In the Nepali village

In the first part of my Nepali experience I was officially based "out in the field". Though it might give the impression of the deepest remoteness, in reality I spent most of my time between two district capitals, Dolakha and Chautara. While in no way cosmopolitan (especially the tented camp in Chautara), at least they were actual towns (and in case of Dolakha, though it was some 6 hours from Kathmandu, I couldn't complain of living standards).

After the first three months I changed organisation, and with the new set of projects I also changed my location. This time I passed into the two extremes: based in the comfortable world of Kathmandu, I often travelled to the rural area where our local partner organisation was implementing the projects.

This setup was really the perfect combination: I could get to see a bit of rural Nepal life while still maintaining a satisfactory average frequency of hot showers. For only a few days in a row, the village housing with mice under the hard wooden bed could be almost charming, and I really enjoyed my trips to Chainpur.

Nepal is just so visually beautiful - and that applies from the impressive huge mountains up to the details of the village houses. In many rural areas, houses are made of stone and mud, and often are really very pretty.

Chainpur by night

I love these stone slate roofs

I wonder how this will change after the earthquake - with the relief operations iron sheets are fast proliferating, and I'm guessing that with time they will make it from temporary shelters onto the roofs of the rebuilt houses (and you can't blame people if the iron sheets leak less than the stone slates).

Temporary shelter and shop in one. This lady and her husband sell sweets and snacks next to a school

Whether made of mud or sheets, houses are generally kept very organised.  

This incredible lady belongs to the Dalit community, the lowest cast. Though officially abolished, the cast system is still alive in Nepal. Her stone-and-mud house was damaged during the earthquake. She rebuilt it with the help of the neighbours, as her husband is chronically ill and she's effectively in charge of the household.

Rural life is definitely hard, more so for women who (like everywhere) just never seem to stop.

 

Carrying fodder for animals... though women also carry 50kg cement bags

What had struck me in Uganda was that it was quite rare to see old people around - an entirely different story here. And they are definitely engaging in the community life.

This lady would usually bring me a cup of tea in the morning

 

And while especially with the older people traditional clothings prevail (though for some reason, teachers in Chainpur seem to have a thing for stripy trousers), sometimes you come across some fashion statements that just have to make you smile.

And the place itself is beautiful. With the monsoon's cloudy days, it took me almost two months of going to Chainpur to realise that there are quite some mountains to be seen from there. 

Some of those white things are not clouds...

The morning walk to the water tap

Manaslu, apparently

When I started working in Chainpur, the monsoon was in full swing, with the corresponding amount of mud...


... and rice had just been planted.

Over the following months, along the progress of my projects I could also see the progress of the rice...

And by the time I was finishing, the rice was being harvested.

 

Rice is of course a major staple food in most parts of Nepal, and something you can't really escape from, whether for breakfast or for dinner: in Nepal people usually eat only twice a day - in mid-morning (at around 10am) and in the evening (at around 7pm). And on both occasions, especially in the rural areas, you get almost invariably dal bhat: a huge mountain of steamed rice with thin lentil soup and sides usually of spicy vegetables, on special occasions also including meat. 

Dal bhat comes in a magical unlimited supply - your plate gets generously replenished with any of the ingredients as many times as you want during the meal. Considering the quantity it comes in, I don't really understand how anyone manages to finish the initial portion, let alone get a second helping, but perhaps I'm not completely representative there.

I do enjoy dal bhat, but I admit that when it lands in front of you for the third day in a row for this late breakfast... well, it's a point when I start looking forward to getting back to Kathmandu :-)