Wed 27 Feb 2013 Return to Pokhara

We are to catch the local van partway down the hill and then walk the rest of the way to the footbridge. But first the ladies of the village turn out to anoint us one last time with the red tika dye and hang garlands of flowers around our necks.

It turns out the "van" is a Land Rover type vehicle with the back converted to two long bench seats the length of the vehicle. Normally the vehicle is only used for cargo but as the main highway (for which read, rocky road) is closed for repair the van also doubles as the local bus. Our bags were loaded on the top. Mike jumped into the front and the rest of us with Major Lil and Capt Laxman plus our hand luggage jump into the rear. Two young lads also stood on the rear. With the driver there were 9 of us bouncing our way down the hill in relative "comfort". However at various points down the hill the driver tooted his horn and people would come out for the bus. By the end there were 19 of us on the bus. 3 in the front (including the driver), 2 on the roof, 3 hanging on the back and 11 squashed in the back with all our rucksacks and whatever else the other travellers were carrying. Oh and not forgetting the dog!!

Apparently some of the passengers were taking the bus to Syangja the closest town and also the main town of the Syangja district which includes the Panchamul valley. There they will visit the doctor then wait all day until the bus makes the returned trip to the valley. If they are unwell, the bus drive down and back up the rocky road is not going to help.

Eventually we reached a junction where disembarked as we had decided to trek down the rest of the way to the valley floor. The weather was sunny and warm as we walked downhill past the houses, cowsheds, haystacks and terraced fields taking the opportunity to turn around and look back at where we had been. High on the centre ridge stood the white buildings of Daraun School and Egrets flew over the farmland. By 11am we reached the bridge at the shop and waited there for a short time until our 4x4 arrived to drive us back to Pokhara.

The difference down here by comparison to the hill villages is marked. Whilst they still use cows to pull a wooden plough we never saw any vehicle in the hills apart from delivery trucks. Within 5 minutes on the valley floor we passed 3 fairly modern tractors.

After about 30 minutes of rough track we reach the blacktop road. This doesn't mean things are any smoother as we try to dodge the potholes and bumps. Mike sat in the front again and whilst he endured the same white knuckle ride we did, he could see what was coming. Not sure that is a good idea and I am sure he tried to stomp his foot to the floor in an effort to brake.

We arrived back at the Temple Tree Hotel about 13:15 and after quickly dropping off our bags and washing our faces of the red tika dye we meet in the bar for a drink and a Club sandwich and chips! Bliss.

In the evening we meet up with Binod and 3 other Rotarians from Pokhara Fishtail for a meal at a local Chinese restaurant. We persuaded them not to take us to a Nepalese restaurant after our week in the hills. Binod and two of the others have been to Bingley and we had a lovely evening with them.

Tue 26 Feb 2013 Farewell Ceremony

Another bright morning. Whilst David and I are better than we were we are still feeling chesty and under the weather again.

We went back to the school to complete our final training session and to finish updating the computers. Unfortunately the Internet was not working again. We eventually found that it was a cable problem which causes us an issue as to whether the teachers would be able to cope and analyse any fault. So in addition to completing the Excel training we took them through which cables needed to be checked and how to unplug and plug them back in.

After lunch we met with the headmaster, teachers and school management committee to deliver a closing address. Following this there was a farewell ceremony which began with every schoolchild greeting us with garlands of flowers after the mothers had put the red powder on our foreheads. The flowers were very heavy and we sat through the first dance performed by the children.

During the next part of the ceremony we presented the headmaster with a BARC banner and presented BARC badges to the headmaster, Capt Laxman Gurung, Lt Man Bahader Gurung, the 2 IT teachers (Durga and Jaya) and Major Lil Bahader Gurung. We were then made Honorary Advisers to the school and Capt Laxman presented us with plaques. Terry and the headmaster then officially signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

Following this students performed for us again. Then the inevitable happened. It was announced that the girls were to dance for the last time and as expected when the music started they came over to us to join them in the dance. Of course we could not refuse a final dance. The mothers group also joined in.

