After a quiet, groupless night in the hotel, Hira and Bishnu came to pick me up at 7.00am for the drive down to Chitwan, a hot, jungle environment in the south of Nepal bordering India.

Once out of the Kathmandu valley the journey became more civilised. There are a great many slow moving lorries on the road and overtaking on the winding road can be a little scary at times. Our driver was pretty careful but he always had to be prepared for the unexpected from every other driver. Many of the houses at the side of the road had been bulldozed and there were piles of debris where once houses and businesses had stood.  Apparently, they had all been built illegally and, as a result, had been destroyed.  Unfortunately the piles of rubble and timber are less attractive than the buildings had been and your eyes are automatically drawn to the unsightly mess rather than the more attractive scenes beyond.  It just seems typical of Nepal; no job ever seems to get finished!

Hira with his parents

We reached the Chitwan in about four and a half hours and our first port of call was Hira’s parents, living in their little farmhouse. Hira is the first generation not to be a peasant farmer and the contrast between him, a city dweller, and his parents, particularly his father, was remarkable. The very simple house is surrounded by fields of rice and maize, a tranquil agricultural scene. Birdsong is all around us. Just to one side of the house is a byre with buffalo and a couple of cows. A large hayrick is beside that. The water supply comes from underground via a hand pump and adjacent to that is a digester of animal and human waste which provides all the necessary gas for cooking. It is incredibly basic living which has a charm of its own to the casual visitor.

I was made very welcome, given coke and a plate of mixed fruit, although keeping the flies off the fruit became a real challenge.

Leaving his parents we went to visit the school where Hira was educated as a boy. Certain government schools are selected to cater for and integrate children with disability. This particular school has 27 blind or visually impaired students of variable ages. Hira’s idea is that those involved in the teaching and caring for the blind need practical support rather than financial support. The head teacher may contradict that but we are not looking to give financial aid.

Some of the blind and visually impaired students at Shree Jhuwani School

I was met by various people, teachers, village committee and others. There were so many of them I wasn’t really sure who was who. School does not open for another three days but about half the blind children were there. The teaching facilities are limited and the place looks untidy and unkempt.  The facilities in the senior section of the school seemed to be better and more building work was going on.

As we were about to leave I met a Dutchman who has been involved with supporting the blind in the area for a number of years. Adjacent to the primary school there is an almost finished new build which will become a learning and resource centre for blind people in the community. It has a conference room with special computers, a further computer room, a music room, a couple if craft rooms and a couple of bedrooms. This is for adult blind people to come to learn but I really hope these facilities will be available to the blind children in the school as they far exceed anything the school has to offer.

It was an interesting visit, with potential, but I am not making any promises.

A female one horned white rhino

Potential business side of the trip complete, it was now time to enjoy myself. Settling in to the Rhino Lodge in a pleasant resort type village just outside the park, my first activity was an elephant ride. Normally you share this experience with three other people but now it was just me and my mahout. Also, normally, these rides last about one and a half hours but on this occasion, because I had expressed a desire to see a tiger, we were out for two and a half. We still didn’t see any tigers but we saw a variety of dear, rhino and lots of birds.
I had just enough time for a cold beer before I was off to a Tharu cultural evening in a purpose built theatre in the village. It was an impressive display but lacked the intimacy of other shows I had seen.

There was virtually nobody else staying in the lodge so I returned for a solo dinner, Hira and Bishnu were spending the night with Hira’s parents, before heading off to bed.
At 4.30am a dash of a different type occurred as I felt ill. Was it my meal last night or something else? I began to think it was the result of my time on the elephant with the heat of the sun beating down on my head and neck. By breakfast I was not feeling too bad and continued with the activities planned for me.

A Stork Kingfisher

Going down to the river my guide and I took a dugout canoe along the river. Along the banks were many vividly coloured kingfishers and other fish eating birds, crocodiles with their snouts and eyes appearing just above the surface of the water. As we passed they would disappear under the surface in true Hollywood movie fashion. At one point we came across a large male rhino on the river bank. Here we had to be cautious. If we continued it might decide to charge into the river and attack the canoe. So we waited along with another canoe that joined us and one coming towards us until the rhino lost interest and turned his back on us.

Reaching our disembarkation point we went for a jungle walk to a lake favoured by rhino, tiger and all animals seeking a drink. Sadly nothing was at the water’s edge when we reached it but we did see plenty of deer, wild boar, birds and signs of rhino and cat activity.

