I type too much.  I don't know if Barry knew or remembered this when he asked if I might fancy sending him some diaries about the flavour of being in Nepal for the  Women's World Cup qualifiers but whether he did or didn't please blame him either way if you are a completionist who needs to read every CricketEurope article in full and are cursing before you can even see the end of this post!

The story of how and why I decided to travel to Nepal for nearly a month to see as much as I could is thankfully for you far too long and off-topic to cover here but the timing couldn't have been better for me.  Again I'll leave out all the tales of before I departed except to say that I was looking at one tournament structure and fixture list when originally planning to book, a different structure and even grounds when I returned to book having established the dream wasn't going to be ruined after all by the faintest of red lines on a test and a different fixture list again before I had departed which had switched the ground where Ireland would play most of their games!   To some this would have been utterly infuriating but I'm (usually) laid back and my choices still stood up as reasonable if less ideal so I wasn't switching any plans.   I wouldn't blame anyone though who found this sort of uncertainty until the last few days a complete blocker to trying to travel, putting the ICC into the same category as CI in terms of really not encouraging travelling support by simply announcing concrete fixtures early.

So just after noon on a Friday I arrived at Dublin airport with way too much luggage and a 3:15 flight to catch which would see Turkish Airlines take me via Istanbul to Kathmandu.  Considering I was in the cheap seats I loved the flights bar the food but honestly who expects to be delighted by airplane food?  I also have to say the huge amount of Istanbul airport I could roam as I transferred from one flight to the next is absolutely stunning though it is shockingly expensive, putting Dublin's worst tourist traps to shame.  The flight out of Istanbul was delayed by nearly an hour though they caught most of it back up in the air so after spending the last part of the flight stunned by the beauty of the early morning view of the Himalayas out my window (left side) we landed in Kathmandu late morning and I began my Nepali experience.

As an aside, if anyone wants to let me loose on their flight sim after I get back I really want to see just how many novel ways I find to crash before a successful landing in Kathmandu.  It's not a bonkers runway but I don't think the approach is anything like as routine as the pilot made it seem.

First task was sorting out my visa-on-arrival.  I was a little stupid and slightly misled by the prompts on the screen (just pay cash, they'll certainly take dollars and euros and I suspect Stirling) but there were a couple of friendly young Nepali men on hand guiding the throng and they gave me my first taste of the Nepali way of things.  They weren't rushing and yet if you paid attention you would realise they were efficient about it while projecting a relaxed and friendly air with all.   This continued actually paying for and getting the visa as well as at the departure like security where this sleep deprived idiot was seemingly incapable of remembering all the bits of metal tucked about my person.  I wouldn't go as far as to say the security guard was amused by it but that was closer to the vibe than the usual stress of just trying to get through the necessary.

Of course one of my bags appeared quickly and the other much later so my poor driver was waiting far too long for me and beyond the time they were obliged to wait so in hindsight my dozy self failed miserably in tipping him properly for that reinforcement of the beautiful Nepali attitude.

So I arrived at my abode for the next near month after about a 19 hour door to door journey to be checked in by Basu who I learnt was really the organiser of expeditions and not regular front-desk staff but I'd have never known.  Once I'd thrown my bags into my room all I wanted was a cigarette (likely close to 10 hours since my last in Istanbul) so he brought me up the flight of stairs outside my room to the rooftop restaurant where a cup of coffee also quickly appeared and we chit-chatted for 10-15 minutes.  If I'd got a minute out of him at that point in Ireland I'd have felt I was doing well unless he was trying to sell me something but whether he had better things to be doing or not I was getting the cead mile failte Nepali style.

I don't remember how we got there but despite not being a cricket fan himself when I ended up telling him Andrew Leonard was a club-mate he was quickly telling me about Andy's latest Instagram post!  If you've ever wondered just how much of a celebrity Andy is in Nepal I wasn't left in any doubt after this and it was clear he was thought of extremely fondly.

I'd arrived armed with a small pack of pharmaceuticals to help cope with what felt like the inevitable stomach problems but trusting initially to the hotel restaurant and since just trying to choose wisely where to eat I've yet to have any need and have had some wonderful Nepali treats along with the odd international staple.   I've particularly fallen in love with the Momo's, a kind of steam stuffed dumpling accompanied with a dipping sauce though my unhealthy self struggles to resist going the extra mile and getting them deep fried.

