The sun was blazing as it planted more kisses on my nose, the wind was forceful as it whipped our eyes and made us cry, our seats were... metal bars. As we sat on the roof of the bus on our way to the small village of Majuwa we had permanent smiles plastered across our faces. We shared the roof-top with Brian (a builder from Sydney), Bole (a sherpa and resident of Majuwa) and a couple of kids who just seemed to be there for fun, not actually to get anywhere. The bus came up against some resistance in the form of mud but thanks to the usual 100 experts it proceeded on it's windy journey up into the mountains.

We stayed the night in a small local hotel above the kitchen and were lulled to sleep by the wafting smoke of the fire (cough cough cough). The next day we were greeted with a beautiful snow covered mountain peak in the distance, shortly followed by about 40 residents of Majuwa to carry the building materials to the town and escort us to the village. After 4 hours walk Mendo, Brian, Bole, TB, Lyn and I were welcomed to Majuwa under an archway full of foliage and flowers and a sign which read "Welcome to our Guest". Flower wreaths were placed around our necks as we were applauded and thanked for coming to their village - it was a special moment, one I felt unworthy of. Shortly after we refreshed ourselves in the local river, surrounded by shiny silver rocks of Mica and smiling curious children. We then visited the school where we would be working and were surprised by a welcome concert with traditional Nepali singing and dancing. It was very beautiful but from what we could see they only have 1 song which they alter with different words. Naturally they wanted a bit of entertainment also, so soon enough Mendo, Brian and I were pulled up in the middle of the crowd to show off our hip-wiggle and fancy footing. It was extremely embarrassing, but also a lot of fun as we tried to copy them and they tried to copy us. Brian tried to teach Bush Dancing (heel toe, heel toe...) and Mendo got into the Macarena. As we looked around the crowd it was worth the embarrassment when we saw all the smiling and laughing faces - the old wrinkly women with tears rolling down their faces and the little children with big eyes and hands covering their fits of giggles. A great way to break the ice.

We all stayed in TB's sisters house which was a gorgeous little building made from rocks, mud and slate. Mendo and I had a large single bed on the verandah which became very cold and windy during storm, but had beautiful views of the surrounding hills and lighting since it was not indoors. The house had animals wandering around including frogs, chickens, a pesky rat chasing cat and goats including 3 babies (kids, right?). We spent some of our day at the school: Lyn and I painted 2 murals in the classrooms (one of Australia and one of Nepal) and decorated the classrooms in educational material. The classrooms were bare mud beforehand. Mendo, Brian and Bole helped with the construction part of things by using their carpentry and building skills (?). Within 10 days one classroom was finished bar the roof and the other was 3/4 done with a tap and toilet on the way. Lyn, Bole and TB also gave out school uniforms donated from Lindfield East Public School in Sydney which was a fun affair and very heart-warming (Lindfield also raised the money for building the 2 extra classrooms). The rest of our time was spent exploring and visiting within the village, chilling at the river and off on little expeditions such as to catch crabs or visit another village nearby. Mendo made the 3 hour trek up to a little temple in a rocky outcrop which he enjoyed as the view took in more mountains. We also observed a Buddhist ceremony in a little thatched house full of smoke - Nicola: "... but there's no monks here..." TB: "no, no, there are no monkeys here, it's a buddhist ceremony..."

We mostly ate the local food of Daal Bhat (rice, lentils and curried vegetables) and occasionally enjoyed the locally brewed millet wine. We learnt about the local customs, gave a few informal english lessons and generally tried to soak up the village life which seemed so foreign to us. Most of the population in the village is female (about 70%) as once the men are in their arranged marriages, a lot of them leave the village to get work and earn an income elsewhere, leaving the women to raise the family, tend to the fields and look after the livestock.

Since the village was on the terraced side of a hill with spectacular views we witnessed a few beautiful storms raging in the distance, complete with forked lighting and deep grumbling thunder. Those storms also engulfed us in various degrees almost nightly which was a welcome end to the day and great for the village crops. On our last night in the village the usual storm was fashionably late and the Mothers Group (and most of the village) packed the small courtyard of TB's sisters house and sang and danced and of course made us dance also. It was a great night to finish with, only let down by Brian's stomach since it wouldn't let him out of bed to participate.

We then walked for 5 hours and caught the roof of the bus back to Kathmandu for 10 hours... finally arriving at our hotel tired but happy to be back after our eye-opening adventure. It seems something caught a ride on me from the top of the bus because it's munching on my yummy flesh and leaving little itchy red welts all over me.

This morning we caught the 'mountain flight' and witnessed the breathtaking scenery of the Himalayas, complete with Mount Everest as the crowning glory. Spectacular! To top the morning off on our way back to the hotel we even managed to get a full tank of petrol at a regular price without queuing up for hours - amazing! Apparently a big proportion of Kathmandu's population has returned to their villages for the election tomorrow. Even more powerful than both of those experiences is that tomorrow mum arrives - woohooooooo!

Love to all, hope this finds you happy and healthy and not taking even a second for granted.

Nic and Mendo.