Tonight we are advised Capt Laxman is hosting our meal and it has been said that the mothers group are not coming round as the electricity is again off until 9pm.

We were wrong. By 9pm not one but 2 mothers groups started to congregate. In the end there were about 35 members and they mainly sang to entertain us with a little dancing. As usual, Nepali time meant it did not draw to a close until 22:30 so again we did not start our main meal until very late.

Mon 25 Feb 2013 Youth Club

Beautiful clear morning. After breakfast John and Mike set off at 9:25 with Major Lil to audit the schools at Panchamul and Janahit expecting to return around 16:00.

David and Terry return to the school to continue the training. Unfortunately the Internet has been down all morning so we have been unable to finished updating computers.

We had a good days training with the 2 teachers and they completed the Excel and PowerPoint exercises we set for them. At 2pm the Internet came back up and we were able to continue updating the computers. With luck we should be able to finish the updating tomorrow.

We were advised that tonight we are being entertained by the Youth Club before our usual meal. At about 9pm they arrived and we set up chairs under the verandah with the youths below us on the flagstones. We were then entertained to a number of dances by the youths. As the evening progressed we realised that the number of people congregating in the garden were increasing but not just youths. Mothers started to arrive and soon there must have been nearly 50 people there. Major Lil advised that it would last for about half an hour!! Then the kids decided we should join in and eventually the mothers group too. It was 22:30 before we were able to draw it to a close and begin(!) our dinner. It was an excellent evening enjoyed by all with the threat that they intend to return tomorrow night.

Sun 24 Feb 2013 IT Training

Today is our first real training day but the teachers will not be available until 10am as they are teaching SLC certificate to year 10 until then. They start at 6:30.

It started raining today which brought the temperature down. I mentioned earlier that the doors to the bedroom and toilet are tiny. We all at some time bang our heads on the concrete lintel so all of us have abrasions on our heads.

Part of the Buddhist belief is that when they die if they have not been good enough to achieve Nirvana they will be returned to earth to try again. This is why a baby cries when it is born. It has realised it has not gone to Nirvana but has been returned to earth and is crying "oh no not again".

Our cook had to go to Kathmandu to attend a family funeral so Lil took over to cook Pasta for lunch. We will wait to see what we have tonight.

This is Daraun. The school is at the top of the hill and the house where we are living is to the left where you see a white blotch, which is a parachute!!

The teachers completed the exercises we left with them and we continued their Word training then started on PowerPoint. At the end of the day we had a meeting with the head teacher, the IT teachers and the chairman and treasurer of the management committee to discuss the use/misuse of the equipment.

It is cold today and we have had to add another layer. The house does not have a fire everyone just wears more to keep warm. It probably doesn't help that we also have a power cut until 9pm. By the time it comes on we will we ready to jump into the sleeping bags to get warm.

We move into the main room for dinner by torchlight then it starts to rain again.

Sat 23 Feb 2013 Walking

Our hosts wanted us to have breakfast at 7 or 7:30 but Lil told them 9am thankfully. We both slept well on the hard cots even though we were woken during the night by what seemed to be a loud aggressive dog which caused us a concern lying there thinking about the outside toilet!!

Our hope of a hot shower evaporated as there was no electricity but our hosts have brought us a bucket of hot water for washing. We are also given a lovely refreshing cup of tea.

Then breakfast. Cold pancakes, warm eggs and curried potatoes. They never seem to have hot food! Oh, and another cup of tea. When we finished the lady again put some red powder on our foreheads and a flower behind our ear before the usual greeting of namaste.

We all met at the temple for the farewell ceremony and the villagers followed us as we left until we came to the end of the village.

It was about 10:45 when we left. There are steps everywhere in this land and you arre either going up them or coming down them. As we reached Janahit we stopped in the village for tea and they had to break into the English toilet for me as the key holder had gone off for a picnic. Tea and biscuits for 6 was 70p. We set off again at 1pm and arrived back at Daraun at 2:45pm.

The Internet is still not working so we have been out of contact since Thursday except for text messaging.

