Another day as a Nepali Farmer

From the day before, looking down the valley from the rocky outcrop me and Awijit climbed.

From the day before, looking down the valley from the rocky outcrop me and Awijit climbed.

Day 83 – Location: Karmidanda Village, Langtang Region; Nepal

23/11/12

An extra sleeping bag helped with the nightly death freeze, but I had a restless sleep because of a strange problem: really sore ears when lying with my head on the side, enough to wake me up. It’s happened to me before (when I was trekking around the Himalayas) – I thought the cold might be responsible but my ears felt warm to the touch. Weird. Januka was still asleep. She helps at the village medical centre and had been there till 4am helping to deliver a baby. Jhabraj, Awijit and Sophie went to school and Ama went off to whatever mischief old women get up to in Karmidanda.

A common sight in the village, villagers lugging grass to feed their animals. They head out into the fields and countryside twice a day to gather this amount. Cows sure eat a lot!

A common sight in the village, villagers lugging grass to feed their animals. They head out into the fields and countryside twice a day to gather this amount. Cows sure eat a lot!

After breakfast and a read in the sun, I set off for another day’s work in “my” millet field. I spent four hours filling another basket with seed heads. This time I borrowed a cap to ward off the beating heat and I found the work boring but sometimes meditative. Traditional Nepali songs drifted over the fields from a house radio and an occasional local conversation, other than that my only company was the sounds of nature. It was quite therapeutic cutting away. At 2pm Jeneet, the funny little five  year old from next door arrived in my field, wielding a sickle! Ealier he’d passed with his mum and seen me working here, now he was here to help. I watched as he violently hacked away at the stalks, cutting towards himself, and I immediately confiscated his sickle before he needed Januka’s help in the medical centre. To give him a job I handed him the seed heads to put in the basket and tried valiantly to keep him away from the sickle which he kept attempting to grab, determined to be a little farmer boy! Ten minutes my basket was full and I hauled it to the Neupane house, where Jhabraj and Sophie had arrived back from school.

Another full basket of my harvested millet seeds

Another full basket of my harvested millet seeds

I took a much-needed shower before the water temperature became Antartic, and spent most of the afternoon relaxing with the others and playing with Jeneet with his boundless energy. The father of the baby Januka had delivered dropped by with a big smile on his face. Mother and child were doing well. In the evening we chatted away over copious amounts of rakshi, discussing trekking and Jhabraj’s work as a trek and tour guide. I hadn’t realized he had done so much of it – in the holiday months of school he is usually out earning extra money as a guide. When Jhabraj turned in, me and Sophie watched a film on my laptop, it was a bit strange to be transported to the remote Arctic in John Carpenter’s “The Thing” – and then step outside in real life to the middle of the Nepali mountains in a moonlit, isolated village!

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Would you like to stay in Karmidanda village with the Neupane family? Read on…

You want fresh milk for breakfast? Gotta get it yourself!

You want fresh milk for breakfast? Gotta get it yourself!

If you are thinking of viisting Nepal and would like to do a homestay with Jhabraj’s family and see his village, or you need an experienced trekking or private tour guide, Jhabraj is very happy to accommodate you. He can do tours anywhere around Nepal and for trekking, he is very experienced and a safe, responsible guide, having guided on all the major Nepali treks multiple times as a guide (including the popular Everest, Annapurna and Langtang treks). It is also possible to do some spectacular trekking in the Langtang area from his village area so you could always combine a homestay with a trek. Jabraj charges very reasonable prices, he speaks good English, and you couldn’t meet a friendlier, more interesting and hospitable guy! Your enjoyment, satisfaction and safety are his primary concerns. Money that Jhabraj earns from visitors and clients goes towards the higher education of his children, which is extremely expensive for a village family. If you want to hear more, please contact me via this website and I will put you in touch with him. Highly recommended!

