2 hours north of Biratnagar, through the jungle and past the monkeys chilling at the side of a steep and winding road, we came to the charming hillside town of Dhankuta, one of the 14 districts of Koshi province in eastern Nepal. Not quite so charming was the first hotel (now nicknamed “the prison”) where we were due to stay for the first night. Somewhat grim, we did have a decent dinner and a drink (once we switched the fridge on and avoided the out-of-date beers).
Happily for half the crew, Sara secured a family room in a lovely hotel overlooking the football ground and views across the Dhankuta hills. Reunited with the rest of the group the next morning at breakfast we got ready for the day. First stop was Nijamati secondary school, with a large playing field and nearly 200 students all of whom came to play cricket. The school kindly provided us with a speaker and microphone so Sara could loudly present CWB and the coaches. The sessions were “proper” CWB sessions – fast, energetic and adapted rapidly for the groups when required. This was particularly evident when Rob discovered that the wire fencing let through the tennis balls down the steep slopes of the Himalayas but he did a brilliant job changing the game accordingly.
The second session could not have been more different. Pole Star Junior school is a small establishment on top of a hill with an elevation of 1,350m. The youngest played various games of catching; head, shoulders, knees and cone; volcanoes and craters and even some batting relays, while the older children had a noisy and competitve game of rapidfire. After a solid 90 minutes of play, we returned some very happy and tired children to their teachers to get ready to go home.
The following morning was an early start at the football ground with 20 local cricketers arriving for a coaching session, some even wandering over from their football session to get involved.
The football ground was also the venue for a morning school coaching session. The school did not have enough space for the 200 children (evenly mixed) who had shown a keen interest in playing so the ground proved invaluable for them.
After some refreshments we bid a sad goodbye to Dhankuta, the city of avocadoes and orange groves and headed back down the mountain roads to our next base Dharan. On the way we took a short detour to see the Namaste Falls where the girls refreshed their feet in the clear mountain waters.
Be First to Comment