I'm writing this blog from in the middle of nowhere, and just paused to get a massive giant ant off my arm. It won't be posted for a while yet when we get back to kathmandu and civilisation. These blogs are more like a diary for Liam and I, with you lucky people having access to our secret diary key.
Today has been a little bit bizarre. We went for breakfast with Surita and Alex. Alex spent a month at the volunteer house before us and gave us a few tips and pointers. I had a lovely thick pancake with lots of fruit and honey and Liam had fried rice again which I thought was crazy because we know were going to be eating a LOT of rice in our home stay!
At about 11oclock we got a taxi to the other side of town so we could get the public bus to trishuli. Thankfully we got to go in the front 2 seats and although it was far from comfortable it was better than being crammed with loads of people in the back. We drove up and up though winding roads and lovely views of valleys, farms and rice paddies. We could just about make out the shapes of mountains but it's still too overcast from the monsoon to really see properly which was a shame. I was still beautiful though. It took us about 3 and a half hours to travel 70km.
Once we got to trishuli we were met by bibas who is our translator. He's 21 years old and lives with his sister, mum and dad and his english is really good. We had to walk to another bus, which was jam packed with people unlike anything ive ever seen. We put our bags on top of the bus and for the first few minutes rode inside due to traffic. Once past a certain point we went up to the top. You see it so much around here but you don't realise how high these buses actually are until you have to climb the vertical ladder up to the top. It's a good 12 foot high and there were about 20 people on top. It was the most uncomfortable floor as well with bars all the way across. It was really fun but also really dangerous. The scenery gets better and better as you go up but the roads get worse, thinner and right at the edge of stupidly massive drops. At one point the bus was trying to go round a really tight bend, it tried for a while then skidded and the bus swirved a lot, bearing in mind this is really close to the edge! Liam turned to me and said ' be ready to just jump off in a minute if it gets much worse' and we really would have. But then we all got off the top to get some of the weight off and it managed to do it. After climbing back up we still had ages to go, we were on it for about 40 minutes, very bumpy, twigs and branches and overhead wires coming at you every few minutes. Liam wasn't too happy and although I was a bit more relaxed I understand why he was so worried!
We got off and still had a walk to do with our back packs and rucksacks. We walked for about 10 minutes up a very steep and rocky incline through jungle like areas. The house is at around 2500 feet so the airs thinner than we're used to as well. We finally reached the house which is a lovely thing built in the middle of the jungle (only way for me to describe it) overlooking the valley. It's so peaceful, no sounds other than the insects and birds chirping. We met his family, his sister speaks enough English to make a bit of conversation, his dad a little less and his mum nothing. We were welcomed by red Tikas being painted on our heads and flowers then showed around the place, it's like a mud building but a good size. Liam and I have a room to ourselves, 2 separate beds with nets on which is more than we thought as we expected to be kept apart. There's the kitchen, nanni's (an affectionate term for a young girl i guess, snd just easier to pronounce than her actual name!) room, the 'toilet' which is an outhouse kind of area with a hole in the floor and a bucket of water to flush, and the porch downstairs on our level. A small walk down some steps takes you to the shed with the hose pipe in it for a shower. Round the corner are the goats, buffalo and oxen for meat, milk and labour. Only this year nothing is being eaten because their grandmother died a couple of months ago which in turn means they dont celebrate any festivals, any celebrations or eat meat and a few other nice foods for the rest of the year. We helped them take the corn off the cobs for about an hour and spoke about various things including trying to learn some Nepali. They sustain themselves completely here, everything they eat they grow themselves, kill themselves and share with neighbouring houses.
Dinner consisted of rice, a vegetable dish, a dish of lentils and hot buffalo milk that had just been milked. We both had more than one serving because it was nice. They eat with their hands here and get so messy! But they don't wash their hands at all which is something we need to try and tackle a bit as part of the health promotion. Everybody in Nepal are such noisy eaters too, slurping everything out of their hands, eating with mouths open and eating at unbelievable paces.
After dinner we sat out on the porch and played cards for while which was really fun, I can see us doing it most nights. It's so humid here, by about 9 everybody had gone to bed and Liam and I were sorting our stuff still sweating buckets and really dirty from the travelling. They had already removed 2 spiders which were the size of saucers from our room which has set Liam really on edge. That and the thousands of lizards, snakes, frogs, crickets, cockroaches, Mosquitos and other insects plus the small tiger population roaming the forest has got him jumping at his shadow! It's really not that nice, hopefully the net will keep things at bay. The beds are rock hard and as soon as the lights are out all the hidden creepy crawlers start rustling so our nets are tucked in tight!! We're going to have to get used to being sticky and dirty for the next 2 weeks as I tried to have a small wash with a bottle of water squatting outside but its just too hard. Baby wipes galore for the evenings. It's nearly 11 now so I'm going to sleep, I can hear Liam already snoring and it's making me tired. Head torch at the ready due to the electricity being very temperamental here!
