WEATHER: Hot and blue skies 25C
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: A late departure from Pokhara
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of a single thing
WORD OF THE DAY: What a view
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 80KM
Jess and I were up at 7am this morning. The one morning we could have a sleep in and
our body clocks would have no part of it.
We weren’t meeting some of the others till 9am, so it gave us a chance
to pack our bags and watch some TV. I
have still been receiving lovely messages via Facebook, they really are just
too kind and it gives me a new lease of life every time I get one and they are
coming from people that I would not expect.
I even got a Facebook message from Shelly Belly which is a BIG deal as she
is never on Facebook. EVER, so that was
a great start to my day. We weren’t
leaving till 1.30pm today but we had to be out of our rooms by 12 noon. So the plan was to go and grab some
breakfast, walk around town, come back to the hotel at noon, put our bags outside
and then head back into town for lunch and then back to the hotel again at
1.30pm for our departure. So at 9am
Kalps, Lenna, Jess, John and I made our way to one of the café’s that
overlooked the Fewa Lake and to eat with a view. It was a magic spot, to see the mountains,
looking like they were rising out of the lake on both sides. I wonder what people are doing back home
today as I look out over this view?
From here we walked back into the main section of the
town and made sure there was nothing else that I wanted to buy and I am happy
to report I was well and truly shopped out here. I did buy some small purses from a Woman’s
Co-Op, where the women of the region are shown how to weave and then their
stuff is sold in the shop. It is great
quality stuff and Jess and Ruby went to town in here and with all the proceeds
going to a great cause it is a win win situation. It is nearly guilt free shipping right! I would have loved to have bought some bags,
but do I need them? The answer is
no. So I held some self-restraint and
didn’t get one, which is another rarity for me.
With my future in limbo, I need to just be picky on the stuff that I am
accumulating, as it isn’t just the job of getting it back to Australia, but
then moving it again to Africa. I have
enough stuff already without having to add to it. I have been speaking to John the last couple
of days about getting quotes for buying a shipping container and then paying
for storage, trying to reduce the monthly cost of what I currently have. This would be the alternative to what I
currently doing or going through it all at Christmas and tossing and giving
away all my belongings. I am really not
sure what to do about the whole situation.
At the end of the day, if I have no intention of coming back to
Australia, it is just dead money paying for my stuff to sit there, but there
are a few things that I don’t want to get rid of just yet, mostly my mums
furniture, but after having this conversation with Christine in LA in June,
they are just belongings and there is no point holding onto them if they aren’t
going to be used. I’ll see what prices
John comes back with as he has emailed work to get some costs.
The street is always a hive of activity and the shops
were just starting to fully open around 10.20am. I bought some stickers for my diary and
computer, some paintings and while we were waling I saw Harry having a puff on
a smoke on his balcony and he said hi Bernie (remembering my name) and asked
how the tattoo was going. Which by the
way was cracking along. Only a little
bit of redness and a tiny bit tender, but all in all it was perfect. I woke up this morning looking at it and it
just bought a smile to my face. I am
going to have to think of something to tell my God-daughters (they are 7 and 5)
on what it means and also think of an explanation on what I am going to do with
the Zeme tattoo. As I know for a fact
they will ask. Shelly has told them that
Zeme and I have broken up so I am sure they will have a bevy of questions for
me that only children can ask in their non-judgmental non-corrupted way of
thinking and for the unconditional love that they give me always. Maybe I am going to be one of those
Godmothers/Aunties that roam the globe forever, where they will always receive
postcards and gifts from all over the world.
The one unconventional person that they will hopefully think is cool
even when I am 70 and still living in Africa and coming home once a year for a
visit. Even though the questions will be
hard to answer, it is so refreshing to see their outlook and thoughts on
life. They are smart girls and I
sometimes get a little sad when I am travelling that I am missing out on them
growing up. I mean Zoe will be 8 next
year and Tess 6. I can still remember
clear as day when I had them both in my arms 30 minutes after them being
born. They are my family and I love them
and miss then EVERY SINGLE day.
So we headed back to the hotel at 12 noon, put our bags
outside our doors for collection and then headed back into town for lunch. I am not sure if I am getting a little blasé,
but I also left my small backpack that had my laptop in there, some jewelry and
other bits and bobs. I figured if the
bags were getting collected, they would be looked after somewhere right. Everyone else seemed to be carrying all their
stuff with them, which I couldn’t be bothered which also has something to do
with the fact that my small backpack weighs a ton with my prayer wheel in there
and my Buddha head wooden statue and all my other crap. I am the same in the hotel rooms. I don’t lock anything up, all my stuff is
always strewn across the room where as Jess and others have all their stuff
closed and under lock and key. I mean I
don’t leave money around, or jewelry out in the open, but surely the staff
value their jobs too much to steal things from guests? Well I am hoping and **touchwood** I have
been lucky so far in my 20 months and that will continue for my last 10 days.
