We're Back

This is the view out of our window at Hotel Trek-O-Tel in Pokhara. We were lucky to get this view because it is rarely this clear at this time of the year.

In other news, we are back safely in Singapore and we will soon be headed back to the States to spend quality time with family and COLLEGE TOURING.

Random stuff...

Bradley narrates in a song his task of washing the dishes used during breakfast.
"Don't put the video on YouTube, mom!"
Guess what will most certainly be going on YouTube?

Bradley attending to a fire that will, later, be used to bake some bread.

On the left: FIRE.
On the right: the bread in a covered pan with hot coals around it, 

the most efficient way of baking in almost-middle-of-nowhere, Nepal.

A leech works on sucking the life blood (well, maybe just a milliliter or so) out of poor innocent Tyler.

Doing the laundry on a weekend. Kim washes, Kami rinses and Bruce and Jessica wring out.  Boys are MIA...

 Some locals carrying baskets through the fields near Nangi. 

The strap-around-head look is all the rage in rural Nepal. 

Woodworker, Jagat, who made signs for the boys', Kami's and our house's door last year, shows off his drawing skills.  He was one of the people that we were looking forward to seeing again.

 The solar water panel that provides hot water to the other roundhouse, that we are not staying in. In person, it looks somewhat precariously placed but it's stayed up for a year now!

Mohare

On Thursday we hiked up to Mohare - about 1100 m up from Nangi.  The hike wasn't too bad - we were told that we went the longer, but not as steep, way.  Worked for me...  There were tons of leeches along the hike, though.  We tucked our pants into our socks (very fashionable) and had some salt with us, so it wasn't too bad.  Maybe only two or three bites total for the hike, which is pretty good considering that the kids counted a couple hundred leeches in about a 20 min stretch of hiking.

On the way up - we're smiling, so that's a good sign...

Once we made it up to Mohare, we stayed in a new lodge that they just built.  The lodge was really nice.  The weather was rainy and cold, though, so we just hung out in the rooms and played cards or Yahtzee.  They had a really beautiful dining hall (which I didn't take a picture of) that had a wood-burning stove in the middle. It was so cozy when that got going.

In the morning, the sky cleared for a few minutes, literally, and these are the views that we could see...  This one is Fishtail, which you can also see from Pokhara.

This one is called Nilgiri...

We went up to Mohare to see about putting a solar water heater in for the lodge next summer.  When we got up there, though, we realized that the nearest water source is about 250 m below Mohare - so the first thing will be to figure out how to get water up to Mohare.

I would love to be able to get back to Mohare when it is clear because the view when you can see all of the mountains must be amazing.

The solar electric panel is installed...

The solar electric equipment has been installed.  There was some confusion at the end about how we wanted it hooked up, but I think that it has all been figured out.

We installed the system on a new building that is going to house the village medical/dental clinics, as well as the library.  The building is not quite done yet, so they haven't moved the equipment in.  We are hoping that it is finished before we leave next week so that we get to see it all operate.

The equipment consists of 4 solar panels and 6 batteries. The equipment was brought up from Beni in a trailer hooked to a tractor:

The batteries weigh about 75 kg each.  It was a struggle to get them up the steps and into the clinic.  Then came the decision of where to put them so that they weren't too heavy on any one spot on the floor...  I'm sure that the people in the library would not appreciate them crashing through!

Here's the frame going up on the roof...

(Hey, Debra - has anyone given any though into putting an access into the clinic from this side of the building?  Just a thought...)

Solar panels are up!  Now we just need some sun...

Here's the inside wiring.  Admittedly, I don't have a very deep understanding of electrical things.  Nipun - the electrical engineer in charge of the installation - was VERY patient with all of my dumb questions and requests for changes to increase flexibility.

Here's the front of the clinic.  I'll add some more pictures as things get finished off so to show how it looks when it is done.

