Lahachowk, Nepal: Trekking and Exploring after our Volunteer Experience

After taking our leave of our friends at Lahachowk, we spent a day at Pokhara getting some shopping done and preparing for the trek. Because some of our group had already been trekking before working at the village there would only be 3 of us up the mountains this week. Lucy had started her trek a day earlier so that she could spend a full week on the trail. So, early on the 21st Brad and I hopped into a taxi and, with Navin as Guide and Chit as Porter, headed up the road for the trail-heads leading into the Annapurna Range. After about two hours' drive, we got out of the taxi near the village of Birethanti, the place where almost everyone must start their treks, even those high-altitude climbers heading up to Annapurna's tallest peaks.
Our trek was more modest - a planned 5-day effort that would get us up as high as about 3,190m (~10,500'). On the initial half-day, I was very impressed by the sheer number of trekkers we met coming out of the mountains, at the tail-end of their respective travels. We passed by hundreds and I cannot imagine what it must be like in the height of the trekking season. For the morning, the trail was quite sedate and I thought, "Hey, this is a snap. Annapurna next!". Then, after lunch at Tikhedhungga, the trail went vertical. We climbed forever (the map quoted 3,280 steps - and I believe every one of them), or at least a couple of hours, up to our first over-night stop at Ulleri. The elevation difference was only just over 400m (1,375'), but my legs thought it was a trifle more. I guessed that my pack only weighed about 30 lbs., so I have no idea how some of the porters we saw made it up the hills with at least 100 lbs on their backs.
The guest house at Ulleri was comfortable and, after a pleasant supper, we hit the hay for a good night's rest. The following day was easier and we made our destination, Ghorepani, by noon. We had started yesterday morning at Birethanti at an elevation of 1,050m and had made Ghorepani, elevation 2,860m, by mid-day the following day. That's an elevation difference of over 1,800m (`6,000') in about 6 hours total hiking, so I thought that we weren't actually doing too badly for a pair of old goats (speaking for myself, at least).
Ghorepani is near the famous "Poon Hill" - a must-see spot for trekkers in this area. From Poon Hill (el. 3,193m) it's possible to get a lovely panorama of the Annapurna peaks and the idea is to get up early to climb the hill and watch the sunrise on the peaks. Of course, it helps to have nice weather when one does this. So, next morning at 5am, Navin knocks on our door and up we get to make the 330m (1,100') vertical climb for the view. In the cold. Before breakfast. Before coffee, even! And although it was very dark, I knew that it was not an auspicious sign when it began to snow. Nevertheless, it was interesting, if surreal, to join several hundred other of the faithful, most with headlamps on, mostly in single file, trudging up through the snow flakes to see the sunrise. Well, at least there was an enterprising Nepali couple at the top of Poon Hill ready and waiting to sell us cups of warm, delicious coffee. Oh, yes - we did see a narrow band of pink below solid overcast before heading back down for breakfast in what had by now turned to rain.
So, onwards to the next destination village of Tadapani where we arrived for a late lunch and plenty of time to try to keep warm in the unheated guest house. Supper was very convivial with trekkers from all over the world all sitting around a communal dining table, talking and eating supper. And trying to keep warm. Did I mention that it was quite cold at Tadapani? Coldest part of the trip.
Next morning, we had an early, but pleasant surprise. Navin again knocked on our door, this time at 3am, saying, "View! View!". And view there was. The clouds had cleared and Annapurna South stood there in all her majesty, her lofty snow-covered crown glowing in the light of a full moon. That was a sight to remember and one well worth getting up at 3am for!
That day was the best for weather and all during the down-hill traverse we were treated to beautiful views of the Annapurna peaks, Machhapuchhre ("Fishtail") and other peaks in the vicinity. Our next stopping place was Syauli Bazar where we planned to meet up with Lucy as she made her way down from Annapurna Base Camp or ABC as it is commonly referred to locally. As we made our way down the mountain into the lower elevations, the trail increasingly became more surrounded by almost jungle-like vegetation. We were even treated to a scene of a group of monkeys scampering about in the trees - not expected by me, for sure!
Lucy was waiting for us at Syauli Bazar, just as planned and entertained us with her accounts of her trek up to ABC. She was as high as 4,130m (just over 13,500') and said that she had begun to appreciate the effects of higher altitudes. We enjoyed a fine supper together and made ready for our final day on the mountains.
The last leg down from Syauli Bazar to Birethanti seemed to go by very quickly and almost before I knew it, we were back where we began our trek. Navin had ordered us a large van for a taxi which arrived, almost on time, and before long we were heading back to Pokhara.
It was with some sadness that we bid farewell to Navin and Chit when we dropped them off to make their way back home to Lahachowk. Both had been most helpful on the trek and good company and I very much hope to repeat the excursion in the near future.

