The festival Dashain

Well I have just recently returned from being out in the remote North West of Nepal, and now I can catchup with some of the blogs I haven't had a chance to write. I should put a note about Dashain, which was at the end of September, start of October. It's good that I'm up to date.

The major Hindu festival of Nepal is without a doubt, Dasain. It is the equivalent to Christmas in Christianity.
There are 15 days of celebration, in which most people take holidays, and travel to their home village. So there is traffic chaos everywhere.

The best information I have found on the festival is at the following website.

http://www.nepalhomepage.com/society/festivals/dashain.html

Some information from the website
"The main celebration glorifies the triumph of good over evil and is symbolized by goddess Durga slaying the terrible demon Mahisasur, who terrorised the earth in the guise of a brutal water buffalo. The first nine days signify the nine days of ferrous battle between goddess Durga and the demon Mahisasur. The tenth day is the day when Mahisasur was slain and the last five days symbolise the celebration of the victory with the blessing of the goddess."

Also look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasain

On the tenth day, all the relatives travel to recieve tikka (rice mix with yoghurt and vermillion) on their forehead, jamara placed on top of the head, and are also given dakshina ( a gift of money )

The first image is of the front passageway of the home, that is used for the elder to place tikka on the forehead of all the families that will come.

The second image is of the elder of the family, Bodhraj's grandfather, with his great grand daughter, Bodhraj's niece.

The third image is of Bodhraj first recieving tikka on his forehead, the forth image of jamara placed on top of his head.

Next image (fifth image) is of me recieving tikka, then showing the results.

What also suprised me is that the tradition is to give dakshina, cash in an envelope. So sometimes you see the children tallying up the gifts by the end of the day. The seventh image shows the small children recieving dahshina.

As there are several families, who visit different elders, there maybe five or more family groups that visit one home at different times. So there were small periods of rest, then another family group would come. Various people would recieve tikka, there would be a mass of people taking photo's, then another period of rest.

The eighth image is of another family group recieving tikka.

The last image is of everyone resting at the end of the day.

Bus ride to Butwal

It has been a while since my last blog, as I've moved into a 2 bedroom apartment, and finally have internet. It is difficult sometimes due to the power cuts, but people manage.

I will try and get up to date with the blogs, as there are a few pictures to upload.

In Nepal, the Dashain festival is the most important festival of the year, where people often travel home to villages from Kathmandu. The festival is also called Vijayadashami in India.
More information is on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayadashami

It is equivalent to christmas in the Christian calander, and everyone has leave during that time.

One of the staff, Bodhraj invited me to his family home at Butwal, to see Dashain with his family, and to also see Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautama Buddha.

Butwal is approximately 240kms west of Kathmandu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butwal
The roads in Nepal are rarely straight, they often have landslides, and the roads are of varying conditions. Even though it is only 240km in a straight line, the trip took about 8 hours.

Most people in Nepal do not have cars. A large population of people in Kathmandu have motorcycles. So for people to travel back to their home villages, they often take the bus. Note that the population of Nepal is approximately 30 million, living in about the size of Victoria. A significant portion of that population is in Kathmandu. So if lots of people are travelling home for Dashain, it will be traffic chaos. Quite similar to what you would see on the Monash Freeway people leaving during Christmas or Easter. However, the traffic is a little more chaotic in Nepal, with buses frequently passing on the wrong side of the road, on blind corners. The main warning everyone uses in Nepal is the horn. I have been tempted to use ear plugs for this.

The first image is of everyone queuing for bus tickets. If people fail to purchase tickets by phone, or by the network of people they know, they have to queue for the tickets, and it looked like mayhem.
















We went to the bus park, where there were to many buses to count.



There is also a practice of the buses picking up passengers on the side of the road. As the seats are taken, the people sit on the roof, or in the aisle. The passengers pay cash, which the bus conductor takes. So it is often in his best interest to crowd the bus. So it isn't unusual to see people sitting on the roofs. Normally I wouldn't recommend this, but I have had to do it on the return bus trip.



Now with that many people leaving Kathmandu, there was of course traffic jams. You would often see 2 buses trying to drive next to each other on a single lane road, with another bus passing on the opposite side of the road. They would be blasting their horn to stop the oncoming traffic.
You do get used to it.

Back in Kathmandu

I'm now back in Kathmandu, after my adventures in Butwal, near the Indian border, visiting Lumbini, birthplace of Gautama Buddha, and experiencing the cultural celebration of Dashain. I will put up photo's in the near future.

Also check out Lyn's blog, she is the wife of another EWB volunteer currently working in Kathmandu. They previously lived in Nepal for a number of years.

http://lynleane.blogspot.com/

More Scenery

I had to include the pictures on two groups, so the layout was a bit easier.

The first photo is the view from the RIDS Dharapori office.



The next image is me walking out of Dharapori with a few mules in the background.




And some more images.

Along the way, there were several animals used to carry equipment. Goats, horses and cattle. Take note of the last two images. The second last image is looking up a steep incline with a pack horse and two cattle behind them. The last photo is looking down the steep incline. My colleague is setting next to me, straight, so you can see that the camera is pointing down a good angle.

The Scenery in Humla

This blog entry will be a little short, as I'm going to fill it up with images of the hike I did.

The scenery is spectacular, as you'll see.



The first image is of Simikot, and the mountains behind it. This is where the airport is, and where the main RIDS office is for Humla.



The second image is looking up the mountain to leave Simikot to go to Dharapori.







The next two images are of the view out of the window where I was staying in Simikot when we returned from Dharapori.




