Arriving in Gudel

Sun Dec 9 - trek to Gudel (2400m)

Despite the fact that this is a very special morning, the one that marks the day that we will at last arrive in Gudel, the usual morning routine is repeated with hot black tea (known as kola chiya) delivered to our tent followed by bowls of warm washing water half an hour before we need to pack our bags and be at the table for breakfast. While we eat our hot porridge followed by toast and omelette the porters bundle our bags into their baskets, known as docho, and head off along the path. 

As we walk later we come across a number or resting spots for these tough young boys and old men where rock ledges have been formed at just the right height for them to lean the basket on. If by chance they need to rest between these stops they also carry a specially formed stick which is like a solid walking stick but has a top formed a bit like a pick. It is known as a dochma and the top provides a resting post for the basket to balance on like the chap below. 

Today's walk is the most picturesque to date. It takes us down to the river level where we cross two suspension bridges and then make our way up, up, up following another tributary that is tumbling over rocks and diving into pools all the way. It was quite beautiful if not a little tiring. Good thing is my knees are coping well with the up. 

As we hit the final stretch into Gudel we start meeting members of the families of the boys who have been taking such good care of us, Noboraj's father, Narendra's daughter, we pass Parbat's house. 

Instead of going straight to our lodgings we walk through the school. All the children and the staff are in the playground waiting for us, obviously word has got around that Peter and his friends have arrived in town. We find ourselves surrounded by smiling faces and a chorus of 'Navaste'. 

We met the staff and were each presented with a kata, the silk prayer scarves that have auspicious symbols woven into the fabric. They represent a sincere welcome, with no negative thoughts or motives in mind.  Then we made our way to the Kopita Guest House where fortunately they have just enough rooms for us. Oh how good to be sleeping in a bed and having a toilet with four solid walls. There is no shower or hot water until tomorrow afternoon, not sure why but who is quibbling over such little details at this time. Our boys deliver bowls of warm washing water and for the first time since we left Kathmandu we manage a complete bird bath and I even washed my hair in a second lot of water. Luxury! In a complete change of clothes we feel very refreshed. After dinner of mushroom soup, chicken curry and steamed vegetables followed by mango I am ready for a good night's sleep. But no, there's more.  First wacker is awarded to Nobaraj  and then we present many in the party with Gudel shirts we had had printed at the same time as ours. The teachers from the school then arrived and it is time to party in the hotel parlour. Walking from the dining room tent, set up on the lawn, to the guest house you can see all the lights in the homes on the other side of the deep valley.  They have electricity. Gudel is not yet connected to the power grid, but its coming; perhaps next year.  With luck when they are bringing in the infrastructure by chopper for that project the school will be able to bring is some of the building supplies it purchases for its building project. Otherwise it all has to come the same way we have, in heavy loads on the backs of the men from the village.

Peter gets the ball rolling at the party with a heartfelt talk explaining how indebted we are to the teachers  for living in such a remote spot and working in the tough conditions they do. They responded, explaining that while they have nothing to give us but a warm heart, we were very welcome.  Then the songs began accompanied by Judie on her guitar for our contributions and a Nepali madal drum for theirs. One thing I can say about Nepali songs, they go on and on forever. I think theirs were about love and family, their favourite folk song is Resham Firiri. Ours were renditions of ditties like Kookaburra sits in the Old Gum Tree and a Kiwi contribution from Ann. Then we all got up and danced the Hokey Pokey. By now many of the teachers families and even the local health worker had joined the throng, I managed to make my exit up the very steep stairs to the rooms just under the eaves and hit the sack. How nice to curl up in a sleeping bag on a bed.

Mon Dec 10 - stay in Gudel, visit school 

We enjoyed a wonderful sleep in and after a late breakfast walked up to the school where we were warmly welcomed once again. They have trimmed the entrances with fresh greenery and welcome flags and arranged seating for all the students in the dirt quadrangle. The morning began with an exercise routine lead by the senior girls. It looked quite similar to tai chi movements but to music. 

Once the loud speaker was fired up we were introduced to everyone as the honoured guests and then presented with marigold garlands. One garland would have been sufficient to make me feel warmly welcomed but they had made hundreds of them and we were all presented with many. My estimate as we walked home was that I had 5kg of marigolds around my neck, about 60 garlands. I had difficulty finding my footing as they were obstructing my view. 

After the presentation of these we were treated to a number of speeches from different dignitaries, mostly in Nepalese but the general gist was that they are a poor community and without the help that Peter has provided over the years the school would be a lot worse off. They are truly grateful to him and by association we too are valued guests. Peter then spoke and promised support for the senior secondary level would be the priority, which was met with much excitement. 

We were treated to a number of traditional cultural  dances, music and singing. The final act was a dance performed by Narendra's 5 yr old daughter which bought the house down. 

We presented a cultural number from Australia, Hokey Pokey if you don't mind, and encouraged many to join us on the quadrangle. We finished with a resounding rendition of the 'We're the Rai Boys from Gudel' chant. This is something Peter has performed each time he has visited to the tune of 'I don't know but I've been told', an American marching chant. 

