A következö állomás Okhaldhunga, 1500 m-en, az Everest közelében (Nepálnak pont a másik oldala, mint ahol eddig voltam). Az út ide ismét kb 10 óra volt, de a kanyarokat leszámítva legalább jó kondícióban volt. Mikor megérkeztem, elöször Sally üdvözölt, aki az orvos férjével, John-nal lakik itt, eredetileg ausztrálok. Itt a vadiúj vendégházban aludtam, még két norvég gyógytornász tàrsaságában, akik látogatóban voltak itt. Eddig a legvidékibb hely ez, melegvíz nincs, áram nagyjából többször nincs, mint van és persze pottyantós wc, amibe nem lehet papírt dobni. A faluban egy csomó élelmiszer nincs (pl gyümölcs, kenyér, sajt), de van kb 4-5 “étterem”, ahol max 3 féle kaját kapni. Ittlétem alatt találkozhattam Lars-sal, egy norvég ortopédussal, aki pár hétig szokott itt lenni minden évben és ezúttal hozott magával rengeteg ortopédiai mütéti eszközt is. Ha ö nincs itt, akkor nincs ortopéd orvos. Egyébként kb 8 kezdö nepáli orvos + egy sebész szakorvos és John van itt állandóan. Most épp egy nögyógyász (Jan) is volt itt Dániából néhány hétre. Idöm nagy részét föleg a norvégokkal töltöttem, voltunk kirándulni is egy nagyon szép helyen. Húsvét vasárnap egy hangulatos nepáli istentisztelet részesei voltunk, amit egy sziklán tartottak. Egyik reggel ismét 05.30-kor keltem, hogy Mt Evrestet nézzek a hegycsúcsról. Hát.. A felhök...
The hospital is the dark red building on the left
So the trip to Okhaldhunga from Kathmandu went well, much better roads (except the occasionally dirt road because of previous landslides). Sleep was not really possible because of the curvy roads as usual. The ride was very scenic between valleys and mountain tops along a river. As usual my growing luggage was traveling on the top.
We arrived to Okhaldhunga about 2 pm and I was greeted by Sally, an Australian lady who lives here with her husband John who is working as a GP and Sally is responsible for the housing between other things. I got the opportunity to be among the first guests at the new guest house along with 2 Norwegian physiotherapists who were here for visiting the Norwegian orthopaedic surgeon Lars who is spending some weeks working here.
The guest house with a proud chicken
The hospital is situated on the side of a mountain, about 1500 m above sea level. The place is quite remote, it felt like electricity shortcuts happen more often than having electricity. No warm water and squatting toilet everywhere (which the Norwegians solved it by putting a handicapped toilet chair above it). I was waking up to the sound of huge pigs and cocks. In the town (called Sobru) there weren’t many groceries I got used to (no bread, no cheese, no vegetables, mostly no fruits except some bananas at one place). Surprisingly 4-5 small restaurants which usually had 1-2 different meals you could choose from (momo, pasta or soup). I got used to the situation quite fast and didn’t really miss anything (except warm water).
From left: Nora from Norway, John, me, Sally and Jan
One of the restaurants (called The hotel) kitchen
Talking about doctors, it is about 6-7 junior doctors working there and a fresh nepali general surgeon. Plus Lars and Jan (a Danish obstetrician) who are here for some weeks as seniors. John is always here and he is the main supervisor for the juniors as I understood. Lars has been doing amazing things in ortho, taking with him loads of instruments which were donated by different companies. So mostly I was with him at surgeries (trauma cases at the time) and at the ER which was mostly an outpatient clinic.
With my Norwegian friends in a traditional kurta (which unfortunately shrank a lot after washing)
As the possibilities for free time activities were limited, the people rely very much on each other and they are spending a lot of time together which makes them a great team. I was spending time mostly with the Norwegians and sometimes was invited by Sally & John for dal bhat (traditional rice meal). I enjoyed every moment and was at least as hard to leave Okhaldhunga as leaving Tansen.
We went hiking around the nearby mountains where I could taste salty milk the first time (sold as “tea” by the way). The trip was very scenic and rural so we had a glance of the “real” Nepal.
On Easter Sunday we participated a service which was held on a rock outside with snacks afterwords. 2 hours in nepali language but still a very unique experience. Interesting that there are so many christians in this small village. Afterwords we went to the bazaar with the Norwegian ladies which is about a half an hour walk and there you have a bit wider selection of everything.
The service on the rock
One morning I woke up again at 05.00 to drive up to a place called Pattale there you are supposed to have a great view of the mountain range (witnessed just a couple of days before by the Norwegians). Well.. Surprisingly it was cloudy but at least I could see some mountain tops.
Everest is on the right mountain range, second peak from right
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