Our second trip to the mountains has been on the cards, but not fully planned, for a while and this was a whole-clinic trip to Ilam, a part of Nepal famous for tea.
It was also meant to be an early start but 6am rapidly became 7am as Laxmi wasn't out of the shower at 6am and then, obviously, all the girls (and me) needed our make-up doing. The taxi driver who would be driving us all day is probably used to this as I know he does most of the driving for Chisang. He happily sat with a cup of tea while the girls all did their make-up and found the correct shoes. Some things in cultures don't change.
Our first stop off on this day-trip was a temple. I had been told that there were 100 steps up to the temple and I don't know whether I hadn't been listening or there was a mis-translation but 100 wasn't even close; which I quickly realised as around every corner there were just more steps. Again, the girls fitness isn't quite up to our own as they are all stick thin with little fat and even less muscle. Therefore, there were many stops on the way to the top which all served as an opportunity to take many photos which, if taken by a Nepali, are all at an angle - I think they must think we are a strange for taking them strictly landscape or portrait!
1,039 steps later we got to the top and had nicely warmed up. Before going into temples in Nepal you are meant to buy something from one of the stalls outside. I had never done this before as I have only ever been to commercial temples that I have had to pay for entry and never with someone who knows what they're doing. This time, however, we were encouraged to find something and so I had fun browsing the stalls and eventually found a bracelet. Nepal comes across as a very religiously tolerant country as Buddhism and Hinduism exist very happily side by side and I have not heard of it ever causing any problems. Among the things on sale there were also crosses and so it does suggest a general acceptance of any and all religions.
The temple was shrouded in mist which gave it a very nice atmosphere although the monkeys appearing out of no-where was a little alarming. There is always a smell of incense around as this is one of things that is placed in the temple - along with bracelets, small sweets and flowers. It's a good atmosphere, even for the unreligious, and everyone is very tolerant of foreigners and don't mind if we take photos or don't follow the exact rules. Again, a good reflection of the Nepalese attitude.
After walking down a path that would belongs on a trekking route we headed off for lunch and then went to see the tea plantations. By this point it was grey, misty, raining and felt very like and English summer. I had been advised that I should bring a jumper and had dug it out from the bottom of my bag and was now very grateful - I had expected to be using more suncream than layers!
To visit the tea plantation we literally stopped on the side of the road and walked into them. This is the great thing about visiting places with people from the country who speak the language and know what they're doing. You can avoid the touristy parts! We wandered amongst the plantations along mud paths which, as it was raining, were fairly slippery. Flip-flops weren't the best choice of footwear and Laxmi gave up and just took hers off. It was great fun wandering about and the girls insisted on many photos and Laxmi was in hysterics at one point for reasons I'm not quite sure about but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
As we headed back towards the van there were some ladies picking leaves who very kindly allowed me to take a photo. I have found this all over Nepal that people don't mind photos as long as you ask. When travelling in South America I found exactly the opposite but the attitudes here are very, very different. One woman made a comment to me including 'ram-ro' which means good and I would guess she was commenting on my kurta and it was lovely to hear from a complete stranger!
Before getting back into the van I managed to give Laxmi something else to laugh at as I slipped down the last bit of very steep and muddy pathway. As always, her laugh was good natured and it was pretty funny and, luckily, I only had one muddy knee so didn't look too ridiculous and wasn't too muddy for the drive back.
While we didn't actually have any tea from Ilam I would guess it's fairly similar to what we drink everyday here anyway. Plus visiting with the girls was much more fun than it would have been on our own and we got to see places that I'm sure we wouldn't have if we were on our own. It was a great day out for the whole clinic. It is also a reflection of how relaxed Nepal is that they can happily shut the clinic for a day with absolutely no warning!
It was also meant to be an early start but 6am rapidly became 7am as Laxmi wasn't out of the shower at 6am and then, obviously, all the girls (and me) needed our make-up doing. The taxi driver who would be driving us all day is probably used to this as I know he does most of the driving for Chisang. He happily sat with a cup of tea while the girls all did their make-up and found the correct shoes. Some things in cultures don't change.
Our first stop off on this day-trip was a temple. I had been told that there were 100 steps up to the temple and I don't know whether I hadn't been listening or there was a mis-translation but 100 wasn't even close; which I quickly realised as around every corner there were just more steps. Again, the girls fitness isn't quite up to our own as they are all stick thin with little fat and even less muscle. Therefore, there were many stops on the way to the top which all served as an opportunity to take many photos which, if taken by a Nepali, are all at an angle - I think they must think we are a strange for taking them strictly landscape or portrait!
1,039 steps later we got to the top and had nicely warmed up. Before going into temples in Nepal you are meant to buy something from one of the stalls outside. I had never done this before as I have only ever been to commercial temples that I have had to pay for entry and never with someone who knows what they're doing. This time, however, we were encouraged to find something and so I had fun browsing the stalls and eventually found a bracelet. Nepal comes across as a very religiously tolerant country as Buddhism and Hinduism exist very happily side by side and I have not heard of it ever causing any problems. Among the things on sale there were also crosses and so it does suggest a general acceptance of any and all religions.
The temple was shrouded in mist which gave it a very nice atmosphere although the monkeys appearing out of no-where was a little alarming. There is always a smell of incense around as this is one of things that is placed in the temple - along with bracelets, small sweets and flowers. It's a good atmosphere, even for the unreligious, and everyone is very tolerant of foreigners and don't mind if we take photos or don't follow the exact rules. Again, a good reflection of the Nepalese attitude.
After walking down a path that would belongs on a trekking route we headed off for lunch and then went to see the tea plantations. By this point it was grey, misty, raining and felt very like and English summer. I had been advised that I should bring a jumper and had dug it out from the bottom of my bag and was now very grateful - I had expected to be using more suncream than layers!
To visit the tea plantation we literally stopped on the side of the road and walked into them. This is the great thing about visiting places with people from the country who speak the language and know what they're doing. You can avoid the touristy parts! We wandered amongst the plantations along mud paths which, as it was raining, were fairly slippery. Flip-flops weren't the best choice of footwear and Laxmi gave up and just took hers off. It was great fun wandering about and the girls insisted on many photos and Laxmi was in hysterics at one point for reasons I'm not quite sure about but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
As we headed back towards the van there were some ladies picking leaves who very kindly allowed me to take a photo. I have found this all over Nepal that people don't mind photos as long as you ask. When travelling in South America I found exactly the opposite but the attitudes here are very, very different. One woman made a comment to me including 'ram-ro' which means good and I would guess she was commenting on my kurta and it was lovely to hear from a complete stranger!
Before getting back into the van I managed to give Laxmi something else to laugh at as I slipped down the last bit of very steep and muddy pathway. As always, her laugh was good natured and it was pretty funny and, luckily, I only had one muddy knee so didn't look too ridiculous and wasn't too muddy for the drive back.
While we didn't actually have any tea from Ilam I would guess it's fairly similar to what we drink everyday here anyway. Plus visiting with the girls was much more fun than it would have been on our own and we got to see places that I'm sure we wouldn't have if we were on our own. It was a great day out for the whole clinic. It is also a reflection of how relaxed Nepal is that they can happily shut the clinic for a day with absolutely no warning!
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