Yak cigaretts, electricity and strike

-Cha, masaga ek batta yak curot cha!

"Yes, I will have a packet of yak cigaretts". Language courses are always fun. Not sure if this is a useful sentence to learn in Nepali but somebody thoughs so so there you go. Wednesday in Kathmandu, I am finding a pace and routine that works here: wake up and check the daily electricity saving scheme which changes every day.

Today it was off between 10 am-14 pm(and ones more during the evening, havn't checked yet) which meant that even though breakfast was taken in my down jacket and wooly hat there was plenty of time for the chef to cook the food before it got dark in the kitchen and the music stopped. Northern Indian breakfast with puffed fried bread, curry with green peas and potatoes, curd from heaven and a bucket of hot coffee as the sun slowly crept into the court yard where me and the family were huddling and defrosted as the morning sun came out. Not a bad way to start the day.

I believe I also encountered my first maoist demo today, a sit in and blockade at a nearby restaurant or rather IN a local restaurant demanding minumun salary for the staff, a shared system for the added 13 % tax that appears on your bill. Among other things. Perceived youngish men and women blocking the enterance to the establishment wearing black bandanas and smiling faces, a part of the political matrix of Nepal these days.