The next images are of the scenery along the way

Using Porters is Recommended

Before we hiked from Simikot to Dharapori, it was close to the Dashain festival, and we thought it may be difficult to hire a porter. So Paras recommended I pack light, as we would need to hike in the morning, the 4 hour journey. I've found out the distance is about 9km.

To see where all the villages that RIDS works at, check the website.
www.rids-nepal.org/index.php/gistool.html

So, I thought I would need a sleeping bag, mattress, laptop, and some other equipment. Paras on the other hand, packed extremely light.

Paras with his pack














Then you can see me with my pack.




I'm guessing some of my friends are able to see where this story will end. Don't worry, I survived but I think I'm a little wiser now.

Now in Nepal, the terms of reference for 'hill' is a little different to what I'm used to in Australia. So when a Nepali says it is a steep climb, its pretty much a given it will hurt a bit.





I have a GPS option on my watch, so I tracked the hike. The image below shows it on Google Earth, which gives an indication of how steep it was.










The hike from Simikot to Dharapori is mostly downhill, but there is an initial steep incline to get to the top of the mountain in the image.

Due to the pack I was carrying, and the steep incline, I was finding it a little difficult and needed to take a few stops. Also note that I only flew up to 3000m 12 hours before, so I hadn't allowed any time to adjust to the altitude if I needed. Luckily I didn't struggle to much.
This is me on one of my many stops uphill.

Both Paras and I were getting alot of unusual looks from the locals on the way. Most Bedeshi (foreigners) don't hike along there, and take the helicopter to get into the remote areas. Also it is a little unusual to see a foreigner carrying a large pack, with a local Nepali not carrying much at all. I was joking to Paras that I was his 'Bedeshi Porter' which is a bit of a role reversal.

So once we completed our work at Dharapori, testing and programming equipment, we headed back to Simikot, which is mostly uphill.

This time I invested in a porter, and just carried my laptop in my day pack. I found it much easier.



Also note that the porter that the RIDS office staff hired I thought was younger than 18 (which is not unusual in the remote areas, everyone starts working young) and he did the trek 30 minutes quicker than us. He started an hour before us, so we didn't watch the young sprite jump over the rocks. So I've left my ego on the shelf. Someone carries my heavy pack on the more difficult part of the climb, 30 minutes quicker than me carrying little weight.

However, they have grown up on the steep rocky paths, at a higher altitude. So they are used to it. I would definately recommend hiring one. I am glad that I did the hike with a heavy pack, as it gave me a good appreciation of how difficult it can be.

I will put up photos of the scenery on the next blog.

Why flights are delayed in the remote west

I'm back in Kathmandu, after only spending 3 days in Humla, a region in the North West of Nepal. I was trying to get to Humla 3 weeks ago, on the 23rd of August, and if I was able to get to Humla then I would have spent longer there.

The reason I only spent 3 days, is that most of the RIDS staff in Humla were leaving around this time to go home for the Dashain festival. It is the Hindu equivalent of Christmas.

The first time I had to return to Kathmandu when I was trying to go to Humla, was there was a possible Cholera outbreak near Humla. It turned out to be a diarrhea outbreak, which was serious as 5 adults had died from it, with additional adult seriously sick. It was in Kalika, which is about 4 days walk from Simikot. Engineers Without Borders thought it best not to risk it, and I returned until more was known about the situation. This wasn't an unusual decision as there were well over a hundred deaths from Cholera in the mid western region, Jajarkot district during July and August.

This was not in Humla.

When it was confirmed that it was not Cholera, and I had my supply of various antibiotics, with various methods of water purification, I was given the okay to try and get to Humla again.

Luck it seems, was against me.

It is near the end of the monsoon season for the west of Nepal, hence there can be a large amount of rainfall.



To get to Humla, you have to fly into Simikot, which has a dirt airstrip. They have started a project to seal the runway, but it will take a bit long to complete. They have been slowly upgrading it for a few years already. There is no part of the runway that is sealed yet. I have included an image of a few kids playing on the muddy runway in the early evening, when there are no flights of course.

The airstrip is also at 3000m above sea level, surrounded by mountains.

So to land at Simikot, a few conditions need to be met.

* A dry airstrip (being a dirt airstrip, and in the monsoon season, luck isn't with me)
* Clear sky (The pilots land by sight. So if the surrounding mountains are concealed by thick cloud, it makes things a little risky)
* Not much wind (Which means landing early in the morning, as you can have a dangerous crosswind later on in the day when it warms up)

Check out the image viewing the clouds around a mountain from the helicopter window.



To fly to Simikot, you need to fly from Nepalgunj, which is about 30 minutes from the India border, and its hot and humid. Or you can fly from Surkhet, which involves taking a 4hour journey through windy roads from Nepalgunj.

The second time I tried to get to Humla, I travelled with the managers from RIDS, with them trying to improve my Nepali.

In Nepalgunj we waited for 8 days, to try and get a flight. When there was no luck, we thought it better to get a helicopter from Surkhet to Simikot.



There are regular helicopter flights to Simikot to take up rice with the World Food Program. As there were delays for flights to get to Simikot, there were an excess of people wanting to go.

So we waited for 2 days in Surkhet to try and get a flight. In the end there was only one seat available, which I took.

You can have a good insight into the conditions at the airport from the photo below. Of the helicopter leaving the airstrip. Note the cloud all around the airport, which is not unusual at 3000m.

So I finally got there on the 10th of Sept, after initially trying to get there on the 23rd of August. I don't think I'll be complaining about a 1 hour flight delay again.