Jumla

So, this last week I went out with work to a really remote district of Nepal called Jumla. It was a great trip and really showed another side of Nepal to Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan, which are all fairly developed, especially in terms of the numbers of tourists that visit.

Jumla is 2 small scary plane rides away from Kathmandu. The 2^nd flight is the worst and the plane is smallsmall and old looking, although the non uniformed pilot assured me that it was ok, and had many new parts!

You basically fly up from the southern flat plains into the high Himalayas. Looking out of the window really showed how diverse Nepal's topography is. We flew quite low which was disconcerting, but the amazing views did help distract me a little from me fear of small planes. We seemed to be on the 'poor flight' which is for poor people who can't afford the airfare, but who need to leave Jumla for medical reasons etc. However we most certainly had to pay full foreigner price!

Anyways survived the flight and went into the baggage reclaim room and then out the other side as the baggage didn’t immediately materialise. Right in front of us was a (covered) dead body and a grieving family. Not sure where the body had come from, but I was glad it wasn’t on our plane as the only way it would have fitted was down the aisle! A different way to be greeted off the plane I suppose?!

So off we walked to our hotel... 20min later we arrived. The Ritz it was not, but it did good food (well perhaps I should say good Dhal Bhat - rice and lentils, Nepal's numero uno dish) and we weren't attacked by rats/ bed bugs/ drunken men so I think it was fine just fine! The photo below shows the most glorious bathroom, as it was next to my room, there was an occasional whiff of Eau de Pis!

The bathroom

Front of Hotel:

So yes, you have to walk everywhere in Jumla because there are really no roads as such... although one was supposedly being opened the day we left. It had taken 40 years to build and would not be passable in the rainy season, or winter when snow would cover it. However locals were incredibly hopeful that it would reduce the cost of basic goods, as currently everything has to be flown into the district or brought in on horse back which takes several days. The downside of the road is that it might erode the traditional culture of the district... but I guess only time will tell. Currently there are less than 30 jeeps, tractors and motorbikes in the whole district. Amazing! I only saw one whilst I was there (see photo). You can imagine just how peaceful it all was! Actually there have already been 3 deaths caused by motorised accidents, and several injuries. 2 very injured people joined us on our flight home... more about that later...

The only vehicle I saw in 5 days

So, currently you have to walk from the district headquarters to all of the villages bar one. It is hilly and mountainous terrain and some villages take 2-3 days walk to get to. We only visited villages 1-2 hours walk away, but that still felt pretty isolated, and gave a good impression of how complicated it is to work in such rural areas, and how isolated the people are. Actually the place reminded me of the Gobi in many ways... the dung burning stoves, the frost bitten cheeks, the isolation, the warmth of people not exposed to westerners often, the harsh climate, the most amazingly bright stars at night (wish you had been there with your scope Dad) etc etc. The main difference was the terrain and lack of gers ;o)

Jumla transport 1: Horse/donkey back
Jumla transport 2: Walking - Woman carrying metal sheeting on her head

Jumla has been badly affected by the conflict here, although now things are more peaceful, and there is a lot of new building going on. Below is a photo of some buildings the Maoists bombed out!
One of the best things about Jumla was the beautiful people. I attach some photos below, and more are on FlickR. Such dark skin and weathered faces... and beautiful jewelry. You will see many of the women have nose rings (a little like bulls). This signifies that they are married. The people here are very different from those in Kathmandu!

2 lovely old ladies - their heavy loads hanging from their heads obscured

Check out these earings!

Lovely old man - he was out walking with a small white horse!

The other thing to note in Jumla was the harsh life of women. On top of just being a woman in a partiarchal society that prefers men in pretty much every sphere of life, many many men from Jumla seasonally migrate to India to get construction work, basically in order to support their families. Jumla is a very poor district and there are high levels of malnutrition, hunger, illiteracy etc. Women are left behind to do all of the work. Bringing up children, looking after elderly family members, planting the fields, collecting heavy loads of fuel for the fires, collecting water, shopping etc etc. Given the long distances between places this is some feat. The photo below shows one such lady carrying a heavy basket of logs in the traditional Nepali way, in a basket on her back, supported by a strap not over her shoulders (as in the west) but over her head!

Whilst in Jumla we met a French paraglider who was aiming to fly from far western Nepal all the way to the east. He said he was often landing down in random small villages, I wish I could meet a Nepali who witnessed this, imagine just sitting in your village, never seeing a white person, and then one with plastic wings comes and lands on your doorstep. I guess you would think it was some sort of god or something?!

The last thing I'll write about was the trip home, which had several comedy (in retrospect) moments. So, we trudged up to the airport and waited for a plane. There aren't exactly plane schedules, it all depends on the weather in other remote airports (they fly to the airports where the weather will close in the quickest first), and how much they are being paid to fly what cargo where. At one point we were told our plane had a technical problem and so we were issued with a different boarding pass for a different airline (one that had a fatal crash in Jumla last year)... however that plane didn't show up either, but our plane did - hopefully with technical problems fixed? We waited 3+hrs and by this time the wind was picking up, rushing up the valley. Comfortingly a local collegue told us other flights would probably be cancelled because of the wind, but not ours... so eventually went through 'security'. In Nepal you have to go into a small booth and then a woman (or man if you are male) supposedly checks you and your baggage. So, I walk in and the security guard is breast feeding her baby and a toddler is playing on the floor... hmm. She looked at me and pointed to the other door. Security check over.
The plane landed and we went outside to board it, as I mentioned earlier, 2 very injured people had to come on the plane so that they could get to a hospital. Both were covered in blood, with drips in their arms and looking fairly ill. However the worst thing was that because they were on the plane, and the plane was full 2 people would not be able to fly. Our staff had been trying really hard to get us on the plane, and we were sitting at the back near the door, the 2 people who weren't sitting were another seriously ill looking man, and the person who was supporting him. They were told to get off the plane, and try for the next one (which may or may not come). I felt awful. Should we have given up our seats? Would they have let the white people give up their seats? (our airfares are higher) I don't know... in that state of mind we flew off into the clouds. Waves of panic swept me. How could the pilots see the mountains that I knew were surrounding us?! It was pretty bumpy which made things worse. I was very glad to land in Nepalgunj, and then finally land back in Kathmandu!

So, a long blogedy blog from me!
Peace x