Almoraboy's Pensieve: Part 1.2 S to B

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crossing the wooden bridge

scary ride to the top...it was very steep and sitting on the horse makes it more dangerous

taking a break...

on the way again...riding a horse was very very scary

smira preffered riding a horse rather than climbing, coz it was sooo tiring

pancchulis from bolphavillage...clouded in snow

on the way towards bona village

big hills on the way

traditional kumaoni houses on the way

traffic jam

please allow us to pass

day 5
this was supposed to be a rest day and we rested nicely. got up lazily, and had a huge breakfast. menu = pure milk, egg burji, paranthas with aloo kee sabjee, chutney (which is made with a small fruit that grows near milam glacier and has a very intoxicating effect) and achaar (pickle). now i did not even feel like moving after this breakfast, forget the trekking and climbing mountains part. there were very very playful canines in his house. everyone in the hilly villages keeps a few dogs. one of them was a bhotia puppy....hyper active. the other was from osme other breed that is usually not found in the hills - well, there was a joke going on in that village that this dog was from new zealand (since no one knew where ganesh got him from and this dog was not of the bhotia breed).
ganesh took us around the village to show us his farms. there, he was planning to plant some fresh apple trees. we had some photo sessions, with everyone very much willing to get their snaps taken. pretty soon it started raining. now that was a big contrast to the weather when we had started. it was a dry winter in uttarakhand, with no rains falling since december. everyone said that in the higher reaches, it would be snowing. we took shelter in another house over there. the wall was covered with posters of gods/goddesses and bollywood actors/actresses. the wet weather and the constant pitter patter of the raindrops on the roof reminded me of a ruskin bond story. the hot tea added to that effect. the rain showed no signs of abating. it was also getting foggy up ahead in the valley. i had a peek and could see a small streak of snow in the places where the clouds were parting. so it seemed as if the snow from the panchchulis had coem down to this valley. then i looked across to toumik village (which is on the other side of the stream that flows through the centre of the valley). there was some fresh white snow on the top of the ridge that is above the toumik village. so snow was coming down pretty fast it seemed.
finally, after waiting for some time, with the rain showing no signs of abating, we decided to rush back to ganesh's house. there, some hot lunch awaited us. then an afternoon nap, followed by some lazing around in the evening, some dinner and then sleep time. during the afternoon, ganesh showed us his bukhari. u just put some hot coals inside it and place it inside the room. there is a long pipe coming out of it which exit the room through a small opening in the window. the smoke form the burning coal goes outside via this pipe. the burning coal keeps the steel body hot, which in turn radiates the heat outside to the whole room.

enjoying breakfast at ganesh's house

here is some interesting information...Mr. LOVERAJ DHARMSHAKTU from Bona village has conquered Everest twice. and his wife, the villagers say, is an even better mountain climber than him. the news article is here