Mark was asked to go to Nepalgunj for about 4 hours work. INF has some money to build it's own office premises there rather than paying high amounts of money in rent. Mark has been asked to do some drawings so that the consultation process for building can be started.
INF has a vehicle that goes from here on a Friday and comes back on a Sunday. Jo had some friends she wanted to visit so thought she would tag along for the ride.
The leaving date was made one day later due to a bandh. However, the day we did leave dawned beautiful and clear and the mountains were stunning. As we drove for the first four hours we would come around corners and there was another stunning view of rice paddies that are an amazing green, grass clad hillsides and the himalaya mountains.
(photo taken by Tim Darms who had the window seat! Amazing photo considering it is out of a vehicle that is moving almost as fast forwards as it is bouncing around and very difficult for autofocus with all the different shades of light)
We reached the terai which is the flat plains of nepal at the southern border with India. We drove along these for another 4hours to reach Nepalgunj, 10 hours later. Nepalgunj is right on the border with India and as it is flat peddle power is much more common than Pokhara. Even the school buses were rickshaws! There is a muslim community there so the call to prayer is heard throughout the day and there is a greater present of more indian looking people and we heard a lot of hindi being spoken.
Some of the hill country is soo steep, and every bit of useable land is used for houses or crops.
The terai has lots of houses that are of the mud/bamboo/ thatch style.
Girls taking wood home for cooking over a fire.
Mark got his work done, Jo caught up with friends as well as taking some time to wander around the bazaars, get herself completely lost and take a rickshaw ride home (was sorta the plan - just wander around taking in sights and smells etc). Nepalgunj has some interesting smells.There are lots of lakes and stagnant pools of water everywhere. The roads are very poorly developed and I think there are only a few paved roads in the whole town. When we were there it was dusty, in the monsoon it must be a mudpool.
One of the 'beautiful' lakes in Nepalgunj - be glad you can't smell it.
Yep - rickshaws do every job - furniture removal, advertising, school bus, taxi.....
The mosque with the Ncell sign - that means recharge cards are available!
We had an uneventful trip home although after another 10 hours of windy bumpy roads we were glad to get home.
INF has a vehicle that goes from here on a Friday and comes back on a Sunday. Jo had some friends she wanted to visit so thought she would tag along for the ride.
The leaving date was made one day later due to a bandh. However, the day we did leave dawned beautiful and clear and the mountains were stunning. As we drove for the first four hours we would come around corners and there was another stunning view of rice paddies that are an amazing green, grass clad hillsides and the himalaya mountains.
We reached the terai which is the flat plains of nepal at the southern border with India. We drove along these for another 4hours to reach Nepalgunj, 10 hours later. Nepalgunj is right on the border with India and as it is flat peddle power is much more common than Pokhara. Even the school buses were rickshaws! There is a muslim community there so the call to prayer is heard throughout the day and there is a greater present of more indian looking people and we heard a lot of hindi being spoken.
Nepalgunj gets a lot more power than Pokhara but the voltage is almost always low as was evidenced when it took an hour to melt the cheese on a pizza, and the speed of the fan!
Mark got his work done, Jo caught up with friends as well as taking some time to wander around the bazaars, get herself completely lost and take a rickshaw ride home (was sorta the plan - just wander around taking in sights and smells etc). Nepalgunj has some interesting smells.There are lots of lakes and stagnant pools of water everywhere. The roads are very poorly developed and I think there are only a few paved roads in the whole town. When we were there it was dusty, in the monsoon it must be a mudpool.
We had an uneventful trip home although after another 10 hours of windy bumpy roads we were glad to get home.
Hehe - they are wearing hard hats and barefeet!
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