This is my 11th visit to Nepal, and 2nd as a trustee of Kids at School in Nepal. It promises to be an action packed 4 weeks. We're flying with Jet Airways as they were not only offering a good deal but a larger baggage allowance. This means we can take a load of books out to the schools we support, thanks to St
Anne's Primary School, Keighley and Cancer Research.
I'm travelling in a party of 6, 4 of us being trustees. And the other two friends and supporters of the charity. Trustees Pat and Liz Wherity, and Pam are all ex-teachers, as is Claire Toberman.
Robin Bundy, a retired businessman from Settle, is the other member of the party who will meet us at Heathrow.
We flew from Heathrow at 8.40 pm on 8th November from Heathrow Terminal 4. Just hope they've sorted out the runway lights by then!All went smoothly with our flight, and the transfer at Delhi uneventful. Having applied for a visa in the U.K. the completion of a simple disembarkation form was all that was required before clearing visa before clearing immigration and claiming our baggage.
I'm travelling in a party of 6, 4 of us being trustees. And the other two friends and supporters of the charity. Trustees Pat and Liz Wherity, and Pam are all ex-teachers, as is Claire Toberman.
Robin Bundy, a retired businessman from Settle, is the other member of the party who will meet us at Heathrow.
We flew from Heathrow at 8.40 pm on 8th November from Heathrow Terminal 4. Just hope they've sorted out the runway lights by then!All went smoothly with our flight, and the transfer at Delhi uneventful. Having applied for a visa in the U.K. the completion of a simple disembarkation form was all that was required before clearing visa before clearing immigration and claiming our baggage.
Monday 19th November
We've just returned for a memorable trek of Langtang, starting out yesterday week from the Holy Himalaya Hotel in Kathmandu. My friend Binod, now working in IT in Kathmandu, joined Pat, Robin and myself in the 7 hour drive north to Syabru Besi (1600 m) along some bone shaking roads. After a night in a small hotel, our trekking began up the lower end of the Langtang valley. with guide Saroj, and porters Bipak and Lila. The first day's trail took us across then followed the Langtang Khola river predominantly through forest paths. The slow internet here is making it impossible to write this blog and doing so on an iPad adds further complications.
So I'm going to summarise the trip so far in words.
The Langtang trek was both exhilarating and profoundly sad. Whilst we saw bee colonies high up on the cliffs and families of Langur monkeys, we had to walk over what was a graveyard which was once Langtang Village. It is estimated that over 250 people including 41 foreign trekkers, are buried under a landslide of rock, mud and ice as a result of the April 2015 earthquake. Two of us feltquite ill that day but managed to continue further up the valley to Kyangin at 3,870 metres. The next morning we got up early to climb Kyangjin Ri (4,300 m) to see the sunrise over Langtang - an awesome experience. We've been blessed with fabulous weather so the white peaks have been set against a clear dark blue sky. It's encouraging to see that the local population is rebuilding a life in the valley, and the trail bringing many trekkers into the valley to provide muchneeded income to sustain them.
Our trek lasted 9 days, returning to Kathmandu on 19th November. The nextstage of our tour involved a 30 minute flight to Pokhara from where we went up to the Annapurna Eco-village to recover from our earlier trek. My first visit here was with a group in 2013 and it's magic has not changed. Great views of the Annapurna range and Machapucheri., delicious organically grown food and comfortable accommodation.
We have spent the last two nights in Pokhara itself, enabling us to attend the 25th celebrations of the Pahar Trust - a U.K. And Nepal based charity, started by an ex-Gurka. It has even hugely successful in building schools in remote areas, and helped KASIN with the design and build of a primary school at KASIN funded to replace one demolished by the 2015 earthquakes. The event took place in the Hotel Grande with around 300 people attending. It was a really useful opportunity to networking with some key players in the education field, including the head of Global Action Nepal, BK Shrestra, who has substantial experience in the field of teacher training.
The next day we moved to Kurintar to spend the night at Jyoti's riverside resort before heading up to Montari, north of Dhading Besi, where we were able to witness the last day of a teacher training programme which KASIN had undertaken to fund. The area of around Phulkharka is remarkably unspoilt and our camp at Montari an amazing experience, living in mud houses and eating 'al fresco' surrounded by magical views.
The road to Montari was bone shaking - they call it the 'dancing road' and it lived up to its name. Our time there also involved visiting neighbouring schools including Dhandakharka Primary School which KASIN had funded the rebuilding new of after the 2015 earthquakes.
Friday 30th November
We returned to Kathmandu yesterday and have spent all day at various meetings. The morning was spent visiting Kumbershwar Technical School where KASIN provides funding for the Orphange ( see KASIN website for more details of the Pode caste who were condemned to street cleaning and living in hovels even as recently as the early 1990s. We then met BK Shrestra of Global Action to discuss how to develop a comprehensive teacher training programme. It was the back to the Holy Himalaya to meet the alumni of Mandali School
After a surfeit of Dhal Baat, we decided to chance our luck and see if we could get into 'Fire and Ice', a famous Italian restaurant round the corner, and only had to wait 10 mins.
