The Nepalese Adventure: Day 23

Day 23 – Monday

• Woke up this morning to find myself, once again, in one of those things with 4 legs, with a duvet, pillow, sheets etc. You know: A bed. Stretched luxuriously and decided to take a shower in my en-suite bathroom where there’s both a blue and a red symbol on all the water outlets. (Reading that back, its bound to invite some ribald comments.)

• Breakfast: Omelette, Orange Juice and Black Coffee.

• Texted the teacher, Parshuram, to tell him I would not make it back in time for class because of no buses yesterday etc. He replied to say don’t worry.

• Still quite a lot to do today yet so was ready to check out by 9:30. Receptionist told me there was a slight problem with check out as they did not know the room rate for my booking (maybe they never found it on the system.) Could I please tell them what it should be? My problem is, I’m just too honest, otherwise I could easily have saved myself 5 quid!

• Headed into Battar. Stopped at the computer shop where I knew I could leave my luggage (rucksack). Once unencumbered, I needed to go to the plumbing shop to price up all the things needed to deliver captured rainwater to the toilets; plus some additional tanks to hold “fresh” water delivered from the source which could then be filtered to use as drinking water. However, what I needed first was a pen and paper otherwise this was going to be difficult with my somewhat limited Nepali language skills. Found a stationers and bought a pad and pen which set me back 50 NRS. (I’ve always used an exchange rate of 100:1 whilst I’ve been here but actually that’s the USD rate. For GBP it’s about 75:1. Too hard to work out on the fly each time but actually the pad & pen was nearer 37 Pence. I'll try and claim it back from the teacher.

• Spent an hour or more in the plumbers going over my drawings. The guy in there was determined to demonstrate that he was not going to rip me off. He desperately wanted the business. He must have told me a dozen times that it was an “average” price (approximate I think he meant). Once I thought we were done (by which time his colleague had joined us), they asked me if I wanted tea. It was so hot and humid that’s exactly what I didn’t want (and I had to get on!) so I politely declined. So instead they asked me stay for a coke which I agreed to. There is no concept of just getting in, doing business and getting out so I was there another 15 minute for small talk.

• Next step: The electrical store. I decided to buy a vacuum cleaner for the school. It’s killing me seeing the state of my new carpet already.  It was the same shop I bought all the other electrical components and then went back for the bulb, so the guy in there knows me and treats me like his best customer. Which involves taking a seat….. One vacuum cleaner later I was ready to leave. But only after full demonstration of all components. How to empty the bag. Instructions on not to suck up water or mice!

• The other thing I decided to buy was some stools for the Computer Lab. Time gets wasted at the start of each lesson sorting out chairs, who’s sharing with who etc. It took me 2 minutes to choose the stool. None of the three employees knew the price so they made a phone call. 25 minuted later someone turned up with the price. No conversation in that time (no English) we all just sat and waited! 8 new stools @ £2.25 each.

• My growing concern at this stage was would I be able to get all of this back to the bus station and then to Gorsyang Village?

• Went to the computer shop and discussed it with Manish. He said he would drop me and all the kit at the bus station (turnaround point) later on. I did point that it would be me, vacuum cleaner, 8 stacked stools, my rucksack and a boxed desktop computer (knowing he only had a motorbike and I thought it would probably take at least 2 trips). The classic Nepali “No Problem” response. “One trip ok.” He also told me there was only one bus today, scheduled to leave around 2:00pm….Nepali time. What? There’s supposed to be 3 buses! Id been planning on the 12:30ish  one.

All Aboard! Jut!

• Had a spot of lunch (Chow Mein) and then asked Manish to drop me down to the station just after 13:00. I wanted to be there early as I needed to get that bus! As you can see from the pic, one trip it was! Actually the load was ok, the worst part of this was that I had to have total blind faith in his riding ability. I could not hold onto anything other than what was on my knee which wasn’t much of an anchor! I couldn’t see where we were going so there was no chance of knowing that we were about to turn a corner or might be about to dodge a cow that had wandered into the middle of the road. Just hope and, quite literally, blind faith! Arrived without mishap at 13:20 so a while till the bus yet. At least I had something to sit on whilst waiting for the bus.

