NEPAL 041112 Trek day #6: A Layover in Ghandruk

Dear Friends

Our layover day began with a move next door to the “Himalayan View End” of the fourth floor corridor of the Annapurna Lodge.  You will be glad to know that I, in a fit of modesty and with a slight embarrassment over the lack of precision, did not add the elevation gain and loss of the many trips up and down to and from the 4^th floor to the elevation gain and loss statistics for our trek.

After breakfast, Dick, Maisie and I set out with Jawane and his right hand man Tsering to explore Ghundruk, a handsome village of 270 Gurung families.  Our first stop was the Gurung Traditional Museum which featured interesting collections of household, hunting, and farming equipment displayed on the first floor of a typical two-story home.  We browsed around and learned that the design of the equipment we had been seeing in use in the terraced fields along our trek had not changed for decades, maybe even centuries. As if to confirm this observation, later in the day we saw a man driving an ox down one of Ghandruk’s many stone paths and carrying a WOODEN plow over his shoulder.  The only metal on the plow was a thin strip on its “cutting-into-the-soil” edge. When we returned for lunch, we saw a line of four colorfully dressed women harvesting wheat with sickles on a terrace next to our lodge.  As they chatted and/or smoked cigarettes, they sliced off the grain-bearing heads of the wheat plants ONE-AT-A-TIME and dropped them into baskets.  An elderly couple using the same sort of small sickles followed the women along the mini wheat field and cut the wheat stalks off near the ground for bundling and removal, perhaps for bedding of animals, or maybe straw mattresses for people (I am happy to report that we did not personally experience this possible form of rural Nepali bedding.).

An overview of Ghandruk showing its typical handsome slate-roofed buildings, the village Gompa in the top center, farm terraces in the center, the Kushal Guest House with its satellite dish at the bottom, and a cell phone tower on the hilltop in the upper left.

 Our next stop was the village Gompa (Buddhist temple) easily recognized by the long strings of hundreds of prayer flags flying from its roof.  This village temple was a compact version of the larger gompas we visited at the monasteries in Boudha.  In this smaller, more casual setting it was fun to recognize the features of a temple that had become familiar:  the colorful large murals on the walls, the niches in the altar for storing the cloth-wrapped sacred texts, statues of the Buddha and teachers in various manifestations, the musical instruments, seats for the lamas, beautiful cloth banners, etc.  Here we felt welcome to linger and take a closer look at the bells, drums, cymbals, and double reed “not-oboes” left in this small ceremonial space. 

As we were leaving the Gompa, a “birding attraction” drew our attention: a green-tailed, red rooster and a white hen were taking a dirt bath in the vegetable garden, sharing the bowl-like depression in the loose soil -- like a long-married couple maneuvering for the best position their matrimonial bed -- while shimmying deeper into the earth with apparent pleasure 8787 [“8787” is one of my cat’s contributions to this series of emails.  During visits to my desk, she often stands on the computer keyboard’s numeric keypad. This time I did not delete her accidental offering.].  As we watched the bathing chickens with pleasure, Maisie commented, “I’ve been writing memos at work saying that chickens raised cage-free can do their normal behaviors like take dirt baths, but this is the first time I have seen it.”  I was charmed by her enthusiasm for this humble chicken pastime.  She made a video. I also captured this chicken spa moment.

Mr. and Mrs. Chicken enjoy a conjugal dust bath at the Ghandruk Gompa (vegetable) Garden Spa.

The next stop on our touristic itinerary was the Annapurna Conservation Area  Project (ACAP) visitor center.  The center has displays of pictures of the wildlife of the area, a statement ACAP’s mission, a list of the ACAP employees and their job titles, and some interesting data collected at the ACAP checkpoint at Birethanti.  At each entrance to ACAP there is a checkpoint where each trekker has to present his or her TIMS [Trekkers Information Management System] Card and National Trust for Nature Conservation Entry Permit.

Dick’s and my TIMS Cards and Entry Permits [Dick’s cute, isn’t he?]

Number of Trekkers Visiting the ACAP Area 1996- 201

           The first graph that caught my eyes is above. It shows that the Maoist revolution of 2002 to 2006 cut the number of ACAP trekkers roughly in half.  Many of the battles between the local police and the Maoist were fought in the mountains, and Jawane had told Karma that some of his trekkers having to pay “special fees” to armed Maoist soldiers during those years.  In Chitwan we experienced the “local Maoist tough guy” residual from those revolutionary days of shaking down tourists. After crossing a river bridge on our return to the Hotel Parkview, we were stopped by a young man who asked for money. Gopal recognized him as one of the local Maoist thugs, and handed over some rupees, after which Mr. Maoist Hoodlum coughed on us.  Hmmmm, was HE the source of the germs of the “Group Cold” that plagued us on the trail (and me when I got home)? 

           

Having been greeted by many cheerful trekkers from different countries on the trail, and often saying “Nĭ Hăo” when I should have been saying “Kon’nichiwa,” I was very interested in a chart labeled “Top Ten Countries 2011” that showed the total number of trekkers from each of the ten countries with the most trekkers who had checked in at Birethanti.   Based on this data, I guess I should have hedged my bets and greeted all Asians on the trail with “annyeonghseyo,” although the Korean trekkers only outnumbered the Chinese by 420 last year.

 “Top Ten Countries 2011”

There were also “Top Ten Country” charts displayed for the years 2008, 2009, and 2010 when the British were ranked #1.  This #1 ranking is historically appropriate since Lt. Coronel Jimmy Roberts, a retired British Army officer who had served in India, brought the first tourist hikers to walk and camp in the Nepal Himalaya in the 1960’s.   His legacy includes also naming their hikes “treks” and christening them “trekkers.”   In 2010, trekkers from the top ten countries totaled 22,500 or about ¼ of the estimated 88,000 trekkers hiking, eating, sleeping, and having the time of their lives in ACAP that year.  If we use the (disputed) number of 196 for the total number of countries in the world, the remaining 186 countries account for the other ¾ of the trekkers. That would include the family of three very tall dark brown haired Swedes I met at our hotel in Tadapani.  I surely would have lost a bet with them if I had been asked to guess their nationality.  At dinner the night before I had been wondering, actually, “Are they Italian? Maybe Spanish?”

Leaving the ACAP visitor’s center for the hotel, we gave quiet thanks for not having to use the village’s helicopter pad.  Jawane had told us earlier that, based on his experience trekking with tourists he always included emergency evacuation insurance in his fee.  He was probably breathing his own sighs of relief.

After lunch we prepared packages of tips and gifts for our porters and helpers to receive the next morning, and watched the afternoon storm clouds from our cozy 4^th floor rooms.

Dick and Marian’s gifts and tips for the porters and helpers and Jawane (who got the duct tape and Leatherman Tool).

Our neighborhood storm, Ghardruk, Nepal, Wednesday April 11, 2012 .

Love and hugs, Marian (Chico, CA 05/25/12)