to Bakhtapur

Next day was really hard climbing steeply downhill, which is very difficult for my knees and made me feel about 102, feeling my way cautiously down and using my walking pole for support. But then once again we were passing through villages, where I was viewed with interest as foreigners are rare in these lowland regions. So all in all it was a good hike. 

The road ahead

Breakfast 8 am.  Can you just see the high mountain peaks?

Looking over towards Bhaktapur

One very disturbing thing I learnt from Nima was about road traffic accidents. I had already heard that a driver who injures anyone is responsible for their medical care for the rest of their life, which is given as one of the reasons drivers are so careful here! But apparently a result of this is that sometimes a casualty may be deliberately killed. For example recently a bus driver knocked a young woman off her motorbike and when she was lying in the road, he tried to reverse over her with the intention of killing her. A pedestrian tried to pull her clear but, due to the temporary barrier present in the middle of the road, could not move her out of the way completely. The driver thus ran over her legs, which had to be amputated. He will now be responsible for her ongoing care. I found this concept of killing rather than taking on long-term care hard to believe but Nima assured me that it is well known.

 French cheese farm

Pressing the cheese

On my last day here I went to Tokha by car and walked to a cheese farm in the woods. It is run by a French man whose sister and her friend, Pauline and Pauline (!) run a guest house there. It was a lovely walk, lovely cheese and on the way back I met some schoolgirls who were dying to practice their English.  After chatting for some time, and taking their photos, they asked if I had an email address.  To my surprise they all use email in their homes, so I have promised to send them the photos. 

Friends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Private hike from Godavari

Arranged a 2 day hike through Social Tours. We walked through villages and fields, a very interesting route, and my guide, Nima, was an excellent companion, explaining all the things we saw, and talking to the villagers as we passed by. We passed through an area where they were digging out clay and moulding it into bricks, which were drying in the sun, before firing.

 

Unfortunately, when the clay is all extracted, the ground is barren, as it has no topsoil. The pollution from the brickworks chimneys which dot the Kathmandu valley is also a concern, under discussion presently. The pollution is very evident when you look down on the valley as we did on this occasion. Clouds might obscure the high peaks at first but below you can see the haze of pollution over Kathmandu, which gradually rises later in the day. The country is at a standstill as it has been trying for two years to form a government without success. The Maoists have a slim majority in parliament but not a working majority; there's an uneasy truce between them and the government and everything is a matter for discussion and argument. At least there is a truce and the rural areas are now considered safe, though there is a legacy of orphans left by the uprising.

Mrs. shakes

 

In another village, I admired a house and Nima asked if we might take a closer look. I took photos and we asked if we could buy some oranges from their trees. This was not easy, involving a long stick to shake them off the branches and Nima sprinting down the hill to collect them where they fell. We paid 30p for 6, which was foreigners' price, I suspect.

Nima collects

The walk ended with an hour's very stiff uphill climb, arriving at a lovely lodge on the top of a hill. 

Stiff climb

I was disappointed that it was only 1 pm, so after a shower and a rest, we went out again to climb to another viewpoint from where we were able to look down on our lodge. The lodge actually has electricity feed from the valley with solar backup for the inevitable power cuts. And, joy of joys, it had electric blankets!!!

Summit Village lodge from viewpoint

Walking tour

Monday I followed a walking tour from the LP guide, which took me eventually to Durbar square. It was really good, as I saw countless quiet squares I would never have noticed, as well as old shrines and carvings which you really need pointing out. 

Harmonium manufacture and repairs

This piece of wood is studded with coins nailed there to ward off toothache!

 

It's still quite warm in the middle of the day but my room is very chilly so I was pleased to find a restaurant which was not open to the chilly night air and which had a blazing fire in the middle. It was a change to come back warm enough to not mind undressing for bed!

Tuesday I went back for a second look at Durbar square and spent some time enjoying a concert to mark the occasion of 60 years of UNHCR involvement with refugees in Nepal. 

Went to the other Durbar square, in Patan (south Kathmandu). Very pleased to have seen it, as I thought it much more attractive than the central one. It has been a surprise to me to see how many lovely old buildings are to be found all over the city, crowded by shops and squalor and throngs of people. What a fascinating place it is.

