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Featured image: Dorje Points to Everest near Teahouse above Pattale
Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony, 1 October 2018
Pattale to Pikey Peak
Trek 2 Pattale to Pikey Peak, Junbessi, Taksinda La & Paphlu, November 2017
Preamble
In the last article Pattale to Juke, I described a visit to the Pattale Health Centre, which we are supporting and a short trek from Pattale to Juke, There and Back, in March 2013.
In November 2017, we returned to Nepal to undertake another trek to Annapurna Base Camp. Then, we wanted to return to Pattale to see what had changed in the village and the clinic after five years. And, to undertake a new trek from Pattale via Pikey Peak in a large circuit, with almost constant views of the major peaks in the Himalayas. The trek was to end in Paphlu where we hoped to fly back to Kathmandu.
Pattale
Denise, Lesley, Dot and I were to go up to Pattale ahead of the others so as to spend more time in the village. Denise in particular wanted to prepare a report on the health centre for the foundation. Dot who is involved in a charity in Kathmandu was curious to see another aid project.
We were up at 5.15 am. This time with eight of us we had a jeep or 4WD vehicle to ourselves. Despite the early start, with fiddling around, we didn’t get underway until 6.30 am and took an unusual back route to Bhaktapur to avoid traffic. Once we reached the main road the traffic was heavy up to Dhulikhel when we turned off the main road.
After a short piece of good road, the road deteriorated until we reached the Japanese Road along the Sunkoshi River. This was marvelous and quick. The bridges were all completed unlike five years ago. We stopped a couple of times at reasonable places and unfortunately ate all the cinnamon rolls we’d brought with us from Kathmandu. We crossed the Sunkoshi on a real bridge this time and headed into the hills before where we stopped for lunch at a spot where there is a large market nearby.
Despite a gorgeous looking teenage girl serving, one of two sisters, the place was indescribably filthy. We barely ate anything but I foolishly asked for a second cup of tea. It was only lukewarm, probably not properly boiled and was the cause of my troubles for the next three days.
Once we got into the hills proper the road became tar and the forests and the hills were lovely all the way to Okhaldhunga. From Okhaldhunga the road to Pattale was also tar, though rising rapidly up through many hair-pin bends. We arrived in Pattale in the late afternoon — a nine-hour jeep ride — but with enough time to be dropped off for a half hour walk into town, admiring the views and the scenery.
I had to rush to the toilet as soon as we arrived at Dorje’s house, managing to crack my head on the door lintel, and continued unwell for three days until I resorted to antibiotics.
We did many of the things we’d done before in Pattale, as outlined in Pattale to Juke. The views of the mountains were even more spectacular than in spring. Two new things were a visit to the school for morning assembly and a visit to the Friday market. Market attendance had been on decline on our last visit five years ago, but with the tarring of the road and its new status as the main route to Salleri, the district headquarters, the market was booming.
Other changes were:
- The presence of a large police station (which didn’t intrude much into the village), whose interest was smuggling and people trafficking to India rather than local issues.
- There was also more accommodation on the main road run by the wealthiest extended family in the village.
- The planning for a huge Buddha mentioned in the Pattale to Juke article, and the presence of a new guru towards Tuhure, who was gradually building up a mini-monastery and rediscovering ‘so called’ important Buddha relics on granite rocks. He seemed a smart operator and will probably ‘piggy back’ on pilgrims to the big Buddha.
- Perhaps the biggest change for me was that new construction in the village was being done using power tools. There were only hand tools five years ago. Dorje had said that many buildings were damaged in the earthquake of 2015, but required restoration rather than rebuilding.
- New houses were also being constructed. A European Union group had built the new school next to the old one. More money was flowing into the community.
But, basically the village hadn’t changed all that much.
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