia, Taiwan and Brazil to name a few. Such lovely people, Lei and I felt very welcome indeed. A few Nepali people came and asked for photos with me, which was a strange experience! Nevertheless I was just as interested in finding out about them as they were me.
Afterward they had a feature film screening, but one of the organisers said that it would be screening again and that we could go back if we wanted. Lei and I were pretty hot and tired by this stage so we came back to the hotel, had a cold smoothie and got a full body massage and a fresh fruit facial for the NZ equivalent of $40! We went downstairs for dinner and spoke to Marek, one of the filmmakers from Poland, about things to see and do. He suggested the mountain flight over the Himalayas, which we definitely plan to do later in the week.
We were then told that we had been invited out to dinner with the hotel owners, so we met with the other filmmakers and caught a ride to this lovely little bar and restaurant where we had the whole place to ourselves! Talk about being treated like royalty!
Lei and I left at about 9.30pm and went straight to bed, we were so knackered. And now here I am, writing this. Today's events don't start till 12noon, so we are going to spend our morning at the Temal markets and the monkey temple. Can't wait!
Ka kite whanau. I'll write again soon xx
Sophie
Pacific Media Centre