Practical Action Field Trip

On Friday we drove to Chitwan district by 5pm, stopping at 3 gravity ropeways and three tuins on the way. Tuins are cable crossings for people so I had a go in one. You sit in a metal cage and cross by pulling on the cable. The schoolchildren who were using it told us they would otherwise have to walk upriver half an hour to the nearest bridge and back. That's after having walked about an hour down the hillside.

Teo, Rosemary, Shirish in tuin

Local use of tuin

The three gravity ropeways we saw were in various states of use. The first was not in use when we visited. The second had been operating but was resting at the time. It seemed a very efficient operation, run by a cooperative of producers. The span was an amazing 1412m, and looking at the records it seemed to run a minimum of 8 loads a day. In the peak season, it carries 80 – 90 loads per day, a load being 100 kg. The farmers send down tomatoes, oranges, beans, cauliflowers, peas, garlic etc and each 100kg sent down can haul up 1/3 of that weight in oil, rice, salt and other consumables required by the hilltop community. The operative is paid 4,200 NR /month and the growers pay 0.75 NR per kg to use it. This particular ropeway has been in use for 2 years.

Ropeway records

 

Another one was transporting sacks of satsumas. It was 3.30 pm and there were about 40 sacks there, though some had already been removed. Operation was continuous, and the station open from 7 – 7 daily. We bought some to eat and it surprised me to see the others just casually throw the peel on the ground. Litter is quite unsightly here, though both urban and rural shopkeepers have quite a cleansing ritual morning and evening. They sweep the front of their premises into the gutter for the garbage collectors and throw down water, not only on their own shop fronts but on the road in front of them. This is designed to keep down the dust, which is everywhere, on account of the largely dirt roads and copious traffic. The main problem as I see it is the lack of personal responsibility for litter and the incomplete garbage collection, so there are places which seem to be always piled up with rubbish. However, in general I find it better than expected.

Oranges fresh from the hill-top by ropeway

Pushkar enjoys a fresh orange

Practical Action's gravity ropeway project is nearing completion. They had a target of 15 ropeways, 10 are already installed, 4 are near complete – perhaps 2 months off – and one we saw is in the early stages – work has started on the lower station, but the steep hillside and 600 m height difference present a major challenge. The practice is to prove the efficacy of a technology and encourage the government to take it up. Only when the government has committed to incorporating the technology into its development plans will PA consider the project complete. By this stage thorough documentation will have been completed and made available to the government. Prior to this the locals are trained in the management and ongoing care of their system so that it will continue to be used when PA pull out.

Next day we visited Dhauwadi by jeep. Fantastic journey - After the end of the tarmac road, there remain 16 km to travel on dirt roads, which took us 2 hours, 

ending right at the solar charging station for the village. The roof of this brick-built hut is covered with solar panels and inside are housed the storage batteries and multiple charging points. Village members pay 5NR (about 5p) to charge a solar lamp or mobile phone, outsiders 10NR. Mobile phone coverage is surprisingly good in such rural areas, as there is often a mast on a neighbouring peak.

After talking to the operative and some of the users we went to see a smokeless stove in action. There was much discussion with the householder about the drawbacks and difficulties encountered in its use, which will be taken back to the drawing board to arrange improvements for future versions.

Seeing the wife cleaning the barley seed I joined in. The seeds are pressed hard against the bottom of the woven basket to remove the husks which are separated off by tossing and blowing. Then bits of stems and grit are picked out. The grain is mashed with water and made into flat bread, or distilled into alcohol. I wished I had learnt more Nepali, but was glad that at least I could say where I was from and ask how many sons/daughters she had. Also learnt the word monghur for the pig I was scratching, though later was laughed at for using this word. It seems that monghur is a white pig,; black pigs are songhur! This took some sorting out as you can imagine; again I was glad I knew the words for black and white.

We had lunch in this village, rice, lentils and potatoes, eaten with our fingers, watching the still making liquor and the goats being fed leafy branches. This is subsistence living but more comfortable than I had expected, the houses were mostly brick built and tin roofed, unlike those in the next place we visited.

Next day we left early and had breakfast en route – dahl, puri, pickles and sweet waffles called jeera.  