Jessica is complaining that my blogging is too engineering-ish (ie boring and un-witty).  Sorry!  Guess who will be in charge of the next one :-)

Tomorrow we are leaving for Mohare.  It is a spot along the trekking trail where they have recently built a lodge, and we are checking it out because we will probably put a solar water heater in up there next summer.  Right now in Nangi, we are at about 2200 m (I think!) elevation.  Mohare is at about 3200 m - so we are going UP tomorrow.  We've been told that people from Nangi can reach Mohare in about 4 hours, so we expect that it'll take us all day!  Apparently from Mohare - if it is clear - there is a view of 27 tall Himalayan peaks.  Here's hoping it's clear...

Making gift bags from lokta paper

The women here in Nangi make this beautiful paper using a local plant called lokta.  They make it in sheets.  They dry out the plant, and then they cook it so that it softens into a pulp.  Then they pour the pulp onto screens and set them in the sun to dry.  They can also add coloring to the pulp to make different color paper. 

The women make this paper and then sell it as a way to earn money, both for themselves and for the school.  Last year we brought home some sheets of the paper and tried to figure out what to do with it.  Jessica came up with a way to make gift bags out of the paper.  She made some sample ones in Singapore, and then when we got to Nangi, we talked to the women about learning to make the bags so that we can try to sell the bags and make more money for the school.

So Jessica has spent the past two days teaching the women how to make the bags and sitting with them while they all make them together.  It has been an exercise in learning how to communicate without speaking the same language.

This is the pulp before it gets poured into the screens:

Here's one of the women getting the pulp ready:

Here's the pulp after it has been poured into the screens.  They set it out like this to dry (that's the school in the background):

This is Jessica teaching them how to make the bags yesterday.  Today there were even more women in the room learning how to make the bags.  They learn quickly, though, and they've made some really nice ones so far.  It was cute this morning because one of the women actually came and got Jessica so that she could help/teach them.

I have a few videos that show them making the paper and making the bags, but I'm having a hard time uploading them because it is taking forever.  I'm just going to post this and then I'll add the videos if I ever get them to upload.

We are headed down to Muti's house to pick some potatoes for lunch...

The journey to Nangi

The internet is working again, and I've been able wrestle the computer from my teenagers...

Back to our trip up to Nangi...

Here's the view of Fishtail Mountain from our hotel in Pokhara on the morning before we left for Nangi.

We drove from Pokhara to a small town called Beni in a minivan.  The drive takes about 3 hours, and the road is pretty awful.  It's paved for some of the way, but there are tons of potholes, and every time a vehicle comes the other way, we have to drive off onto the shoulder so that we can both fit.

Once we get to Beni, we transfer all of our stuff to a jeep for the drive up to Nangi.

The drive up takes another 3 hours on really, really bumpy roads.  I don't think that the driver gets out of second gear the whole time.  I must be getting used to driving on hairy roads, though, because looking out the window at a drop-off that is hundreds of feet didn't bother me so much this time! 

When we got close enough to Nangi to see it across the valley, we got out of the jeep and hiked the rest of the way.  We were all so glad to be on solid ground.  Here's our first glimpse of Nangi again.  The village is on the ridge that runs through the middle of the picture, and it also includes the houses that are down below the ridgeline.

It has started to rain, so I don't know how much time I have until the power goes out (and the internet goes with it).  I'm going to publish this, and then start working on a note about Jessica and her work with the women to make bags.  She's doing a great job...

Safely Back in Nangi

After two days of travelling, we made it back to Nangi!  We are glad to be here and to see everyone again. 

On Friday morning we flew from Singapore to Kathmandu, and then from Kathmandu to Pokhara on Buddha Air.  Here's our plane parked at the Pokhara airport...

Here is baggage claim at the Pokhara Airport:

And here's a picture of Pokhara, which we have decided is one of you favorite little towns in the world...

I will upload some more pics and write some more soon...  Jessica is going to show some of the women in the village how to make gift bags, and I'm going to go and help her out.