September, just like a Monday

I had an amazing break in Greece, it was exactly what I needed. In just over three weeks time I managed to gain 6 kg back and really felt better. Lots of good Mediterranean food, didn’t cook any of it on my own of course as I had mum doing it for me as well as all the lovely tavernas I visited… :) Been to the sea quite a lot and also travelled around. I did almost 1000 kms with my Rebel and I really enjoyed driving it with its new set of tyres. Been to Naflpio and Thassos island. Nafplio used to be the capital of newly independent Greece in the early 18th century. Now is a beautiful modern city with the old part still remaining intact. You can walk through the alleyways, wonder around the castles or have a nice cold beer at the cafes by the sea. Really nice atmosphere…

Nafplio_Bourtzi castle

Nafplio_Keep the faith

Nafplio_Rocky passage

My Honda(olo prosonta) Rebel

Thassos island was also reeeeally nice. Spent few days guest in a beautiful villa just by the sea. The island meets all requirements. Beautiful sandy beaches, nice fish tavernas by the sea as well as mountain villages with stone paved little streets, stunning views of the Aegean and big sycamore trees. Fish by the sea and/or meat in the mountain… Not much of nightlife and going out but really it was the last thing I was after… The weather was brilliant every day, guaranteed sunshine always over 30oC. Just perfect! The nights were little bit chilly just right to sleep nicely. There was also the night of the August full moon to watch and contemplate it in the starry night. Sooo nice!

Thassos_Sailing to the island

Thassos_Sunset

Thassos_Culinary high!

Thassos_...and a postcard to Jamie

I didn’t go to Athens at all except one evening to meet a good friend and then out of there. It was boiling hot and mostly empty with most of my friends out of the city on holidays around the islands or elsewhere. I stayed around my hometown Megara, with friends and family around me all the time, I feel so lucky to have them all! Sleeping outdoors on my parents' house veranta, waking up relatively early (because of the sun), taking it easy, afternoon at the beach and in the evening for a good dinner with friends or at home.


Last day I went to get the flight, last customer in, almost missed it. Paid excess baggage (like an amateur(!) and now I am back in London… grrrrr Still adapting back to the city hectic life. Started working and looking for a new place to stay, hopefully for my last winter in UK. This is one of my worst tasks; finding a new place, new flatmates, new neighbourhood, adapting into the house and so on… oh gosh, I’m just sick of this all… I’m looking for a change, looking for something new as soon as possible. Maybe another exciting project somewhere… Do you guys have anything in mind? If so, let me know and I will try to make it a success!! :) Sustainable energy is needed everywhere on this planet, energy efficiency is a key thing to achieve results, the technology is already here, the knowledge too. And after an amazing summer, one of the best of the last few, I have lots of sustainable energy to drain it into something that will spark my motivation and imagination too! Remember, IMAGINATION is the greatest nation on earth and IMAGINEERING is required to bring change and a better future.


Best wishes


Nektarios~

With Love from Greece (and Sweden)

The weather in Greece the last 10 days I am here never dropped below 32oC. It has been really hot for my UK standards but I love it and have absolutely no problem with it! The first week I had to work from home therefore most of the days I stayed indoors in air conditioned areas and then, went to meet some good friends at Poros island and had some really nice summery time. Since I’m back, I go to the sea every day to cool down and sometimes we stay until midnight on the beach.

Poros_No national flag on the ferry boat but there is a Panathinaikos one!

Poros_Noble beauty

Got my bike on and riding it gives a sense of freedom, something you certainly can’t get on the London underground… :)  I still have many days until I return back so I don’t think of it at all! I do fully enjoy my lazy holidayzz and now looking forward for my next destination. The food is gooood and I feel tottaly recovered from the hardship of the last few months. It has been difficult but rewarding at the same time.

Alepohori_Sunset 20mins from home

Veniza_Checking a new PV farm

As I wrote on my last post, I feel really honored to be appointed the Alumnus of the Month for my university in Stockholm, Sweden. It means a lot to me, the largest technical university in Sweden, to choose me for August 2010 as the Alumnus of the Month. I have completed an interview and sent few photos from the project. Please find it below, the university link as well as the facebook one (the same text/interview).




KTH Alumnus of The Month


KTH FB Alumni network




I hope you all enjoying summer time



All the best


Nektarios~

LondON CityZen

A few days back in London and I have just start realising what I have been through and the impact that had on some school children, the teachers and villagers on the remote Himalayan community of Dhawa. Life in a city like London is totally different in every aspect. There are so many people here never understood that a third, or even more, of the world’s population still struggling to secure the basic needs in life (food, water, energy) while we looking to buy the best gadget, the best computer or iPhone. I feel determined to spread the message and try to help those communities further. Although people in such communities are happy and see things positively they still need help and every little support we offer makes a huge difference to them.