The drive to the hotel had given me my first taste of the apparent chaos that is traffic in Kathmandu.  Motorbikes are extremely popular heavily outnumbering the cars and at nearly every junction it seems like everyone just drives through weaving their way around each other and the pedestrians strolling carefree among and across them.  I have seen a set of traffic lights at a big junction but they weren't on and instead a police officer often just does enough to make sure it doesn't snarl up completely and each road is getting their chance to keep moving.  Off the big roads footpaths are rare and the roads narrow so there's a soundtrack of bipping horns from cars and bikes as they move along.  Bip not beep and you quickly realise they are just making sure there's no accidents and nobody sits toooo long blocking things up rather than impatiently trying to express their road rage.  I can't say wandering the streets of Thamel would be for the faint hearted but while I wouldn't jump in front of anyone to test it the reality is that in practice pedestrians have the right of way and the bikes and cars work around you with patience where things are a little snarled, though they won't be shy about taking any gap presented.  People also generally drive at a pace proportional to the chaos so they aren't flying by.

So the first couple of days I wandered around taking it all in and picking up the odd essential like a local sim card where I didn't mind at all just ignoring any question of value or what I really needed and just taking the "unlimited" 28 day bundle for the princely sum of about €12.  When I later checked what calls or texts to Ireland might cost the sceptic in me was not shocked to see we were in a band of our own but was that it made us the cheapest place outside of India/USA/Canada with calls 4c/min and texts 8c.

It is winter in Nepal and so the weather is both very familiar to someone from Ireland and utterly different.  Once the sun goes down the temperature drops, maybe down to about 5C but once the sun has had a little chance to split the skies the temperature rises quickly so most days have hit up around 20C while feeling even hotter if you aren't in the shade. The really alien part to an Irishman is it's bone dry to the point dust is a problem, so it's common to see shopkeepers wetting down outside their stores to keep it down. The pitch where Ireland played their first warm up was brown, hard and bumpy enough to guarantee it would make fools of some fielders as balls fly or shoot though actually there were only 1 or 2 such moments.  My understanding is that, ignoring the fact I'd say this qualifier is already too close to the finals, the Nepali winter ends with a rainy season going into hot summer months so as weird as it seems this is quite a nice time of year to have it, at least for an Irishman like me who starts wilting when the temperature starts moving up into the high 20s.

So having under-researched the weather before arrival picking up a hat was added to my shopping list along with a bag to bring supplies on gamedays along with some supplies to pack in it.  Where I'm staying is surrounded by many shops catering to trekkers along with the general (for Nepal) tourist fares.  Some local hemp bags which were everywhere had caught my eye but not quite my heart before I stumbled into a shop associated with a women's skills development association where I found a, to me, gorgeous green bag that suited my needs perfectly.  In contrast to the many more common style of shops where any attention was prone to have you greeted by a friendly middle aged man hoping to find something to sell you the young lady running the shop was cleaning the windows as I walked in and just continued at her task while I browsed and this felt a lot more authentically Nepali.  Out with the hawkers I know I'd have been laughing at their first price on anything and offering half but here I wouldn't dream of haggling and felt like I was robbing them by only paying the sticker price of about €20 for this handcrafted thing of beauty.

So finally having arrived on a Saturday I woke up far too early on Wednesday morning, armed up the bag with a few bits and pieces like my new favourite lemonade the local Nimbu Pani and jumped into the hotel car to take the trip to Mulpani and the first Irish warm up game against hosts Nepal.  As we set off I had a plan to pay attention to the route with the idea I might rent a scooter later to take the journey myself but it only took about 5 minutes for me to realise this may be crazier than I thought as the condition of the roads along the way are extremely variable.  One particular twisty steep bit where the road was bisected by a dirt strip clearly covering a new pipe sticks to mind as the sort of feature built to catch you out even if the myriad of chaotic merging junctions didn't. I haven't written off the idea yet but will at least wait to see the route to the other ground before deciding if it's really the sort of fun I want to have or a step too crazy even for me.

