The back of beyond ...
Trip Start
Apr 29, 2009
1
13
18
Trip End
Ongoing
Golagauri, Nepal
Friday, May 22, 2009
it was so interesting seeing the different world unfolding, how the houses slowly changed and became so simple and primitive and spread apart, the life so slow and lazy, people living in what looked like barns, thatched with straw (some two storey) garden sheds with a ladder to an open upstairs, where you sleep to keep cool ... they were beautifully made and very picturesque, and the families were there playing cards or board games, or sleeping, the heat was so intense..oh whoops.... that was the men !! ....usually the women were washing clothes, or kids, or pots, under a hand water pump in the street, or filling a trillion bottles with water from a hole in the ground by jug or working with the animals....... they do seem to get a bit of a raw deal in both here and India...
but seriously, there was always something to see, which I was forever trying to capture on camera... but how can you capture not just the the sights, but the sounds and smells .. in a picture ... not possible ... and to be honest it didnt seem as long as it should have, a plane journey to the UK, by comparison, often seems longer and more tedious!!!!
It felt really strange when we arrived here, exciting but alien almost, ... probably not helped by the fact that we were totally shattered .......... I felt like I was still on the bus for about a full day and wobbled everywhere!!! .... it was just so different from the other places in Nepal we have visited ........ but the big difference here to India is, that they don't hassle and pester you .... they just stare and stare !!! and no one speaks any English, which we take so much for granted!!
whilst i was having a wash at the bathroom sink I felt something touch my bare feet, i jumped ..only to find it was the waste water from the sink, that just runs down a flexi pipe onto the bathroom floor, then drains out !!!! I had decided i wouldn't look around the room too hard as i might see something i didn't like (umm like our cockroach friends!!) and i had no option but to sleep here, there were two single beds and i lay on one and immediately spotted some huge spiders and webs directly overhead...... that was it,,, about turn and we had to swop beds ......
but I couldn't believe I was awake the following morning at 5.30 am!! .... wide awake .... so I went out onto the balcony to check things out in daylight .... it was wonderful, so rural, and looking down I saw the food being prepared for the Hotel restaurant in the garden below me
........ there was the guy sititng chopping the meat with a cleaver and when a piece landed on the floor it was just retrieved and thrown in the massive cooking pot!! nice!! the other side there was an old man in the garden at the back of the sweet shop making and cooking all the Indian sweets in a huge wok/pan over open flames....
and everywhere I looked was open spaces just fields with the odd building here and there and animals, goats, chickens, bullock, water buffalo, cows, bullock carts or pedal rickshaws or horse and carts all piled high doing their deliveries ... a real step back in time ... what a place ......what an experience...
... this is one of those places you know full well exist from TV etc, but rarely get to see close up, its wonderfully interesting but totally isolated and rural, I remember many times seeing villages like this from the train window and thinking 'I wonder what it would be like to to go there' .... there are no cars but loads of bicycles, cycle rickshaws and a few motor bikes.... really another world!!! ............
the heat is searing, a dry, dry heat, with no moisture in it, that just saps every bit of energy and water from your body, if you touch a part of your body it becomes wet and then you let go and its dry within seconds..same with your clothes, we didnt realise that this is actually the hottest part of Nepal..... always being a few degrees hotter than anywhere else!! we havent spotted one European since we arrived. This place is not on the map, i had to do a massive search to locate it on google?? and not in the lonely planet either!!! Suresh's place is even further out ... so no chance of pinning that!!
We were really hungry so went to find some breakfast, well that was a joke, as i said before there were just these small low open 'shacks' (restaurants) occupied by the husband and wife and maybe a goat or two, sparsley furnished with a couple of wooden benches outside and a table ..... they have a 'range' of sorts made from mud and dung with an open fire underneath and a hole on top where they sit the cooking pot, i suppose its a similar priciple to a tandoori oven, but certainly very primitive ...
we couldnt seem to find anything to eat, we asked for Momos and they just shook their heads, one lady pointing to the pan on her fire in which was cooking something very odd looking, we considered trying it but decided better of it!!! however the following day we did eat this dish, it was strong and chewy but tasty and was 'buff' ...(water buffalo meat) ..it came in a tiny dish with just a roti......... they all seem to only cook one dish..... varying it according only to the time of day....I supppose its because they are all so poor here...of which there is no doubt ........ these people are really very poor ....
