Leaping leeches…
Leaping leeches…so let me tell you about my afternoon tea in Lakhure, Bhanjyang with the KU Sustainable Development Interest Group.
As I write this I braved the petrol strike, flagged a taxi to Patan and am sitting on the third floor of a marvelous little restaurant overlooking Durbar Square… I figure if the transit problem continues at least I am now 10minutes walk thru a lovely old part of the city to my office…
Yesterday was “rather fine” as they say here.
I was picked up bright and early, and met with the NGO at KU. We hired a bus to take us to Lakhure, Bhanjyang, is a Tamang town at about 8ooo ft elevation overlooking the whole Kathmandu valley. There were a few complications, which only made the whole trip with the lot, a great deal more fun! The first hassle, which as we all looked back was somewhat of a precursor, was that the van we had hired didn’t enough diesel petrol to get us to our destination. Under normal circumstances it is only a minor problem, petrol stations being few and far between, but generally open. But alas there is a strike in the area that borders India, and the roads bringing petrol into the country are blocked… This being a tea drinking land, we stop often and frequently for tea. So at our first stop as I began to take pictures, one of the lads pulled me aside for a “briefing”. More or less that if the YCL “pulls me aside they suggest I do not tell them anything about being from the Untied States (they are rather non-plussed with Bushlandia as it seems). I assured them that I would be glad to speak to them in Portuguese and feign any knowledge of English if need be if that would expedite things… everyone laughed. And as it was, there were no YCL to be met or seen the whole day. (YCL = Young Communist League = which are a groups of youth who on occasion take the law into their own hands in rural villages) Lakhure, Bhanjyang is on the edge of the valley, some areas just outside of the valley are very active places for the former insurgents who are learning to integrate into local society and government.
So when we finished our tea (number two by 10 am), they decided to find a cave that was “five minutes walk” from where were. The path seemed nice enough, being a major water buffalo track along the side of the hill, so off we went; only we realize that we were hosting leaches. They are funny little guys – looking like inchworms and hanging on the ends of grass, or leaves waiting for unsuspecting victims… I managed to spot a number crawling on me and my friends… even Rosemary Reid or very nice indeed British representative to the project who is a retired school teacher/administrator serving in her Majesty’s equivalent of the Peace Corps abandoned her stiff upper lip for a moment to exclaim how nasty the situation was. So after ½ hour we decided to beat hastily back to the van and push on. Where we took tea (number 3) on the veranda of a very nice hotel with absolutely nobody in it, which afforded the view of the whole valley and the allusive Himalayas (see photo me holding the poster of potential view).
So over more tea and noodles, we discussed what we wanted to do, we brainstormed a number of ideas, while a meeting was arranged for us to meet with the school advisory board and teachers (conveniently in session). So we left the resort to find the van had a flat tie… so we pushed on only to be completely drenched in rain shower, hiding under a tree afforded the opportunity of the leaches to fall on us, and while I was sitting in the meeting the local teacher to my right, pulled a rather fat and drunken leech off my arm…
The meeting school was enlightening, as we all agreed earlier that we did not want to impose, but if they themselves described a need we might be able to do something. So what we learned was that they are tired of projects and NGO’s that come and decide what they need, do not finish their work and leave before they are completed. One example was a public toilet (gifted by a very well-meaning Japanese woman) that does not function because no one knows how to use, clean or maintain it. SO after the meeting, we all retired to the bus stop tea shop to hang about until our van’s tire was fixed. Phone calls were made and we were told that all would be right in 30 minutes. 