There's not too much to tell after that - within 24 hours we were on a plane to Kathmandu. Once there, we took a taxi over the ancient city of Bhaktapur where we met up with Jen. The next day we spent walking around the old city and taking in the picturesque pagodas and temples. It's a very pleasant and worthwhile end to any visit to Nepal and I highly recommend it.
Looking back, it's hard to imagine all that we had done in three weeks. I know that I will return and I hope it will not be too long in the future. With luck, it will be for a return trip to Lahachowk to work on the irrigation canals and another date with Annapurna.

Ralph Bullis
DWC Team Leader
Nepal 2011

Lahachowk, Nepal: Our last day of work and saying farewell

Our last day of work! The masons were off work taking care of their own business this morning, but we continued to haul materials up the hill and to lay in the stone “pavement” in preparation for the cement pour. The village has been great in providing local volunteers to assist us, and we have to keep in mind that this is a very busy time for them as they bring in their harvest of rice and millet. The farmers are in the paddies from early morning until late in the afternoon, cutting and drying crops, stacking them then using harnessed cattle walking on the stalks to assist in liberating the rice grains from the stalks. Once the grains have been separated and collected, they are winnowed to get rid of the chaff and finally bagged for storage. All of this is done using manual labor except when using the cattle to separate the grains. We continually watch in awe as huge loads of grain sheaves and bags of grain are carried from the fields on the backs of people and it is often the women who do most of the carrying. Harvesting of wood for use in cooking is also done manually with loads of logs carried down the mountain on peoples’ backs. It’s humbling for me to think how easy we have it back home and how much simpler and more productive life can be with all of our mechanized aids.
We had transport arranged back to Pokhara for mid-afternoon but we were delayed by a broken-down truck on the road that had to be moved before our 4x4 Land Rover look-alike taxi could come to get us. Finally, we departed the village with many tears and promised to return as soon as we were able. Navin’s family and neighbors have really made us feel at home and for all of us, and especially participants Brad and Jen, it was a sad departure.
Although the Canadian contingent is no longer on-site, we are encouraged to know that we do have a significant part of our project budget still unspent and that Navin will be using these funds to pay for masons and other workers to continue the work on the canals.

Ralph Bullis
DWC Team Leader
Nepal 2010

Lahachowk, Nepal: Dropping off our donated items

Today was a multi-tasking kind of day. This morning, Karen, Betty and Bruce all went to visit the schools to drop off the items many of the volunteers had carried to Nepal for the students – pens, pencils, scribblers, erasers, etc. The gifts were gratefully received and the volunteers had a chance to see first-hand just how impoverished the schools are for teaching materials. It must be very discouraging for both teachers and students alike to struggle with lack of supplies we take for granted in Canada.
This afternoon Karen, Lyle and Lucy all took their leave of the village, with some sadness. It hardly seems possible that two weeks have passed so quickly. And tomorrow, the rest of us will be gone as well.

