Pop up studio, Nepal

If this Wondering Wanderer thing is going to last for a while saving money, doing workaways and soon, house sitting, isn't going to be enough. Supplementary income has to come from somewhere. For the last few weeks Sabrina has been drawing different sites and people in the local area. When we couple that with offering massage, we have our own little business.

We purchased a stool and a mat. We also made flyers and signs. We scouted the best area by the lake that has the most tourist traffic and set up shop.

Business was slow on the first few days although we spoke to many people and had plenty of interest in the art. After a while business got much better. We sold more art than we hoped for and had lots of customers keen to get a massage. At one stage we had a client sitting in the waiting room, AKA the footpath.

During the quite times we talk with other "shop" owners. Like the "holy man". He sits and offers prayers, tikas, bracelets and necklaces. He also takes in donations from passes by. We chat about anything and nothing at the same time.

The locals are really supportive as well. They wish us well and even promote our business to locals and tourists. We don't earn much money but every little bit helps. On a good day though, we earn more than the Nepalese folk who are selling hand made jewellery and food. So Sabrina produces the art and also does the massage! What do I do? I'm in customer relations; talking to our clients friends while they wait. Promotion; explaining to people as they pass by how it's the best massage they'll ever get and hand out flyers. Customer service; say hello to everyone, meet and greet and take the cash. I'm indispensable really 😀 Not everyone is a paying customer! This guy was getting too much for free. I had to shut it down after a while.

On one particular day we thought we were going to be closed down. We were told that what we were doing was not allowed by a "police man" flashing an "official" card. Our Nepalese mate, Santos, said that he was a "make up officer" and not to worry. When the "officer" passed by the second time he said nothing so we carried on. Some days we sell plenty of art and some days we, I mean Sabrina, does plenty of massage. We've even being drawing quite a crowd.

We meet and talk to heaps of people from all around the world. Like our new friends from Scotland who were in Nepal doing work for Rotary. Each one of them was kind enough to purchase some art and we had great conversations. They are now VIP customers.

We make a little bit of money and hang out in an awesome spot under the sun. And the view from my office is much better than it used to be. Life is great!