All this took about three hours and then we went back to the guest house for lunch. I used them to adorn the handrail of the staircase to the second floor of the hotel where our rooms are. In the afternoon we visited classrooms and offered to join in team teaching or take the class. The facilities are pretty grim; the classrooms are dark and the furniture minimal. Some have flagstone floors others are dirt. One little Grade 2 boy was trying to copy from the board but he had no ink in his pen, he was halfway down the page but all you could see was the indentations where he had pressed hard. I gave him a pen I had with me and his face just lit up. Talk about pull on your heart-strings!  I shared the binoculars and my love of bird watching which was very popular with the older classes. Several classes got the opportunity to sing and do action rhymes in English which they thoroughly enjoyed. In the evening we could have a hot shower for the first time since we left Kathmandu but the hot water ran out after 3 people, not to worry. After another wonderful dinner topped off with a chocolate and nut cake we finished the night playing UNO

Tue Dec 11 - stay in Gudel, walk about the village and visit homes


Another lovely sleep-in and then the rest of our party took off on a walk around the village and up to the top of the hill for views across to Mera Peak and beyond. 

 Never too young to have a younger sibling in a sling on your back.

 Students hurrying to school, you can see the new junior wing getting close to construction. 

 Our cook Parbat and his daughter.

 The school

Nameste.

I chose to stay around the village and rest my knee. There was a cold wind blowing but the sun was shining and I was able to find a sheltered spot to catch up on the blog. In the grounds of the guest house the proprietor is kept busy switching between serving at the small shop window, stripping the husks from dried corn cobs and then pounding them with a mallet to remove the kernels or threshing millet. Our laundry, which the kitchen boys washed for us while we were at the school yesterday, is drying on the line and a red panda skin is stretched on a frame alongside. I don't ask too many questions about this as red pandas are protected by law, their numbers in the wild declining due to habitat loss and poaching. 

From here I can see down to the school where the students finish the morning exercise routine and head into class. In no time at all a Swiss couple turn up, they have walked in from Bung, a nearby village where they stayed last night and are on their way to Sanam, about 3 hrs away. The proprietor was interrupted again from her domestic chores when they ordered a meal of fried potatoes for just 100 rupee a serve (about $AUS1.10) with complimentary kalo chiya which she happily cooked and served. Unlike us, they are carrying everything in their packs but buying their meals and staying in guest houses mostly. Mind you they are also a lot younger. They are very amused to hear about our extensive support crew but when you consider that all the lads come from this one village, we are helping a lot of different families by providing income. Well, that's one way of looking at it and easily justifying our extravagance. Without the opportunity to be a guide, cook, kitchen hand or porter these village people have very little opportunity to earn income, they are subsistence farmers who do everything by hand. One man owns a donkey team and the guest house owner has a small business selling medicinal herbs to India for ayurvedic medicine. That's about the only industry we can find. Most girls are married young, which brings another male into the family to work the farm. Like the remote Indigenous communities of the NT it is hard to see the advantage of them staying at school longer when there is little chance for them to be employed, but giving them the opportunity to make choice is still what it's all about. 

Uttar, one of our Assistant Guides, has taken to the guitar and shows lots of promise. At every opportunity he sits down and practices the chords Judie is teaching him. One guitar will be left at the school and Judie has asked that Uttar take the role of minder. While he was practising this morning his wife walked by with a load of fodder for the animals.....

 Uttar's wife with a load of fodder for the cow and spinning as she walks

 You call that a knife?

Everyone enjoyed the walk up to the lookout rock and around the top of the village. They tried to pretend I hadn't missed out on anything but I could tell how much they enjoyed seeing into all the backyards of the houses and everything grown within. Most travellers don't get the opportunity of such an intimate view  of village culture. After lunch we all went to see some of the homes of our support party. We first came across Jali and his wife and 6 month old baby girl who he has missed badly, being away working as a porter. 

Then we went to Dan's house and finally Narendra's. There we were invited inside to see the main cooking room which was very dim and filled with smoke, a constant fire burning in the hole in the dirt floor. A bamboo ladder provided access to the mezzanine where all the food stuff is stored in dochos. Another building is where the family sleep. We were invited into the swept dirt courtyard where woven mats had been provided for us to sit on and were served boiled eggs (the yolks so yellow since they are all free range), boiled choko root (which tasted similar to boiled potato) and roasted soya beans. All this was washed down with mint tea for the women and more mustang coffee for the men. At first glance, Mustang Coffee looks like coffee however its swirling, dark brown colour holds a deceptive, warm secret; Mustang Coffee is two parts coffee, one part honey and one part raksi. Raksi is the locally produced alcohol distilled from either millet or rice and tastes something like Japanese sake. These ingredients make the local concoction the perfect choice after a hard day in the hills.

 Parbat in Narendra's kitchen

 Narendra and his wife, Noboraj and Narwndra's son Oshan on the right

 Being served mustang coffee from the thermos in the courtyard

 Noboraj with his mother and sister, all have beautiful smiles and laugh easily

 The women presented us each with hand woven cords usually reserved for visiting dignitaries 

 This little daughter of Narendra just loves an opportunity to dance for an audience. At each of the houses I left a packet of NT playing cards with pictures of scenery or Aust birds for the families.  Peter then left for a meeting with the School Council and I came back to the guest house with him. On the way I met all the school children who had just been dismissed for the day. They all greeted me with cheerful 'Namastes'. The rest of the group went on to Dhankubir's home, he is Nermal's brother.  Nermal was Peter's original guide.

In the evening the teachers joined us again after their meeting and once again we danced and sang together, finishing with Auld Lang Syne. Tomorrow we leave Gudel.