NAMOBUDDHA TRIP

A DAY TRIP TO NAMOBUDDHA

I started off to find this old, famous, Buddhist site, one of the 3 most revered religious pilgrimage sites south of the Himalayas. Taking local buses is an adventure with crowds spilling out of it on to the roof but managed to get a seat after half an hour. An hour later I was in the town Panauiti from which the trail began. I was told that a bus would come by so started walking but the distance seemed to get longer and longer. At first I was assured it would be about an hours walk even without a bus. After an hour it became another 30 minutes, then another hour. After three hours and still no bus I caught site of the Prayer Flags on a distant mountain peak and realized that it would be futile to continue as there was no way to make it there and back before dark so I never did reach it but did have a good Nepali tea break at a tiny Brahmin village where every local gathered around to chat with one attractive girl translating. The people there grow mainly potatoes and cauliflowers. All the women have a glittering ear ring in the side of their nose and some older ones have the most decorative multiple rings in their ears. Marriages here seem to still be arranged with one articulate man expressing some disappointment in his wife who is from the city. I can only imagine how she must feel arriving in that little place, miles from anywhere. Life would be lived without access to book shops, cafes, films, bathrooms and with limited possibilities for conversation, going out, further education electricity etc. Most villagers go to bed when darkness comes often by 7 pm and get up around 4.30 am Small doorways lead in to dark tiny rooms and houses where the sun does not penetrate so all over the country people are squatting outdoors on any pile of trash or dirt most of the day to catch the heat of the sun.