Tuesday 16 October 2018. Nepal Photos.
Highlights: Five hour hike, home stay in Panauti, Dance night

So it was time to leave Kathmandu and hit the road we had to leave our hotel by 7.15 am in order to get to Sanga for a 11 km 4-5 hour hike around a mountain. The drive saw us caught up in heavy traffic from which I got to watch many a goat on the back of a motorbike or in the boot of a car. Strange sights but they didn’t seen to care.

We commenced the starting at approximately 9.30 am in Sanga the immediate path was straight up and very difficult, not the ideal way to start if you were questioning your participation of this optional activity.

The hike afforded us lots of great views of the valleys below and many spiders (a pet hate of mine). We would run across several small villages and the children were always happy to see us. I personal got to knows several of the tour members better during our work. I was very glad I wore shorts today, although if it was still leech season I won’t have been.

On arrival in Panauti I found I was both happy and that I had some blisters on my heel, nothing major now but something to watch. At the community centre I was group up with James and Hannah from England and sent on our way with our host the mother of the house. My room had a giant teddy bear in it! The bed however was rock hard, the pillow almost as hard and the bed smaller than me with a wooden end meaning I couldn’t lie flat (which my body wanted after the hike).

After a very late (after 2 pm) home cooked lunch which was filling and actually too much.

We were then taken on a guided tour of the town which wasn’t badly effected by the 2015 earthquakes (only minor damage). A lot of the temples here date from the 13th century and after magnificent. For example the Indreshwar temple is one of the largest and tallest pagoda style temples in Nepal. WE were lucky enough to see a Hindu festival dance.

We went back to our homestay and enjoyed another home made meal and also a visit to the roof of the house which they use to grow a lot of their own food. The homestay has three generations living there and all contributing to the household but the mum, not the grandmother or grandfather or dad runs the household.

After this we went back to the Community Centre and enjoyed some local dances. Some of the women in our group had been dressed in a sari (traditional Indian Hindu dress). There was much dancing, I even got up for a brief moment and start to dance but quickly returned when Western 80s music started playing.

An exhausting but enjoyable day.