Big day today. Starts with a visit to the morning parade at the school to say farewell. The position us up on the stage and al of the teachers have a say to thank us for our help. I get called up first thinking that I was speaking for all of us so I rambled on. Then each of the girls were called up. Proceedings dragged on and the poor kids were in the hot sun. The lower classes were showing signs of disinterest, not surprisingly. It was all very emotional, even for me. The students and teachers are so appreciative of what we were doing.
Packed up we start walking. It’s a 2-hour hike to where we catch a van to take us to Kathmandu. The walk is mainly down, but steeply down and hard on the knees. But the landscape is extraordinary. Villages clinging to the sides of mountains and steep slopes shaped into layers for farming. It’s much greener here and the crops are mainly potato and rice. There’s plenty of water.
We get to the village for the arranged pick up but the van is late. Mane is worried. It eventually arrives and it’s a steep climb to reveal more amazing views. This is what nepal is about, lot of up and down. As we getter closer to Kathmandu the traffic increases and our pace slows. Kathmandu is much crazier than a few weeks ago. The fuel embargo by India has been lifted and it shows in the increased traffic. We crawl to our hotels, arriving around 5pm. Raju greets me warmly and I go straight for a beer. He shouts me another, which I have to skull to make our dinner appointment at 6.40pm. The boys are cooking at their place. Mane, Dinesh and Arneil cook up some nice noodles. We then go to our hotels but will most likely catch up again before we head our separate ways.
Kathmandu is cold đŚ
angusmccoll 