The walk led us to the elephant breeding centre where there are mothers with babies of varying ages as well as expectant mothers. Whilst these animals are well cared for it was sad to see them shackled by one leg to a thick wooden post.  One or two of the young elephants were rocking backwards and forwards in a very repetitive way, very similar to children in one or two orphanages I have visited over the years.  I really did not want to linger here too long.

Elephant bath time

Returning to the lodge I was looking forward to bathing with the elephants but I found the sun oppressive. When it came to bathing with them I wandered down to take some pictures but soon had had enough and returned to the lodge to prepare for the journey back to Kathmandu. Hira had plans for visits on the return journey but because of my fragility we decided to go straight back to Kathmandu. It was not a comfortable journey but quite swift and I was in bed by 4.30. I intended having just a couple of hours rest but it turned into fifteen hours. Feeling much better this morning , if not a little fragile in the abdominal region, which is still not right. I will be very careful with what I eat today as I don’t want this when travelling tomorrow. Fingers crossed, not for the first time this trip.

Ama Dablam from Dingboche

Having had a fairly emotional separation, the group left Phortse for the relatively long trek to Dingboche. It included, throughout the distance, a climb of 600m but because it was a longer linear distance none of the climbing was steep. All the time, to spur them on, they had stunning Ama Dablam towering above them and getting closer all the time. By the time they reached Dingboche it was opposite the lodge and, although looked very different, was no less magnificent, particularly as the light changed on its dramatic surfaces.

One or two of the group were feeling a little fragile, or tiredness was beginning to creep in, so they took the day at a leisurely pace in the knowledge that the next day was a “rest day”.

Monkey climbing out (or into) the yak dung burning stove!

Since the start of the trip we had had daily nominations followed by the daily award.  Nominations could be for anything that was said or done that caused amusement to the rest of the group, however innocent the words or act might be.  The recipient of the award, then had to look after a stuffed monkey for twenty four hours, living with the knowledge that other members of the group might wish to kidnap or create some mischief involving the monkey.  Failure to look after the monkey properly might incur a forfeit of some sort, designed at making the culprit feel as uncomfortable as possible.  With me away from the group, they decided that they could relax the rules a little and have some fun.  Hence, Monkey found himself the victim of a number of abuses and got himself into some very tricky scrapes.  The rest day in Dingboche gave them time to apply their minds to some monkeying around!

Apart from a morning stroll up the Pokalde ridge for enhanced views, it was a rest day and full advantage of the opportunity was taken in the afternoon.

Cholatse & chorten

The following day saw them walk around the flanks of Pokalde to Dugla, a small hamlet positioned at the foot of the Khumbu Glacier’s terminal moraine.  This part of the walk gave stunning views of Tawache and The magnificent Cholatse. From Dugla it was necessary to climb up the moraine to a ridge upon which there are many chortens commemorating the too many lives lost on Everest. Only the day before, one of the ice doctors had been killed in the icefall. His home was in Dingboche. Stephen had come across his grieving widow. Soon there would be another chorten.

Having climbed up to the top of the moraine it was a relatively easy, if not a high altitude walk, to Lobouche. I remember Lobouche as being very dirty, over crowded and quite unpleasant. If I am to believe the group it is now much improved.

It was now beginning to get more serious. The altitude was beginning to impose limitations of activity and the trails, although still good considering the height, were less maintained. At least they were not encountering rows and rows of steps!

Approaching Gorak Shep

From Lobouche it is only three hours to Gorak Shep, thus giving them time to walk to Base Camp and back to Gorak Shep, making it in total a long day. The walk to Base Camp no longer goes up the middle of the glacier but follows the moraine on the western side of the glacier. This makes it a tiring, undulating path which takes its toll on the energy levels. Robert had been suffering with an upset stomach for several days and had not been able to keep food in. How he managed to summon up the energy each day is remarkable, this day in particular.

Everest Base Camp celebrations

Base camp was beginning to establish itself with a range of brightly coloured tents in expedition clusters. Some of the larger tents with the base camp medical centre, the bakery, the Internet cafe and others would come once the climbers began to arrive.
Looking across at the Khumbu Icefall, it is hard to imagine a route through there and the effort it must take to achieve it. What you come away with is a feeling that you have been somewhere very special.

