On the face of it...,

I have been stationed in Hetaudu with Praveen since last Thursday. We present a workshop tomorrow (Sunday) then Monday we return to Kathmandu.

Before coming to Hetaudu the CECI staff briefed me on a few things about where I would be staying, including the fact that there will be very few foriegners. They were right. In fact for the duration of my stay in the gated hotel where we reside the only people of non Nepal descent are Chinese nationals. There were a couple of French people in the beginning for one night but I think they were lost.

Particularly in the rural areas surrrounding Hetaudu I am a novelty. I was advised there is no ill intent and by the smiles I get I know this is true. I have amassed a lot of photographs and video, but with the unreliable internet here (even in the space of these three paragraphs I have had 10 various warnings), I can only post a few here.

While the city of is not a tourism mecca by any stretch, it does offer easy retreat to rural Nepal. The contrast between the rich colouHetaudu rs of the Nepal countryside and the beautiful faces (and smiles) is a memorable experience. 









This boy followed us for at least a kilometer. In Nepal, people know how to smile!





Rural Nepal especially at this time of year offers some of the most amazing colours and contrasts



Camion Pour Lait

C’est le camion DMPCU qui transporte le lait. Il a fallu plusieurs jours pour recueillir la quantité de lait nécessaire à le remplir. Le lait provient de nombreuses coopératives laitières disséminées dans les collines et les régions qui se trouvent autour de Hetauda et il a été transporté à la main depuis la ferme d’origine, puis par petits véhicules ou en moto jusqu’ici. Il a été maintenu réfrigéré pour son dernier voyage sur le marché de Katmandou.

Compte tenu de la distance parcourue et le temps qu’il a fallu pour produire ce lait, il est déjà précieux. Et son voyage ne fait que commencer…

Le chauffeur de camion ne prendra pas la route plus courte de 3 heures par les montagnes. S’il le faisait, le temps qu’il arrive à la première pente, le lait serait déjà caillé. Au lieu de cela, il prendra la route dans la direction inverse pour aller vers l’ouest sur l’autoroute Est-Ouest en passant par Basamadi et Ratnanager. Au bout de 2 ou 3 heures, il arrivera à Bharatpur et c’est seulement après qu’il se dirigera vers le Nord-est pour « rejoindre », nous espérons, sa destination dans les 6 heures prévues. Dans la plus grande partie du Canada, ce trajet pourrait être fait en 45 minutes, une heure – ou même plus vite si vous ne respectez pas la limite de vitesse indiquée.

Que ce soit à pied, en voiture, en camion, à moto ou en rickshaw, les Népalais utilisent le terme « atteindre » chaque fois qu’ils parlent de temps et de distance, comme si on devait décrire le temps qu’il nous faut pour arriver quelque part ou l’heure à laquelle nous espérons y arriver. Je trouve de plus en plus que cette façon d’utiliser le mot relève d’une intelligence convaincante. Le mot « joindre » implique pour moi effort, contrainte, obstacles et dangers à venir, et la réelle possibilité que vous ne pourrez pas arriver à votre destination à l’heure où vous pensiez y arriver, ou que vous n’y arriverez même pas du tout.

De son point culminant de près de 9.000 mètres à son point le plus bas de moins de 100 mètres d’altitude, la topographie du Népal offre quelques-uns des plus étonnants paysages montagneux. Néanmoins, elle présente également ce qu’on devrait considérer comme quelques-uns des plus grands défis d’économie et d’infrastructure connus de l’humanité moderne.

Milk Truck

This is the DMPCU Milk Truck. It has taken several days to collect the amount of milk needed to fill it. Milk has come from a number of primary dairy cooperatives scattered throughout the hills and regions surrounding Hetauda, brought by hand from the original farm, then by small vehicle or motorcycle here. It has been kept chilled for the final trip to market; Kathmandu.

Considering how far it has travelled and what it took to produce it this milk is already precious. And the trip has just begun.

The driver will not travel the shorter 3 hour route we took over the mountains. If he did, by the time he got to the first incline the milk will have been churned to curds. Instead, he will commence by travelling in almost the opposite direction westbound on the East West Highway through Basamadi  and Ratna Nager. After 2 or 3 hours he will pass Bharatpur and only then he will start making any real directional progress back north east, to “reach” his destination, hopefully within the anticipated 6 hours. In much of Canada this trip can be achieved in 45 minutes to an hour- faster if you disobey the speed limit.  

