214.953 miles from Everest

This weekend, after three weeks of intensive language study we took a couple of days off to spend some time with Lucy’s parents who were passing through on their way home from Singapore.  We decided to get out of the busyness of Kathmandu valley and head south to the Terai (the name given for the flat plains of Nepal that border with India).

In what felt a little like an MI5 style of travel arrangements we phoned a number given to us by a friend.  When the man answered at the other end we confirmed his identity then stated the name of our contact.  This eased the conversation and we were immediately given instructions to be outside a certain landmark on a certain day on a certain time and everything else would by then, we were assured, have been arranged.  So on the appropriate morning we were almost ready to leave when we got a phone call from an unknown number telling us “I am here.” After some frantic wracking of the brains and the subsequently cobbled together Nepali we realised that this was the person we were supposed to meet kindly just wanting to let us know that they were at the rendezvous. We met him with no further problems and were ushered unto the waiting vehicle where we were handed an envelope and the journey began!

Travelling in Nepal is more like a cross between a rollercoaster ride and being in a washing machine on spin cycle (well for your stomach at least!)  With no set rules that in practice apply one should not be surprised to find oneself playing chicken with an articulated lorry on a blind bend of an un-tarmaced road half way up what we might call a mountain (the Nepali’s would class as a hill) with a sheer drop beneath you leading to the dried up riverbed below, that is waiting for the monsoon rains, or you to fall, whichever comes first!  And so it was with incredible skill that our driver negotiated such roads that led us from Kathmandu valley in what would be classed as the middle hills with a backdrop of Himalayas to the flat lands of the Terai. Here the horizon stretched out as far as the eye can see in both directions uninterrupted by any kind on bump on the landscape, and the sky somehow seemed a whole lot bigger all of a sudden. The feel of the Terai is more tropical with the temperatures noticeably warmer at the lower altitude and miles of fields interspersed with traditional mud hut villages and the occasional bigger, more developed town. 

It was at one of these towns that we stopped without warning and another unknown man got into our vehicle and, after greeting us with a warm smile, asked if we had the paper. This we concluded must be the contents of the envelope we had received earlier. It appeared we were correct in our assumption and we drove on to our hotel and had a wonderful couple of days being introduced to some of the local culture and wildlife, which included a baby rhino and twin toddler elephants, before repeating the 4.5hr journey in reverse!

Still 100 miles but feeling more like 7,531.28 miles

Last weekend (5^th/6^{th Feb}) the PTA of one of the international schools here in Kathmandu held a fundraising basketball tournament. For the first few days after we arrived in Nepal we kept meeting people who would take one look at Tom and ask if we were free for the tournament.  So the weekend arrived and Tom was due to play and referee some of the other matches. Lucy who after too many years of netball finds it impossible to run with the ball was down to be a scorekeeper. Early on Saturday we made our way to one of the city’s private schools that has three courts, only to discover on arrival that we had somehow passed through an invisible magic portal and rather than being on the playing fields of a Kathmandu high school we were now in America!

Tom and team mate Nico preparing for battle!

There was a marquee, food stalls, game stands, printed t shirts with local sponsors logo’s on, and a make shift tannoy system had been set up using trees as speaker stands playing pop/rap music.  On closer inspection you realised that the marquee was not white but rather made of beautiful multi coloured local fabrics and the food stands whilst selling some traditional baked goods also sold local snacks such as momos (similar to dim sum but tastier!) and samosas.  It made the stereotypical English school fete look like a jumble sale.

There were over 50 teams from schools and clubs across Kathmandu valley all gathered to play what is one of the nations favourite sports. Despite the average height of the country’s population only being 5’7” many players far exceeded this average and all of them showed a phenomenal level of skill.

Over the two days we had a lot of fun getting to know people from the local community and further a field.  There are so many differences between the different nationalities represented here and amongst the Nepali’s themselves but for two days we all enjoyed the same spirit of teamwork, fun, excitement and anticipation, all be it with an American edge!