Bahundanda

These events happened on March 24. We left the town of Ngadi, which
although shown on the trekking map because of the three teahouses
located there, is no more than a couple of huts on the side of the
Masange river. Crossing the river by suspension bridge the path became
quite steep and we all reached for our untouched trekking poles. You
know the fancy telescoping carbon ones we bought in Kathmandu a few
days prior. It was slightly less hazy than the days before as we were
starting to emerge from the pollution as we gained altitude. The
valley looked beautiful but as of yet we still had no breathtaking
views of the mountains. We climbed in the upwardly direction until we
clambered into the hilltop town of Bahundanda at lunchtime. After some
less than colossal dal bhat, I had a cold shower and did my laundry.
Laundry on the trail means filling a five gallon pail with cold
water from the one inch PVC pipe sticking from the side of the hill,
grabbing a red bar of the foul-smelling laundry soap and scrubbing all
surfaces of the clothing until they appear clean. You slosh them
around in the pail a bit more then rinse. The clothing is hung usually
without clothes pegs because they are scarce and hard to find.
After a little nap, I played a round of golf and then we all played
PS3 in this village kids basement. Wow... Wait a sec. After a little
nap, I walked around the village and checked to see if my laundry was
dry. Supper rolled around and I brought in my clean clothes. They were
scattered across the hillside because the evening wind blew them there
and clothespins were indeed scarce and hard to find. It got dark as if
someone had switched out the light and I climbed up to bed. It was
then I heard drums. The sound of little voices joined in. I was
intrigued. Grabbing my camera, I stole down to get a closer look. From
the hotel on the hill I could make out shapes moving in the dark
village square below me. I sat on the steps and was absorbing the
music when I was approached by a young boy of ten and a little girl of
maybe three. They grabbed me by the hands and pulled me running to the
village square below. There I discovered about forty village children
aged two to thirteen dancing and singing and drumming (one even had a
guitar). When I went back to bed I could not believe what had
happened. It was just so spontaneous it was great!