Everest refused to reveal herself properly during the ascent of Kala Patthar

Back in Gorak Shep it was early to bed so that they all felt refreshed for the early ascent of Kala Patthar. Robert declined the opportunity on the grounds that he still had to get himself down. Also, Shona really only had ambition to reach Base Camp so took advantage of a lie in. The rest of the group set out at 4.30 and fairly raced up under the leadership of Bishnu who set a cracking pace. Usually it takes between two and three hours for the 500m ascent but it took the group less than ninety minutes, which was truly remarkable. Not content withe the lower most commonly visited summit, the group went to the higher (5643m) summit. Sadly, Everest refused to show herself in her true glory, hiding behind a shroud of clinging cloud. It was cold on the top of Kala Patthar, so half an hour was plenty of time on the summit before racing down to Gorak Shep for a satisfying and triumphant breakfast, after which they dropped down to Lobouche.

After the light dusting of snow

That night there was a dusting of snow, giving a whole new perspective on the environment. Like all snow at this time of year it did not last very long once the sun came up. It evaporates rather than melts, leaving the ground beneath dry.

There was a triumphant feeling among the group on the walk down to Debouche. They had succeeded in everything they set out to do. With the exception of the bit of cloud on Everest, they had had stunning conditions throughout. Now, also it was going to warmer as they descended. Every good reason to sing as they walked. While singing ‘I could walk 500 miles’ Nathan learnt the importance of breath control while singing at altitude. In his ambition to sing it properly he forgot to breath. Suddenly he felt light headed, then dizzy. Realising what was happening he uttered, “Oh, oh!”, walked a further couple of steps and then pitched forward in a faint. That night he was a very fitting recipient of the wally award.
That night was also a top class lodge at Debouche, with excellent accommodation and food. Sadly Robert was not in any fit state to appreciate the latter.

Thyangboche Monastery

The next day was quite a long one. Firstly there was a gentle climb up to Thyangboche and the monastery followed by a long descent to Phinke Tenga, another climb and a traverse to Namche where they called in to Camp de Base Lodge, where it turned out I had left my sunglasses a few days previously. Guess who won the monkey that night and weren’t they eager to award it. Leaving Namche, they had the long, but much more preferable, descent of Namche hill before eventually meeting up, unexpectedly, with me in Monjo.

That just about fills in the gap between me leaving the group and us meeting up again.

Today I achieved success. Tshewang emailed me with a phone number for the principal of Tashi Waldorf. One if the problems, I guess, with making contact has been that the school, like Saptagandaki, is presently closed for a holiday and decorators are in residence there.

Finally getting hold of Eva we agreed to meet at Ying Yang at 11.00. At last I was able to hand over 300,000 Rupees. Job done! We chatted over drinks and I explained that KSWNT will cease to exist once we have finalised the accounts. It is up to them to try to find a new organisation to look after funding from the UK. I also pointed out that their website is seriously out of date and that had led to some of the difficulty in making contact. Eva agreed and promised to put things right as soon as possible. I may well pay them a visit one day.

Reading between the lines I think they have had a difficult time with moving properties, with a subsequent loss of some students, and a change of personnel at the top. At the end of our meeting I felt satisfied that I had achieved pretty much everything I wanted to achieve before I see the group again.

I have also come to the decision that I am going to surprise them. Tomorrow night they are staying in Monjo. Tomorrow I will walk up to Monjo and join them in the lodge. I am really looking forward to that and to the several hours of walking on my own, with my own thoughts, at my own pace. More than anything, I am looking forward to hearing their tales and seeing Stephen.

Still on the case of Tashi Waldorf I managed to get through to somebody at the school. They didn’t really want to speak to me but pass me on to Eva via a mobile number. Because I was not using a local sim card all calls were blocked from my phone. It worked so much better in the mountains. Hence any calls I made had to go through the hotel reception. Only a small hurdle. I have a number, I have a helpful receptionist. I will soon be able to complete the mission to give some money away. That is if the number I had been given was still in use. Another stone wall. I decided not let this ruin my day so I put it at the back of my mind and went on some retail therapy before meeting Kanchhi Maya and the children tor lunch. I had a wonderful time buying things for Molly and Ben and Kelly’s impending family addition. I quickly found things for those I care most for.  Depositing my goods back at the hotel I returned to the Northfield Cafe to meet my lunch partners.

