208
Hitting the highway
Day 6, and the winding road, 1,000 feet up the valley side, that was taking us to the next item on our agenda, and along which no two vehicles could pass without one of them either reversing a few miles or risking an extremely rapid journey to the river, was referred to by the guide as 'The East-West Highway.' Along the route we had a brief but stunning view of Gunga Phunsum, at 24,614 feet the highest unclimbed peak in the Himalayas.
At about 11,150 feet Shingkar village was the highest settlement we visited and the most remote. Even our guide had not been before, but needless to say Brian had. With the assistance of some international aid money, each house had been fitted with a small solar panel, but it was not certain whether or not they were working. However, that was the only hint of modernity. The rest was pure Middle Ages England. The village straddled a stream, which flowed through its middle unchecked, running where it would. The water was only diverted at one point, through a narrow wooden channel into a small stone structure, by which time the water was rushing with quite some force. Was it used to fire a generator, or to turn a mill wheel? The very beginnings of a local industrial revolution? No. Of course, the water was being harnessed to turn a prayer wheel. We wandered along the village's stone and mud paths, between the widely spaced and randomly placed houses. Up here at the back of beyond these people have precious little, but what little they have is precious,
Our itinerant chef, Al Fresco, once again conjured up a good and welcome meal of rice, vegetables, salad and chicken. This time we were watched by a crowd of inquisitive but well-behaved onlookers - a novelty compared to all previous outdoor lunches.
A short distance down the valley was the village of Ura, at about 10,170 feet, special for having its houses huddled more closely together. For warmth? It was not clear. But it had been a feature of all other villages that we had seen that the houses had been widely spaced; unlike their Chinese counterparts, for example, Bhutanese village-dwellers usually like to have a bit of space around them.