I thought my visit to North Dhading would be the worst of my life, but I was wrong! My trip to South Dhading was even more difficult.

We went to Simtar, in the southern part of Mahadevsthan VDC. The two hours of vehicle travel along terribly bumpy roads from the highway were followed by four hours of steep up-and-down hiking to reach Simtar.

The roads were so steep they seemed to be 90°, and so slippery. I never imagined it could be that slippery. Even though I was wearing very good sports shoes with nice grip, I had to place every step carefully, for fear of slipping back. As a bonus, we had leeches all over the place. We climbed up and up, and all I could think of was how we would have to return the next day.

Our return was just as awful as I had feared, slipping many times and being bitten by leeches and other insects. But apart from this, the place was very beautiful. There was no pollution, and the upper hills were all covered by maize plants which were more than 10 feet tall. We got lost in one of those maize fields for some time, but thankfully our partner staff member who was travelling with us found us.

Nirmala Mali