Sisters, sisters and more sisters

Hello blog readers,

You may have noticed that we have become increasingly infrequent bloggers. Perhaps that’s because dealing with cows in the middle of the road and wading through rivers to get to school no longer seem new or strange to us. Life here has become ‘normal’ and we only seem to get around to blogging when something different or special has happened.

In this case, the special something was the Desai holiday. Mel headed off for a female and more specifically, sisters themed break. To start with, I joined two of my VSO ‘didi’ (didi means older sister in Nepali but can be used for any female who you respect), Pragya and Christine:

Pragya is a volunteer from India who is working with an HIV / AIDS organisation in Pokhara. She very kindly offered me and Christine a place to stay. Christine is a volunteer from Kenya who works with an organisation in Kathmandu that helps Nepali ethnic minorities to claim their rights. As you can see from the photo, these two sisters were very cheerful company and as well as going on walks and visits together, we sat around Pragya’s kitchen table chatting long into the night together. Here are some amazing flowers we came across on the way to a Buddhist pagoda in the hills:

And from Pragya’s rooftop I took this ironic photo of tourists heading off by aeroplane to go trekking around the retreating glaciers and newly formed glacial lakes:

It’s not all doom and gloom. Anybody interested in local efforts to reduce impact on the environment should check out our ‘environmental’ album in Picasa.

My next sisters experience was with ‘the Chettri sisters’ trekking company. This company is run by 3 ‘real’ sisters (very unusual in Nepal, especially as all 3 sisters are also single). The company has a ‘sister’ charity which aims to empower women by providing free training for women who want to become trekking guides. Almost no other trekking agency has any female trekking guides at all. The charity also runs a hostel for child workers who have been sent away from their homes to work in difficult jobs in the mountains. These children are ‘rescued’ and stay at the hostel where they can go to school. My trekking guide, Shanti was a great ‘bahini’ (younger sister) to me. Actually, despite being younger than me, she was more of a ‘didi’ because she looked after me so well. Here we are setting off on the last day of our 3 day trek:

Shanti bahini very quickly found that I wasn’t the most serious trekker that she had come across. Many people who go trekking in Nepal are very purposeful and focus on reaching their destination. I, on the other hand like to stop and enjoy local culture (in this case playing ‘ping’ – swings which villages put up during Desai):

… not to mention feeling the need to stop every five minutes to admire the view, look at a bird or butterfly, or more likely, to take a photo:

I was incredibly lucky with the weather and was treated to a wealth of stunning, breathtaking views. It was the end of the monsoon season, but I only got wet once and the leeches were mostly very well behaved (as far as I was concerned). Another set of sisters to mention are 3 more sisters whose guest house we stayed at in the village of Panchaase. In the photo album, you’ll find a photo of us all in their kitchen as well as a very nice ‘view from the loo’. Yes – I really do take my camera everywhere! I spent a lovely evening and morning at the guesthouse, from where I was treated to amazing views, delicious food (dhaal bhaat of course), very amusing company (I think some naughty tourists had been teaching the sisters some rude jokes), great birdwatching and stunning sunset and sunrise:

I was lucky enough after my trek to be invited back to my guide's room for tea and to get the chance to meet her very sweet SISTER! I had been a bit upset because, during my trek I had found out that Shanti's sister was visiting from Kathmandu for the Desai holiday, but she had had to leave her to come away for my trek. So, I was pleased to have the opportunity to apologise to Shanti's sister in person, for stealing Shanti away from her for 3 days. After my trek I headed back to Pokhara, met up with volunteers Gordon, Miranda and … yes you guessed it, Miranda’s sister.

Meanwhile back at the homestead ……………. here’s what Steve was up to:

The good news is that his commitment to writing his dissertation rather than going swanning off trekking in the mountains, resulted in his finishing his work shortly after the Diwali break.

Just to round off with another note on sisters. Shortly after Diwali, Lalitha and Latha our twin sister friends who we visited in India (and whose photos can be seen on our last blog) came to visit us in Mahendranagar during their whirlwind tour of Nepal.

Of Beaches, Boats and Bangalore.

Greetings once again blog-readers. It’s now been 2 months since our last entry (on ‘health and safety’) and you may wonder what we’ve been doing. Even if you’re not, we’re going to tell you anyway! Those of you who read this site this time last year may remember our description of the long period of school closure, firstly for the monsoon and next for a string of festivals, culminating in Desai. Well, we pre-empted the lack of work this year and decided to take all our leave in one go and have a month long holiday.

The school closure came rather more suddenly than expected, however, when schools were closed nearly 2 weeks early because of the excessive heat. We were kept busy for a while though, thanks to the training that came along. Mel helped co-ordinate and run 10 days of Early Childhood Development training, here in Mahendranagar, whilst Steve headed off to Darchula, in the remote and hilly north of Nepal, to help give ‘proposal writing’ training to an NGO. During this time, we happened to speak with Lalitha, a fellow volunteer who was heading back home to South India for a month and invited us to visit. So we did:

Karnataka (Population: 53 million; Main language: Kannada)

Having booked our main train journeys by internet, we set off on the 10 hour bus journey to Delhi. After a day’s rest here (and a visit to the state emporiums, more of which later) we boarded our first train, to Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka. This journey took 36 hours but we were well catered for with food and drink vendors constantly calling by and the scenery was lovely as we moved from the northern, Gangetic plain into the Deccan Plateau. The scenery could be enjoyed all the more because on Indian trains you can open the door and lean out to get a good view:

At last, we arrived in Bangalore Station and were very efficiently met by Lalitha who welcomed us to Bangalore by night, before whisking us off to her home in the nearby town of Tumkur.

