Section 1 – Days 1 & 2
Our journey these last two days took us from Kathmandu to Bhadrapur through the air and then via Jeep to Ilam. It was wonderful to travel through the flat subtropical farmlands with many palm trees and bamboo houses build on stilts with bamboo mat walls that could easily be set in Thailand and the brick and wood houses with wooden balconies that made me think of the half-timbered frame houses that can be found in many old villages in Germany. It turns out that once we left the flat land and suddenly headed into the hills on steep winding roads the style of houses continued and got more and more beautiful often painted in bright blue with flower pots arranged all around its balconies-and if it was just a small wooden shack-like construction it surely also had many a pot plant and flower pots arranged in multiple rows I front of it. Beautiful.
We crossed three ridges of up to 2450 m with slightly chilly temperatures and three valleys as low as 400 m that were hot and stuffy – so we have done our share of winding roads and endless switch backs! We traveled in two jeeps and had one flat tyre early one that was expertly exchanged in no time with a spare that had absolutely no tread left! About two hours later the other Jeep’s engine overheated- steam and gurgling made us stop! Again after a few of our drinking water bottles were emptied out over the hottest parts and into the overflow we were ready to leave again…..only to have another flat shortly before we rolled into camp in Taplejung! We made it! (And I didn’t even mentioned all the close calls with oncoming trucks or edgy moments when tractors or slower jeeps carrying chickens and goats on their roof were overtaken!
The timing of today’s ride was superb! Holi Festival! The Hindu festival of colours! You will see in the photo gallery many photos of us walking through the town of Panthathumpheden (where we stopped so the Jeep’s could stock up on spare tyres 😉 with young kids pumping coloured water through pump guns at each other and teenagers throwing endless amounts of coloured powder at each other and smearing it into each other faces! John gave in early on and got right into it with the rainbow spread all over his scalp and upper body at the end! He dived into the crowd of dancing young man and they hardly let him go again once he swung his hips and legs for a good five minutes!!!
So while it only took us three and half hours to drive to the beautiful surprisingly big tea twon of Ilam yesterday – today we were on the road for 6 hours! At 3pm we rolled into our “camp” on the (small) front yard of the “Hotel Jara and Lodge”!
The highlight was meeting our team: Khem and Ramesh the chefs, Mantare and his assistant Sunil in charge of all porters and then the support staff – Kaji, Lombu, Nabin, Singe, Kiran, Rajan and then our climbing Sherpa team: Lhakpa and Arjun.
Tonight we are having dinner on the roofed terrace of the hotel while a healthy strong rain has started coming down on the dry and dusty land!
Before I sign out tonight I wanted to let you know that I found out more about the protector god that is shrink wrapped around my neck! I asked my two dear Buddhist girlfriends and got two wonderful responses whose explanations make me feel well protected on this big walk that really starts tomorrow (seeing that we where in aero planes and Jeeps these last two days and barely used our feet and legs!) here is is: As best I can tell, it’s Mahakala, which means “Great Black One”. He is the protector of ultimate resort after other deities fail to come through. (thanks dear Jennifer!!) and this isn’t even it: This is Mahakala the protector of the dharma. He protects you from anything that would get in the way of enlightenment including ego. (thank you dear Heather!) both explanations are awe inspiring and I am happy to have myself protected from my ego as well as all those threats and evil that even other deities have failed to overcome! Now it’s just my feet and legs and mind that need to do their work! Prayers and good wishes welcome x
Sabai janna chadai bhetaula! (See you all again)…(my Nepali lessons have started!!!)