Fri 22 Feb 2013 School Survey

Mike and John are good. Terry slept and is still feeling rough. David was up all night and was really lousy this morning.

Krishna (secretary of Himalayan Gurkha RC) is arriving this morning to take us to Rapakot and Aruchaur. He was to leave Pokhara at 6am to arrive at 8am. This is Nepalese time bearing in mind it took us 4 hours. We were advised at 8:30am he had reached the bottom of the hill!!

They arrived at 10:15 am and after breakfast we set off at 10:30 along the "track". The road is only marginally better than the road to Daraun but we still bottomed out a number of times. Our young driver to Daraun regularly exclaimed "sh*t". Today's driver was Major Lil and he was far mor restrained. However there were still many "oh my God" as he saw the state of the road ahead. We arrived Sirubari 11:30 and since we started we never got out of first gear. After a short break we set off again arriving at Aruchaur school at 12:05.

We met with the teachers and the management committee after the customary welcome ceremony and President John presented the headteacher with a BARC banner after which we visited the IT suite and had lunch.

We then drove to Rapakot arriving at 14:40. This time the welcome ceremony included the local pipe band followed by our meeting. Our visit to the IT suite was a surprise as there were already 7 various computers installed. We were advised they had been scrounged by the school but they have no network or Internet. They are trying to push themselves forward.

We then had lunch again at the chairman's house which was daal baht, curried potatoes, curried cauliflower, curried chicken and spinach.

We left Rapakot at 16:30 and stopped at Major Lil's house for tea at 1800. We worked out our average speed as 6kph. When we stopped we just stopped our 4x4 in the middle of the single "track" and walked up to his home. Nothing will come. We had only passed 3 vehicles all day and these were delivery trucks. Every time Lil's phone rang he just stopped on the road to answer it.

As we left Lil's it was dark which made the outline of the boulders on the road stand out even more under the headlights. As we approached Sirubari we could hear the sound of music and to be told there would be another welcome ceremony. Sure enough on the edge of the town the pipe band was there and we were greeted with garlands and taken to the temple square where we were given Roxie (local brew)(never been more pleased to be teetotal) and snacks. Egg on a stick and curried potato on a stick. We were shown into the temple to light a candle and make an offering. We took the opportunity of turning a few prayer wheels.

Following this we were shown to our accommodation. It was more spacious than Daraun. There were 3 cots and David and I stayed together leaving Mike and John to go to another house. The room is quite big by Nepal standards and just outside our door is an english toilet and a shower which appears to have hot water. I'll tell you tomorrow. We were given a cup of tea. It was wonderful and the best tea we have had so far. We were offered a jug of hot water and then called for dinner. We thought we had eaten enough but we could not refuse the hospitality. So we sat at their table and had daal baht yet again with all the usual accompaniments. We refused more Roxie!

At just after 9pm when we wanted to go to bed we were taken to the entertainment room. The square room had very loud music being played with chairs round 3 sides and what we later found was a mothers group sitting cross legged on cushions beside the music player. When we were all there including Major Lil we were entertained by young girls and children doing local dances. Then came the awkward bit, we were expected to dance so the five of us got up and moved to the music. Not to be outdone we approached the "mothers" and invited them to join us which a few did. That over, there was more dancing before the evening ended about 10pm with a group dance when the young girls and some of the mothers danced. However about half way through we were again approached by some of the dancers to join them.

We returned to our houses tired and literally crashed out.

Thu 21 Feb 2013 Computer Set up

Well we slept last night and after breakfast headed up to the school to set up the IT suite. With help from Maya and Sabi we finished setting it up at 6pm, although the computers are not up to date in view of the slow speed of the Internet.

Meanwhile we had a short training session with Durga and Jaya, the two IT teachers. Whilst I did this Mike, John and David introduced the head teacher and other teachers to the benefits and delights of computers.

Then it was back for tea and tomorrow we drive to Rapakot and Aruchaur to survey 2 schools. We hope a Zeep and driver turn up for us as the driver who brought us here yesterday has refused to come back in view of the state of the "road".

