Walk round Lamakhet

It's been two weeks since I went up to the village of Lamakhet with Richard and Joyce, and it's high time I wrote about my first time up in the mountains in Nepal. Joyce is the orientation coordinator who took such wonderful care of us on our arrival in Nepal, and Richard is her husband. We hadn't met him before that, as he had been trekking around rural Nepal looking into the potential for various development projects. He and Joyce are both English, but met in Nepal, and lived and worked here for years, before heading home for their kids' later schooling. Now they are back, and are fascinating people to spend time with, as they have such a depth of knowledge about Nepal. Richard was heading up to the Lamakhet to check on a bee-keeping project there, and Joyce and I came along for the experience.

It was a glorious morning - sunny with the mountains clearly visible against the blue sky. I had only been in Pokhara one week, and was a bit nervous when Joyce suggested I could take a taxi on my own to where they were staying. I had only been there once, and then the taxi driver let me off in a different place than before. Still, I sorted myself out, and was able to meet them in time. We then walked up the road, until we caught a local mini-bus heading our way. We got off a the taxi stop – for taxis going out for longer distances, they wait at specific places until they are full, then go, at a set rate. Full means 5 passenger, with 4 in the back, which is particularly crowded when several of the people are westerners! We bumped our way along dirt roads, and then, to my astonishment, drove along the river flood plane, through the river in places, and eventually up the road on the other side. (In monsoon season, they just keep cars on both sides of the river, and ferry people across I guess.) We then went uphill for ages (bumping along, stuffed in the back of a taxi), with Richard and Joyce chatting away to the driver and other passengers, and interpreting for me.

We finally came up over the pass, and had a breathtaking view of the valley with the mountains beyond. Once again I was impressed with the terraced farms, and the houses perched on the hillside. We took the taxi to the end of the road, and then started walking. We didn't have to go too far, as the road basically ended at the village, although one of the passengers in the was heading up to her village another 4 hours walk further.



We did get to go past some cliff bee hives, which Richard pointed out to me. Cliff bees are the native bees in Nepal, and build hives on overhanging cliffs. Nepalis harvest the honey by lowering down from above on a rope, smoking the bees out from below, and cutting the hive down with a long knife. This is dangerous, and destroys the hive, so it doesn't result in much honey over the long term. The bee-keeping project that was set up was of a more traditional kind, easier and safer to harvest, and produces more honey, which can then be used for income generation.

Richard wasn't sure where they guy lived who was running the project. After some wandering, and asking around, we were directed to his brother's house. Apparently, the guy who was running the project is now in America, and his brother is looking after things. Funny how that had not been mentioned in the most recent report! Richard then went with the brother to see the hives, and Joyce and I and waited and visited with the family. There was an adorable toddler, as well as an older girl, about 2, clearly disabled, who was passively eating rice being put in her mouth by her grandmother. It seemed that the 87 year old grandmother's job was to look after the girl, and she did it with great care. After feeding her, she changed her clothes, cleaned her, then oiled her skin. The latter caused the girl to giggle with laugher, and it was lovely to see her respond to the loving care. It is sobering to think what will become of her in a place where the able bodied struggle to survive, and stories from others indicate that many disabled are not cared for at all in Nepal, and only seen as a burden. It certainly made me think about how big a challenge I have ahead of me in working to improving mobility here.



The mother asked if we wanted to eat, and proceeded to make us very authentic daal bhaat - from scratch. While we waited, she sifted the rice to remove the stones and bits, ground the lentils, picked the vegetables from her garden. She then cooked it in her one room house, and we sat on a woven mat on the mud floor to eat it. It's one thing to eat food with your right hand only when sitting at a table in Canada, it's quite another to do so when sitting cross legged on the floor, leaning over the plate on the dirt floor in front of you, scooping hot food into your mouth. I managed without making too much of a mess, much to the entertainment of our cook, and it was so yummy!

We decided that we all wanted to hike out rather than take another bumpy taxi or bus ride, so after lunch we headed back towards Pokhara. We were accosted at times by children begging, but it was amazing to see their attitude change when Joyce spoke to them in Nepali – “Are you a white Nepali?” one of them asked - what a compliment! Heading down from the ridge, we were able to take the walking track (all steps) rather than the road, which sped up the several hundred meter decent considerably. It took us about 3 hours to get back to the edge of town (and two stops for tea along the way), where we could catch a bus back to where we started. What a great day! I felt really privileged to have had the chance to get out of town and see how many Nepalis live, as well as getting the chance to learn from people who have lived and worked in Nepal for so many years. I've posted some of the (many) pictures I took here.