The Nepalese Adventure: Day 3

Day 3

Well every day is interesting and this one was no exception!

Hard to bullet point (but im going to try) so a bit more essay style today:

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• 8am meet in reception to get the bus to Gorsyang village at 9. Slight problem when we got their as bus tickets had been overbooked (bloody travel companies!!). Instead I had to get a bus to Battar town and change. Luckily the “other” volunteer from when I am heading was going to be in town so would meet me there and we’d get the bus together.

• Well what a bus ride!!! That was some endurance test for sure. 17 seater bus, 27 people in it! I had been told to prepare for a bumpy road. There was a road?? 3 times my head crashed into the hard metal roof as we “bumped” a little too hard, rest of the time I was just clinging on for life - hoping all my luggage on the roof was, well, still on the roof! 

• 3 hours later, battered, bruised and knackered, arrived at Battar. I know they do sneak on a few steps when you're in the car but my FitBit registered about 22,000 steps from that ride! How naive was I thinking that I might get my laptop out for a bit or read my Kindle to while away the hours. That said, the people on the bus were lovely, even the baby I had to hold for 15 mins or so while her mum sorted out all her belongings was supercute! Everyone is so friendly and love to talk to you, ask you where you’re from etc.

• ·         Lunch in Battar from street side “café” – primitive but good. I paid for both of us. Set me back over 2 quid!

• Bus from Battar to Gorsyang seemed to be one you just hail at the side of the road….. except it didn’t stop when we hailed it! As it was supposed to be last bus of the day this presented a small problem. A problem solved by the owner of the computer shop (where we were waiting) offering to run us down to the stop/station  about half a mile away to get ahead of the bus.

Perfect.

He pulled up….. on his motorbike….. and took me, my suitcase, my hikers rucksack and my regular rucksack all in one go. (44 Kilos of not so compact luggage). Luckily he didn’t have the additional weight of a crash helmet for me! (not required for pillion passengers!) His colleague brought the co-volunteer (Hindou) on another bike along with her rucksack, the desktop computer, keyboards and mice that we were collecting for the local school.

Next challenge – bus full! So, along with a couple of dozen other locals, we dragged the luggage onto the roof rack and followed it ourselves. It was to be a long and not so comfortable 2 hour ride ahead of us.

Seems, as I keep hearing, all problems in Nepal are “no problem”.

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• Arrived at the homestay. Absolutely stunning views when I arrived and now as I write this, a night sky so full of stars you wouldn’t believe. Not a lot of light pollution here! 

• The place is a small café/restaurant and largely still under construction. My room has some electricity by virtue of the wires that run down 2 flights of stairs to supply a 2 socket extension. Plugged into said extension is an electric light. Not that there’s a plug on it, just the bare wires shoved into the outlet.  This was of course totally safe due to the fact that there’s been no electricity all day. There are candles. No problem!

•  After a very long day and dusty “roads” (that required me to wear the face mask id been advised to buy), what I really needed was a shower….:

• 2-3 minute walk (turned into 5 mins as you have to stop and say Nameste to absolutely everyone you meet) to the showers which are at the side of the road. Now when I say “showers”, this is actually just water coming from 3 pipes set into a brick wall. You strip to your shorts (under a towel) and then just do the best you can. No dial with a “red” indicator to nudge the temperature above “bloody cold”, and certainly no “Boost” button. I’m starting to think we’re all a bit spoiled in the UK!

•  For dinner, we were invited by the homestay Mum (Theresa) to her parents’ house a few doors away. Curry, cooked on an open wood fire in the middle of the single room house - no chimney (cough, cough). This really is genuine Nepal hospitality: A family who appear to be in abject poverty, a mud floor, a few mats for sitting on, inviting strangers from another land to share their food. Food was good, chicken and goat curries (including intestines) and some of the local (home made?) wine drunk from a tin/pewter type cup. Now I remember drinking Irish bootleg liquor a few years ago so I just stopped after the one.

•  Returned to our house (thank heavens for the torch on my iPhone) to find power is back on. The power outlet fizzed and sparked when I turned the light on so those loose wires are now secured in place with my adapter.

• Bunking down (on the floor) in my concrete room for a night’s sleep  now. No idea what tomorrow brings. Genuinely no idea. Am supposed to be working at the school but even the teacher we met earlier was unsure if it would be open as it's Mother’s day here. He said: we’ll see tomorrow!