Shyam, the director of SASANE, suggested that we go with Laxmi to the mountain town Nagarkot to watch the sun set and rise over the Himalayas. I thought it was a great idea and immediately agreed; I had been wanting a better view of those mountains than the hazy peaks one can see between the buildings in Kathmandu. Since I was traveling with them we took a public bus instead of the far more expensive tourist buses. This meant a crowded trip with many stops in villages along the way, and it was nerve-wracking to see schoolboys climbing onto the roofs of the buses in front of us. As we drove up and up into the mountains, I marveled at the fact that we didn’t go careening over the sides of the road into the valley below, for around every turn on what was essentially a one-way road we would squeeze ourselves by another car or bus, causing me to hold my breath and hope we made it. For the last leg of the trip this was being done in the dark, as we missed the sunset due to the long ride, and by this time I had decided to put my full trust in the bus driver simply so that I could force myself to relax.

After arranging a hotel, we got to see the sun rise at 5 in the morning. This wasn’t any trouble for me since I’ve been waking up at this time anyways everyday (my body has refused to totally get over the jetlag, but I’m enjoying these early mornings). Wrapped up against the cold, we drank milk tea and took in the amazing view to the sounds of roosters crowing and gangs of street dogs battling in the shadows.

Our plan had been to then head back to Kathmandu, but there were… complications. The elections were held on November 19^th, and in the time leading up to it the Maoist party made many threats, in particular enacting a transportation strike, besides blowing up bombs and lighting buses full of people on fire around the country. We learned that they had dismantled public buses in the night throughout the area, and that the bus drivers were scared to drive. With this knowledge, we discussed what to do and came to a conclusion: we would hike our way down the mountain.

Our trek consisted of us wandering along a narrow path, through the small villages that would appear every so often along the way. There were beautiful views that the average tourist would never see, and many hugs given to village animals I found along the trail. We passed old women shaking out grain or making local alcohol, and men leading their goats down the path. The whole time our travel felt very sneaky and adventurous, and helped me not think about how disturbing the reasons were for having to travel this way.

Along the way we stopped in one of these villages to have lunch at the host of a SASANE paralegal. Her house was made of mud and brick, and there were only woven mats for furniture. Chickens wandered around and as we ate the dhal baat she had prepared us, we watched a boy climb a tree high into the sky, dangerously hacking off branches with a machete under the careful watch of his father. It was a different world from the hubbub of Kathmandu, and I was so grateful to have gotten to experience it.

After a day of hiking we managed to make it to the closest town, and were able to find a taxi willing to drive us into Kathmandu. Despite some of the anxiety the trip induced, it has remained one of my favorite days of my trip so far, but who knows what other complications shall arise as the year goes on!