So I recently went on my first site visit to the nearby district of Kavre. It was my first trip outside Khatmandu Valley and took about an hour just to get out of the city traffic. Then at least another hour to get into the mountains...oops, sorry, they're called hills here. We planned to visit two sites for my project, the first was alongside the main highway and the second...not quite that easy.
At the first site, we organized a meeting that took place under the communal tree. We introduced ourselves and the purpose of the project and then broke up into groups to get ideas from the villagers and discuss various electrification aspects. It was mostly in Nepali, but with bits of translation from team members I was able to understand and formulate my own impressions.
After the meetings, I went with a few Nepalese over to the powerhouse to look at the components and agricultural machinery. Pretty cool stuff! Oh, and we had to cross a river to get there. Apparently it's only accessible in the dry season.
Back at the village, we ate MORE Dal Bhat, a giant plate of rice with lentil soup dressing and small vegetable sides, and drank some warm milk before crashing on the hardest bed I've ever slept on. It was fine by me! I really appreciate those villagers welcoming and taking care of us.
The next day we were up at 5ish?? A morning cup of tea and off we went. A few kilometers up the main highway we turned off for an hour of offroading. Breakfast. Another hour of offroading, but ohhhhh what a view!
After getting lost and backtracking, we found the trailhead and began our two hour hike to the village. This was really steep! We made some poor man trekking poles, sticks :P and continued on our way. I quickly learned the Nepali word for leeches (Juka)...yes, there were a lot of them!
Crossing a few streams and through the jungle we eventual made it to the village. It's there...people live there! Pretty incredible to me, a two hour hike (longer uphill) just to get to the village from the trailhead. It was probably another few hours walk to the nearest market.
At the first site, we organized a meeting that took place under the communal tree. We introduced ourselves and the purpose of the project and then broke up into groups to get ideas from the villagers and discuss various electrification aspects. It was mostly in Nepali, but with bits of translation from team members I was able to understand and formulate my own impressions.
After the meetings, I went with a few Nepalese over to the powerhouse to look at the components and agricultural machinery. Pretty cool stuff! Oh, and we had to cross a river to get there. Apparently it's only accessible in the dry season.
Back at the village, we ate MORE Dal Bhat, a giant plate of rice with lentil soup dressing and small vegetable sides, and drank some warm milk before crashing on the hardest bed I've ever slept on. It was fine by me! I really appreciate those villagers welcoming and taking care of us.
The next day we were up at 5ish?? A morning cup of tea and off we went. A few kilometers up the main highway we turned off for an hour of offroading. Breakfast. Another hour of offroading, but ohhhhh what a view!
After getting lost and backtracking, we found the trailhead and began our two hour hike to the village. This was really steep! We made some poor man trekking poles, sticks :P and continued on our way. I quickly learned the Nepali word for leeches (Juka)...yes, there were a lot of them!
Crossing a few streams and through the jungle we eventual made it to the village. It's there...people live there! Pretty incredible to me, a two hour hike (longer uphill) just to get to the village from the trailhead. It was probably another few hours walk to the nearest market.
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