NEPAL

I've ran away, so to say, from India to Nepal, when I had enough of the heavy heat, of the extreme poverty of Bihar, the last province I've visited, one of the poorest of all the sub-continent, and where the Buddha have attained enlightenment in Bohdgaya.

The intense heat has provoked in me, an impossibility to feed myself decently, the hot spices, the strong condiments used in Indian dishes could not pass the throat downwards, at temperatures of more than forty degrees.

The poverty, that after six months, starts to make any stomach ache, made of steel or not, mixed with the lack of alimentation and therefore the weakness that can result, have made that I decided to come back to altitudes, more refreshing, only that this time, I have roamed towards Nepal. After some problems in a holy place, with money exchange, bus tickets and so, I've managed to cross the border with Nepal.

In Kathmandu, in order to see the high snow mountains, I've taken the road to the town of Jiri. There, on the spot, I've met a Belgian desperate to get closer to the Everest mountain.

It was necessary to follow a route that takes twenty one days, or more, to get to the base-camp of the highest mountain of the world. After a minimum of organisation, we went along through the range.

jumbesi

After a few days of walk, we arrived, me and the Belgian friend, to the town of Jumbesi in the Solu Khumbu. We had the great luck to arrive the day of the anniversary of the Buddha Shakyamuni, and being the region Buddhist, festivities that we did not expected were offered to us. Luck or premonition, we've spent one day at the monastery under the auspicious blessings of the Tibetans deities.

jumbesi

The entire village was in festivities, the golden parasols, the coloured banners and the effigies of the Buddha Shakyamuni, in a memorable procession that ended at the local monastery with the rest of the population.

jumbesi

jumbesi