Ralph Bullis
DWC Team Leader
Nepal 2010

Lahachowk, Nepal: Last day with the full team

This will be the last day of work on the project with the full crew. Tomorrow afternoon Karen, Lyle and Lucy will leave Lahachowk. Karen and Lyle will be starting the long trip home and Lucy will start her trek on Friday. Brad and I hope to link up with her sometime next week along our trek in the Annapurna Range.
Most of the day was spent hauling bags of sand, aggregate and stones in addition to laying the “paving” – small stones that are placed in a fish-scale pattern on the base of the irrigation canal that act as support for the cement as well as filling space and leveling the base.
This evening the “village mothers” – a local group of mothers and grandmothers organized to raise funds for less fortunate women in the village – came over to Navin’s home to entertain and generally have a good time with the volunteers. There was a lot of singing, drumming and, of course, dancing. It seemed as though everyone participated, each to their own abilities, and everyone had a good time. The party wound down at the scandalous hour of 9pm.

Ralph Bullis
DWC Team Leader
Nepal 2010

Lahachowk, Nepal: Attended ACAP meeting

Today we were invited out by ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area Project) to come to the next village up the valley to discuss a home-stay program with them. We were supposed to arrive in time for an 11 am meeting and it was reported to be a two-hour walk. So, to be on the safe side, we had an early breakfast and got started by about 8:30 am. The walk through Lahachowk and up the river valley was quite lovely – plenty of pretty farm homes and buildings with very healthy-looking market gardens.
Our walk took us up the valley, to the next village of Anand where we were invited to stop in and have a look at a computer training facility for the village children. The facility consisted of one completed building housing a lab and a classroom and a second building under construction. The project is being sponsored by an NGO out of Europe and it appears that it is well utilized by the local students.
After about two hours we arrived at the meeting place, in plenty of time for our 11 o’clock meeting. Unfortunately, our meeting did not start until about 1:30 pm and it followed a lunch put on for us by ACAP. Both lunch and the meeting were held at the local community centre and by the time the meeting had ended (people kept arriving throughout the meeting) the place was pretty much full. Men sat on one side of the meeting room and women on the other, all on the floor matting. The was a young child, just barely learning how to walk, that wandered around the room and kept everyone amused with her antics. Torrential rain began halfway through the meeting and had everyone wondering just how wet we would get on the walk home. However, it was so late by the time the meeting ended that we decided to take a taxi back to Lahachowk in order to get our scheduled taxi to take us from our guest house into Pokhara for the weekend.
We scrambled to get our dirty clothes and other weekend accouterments together in a hurry, piled into the Land Rover taxi and bounced down the hill to Pokhara, arriving before dark at the Giri Guesthouse. After a very welcome hot shower and a shave (in my case!), we wandered off to the Moon Dance Restaurant for a lovely supper.

Ralph Bullis
DWC Team Leader
Nepal 2010

Lahachowk, Nepal: Harvest Season in the Village

Our first day of work! Weather is clear and warm, about 25C – just about perfect for being outside. We can see the towering top of Annapurna South peeking over the Most of the villagers are in the fields, bringing in the rice crop now so we don’t expect that they will be able to assist us very much at the moment. We can see them cutting the rice for drying, then carrying the stalks in enormous bundles on their backs from the paddies to the locations where the stalks are stacked in a round, peaked stack. When the stalks have thoroughly dried, they are threshed with the aid of teams of cattle and water buffalo that walk over them. The rice kernels are then winnowed using large round fan-like implements until the rice grains are fairly clean. The rice is then bagged and carried from the fields in large sacks, once again on people’s (mainly women) backs, and kept in storage until it’s time to use it.

