Day 7: Making the most of a rainy day

Today it rained.  A lot.  Then it rained some more.  When that finished, we decided to start our hike for the day.  Then it rained again.  It finished raining just about the time we got back to the hotel in the afternoon.

We decided last night to hike with our guide and an Indian couple to a temple a couple of hours away.  Despite the rain, we decided we ought to head out, arming ourselves with umbrellas and rain jackets.  We started hiking during a short respite in the rain, which was back on soon after we left.  The rain was steady, though fortunately not torrential.  Instead of going along back trails and seeing many homes like yesterday, today we walked mainly down the dirt road and into the valley.

Hiking in the rain and the clouds.

These kids were playing a table game.

Along the way, we chatted with the Indian couple, Chetan and his wife, whom were married only nine days ago and were taking their honeymoon in peaceful Nepal.  They had just come from New Delhi, like us, and found Nepal much more calm than India.  As we headed down the half cobblestone, half dirt road, we came out of the clouds and into the valley.  The valley was filled with rice terraces as far as the eye could see.  Many of these terraces had men and women doing what must have been backbreaking work in them.  We even saw one woman stand up and stretch and massage her back.

Some of the terraces.

People working in the terraces.

Thanks to today’s rain and the rain of days passed, water flowed down the road.  For a long stretch, the road was turned entirely to mud, requiring careful navigation to prevent submerging one’s feet.  Traversing such mud made one realize just how wet it is here, and how everyone here has to live in such conditions.  We had rain jackets and umbrellas to protect us from the rain, but not all of the locals did.  We saw many people, especially children walking around in the mud in their bare feet.

Walking down a muddy road.

Walking along the wet cobblestone road.

After many miles of walking, Chetan’s wife grew too tired to continue.  We later found out that we had walked about eight miles at this point.  We found a small shop to sit and wait while our guide called his “mama” (Indian/Nepali term for uncle), who would bring a jeep to take us the rest of the way to the temple and then back to the hotel.  The jeep took about an hour to arrive, but we got to sit down and talk with Chetan and his wife about life.

All four of us sitting in a shop.

The shop's kitchen

Eventually, the jeep arrived and we all squeezed in.  The ride up the rest of the way took about ten minutes and was rather slow and bumpy up the mud and cobblestone, but that made it exciting.  When the jeep had gone as far as it could, we saw that there were still some stairs to climb to get to the temple, so Chetan and his wife decided to stay at the jeep.  Good thing too, because 517 steep steps later, Greg and I were quite worn out ourselves.  The temple itself was quite small, and honestly not that impressive, but it have a different, more Chinese style than the Indian temples.

Driving in the jeep.

Only one more flight…

Monkeys at the temple

One of the temple buildings. Another one was a standard brick building that a monk lived in.

Back at the jeep, we all climbed back in and headed back for the hotel.  It was an exciting, bumpy, slippery hour-long ride back to the hotel, which was quite fun and made us quite glad we did not have to climb back up.  I never did get the view of the craggy Himalayas I wanted, but as we neared the top on our ride back, I did get a glimpse at the craggy, snow capped peeks in the distance.  Today was quite an adventure; I hope we can have more like it!

Kids finishing school.

We made it back!