The three most common occupations in Nepal outside of Kathmandu are standing around, sitting around and squatting.  Spitting probably takes the number 4 position. No matter how many of these workers you have, it takes a long time to get much useful stuff done, which explains the state of the road to Jiri.

Jiri was the starting point for today. It was supposed to be anyway. Somehow we ended up further along at Shivalaya. I guess the driver makes more money that way. The road from Jiri to Shivalaya is desperately in need of some more of those people sitting around. It’s almost a 4WD-only track.

Once we got to Shivalaya it was decided for us to stop for the day. So it was pretty un-energetic again. Tomorrow looks like it should kick things up a notch and we’ll be catching up to where we should have been.

My throat is quite sore now. I hope it’s just from the dust and smog and we be fine in a day or too. The air is starting to clear up pretty nicely now and should constantly improve from here.

Shivalaya is a really cute little village based almost entirely around catering to tourists.

My Favourite Thing Today

I suppose the drive wins today, but only by default.

It did have quite a few moments of excitement (or possibly terror) though.

Power and Internet

There is no coverage in Shivalaya because it’s deep in a valley. This post is a bit late as a consequence. There was sporadic coverage around Jiri.

The accommodation has no power sockets, but I still charged stuff. I will explain how soon when I’m in front of a proper keyboard.