Arriving at Mulpani I made a stupid mistake and went to what is flagged as the development ground on openstreetmap because I was aware the game was on the secondary ground which wouldn't be used for the tournament, I blame the early start as I knew I wanted the lower ground!  Of course it didn't matter as throwing down the hill a strong arm could probably throw a ball from one outfield to the other.   So I wandered down towards the pitch where the Irish and Nepali women were out warming up and couldn't help but look at the stands around nearly half the pitch and wonder what Cricket Ireland would do for such a facility.  I'm not sure what the capacity is but I suspect they might handle the 10,000 Ireland have only ever had capacity for once in Ireland.

I was there not too long after 8am with a 9am start expected and I think the only occupants of the stands at that point were some security.  Having been up to the large perch above it all, which I can only assume was built for media, I wandered over towards the gate at the end of the pavilion to wait and see who might spot me first.  I took a few steps through the gate just to get some idea what the outfield was like (though the boundary was still probably 30m away) and returned to my spot only for an ICC official to come over, say hello, ask where I was from and advise me I'd be better off in the stands.   Well I guess at least they weren't attempting to hold the games behind closed doors which would have been utterly futile as during the game about half the crowd was up on the road above the ground, many sitting on their motorbikes watching on.  It made me recall the crowds on the road in Domemana the one time I was up there for an ISC game.

With 15 minutes until the scheduled start of play I was starting to wonder if I hadn't noticed the toss but in a Nepali kind of way that too wasn't being rushed and sure enough the game started a bit late for no reason I could tell.  Not long after they finally did toss with Ireland winning and deciding to bat the players came in and first Gaby and then Laura spotted me and said hello and I was confident I could hear the surprise in their voice at seeing me there, perhaps even at seeing anyone there.  Within a minute clubmate Orla came out of the pavilion and straight over to me to say hi and chat.  I'd like to think the smile on her face was at seeing me but I know Orla well enough to know she's regularly beaming when she isn't in the process of thrashing the ball to the boundary or uprooting the stumps.  The sun had broken through enough at this point to take the worst of the chill out of the air but it sounds like some hot water bottles made it onto the Irish team bus when they set off for the ground that morning.  By that hour though, as Orla said, the weather wasn't really any different to the start of the season in Ireland.  With an apologetic departure because she had to go and pad up she returned to the pavilion and I took to the stands.  For the poor Nepali side the beaming Orla was a sign of someone ready to play some cricket and she proceeded to smash the ball around before retiring, hit the stumps and take a catch in a classy all around performance no doubt made easier by a quick opening stand between Sarah and Gaby who also went on to retire after a quality knock.

One thing we quickly touched on was the experience walking around and attempting to negotiate crossing traffic to which I passed on my experience that it was actually far more leisurely than it looks at first glance except at the major road junctions where I might still just wait for a local to be crossing and using them as a human shield, though in practice there's usually a clear gap if you are a little patient though you'll likely have to wait in the middle of the road to do it in two parts.

In the stands at that point I think there were now 2 people, both with cameras but not connected to each other.  One a camcorder on a tripod and the other a vlogging camera in the hand of a man who came over to say hello.  I soon learned he most commonly went by TSB reflecting the name of his youtube channel (TSBverse where you can find his video on the day) which mostly consists of vlogs about Nepali cricket and football.  He was pretty surprised to find an Irishman there and we chatted about all kinds of things from the potential of a tactical choice by the Nepali to play the game on that pitch to how this pitch was now somewhat abandoned in favour of the top pitch.  Could you imagine Cricket Ireland abandoning a maybe 10k+ capacity ground with a media perch and significant pavilion?

