Last Week in Bir

Jim , Billy and I went for a walk yesterday to Upper Bir and looping back around to Lower Bir. A very pretty walk with the usual goat herders grazing their flock, terraced gardens with the occasional lone person working the plot (usually woman), homes ranging from very minimalist stone cottages with slate roofs to three story homes. Many cows are tied up outside homes or just wandering along the roads and street. (In fact a rather stroppy bull is in the Main Street at the moment annoying all passerbys, me included, I had to take a rather wide berth as he swung his head around looking very grumpy as I passed.) We also walked past the paragliding site, though there wasn't anyone flying today because of low cloud around the tops. 

The weather can change quickly here and it started to pack in at the end of our walk, it was amazing to see a fast moving weather cell heading towards the mountains behind us and the lightning and thunder storm that followed, very noisy and impressive. Lucky we were only five minutes from home. 

Yeshe (home stay mum) is giving us a cooking lesson this afternoon, and we are making momos. Momos are a Tibetan sort of dumpling filled with veges and then steamed, and they are delicious. You can also fry them, but we prefer steamed. We have enjoyed trying some different foods. We are eating lots of vegetable, chickpea and lentil dishes; still no meat. We have tried the Tibetan tea which comes in two types, black and salty or white tea made with buttermilk and also salty or sweet. It's not to be recommended.

We are sadly counting down the days we leave Bir, again we will miss the wonderful friends we have made here and our home stay family. However on a positive note we are looking forward to our 6 hour taxi drive to Amaritsa where we are going to stay one night and visit the Golden Temple. From Amritsar we take an overnight bus to Delhi and have a day there before heading to Kathmandu early Monday morning.