Wed 20 Feb 2013 Trek to the hills

Both Terry and David didn't get any sleep last night and thanked John for his generosity in passing on his cold virus.

Major Lil turned up at 8:30 and after loading the roof of the Zeep with our luggage we set off picking up Maya, Sabi and the Chairman of the management committee. So 9 of us headed off by 9:45 David (the smallest) sitting beside the driver with Mike, John and I in the next seats with our rucksacks and cameras and the other 4 in the back.

The journey was to take 2.5 hours!!! We started off along the main highway. Don't need any speed bumps here, there are enough holes in the roads which requires drivers to regularly swerve. There are more hairpin bends here than in Switzerland and they overtake by peeping their horn and moving out passing even on blind bends.

At 11:00 Lil said we were going to turn off the main road onto a rough track. For 30 minutes we crossed streams and drove along rutted tracks until we stopped for a comfort break at the foot of the hill. The toilet was though the cow shed which had a cow on the left and a skittish calf on the right. In addition the floor was a bit slippery!! Terry was the first casualty when returning through the cowshed he caught his arm and grazed it on a piece of wood when the calf jumped up.

At 11:45 we set off again from about 3000 feet to go up the hill. The road was horrendous with large boulders and John was a useful buffer for Mike and I. We bounced around for another hour and a half and at one point 5 had to get out as the Zeep was too heavy for the climb.

We then got out and started walking up to the village which took another one hour and was a 900 feet climb. Terry found it hard going as it was up steps virtually all the way, but we got there to get greeted the local band, dancers and the whole village. Just as we approached the entry to the school it started to rain. After a short delay the carried on with the welcome ceremony and entice David, Mike and Terry to dance with them. We left Maya and Sabi setting up the network and went to find our home for the next 6 nights. There is a living room which is being used by Lil and another as a bedroom then accessed from the outside are 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. Entry to each of these is via a door no bigger than 4'6"!!! Mike and John are sleeping in one room with Terry and David in the other Mike already has on a balaclava with a beanie on top of that. Toilet is outside so that will be an obstacle course in the night.

There are are no lights, relying on lanterns and torches. Good that we packed sleeping bags although may be an issue to get out of in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow we start our work at the school. David and Terry are still suffering with the old and chesty cough and are hoping they can get some sleep tonight.

We ate tonight at our house in the village. It consisted of:
Lamb offal
Curried cauliflower
Radish salad
Poppadoms
Prawn Crackers
Bombay Mix
Mutton
Daal and baht (lentils and rice)

Tuesday 19 Feb 2013 Pokhara

Woke up this morning still feeling pretty rough but at least caught up on sleep with a good 9 hours. Opening the front door I was confronted by the peaks of the Annapurnas. Fishtail mountain (on left) and Annapurna IV (on right) are impressive.

We thought it best to go and find a Pharmacy and on the way passed the lake where people were washing themselves, their hair and their clothes at the lake edge.

The drink of the trip so far is the hot Lemon and Honey drink they serve in Nepal.

Today was the general strike where all vehicles are banned from the roads. We heard that a Tourist Jeep was stoned.

We returned to the hotel and continued with the updating of the netbooks. It is taking too long. One of the updates is going to take 22 hours to download! Anyway we have got them to a manageable stage and will need to do the others in the village.

If there is one thing about Nepal, it teaches you patience.

Monday 18 Feb 2013 Everest

Up early yet again to try for the Everest flight. Well we got on the bus and then onto the plane. 8 rows of 2 seats, very cosy. Then the wait to see if we would take off. Our 7am flight was still on the Tarmac at 07:50 when the engines were fired up and we had wings up at 8am.

We flew along the Himalayas at 25000 feet (Everest is 29028 feet) then turned and flew back so that passengers on each side could get a good view. Everyone had the chance of going up to the cockpit to speak to the pilot and view Everest from there.