we ended up in a little more substantial shack with a cup of chai and samosas..(i have to say they were the best samosas i have ever had...usually they appear fried but these seemed to be made of shortcrust pastry!!! they were scrummy!!!) and we did get them chatting a bit, well it had to be sign language again, althouggh one ol guy could manage a few words,
i was taking some pics, turned round and saw two men behind bars!! eh!? it was the kitchen and they were the workers/chef... i took a pic of them which they seemed to approve of ..
every time we stopped somewhere such as this restaurant, it would miraculously fill up with people all coming to take a look at us!! they wouldnt talk but would just stand by us and stare ... this happened all the time without fail !! ( it took three days to be accepted ).. by which time most of them had heard who we were and why we were here, and had i suppose realised we were 'ok' !!! ... and not aliens after all!! I dont think my jewellry helped to be honest... all the bangles and snakes... and they relate this to Shiva ... infact one old man told me to put my snake arm band on my right arm not my left..i had never considered this before...a God on your left arm... ...
we went for an explore but apart from the heat, the way everybody just stared so blatantly began to get really uncomfortable.. I know we have experienced this before, but this was so different, they just all stopped what they were doing as we appeared, didnt express any emotion, or attempt to speak...or even answer you, ...just stared, watching cautiously.. so unlike our previous experiences of the Nepali people, the whole street was looking at us......well me!!! I felt like some sort of freak!!
most people thought Mike was nepali until he opened his mouth...but he's lucky, he tends to blend in anywhere because of his mediteranean colouring!! .... (actually he has just told me to delete half the pics as he says he looks so black never mind mediteranean !! ) .....
The funniest thing was the kids, as they stared at me, I would make faces at them and try and communicate and they would slowly start to respond, but the minute I went close to them, a look of utter horror and fear would cloud their faces and they would scream and run away terrified... this was hilarious!!! they were really scared of me ..... never having seen a European I suppose ..... I loved it ... (only joking!!)
In the afternoon Suresh turned up to take us to his village, they had all been told we were coming and were excited, we couldn't stay in the village as there are no hotels .... its like a few houses every half kilometer or so.. ..there are miles of nothing ... this is all actually land bordering Bardia National Park and in places is very beautiful but in others grey, endless and dusty.... .
anyway he borrowed some push bikes and off we went, .. the only problem was Suresh failed to tell us it was 4 kilometers to his village!!! lol and that half way the road has not been completed, so we had to 'off road'!! on rubble and rocks.(it turned out to be really amazing
a long strtch of one 'road' with no traffic we were able to see so much as we cycled along .. everywhere was something or someone of interest....
however, I am not too brilliant on a bike and tend to wobble a bit ...(and thats on a 'proper' road on my sit up and beg bike!!) which is fine when there is nothing about, but can be a problem if a bullock cart, or a water buffalo, or another bicycle get near, ...not to mention a person!! I was forever screaming as i thought i was about to take off into the ditch when avoiding someone and Mike was on the worst tinny old bike and was taking up the rear to keep an eye on me ..
oh yes and by the way I had a great BMX proper job off road bike.... a european left it as a gift ... my good fortune indeed!! we met the local karate club kids practising and the local kids football team, everyone knows each other and being with Suresh made things easier for us,. as he was able to introduce us........ and we were really chilled by now and loving it all.
we had a meal at Suresh's ...he has just finished building this family home and is extreemly proud of it, we had noodles ........ this seems to be the staple diet which surprised me, but i dont think they can afford much ....infact he was telling me before we left 'I am hungry mum, not enough food here, just noodles, I am coming thin, my place no good eh???' ... ahh bless him ...i told him i thouoght his place was brilliant...just very different...for us at least ......... his sister was grinding the spices on a slab of stone with a rock, fascinating to watch...but hard work in the heat ..and the kitch isnt in the house its a tiny little hut you have to crouch in and forget the mod cons...there's only a alb of stone and a pot in there!! so basic and simple..... then as ever, they all sat and watched us eat!! we did persuade Suresh to join us, but no one else would, and its always a difficult thing just being observed, not knowing whether if you eat too much you are depriving someone of dinner, or whether you will upset or offend by not eating enough!!!! either way you cant win, as if you dont eat the lot they invariable ask...'you don't like??' Umm very difficult at times!! so with the family and neighbours watching happily we ate!!