——

Would you like to help Jabraj’s village community of Karmidanda? Read on…

Village school kids await Sophie's instructions

Village school kids await Sophie’s instructions

Like many outlying villages in Nepal, the village Karmidanda is extremely poor and the community has many serious problems as a result. Almost all the families here are in a lot of debt, living on the breadline on the meagre earnings they can eke out – most are farmers. Other avenues of work are simply not available up here and most families cannot afford to put their children into higher education to improve the cycle. Public welfare does not really exist in Nepal and the area only has one health clinic staffed by volunteers and supplied by charity. If a villager requires hospitisation the villagers have to pool together to get enough money to pay for an ambulance to take the patient 5 hours to Kathmandu and also pay the expensive hospital treatment fees, if they can afford it. The village school was built thanks to charitable efforts but staff wages are low, equipment and resources are always scarce and there are not enough teachers for the number of students. These are just some of the problems that the community has – yet despite the difficulties the community spirit is amazing here, people help each other, they have a smile on their face and they are welcoming and friendly. If you think that you can help with donations, volunteering (incuding English teaching at the school) or charitable projects, please get in touch. Jhabraj has many contacts and can direct you to the right people so you know your money or resources are going directly to the local community and no share is going into anyone elses’ pocket. Some charitable efforts have also been started by foreign visitors who have visited Jhabraj and decided to help the community of Karmidanda – please check out the following websites: (links coming soon!)

Fun Times for Cow

The jutting outcrop we climbed up in the morning. This photo was taken at sunset a following day.

The jutting outcrop we climbed up in the morning. This photo was taken at sunset a following day.

Day 82 – Location: Karmidanda Village, Langtang Region; Nepal

22/11/12

I got up at 7am as Awijit, Jhabraj’s 15 year-old son, was taking me up to a viewpoint above Karmidanda. He’d already been up for hours as he attends an early morning karate class in the village. Every morning at 5am through the gap in the roof I hear his buddies walking to the karate class along the path by the house. After a quick cup of masala tea we set off up the hillside through the village, over the dirt road and up a steep path through the rocks and grass. It took about twenty minutes to climb a path which lead to a big rocky spire, a sheer cliff on one side. We clambered up big slabs of rock, hopped over a crevasse and zig-zagged up a steep path to the summit of the spire. On the way we saw a monkey (I think it was a macaque) perched above us on a rock, but he ran off when we got closer. From this grassy hilltop we had a 360 degree view. It was peaceful, the only sounds were birds and the wind. On the valley hillside in the distance the remains of a huge landslide was perilously close to a village hugging the steep hillside. Why you would choose to live in these landslide-prone locations is a mystery to me (Jhabraj’s village is on flatter terrain). Half of the valley was in shadow as the sun was still low. The white capped Himalaya at the top of the valley shone brightly in the sun. Low cloud hung over the valley in the distance tens of kilometers away in the other direction.

The mighty shadow cast by the ridge behind us. The Himalaya can be seen in the distance. It is hard to convey the massive sense of scale here but it is possible to make out houses on the other side of the valley near the cliffs.

The mighty shadow cast by the ridge behind us. The Himalaya can be seen in the distance. It is hard to convey the sense of scale here but it is possible to make out houses on the other side of the valley near the cliffs.

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The valley dissolves into clouds. The winding dirt road is fairly recent. Many of the villagers don’t have their own transport so the new bus service that comes through the villages heading towards Kathmandu is a big step forward for these communities.

We saw villagers on paths below carrying bundles of grass for their animals on their backs. We sat for a while soaking up the atmosphere and then headed back down, passing the local bus to Kathmandu which was winding down the hairpins of the dirt road, kicking up big plumes of dust. Children waved to us from the top of a huge rock above.

Villagers carry grass on their backs past the millet fields

Villagers carry grass on their backs past the millet fields

We ran into some villagers on the way down and helped them to carry some seriously heavy bags of potatoes to a house.