Ralph Bullis
DWC Team Leader
Nepal 2010

Lahachowk, Nepal: Work progress has begun

Today we got quite a bit of progress, especially after the local masons arrived. We got part of the canal cemented, which was very rewarding for all of us who really needed some encouragement. Also, I’m no longer as frustrated about the lack of planing because it turned out that Navin had a sufficient idea of what needed to be done, the costs involved, etc, even though he didn’t have a detailed engineering map. Navin had it all in his head: what sector of the village was suffering most from water loss, which parts of the canal needed reinforcement, etc. This certainly was reassuring, even though, we still had a problem of planning and consistency, because as it turned out the District government had built the existing irrigation canals (at at least the vast majority of them) about 24 years ago. So essentially, we have been working on top of their work without any idea of the initial plans. This can be very frustrating at times, or very rewarding in some cases, as was the case today when we accidentally found the bottom of the canal from 24 years ago about a foot below the level where we were digging. Hah. This way we saved 8000 Rupees worth of materials.

Lucy Rodina
DWC Participant
Nepal 2010

Lahachowk, Nepal: First couple of days

We arrived in Lahachowk on Tuesday morning around 10 to be welcomed with an expected welcome ceremony, much shorter this time because the rice harvesting is at its peak right now. Everyone in the village is very busy on the fields, which is also the reason why we will be working mostly on our own (unlike last time) because it will be hard to hire local laborers to help us.
In the afternoon we insisted that the local development committee shows us the working plans so that we get an informed understanding of what the big picture is and what our short-term objectives are for the next couple of weeks. After our first day working I came to the conclusion that it’s a better idea to focus on a little projects at a time as opposed to trying to come up with a long-term plan because it will be virtually impossible right now. Following Navin’s knowledge of the local irrigation system, the plan we came up with was to work on a deteriorated section of the canal, about 150 meters in length, in the upper level of the village, where the poor condition of the canal has been causing a lot of water loss.

Lucy Rodina
DWC Participant
Nepal 2010

Lahachowk, Nepal: Our arrival

Off to Lahachowk! We loaded up the Land Rover taxi with all our many bits of baggage and left Pokhara shortly after breakfast. After a brief stop for water at the Penguin bottling works we continued on our way towards Pokhara. We left pavement at Buger and proceeded along a very rough road that wound and twisted along the valley side as it made its way slowly up the mountains. Below us was the River and we could see the huge pipe that carries the water supply for the city of Pokhara.
After about an hour and half, we arrived in the village of Lahachowk. Nothing could have prepared us for the welcome waiting for us there. In an open field were collected about 50 or so of the villagers, complete with a band and garlands of marigolds. We were all adorned with a tikka and a garland and were invited to take a seat on the waiting chairs. Several village officials gave welcoming addresses then we were treated to a number of dances performed by individual villagers. Of course, we were all eventually invited to participate, which we did. It was all great fun and, I’m sure, left an indelible impression on all our memories.
After a delicious lunch, prepared by Navin’s brother, Purcas, we took a tour of the village and the surrounding fields and rice paddies. Navin took us up to the work site on the hill side where the students did their work during the initial Nepal trip this May. The extent of the repairs and difficult location were both impressive. We’re finding it very helpful for one of the students who was here in May, Lucy Rodina, to be with us on this trip also. Her perspective and advice are appreciated. We also had with us for the afternoon the district engineer, Deependra, and he went over with us the location and extent of the remediation work that we expect to complete during our stay. We will be widening a 125 metre stretch of irrigation canal and building retaining walls for that section in addition to cleaning out about 50 metres of old canal. All work will be by means of pick and shovel, so we will be getting a work-out!

Ralph Bullis
DWC Team Leader
Nepal 2010

The Second Team of Volunteer Arrives November 2010.

Developing World Connections volunteers began serving the village of Lahachowk in May 2010. There is no internet connection in the village that is near Pokhara and so rarely are there immediate posting done by volunteers or Developing World Connections Team Leaders.

The next Team is scheduled to arrive in Lahachowk November 1st, 2010 for a 2 week volunteer experience. The Team will be working alongside community members on an irrigation ditch.

For more information on the community-led project or on international volunteer experiences, please visit developingworldconnections.org