SATURDAY

There are no clinics today - the staff day ‘off’. Despite having never ridden a motorbike, the supervisor thinks it is a good idea for me to drive us on our morning trip to the local hot springs! It seems my long legs are decisive: he is very short! For me to learn on a helter-skelter dirt track with stones and a sheer drop alongside does not seem wise! But somehow we survived the three miles: we could have walked! 


The sight of the deep, almost empty, algae bottomed ‘bath’ was not inspiring, despite the moderate stream of hot water flowing into it that created a hot shower one could bathe under. Rather, we shuffled our way past down to the fast flowing cold river below. I swam 30m or so downstream close to the edge, exhilarated by the coldness. Being a weak swimmer, my guide then explained that there are riverside hot pools 40m further downstream at the bend in the river. So I jump in again and semi-drift to the edge where the sulphur aroma appears. There is almost burning, hot water seeping out from the rocks but we have jug! Just below, at the rushing bend in the river, there is a convenient sand bank with 4ft deep cold water we dip in. And then we can wash and rinse with jug fulls of warm water! Amazing. 


En route we met a group of four young and very dusty boys. They had set fish traps in the river last night, made of rope and nylon ‘lasso’ loops. They tried to sell us one 7inch fish and some tiny ones, worth £4/kg it seems! Our chef had been gutting a kilo of fish as we departed: tasty breakfast and dinner for the four of us! 


Before dusk we walked up a steep path to a ‘garden’ & large goat pen high above the river. We were met by father and daughter and their 5 (goat) kids and a pregnant goat. The pen contained banana palms and lemon trees alongside many fast growing trees that supplied the leaves as fodder for the goats. There is winter wheat a foot tall, adjacent to onions. 


On descending I can see the devastation across the river wrought by a surge of rain during the Monsoon: the heaviest day for 35 years. It had come from the high hills, down the large gulley, through the road, then diverting and destroying a house and many low lying small fields, leaving a trail of rocks that now spread across the valley floor. Fortunately no lives were lost but villagers had clearly been traumatised. 


After supper we played Pontoon, which was a great way to practice my Nepalese numbers! 

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