TSB asked me if I had heard of Andrew Leonard and when I told him he was from my club back home and I'd played with him the camera was quickly stuck back on me.   Those who've watched a lot of Pembroke streams will know I'm certainly much happier to hide behind a camera then be in front of it but c'est la vie.  I think I'd made a friend for the day before he learned of any connection to Andrew but that certainly cemented it and we spent the rest of the morning watching the game, chatting and laughing with and at one of the local supporters in particular, especially when after Ireland took to the field and this character had asked me the name of the captain and keeper only to proceed to bellow at them hoping for a wave and to tell them "we love you, have a good game".  When he asked me for the name of the player who had come to field in front of us I just shook my head as with perhaps 20 or 30 of us at that point in a quiet enough cluster in the stand his shouts were clear and carrying and while it was utterly harmless it felt a little much.  So I wasn't shocked when I saw a figure heading our way around the outfield who proceeded to tell him to stop distracting the players!   Honestly we all couldn't help but laugh at it all but he needed another 1000 in the stands making a hubub to blend it out so I somewhat understand, but it did all feel quite silly.

A little later when TSB quietly asked me if I was bothered by it I just laughed and told him likely every club has someone and our club certainly does! Honestly even making that comparison is utterly unfair to the poor Nepali chap who was just exuberant in his support, utterly harmless, a positive bundle of energy and well educated on the Nepali women's team members.

So I spent most of the morning the sole Irishman among a ever growing posse of Nepali supporters, enjoying the wholesome atmosphere.  Like any fans they couldn't hide their disappointment when there was a mistake from a Nepali player but it never lingered or became in the slightest bit negative towards the player and as far as I can tell there was never any comments on the lines of "why are they playing" or "they aren't good enough".  They also appreciated the talent on show from the Irish with TSB certainly saying he'd never be forgetting Orla's name.  Wholesome, joyous and supportive so it was really hard to reconcile that with TSB telling me the women feel nothing but pressure and even just the 50 odd looking down on the ground from the roadside would be pressure to them. To me that just felt like a reflection of a team in need of more cricket.

One thing I also learned from TSB was that while in cricket the Nepali men are further along and ahead of the women in the world pecking order in the football it's the reverse.  The Nepalese women are seemingly a strong side and absolutely beloved superstars which pleased this jaded souls heart and rang true as usually sitting outside my hotel is a small seated van where the back would be window is adorned with a picture of the Nepali women's football team, something I'd smiled at when I'd first noticed.  TSB dearly hoped that over the course of this tournament the women's cricket team could gain more attention in the national psyche and perhaps even produce a few shocks and get themselves to a world cup with the hosting providing them "their best chance".

On the pitch Ireland plundered 200 but at that they were hauled back after the retirements of Gaby and Orla.  Had Gaby and Orla just been let at it 250 or more certainly looked to be on the cards though who knows how quickly trying to kick it up yet another gear to full slog mode would have lead to their demise.  In reply the last Nepali tail wagged to bring them to 100 after we'd taken regular wickets to make that look a long way away, though we put down a simple chance in the first over and two chances which you wouldn't moan about going down but would have expected to be more likely taken than not both by Laura, one diving forward and another where I just don't think she quite picked the flight soon enough to get moving back so it hit fingertips instead of fingers.  Laura did take a nice catch on the rope later in the innings.  I won't name the player who dropped the sitter, everyone drops catches and I sure now I've put down some shockingly simple ones.

Some of you might have picked up on my running half joke about wanting a superover in front of the cameras in Pembroke.  Dear Cricket Leinster (and CI for the Irish Senior and National cups), please at the very least make every single cup competition go to a superover in the event of a tie, in this cricketing era it's frankly disgraceful to pretend a team won because they lost less wickets or to resort to any other tie-breaker unless you can't play a superover.  While I'm at it, can we change the bonus points from being based on wickets in hand which encourages grinding out a 10 wicket win in the last overs to overs unused to add peril to the quest for points?  I digress but for a reason ...

So with the game won by 100 runs we were getting ready to leave as we realised the players were coming back out onto the pitch for a superover!  This to me was the sort of clever thinking I just couldn't have forseen at an ICC event and kudos to whoever realised that you may as well take full advantage of a warm up game. Was this the first ever super over ever for an Irish team?  The Nepali supporters didn't think the 8 they got off Arlene's over was enough and when Orla clipped the first ball of the chase off her legs for 4 it certainly didn't look like it.  Next ball though she tried to manufacture it to leg and got cleaned up bring Rebecca to the crease with Nepal needing a wicket to win the superover.  5th ball with 3 needed to win after a couple of singles she nearly guided it firmly into the hands of backward square to let Nepal take it but it fell off the fielders fingertips, still saving the 4 which would have sealed it but they scrambled 2 to level it and she crunched the last ball through cover of the packed field to deny Nepal the consolation prize.   For all that the late start and now this superover was pushing the game very late I was calling for a dot ball or wicket and another superover cause why not!

