Shangri-La

While getting into Dhulikhel and having a Sprite, I got chatting with a guy basically because he could speak English. He'd been around, been involved in the movie industry, etc. He worked for a women's micro-finance bank - taking deposits and giving small loans to village women so they can buy a cow, etc. It was down in a nearby valley and I said I would go visit the next day.

The valley turned out to be soooooooooo beautiful I don't want to name it - it's mine! Let's call it Shangi-La. It used to be on the trading route to Tibet, let's just leave it at that. The road down was so pretty that I got off the bus and walked. In the valley there are several villages, a small town, and plenty of farmland. It's kind of a pastoral paradise, like something Van Gogh would have painted or you'd find in the south of France or Spain or Italy - stands of sunflowers, corn, rice, potatoes, fruit trees, bufallo, goats and chickens wandering around, brown adobe or grander country houses, the place clean and the people happy, the climate warm and fertile.

I spent the day with Sudeep going round to some of the villages for the meetings under the Pipl trees, interest was paid and loans were given out, and we began and ended the meetings with a song and a prayer. The bank conducts training programs so everyone understands their duties, the woman must be married and her family must agree, but the account is her responsibility. I asked Sudeep why they concentrated on women, he said it's because they need more support in Nepali culture, and also they're more trustworthy than the local men.

Below are some pics of Sudeep, another friend whose name I can't remember (sorry!), and the beautiful views on the way down to and in the valley.