Awijit and his friend struggle to carry the potatoes, I lent a hand too

Awijit and his friend struggle to carry the potatoes, I lent a hand too

Back at the Neupane household we had breakfast (with cups of hot, fresh milk) and Jhabraj and Sophie left for school. I’d offered to help the family out with anything they needed doing, and was tasked with cutting millet which was ready for harvest in one of the long, thin terrace fields below the house. Januka showed me the basics and left me to it. I had a small sickle and a big wicker basket for putting the millet in. I just had to cut the head of the millet off the stalk, nicking it with the inner curve of the sickle. The millet head is about a finger-length long and contains lots of small round seeds . In Nepal they use it for making flour or brewing rakshi (whiskey). It was hot work but I got into a rhythm and let my mind wander. I had plenty of sun lotion on and wore a cloth bag on my head as it was so hot out of the shade.  I practiced some Nepali language, having brought my notebook of translations with me. After half an hour I wasn’t concentrating and accidentally sliced my thumb knuckle. There was a lot of blood so without any first aid kit to hand, I washed it with water from my bottle, and wrapped my camera lens cloth around my thumb tightly, using a strong millet stalk to tie it in place, and carried on working.

My millet field. You can see the sees heads about half way up - I cleared the first section (even that took over an hour)

My millet field. You can see the sees heads about half way up – I cleared the first section (even that took over an hour)

After about three and a half hours of sweaty work I’d managed to fill the basket and had cleared a third of the field. The tricky parts were when the plants had been flattened, forcing me to bend down and rummage around to find the seed heads – a killer for my back and neck. Januka appeared and seemed happy with the progress I’d made. Later that afternoon a visiting local woman told me I’d been very fast to collect that much millet in that time, especially on my first attempt – quite a compliment!

We had some lunch (eggs and noodles) and Sophie and Jhabraj arrived. Sophie had experienced problems with her chaotic year 3’s, but her year 6’s had been good. One of the Neupane cows had been mooing incessantly all day, meaning she was ready to mate, she mooing for a bull. That afternoon a guy I shall inappropriately dub “cowsex man” came by. Jhabraj had called him in to artificially inseminate the cow, using bull sperm from India, which should make for a very productive (in milk) calf. Some of Jhabraj’s neighbours came over to help out.

First they cordoned off the cow in the shed using bamboo poles as a makeshift fence. Then cowsex man stripped to his vest and put a one arm inside a plastic sleeve. As the others soothed and held the distressed cow, he then went through the gruesome task (look away now, prudish readers!) of shoving his arm into her bumhole and pulling out all the poo inside! There was a lot of it and it went everywhere! I stood well back to avoid getting a smelly splatter! Amazingly the cow wasn’t too bothered, maybe she even liked it? Then cowsex man took off the plastic sleeve from his arm, and opened a metal cylindrinal container which smoked with nitrous oxide when the lid came off. It contained long straws with plungers for the insemination, and shorter tubes containing the frozen sperm. The whole thing reminded me of the dino DNA canisters in Jurassic Park (clever girl…).

Cowsexman opens his stash, holding the insemination straw inbetween his teeth.

Cowsex man opens his stash, holding the insemination straw inbetween his teeth.

Cowsex man insterted a sperm tube into a long insemination straw and broke off the end. Then he put one hand up the cows bum (no plastic cover this time!) and started to sexually stimulate her with that hand, whilst with the other he inserted the long straw into her vagina, moving it around. The cow was shifting around uncomfortably but didn’t cause any trouble. After a few minutes of this the guy pushed the plunger on the straw, the sperm was injected into her vagina and that was that. Then cowsex man sat beside the cow and looked off into space whilst he smoked a cigarette, his monologue voiceover playing in the background (this might not have actually happened).

As ox bulls have a lot of sperm, cowsex man wanted to do it again to make certain the cow would get pregnant, so the insemination process was repeated. Then he washed and chatted with the others before leaving. Jhabraj’s cost for the insemination was only 500 rupees (about 5 British pounds) plus a bottle of homemade rakshi! Not bad considering he should get a productive calf out of it.

Sexy cow insemination action, haha! Cowsex man stimulates the cow with one hand whilst the other inserts the sperm using the straw.

Sexy cow insemination action, haha! Cowsex man stimulates the cow with one hand whilst the other inserts the sperm using the straw.