We were all back a little early, so with our bags on the
roof, everyone accounted for, we piled into our ‘luxury’ van for the 2.5 hour
drive to Bandipur. This was by far the
best vehicle we have had so far and I think the transport will be the one thing
I will pop on my feedback form. The
first few vans were very ordinary which normally isn’t a drama for me, and if
that is the only form of transport, then you just need to suck it up. But for long journeys of 4-6 hours and there are
other better quality vans, you need to have better vehicles than we had. It’s not a biggie but I think some
constructive criticism is hopefully well received. We are heading back the way we came for
around 2 hours before turning off the main highway and start our final climb to
Bandipur. As we left the city the clear
view we had a few days ago was now covered in clouds and just made you think
just how lucky we were to get photos on a rare, clear day of the Annapurna
Mountains. It was still an incredible
view non-the-less.
It has been a week today that we have been on tour and it
has just flown by. The sign of a great
tour I say. To think I will be home in
less than 2 weeks gives me butterflies in my stomach and I just can’t wait to
be surrounded by friends and to share in the festive season this year and to
also be home for my birthday is also a massive PLUS. Last year I was in the Galapagos with my
GREAT mate Aimes for my birthday and for Christmas Day we were in Bolivia
touring the salt flats of Uyuni. To
think that on the 29th of this month (November) was when I joined my
South American tour that was going to take me through 11 countries on a trip
that would take in 160 days around the continent. Crazy times as that only seems like months
ago, and I guess in my defence that tour finished in April, so that could
explain why it still seems so fresh.
We are passing rice fields that are currently getting
harvested. Does anyone know how much
work goes into obtaining a single grain of rice? Well let me tell you and once you know, like
the tea process, when you next have a meal that contains rice, think of all the
work that has gone into getting that piece of grain on your plate. So it's harvest time and all the rice planted
three months ago is ready to rock and roll. Rice planting is tough
business, a long and drawn out process. It is no wonder rice is so holy and
never a kernel wasted. After seeing how it's done, you would be picking it
off the tabletop. First, seedlings are
grown in small patches, dense and brilliantly green. They are grown prior
to harvest and ready for replanting. As soon as the previous paddy is
harvested, the men arrive with their ox. Still using the same ancient
technology, the men wade behind the ox and plow in knee deep mud that
houses scores of leeches. First they cut the earth with a large knife, and
then they change to a large comb that evens the earth out leaving behind a
fine silt. The job is back-breaking.
Once the paddy is ready, the baby rice plants are removed and
transferred in bundles by the women.
Spread across the width of the paddy, each grasps a bundle of
seedling and moving backward, replant them about three inches apart till the
entire field is covered. Moving from paddy to paddy, they work in
teams, their hands flying to place each blade of rice into the soft silt. Those single blades of rice have now become
large green bundles and all of Nepal is awash in color. Rice harvesting involves bending, cutting and
grabbing, bend, cut and grab. Over and over. Moving in rows again across
the field, the women sliced effortlessly through the rice stalks. The women work, the boy runs around and
collects the large bundles and takes them to a central area. There, plastic tarps are spread out and the
stalks are beaten over a rock to shake the rice loose. Once the grains have been shook loose 40kg
bags of rice are filled and transported to homes and warehouses the usual
rural way. On their backs. It's called a dokko and it is a large jute
strap that wraps around the forehead to the load on your back. In typical third-world fashion, nothing goes
to waste in a process that has been refined over thousands of years. After bagging the rice, the stalks are sifted
to draw out further grains and separate rocks and other inedible matter. Then the stalks are laid out in the sun to
dry. Once they are completely dry, they are bundled and stored, feed for the
animals for the next season. So next
time you eat a plate of rice, think of all the work that has gone into those
grains and the labor of work by which the food was made. Remember the
hardship of producers and be thankful to them.
It is interesting what you see on drive days. The most common occurrence is men taking a
leak by the side of the road. This
happens in a lot of countries; this is not just a Nepali thing and is really
just part of the scenery now. But today
I saw a small child with his bum to the road as he took a poo. I saw another small child, around 4 years
old, sitting by some hot ashes (still smoking) dipping a chip packet in the hot
embers. People are always working hard,
seeing people carrying sand and ricks on baskets on their backs that are being
supported by a piece of material around their foreheads, near misses with
traffic and animals and I also saw an older woman fall over just before turning
off the highway. This is the world we pass
each day and each day is a new day that brings new things to see and how things
like that would never happen back in Australia but is the ‘norm’ in a country
like Nepal and to remind you just how
lucky we are. Really lucky.