We drove for about an hour on dirt road then met a guide who led us up the (very steep) hill for an hour or more. It was hot and very hard work for me, the oldest of the party by at least 10 years. At the top was a small community of 8 households, all mud and thatch. There are 28 children, 17 of whom go to school. I tried to communicate but most success was through the camera. They wanted more and more pictures taken to view on the screen.

This village was the object of a trial for wind power. A test turbine is in place, transmitting data to a recorder, which is periodically visited to download the data,as on this occasion.

All change

All change

After seeing the other volunteers off at the airport, the transport took me to the International Guesthouse in the heart of Thamel, where I am booked in for the next 10 days. Off to a good start, the room I had seen and reserved yesterday had been given to someone else. I liked it because it looked over the garden, but they could only offer me one in their new block on the street side. Not happy! Finally they allocated me a similar room but it would not be available till lunchtime.

So I thought I'd venture the next thing on my list and go to Practical Action Office by rickshaw. Big mistake! Showed the address, agreed the price 100NR (£1) and set off. Once in the general area he started asking people for directions. Not a good sign. We toured round for almost an hour, well after my appointment time before I got out at the British consul, the third time of passing it. They rang the office who said they would come for me. Then only had to argue with the rickshaw driver who had spent far longer than he expected (whose fault was that I wonder?). My transport turned out to be a motorbike so I fulfilled a second transport wish in one morning. Arranged to be there (PA office) 8.30 next day for three day trip. Very excited!

Got caught up with an Indian wedding on the way back. Started videoing the band and dancers and the relatives invited me to follow and film the religious rituals to be performed around the groom, which I did for about an hour. Pictures on Picasa web – follow link to more photos.

The Great Knitting Competition

Things are getting a little jumbled timewise but I'm concerned that there will be loads of people tuning in to the blog for the result of the Great Knitting Competition, which is already a week old. Sorry to be so late reporting!

Things were getting pretty tense last Sunday, the day of reckoning, when we gathered at 7 pm in the club lounge for our customary gin and tonics. 

The mufflers (pronounced a la francaise as Mouffleurs) were produced but none of us dared judge so we had to grab the first hapless person to pass in the corridor, one Anthony, organizer of another volunteer group. 

He proved to be a gem. He took his time deliberating, feeling the quality, asking technical questions and eventually giving the required judgement without prompting. It was a draw – Crunchie bars to each of the knitters and a Milky Way for the fearless Anthony. And the contestants remain good friends. 

 

Brief update

Just tooooo busy to blog. It takes for ever because of slow Internet and I haven't enough time. So this is just a brief update as it's 11.30 pm and I have to be up at 6am.

Pokhara weekend was really good. It's a great place to be, beside the second largest lake in Nepal surrounded by mountains. The flight is only half an hour but spectacular mountain views.Always in sight of Anapurna II and Anapurna South and Fishtail.

We saw two sunrises make the snowy peaks go pink (also the wonderfully clear night sky on the ride to the viewing point), we climbed up to the World Peace Pagoda, and lost our way coming down, nearly coming to grief down precipitous slopes in the Royal Forest. Ended up with a hilarious rescue by ladder and ferry boat. More later – hopefully tomorrow night when the others have gone home and I have time to myself! Visited a Tibetan village (in Pokhara) and sat in a Tibetan monastery listening to the monks chanting, banging gongs and cymbals and playing horns. Walked by the lake in hot sun (it's lower than Kathmandu so warmer).

Sunday night in Kathmandu saw the exciting final of the great muffler knitting competition, with an outside judge presiding. Later! 

Dancing partners at the Naxal leaving party

On Monday morning we went to school for assembly and were given the traditional welcome/thanks scarves and little gifts, and gave the large block-mounted photos to our classes in return. Emotional farewells again to our teachers. Margaret F and I went to join in the fun at the orphanage party later on, and were glad to be there to support a very emotional Brenda who was overcome at the point of departure. Not surprising – those kids are adorable and they have worked closely with them all this time.

In the evening Social Tours treated us to a farewell dinner along with Graham, another independent volunteer at Samata, Harri,the director of the orphanage, and Sushil, the Samata school “manager”.

