Trip to Lokdeep School, Beni, Myagdi, Nepal.
23rd April 2001.

Launch slideshow

Our first visit was postponed because the road to Beni was blocked. A few days later, we set off from Pokhara in an elderly Toyota saloon which had taken a lot of punishment with an engine which stopped whenever the revs fell to idle. As we left tarmac roads behind and carried on along rubble and dust tracks Sushil Poudel, from Pahari Travels, expertly drove us up steep mountain tracks, over loose boulders - whilst bump-starting the engine every time the engine cut out and with a remarkably expert way of maximising our speed in the low gears. Because the starter motor stuck, Sushil even developed the knack required to restart the car by key - which regularly fell out of the ignition. At one stage, a vast TATA truck broke down in the middle of the track where it forded a river. At first we thought that this meant we'd have to turn back but very soon a small crowd collected around the truck and after some effort in digging up boulders with an iron bar and moving others, the road - or enough road - was rebuilt, enabling smaller vehicles to make their way around the stranded truck.    More ...