Well we're now back from our two weeks away from cars, pollution and noisy dogs. We both enjoyed our time in the village but were pleased to see the INF landrover when it arrived to pick us up. We were dropped off in Balam on the 17th, Bhalam is a valley just off to the east of Pokhara. It was a strange feeling we felt quite remote but at the same time we could walk back into Pokhara in less than an hour. The whole valley is known as Bhalam and it has half a dozen small settlements dotted around.
The Family
We were hosted by a Hindu family, Chudamani the father works for INF in the central office as a driver/administrator, Madhu the mother looks after the family farm and shares the work around the house with HajarAamaa (Nepali for Grandmother, we never learnt her actual name). Chudamani commutes into Pokhara on his motorcycle everyday at 5:30am, we were usually getting up at 6:30am by which time Madhu had walked an hour to collect grass for their bissey. The family has a son who is studying in Melbourne and a daughter who lives just down the road with her husband.
For the most part the family was nice however for some reason Chudamanu seemed to refuse to talk with Mark which made for some awakard evenings. The only possible reason we could think of for this behaviour was that he maybe felt threatened in some way by Marks position at INF. It will take some time to get used to all the cultural differences.
Our host family
Madhu and her niece
HajarAamaa taking a break for some tea, shes 75 years old and as sharp as a tack
Food and Housing
Our food each day consisted of the standard diet of Dahl Bhat twice a day at 10am in the morning and 7:30pm at night. Our hosts tried to get us to sit at the table and eat with a spoon but we insisted on joining them on the floor and eating with our hands.
The house was a fairly old traditional Nepali house, some of the house was mud but most of it was concrete. Our bedroom was a bit of a cave but fortunately was nice and cool.
Our home for two weeks
Every now and then the temperature would plummet to about 25 degrees C!
Language Lessons
Every morning our language teacher would arrive at 7am for our language classes. We had two hours of individual classes each followed by an hour together. We alternated who took the first class so we could take advantage of the cooler temperatures in the morning and explore the valley. This got Jo into trouble with the locals as they found out that she was wondering around on her own. We were told stories of huge lions which we didn't really believe, we have since found that lepords are have been known to kill dogs even in Pokhara.
Each day in our combined class Depak our teacher would take us out into the village to practise our Nepali on local victims. We felt quite embarrased at first as if you walked up to someone on the street in New Zealand and asked them how old they are you would probably get beaten up. Having strange foreigners wonder up to you and ask questions seems perfectly normal to Nepalis.
After finishing our language classes each day we would do our best to find something to do to help out on the farm. This wasn't always easy as Madhu was often reluctant to let us help, Jo did manage to help prepare and plant a rice field and help with collecting food for the bisey every now and then. It was a little hard for Mark to find work to help with as all the men seemed to be doing was ploughing fields. With some help from Depak he managed to convince a farmer to let him have a try. After finishing the farmer proceeded to ask for money for the previllage of using his plough.
Depak teaching Jo how to play Tigers and Goats during one of our walks into the village
A baby bissey they're everywhere and quite cute
Mark trying his hand at ploughing a field with buffalo, its much easier in a John Deere
Jo getting instructions on the correct way to prepare a rice field (there was lots of lauging involved but I thought she was doing fine)
Planting (or throwing as they say in Nepali) the rice
Jo carrying a doku, she got the baby one!
The kids help out too when there not at school
Mark trying not to get thrashed by a sixteen year old. Soon after this photo smoke could be seen coming from his ears.
Spirituality
Being a Hindu area we found the place quite spiritually opressive, there were no churches in the area and we met one christian. Every hill top had a small temple proudly settled at the top. Our host family were Hindus they carried out daily puja at the small shrine they kept in the kitchen. In line with Hindu beliefs Madhu had to eat outside, sleep on the floor in the store and wasn't allowed in the kitchen for three days when she had her period while we were there. We spent a lot of time praying for the family and the village.
Escape for a day
If you think some of the swing bridges in New Zealand are impressive you have to see this one! Fortunately it is one of the sturdier looking structures in Nepal. This bridge crosses the a george and pops up in Pokhara, one Sunday afternoon we decided to sneak back into Pokhara for a cold lemonade.
Huge swing bridge
Looking down on the Balam valley, Pokhara is in the distance
Balam officially announced open defecation free
Smelly Things
We stumbled upon a celebration for Bhalam officially becoming a open defecation free zone during one of our lessons with Depak. It seems that everyone now has toilet facitlities. We were a little surprised that they had only just reached this milestone given how close they are to Pokhara. Our hosts had had a small bio gas system where they captured the methane gas coming from their septic tank and used it for cooking.
Monkey Behaviour
During one of our many walks we stumbled across a scene that could be mistaken for world war three. There were at least thirty monkeys running around from maize field to maize field stealing maize. Looking down on the valley at one stage we could see about fifteen people at various points chasing monkeys away from their crops. This entertained us for a whole afternoon.
There were plenty of these guys around
Locals chasing the monkeys away from their crops
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