Travels thru Life: 4/19 -- Hike, Home Visits, School Visit

It was supposed to be rainy and chilly today, but that didn't happen. Unfortunately, we should have worn short sleeves for our hike through the rice paddies past several homes, with stops to visit the residents. This was intended to be our first training walk in preparation for Tiger's Nest, although there was less of a challenging uphill portion than I anticipated. That was the good part.

I had encouraged Jim to bring his lightly used hiking shoes and about 5-10 minutes out from the hotel, the glue on the right sole gave way and completely separated from the shoe, so he went back to the hotel to change shoes. I thought it was taking him a long time to rejoin us and discovered there was a good reason: when he got there he found the car gate locked and the door at one side of it wouldn't open. The hotel is walled, and he walked all around it to find another way in, he pounded on the gate to attract attention, and finally decided to scale the 6-foot wall.

He got to the top okay, but was where the clothes lines were which were very close to the wall so he ending up jumping down -- remember, one shoe has no heel pad any more -- and bruised both heels, the heel-less one much worse. He found the staff at breakfast, which was why they couldn't hear him knocking. They got him into the room to change shoes and showed him that the weird round thing on the door turned to open it... He was able to complete the hike, but was no longer walking faster than everybody else.

Jim's foot -- first day

The wall he scaled -- landed behind
the gates where wire clothes lines were.

The door didn't push open and the
little round thing didn't look enough
like a handle to try turning it.

Foot the end of the second day.

We spent time visiting three families who live among the rice paddies and also learned about native medical remedies from a local. We ended up at a Hare Krishna temple. This is one kind of Hindu temple, dedicated to Lord Krishna, a reincarnation of Vishnu. Enup (eh-NOOP), our Sikkim/Darjeeling guide, is Hindu and explained the background of this segment of Hinduism. We asked the priest a TON of questions and many of us got blessings. We took so long that Chimi started wondering if we had been kidnapped.

The low plants in the foreground are cardamom, a major crop here.

At the base of the cardamom are small yellow
seed pods, which is what is used.

Detail of the yellow jobbies

Our first family: gramma and shy granddaughter

She was a bit more relaxed inside

The kitchen

I got to present her with our gift for her help

One of the farms

Kids ready for school. Uniforms are free til 9th grade.

Another pair ready for school

A home from above

This home is built with bamboo lath in a wood frame, and
covered with colored cow dung plaster. The thatch roof is
getting non-traditional help.

A rice hay rack

Hiking uphill

The fields here are mostly rice and all terraced.

Another homeowner with Enup

Inside of the Hare Krishna temple.

Close by was a very nice multi-family home where we were served lunch. The food was good, but unfortunately, the family members spent more time serving us than talking. We did get an opportunity to try our hands at making kind of a thin rice flour doughnut- some of us more successful than others. It appeared that the most critical skill was stirring the dough around in the oil once it had been dropped in. Our hostess also used her hands to swirl the dough into the water, which was messier for her but gave her more control than the cup we used.

One of the wives demonstrating the process

Trying pour a doughnut shape from a cup.

Our lunch hosts. The man on the right was the chef.

Next was a stop at a local school that taught kids from 1st to 10h grades. We spoke with the head mistress and several of the teachers, several of whom taught English, which is mandatory in the schools. However, they told us the high school kids were not as solid on the spoken language as we might expect and then gave us an opportunity to interact with them. It was fun and the kids were eager for the attention.

After a little time to recover for the day, we met for a discussion of a topic that is controversial in the area and explains why there was so much security at the Rumtek Monastery. Before the previous leader died, he was supposed to write a letter telling how to determine the next leader, but his #1 subordinate would not reveal the letter after the leader's death. There were 3 other primary subordinates who aligned themselves into 2 groups and each independently picked a next leader. That was in 1980. The question of who is the true leader is still unresolved. The Dalai Lama stepped in and supported one, but that did not resolve things. Recently the other nominee decided to take himself out of the running and married, which is strictly forbidden. The true leader remains unresolved. The feelings on each side were so intense that the monks were duking it out and security was brought in to maintain the peace and ensure that treasured artifacts were not inappropriately acquired. They also check each person's ID at the gate to be sure no one is sneaking in

Next up was a dance performance by two student groups representing Nepali and Bhutia peoples. We were invited to try to dance along with them too. At the end, we were all going to dance together and a guide, Sujay, who is assisting Chimi on this first trip on this itinerary, asked if we would like to learn some Bollywood steps, so we all signed up. He said we could make up dance steps from normal activities: flying a kite, picking fruit from trees, grinding corn the old way, and simultaneously screwing in a light bulb and turning on a faucet behind you. It was hilarious, and really kind of worked. After all the laughter, we had a shamanic demonstration, then adjourned to dinner and then bed.