Learning Planet is still in Dhawa trying to complete the works. The school is now getting painted and arrangements for satellite communications are well underway. I do admire their efforts and I believe they do great job. I feel very lucky I had he opportunity to partner with them and assist on the solar energy installations. For everyone of you that wants to help further, visit www.learningplanet.org.uk to read about the progress and what comes next. A locally sourced clothing series is getting prepared, really nice clothes which the money goes back to the people who really need it.


Five days in London now, I have already stacked on the underground three times. It is quite difficult to adapt quickly. I believe I need few more days to get back on the city rhythms. Even before my experience in Nepal I couldn’t really adapt to the crazy fast tempo this city dictates. The weather is another issue. It is so frustrating to think that back in Greece the weather is 35oC and here is raining with maximum temperature of 24oC. However this is something I am used to but in the summer months it’s just too much to handle. It is very common the weather to turn bad here just the day I arrive(!). In few weeks I go back home so this will compensate my wait here. I am currently working on an interview, I am delighted to say, that I have been chosen as the Alumnus of the Month for my university in Sweden (KTH) and I am writing some text plus photographs that will be published in August. I will upload the link here…

I feel homesick and I desperately need to see friends and family, have some proper Mediterranean food and relax under the sun or the summer night sky.



Best wishes to all for an amazing -remaining- summertime!





Nektarios~

 
 

London_Stunning Tower Bridge on river Thames

Tibet: The roof of the world

Some things we experience in life cannot be expressed in words. There are unspeakable; especially in a language other than your native one. I will try however to transfer the feeling of how it is to travel at the roof of the world. It is certainly not an easy task.

It took several days, five in particular, to reach Lhasa from Kathmandu. The first part of the trip, from Kathmandu to the Tibetan border, was relatively boring. The only really interesting thing was some landslides blocking our way. The previous night, a strong monsoon rain moved a land mass from the mountain down to the road and the nearby village. We had to wait for the road to clear while looking at buses and trucks trying to get out of the mud. Lucky enough, we managed to move on and reach the border. The Chinese control was very strict. No pictures of Dalai Lama, no Tibetan flags, nothing related to Autonomous Tibet or Dalai Lama in general. Even my precious guide Tibet Lonely Planet had to be returned to the agency in KTM because there is a preface written by Dalai Lama. Using my spy skills I photographed the pages of the guide I needed to have with me… At the border they checked my camera too but wisely enough I had just inserted my second memory card in. Pheewww…

After living the border behind, we crossed the Himalayas from the south side to the north in Tibet on the ‘Friendship Highway’. For four hours we were driving in a huge gorge, lush green with waterfalls and with the clouds low enough to touch them. We reached our first stopover in Nyalam and slept in a guesthouse. Next day we continued on a totally different landscape. Tibet is not just remote, it looks like another world. The mountains are spectacular, the glaciated valleys are wide and the horizon is vast and empty. No houses, trees or towns mark the landscape. In this infinite land, the mind reaches out to the horizon. Yaks and people move like tiny ants. We’ve seen 2-3 cars per day on the highway crossing our way. We stopped in high passes and took photographs; all of them, bursted with prayer flags as well as with nomads selling artifacts. In one of them we could -barely- see the Everest peak as some clouds were blocking clear views. We stand at the roadside and contemplate it at a distance of around 80 km. On the same range, snow-topped peaks included the neighboring Lhotse at 8501m, Makalu at 8463m, Cha Oyu at 8153m.

Tibet_Crossing the Himalayas

Tibet_Crossing the Himalayas2

Tibet_High altitude desert

Tibet_High altitude desert2

Tibet_Everest north side

Tibet_Easy on the Friendship Highway

Tibet_Tong-La high pass

Tibet_Kharol-La glacier

Tibet_Kharol-La and local nomads

On the way to Lhasa, we stopped at few small towns to sleep over, visited monasteries and passed through amazing lakes and landscapes. Tibetan people look so different than the Nepalis. They live in higher altitudes, working hard at the bared inhospitable frozen earth but it seems hopeless trying to scrape a living from this barren soil. Under the blue heavens, the whole weight of the universe seems to press down upon them. Development from the Chinese brought insignificant change to the Tibetan people living at the plateau. Other than electricity and some administrative changes nothing really improved the life of Tibetans and it seemed to me that they live the same way as they use to 150 years ago. Despite the harsh environment they live in and all difficulties they are smiley and happy. Very friendly and happy to discuss many things with you (in Tibetan) :)