Saturday 1st December
Pat's birthday! I had agreed to meet up with Binod for the day so headed off at 9.00 to catch a Green Bus (15 NRps a journey!) to Laghankel, near the ringroad. He rang to say he would be late as mice had eaten theough the wiring of his motorbike! It was great to be whizzzing along the road to Chapagaun again to meet his family and see the improvements in his house - now sporting awestern style toilet (now requiring a 1000 litre water tank) and a refurbished kitchen. His mum had made a light lunch which we munched whilst Binod showed me the mobile apps he was developing in his spare time as an IT wizard. We celebrated Pat's birthday at th renowned Third Eye restaurant in Thamel
(Apologies for the lack of news but writing a blog on an iPad is a nightmare and the lack of wi-fi hasn't helped)
Sunday 2nd December
Up,early to catch the Bhudda Air flight to Badrapur in the south east corner of Nepal in Jhapa where KASIN has a sponsorship programme for the poorest children from.local families many of whom work in the tea gardens. We are staying at the Moran Memorial School in Maheshpur, and were warmly welcomed by the Jesuit Community who run the school here.
So I'm going to summarise the trip so far in words.
The Langtang trek was both exhilarating and profoundly sad. Whilst we saw bee colonies high up on the cliffs and families of Langur monkeys, we had to walk over what was a graveyard which was once Langtang Village. It is estimated that over 250 people including 41 foreign trekkers, are buried under a landslide of rock, mud and ice as a result of the April 2015 earthquake. Two of us feltquite ill that day but managed to continue further up the valley to Kyangin at 3,870 metres. The next morning we got up early to climb Kyangjin Ri (4,300 m) to see the sunrise over Langtang - an awesome experience. We've been blessed with fabulous weather so the white peaks have been set against a clear dark blue sky. It's encouraging to see that the local population is rebuilding a life in the valley, and the trail bringing many trekkers into the valley to provide muchneeded income to sustain them.
Our trek lasted 9 days, returning to Kathmandu on 19th November. The nextstage of our tour involved a 30 minute flight to Pokhara from where we went up to the Annapurna Eco-village to recover from our earlier trek. My first visit here was with a group in 2013 and it's magic has not changed. Great views of the Annapurna range and Machapucheri., delicious organically grown food and comfortable accommodation.
We have spent the last two nights in Pokhara itself, enabling us to attend the 25th celebrations of the Pahar Trust - a U.K. And Nepal based charity, started by an ex-Gurka. It has even hugely successful in building schools in remote areas, and helped KASIN with the design and build of a primary school at KASIN funded to replace one demolished by the 2015 earthquakes. The event took place in the Hotel Grande with around 300 people attending. It was a really useful opportunity to networking with some key players in the education field, including the head of Global Action Nepal, BK Shrestra, who has substantial experience in the field of teacher training.
The next day we moved to Kurintar to spend the night at Jyoti's riverside resort before heading up to Montari, north of Dhading Besi, where we were able to witness the last day of a teacher training programme which KASIN had undertaken to fund. The area of around Phulkharka is remarkably unspoilt and our camp at Montari an amazing experience, living in mud houses and eating 'al fresco' surrounded by magical views.
The road to Montari was bone shaking - they call it the 'dancing road' and it lived up to its name. Our time there also involved visiting neighbouring schools including Dhandakharka Primary School which KASIN had funded the rebuilding new of after the 2015 earthquakes.
Friday 30th November
We returned to Kathmandu yesterday and have spent all day at various meetings. The morning was spent visiting Kumbershwar Technical School where KASIN provides funding for the Orphange ( see KASIN website for more details of the Pode caste who were condemned to street cleaning and living in hovels even as recently as the early 1990s. We then met BK Shrestra of Global Action to discuss how to develop a comprehensive teacher training programme. It was the back to the Holy Himalaya to meet the alumni of Mandali School
After a surfeit of Dhal Baat, we decided to chance our luck and see if we could get into 'Fire and Ice', a famous Italian restaurant round the corner, and only had to wait 10 mins.
Saturday 1st December
Pat's birthday! I had agreed to meet up with Binod for the day so headed off at 9.00 to catch a Green Bus (15 NRps a journey!) to Laghankel, near the ringroad. He rang to say he would be late as mice had eaten theough the wiring of his motorbike! It was great to be whizzzing along the road to Chapagaun again to meet his family and see the improvements in his house - now sporting awestern style toilet (now requiring a 1000 litre water tank) and a refurbished kitchen. His mum had made a light lunch which we munched whilst Binod showed me the mobile apps he was developing in his spare time as an IT wizard. We celebrated Pat's birthday at th renowned Third Eye restaurant in Thamel
(Apologies for the lack of news but writing a blog on an iPad is a nightmare and the lack of wi-fi hasn't helped)
Sunday 2nd December
Up,early to catch the Bhudda Air flight to Badrapur in the south east corner of Nepal in Jhapa where KASIN has a sponsorship programme for the poorest children from.local families many of whom work in the tea gardens. We are staying at the Moran Memorial School in Maheshpur, and were warmly welcomed by the Jesuit Community who run the school here.
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