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