Shivalia to Bhandar

 May 10th,  1230

Midday rest stop at Deurali allows me to catch up on today's adventure.

We decided to get started earlier than yesterday so we ate breakfast and got on the trail at 0740.

I thought yesterday was a tough climb. Today we got an education.

We went up steps. We went up inclines.  We went up dry creekbeds.  We climbed 3050 feet in five hours. Not much for climbers and marathon runners, but for our party of one old man, two medium old men and one 36 year old office worker, it was a tester. Like climbing from Seattle to the height of Snoqualmie Pass on a stairway. 

We crossed an ancient bridge and passed the occasional old mani walls, but always going up. 

We stopped for lunch here in Deurali and rested our tired bones. I had vegetable and garlic soup and a bowl of vegetable curry. There was a jar of Schezuan pepper (Ramesh called it Nepali pepper)  on the table so added a spoonful to my garlic soup. Tasty and tingly at the same time.  the curry turned out to be a sort of vegetable stew with very little soup. Good but no curry in it. 

Heard some thunder so stepped outside to find the clouds rolling in. We (Ramesh) decided it was time to go so we headed downhill to our teahouse for tonight in Bandara. 

We dropped from 8150 feet to about 7000 on a steep trail cut in several places by the new road they have punched in. 

I was about 100 feet from our teahouse when the first big drops kicked up dust so ran to the teahouse and got out of the downpour just in time. 

The sponge on the bed in Jiri was firm. The one in Shivalia was so soft it was easy to ground out on the plywood base. The one here in Bandara is so firm it's like sleeping on a carpeted floor. Good thing I like a firm bed.

Mike and I share rooms as we go along. The view out our window today is a pastoral scene.  There is a field with a nak (female yak) tethered to a piece of rebar. An  old stone wall runs along our side of the pasture. On this side of the wall are calla  lilies, an apricot tree, a prickly pear tree loaded with fruit and some beautiful red roses. In a garden nearby I saw nasturtiums, snap dragons, chrysanthimums and several kinds of daisies.  An interesting microclimate here in this part of Nepal at 7000 feet. 

This teahouse has a community dining area, toilet, kitchen and shower (cold water only) on the ground floor. Upstairs (45° with 12" risers)  are nine sleeping rooms.  Ours has three beds and a single compact florescent bulb. No electric plugs upstairs since they sell one battery charge for one dollar downstairs. 

The kitchen has an interesting cook stove. Looks like it is made of high temperature mortar hand formed over brick.