Tibet_Villagers on the Friendship Highway

Tibet_I think we are lost

Tibet_Enjoying the local beer

In the monasteries, the atmosphere was sacred. Tibetan Buddhism is an ancient religion, so rich in culture and arts. All monasteries we visited were colorful painted with amazing detail. No photography was allowed in the chapels (unless you pay 10 yuan per chapel) but we manage to sneak a few. We were lucky to see the monks’ assembly at the Tashilunpo monastery, the largest -Gelugpa sect- monastery in Tibet and the seat of Panchen Lama, the second highest ranking after the Dalai. The monastery is a town in itself. It took a whole afternoon to wander around with the smell of yak butter to burn hundreds or even thousands of candle lights. I felt I was in another world while trying to find similarities with Mount Athos region in Greece, a sacred land too full of Greek Orthodox old monasteries prohibited for women(!).

Continuing to Lhasa we crossed another high pass, Kharol La, on altitude of 5560m., the highest altitude I ever been. My walk around was light and my breath short. A glacier was just above us but the cold was bearable. Nomads were selling local artifacts and some women were asking for money to be photographed. An out of this world scene…

Yamdrok Tso, the largest highest water basin in the world, sacred for the Tibetans, was another breathtaking landscape in its serenity. At an altitude over 5000m a huge turquoise lake lies between the glaciated peaks, calm and easy. The Tibetans regard all water as holy and looking at the lake, it is understandable. The camera was on fire taking at least 50 photos of the lake views in an hour to cross it. The landscape thereafter to Lhasa included cultivated land and the lush patchy colours of the fields were a feast for the eyes after four days of driving through dry brown desert. A sense of civilisation came as we were approaching Lhasa with more cars and tourist buses, better roads and more people walking across the highway. After five days crossing the Tibetan plateau we reached Lhasa.

Tibet_Monks at Tashilunpo monastery

Tibet_...and their boots

Tibet_A big stupa at Palcho monastery

Tibet_With a monk at Palcho monastery

Tibet_School kids at Tamalung

Tibet_Amazing Yamdrok-Tso

Tibet_Amazing Yamdrok-Tso2

Lhasa is a holy city in itself for all Tibetans. Today, is a modern city (of Chinese standards) capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). It lies on a valley at an altitude of 3600m it is one of the highest capitals in the world. Chinese influence is everywhere however Barkhor, a Tibetan neighbor, is still original with only Tibetans living amongst the alleyways. I was amazed to see Tibetans living in a city; they were not much different from those living in the dessert. We hanged around the city for 2-3 days. Jokhand temple, a religious center for all Tibetan pilgrims, was just a five minute walk from our guesthouse. Hundreds of local artifact sellers were shouting ‘Lookie Lookie, cheap cheap!!’ So funny! So nice, they were all so touchy, wanted to attract you to their stall, one of same as all of the others.

We also visited Potala Palace, a World Heritage Site of enormous scale built on top of a hill in the Lhasa valley. Breathtaking views from the palace and the palace itself. The sight of the palace from below was just unforgettable. I was waiting for years to see this and it was all worth it! Photography inside was prohibited with no yuan exchange. We seen some huge Buddha statues, tombs of previous Dalai Lamas and the private rooms of the current one, now self-exiled in Dharamsala, India.

Lhasa_Mighty Potala Palace

Lhasa_Mighty Potala Palace2

Lhasa_Mighty travel in Tibet team- Nektarios_Alicia_Erin_Thiago

Lhasa_Barkhor square

Lhasa_Looking for new sunglasses

Everest peak (middle)_ the top of the world

Political situation in Tibet is sensitive, and is something I wouldn’t like to discuss in this post. It’s a long discussion which I will be happy to discuss it in person rather in this blog. My travel companions, Erin(Cuba), Thiago(Brazil) and Alicia(Australia), have had interesting ideas and opinions and we had some really good talks about that. All three were such good fun and I feel very lucky I experienced Tibet with them. Throughout the trip, we had gone through difficult times. Accute Mountain Sickness (AMS), of a light form, plus headaches, motion sickness from the bus, diarrhea, dry lips and more was affecting us all (hmm, maybe except Thiago who was previously traveling in Mongolia and China). I, personally, had difficult times but despite all this I really enjoyed the whole experience. It was once in a lifetime experience and I would recommend it to anyone who seeks high altitude adventure with a big hit of cultural and religion aspects.

