Where Is My Hot Water Bottle?

Steve's Blog, March 2nd 

I am back in Kathmandu and I now have Internet service once again. When I last left off in my story, my group left Kathmandu for Pokhara which included a nice seven hour bus tour. The trip was made bearable because, thankfully, there were several stops along the way. The first stop was at some small village along the highway. I could not figure out why we would stop there. Our tour guide walked us past this little store and then I realized what we were going to do. We were going to cross the suspended bridge which was about 100 yards long that was above a river below. We crossed the bridge and came upon this little village that had about every type of shop you could imagine (including a liquor store - I seriously contemplated purchasing some much needed liquid refreshment to endure the remaining four hour bus ride, but I resisted the temptation). 

We stopped for lunch at a place called Manakamana before taking a cable car to the top of the mountain.  After lunch, we boarded a cable car for a ten minute ride up to the top of the mountain which was approximately at 7,000 feet above sea level. We thought that once we reached the top that it would be just a nice viewpoint.  Instead there was a little village with a population of 2,000 residents with all these restaurants, shops, hotels and other businesses,  including a Hindu Temple (not surprising as they  were everywhere) . The views of the surrounding mountain ranges was incredible. We left there and headed to our final destination which was Pokhara and the Hotel Kanipur and checked in. Upon arriving we were quickly ushered into the Pokhara Rotary meeting. This was followed by quick dinner. The hotel did not have Internet access  and I thought to myself "Okay, I can deal with this".  However, when I got back into my room, I realized that the room also included no electricity, no heat (where was my red hot water bottle?) and not much of anything else. I decided that I might as well go to sleep, however there was a restaurant/bar that apparently did have a generator

(as well as very live and noisy entertainment!) We had to get up early the next day and I somehow managed to take a shower and shave in the dark.  No sooner had I finished, the electricity and power turned on!

In the morning, we were scheduled to take a hike to Sarangkot,  which I thought would be a relatively easy hike. We were at approximately 2,000 feet sea level when we began and climbed to a elevation of 5,500 feet. The hike was beautiful, but must have consisted of 2,000 steps which were both concrete and rocks.  I am still sore thinking about it! It took about 45 minutes to complete the hike, but the views were incredible.  There was also a para-gliding take-off launch with maybe 20 para gliders in the air.

Later that afternoon, we had a volunteer project with a group of approximately 15 disabled children at Phewa Lake which was just across from our hotel. We spent the time working on a variety of activities and had a picnic lunch with the kids. After lunch, many of the children were able to take boat rides on the lake with their parents, which was nice to see.  This event was sponsored by the Community Based Rehabilitation Service and TRFIC which is Robert Rose's Foundation. Many of these children were wheel chair bound and will benefit from our clubs participation in the Wheelchair Project which will provide 100 wheel chairs to children in Pokhara and another 100 children in Itultia.  The wheel chairs are assembled by adults with disabilities,  so these individuals are being trained a skill which will provide them employment opportunities in the future.

This morning we returned to Kathmandu.  Today is Festival Day, which is a national holiday with some very interesting traditions. Children block the road with a rope in hope that drivers will pay them rupees if they are allowed to pass. We did give the children a small amount of money. The other tradition is that the women go the temple with their offerings, while the men are encouraged to stay home drink beer and smoke hash (I will wisely declined to comment). On the bus ride back to Kathmandu, however, we did observe what appeared to be some very happy men wandering out of their homes!

Tomorrow,  we are going to attempt the mountain flight again to Mt. Everest. 

Steve Swank is member of the Rotary Club of Des Moines and is on a Rotary sponsored trip to the country of Nepal to view the projects that the club is currently supporting.