Then back to the Radisson. We should be used to the 30 min journey but no. The constant cacophony of horns as buses, cars, motorcycles, bikes and pedestrians vie for every piece of road. There are no road markings. Their 4 lane road (equivalent to UK 2 lane) consistently changes at the behest of the road users on a minute by minute basis. Two lanes in each direction can, at the drop of a hat, become 1/3 or 0/4. Unlike UK, road rage does not exist but maybe this is due to their religious beliefs in that they must improve to reach Nirvana. (A lesson for our road users?) We are assured that drivers do need to pass a driving test which came as a bit if a surprise.

John and Terry felt a bit weary with a touch of the sun yesterday (I can hear Liz now) but we have got our hats now and together with David are feeling the effect of being up at 5:30am for 3 days for the aborted trips to the airport.

After breakfast we headed back to the airport for our 12:30 flight to Pokhara expecting that we would take off eventually. Sure enough delays meant we were wings up at 14:03.

Major Lil met us at Pokhara and we settled at our hotel. Lil brought in the laptops and we proceeded to install antivirus. Internet connections were slow and in addition we needed to fix other issues which meant that we will not complete the updates until tomorrow or we will need to finish in Daraun.  As it turns out this is not a issue as there is a general strike in Nepal tomorrow so our travel to Daraun is delayed until the following day. Indeed we will use this to get some sleep and recharge our batteries.

John is still full of the cold and it looks like he had now passed it on to David and Terry.

Sunday 17 Feb 2013 Kathmandu

Up early again to try for the Everest flight. Cancelled again as the mountain was not visible. We have one last chance tomorrow before we fly on to Pokhara.

After breakfast Mike's Sherpa friend Dilli and tour guide Sherpa Binod came to take us on a tour of Kathmandu. We visited:

The Great Stupa of Boudhanath. A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the ashes of deceased, used by Buddhists as a place of meditation and covered in prayer flags. There are hundreds of prayer wheels and it is said that each spin of a prayer wheel is the equivalent of reciting the mantra embossed on it eleven thousand times. It appeared to be an obsession with some people to spin every wheel.

Pashupatinath is Nepal's holiest Hindu pilgrimage site with riverbank cremation places. The deceased are first cleansed by dipping their feet in the holy river. The male family then carry the body to the funeral pyre, cover it with straw then the fire is lit beginning in the mouth of the deceased. The eldest son's head is then shaved. In addition to the temples there are many sadhus or dreadlocked half naked holy men.

Lastly we headed for Hanuman-dhoka Durbar Square which is a World Heritage site containing a number of temples and shrines, both Hindu and Buddhist including:

• Hippie temple
• Kumari Ghar is the home of the 'Kumari' or living goddess, a young girl chosen to be the Kumari until she reaches puberty.
• Kal-Bhairav which is a huge stone and a place for people to swear the truth.

To our surprise we saw a number of eagles at low level in Kathmandu city, but it turned out later that they were scavenging the piles of rubbish along the banks of and in the rivers.

Our tour finished at 16:30 and we met up with Dilli again at 18:00 to go to Rum Doodles restaurant. This is used by Trekkers and Everest summiteers and they leave messages of who they are on "feet" i.e. large blank outlines of feet for them to write their details on which then adorn the walls. We wrote on one with each of us trying to trump the other. After an excellent night it is back to bed for an early morning start back to the airport in the hope of the Everest flight taking off. We spun sufficient prayer wheels at the stupa that we should have good luck.

Tomorrow noon we fly to Pokhara to meet up with Major Lil.

Saturday 16 Feb 2013 Pure Luxury

On arrival at Kathmandu we were met by Narayan (of Cheerful Holidays and Kathmandu Gurkhas Rotary Club) and were "treated" to a night drive (no streetlights) along potholed tracks to our hotel. Crossroads are 'Chicken Junctions' and it seems evident that no one here has ever passed a driving test. I doubt even I would drive in Kathmandu!!

I didn't get a lot of sleep as nearby there was a disco which even vibrated the bed. However I got a good 4 hours sound sleep before being woken to meet Narayan as John, David and I were to take an early morning flight to view Everest. We had another 'dark' drive back to the airport and along the way people were lighting fires at the side of the road to keep warm. There were lots of people about even though it was 6am and still dark.Our 7am flight was cancelled at 7:45 and we called Narayan to return to take us back to the Radisson for breakfast.