Now in Kathmandu, I am organising my return to London in few days. Time has gone so quick; it feels like a single camera click. I am sure it will take me few days to adapt back to the -western- city life. I am happy everything went perfect in these two months and I now have my energy stash fulfilled to continue back in the harsh world where I belong. In my last days here, I have a strange mixed feeling, kind of sad leaving behind a place I love which I now feel comfortable to be and a gentle happiness that I have done something good for the rural indigenous Himalayan people. Moreover, the trip in Tibet was the adventure I was after and I feel complete I have accomplished what it seemed a dream few years ago.

Peace ‘n’ Love

Nektarios~

Happy and fulfilled!

Well, being back to Kathmandu after three and a half weeks in Dhawa feels like I arrived in a cosmopolitan city. The trip was long and tedious. It took 11 hours on a bus to cover 140kms, the first few hours in a primitive -so called- road and then on the ‘highway’. After driving one hour, a bus in front of us was broken down blocking the rocky tiny road. We had to wait 3 hours to fix it so we could pass and continue. The travelling conditions were appalling. Packed at the last seat next to a window I was covered by a mix of dust and sweat. Reaching the paved road and it took just 30 mins for our tyre to go flat! Another hour wait on the road side, we made a trip of 7 hours 11. Typical Nepal! Nobody seemed to bother though, nor did I. I’m getting use to the lifestyle. I even helped on changing the tyre!

Flat tyre bus

Stop for servicing

Back in Dhawa, the solar installations are completed and fully operational. I am so happy and delighted that everything worked out at the end! Both buildings are now interconnected, all lights and sockets in place, two lights on a tree on the village’s main square as well as electricity line to the local tailor and the shop. A big hole in the ground on the back of the school accommodated the earthing rod. The mobile charging mania started with many people asking to use the electricity in the school. Mobile phones in the village are almost all made in China with the battery lasting only an hour or two… After the initial trial period, the school will start charging a fee (10 Rupees) so it can generate some money for maintenance too. They were all so happy, students and villagers.

Dhawa_Installing electric poles

Dhawa_Setting the wire

Dhawa_Earthing rod

Dhawa_Poles installations team

Dhawa_Justin n Dita (Learning Planet) Nektarios (ENVIRON Foundation)

Dhawa_Daal bhat lunchtime

Dhawa_Local villa

Dhawa_Local woman

Dhawa_School committee members

On Friday, there was a leaving ceremony. The children, as well as ourselves, danced, sang songs and attended performances. The program included red paint on the forehead (again) and flowers on the neck. It was soooo emotional. Lots of people from the village, students and people from the school building committee, the women committee, teachers and the solar technicians danced and had great great fun! Lots of speeches too, I even gave a short speech in Nepali I had prepared… I received presents and took a lot of photographs and videos. All this time, I made friends and lived their lifestyle. The children were all soooo amazing! I was so sad leaving them but I tried to explain them I had to go back were I belong and promised them I will never forget them and one day I will go back to meet them again. I will keep helping the school from wherever I am. It was an unforgettable experience that I will remember all my life and here I would like to express my gratitude to ENVIRON for giving me this opportunity. It will stay deep inside me and definitely will help me to look things positive, give me hope and be a better man. My days in Dhawa, living and working with these indigenous people, were the strongest experience of my life, till the next one…

Dhawa_Local women

Dhawa_Ceremony rehearsals short video

Dhawa_And the party begins...

Dhawa_On a dancing mood

Dhawa_Happy and fulfilled

Dhawa_Shanti, Sunita n Kamala (teachers)

Dhawa_Susila (Giri's wife, middle) and the women's committee

Dhawa_After party tea at school

Dhawa_Sachin, my best Dhawian friend

Dhawa-Fully litted and plastered classroom (painting to be done next week)

Now back in Kathmandu, I am getting prepared for my trip in Tibet. I think I need some holidays after 25 days without a day off! And what holidays! Tomorrow, I leave Kathmandu behind to drive to the Tibetan border. It will take 6-7 days in the Tibetan plateau, driving through high altitude passes with amazing mountain views and lakes. I heard it’s something like a high altitude dessert! On the way, I will visit Tibetan settlements, monasteries and villages reaching Lhasa and staying there for the last 2-3 days. I will take a flight from there back to Kathmandu. I can’t wait the moment I will see the Potala palace, a monumental size fort, palace and temple, all in one, residency of Dalai Lama till 1959 when Chinese invaded Tibet. I dream that moment months now! Lhasa is a prohibited city for foreigners. I will need to have a guide and I wont be able to hang around on my own otherwise I will get fined!! The Chinese cultural genocide of Tibet is happening and Tibetans in the city are now outnumbered by Han Chinese. I will try to be cautious and not give any cause for troubles. As Dalai Lama says, I will go and see, experience it with my own eyes, and then go out and tell the world. Free Tibet!

Tashi delek (Tibetan greet=blessings and good luck)

Nektarios~