Happy New Year 2072

Tuesday was New Year's Day and we, like most of Nepal it seemed, decided to go to Bhedetar, a ridge town north of my old home town of Dharan.  We drove but everyone else was on motorbikes. Most of them on the one bike.We went to Hotel Arun Valley which used to be one of  few hotels and lodges on the ridge but is now one of many. In November, you can get views of Kanchendzonga and Makalu (even a glimpse of Everest on a good day) but we went to enjoy the food and get views of several thousand motorbikes.  IT was also an excellent place for my darling hosts to take a few (hundred?) selfies with their new selfie stick.After snacks we had lunch. Some of us thought the snacks were lunch and good golly, you'd think we'd have had that one sorted by now but the snacks seemed so...extensive. Anyway, we ate our lunch and our snacks and then headed up the road to Namje which used to be a tiny little ridge town further up a very poor road.  Now it is a rapidly growing ridge town up a slightly better road. The attraction there was the atma basne gau.  The place where the spirit rests.  A beautiful place of Nepal's national flower, the laligurans (rhododendron).  It was also the place of many people attempting to walk up a path in ridiculously high shoes.Two more highlights were coming home via Dharan where we lived for four years and going to my beloved veggie line.  We bought mushrooms, chillies, saag and limes.  Here was one place where not too much had changed.  The other was swinging into the Gurkha Department with several thousand others.  I bought some tonic (unavailable in Birtamod) to go with my Blue Riband gin. As it turned out, by the time we reached home I rather needed the drink.To you all, Happy New Year and may 2072 bring health, happiness and joy.