4 hours alter after sharing the building with the local population as the rain came on in force; we decided to take the bus down the mountain. This seemed a reasonable choice until it came and we sat, while more phone calls were made to let them know we gave up. Then the bus we were all on (gratefully we had seats)… was delayed as they tried to take a large rock that was wedged between the real right tires. I took advantage to take a plethora of snaps of a trio of boys playing in the rain. It wasn’t until the bus arrived at the lowland rice paddies that our fearless leader leaned forward to whisper… “By the way the driver is drunk”. I won’t scare my mother, should she be reading this to describe the width of the road, and the shear 100 ft drops we hairpined about. “Mighty talented that bus driver, I must say!” and to be under the influence of the local rice wine none the less! From the bus stop which was strangely near the KU road junction (which led me to believe that we could have taken a drunken bus up and back and had been done by lunch… instead we arrived at 6pm… I having to sprint to grab my bag in order to make it to the World Hunger Day Concert at the BICC. The regular driver’s taxi was now incapacitated due to the strike so a colleague took me by motorbike to the taxi stand (in a driving rain shower) And we managed to grab a taxi, and due to the petrol shortage the traffic was clear and smooth… and I got to the Guest house in record time. By the time Roshen and Prawachan came and got me we arrived to hear the last two songs of the concert. Now if you have ever been to a rock concert (in The USA or Brasil or Nepal) they are all remarkably the same, especially at the end… thousands of people cheering and dancing… to come into all that after a day like I had was very much the “coming late to the party”. It was great fun none the less. Capped the evening off with being treated to a great band at a rooftop café in Thamel with Prawachan who was kind enough to show me around and make sure that even with the petrol shortage that I was safely deposited at the Guest house past closing hours. My Nepali guest house family not happy if I come home after 9pm (which is quite strange as even in Sacramento I allowed to stay out longer on school nights). But after such a lively pair of Nepali rock songs I just didn’t feel like going back to a quiet guesthouse and listening to the BBC while I read my novel.
I must get a humidity indicator next time… my REI thermometer I have with the handy little compass, is reading about 30c (86f) at 9am, but I am dripping on my keyboard… the view, and the people chanting and singing in the temples on the square precludes my leaving… its just plain nice here!
So that is how my afternoon tea came to take the whole afternoon at Lakhure, Bhanjyang.
As I write this I braved the petrol strike, flagged a taxi to Patan and am sitting on the third floor of a marvelous little restaurant overlooking Durbar Square… I figure if the transit problem continues at least I am now 10minutes walk thru a lovely old part of the city to my office…
Yesterday was “rather fine” as they say here.
I was picked up bright and early, and met with the NGO at KU. We hired a bus to take us to Lakhure, Bhanjyang, is a Tamang town at about 8ooo ft elevation overlooking the whole Kathmandu valley. There were a few complications, which only made the whole trip with the lot, a great deal more fun! The first hassle, which as we all looked back was somewhat of a precursor, was that the van we had hired didn’t enough diesel petrol to get us to our destination. Under normal circumstances it is only a minor problem, petrol stations being few and far between, but generally open. But alas there is a strike in the area that borders India, and the roads bringing petrol into the country are blocked… This being a tea drinking land, we stop often and frequently for tea. So at our first stop as I began to take pictures, one of the lads pulled me aside for a “briefing”. More or less that if the YCL “pulls me aside they suggest I do not tell them anything about being from the Untied States (they are rather non-plussed with Bushlandia as it seems). I assured them that I would be glad to speak to them in Portuguese and feign any knowledge of English if need be if that would expedite things… everyone laughed. And as it was, there were no YCL to be met or seen the whole day. (YCL = Young Communist League = which are a groups of youth who on occasion take the law into their own hands in rural villages) Lakhure, Bhanjyang is on the edge of the valley, some areas just outside of the valley are very active places for the former insurgents who are learning to integrate into local society and government.
So when we finished our tea (number two by 10 am), they decided to find a cave that was “five minutes walk” from where were. The path seemed nice enough, being a major water buffalo track along the side of the hill, so off we went; only we realize that we were hosting leaches. They are funny little guys – looking like inchworms and hanging on the ends of grass, or leaves waiting for unsuspecting victims… I managed to spot a number crawling on me and my friends… even Rosemary Reid or very nice indeed British representative to the project who is a retired school teacher/administrator serving in her Majesty’s equivalent of the Peace Corps abandoned her stiff upper lip for a moment to exclaim how nasty the situation was. So after ½ hour we decided to beat hastily back to the van and push on. Where we took tea (number 3) on the veranda of a very nice hotel with absolutely nobody in it, which afforded the view of the whole valley and the allusive Himalayas (see photo me holding the poster of potential view).
