I had the privilege to be the traveling companion for a dear friend who initially introduced us to Nepal in 2017. He and his late wife first visited Nepal in 1984 and had since undertaken many philanthropic projects in the village of Jubing in the Solukhumbu region. He had yet to see the results of his last project, a toilet block for the school, hence the reason for the visit.
We flew from Kathmandu into Lukla, the airport with a history of being terrifyingly difficult to fly in to. Fortunately the day was fine and landing went without a hitch.
From Lukla we helicoptered to the highest point we would achieve on our journey, Everest View at 3880m with Dhana our guide, his son Golden portering and daughter Onee acting as trainee guide. The fine day allowed a clear view of Everest in the distance and closer peaks before we began our days descent to Namche Bazar.
So many activities are manual such as turning rocks into gravel by containing a rock in a clamp and breaking it with a hand mallet, to portering goods. Typically porters are paid 100 Nepali rupees per kg of weight carried. Distance and difficulty of terrain also have a bearing on the price paid.
First village we walked into was Khum Jung, the village where Sir Edmund Hillary set up a school and hospital. We arrived in time for morning assembly where the children line up in their classes and do morning exercises, sing and listen to two selected students speak on what the school means to them. Everyone is immaculately turned out in uniform but for the pre schoolers who are still allowed mufti.
We were a couple of days in advance of Winston Peters, New Zealand's deputy Prime Ministers visit, the first by a member of the NZ government in 25 years. We continue the descent into Namche Bazar. We encounter mule trains at various points on the track including the swing bridges.
From Namche Bazar the route takes us past religious Mani inscriptions carved into massive rocks and onto Monjo where we overnight, having intended to helicopter to our guides village but cloud had stopped all flights out of Lukla where the helicopter was based.
The day dawns fine but we have to wait for the helicopter as it has been diverted to Base Camp for an emergency evacuation. Finally in the village of Jubing we settle in and then pay a visit to the school and the Community Centre where we meet locals and chat about village life with our guide interpreting. The older folks still wear traditional clothing and nose adornments.
The 29th May is Democracy Day, a National holiday celebrating the overthrow of the Royalty and also happens to be the day of the official opening of the school toilet block. Paul is rightly pleased with the result as it is well constructed and should serve to provide quality sanitation for the school community for many generations to come. Paul was treated like royalty, being adorned with Kharta, the traditional gift of a scarf offering thanks and safe passage in the future. Speeches and traditional dancing added to the celebrations.
There is heavy rain overnight which clears for morning. Our driver arrives for the next leg of our journey which is to take us over the Taksindu Pass to Salleri. This is a new road as previously there was only a walking track. The road is still under construction and the rain overnight made the going very slow. Came across a truck which was stuck, lots of guys giving instruction but only one with a shovel, sound familiar ? Finally the truck made it out of the mud and allowed our driver to get through while we walked.
The road surface is being created with stone, hand split and individually placed, has to been seen to be believed.
The following day is going to be along one, Salleri to Kathmandu and it takes us 12 hours door to door. Our taxi is a Mahindra Scorpio SUV and we certainly need the road clearance. The devastation to the roads from the previous years monsoonal rains is incredible. There are bridges and houses lying in the river bed. Huge slips are still over the roads forcing traffic to find new routes into the river bed to get around them.
The traffic in Kathmandu is manic, lots of motor bikes but it all seems to work and traffic is well behaved.
The following day we come across a festival, Machindranath, where a huge tower is constructed on a cart with huge wooden wheels. This is pulled by a large number of men at the end of the day, something we didn't get to witness, but the people were out in their finery and there were street sellers hawking all manner of goods.
All to soon the day has arrived for me to fly to Paris to meet Sandra. Ten days has flown by and my exposure to Nepal, the countryside and it's people has once again left me humbled by their attitude to life, in awe at what they achieve living in a country that can be cruel but yet spectacular. Namaste.
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