We hardly saw the Annapurna range as it is still monsoon season, but we definitely enjoyed Pokhara and the athmosphere in the villages around it. On Saturday we took the long bus ride back to KTM, so that we could meet up with the other volunteers in the evening. Remarkably how much this city changes over a season: we noticed a daily increase of street vendors as well as tourists, and more and more people asking you: Namastee, Taxi? Riksha? Need guide? Need hostel? Wanna buy? Good Nepali price! Like little ants coming out of their ant-hill after hibernating.
Interesting however how helpful and friendly the Nepali are in general. We never felt unsafe and once it's clear that you are not interested they leave you alone. One of the other doctors wanted to take the taxi to the immigration office, but instead of bringing her there the taxi driver warned her that it was the wrong time as the office would still be closed. Also, when Hans coincidentally dropped two 1000 Rupee bank notes when grabbing the camera out of his pocket, two school girls noticed it and gave them back to us.
The other volunteers are a South African doctor (Helen, a British doctor (Sean) and a British physiotherapist (Anna, Sean's girlfriend). We are creating the perfect team spirit by doing challenges like: where to find the best coffee in town and where to go for the best apple-cake. Off course we also try some local food, like momo's, yak cheese, dahl-baat and curd. So far we attended a couple of lectures of well known Nepali doctors at the Ciwec clinic and the HRA (the Nepalese equivalent of SAR) and met different people from other NGO's. Hans enthusiastically attended a couple of our medical lectures (why would you turn down a free lunch?) but also a lecture from an energy company about the sustainable energy supply at one of the other medical posts.
But by now it's about time for the real stuff. We have visited several touristic highlights in Kathmandu (see photo's) but to avoid further hearing loss we'd better move on.
So Hans took the bus to Jiri today. To our surprise the bus fare for this unique 6-8 hour long local experience equaled the price of our 15 km taxi-run from yesterday! Hans will take it easy and walk from Jiri, through Lukla, to Macchermo. Well, maybe not all that leisurely as he estimates spending 10-14 days, passing mostly smaller villages with basic facilities, so he took his tent and a heavy pack.
Mika sticks to what most tourists do: take the plane to Lukla and walk in from there. The walk from Lukla to Macchermo takes about 5 days, mainly because the 2000 meter ascend requires gradual acclimatisation. All Macchermo volunteers will go together and Chhewang - the IPPG contact person and floor manager- will make sure that all gear and medical equipment will get to the post without us carrying anything except for a tiny day pack.
Macchermo here we come!