At dinnertime one of Jhabraj’s friends arrived with a bulging bag, which contained a very fat and very alive white chicken. Its time was up – Jhabraj and his friend were going to share its meat. They asked if me and Sophie would like to kill it but we politely declined. They took it round the back to a chopping block and lopped off its head with a cleaver. Sophie said the legs did move around, this is where the English saying “running around like a headless chicken” comes from. Then Jhabraj’s friend put the body in a big bowl of hot water and washed it, it makes the feathers easier to pluck – which was what he did next. The plucked chicken was set down on the chopping block, and brilliantly the light behind it cast a huge shadow cast of two sticking-up claws across the yard! Then Jhabraj chopped it up and made chicken curry. I helped by peeling the garlic, a staple ingredient of a lot of these local dishes. The curry was pretty good and the meat tender.

After dinner me, Sophie and Jhabraj stayed up late chatting. Jhabraj told us about the latest in the school caretaker saga, the woman who’d been beaten up. Today a load of her neighbours had arrived at the school demanding a meeting with the teachers. In the meeting they’d ranted at the staff demanding that the woman be fired for her behavior with other men, despite the fact she’d been a victim. Jhabraj said they were jealous of her free life – free to choose men she wanted, who often gave her money and bought her presents, which made her wealthier than her neigbours. Bear in mind that most other women out here are locked in arranged marriages and lead a much more restricted lifestyle. Jhabraj took a stand – persuading the other teachers not to be reactionary and take any action against her, her private life is her business. Quite right. The neighbours still demanded that if the police investigation found she’d been lying then she should be fired. Jhabraj despaired to us about her neighbour’s jealously and their lack of feeling – it’s her lifestyle choice and she and her family had been attacked!  He said it would be a great injustice if she was to be fired for this reason. They’d had to consent to have another meeting on the subject next week.

Awikjit plays with another of our regular visitors, a little girl from a nearby house who is very curious about us westerners living here! She's also one of the girls who wanders the school during the day with nowhere else to go.

Awikjit plays with another of our regular visitors, a little girl from a nearby house who is very curious about us westerners living here! She’s also one of the girls who wanders the school during the day with nowhere else to go.

We also discussed how to deal with Sophie’s problem class (the year 3’s), and Jhabraj told us about his history of teaching. At the start of his career with he was very shy, but over the years he has become very well respected by students, and has worked out how to deal with unruly students in non-violent ways. Many of his students have gone onto get prestigious jobs – they still remember him as adults and thank him for his help. He’s clearly a very good teacher. We also talked about his standing in the community, as everyone comes to him for advice and asks him to mediate for them. Even so he still earns a basic wage and struggles to support his daughters who are in further education. Although he appreciates the respect he holds and is very happy to be helping people, at the same time it’s a big burden, having to deal with everyone’s problems, not to mention caring for his own family. Of course it’s a vicous circle, he’s so honest, fair and impartial with his advice that his reputation has spread to other villages in the area and more and more people come to him for help.

Next year local elections should start again (there have been no local governing posts since the latest government came into power), and he should definitely be able to apply for a role similar to mayor – something I have no doubt he would be great at. We talked about many other things that night but I was left amazed at all the things that Jhabraj has done for his community and his life achievements, especially considering his difficult circumstances and poor background. An truly inspirational man!

——

Would you like to stay in Karmidanda village with the Neupane family? Read on…

Jhabraj

Jhabraj

If you are thinking of viisting Nepal and would like to do a homestay with Jhabraj’s family and see his village, or you need an experienced trekking or private tour guide, Jhabraj is very happy to accommodate you. He can do tours anywhere around Nepal and for trekking, he is very experienced and a safe, responsible guide, having guided on all the major Nepali treks multiple times as a guide (including the popular Everest, Annapurna and Langtang treks). It is also possible to do some spectacular trekking in the Langtang area from his village area so you could always combine a homestay with a trek. Jabraj charges very reasonable prices, he speaks good English, and you couldn’t meet a friendlier, more interesting and hospitable guy! Your enjoyment, satisfaction and safety are his primary concerns. Money that Jhabraj earns from visitors and clients goes towards the higher education of his children, which is extremely expensive for a village family. If you want to hear more, please contact me via this website and I will put you in touch with him. Highly recommended!

