Around Pokhara

This was some hot tar sealing that we came across on our walk to the Mountain Museum. All the 40 gall drums were belching black smoke and later in the day when we returned from Lakeside by taxi, we could see the smoke in the distance. At least there was some kind of mechanical mode to transport the hot tar. They usually just boil the stuff in the drums and spread it all by hand. The guys doing the sweeping and raking had tools with long handles too- another first.

These are all shots of the International Mountain Museum. We did a recce there one Sunday, and last Thursday I took the class for a picnic there.  This is the main path from the parking ground to the cafe, or should I say Clayton's cafe- we had trouble even buying a bottle of water.

A model of Mt Manaslu- which has a top that looks suspiciously like Fishtail. There is a path up that the kids all climbed. In the foreground is a yak.

The museum itself. We went through in August. It has got lots of Hillary memorabilia and information and some great models of the mountains. Probably should go back and have another look at them now we have been amongst them.

We did not pay to go into the museum with the children (quite expensive) so I directed activities from the lovely shade of this gazebo, while the parents walked around and did treasure hunts etc with them! It was an absolute scorcher of a day too.

A memorial to all those who have lost their lives climbing in the Himalayas.

Bits and Pieces

This was sunrise on the birthday morning. It was only the second time this month we have had any view of the mountains (the other day being our wedding anniversary). I woke well before 5 and realised it was going to be clear so we went up on the roof and stayed for ages enjoying it. The top picture is Maccapucchre and Annapurna III and the bottom is at the far eastern end of the Annapurna Himal. It is Lamjung Himal and is the one that is, more or less, directly behind Garambesi.

These are pictures from the opening of the Sahodar Office in Pokhara. It is in Tuk's empty house. You will be able to recognise both Chanman and Shrison in the bottom photo.

This is the view from the deck at Happy Home. We understand the henhouse was built by Jono and the team when they came over.  Usually in the distance there is a complete arc of the Annapurna Himal, but too cloudy on this occasion. The buildings in the distance (two brown houses) are part of the Green Pastures Complex. The blue one beyond, partially hidden by trees, is the main INF office in Naya Gaun.  To the right of that and hidden by trees even further back is the school.

This was a special meeting at Happy Home that Ken was invited to. We understood it to be a farewell for Year 12 children.

These are two pictures from our Mustang walk.  The outfit was not for effect- very necessary for being out in the howling wind.

This was a local woman. We stopped at her place for lunch on the climb up and enjoyed the fare so much that we returned the following day on our way down. I saw a woman in the lane yesterday busy sweeping with her baby in the same position and another mother who had reached home with her school age daughter untying the bundle and dropping her off.  We have also seen a few western style baby carriers too. On Wednesday when we were out in the school bus I noticed a male (unusually) with a baby fast asleep in a front carrier. I looked closer and realised the man was blind, as where his two companions. They were all standing holding each other at the edge of a busy road, so hope they were not going to try to cross it.

Naudanda

At Naudana. Ken and Dinesh waiting for Shree.

Not long until he came up from his house to lead us down.

Looking down to where we had the school picnic.

This is where our meal was cooked. There were tree branches stacked at the end of the verandah outside ready for the fire.

Someone was glad that bideshi are fussy eaters.

These are the buffalo that provided the yoghurt and milk. Taste was different from cow's milk but quite pleasant.

A  view from further up the road. Hope you can see Lakeside at the top end of Fewa Tal.

This was the view on the opposite side of the road as we walked back to catch the bus. You should be able to pick out buildings at Dhampus on the skyline. We stayed in Dhampus the last night of our ABC trek.

As we walked past a row of houses on the way home we saw a woman cleaning fish, no bigger than sardines, a man knotting a fishing net and this woman spinning. Much harder than our way. She turns the handle with one hand and holds the wool with the other. She was producing fine, even wool.

Around Pokhara in May

Add caption

Some views of the school I am working in on Wednesday afternoons.

Getting Cinderella ready for the ball. I did go out before this to buy some jilly milly shoes to complete the outfit.

Juli's wedding

The Garambesi Wedding Band. Sometimes the ends of the horns were turned the other way so they became a giant C. Some of you will recognise the school teacher framed between the two horns.

After they were officially married they tied this greenery around each others neck. You will notice that even then their eyes don't meet!