And so I took myself off in the direction TSB (a local to this ground) had suggested for some coffee and a bite to eat and ended up sitting far too long enjoying a cappuccino and big warm thick chocolate iced doughnut before taking another coffee to-go as I wandered (back) up to the top pitch to watch the USA Vs Scotland game.  The bill for 2 coffees and the doughnut in the nicest looking place nearby which wouldn't have looked out of place in Dublin would have given a chunk of change from €3 if I wasn't delighted to wave off the change.

So they were deep into the Scotland innings when I arrived and walked into the ground.  I say walked but it very much felt like sneaking as I emerged on the ground and attempted to split the distance between the PMOA and the boundary to make clear I wasn't trying to encroach and have another ICC encounter on my way to sitting up near the sightscreen under the shade of the wall because by this point the sun was beating down.  Here I met a now UK based American who was taking photographs and learnt he had just landed on the 11am flight from Istanbul that morning and missed the first 8 overs by the time he got out of the airport and taken the short trip from there to the ground.  He wasn't a Nepal first timer by any means and had decided to arrive that day to save himself an extra hotel night.  I didn't dare ask him where he was staying to prompt that choice but can only assume somewhere much more salubrious than the hotel I'd chosen as looking like the right choice for me between a not very Nepali luxury experience and a maybe too Nepali budget experience.  One great thing for him though was they had overbooked the economy seating on the flight and he'd been randomly bumped to business class so he'd lain himself flat and slept through their fancier meals he'd liked the look of but got some solid sleep in return.

There are no stands at the upper ground though a few shelters with seats were in place so once I'd taken my spot with those seating areas (empty bar the odd staff) out of sight behind me to the sides this was suddenly a far more familiar cricketing environment to an Irishman.  A pavilion, a cricket pitch, a big net area on the other side and with a nod to days not seen too often anymore in Irish cricket a scoreboard that entailed a couple of guys efficiently swapping loose wooden numbers.   If only anyone's live scoring for the day had been as efficient as the scoreboard operators, the Irish innings got into the 5th over on NVPlay before it stopped, possibly at the first wicket and even now it's complete I don't think it can be right as it claims people retired not out when I'm quite sure they weren't bluffing injuries and were out.

Scotland posted 150 and while the USA kept the board moving, wickets fell and the run-rate climbed until around the 12th over as it was set to hit 10 an over the ball flew over the rope for 6, the start of a stretch with some nice hitting not derailed when a wicket fell which saw them home with plenty to spare.  Where earlier in the innings it seemed the Scots knew just where to put the fielder to pluck a good catch out of the air at this point quite a few shots fell just inches short/wide so in all probability the luck balanced out and the USA were fully deserving of the win and maybe 5 minutes later as I was preparing to go they were singing in the dressing room obviously well pleased with it.

After the Ireland game I'd asked TSB for a clue as to what I should expect for a taxi price because I had read the taxis drivers really don't like to use their meters and he knew how to check and told me a wildly precise number but that I should just take it if they weren't too far out.  I'd taken the offer of a free drive in one of the hotel cars in the morning which still boggles my mind and I haven't managed to run into Basu the organiser since to work out just what I will pay them for that privilege if accept it again because I'm sure as heck not paying enough for the room to be willing to accept that sort of complimentary service as part of the deal.  Comically to me TSB was saying how it wasn't great that the two grounds were so far apart and how far they were from central Kathmandu, comical because as I explained to him I'd have a much longer trek to the likes of Malahide from the Southside of Dublin so I didn't think it was far at all.

