The journey to the village

This journey started one cold Saturday in January. (There is only one bus per day that goes to this village). I met one girl from Russia, who was going to go and volunteer at the same project. We took a short taxi ride to the buspark. The taxi was white and quite small, but it fit me and her, her backpackers backpack and my big red 30 kg suitcase and my backpack.
At the buspark, we told the bus conductors that we wanted to go to Japhe. They showed us the bus and we negotiated the price. I paid a little extra because my suitcase was so large.
Well, it was time to head to begin our journey. We heard that the bus could get crowded, so we chose a seat close to the back where we could open the window and get plenty of fresh air. The conductor said all aboard in Nepali. I could only think of a movie where the train conductor said: " all aboard." More and more people entered the bus. The aisles, overhead spaces and top of the bus was filled with bags, boxes, people, and animals. People sat and stood on the bus.
The bus departed at 8am. Along the route, we could see lush green trees, very big and wide mountains, terraces, Tibetan style homes, many wide rivers and gorges. The mileage to our destination was not far, but going through the mountains at 20 kph. This can take you much time to reach any destination. It was nice to see many locals smiling, laughing,and waving as we passed them. The bus stopped many times because there are no designated pickup or drop off locations. There were foreigners riding bikes and canoeing and kayaking all along the route.
We made it to the last stop for Japhe. The bus conductor signaled for us to get off. To our surprise, no foreigners greeted us. We sat on the side of the road with our bags. Some locals surrounded us. They had many questions, so they sent for someone who could speak English. They asked our names, where we were from, if we were married, etc. They wanted to touch our hair. They were amazed.
Finally, a local guy from the volunteer school met us near the road. He said that we were an hour below the village, so tomorrow we have to climb up the mountain. He said to take what we needed and asked a local person to let us leave our things at their house until tomorrow.
Overnight in a Nepalese home was so special. We went to the man's house and met his family. We trekked up the mountain the next day to reach the volunteer house. A night at a Nepalese house and the trek to the volunteer house.... TO BE CONTINUED....