Quick update from Nepal

Had an amazing time at my Room to Read school in Bardiya Nepal (southwestern): imagine being welcomed by over 900 students, waiting in line with flowers that were hand-picked and sometimes sewn into leis, greeted by infinite smiles and Namastes, then a reception with kids singing, multiple different traditional dances performed by the kids, speeches with hope, and tokens of love given. The school building itself was also very well done, complete with a Reading Room library that was literally our shelter from the storm: a dust storm blew in just the minute the ceremony had ended and we took refuge in the library, shoes off, sitting on the comfortable cushions at the low desks looking through all of the books and learning about the library.

Now, I am sitting with Ralph in Pokhara, Nepal after a trek around most of the Annapurna circuit. My favorite part was the pass day (Thorung La): a good steady trail to over 17.5k ft, beautiful views of the surrounding high mountains, a late lunch with yummy veg noodle soup, and finishing the day in lush Muktinath, visiting a few Buddhist temples and being calmed by the flowing waters. 

More to come later!

The Plan...

It has been three years since I was on my way to Kathmandu, but in some ways it feels like yesterday. Telling your body that it is 'wrong', and that it is really the morning and not the middle of the night is always met with some resistance; I think I am about half way there to being adjusted. I am sitting in the Bangkok airport, remembering the very first time I came through Bangkok in 2003, in a different airport and searching around the airport for a place to sleep through the night before we found an open hotel transfer room. Now, the airport is a new one, bright and shiny, with even a place to take a shower to boot, which helps a little with the jet lag.

 

So... what is the plan? The plan is to be in Nepal for two weeks and China for one. I am meeting my boyfriend Ralph in Kathmandu in a few hours, he having already been in eastern Nepal for a week photographing the cutest red pandas with the Red Panda Network (a grantee of Green Grants back in Boulder). 

 

In Nepal, the first priority and first thing on the list is to head to southwestern Nepal to visit the new school that I and many donors (over 185 to be specific) helped build with Room to Read. We fly to Nepaljung (a city) in Bheri (the state), and Room to Read has set up a great visit that includes visiting the school, students, and teachers, and visiting the home of one of the Room to Read girl scholars. There is even supposed to be a welcoming ceremony at the school!

 

Next, we head to the Annapurna circuit in middle-northern Nepal. This will be a beautiful trek covering around 130 miles (or so, depending on side trips or decisions along the way), going through some of the deepest gorges on earth, seeing some of the biggest peaks on earth, covering multiple ethnicities across many villages, exploring monasteries and getting some good air all the way up to the pass which is over 17,000 feet.

 

The final leg of our journey will head to the Yunnan province of China, spending a little time among the rice terraces and ethinic villages and tea plantations of Xishuangbanna, exploring the town and some work of water quality advocates in Lijiang, then making our way back to Kunming (I'm hoping to see the Bus Rapid Transit there, as it was something I worked on a little for work).

 

Since I'm not supposed to have my tea next to the internet computer, I think I'll go have a sip. Till next time.

 

Val