• 14:00 no bus yet

• 14:20 no bus yet

• 14:40 no bus yet

• 15:00 no bus yet

• 15:20 Bus!

My English Speaking Bust Stop Buddy

• And all this time (2 hours) I just sat patiently waiting and hoping! I will have the patience of a saint by the time I get home. One small boy, with no English, just stood and looked at me the whole time. Looked at what I was doing (phone now charging from laptop). I suspect he was very poor, both from his state of dress and the fact that he spoke no English at all. Nothing! After a while I indicated that I would give him money if he helped me put luggage on the bus. He nodded, almost imperceptibly. I thought this was a good tactical move as it can be a ‘free for all’ to grab any last bit of space on the bus, including on the roof. No one is interested in helping you if you have a load of gear, that’s just more opportunity for them to get in front of you. One lad of 20 talked to me for about half an hour. Turned out he wasn’t even waiting for a bus, just wanted to chat. A few minutes before the bus came into view, my silent watcher suddenly said Garry, Garry which I knew to be bus (or perhaps vehicle or truck as I heard trucks called that too). How he knew it was coming I don’t know because he hadn’t moved an inch (Kids - and American - that's about 2.5 cm), but he grabbed a couple of the packages and ushered me towards the back of the bus which had pulled up over the road. The bus wasn’t actually that busy (on top) and a guy there, who’s English was excellent, also helped; as well as reserving a space next to him at the front. I paid my little helper off and prepared for the journey back. Once again, having someone engage with you on the top of the bus is helpful as they also point out all the branches and electrical wires that you have to keep ducking if you don’t want to get seriously hurt.

   Sights Whilst at the Bus Stop. A truck/bus loading pasengers.               A house having its "next" floor prepared 

• The roads were precarious today due to a big storm last night. I asked my new friend a few questions about buses breaking down. “Do they ever drive off the edge?” “Yes, but not every day” I was reassured to hear. Statistic: you are 30 times more likely to die in a road accident in Nepal than in any developed country!

• A couple of pics from the journey home.

          Another Village School                                                             A Farmer tending his corn crop            

• I arrived back in Gorsyang to see the kids calling out my name and running alongside the bus. Nice welcome home. I’ve been gone ages. Tomorrow I‘ll have to tell them that it’s my last day! Oh yes, it turned out school wasn't opened today anyway!

• Distributed a few gifts when I got to the restaurant:

• New TV remote control for Theresa. She’s not been able to watch the soaps for well over a week. Also a small plastic jug for the toilet (used for pouring water on yourself to wash) . The one in their toilet is really gross and half missing. Some mangoes and grapes (remainder of what I didn’t eat 😊) for Hindou. I also got her some Domestos bleach and an air freshener for the toilet as she’s always going on about how it needs cleaning and it smells. Also some clothes pegs for the washing line. All for less than a £10 (including the remote!). I'm sure they were delighted!

• Bhim’s sister and niece were at the restaurant, visiting for few days from Kathmandu. Angelin (niece) was a lovely little girl of about 9 with excellent English who explained that Bhim (Home-stay Father) was her uncle and that her sister was dead. What can you say to that? I didn’t dig into it but maybe an earthquake victim? Circ. 9.000 people lost their lives in the quakes and 480+ aftershocks in April 2015. Hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless with entire villages flattened.    

• Remember how I left in a big rush on Saturday morning? Forgot to zip my suitcase. Currants inside it!

• Shower. Someone moved the hose so I had to realign that again so that at least two of the outlets were, well, letting out.

• Back to the restaurant for a snack. Found Milan playing in the builders sand with his friend. Oh and a Machete!

• Then I got roped into a card game. Take 3 cards and gamble on them. Its total luck. 9 of us played for nearly 2 hours with youngest (9) and oldest person being me (46). It’s awful when you’re losing. There is so much money stacked on the table. All notes.  Fivers, Tenners, Twenties, Fifties and even the odd Hundred. I had to keep reminding myself that these were actually less than pennies and being 150 down was only £1.50 or, actually £1.12. It ended with me 100+ up so I was happy!

Running Out of Money. Again!

Off to concrete now,

Goodnight. x