The two young cousins doing their dance. Juli and her husband are sitting closer together than at the start of the ceremony.

And outside ready to greet guests.

The wedding breakfast outside the church.

This is the bridal car ready to take Juli, her husband and the Garambesi folk back up the valley.

Mustang Extra

These pictures have been very kindly given to us to put on the blog. They were take by a parent from the school. This is Jhong, high up near Muktinath. Jhong was the old capital of the area. The houses are mud- there are no trees up in    this area. We climbed the hill in the village to the left of the picture, past what looks like the remains of a castle. The mountain in the background is Dhaulagiri.

This is taken in the general area around Muktinath and gives some idea of the landscape.

Both of these are of the Kali Ghandaki, with Kagbeni behind the shepherdess. The mountains in the background at the Nilgiri Range. The upper photos is taken from the opposite bank of the river near Tiri.

Muktinath and Chitwan

This was the road above Gasa. It was a HUGE improvement on what we had been over in the bus the day before. There is no steep bank and the track is not too rough, but very definitely still single track.

These are both views from above Gasa looking back at the backside of Annapurna. The second picture was taken while we were walking through the spruce forest. It was a really pretty part of the trip and a change to walk on soft needles.

This was looking to the otherside shortly after the previous pictures. You can see that our view was restricted by the mist and cloud and I am not sure whether you can pick up the colour of the rhododendron.

Another long bridge, but all of these on this route were high quality and very stable. This was just after we left Kalopani and you can see we knew we were on the right route.

 These two pictures were taken as we got closer to Larjung. The river is the Kali Ghandaki and this was the riverbed we walked along for much of the later trail. Actually we wanted to walk on it from Larjung to Tukuche but our porter disagreed (although all the traffic was going that way) and we walked on the road, which was far more up and down and under some alarmingly overhanging cliffs.

These pictures were taken around Larjung although Marpha and Tukuche were very similar. Each had this narrow paved road going through and you can see the squat design of the houses. We were greatly taken by the ladders (middle pic) which we saw in several places. Unfortunately the lower picture does not show the apple blossom, but it is a good example of the orchards of the area.

Another shot which shows the vastness of the riverbed.

These are all pictures of Tukuche. Good stacks of firewood on top of the houses. The trapdoor and stairs showed the route from our bedroom down to the dining room. The lower picture shows the roof of the hotel, trapdoor to the left. Our room was the blue door at the far end and you can see how the buildings are open in the middle. The glassed in area to the right is another dining room, but far too cold for us to use. The roof afforded stunning views. The next morning the full moon was sitting above the snows of Dhaulagiri and opposite were great views of Nilgiri range. The other shot is of the street from the roof of the hotel.

This is a shot of Kagbeni from the other side of the river en route to Tiri. The mountain in the background is Nilgiri which was directly outside out hotel bedroom window in Jomsom.

This picture is taken from by the monastery at Tiri. The mountains in the distance are just beyond Muktinath and the pass on the lefthand side of the picture is the route those on the circuit around Annapurna take (Thorong Pass). Our route up to Muktinath started towards the bottom right of the picture and more or less went diagonally across until we were almost directly below the pass.

Sorry about the sunglasses!

This is Chitwan. As you can see absolutely flat. We stayed on the second floor of this house and the picture below was the scene from the front deck there. I think you will be able to see the water in the rice paddies. This ditch that ran along the length of the road had very clear water in it. We watched young lads from the house opposite strip and jump into the ditch to cool off several times. Don't blame them!

This was our transportation to and from the park in the afternoon. The other horse was fresher than this one, but was spooked by car lights and one time tried to run right off the road to avoid them.

There you are Benjamin. Crocodile just waiting for his dinner. He was one of three we saw.

Not sure where or how this camel came to be there, but he was one of three we saw.

Lots of elephant! When we started walking home after sunset we passed another 6 or 8 elephants walking home with through the streets among the cars and other traffic. The fellows in the top picture were being taken into the park to spend the night. They sat on the elephant as though it were a horse, not as we did. We also had to climb a ladder to a platform to get onto  our elephant. Not clear in these pictures but they wrap extra goodies in this grass and make a ball of it to make sure the elephants get the food they need.

Chitwan at sunset. Unfortunately a bit grainy because of the camera, but you get the idea that it was very beautiful.