We were in a hurry to get back to our village before it got dark and gulping the noodles down (without being too obvious I hope!) and were just about to leave when the most horrendous black cloud swept in overhead, Suresh's mum and Dad both seemed very concerned and said we should wait as a storm was coming in ... we ummed and arred and thought we would make a dash before it arrived, as cycling back at night with no lights especially over the rubble non road was even more worrying and frankly i didn't think i would manage it without seeing where i was going ......which only left walking!!! 4 kms!!!....
so off we went, but we hadnt got very far when it was obvious something was happening and we were being urged by locals rushing home to 'take shelter, take shelter' (in Nepali,) waving their arms at us to follow them......... at this Suresh said to pedal fast, 'quickly mum quickly', so off we hurtled with an impending sense of urgency to the nearest house which was a bit of a way, it was all very dramatic and believe me i have never pedalled so fast in my life.. it was all quite exciting at that point and i kept giggling although i wasnt altogether sure what was going on..it didnt seem like a regular storm it was getting black but no rain
we took shelter in a relative of Suresh's house... well more like a porch really as the houses are open pretty much ... we were so thankful we did!!! the sky got blacker and blacker and then the wind started to whip up..!!! like a manic sand storm, you couldn't see anything...... the air was thick with swirling dirt and dust from the unmade road.....I had to put my pollution mask and sunglasses on it was so bad....this went on for some time and then the rain and thunder and lightening came.... we were in a real conundrum, if we waited, it would get too dark but it was still too wild to go .... and I was getting very scared and asked Suresh, 'you sure we can't we get a taxi'.... he just kept shaking his head and lookng at me as if I was nuts !!! but of course there just aren't any!!!!!!!!! ... so i said well doesnt anyone here have a motor bike we can borrow or pay for the hire of?? at this point i was having visions of us spending the night on the bed on their front porch...OMG!!!! .........
well this went on for ages and didnt appear to me to be abating, and we were all very tense and anxious, it was starting to get dark already and of course there are no street lights ... after some time Suresh said we have to go now... otherwise we will not get there, reluctantly I agreed, so I got the bike and had just got on it and wobbled to a shaky start, when a massive streak of fork lightening came overhead, at this, i dropped the bike and legged it back under cover screaming 'No I can't.. ..I can't go in that lightening', everybody was laughing hysterically .. as by this time (as usual) a large crowd had gathered on the 'porch' loads of kids and neighbours, eyeing us up...(see pics... Locals laughing at mad English) ... we had a repeat of this, getting on and off the bike about half a dozen times, before we finally got away...with Mike shouting 'come on dont be a baby!!' by now it was so dark that I knew i wouldnt be able to see the way and might have to walk as i had visions of hitting a rock and going over the handle bars! so Suresh's brother and his cousin ( karate inastructor) came along with us sharing a bycicle ..........however as it got more difficult to pedal, Suresh's brother got off and jogged along beside my bike shining the torch on the road in front of me...he did this for the whole 4 kms!!!! my own private street light!!!!
Mike couldnt stop laughing all night and teasing me that he cant wait to tell my friend Mo (cos him and her tease me and wind me up like this!!) and everyone!! how awful i am making that poor boy jogg to keep up with me and in the rain too, ...
......but its not true,... I felt mean but he insisted...REALLY!!! I didnt ask him to ... i might have yelled 'where is my light' once or twice (in fear and horror) when he wasn't keeping up ... lol ... no, I was seriously etenally grateful to him and did give him a thank you handshake, despite him trying to refuse ...
thats another thing we have noticed here... everyone refuses the tips or payment for favours, like borrowing Suresh's uncles motor bike we tried to thank him for the petrol and hire, and the waiters, you have to press them...thats sooo different from India... or tourist areas of Nepal where they have wised up ....
well this is turning out to be far too long, I have rambled on, and i havent told the half of it..... I think I will call it a day!!!
It's unlikely we will be able to stay here till the wedding (the whole point of this trip) its so very hot .... and I am hungry!!! and we want to do things, its a long time to wait .... I think Suresh understands and although disapointed he is happy, as long as we approve of his chosen girl, it seems us meeting her and her family is of the utmost importance (to everyone...strange!!)
he suggested that we cycle there one day, on questioning him further after the 4km surprise, it sounded a bit too far, we decided to ask his uncle to loan us his and his friends bikle, I am very pleased we did as it turned out to be 12 kms to her village !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but thats another story!!!
Part 2!! its written but just need to upload the pics!!
Comments
back of beyond
well it may be the back of beyond,but you certainly seem much more relaxed than on previous blogs,hope all is well for you from here in
love clif and barbara