Much has happened since Kathmandu. Finished a13 day trek between Tressilu and Gorkha. Averaged 18 kilometres a day walking with my guide, Deepak, and a young porter, Ram. We walked up and down the undeveloped rural area of the Himalayan foothills, staying in cafes in villages or in farmhouses or barns. The conditions were quite primitive in some cases and most houses did not have running water (water from village tap) and the electricity supply was unreliable at best or non-existent. Most people had seen very few tourists, so the children were often quite excited by a pale skinned Brit with short hair, most people were welcoming. Washing was infrequent and basic as most people, men and women would wash themselves and their clothes at the village water tap, and there is quite a taboo about covering oneself so it was difficult, and at times frustrating, particularly after a long arduous trek in temperatures reaching 39c by mid afternoon.
The hillside farms are not mechanised as the steep inclines were terraced and many hillsides were forested with pine, banyan, banaanas and mandarin orange and papaya trees. Sadly my favourite fruit, mango, was out of season! Farm animals are plentiful, most farmers will own goats, now is currently the time of year for breeding and saw many 1 -2 day old kids. The main method of ploughing is using buffalo and they also provide milk, in rural areas diary cows are not seen. Have grown to like buffalo milk, fresh from the beast but boiled.Most people in Nepal own some land, even if urban dwellers, they will arrange for other family members to farm the land.
Took many photo's at this time though still no success with uploading photo's, internet cafe's here cannot cope.
Pokhara was reached on 15th November by bus from Gorkha which took 3 and a half hours, on a local bus - not the most comfortable but a real eye opener as to how most rural dwellers travel. The bus was always full of not only people but sacks of rice ('tis being harvested at the moment), various goods and chattels that the UK buses would not take!
Pokhara is a lovely town and the hotel is on the Lakeside area with a stunning view of Everest and Annapurna from my bedroom balcony. It's a much more cosmopolitan place tha Kathmandu as it the launch point for trekking to th above. Even had a pizza with Deepak before I changed guides and he went back to Kathmandu. I can't begin to describe how good it was after a diet of Nepali food with copious quantities of plain boiled rice and lentils. Am making the most of Pokhora before trekking to Annapurna base camp starting tomorrow and have purchased the obligatory down jacket as it is pretty cold up there , and managed to negiotiate a good price. Will be back in Pokhara on 2nd December, and then Kathmandu - so no further blogs until 2nd.
Photo 1ATATA bus: note the truck chassie, well suited to the poor roads
Photo 2 View of hydroelectric damn (built by the Indian Govt) and the countryside around Tressuli, W aNepal.
Photo 3 TATA Bus - where much of the Scunthorpe steel goes!
Photo 4 A typical haystack complete with a backview of Deepak, my guide.
Photo 5 An elderly Nepali couple, who gave up their beds for the night for us. No electricity or toilets or running water in the home (only at the village tap and communal loo).
Photo 6 A herd of buffalo wandering down the road. The only milk available in this area is fresh from the buffalo.
Photo7 A typical bridge crossing, this one was in better repair than many.
Photo 8 and 9 Staying in Deepaks village, Achone, with his brother and wife. The photo's are of aunts, cousins, 2nd cousins and family friend's, all of whom made me very welcome, even to the extend of lending me a sari, NB they are worn wrapped around the waist, unlike other areas where part of the fabric is worn over the shoulder,very comfortable in the heat.
Photo 10 nDeepak 'holding up' a maize stack, avoiding wandering goats and buffalo eating the winter supplies.