Kanchhi  Maya, Tshering and GN joined me at the Northfield. Kanchhi presented me with a basket of flowers. What I would do with them is beyond me. It is not the first time she has done this but the gesture is one if kindness and friendship. Chering has grown up to be a beautiful young woman. She is now 16 years old and is preparing to go to Trinity College to do her A Levels. She talked freely about her ambitions to become a doctor and is committed to learning as much as she can so that she can develop her potential fully. She gets that from Tshewang, her father, whom she clearly idolises.

GN is a lanky 13 year old who has limited conversational skills as a result of his present hormonal state. He looks like a younger, taller version of his father, having the same smile. He is unsure of his future but seems to be veering towards some sort of engineering, following mother’s natural inclinations.

The conversation flowed freely while we waited for our food and it was largely led by Chering who was so eager to talk about her many plans. She is likely to want to train and qualify in the UK, the States or Canada but is adamant that she will return to Nepal once she has done so as she has a social conscience, not unlike get parents in that respect.
We chatted about Tshewang always working and never relaxing. Having had a bit of a heart scare a few years ago he needs to let go a little. I discovered, to my horror, that he does not have a deputy head he can off load some responsibility to. He could not join us today because the school is closed post exams and he is busy marking papers, writing reports and overseeing painters decorating the school. I think a lot of it is to do with image and prestige within the school community; he is the head and he is in charge of everything. It would do him good to find a colleague he trusts and values to take some of the burden and responsibility from his shoulders. I passed on my words of wisdom to Kanchhi Maya and subsequently in an email to Tshewang but it will be like water off a ducks back.
The conversation continued to flow after the food arrived and it took an age for it all to be eaten.

I had a couple of favours to ask Kanchhi Maya – 1) could she find out anything about how I might be able to make constructive contact with Tashi Waldorf, and 2) where I could buy some leaf plates and bowls from for my ‘Tastes of Indonesia’ lunch? The former she would let me know about and the latter was easily solved if I had time to go with them. I had nothing else to do so it was agreed that after we finished at the restaurant we would go shopping together. GN took this as an opportunity to escape and go home on the bus but before he went I popped into a shop at the Northfield run by an organisation called ‘Beni’ creating a number of hand crafted items from recycled rubbish. I had read the leaflet before but I hadn’t seen the finished products. They are brilliant and range from bags of all shapes and sizes to wallets, to stools, to place mats, door mats etc. I bought Chering a shoulder bag made from an old rice bag and for GN I bought a wallet, using amongst other things old sweet wrappers. All the money goes to supporting the numerous women’s cooperatives set up to collect, clean and create.

A relaxed shop keeper selling dried fish

As we left the tourist area of Thamel the streets became narrower and a lot more crowded. Now all the faces were Nepali. Eventually we arrived at a Newari vegetable markets where they sold packs of plates and bowls of a variety of sizes. They came in packs of one hundred and are perfect for the purposes I have in mind. I just hope I can get them home safely in one piece.

Kanchhi then insisted on taking me to another shop to buy me a jumper. She has always wanted to buy me one but wanted me there so she could get the size right. The shop was not large but it must have had at least 10 sales staff, mostly attractive young women, waiting for a customer to brighten their day. Kanchhi went straight to the only male sales assistant who looked me up and down before producing a normal V knecked jumper of excellent quality. I tried it on. It was a perfect fit and I liked the colour. Taking it off became a bit of a spectator sport. I needed Kanchhi to hold my shirt to stop it riding over my head exposing myself to the onlooking, amused sales girls. Kanchhi refused to help, cracking up in fits of laughter. It was like going shopping with my mum but more fun. Eventually I managed to get the jumper off and, at the same time, retain some dignity. At the entrance to the shop there was a sign saying ‘Fixed Price’. That did not stop Kanchhi from entering a bartering duel with the salesman who crumbled under her forceful charm.

Busy narrow streets where pedestrians always have to be alert

Then we had to visit a shoe shop to buy shoes for Angela. It helped that I knew her shoe size and it proved quite a painless ordeal. Walking back through the extremely crowded streets, avoiding motor cyclists and rickshaws while ladened with several shopping bags, proved interesting and it was only when we returned to the tourist area that the streets, which I normally associate with crowds, became less of a problem to walk along.

We returned to the Northfield so that Kanchhi could collect her motorbike for her and Chering to return home. It had been a delightful few hours in good company and some interesting experiences. After they left I popped into the recycled goods shop, gave the assistant a lovely basket of flowers and bought some more of her wares.