Getting to site
All Hands base is located roughly 75km northwest of Nepal's capital Kathmandu; the closest town that you can take a bus to is called Trisuli. The ride itself is quite something - because you are leaving the Kathmandu valley (a relatively flat region amid towering mountains) and travelling into higher altitude mountainous regions, the trip itself can take between 3.5 - 5 hours. As you are moving further away from the capital and getting higher, landscape changes quite dramatically. You see numerous villages and smaller settlements dispersed along hillsides, lots of houses that are either still in ruin or primarily made from corrugated metal sheets, rice fields become much more frequent and soon you find yourself travelling amid the clouds. The ride can be a little nerve-racking, as road conditions are often quite poor, especially during monsoon season. Landslides are quite common, especially after heavy rain, which can delay the travel time even further (sometimes with passengers having to get off the bus and help dig out the bus from a pool of mud). As the main roads in Nepal are often paved, higher mountainous roads on this trip are mostly dirt roads, occasionally covered in gravel.
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After you get off the bus in Trisuli, there is still a 20 minute walk ahead of you, but its quite enjoyable as it provides a nice introduction to the community you will be living in. The base itself is a three-story building which used to be a resort house. One floor contains just bunk beds arranged around a spacious room in clusters, while other two floors have smaller rooms with 4 - 6 beds in each. Ground floor also contains a kitchen, tables for staff to work from (something resembling an "office space") and a common area with outdoor garden. Privacy is rare and almost everything has be shared, but this is community living at its best.
Just leaving Kathmandu and climbing to higher elevations.
As you get higher, clouds begin to appear closer and closer. Destroyed homes are also common to see.
As 68% of Nepal's population is employed in agriculture, especially with rural communities reliant on it for survival, hillsides are covered in rice fields and fruit trees.
Top floor has bunk beds arranged in clusters, housing about 30 people. Certainly not glamorous but its home.
Lying on the top bunk bed, view from the window.
This is our base, previously a three-story resort building.
On the way to base.
View from the back balcony of the top floor, early morning while clouds are still hanging low.