Paudwar

Another Day on the Trail

And no I am not getting tired of this continuous walk through paradise with a wonderful group of women and John, with guides like Chandra and Kaji, life is grand!

Back on the trail

Mountains are always the best in the morn.

Check out these stair steps.  Imagine the labor involved.

Hill and Dell

Buff on the trail...Water Buffalo that is.

Kaji to the rescue.

Bridge # 12

Goats on the trail.

The river is getting closer again. 

Another bridge.

Chandra giving us another plant lesson.

Paudwar

Making cheese

Here are the tools.  Where is the Health Board?

Cheese!

  

What does this sign say?  Don't you just love this script.  

Narcheng

  The Old Village on the Cliff

This old little village on a cliff was warm and friendly.  What am I writing here? All the villages were warm and friendly.

Unlike any where we stayed so far.  A tight knit village connected with 100's of steps.

Amazing little village.

Our little greeter.

Walking through the village in search of our next lodge.

Our next night's lodging.

Remember I told you before that the country of Nepal was celebrating a month long holiday similar to our Christmas.  Well today was the actual holiday.  As we entered the village I noticed everyone, adults and children alike, had patches of sticky rice on their foreheads.  Shortly after we were settled in and had our tea, Chandra came in to say the oldest gentleman of the village is in charge of blessing all the villagers on this holy day.  He told us this elder had offered to bless us as well if we so desired.  Well, we all raced to the door for this unique opportunity. And we crossed the stairway to enter a small abode one by one.  We moved through several rooms before entering their "living room" complete with bunch of grandchildren and a small TV.  We took turns sitting cross legged in front of him.  We were told to hold our hand palms up  below our face to catch the dropping blessings. He chanted 3 blessings as he placed the rice on our foreheads 3 times.  He then placed a small bundle of herbs behind our right ear.  He chanted a bit more then placed his hands together for a warm Namaste.  Chandra told us later we were blessed for happiness, health and abundance for the upcoming year.  The herbs were a blessing for the season's next harvest.  Life is great, let the new year begin!

Later I gave this holy man my winter jacket I no longer needed, but he could definitely use it. 

Blessed Trekkers!
Here we are all tika'd up and feeling good!


These pots were stacked right outside our bedroom door.  Think of all the great food that once cooked in them all.

Heading out the next morning.

Check out our departing view.

Tea Houses

Community Lodges

Every night we were welcomed at our tea house by 2 or 3 hosts. Most of these lodges were way out in the middle of no where.  We were served tea almost before we got our packs off. And a few hours later a wonderful dinner.  How they managed to have fresh food for 20 hungry trekkers that far off the beaten track amazed me. Of course, Kaji always took over the kitchen and used whatever they did have to prepare an awesome meal. No one ever complained about the food and we always had more than enough. Then after dinner we would sit around the stove and share stories or play Yatzee. Our Chandra, Prem and Kaji would entertain us with their guitar, drum and flute. Our once a porter danced for us. Most of the nights we were tucked in under the fat yak comforters before 9 pm. The walls were thin and you could hear snoring, coughing and several trips to the potty. Every once in awhile there were other trekkers at our tea house.  That was always a treat.  New stories to hear and tell. I miss those little guest houses.

Dandakharka

Dark long hall. 

Dining room.

Friends in High Places

Kitchen

Mohara

One of our hosts admires Chandra's backpack Martin guitar.

This was just a rest stop. Later other trekkers and porters stopped to rest as well.
Chandra, the kind gentleman that he was, shared our snacks with everyone.

Small room with cardboard rugs.

Loved this sign.

We called this one the Taj Mahal.

Back on The Trail

Downhill is Just as Difficult

The next day was suppose to be a five hour trek all down hill. There were steep steps, wooden bridges, huge trees, loose rocks and it took us 7 hours.

It was cold and misty when we started.

Honoring Chandra

This will give you some idea how far down we had to go.

The trail was beautiful.

I like the rocks.

Overgrown Rainforest

Huge hollow trees.  Hi Rebecca.

This one one of the porters scraped out bits of solid sap for tea later.

A few more miles down.

Just over the next hill.

Strong Necks

Napoli People Carry Everything on Their Backs and Head

Men, woman and even children carry everything on their backs or heads.  The weight is usually twice the body weight of the person carrying. It will always amaze me.

I think this is a fridge!

Women carrying wood and greens.

Firewood

Vender on way to set up street stand.

In Pokaraha I saw a young man back up to a pickup truck tailgate and pick up three cases of beer and carried them on his back in to the restaurant.