——

Would you like to help Jabraj’s village community of Karmidanda? Read on…

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Like many outlying villages in Nepal, the village Karmidanda is extremely poor and the community has many serious problems as a result. Almost all the families here are in a lot of debt, living on the breadline on the meagre earnings they can eke out – most are farmers. Other avenues of work are simply not available up here and most families cannot afford to put their children into higher education to improve the cycle. Public welfare does not really exist in Nepal and the area only has one health clinic staffed by volunteers and supplied by charity. If a villager requires hospitisation the villagers have to pool together to get enough money to pay for an ambulance to take the patient 5 hours to Kathmandu and also pay the expensive hospital treatment fees, if they can afford it. The village school was built thanks to charitable efforts but staff wages are low, equipment and resources are always scarce and there are not enough teachers for the number of students. These are just some of the problems that the community has – yet despite the difficulties the community spirit is amazing here, people help each other, they have a smile on their face and they are welcoming and friendly. If you think that you can help with donations, volunteering (incuding English teaching at the school) or charitable projects, please get in touch. Jhabraj has many contacts and can direct you to the right people so you know your money or resources are going directly to the local community and no share is going into anyone elses’ pocket. Some charitable efforts have also been started by foreign visitors who have visited Jhabraj and decided to help the community of Karmidanda – please check out the following websites: (links coming soon!)

Shiba’s Traditional Nepali House

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Day 50 – Pokhara Region, Nepal.

19/10/12

Today I had a nice surprise, a visit to a local Nepali house to see the tradional lifestyle. My choice of a quiet place paid off and I slept for about ten hours, playing catchup after the terrible sleeps I’d had on the trek. Whilst I was having breakfast Shiba arrived on a motorbike. The previous day he’d invited me to visit his house. This morning he was in town anyway so dropped by to see if I wanted to join him. As my Swiss friends were off to the Pagoda today, which I’d already seen, I had no plan and so hopped on Shibas motorbike (which he borrows from a friend), and set off through Pokhara. We stopped for him to pay his electric bill, the reason for his visit, and then went out of Pokhara on the usual beeping, swerving experience of motorbiking in Nepal.

At the next town, maybe an hour away, we stopped a few times for Shiba to shop, whilst I wandered around. At one stop I found a football match with lots of spectators. One side was all black men so maybe another country’s team was visiting. Shiba tied some chicken wire to the back of the bike, for his neighbor. At another stop I was waiting in a bus shelter and a friendly old man chatted to me in simple English. When he found out I was British he started listing footballer names. I said I lived in Manchester and had seen Man United play which made him incredibly happy. I got the impression maybe he thought I played for the team or knew them personally!

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We headed out of town into the countryside, passing lots of people in their best clothes heading to a nearby temple, as part of the Daisain festival celebrations. The women wore bright green or red saris sparkling with gold and silver. The road got rougher as we wound through flat rice fields and past the temple which had a big marquee outside with singing blasting from the loudspeakers. Sometimes kids would wave as we went past, we were definitely off the tourist circuit here.

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The road went up along the valley side and we were constantly dodging potholes, buses and Nepali tractors. We descended into the next valley which was covered in rice fields. We had a near miss as Shiba turned down onto a dirt track and nearly smacked us against a wall. He clearly doesn’t ride the bike too often! This track wound through the rice fields and was very rocky and hard going as the bike passenger. On one section I had to get off as the bike wasn’t powerful enough to get up the slope, and when I got back on afterwards it toppled, nearly squashing us. We passed locals carrying grass and sickles, and Shiba greeted them. Soon we reached a collection of houses near the road and we stopped. I gratefully got off, my legs were killing me after being in a straddle position for two hours.

Shiba led me down to his house which was a basic affair similar to the ones we’d seen in the mountains, with a dusty porch, an outside water tap and a buffalo in an attached shed, whose eyes opened in alarm when she saw me.

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Shiba’s two sons, 6 and 12 years old, plus another 6 year old friend greeted me, followed by Shiba’s wife.

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His house was surrounded by rice fields and looked out to the valley with a nice view. After some hot buffalo milk from his buffalo, Shiba’s neighbor arrived who was a local IT teacher and spoke English. After chatting with him, Shiba and his wife went to work on their couple of rice fields, collecting the rice to dry.

