Almoraboy's Pensieve: Part 1.6 S to B

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day 7
today we were to head down for seraghat. from there the plan was to go to dharchula. then we will explore the narayan ashram area and nepal. we reached till golpha without any incident, but the clouds were steadily getting darker. and as soon as we started coming down, it really started pouring. well, we almost ran all the way down (5 kms) to the stream below, but the rain was not abating. in fact, as we came down, hailstones started falling and we were completely caught in them. by the time we reched seraghat, we were completely drenched. we bid goodbye to the guides (ganga and all) and put them on a jeep to munsyari. then we ourselves caught a jeep going to jauljibi. jauljibi is the place where gori ganga meets the kali. hte kali forms the border of india and nepal. and yes, u get very good momos in jauljibi. jauljibi is around 30 kms from seraghat. and dharchula is a further 30 kms up. the route from seraghat to jauljibi, along tghe gori ganga river is absolutely fantastic. i have posted some of its hotos later, in my other post (when we were coming back finally). it was raining and the river was roaring, there were many fields along the river with small yellow flowers blossoming all along the way. we changed jeeps at jauljibi and proceeded for dharchula. the route follows the kali river, with nepal along the other side of the river. the views are very scenic and since it was raining heavily, the area was even more green, bursting with chlorophyl. however, i was all wet, since i was caught in the hailstorm on the way down from bona village.
finally, after 30 more kms of spectacular views, dharchula arrived. it is just next to the river, below the road. so the road diverges in 2 parts..with the upper one heading towards the tiber border and the lower one going towards dharchula tows. on the other side of the river is darchula, a similar named town in nepal. (dharchula = india, darchula = nepal). we got down at the town chauraha and headed down towards the river, on a small cement path known as the nepal road. the kmvn guest house is situated on this road, overlookng the kali river. just after the kmvn rest house is a small hanging bridge going across to nepal. there is a free movement of people across this bridge, between india and nepal (since it is an open border). ex: nepalese kids come over to india side to study in the schools. there is some nepalese that i have picked up at home, since it is very similar to kumaoni pahadi. daju is a common word in both the languages. da = bhaiya (elder brother). ju = jee (term of respect). in kumaoni u would say "sab bhal chu?" (everything is fine?). in nepali you would say "sab ramro cha?". ramro = fine. if u want to ask anyone if he/she is a nepali, then just say "tapaile nepali manchi cha??" tapaile = you. manchi = person/bloke/dude.
the rooms in dharchula are for around 400 bucks/day and prety well maintained. i met arya jee, with whom i had been in contact with earlier, and who had arranged for our trip (guides/tents/etc~). he is now the manager of trc dharchula. we guys took a bath with some warm water from a geyser. then we straght away hit the town, looing for momos. momos is a dish made in the the hilly regions of india/nepal/tibet. the rung mung people of india/nepal and the tibetans eat momos a lot. they are made by making small balls of chicken/mutton/vegetable, mixing them with finely chopped onions and wrapping it all in a particular momo shape. u can have it both steamed and fried. in dharchula, u will get mainly mutton momos. Rs. 20 per plate, with 12 momos and a mug of thupka (soup) in 1 plate. also, u eat momos with a red hot chutney (sauce) made out of red chilli paste...this is the best thing about eating momos...its chutney. and dharchula is famous for its momos..this is the region from where they originated. you could imagine, in the ancient days, with traders going and coming from tibet resting in dharchula enjoying hot momos to keep themselves warm. we easily gulped down about 60 momos...coz we were really hungry.