Day 4: A Hike to the Top of the Mountain

Morning views

Nepali Orchids

We were up at 5:30am this morning ready for a hike to the top of the mountain that sits behind Gaunshahar. We fuelled up with a breakfast of milky chia tea, toast and an omelette before beginning.

Flower gifts

Shamser on the hike

The 9.7km loop took us past the ruins of the royal family's palace, a defensive castle and many traditional Nepali round houses. The scenery changed as the altitude increased and we passed through forest, jungle and open spaces. Soonita, the friendly teacher from school, accompanied us and as a result I ended up with flowers in my hair, flowers in my hand and her scarf around my neck. Also along for the journey was the largest dog in the village, who is affectionately known as 'Lion', and his puppy. A large leopard had come into Gaunshahar last night and eaten a goat. The dogs were with us to keep an eye out for the leopard. While Soonita told us that she could smell the leopard at one point but the closest we came was spotting some of its dung.

350 year old round house

Curious goat

On the way back down the mountain we visited the village where Shamser was rebuilding a lady's house and had tea and biscuits at the home of another teacher from school. The long hike back to Gaunshahar followed the stony, rough and slippery road. It was better than pushing our way through thorny bushes though.

After walking up 600m, and back down again, we were happy to be home and able to sit and relax for a little while. Lion joined us and lay down for a well earned nap. We had an early lunch of dal baht while we waited to be told what the afternoon would consist of.

Deelay

The afternoon was lazy one. Chris moved some bags of cement and then had a nap while I helped Deelay fill cement bags with sand and stone. The next stage of this event showed off Deelay's incredible strength and stamina when I helped him lift these giant bags onto his back, held in place by a strap around his forehead.

As Chris and I don't do sitting around well, we wanted to go for a walk and thought we may as well go down the hill to Besishar. Despite being advised by Shamser that nothing would be open, we took a bag and set off. We followed women and children carrying huge loads of firewood and were just reaching the edge of the village when Chris remembered we hadn't any money with us. Back up the hill we went. By this stage it was too late to do anything so I showered and intended to have a relaxing evening. Before long though, there was demolition work that needed doing.

Harnesses? Yeah right

Shamser told us that he needed the advice of an engineer before he could begin the deconstruction process. The old house was unstable and very close to the new house. He looked at Chris, who was apparently now an engineer, and put his complete trust in every word Chris spoke. Shamser took Chris onto the roof of the thirty year old house and piece by piece they began tearing it down. It was a complicated process made more so by the interesting Nepali way in which the house had been constructed in the first place. And it was dangerous work too. Kay and I were carrying a shelf away when a piece of the timber fell and hit us both on the head. Add to that a cut from the old rusty tin and I was glad we had had our tetanus injections.

To end the evening of work Shamser's had a gift for Deelay. As he won't accept money, had already had his large quota of whiskey for the day, and had been working especially hard, Shamser gave him a pair of hand-me-down shoes. Closed in shoes. Deelay could not have been happier.

Once darkness began to fall we started a campfire with wood from our deconstruction work and sat around it eating out dal baht and drinking our mint tea thanks to the mint we gathered on our hike this morning.

An insight into some of the people of Gaunshahar:

Shamser: the man in charge of it all. The principal of the school. Shamser is well travelled and has returned to his village of Gaunshahar with a vision to improve his community. While others in the community may not yet understand or approve of the changes, he remains steadfast in his plans

Kulpana: Shamser's wife. Kulpana spends the majority of the day cooking meals for the volunteers, workers and her family. She is a caring woman who works tirelessly despite not always agreeing with her husband's vision

Poojan: Shamser's son. An indulged eight year old who does very little work in school, especially considering he is the son of the principal

Babu: Shamser's nephew. Babu is a spoilt two year old who cries each morning until given cookies. Thankfully, he is especially cute.

Timmy: a forty-something American who, a month ago, sold all of his possessions and moved to Gaunshahar without ever having left his country before. Timmy plans never to leave Gaunshahar and is spending his time helping out Shamser while he finds a wife so he can stay in the country.

Deelay: a drunk construction worker. Every day Deelay arrives to work on Shamser's never ending stream of construction projects. Deelay doesn't know what to do with money. They gave some to him once and he bought it back unsure what it was for. Instead, they pay him in food and whiskey. Despite his constant intoxication he is probably the hardest worker of anyone.

Ba: Shamser's father. Ba is old. Really old. Yet he can still be seen having running races with teen boys while carrying loads of wood and animal feed on his back. Ba is fascinated by the iPad.