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.
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 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 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.
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