The driver picks us up at 10AM and we have to say goodbye to our new family. It feels weird that we are most likely not seeing the people of Dhungentar in the future again, especially since we spent the last days with them. Eating the same food, drinking the same water, living in the same houses, being a community.
Namaste!
Govinda from ICIMOD waits for us in Battar where we visit a mix of festival and bazaar that has come to it’s final day after one week of celebrations. Tiny alleys between all kinds of merchant stalls are filled with people and dust while we fight our way to the centre of the areal. Between handicraft goods like shawls and robes, you can also see a few people promoting new building techniques or more resilient community layouts as we have seen in Dhungentar.
After a final lunch together with our host, our ways separate, and we head back to Kathmandu. Between road bumps and radio music, we either doze in the heat, try to escape the noise with headphones or engage in emerging philosophical discussions brought up by a religious sacrifice of goats we witnessed earlier this day and the book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.
We booked an appartment on Airbnb for the last week. Not the worst thing in the world to have a warm shower and a regular bed, isn’t it?