Not knowing what time I'd actually want to return and with the question of fair payment up in the air I wasn't asking for the hotel to collect me and so I strolled back down to the main road and long to where I'd spotted taxis lurking earlier.  TSB had told me 641 (about €4) as the official price so when I asked the first taxi driver how much to Thamel and he said 700 I jumped in and returned through the chaotic likely start of rush hour traffic and in fact stopped him just before he'd have to enter the windy one way streets to walk the last little bit and gave him 1000 saying if he'd asked for a 1000 I wouldn't have gone past 700 but when he asked for 700 I was happy to give him the 1000.  I'm not a haggler and I don't care about the last euro but I expected whatever driver I encoutered to chance their arm and don't know if I got lucky hitting someone who didn't or if I was wrong to suspect they'd be cheeky with an obvious foreigner as this was the first taxi I'd taken.  I had been and remain shockingly happy to wander the crazy streets as somehow I find the order and manners among the chaos charming.

One of the stranger feelings I've had the whole time I've been here is that Kathmandu evokes in me thoughts of a what if, what if Dublin had never seen the EU investment and celtic tiger.  Might the population density in central Dublin have climbed to rival what we see here?  Might we have kept the old more leisurely, friendly and welcoming attitudes?  Would our streets be littered with myriads of smaller local shops instead of the homogenous bland chains?  How much better or worse would Dubliners lives be or more specifically how much happier would they be?  In so many ways the two places are utterly unalike and yet I still can't shake the feeling that we at least used to be kindred spirits to the Nepali.

The conversation which remains with me most is the one where TSB was speaking of dreams of the likes of a (men's) tri-series in Nepal featuring a team like Ireland to which I could only bemoan that since gaining full member status it feels like Ireland pulled the ladder up after them and shut the door instantly forgetting their own experiences as an associate.  I'm sure Cricket Ireland would tell you that it would cost too much but I don't know how readily I would accept that premise at all given the lower potential income due to the wealth disparity with the Nepali comes with the lower prices of everything here.  No doubt Cricket Ireland have their full contigent holed up in an expensive hotel but I don't think it would take them all that much creativity to cut that bill to pieces if the desire was there and I bet the Nepali Cricket board would help with that.   Make it part of a tour to one of the nearby test nations the same way we still now hope to get the English tourists to use us as a warm up or to add whatever games they want.

Perhaps this just reflects me more than anything to do with Cricket Ireland and I'm out of touch as a low maintenance laid back guy but regardless it really galls me that about the best thing we've done for any associates since our ascension is the artist formerly known as the Euroslam and in reality that's probably the worst thing we've done as we enter another year of having it blocked off on a calendar when I can't imagine there is anyone who thinks it will actually take place?  Maybe I'm forgetting too much and doing CI a disservice?

My second day here I visited my only traditional tourist spot in Kathmandu so far, the Garden of Dreams.  Originally built by the son of the Nepalese king (afair) it's not even the size of a cricket pitch and sits in central Kathmandu.  Having fallen into neglect over the years the Austrian government bankrolled it's restoration which now means you can pay a few euro to go in and wander around a near maze of paths, steps, balconies and water features discovering plaques describing many quirky little things, watching the squirrels dart about or just taking note of the massive range of labelled fauna to be found in this tiny oasis just a walls width from a chaotic major road with a couple of those big junctions a stones throw in each direction.  Going in blind the €2.50 entry fee felt expensive (Nepali standards) but as soon as I was inside I quickly became aware of lots of workers dotted around the place caring for it on top of the security and the ticket seller and quickly found it hard to reconcile to Irish standards how they could have so many people tending it.  The Austrians hadn't just brought it back to life but had created a little pocket of employment.  It was lovely and I ended up going to the "expensive, by Nepali standards, as connected to some chain" restaurant to sit for a long time with some coffee and nice food appreciating this unique little enclave and the Austrian governments decision to fund bringing it back to life, offering a helping hand and helping keep the dreams alive.

The next and final warm up game for Ireland is tomorrow against Zimbabwe in the TUI Ground, a now floodlit stadium which I think is planned to be built up to hold around 30,000 and already again I believe can hold more than Ireland have ever managed and this despite it being horribly damaged by the major 2015 earthquake.  I read an article about it yesterday which ended with "It's not just where we play.  It's where Nepal dares to dream."  Would that Cricket Ireland could take a leaf from the Austrian Governments book and offer their helping hand to take those dreams of people like TSB who just love cricket in all the best ways and make them a reality.

We haven't built anything so nobody will come.

They have built it, will we come?

Namaste