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I offered to help but Shiba was having none of it and tasked his 12 year old son to give me a tour of the area. His son spoke very good English for his age, and led me through the rice fields to the river in the valleys middle, telling me about the local people and his life. He was at private school, paid for by his father, and liked maths and science. He climbed a guava tree and picked us some juicy but bitter fruits to eat.

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He did well in his exams

He did very well in his exams and wanted to show me!

The rice paddies in the field weren’t ready for harvest yet and their muddy soil had little puddles. The fields were alive with grasshoppers everywhere. We found a little fish in one, who wouldn’t be around for long as they were drying up. At the river was a small white stork.

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In a field nearby, we passed a local man who was threshing rice, who greeted us. We watched as he battered big clumps of it on the ground, dislodging the rice from the stems.

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Up by the road we a family working together, who said hello. One guy carrying a massive load spoke English and let me take his photo.

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Shiba’s son led me up the hill behind their house where we had nice views of the surrounding valley. We munched on a packet of instant noodles which he ate like crisps. Surprisingly as they were flavoured they weren’t too bad!

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Up by a house in the woods a man called out to us and came jogging along the path. He wanted to invite me to have tea at his house, and he spoke English too. We went up to his house and chatted a bit, he lived there with his wife and son and although he was quite rich and owned two other houses elsewhere, he preferred this one as the air was clean outside of the city.

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He offered that I could stay the night if I liked, and that he’d had an American stay last year. I got a call from Shiba saying that lunch was waiting for us so I had to apologise to the man and make a move, after taking some photos of him and his family.

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These local kids came to say hello on the way down.

These local kids came to say hello on the way down.

Back at Shibas we had some noodles and biscuits. Shibas sons messed around and I joined them to watch some TV in Shibas bedroom. Then I showed them some photos on the computer which they loved. The camera was also fascinating to them.I spent a while transferring photos from the trekking to Shibas memory card so he could have them, as the kids played around me and messed around with my Kindle Touch which they loved.

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By this point Shiba and his wife had made a good stack of rice to dry and he put a flower on top as a blessing. After a few days of drying, they’d get it taken to the local mill for shelling, and then it could be sold. He told me that rice is quite expensive to produce and hard work, without a great deal of profit.

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Me and Shiba’s son chatted and he mucked out the buffalo, which wasn’t scared of me any more now she was used to me. She was a very friendly buffalo and the kids could hug her and run and hide behind her with no problems. We ate yet another meal, homemade roti (circular flat breads) with honey. This was prepared in a simple kitchen.

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Upstairs was a nice loft full of drying corns. All water, drinking and otherwise, came from the outside tap, which Shiba pays a set price for water. The water is boiled for drinking. With my sunglasses on I joked I was a policeman. Shiba brought out a passport soon afterwards and said I could have it and maybe I could get him into the UK. I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not but tried to explain I wasn’t in any position to help him. I wondered if the hospitality was so I could help get Shiba into the UK, as it’s very hard for Nepali to get in. Even if this was the case they were still a very nice family and I wouldn’t have begrudged them for it.

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The sun was getting low and I had to get back. The motorbike ride in the dim light was pretty hairy. The bike stalled quite a few times leaving us wondering if we’d have to walk. Then we got stuck behind a bus trailing so much dust we could hardly see. Then it started raining and the roads became slippy, made worse by the darkness making it very hard to see potholes and speed bumps. As we entered Pokhara the traffic became very busy and we had some near misses with traffic, especially at a chaotic roundabout which was a free for all. There weren’t street lights in many parts of town and people would just walk out into the road in front of you. Some other vehicles had no lights and would suddenly appear out of nowhere. We got to my hotel in one piece and I gave Shiba a donation for petrol and to buy his kids some treats. I thanked him for giving me a nice insight into the lives of the locals.

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Later I met Anja and the guys for dinner. They’d had a nice day up at the Peace Pagoda and then at the Tibetan refugee camp I’d visited before, although Nick had a Tibetan friend so they’d been able to meet the locals there. We returned to their hotel to drink and play dice.

Despite my protests he still wanted to show off his action hero skills!

Despite my protests he still wanted to show off his action hero skills!