Nagi Gompa expedition

The day started early as we had a long way to go and needed to be sure that we were down the mountain before dark. We had breakfast at 7 a.m. in a restaurant where many Tibetans eat. It was very cold and quite foggy.

We started with a half hour taxi ride to Narangthang - a village on the outskirts of Kathmandu. The latter part of the ride was most interesting, taking us through the older part of the city where some of the residences are quite large and impressive. Then we began a walk. At first it was quite easy along a dirt road, but then we suddenly turned off up a steep track. Our guide for the day was a Tibetan porter called Amdo. We climbed for about 2 hours to his home - a small metal roofed shack surrounded by prayer flags and perched on the edge of the mountain. Here we had cha before setting off on the final part of the climb up to Nagi Gompa.

The gompa (Tibetan Buddhist temple usually with a monastery attached to it with resident monks and nuns) was very beautiful, with many fine paintings on the walls and 5 large, fine statues of Buddhist yidams (meditational awareness beings - sometimes referred to as deities). We enjoyed looking at the gompa and spent a little time practising together as well.

We then climbed back down to Amdo's place for lunch. He had cooked an excellent buff thukpa - buffalo soup with vegetables and noodles. Three nuns live near him and they fussed around us making sure we had something to sit on and clean mugs for our butter tea. After a short rest we set off to walk to Tarabir - a Nepalese village about two hours walk from Amdo's place. First we climbed back up to the army road and then headed off in the opposite direction to Nagi Gompa. Our expedition leader had told us that this part of the walk would be flat. However most of us were not used to an altitude of 3,500 metres, we had already had quite a hard 2 hour climb, and we had not long eaten lunch, so 'flat' felt rather uphill to us. It was also rather hot in the early afternoon sun. We struggled for a while, but gradually the path did level out from the slight incline and the going got easier.

It was delightful to visit a Nepalese village and meet the local people. They appear comfortably off and well dressed and we were happy to see that they did not seem to be especially poor or their lives hard. These people walk up and down the hillside almost daily and do not have access to the facilities we take for granted. They were welcoming and extremely friendly. One lady who knew our expedition leader and guide well gave us each a glass of rakshi - a brew made from fermented millet. It looks like a clear liquid and tastes a little like sake. We were glad of the chance to sit for a little while as we those of unused to altitude (and also not so fit) were feeling a little worn out, but we were also conscious that it would take another three hours to walk down the mountain and it was already well into the afternoon.

Surprisingly the rakshi revived us somewhat and we all felt much better afterwards. Amdo had decided to take us back a different route to usual which was longer but easier. We wove our way along the edge of the tiers of the terraced fields, meeting many more friendly Nepalese, as well as goats, cows, chickens and dogs. We also saw a wild parrot. We had to cross over one ridge to get to the valley beyond. We were all walking quite well now, but decided we could not risk taking a rest until we had crossed the ridge ahead as the sun was getting low in the sky. We crossed the ridge and took a short break at a rest house, sharing water and chocolate.

Then began the steep and difficult descent back to the dirt road. Our leader and Amdo told us that they usually ran down this part of the track, but this was completely impossible for some of our party, so the descent was rather slow. However we arrived at the bottom eventually and before the sun set, though it was dark by the time we got back to Narangthang. It was not possible to find a taxi so we had to take a bus into a part of Kathmandu where we would be able to find one. 'Bus' is the name given to a people carrier, designed to transport about seven or eight people. At one point our 'bus' was carrying 22 people including one baby. Everyone is so cheerful and good natured about the squash that it doesn't seem to matter and the journey really was quite fun - especially when our expedition leader Bar-che said "Namaste" to the baby and he immediately put his hands into the prayer position and replied "Namaste" in a tiny high voice to the delight of all passengers. This baby had been handed through the window to Bar-che before his mother had managed to get on the bus but after the bus had already started to move.

We then found three taxis to take us back to Boudha Gate. It was rush hour - an indescribably chaotic medley of cars, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles, buses of various sizes and pedestrians all crossing each others paths, overtaking, undertaking, stopping, starting - and everyone blowing their horn. Remarkably we arrived back at Boudha Gate without incident very ready for our dinner and our beds.