Whether by foot, car, truck, motorcycle or rickshaw, Nepalese use the term “reach” whenever discussing the measure of time and distance, the same way we would describe how long it takes to get somewhere, or when we expect to arrive. Increasingly I find its use has a compelling intelligence about it. Reach implies to me effort, strain, overcoming obstacles, hazard, and the very real possibility that you may not get to your destination when you thought you would, or even at all. 

From its highest peak of nearly 9000 meters, to its lowest point less than 100 meters above sea level, Nepal’s rich topography provides some of the world’s most stunning mountain scenery. However it also poses what must be some of the most daunting economic and infrastructure challenges known to modern mankind.

Elaborate interior of truck- very typical.



Prepping Milk and Testing Equipment




Milk comes and goes in extraordinary forms of transportation- whatever works, I guess



Its all Nepalese To Me - इट्स ऑल नापेलेसे तो

थिस इस द नपोलिसे चोन्त्रच्त इन्फोर्मेशन तहत वे हवे तो ट्रांस्लाते इन ओर्देर तो चोम्परे इत तो द चनादियन कोन्तेक्ष्त इत इस फुच्किंग बोरिंग। तहत इस फोरे सुरे

(This is the Insurance Regulation and information that we have to translate in order to compare it to the Canadian context. Workshop with Coop board members and management next week. Its all Greek, I mean, Napelese to me).

A Long Way to Go

A key aspect of my mandate is visiting small rural remote Milk Cooperatives throughout the catchement area of Hetauda. Over the past three days I have been travelling with Praveen (Intern) and Niraz (Accountant for the central Coop). I am stared at constently. I am told that everyone who sees 'that foriegner' travelling up into the hills is talking about it at the dinner table that night. The upside is seeing parts of a country that are not frequented by outsiders. I have learned a lot about milk production (and food production) in Nepal. Adequate infrastructure is a recurring theme (more on that later).

 

Small motorcylces and South Central Asia are like peanut butter and jelly. Its hard to have one without the other. Its a prime means of transport throughout this entire continent, and Nepal is no exception. A typical scene is a man (with helmut) and a female, one passenger, and baggage. The law requiring only the driver to wear a helmut is bizarre; before the Maoist insurgency the law was universal. However to avoid covert transport of militants and to bring transparency, the law was reversed for passengers. It has not been reinstated. 

Overseas workers in Southeast Asia are discouraged from using motorcycles, and public transport in general. Frankly with my mandate and where I am stationed that is more or less a joke.


Me and Niraz's bike (he is nervous I think)



Praveen takes a selfee on route- there are three of us on this by the way (Robin- I am driving, wearing the helmut). Only in Asia.



Until the Nepal market was flooded with cheap Indian made wannabe Honda's and Yamahas over the last 20-30 years or so  (ie less than 500cc- that's the law in Nepal) milk transport was the old fashioned way- by foot or by mule. The good news for highland food producers is that its all down hill from here.

Coming home from a visit to  Chandrasurya Milk Producer Cooperative

Its 4:30 AM. There's a guy that starts singing at the top of his lungs

Every morning, at about this time in a low droll. He wakes up the roosters.

Its really annoying.

Praveen tells me he is a local cleric of some order bestowing important religious messages for the coming day. Yesterday I asked him what is he saying. Even though his room is right beside mine, he says he doesn't know; he can sleep through it.

Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld

Friends in High Places

Friends in High Places

The southern third of Nepal is known as the Terai. It is the fertile flat plain below the Himalayas that constitutes the northern edge of the Indian continent. It can get hot in the Terai and absent of a winter freeze cycle the climate is sub tropic. I have travelled to Chitwan National Park, a world heritage sight for its wildlife, including elephant tiger, rhino, croc…, Its hard to imagine that a few days ago I was actually cold in Kathmandu.

The General Manager of the Cooperative partner organization I am working with is Kumar Dahal and he says he ‘knows someone’ who can get us good lodging and advice. We take him up on it.

Basu Bidari is Kumar’s cousin and has been associated as a guide in the park for over 15 years. ‘You don’t have much time but if you want tomorrow I will take you hiking on a good trail to see some birds’. Not as exciting for Praveen but I am a budding birder so- good for me! Later we spin by the Elephant birthing center and on arrival find that a wild male has broken into the compound to mate with one of the females. These animals can be incredibly aggressive when they are courting, and everone provides adequate space.




Guards for Poachers- a problem in Chitwan for illegal harvesting of Rhinos used in Chinese medicine.

 



Basu the birder and me

 



Bull that has broken into compound- very dangerous in this state