On the way we toured what appeared to be chaos over a major part of the city as they try to widen streets and move buildings back from the road, but I can only describe it as desolation. John is not feeling well today being full of the cold.

Over breakfast we met with Major Lil Gurung of the Rotary Club of the Himalayan Gurkhas who will accompany us to Daraun and Yadav Kharal, District 3292 International Chairman. The photo (l to r) shows, John, Yadav, Terry, David, Mike and Lil.

Later we walked to the Thamel shopping area and had lunch there during which time the rain started and we ended up squeezing into a minute taxi for a ride back to the hotel. For dinner we decided to remain at the Radisson with 3 having Chateaubriand at a cost of £10 including a glass of wine! Let's hope the rain clears the skies for morning as tomorrow is the last chance John will have to overfly Everest.

Friday 15 Feb 2013 Arrived Abu Dhabi

We arrived at Abu Dhabi 30 minutes early at 06:40 Abu Dhabi time. Having been up since yesterday morning it is now 04:45 UK time and everyone is tired, some more than others.

As you will see from these photos we decided to use the Al Dhabi lounge giving us access to a more comfortable seating for our 7 hour layover with showers and an excellent choice of food for breakfast and lunch. However everyone's sleep was interrupted with the number of different alert sounds being played at David's phone. Still tired we made our way to the departure gate to find that we had ALL been upgraded to Business Class. Everyone has their own theory on the reason for the upgrade but I put it down to the Team Leader!! This upgrade is a first for most of the group which in addition to the ability to stretch out and relax included an A la carte menu and a glass of champagne.

Thursday 14 Feb 2013 We're off!!!

Well the last 2 weeks have flown by. It is now 11:30am and today we leave Bingley at 2:15pm to head to Manchester Airport from where we fly at 8:00pm. Whilst we all did our Valentine's duty only John sported a "Perfect Valentine" badge.

Most of us had reasonable sized cases at 15/18kg but Mike managed a massive 29kg. Mike realised Dot had packed some liquids and went to buy a plastic bag so he could include it with his hand luggage, only to find he was delayed at the baggage check as his hand luggage was rejected twice before security found that Dot had packed yet another bottle of liquid hand gel which needed another plastic bag before he could continue. David had similar issues and needed to be "frisked".

Unfortunately we have a 7 hour layover in Abu Dhabi where the weather is 23 degrees and sunny. After yesterday's snow I think we will all be happy with a bit of sunshine. We arrive in Kathmandu at 8pm on Friday night, probably just in time to go to bed.

Only 2 weeks to go until the Team from Bingley Airedale Rotary Club (BARC) depart for Nepal. Four members of the club (Terry Brown, Mike Bamford, David Dinsey and President John Hagerty) will be travelling from UK to Nepal to install a Computer Suite at Daraun Secondary School in the Syangja region of Nepal.

We are travelling on 14th February to Kathmandu and onwards to Pokhara on 18th. The following day a journey by jeep and then a 90 minute walk in the foothills to 5500 feet bring us to Daraun village and school which will be our base for the next 7 days. Whilst there we will set up the computer suite and provide training to the teachers. In addition, we will walk ( 2 hours in each direction) to 2 existing schools where Harrogate Brigantes have previously installed computers to audit the schools. On another day we will travel by jeep to survey 2 further schools to consider their suitability for extending the project to them at a future date.

On 27th February we will return to Pokhara where we will meet with the Rotary Club of Pokhara Fishtail with whom we have a long association. Whilst there we travel to Majhkot Village and Secondary School to inaugurate the water project we have funded and we will meet pupils and staff from Lo Kumphen school in Mustang at their winter school in Pokhara. BARC funded students at the school following a trip to Nepal by Mike Bamford. Lastly we will visit recipients of the Micro Loan scheme we have initiated with Pokhara Fishtail.

Saturday 2nd March sees the team travel back to Kathmandu before returning to UK.