TRAVELING THROUGH NEPAL - DAY 2

After departing Pokhari Bhanjyange we headed to a small resort type village called Bandipur. It is nestled high on the side of a mountain with views that are typically just amazing. We were the only people there, so we basically had free reins of the place which was very nice. They fed us a huge dinner of dal bhat and all that goes with it….which I ate until I could eat no more….then it was off to bed. I had chosen a room which had French style doors that opened out on to a very small wood balcony on the second floor. My hope was to catch a glimpse of the sunrise over the Himalayas early the next morning. I slept all night with the doors open and the blankets piled high on top of me to keep me warm through the cold night….but to my dismay the next morning the whole valley was filled with fog and there were no mountains to be seen.

That morning we had our breakfast at about 7:30 with hopes of getting an early start to Duseni (sp) a small, remote village high in the foothills of the Himalayas. It is the area that my friend Bishnu is from. He and the Tophams have been working on building a large school in the area. Until recently the only way to reach the village was on foot, but in recent years a steep, winding road was cut into the side of the mountains making travel by vehicle possible, yet still very difficult. We were in a diesel Toyota Landcruiser with our favorite driver Krishna. He is definitely one of the better more safe drivers in Nepal, but even his honed driving skills are put to the test on this particular road. In the end we arrived safely and only had to push the vehicle out of the mud once.

The school they are building there is quite impressive. It is one of the larger, more well built schools I have seen in Nepal. If I remember correctly, there will be 10 classrooms when finished. The amazing thing to me was that each rock making up the many walls was hauled a long distance then hand chiseled to fit perfectly into its spot in the wall. It was apparent that the villagers had spent many thousands of man hours in building this school. This is not uncommon either. I have seen it in many villages. They want so badly for their children to have a good school to study in that they will do anything and everything in their power to make that happen.

After spending several hours in the village attending meetings discussing the school and other potential projects it was our time to head back down the treacherous dirt road back to the main highway in Nepal that would take us down to Bharatpur, the town where the hospital that I came over last year to help with is located. Despite this road being the only east to west highway in Nepal, it is narrow, winding and dangerous. It often takes 6 or more hours to travel 150 kilometers (about 95 miles).

I have yet to travel on this road and not see at least two horrible accidents, and this trip was no exception. Before we saw the accident we saw the body being carried away on a stretcher perhaps to a health post, perhaps it was too late for that...we don’t know. But we rounded a corner and there was a bus lying on its side in the ditch along the road. The entire passenger side of the bus was crushed and in pieces. There were people sitting all around on the ground. Most seemed to be free from serious injury, which is nothing short of a miracle after seeing the condition of the bus. I would like to say that accidents like that are uncommon in Nepal, but with the narrow, winding roads and the crazy reckless manner in which many drive, they do happen and usually very deadly.

I always consider myself very lucky to make in back into the Kathmandu valley after traveling that road. It was only last year that while visiting a village with the Tophams our driver had decided to have a few drinks. We of course were completely unaware of this until we started noticing severe lapses in his judgment as he drove us back to Kathmandu including coming so close to hitting a pedestrian that we collided with the bundle of wood that she was carrying on her back. Even after this happened we were not sure what was exactly was going on and it wasn’t until the next day that we were told that he had in fact been drinking. We made it safely to Bharatpur late in the evening, and after some effort found some hotel rooms.