After turning off the main highway we had a 30 minute
drive up the side of a mountain offering us great views again of the
Himalaya’s. I will NEVER get tired of
seeing these magnificent mountains, EVER.
We arrived into Bandipur at 3.50pm.
There literally is only one main street that is not open to traffic, so
we got out of the van, our bags followed with porters from the hotel, and we
walked the 5 minutes through the main street to where were would be staying for
the next 3 nights. There were 6 of the
group that were rafting the Seti River, so they were only staying 2 nights here
as they camp for a night on the river and there were 4 of us that had decided
to not raft, have an extra night here and then follow with our bags on the 3rd
day to pick up the rafters and then head to Chitwan National Park. I was always dubious of the rafting from the
moment I made my booking on the tour, but I now had a good reason, my arm has
still not 100% healed from falling off my bike nearly 5 weeks ago and I know
that if I fell out, I am not sure I would be able to pull myself in let alone
if someone else fell in helping them. So
that excuse sounds so much better than I am not a water/small boat person and
sounding like a chicken. Yes siree, it
is because of the arm people, the arm. The
place where we were staying is a restored village mansion that is over 120
years old. It was an amazing
building. There were rooms and nooks and
cranny’s, chairs and tables through the whole place and our room was located on
the third floor that took up the whole length of the building, so one side we
had wooden shutters that opened up on the main square and then on the other
side there were wooden doors that opened up to a small balcony and a small view
of the Himalaya’s. We were in a triple
share here, but the room was big enough with Jess and I at one end and
Mari-Anne down the other end with a sitting area in between. All the doorways are smaller than the average
person, so you need to make sure you have your wits about you as you enter and
exit rooms, careful to not knock your head on either delivery. Poor Lenna is so much taller than all of us
and she looked like a giant in some of the photos they took with her and the
doorways. It was hilarious; it looked
like she had just stepped into Hobitland.
There are no TV’s here and an internet connection that came and went as
much as the power loss here. We were
recommended to always have our torches with us, as the power supply here went
all the time and most times without warning.
Something I will have to get used to with Africa.
So after a welcome drink on the terrace that has a 180
degree view of the Himalaya’s we dropped our things off at the room, freshened
up and then met back downstairs for a walk to watch a sunset over the mountain
ranges. We have seen them at sunrise,
during the day cloud free so it only made sense to see them in the last of
their glory as a sun set for another day.
I have taken a lot of photos of these mountains and I was about to take
a whole lot more. I don’t care how many
photos I take of these mountains, as they are a special set, they always look
different and something that you will never see anywhere else in the
world. It is a special experience, well
for me anyway. Imagine how people feel
after they have climbed these babies!!!!
I’m so proud of those people that have climbed these mountains and I
don’t even know any of them, oh except Jess, and I have a friend currently
climbing Everest base Camp and hope that Kate is doing fine on the mountain
with her dad. They are raising money for
Breast cancer that took her mum and also her Aunty. How brave.
So we walked for 20 minutes towards an outlook where we
would get a better view of the sunset.
On our way we passed homes that were preparing dinner for the evening,
kids playing, chickens clucking and people going about their life, really not
giving us, a bunch of white people walking through the mix. There were 2 cute girls eating something as I
passed them and they offered me a handful of what they were eating. It was puffed rice mixed with herbs and
chickpeas and without thinking I let them pour me some in my hand and I didn’t want
them to feel bad that I didn’t want any, so I popped some in my mouth, thanked
them, had a little bit more and then threw the rest in the bushes when I was
out of sight of the girls. I then
thought nothing else of it and little did I know what repercussions I would have
just from the small amount that I consumed 8 hours later. Crossing a soccer field we made it to the
view point just in time to get some photos before we lost light. The mountain ranges that were snowy white
when we arrived were not a tinge of pink and reds as the sunset hit their
peaks. The weather had also gone a little
cooler here, but it was amazing to get some pictures and then just stand there
and appreciate the MAGNIFICENT view till the light faded and it was time to
walk the 20 minutes back to the town.
Dinner was included tonight of Dhal Baht at 7pm. I can’t tell you enough just how much I am over
curries. But I ate with no complaint as
it does taste delicious, but it will not be my first choice of ordering for the
rest of the trip. We ate outside and it
was quite cold, so pretty much after dinner and with nothing else to do in the
town after dark, we all retired to our rooms.
I attempted to get another blog finished and then read my Kindle. Jess watched a movie and we switched the
lights off just after 10pm. I had a
gurgly stomach when I went to go to sleep, but I just put it down to the curry
I had eaten for dinner not even suspecting that things were about to get a hell
of a lot worse in the coming hours.
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