Today has been a day of finishing off our shopping. Tomorrow I will send the others off at the airport then continue to my new abode, a guest house in N Thamel, about 10 minutes from here. I will be going to Practical Action's office to find out about my visit to their project and should have time to expand on this post.

More photos

I've not been posting as many photos on the blog as I had hoped, because evrything moves at a snail's pace, and my paid internet time is eaten up all the while.  If you would like to see more, you can check out the Nepal album on my PicasaWeb site. Paste http://picasaweb.google.com/Indierose/Nepal?feat=directlink into your web browser.

End of term

Load shedding

This is the term used for turning off the power, leaving everyone in darkness or using generators. The electricity supply simply can't cope with the demand, so a rota is agreed and the inconvenience is shared out. We keep up with it through the timetable posted in the foyer of the hotel.

After dark it's eerie. The traffic keeps up its relentless frenetic activity but bikes and rickshaws become more dangerous objects as they are unlit. You get dazzled by the lights of a motorbike or car and then suddenly there's a bike right beside you as you step around something. Shopkeepers on candle-light use the light of their mobile phones to find goods, but it's all very good-natured.

School update

Yesterday I finally gave in to my cold and stayed off work. I went gratefully back to bed and didn't get up until 2pm. There were folks sunning themselves by the pool and I went to join them (for the first time) but by 2.30 it was already turning chilly. It's really warm for an hour or two either side of midday but cools down rapidly. Sunset is about 5.15 and quite sudden.

So today was our last working day. We had fond farewells from the two teachers, Alina and Deepa, whose English is good enough to have enabled us to establish a good rapport. The other two, Laksmi and Sanu, are very pleasant but can't converse at all.

“The computer room” has finally been made secure, ie the ceiling had a layer of plastic sheeting inserted to prevent the dust and bits of crumbling cement from raining down when Uttam moved about overhead (his quarters are upstairs). For some reason Uttam seemed to think the best place to dry his washing was in the computer room, which seemed a little incongruous to us. Another of those little cultural differences?

Anyway, Rosemary [ I might not have mentioned that there are two Rosemarys and two Margarets in our group of 6 – we have still not managed to use the right names for each other consistently, so you can imagine what it's like for the locals] moved in like one possessed, as there were three brand-new computers sitting around in their boxes ever since we arrived, and she set about installing them.

A further two have arrived but the wiring needs extending round the room to include them.

I'm not sure which past volunteer funded these, but I hope she/he will be pleased to hear of this progress.

The Knitting Competition

Things are getting out of hand!

Brenda and Margaret E have been knitting with the children at the orphanage. It has proved very popular both with the children and the staff who look after them. However, Margaret F having offered to knit a muffler for a child, and Brenda having recently started one herself, this seems to have developed into life or death competitive knitting. All the talk is of the relative merits of different stitches, the yarn used and (most important) the length. A time extension has been reluctantly agreed because Brenda was out all day today on an excursion and the cut-off date is now Monday night.

Watch this space.

Orphans outing

Today they went out in the minibus along with 3 extra staff, packed lunches, skipping ropes, kites and footballs to Godavari Botanical Gardens. This is about an hour's drive from our residence but there is apparently no public green space in Kathmandu except the zoo, so this is the best on offer. Our volunteers told us the children were impeccably behaved and took full advantage of the open space. More than that I can't tell you – I would ask one of them to write here but we've all retired to our rooms.

Photos

Feeling guilty about the pupils who have not had their photos taken over the last 4 weeks, I have taken class photos, printed them at 16”x20” and block mounted and laminated, to be hung in the classrooms. They look great and will be given on Monday when we are going in for the assembly to say goodbye to the school. Margaret and I said goodbye to our classes today as we are going to Pokhara tomorrow on an early flight. It was very sad to think that we won't see these lovely children again. We had a long chat with their teachers at lunch time sitting in the sun. Pleased to hear that, despite the low pay and lower status of teachers here, almost half of those we were talking to intend to make it their profession.

Personally I have only recently become comfortable in the teaching role, though I still have a lot to learn about preparation, organization, and time management. My greatest achievement has been speaking and singing in front of a class of nearly 57. Way Hay I can do it!