Day THREE

It was a long day today, we had a 6am start to load up the minibus and start our journey to Toulimadou, a small hillside village in the Ramechap district.  We were soon to be out of the busy hustle and bustle of Kathmandu only a short distance to the countryside, beautiful tree covered hills with the road winding back and forth up the valley.

We stopped on the way to have chia and chapati, freshly cooked by the raodside. A well timed break from the confines of the bus.

Really really twisty turny!

Beautiful scenery..........stunning.

Myself and Manoj are staying in the families accomodation, whilst the females are all staying in the tent.  I feel privilaged to be here sharing with them, they have been so helpful and kind to allow this.  As far as I can tell there are three generations staying in this one bedroom, its a temporary hut made from bamboo with a tin roof, they'll use this until there houses are made safe.  Which in most cases will require a full rebuild.  The issue is, if there is another earthquake then the house will collapse with them all inside.  So they use their houses for cooking and eating but not for sleeping.

We had our first meal with the family, making us all feel very welcome, it feels so natural to sit and share our stories while they share their food.  It highlights, for me, the way we are less interactive with each other in our culture.  This is by far the better way to interact with each other, family friends or neighbours, seeing people smile and hear them laugh, sharing all that is good.

It has been a long day i'm glad to get in my sleeping bag and put my head to rest.  We have a spot on the floor near the door, the family have wooden beds.  I don't know why i'm surprised but they have a TV in the room which they watch for about an hour before all retiring to sleep.