We had a very enjoyable week with Lalitha, her twin sister Latha and their father (whom we called ‘Tata’);

Our every need was catered for as Lalitha and Latha treated us to lovely, traditional South Indian food (some of which we even helped cook) and acted as our personal travel agents around Tumkur. We spent 3 days visiting schools and even went on a short hike with grade 6 from the school where Lalitha used to work:

Other highlights included; visiting nearby villages with their traditional homes and 400 year old temples, and, of course, chatting to Lalitha, Latha and their friends and family. We also enjoyed a visit to a privately owned coffee plantation in the forested hills. Anand, the owner, who is a keen naturalist, showed us around and pointed out some beautiful wildlife. Examples of these and other wildlife we enjoyed on our travels, can be found in the photo album.

Tamil Nadu (Population: 62.1 million ; Main language: Tamil)

Eventually it was time to say a, hopefully temporary, ‘goodbye’ to our excellent hosts and head off by over-night bus to Pondicherry in the state of Tamil Nadu. Here we got to spend time next to something that we have missed a lot in Nepal, the sea:

Pondicherry is an ex-French colony and has lots of French influences still. A highlight here, apart from the sea, was the European cuisine in the tourist restaurants, especially the French cheese! Not as good as Latha’s home-cooked Indian dishes, but still very welcome.

After a couple of days here, we hired some cycles and headed off up the coast to Auroville, passing through some traditional Tamil fishing villages:

Auroville (named after Shree Aurobindo, a yogic guru) is an unusual place which can best be described as a giant hippy commune. We had heard about this ‘city of unity’ from a book on eco-villages and we were keen to see its environmental aspects. Although we didn’t dig the spiritual side of it (with pride of place going to a large, golf-ball like temple dedicated to the founder ‘The Mother’) and had doubts about the ‘town’s’ inclusivity and sustainability, we met some interesting people and got to stay in a tree house:

After returning to Pondicherry, we caught a train across India to the West coast state of Kerala.

Kerala: the coconut state (Population: only 32 million!; Main lanaguage: Malayalam)

In Kerala, we stayed in a lovely home-stay in the town of Alleppey. Kerala, and particularly Alleppey, is famous for its miles of canals and lakes, known collectively as the ‘Backwaters’. Our homestay cottage was right on the Backwaters and every day we got to watch the traditional (and some not-so-traditional) boats plying up and down. In particular, the large house-boats made from wood and palm fronds were a spectacular sight as well as the Snake-boats. The Snake-boats are large canoes carrying about 120 people and whilst we were there, they were trialling for an upcoming ‘Snake-boat’ race which is a major event here (kind of like the Henley Regatta meets the Mardi-Gras!). Here is a Snake-boat:

Other highlights were cruising on the backwaters in a small kettuvulam (canoe) and visiting the near-deserted, palm-shaded, tropical beach (Now we’re sounding like a tour-operator!):

After 3 days, we took a bus north to the capital of Kerala, Ernakulum. Here we got to see some traditional dance/theatre called ‘katakali’:

We also visited the old Portuguese fort at Cochin where we saw medieval, Chinese fishing nets as well as old cathedrals and a synagogue. Kerala has ancient trading links, going back to pre-Roman times and so has a lot of European and Arabian influences. After Cochin and Ernakulam, we headed north again by bus, back to Karnataka.

Karnataka ... again

First stop was a rest day in Mangalore. Not much to see here except more nice beaches, oh yes, and a large restaurant selling only varieties of ice-cream!

From here, another 5 hour bus ride to the evergreen hills that make up the ‘Western Ghats’ and a town called ‘Madikeri’. Here we splashed out a bit and stayed in a small cottage on an organic spice plantation, known as ‘Rainforest Retreat’. The name says it all. Here is the view from our veranda:

Here we got our first reminder that we are in the monsoon season (elsewhere, the monsoon has been very weak this year) as it rained hard every day. Undeterred, we set out on walks round the plantation and surrounding woods. Not even the numerous leeches could keep us indoors! With the stay completely catered, we were able to spend 3 lovely, relaxing days, before returning to the hustle and bustle of Bangalore.

Delhi, (Population: 13 million; Main language: Hindi) then home

Back to Delhi on the train, where we discovered that our plans for gift-shopping were scuppered by the fact that it was ‘Indian Independence Day’ and then Sunday (you’d think we might have been able to predict that one!) We wanted to return to the state emporiums (large shops, one based on each state of India, that sell handicrafts produced in that state), so we ended up staying 3 days. During that time we visited the national museum, Jama Masjid (an impressive 17^th century mosque supposed to be a forerunner of the Taj Mahal) and saw some traditional folk-singing. We also enjoyed lots of trips on the swanky, new Delhi metro and a visit to the cinema to watch a Bollywood movie!

Finally though, our holiday had to end and we took the night bus back to Banbasa and then across the border. Despite encountering flooding on the Indian side of the border, we learnt on arrival back here that, the monsoon has, so far, been almost non-existent this year. Does that mean that there’ll be another environmental themed blog coming up? Don’t bet against it!