Annapurna and Apples...

Wind blown apple trees intercropped with something. Without a road, the incentive for intensive apple production remains limited in this area. Golden Delicious, Rich-a-red, Royal Delicious and Red Delicious are the favourites in Nepal.

Apples and other crops on a small plateau above the Marpha valley. Huge old Cedars of Lebanon or something similar line the cliff below.

Stone and mud houses in a small village up a valley that I explored one day. The people of the village took a break from building a community toilet to give me some tea and explain life in that village. It sounded tough.

Local ambulance. He carries people for days out of the mountains until he reaches a road. He also sells seeds.

How does one get a jeep engine into an isolated road section? Carry it for two weeks on your back in flip flop sandals. Every 10 feet someone would drop a sandal and then run back and grab it. The first cars were brought in from India by the same method many years ago, except then it was the whole thing.

Mule trains are another normal way of moving stuff up the valleys. This a well worn trail heading north towards Jomsom.

Firewood on roofs in Marpha for the long winter. This place is the apple capital of Nepal.

Stone steps and big mountains in the Annapurna Sanctuary.

Leeches.

More mountains...

Kathmandu and friends

Kathmandu and the rest of the valley is loaded with lots of carvings and sculptures.

A festival for women. On this day the women wear red (colour of marriage), fast and pray for their husbands. It was a lot of red.

My friend and his youngest daughter. He is grinding corn with a hand stone grinder. Pretty basic but it works fine if you have the time.

The hills outside Kathmandu. Super green place. Millet, buckwheat, maize, wheat, canola, vegetables are a few of things growing in these hills. Landholding size is very small so people intercrop and farm holistically out of necessity.

Alleyway in Bhaktapur (city of devotees). Great architecture in these areas but not the sort of place you would want to be in an earthquake.

My brother loved the arrival screen at Kathmandu International Airport. I don't know why.

Making a basket for carrying goods into the mountains or for use around the farm. It is called a Dhoko in Nepali.

My friends' children. I was able to get foot surgery for the girl on the right to remove an extra appendage, which means she can now go to school, wear sandals and walk like her friends.

The Kumari, or virgin god, was coming out into this square. These people are waiting for her to arrive in a giant human drawn chariot with wheels a two metres high. She is a small girl that is picked out as the reincarnation of Kumari. When she first menstruates or bleeds by a different means, she loses her god status and becomes a girl again, is given a small dowry and is released.

My friend's daughter with my goat. My goat is sadly no longer but Prabhina is doing well.

From Baglung to Jumla- The Trek

Another mountain...maybe Dhaulagiri. Too many to keep track of.

Morning sun in Dhorpatan with Tibetan prayer flags and a posing crow or kag in Nepali. Dhorpatan is quite a wide large valley but was fairly empty because it was late in the season. We slept in someone's house before starting our climb into the higher altitude areas. Jon slept on what looked like a dog pelt and I opted for the floor. Dhorpatan was a royal hunting reserve and wilderness area. Without the royalty in Nepal, I am not sure what it is now.

Moon rise in the Himalayas. Really beautiful. We camped at about 4000 metres with a mouse that entertained itself by jumping on our heads. The next day we did the highest passes of our trip.

Baby red panda caught by a villager and kept as a pet. I think it is closely related to our Raccoon.

The underwear-clad-night-rat-killer and his family. Jon and I woke up in the middle of the night and the father was trying to stab a rat in the corner of the house with a penlight and small knife in his usual garb.

When we had arrived a few hours before they offered us some rice with wild oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus sp.), wild blue sheep and some dried grouse that he had shot with his homemade slingshot. They kept a punctual rooster inside their house which guaranteed our very early departure.

Walking with my buddy Jon in the mountains. The pastoralists had already gone to the lower valleys with their animals because of the cold and lack of forage at higher altitudes. It was pretty empty up there (4000-4500 metres). One of the strange things up there were all the pairs of shoes that looked like they had been abandoned mid-stride, even on the permanent snow packs.

We spent one of our nights in this area. We arrived after dark and were very warmly welcomed by shrouded women and drunken men. We slept in a room of the house that was used for storing hay. It was hard to sleep because there were so many curious people continually watching us.

After we had crawled out from our hay storage room we had a small visitor. I took this picture while wearing long johns, fleece and a down vest. He was colder and tougher than I will ever be.

Me and amaranth. Super nutritious and easy to grow, amaranth is pretty important out there in the dry hills. The leaves can be eaten as a green and the small seeds can be ground into flour or roasted for breads. Jon by an old broken stone thing, which was probably an arch that went over the trail. Not sure of the significance but it was interesting.

I met up with some Tibetans who were out for a few day horse journey. I got this picture just as they were coming over the pass. Once they made the pass they all broke out the fermented barley drink, called Chang, which the Tibetans know and love.



Jumla valley- this little girl is looking after her sibling who isn't much younger. This was the end of that trek. Overall it was close to 300 km and around 30,000 accumulated ft in elevation gain (and about the same in loss). I was ready for a shower and some serious food. I had also gotten mildly lost this last day, which was a bit frustrating, but an old villager who had lost his horse walked with me and put me on the right path.

Jumla

This picture was taken while walking and slipping south to Jumla from Topla (solar panel village). Fresh snow made things a bit tricky but Peter and I managed fine for the two day trek.

This is coming down the south side of the last pass just before Jumla. The sun had come out and melted just enough snow to make the descent doable.

This is a corner of the town of Jumla (looking towards the east). This place is a main centre for poverty alleviation for northwest Nepal. It is likely that I will be living here on my return. The high and dry climate with lots of sun make it ideal for apple production. Many farmers are trying to produce apples but the yields have remained very low.

Jumla again but this time from the east looking west towards the dry hills. Jumla has a little airstrip (it is paved!) which is essential for bringing in rice and wheat for the lean months of winter. The winter is usually very sunny and dry with great potential for greenhouse growing.

Topla solar panel trip

Just before returning home to Canada I was in northwest Nepal putting up about 52 solar panels with a team of people from Europe and NA. It was an amazing time. We slept in the village where we were installing them. In a place without electricity, solar panels are pretty handy. The alternative to solar energy at the village level is kerosene lamps, which are neither good for the lungs or cheap to refill. School children will be able to do homework and cooking for the women should be a lot easier.



Village kids have a rough time in northwest Nepal. About 75% are malnourished and many don't make it to adulthood. One of the Nepali families that I was installing a solar panel for had lost two children the week before we arrived. Life expectancy is around 40 years in these areas. Children learn to grow up fast and must work in the fields, look after siblings and cut fodder for animals.

This is a shot from Topla looking southeast. The village is situated on a dry ridge. The two poles in the foreground are for the solar panels. Also in the foreground are the flat roofs that are important for drying beans, grains, peppers and fruit for eating during the long winter season.