So over more tea and noodles, we discussed what we wanted to do, we brainstormed a number of ideas, while a meeting was arranged for us to meet with the school advisory board and teachers (conveniently in session). So we left the resort to find the van had a flat tie… so we pushed on only to be completely drenched in rain shower, hiding under a tree afforded the opportunity of the leaches to fall on us, and while I was sitting in the meeting the local teacher to my right, pulled a rather fat and drunken leech off my arm…
The meeting school was enlightening, as we all agreed earlier that we did not want to impose, but if they themselves described a need we might be able to do something. So what we learned was that they are tired of projects and NGO’s that come and decide what they need, do not finish their work and leave before they are completed. One example was a public toilet (gifted by a very well-meaning Japanese woman) that does not function because no one knows how to use, clean or maintain it. SO after the meeting, we all retired to the bus stop tea shop to hang about until our van’s tire was fixed. Phone calls were made and we were told that all would be right in 30 minutes. 4 hours alter after sharing the building with the local population as the rain came on in force; we decided to take the bus down the mountain. This seemed a reasonable choice until it came and we sat, while more phone calls were made to let them know we gave up. Then the bus we were all on (gratefully we had seats)… was delayed as they tried to take a large rock that was wedged between the real right tires. I took advantage to take a plethora of snaps of a trio of boys playing in the rain. It wasn’t until the bus arrived at the lowland rice paddies that our fearless leader leaned forward to whisper… “By the way the driver is drunk”. I won’t scare my mother, should she be reading this to describe the width of the road, and the shear 100 ft drops we hairpined about. “Mighty talented that bus driver, I must say!” and to be under the influence of the local rice wine none the less! From the bus stop which was strangely near the KU road junction (which led me to believe that we could have taken a drunken bus up and back and had been done by lunch… instead we arrived at 6pm… I having to sprint to grab my bag in order to make it to the World Hunger Day Concert at the BICC. The regular driver’s taxi was now incapacitated due to the strike so a colleague took me by motorbike to the taxi stand (in a driving rain shower) And we managed to grab a taxi, and due to the petrol shortage the traffic was clear and smooth… and I got to the Guest house in record time. By the time Roshen and Prawachan came and got me we arrived to hear the last two songs of the concert. Now if you have ever been to a rock concert (in The USA or Brasil or Nepal) they are all remarkably the same, especially at the end… thousands of people cheering and dancing… to come into all that after a day like I had was very much the “coming late to the party”. It was great fun none the less. Capped the evening off with being treated to a great band at a rooftop café in Thamel with Prawachan who was kind enough to show me around and make sure that even with the petrol shortage that I was safely deposited at the Guest house past closing hours. My Nepali guest house family not happy if I come home after 9pm (which is quite strange as even in Sacramento I allowed to stay out longer on school nights). But after such a lively pair of Nepali rock songs I just didn’t feel like going back to a quiet guesthouse and listening to the BBC while I read my novel.
I must get a humidity indicator next time… my REI thermometer I have with the handy little compass, is reading about 30c (86f) at 9am, but I am dripping on my keyboard… the view, and the people chanting and singing in the temples on the square precludes my leaving… its just plain nice here!
So that is how my afternoon tea came to take the whole afternoon at Lakhure, Bhanjyang.
Comments
hi. thanks a lot for writing words regarding the visit with us to lakure bhanjyang.you have poured each and every moment that we have experienced that rainy day with leeaches and flat tyres. thanks for all the feelings that you have shared about lakure bhanjyang.
Deepak
SDI/nepal