Back in Kathmandu

Back to the dusty bustle of Kathmandu. Sophie and I have been luxuriating in the delights of hot showers, red wine and restaurants with menus after nearly four weeks in Jumla.

Our time in that remote corner of the Himalayas was truly extraordinary. Sophie shot a lot of amazing footage. We found a deeper connection to the people over the course of our time there, becoming more embedded in the community. At times, it was hard. Not the most comfortable of living conditions, and four weeks can feel like a long time. At times, it was rewarding. When a man we were interviewing told us that meeting us and seeing the work we were doing had changed his perspective on his daughters’ potential in life, it was a magic moment.

There is so much more to say and photos to post – all coming soon. For now, I need to say goodbye to Sophie as we are leaving for the airport soon. In addition to admiring her incredible work, those of you who know me well will be impressed that she has managed to spend five weeks solidly with me, often sleeping in the same room – and we are still friends! We have shared an incredible journey and this is just the beginning of a project that is going to take us to many more places, literally in a geographical sense, as well as professionally, spiritually and emotionally to name but a few. I am sad to see her go and it also feels like a significant moment as it marks the end of this first stage of the project.

I am now looking forward - towards the next phase of reviewing (and translating) the footage and delving back into the planning stages for the next shooting session when Sophie returns in March.

Creature Comforts

Sophie and I are very excited to be settled in to our room at Amar Sandesh Guest House in Jumla Bazaar – the main town in Jumla. It seems like the height of luxury to us as we have electricity ALL night (there is even a TV) and most thrilling of all, we have an attached bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink that has running water, albeit cold. It really is quite extraordinary how novel this all seems to us after just a few weeks, but it seems like a long time since we didn’t have to get dressed and go outside (usually down some rickety stairs, hunched over so as not to hit our heads on anything) to go pee in the middle of the night. Now we are living the high life!

Update from the Overnight Charging Station

I'm back in Jumla Bazaar overnight to charge our batteries and computers and download footage. Nisha and I will pile on to the crowded local bus in the morning to make it back in time for the training at 10am.

It is about an hour down the valley, following the river. Really a beautiful journey if a bit hair-raising at times as the road is narrow and bumpy and the bus seems to only just fit in places. When encountering a vehicle coming the other way, reversing with a sheer drop to one side can be a little disconcerting if you pay too much attention.

But travelling by jeep has its own pitfalls as we discovered when we moved camp to Tatopani the other day. Aside from being 3 hours late because it broke down on the way after running out of fuel, the jeep then broke down again where it was assigned to pick us up. This time it was an oil leak. Eventually that was fixed and we were on our way. One of the perk of renting the jeep was so we could stop when we wanted along the way to shoot some scenery.

It was only when we asked to stop the first time that we realised that the brakes hadn't actually been fixed properly and the reason the boy was hanging on to the side of the jeep wasn't because it was full (aside from me, Sophie and Nisha, we also had an array of other miscellaneous passengers including the drivers brother and friend who I guess were going the same way), it was because he needed to be able to jump off the vehicle to find a rock big enough to put under the wheel to stop us.

Thankfully, when we stopped for a few hours in town on our way, they took the jeep off to be fixed and on the journey to Tatopani we were actually able to stop where we wanted even if it was on an incline. Soraj and Dhan Bhadur had come along for the ride too and were going to go back to Bazaar with the jeep after it dropped us. We arrived and said our goodbyes to both. In the morning, we noticed that the jeep was about 200 yards down the road. We later found out that they had again run out of petrol and so Soraj and Dhan Bhadhur had to walk and eventually hitch a ride on a truck taking them 3 hours to get home. For some reason (maybe a leak) it hadn't occurred to them to fill up enough for the whole days journey. I haven't actually paid for the jeep yet, but you can bet there will be some negotiating...

DAY FIFTEEN

Every so often, I turn to Sophie and say, “You are in Jumla!”

These past two weeks have been the realisation of eighteen months planning and I am still pinching myself that we are actually here, shooting this film. We are in Jumla Bazaar which is the main town here and the only place in the district that our ‘dongle’ can pick up a net connection. We are stealing a few hours to get online and download nearly two weeks worth of emails en route from Urthu-Chautara to Tatopani where the EWN ‘Women’s Initiation in Eco-Tourism’ training commences in a couple of days.

We’ve been in Jumla for twelve days (we started shooting in Pokhara which is why we are on day fifteen) and it seems like we’ve been here forever. It feels to me like I never left. There is something about this place - a timelessness. We have spent the whole time so far based in one village where we’ve been capturing village life and doing a few interviews with the various characters that I have gotten to know this past year. Everyone here is thrilled to be a part of the project, particularly at the hope that the film might promote Jumla as the tourism economy is highly coveted.

Sophie has been doing an amazing job catching the goings-on in the village and shooting some absolutely stunning images. As soon as we arrived she was raring to get out as she immediately saw where the inspiration came from. Everywhere you look is another interesting and thought-provoking sight – it’s picturesque and cinematic at every turn.

We are both sad to be leaving Chautara. This is our base and where my (and now our) Jumla family is. It is amazing how warm and sweet everyone is, and the bonds have only deepened. But leave we must. It will be interesting for Sophie as Tatopani has a very different feel. And we will shoot the training so she will see how it all began in my head. It is also going to be challenging working from there as there is no power to charge all our equipment. We are going to have to do overnight runs back to Jumla Bazaar to recharge batteries and download footage.

These things are all part of the trials of shooting in such a remote area. We’ve already had our share of technical problems as both our super-duper top of the range 2 TB drives decided to die on us. And even this morning, the jeep we booked to take us to Tatopani doesn’t want to start. But this is Nepal, so we take it all in our stride because somehow things always work out. Ke garné?