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Book Review: Against a Peacock Sky
Against a Peacock Sky written by Monica Connell. Published by Penguin Books (Viking) in 1991.
Monica Connell grew up in Northern Ireland and is an anthropologist who went to live in a rural village in Nepal. She lived and worked for two years with a Nepali family, sharing their celebrations, their hardships, their food and their hard labour in the fields to provide a subsistence living. One family took her in, sharing their everyday lives on a very personal level with her, allowing her to virtually become one of the family.
Monica witnessed first hand the villagers’ way of life. She learned how to care for the animals, how to plant and harvest rice and the best way to hunt a boar. She relates the significance of their many religious ceremonies, beliefs and festivals. She relates – without any hint of being judgmental – the importance of various customs employed to appease the local gods in order to have a successful crop or produce healthy animals.
This is a fascinating account of life in rural Nepal as it has been for many centuries and had remained largely untouched by outside influences. Here and there in her narrative, however, there are hints of change in their somewhat cloistered existence. Outside pressures were beginning to show. For example, one young man finds work building roads in nearby India, and he leaves permanently. The old ways were beginning to change, and I suspect if the author returned to that village today there would be many more changes apparent.
I would suspect that this book is now out of print. I bought mine via the internet as a used copy after I had experienced a touch of Nepali life when I went to visit there in 2006. To read more of my impressions of life in Nepal, go to the Contents on the sidebar, or click on several of the Categories, also on the sidebar.
Exhilarating journey to Kathmandu
After my brief visit to Royal Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal, we finally managed to get a ride back to Kathmandu. This was in a mini bus arranged by the manager of the hotel where we were staying. It was far more comfortable than the battered and cramped conditions of the small 4WD we had travelled in the previous day.
We woke early, well before dawn. We had a light breakfast before leaving. For the first hour or so the journey was slow. Not only was the road very pot holed, but the fog was extremely thick. There was no doubt that we would not have been able to fly back to Kathmandu, even if we had been able to get tickets.
At first the traffic was relatively light, but after dawn this increased markedly. Our driver was very skilled at avoiding pot holes, pedestrians, cyclists, animals, children, larger buses and overtaking ponderous trucks labouring through the hills.
As we began the climb up to Kathmandu the scenery along the road became truly spectacular. The highway follow a river valley so the road was rarely straight. I had no opportunity to take photos: I needed to hang on to the rail on the back of the seat in front of me to prevent myself from being thrown from one side of the bus to the other.
The river far below the road was boulder strewn and would have been an excellent white water rafting location. What worried me was the drop of over a hundred metres from the road to the river. There was little in the way of barriers between the road and the river. The few barriers that were there seemed very inadequate in my mind.
Added to that concern were the frequent – perhaps every hundred metres or so – road signs warning about falling rocks from the mountains above the road. Both of these concerns made me forget about the hazards of the road itself. The driver was very skillful at overtaking on crests, blind corners and at avoiding collisions in the face of oncoming traffic.
It was truly a “white-knuckle” ride.
Related article:
- Chitwan to Kathmandu – extracts from my travel journal
Travels in Nepal #53 Flight back to Kathmandu
The morning after the finish of our trek we were woken up early to catch our flight back to Kathmandu. Our lodge in Lukla was about a three minute walk to the airport terminal. We had breakfast – the little I could stomach – and then waited for the siren. I didn’t want to eat too much, anticipating the flight back to Kathmandu.
The return trip is just as adventurous as the flight in to Lukla, except this time the plane heads down the slope and is hopefully airborne by the time it reaches the end of the runway. The alternative is a plummet several hundred metres to the river below, not the preferred outcome.
This time I had a single seat two back from the pilots and was therefore not as squeezed in and I had a window seat. The flight back to Kathmandu was rough for the first twenty minutes but smoothed out as we approached our destination. On arrival we were soon back in the relative peacefulness of the Shangri La Hotel.
It was great to have a decent shower again, not to mention a comfortable bed for a change. Interestingly, on this day I only took the photo below. It shows the garden of the hotel from our bedroom window.
Related article:
- The flight from Lukla to Kathmandu – excerpts from my travel diary written while in Nepal.
Shangri La Hotel Kathmandu
Travels in Nepal # 52 Troubled Nepal
Troubled Nepal
A town under siege
As we entered Lukla on our return from the trek, we were aware of the many soldiers and police in this small town. There had been many incidents throughout the country over the previous few months and the authorities were very much on edge. The airport at Lukla is a strategic importance, not only for the local economy but for the protection of the tourist industry which relies heavily on the income derived from trekking and mountaineering.
Army barracks
The army barracks were quite close to the airstrip which was next to our lodge, so we were able to watch them training and on guard. There were a number of bunkers with heavily armed soldiers only a few metres from where we sat eating our lunch. I was careful not to aim my camera in their direction.
Troubled Nepal
While several of the trekking group were playing cricket in the lodge garden, the little boy featured in the photo above came to our rescue and threw the ball back over the fence. I was able to take this photo as a poignant illustration of the troubles in this emerging nation. Framed by the barbed wire he so much wanted to join in our game, but was prevented by the barricade. The troubled nation of Nepal is desperately wanting to join the twenty-first century world, but the internal political turmoil is an effective barrier to progress.
Hope for the future
After we had left Nepal the situation came to a head and the king handed back power to the elected government. While the unrest is still evident some ten months later, it is a far more settled nation now than earlier in the year. There is hope for the future.
Travels in Nepal # 51 Back in Lukla
Building near Lukla
The final day of our trek in Nepal was rather shorter in walking terms than many other days. The walking was relatively easy going for the first hour or so after we left the village of Phakding. Closer to Lukla we passed some beautiful buildings, many of them trekking lodges.
This little part of Nepal relies heavily on tourism, especially the trekking and mountaineering pursuits. In Lukla itself there are many lodges and hotels, as well as many shops, trekking supply shops and a multitude of internet cafes. I didn’t bother to investigate any of these so I don’t what they were charging. My guess is that they were quite a deal more expensive than Kathmandu.
As we approached Lukla the steep climb up to the town really sapped my energy and I fell quite a way behind the other trekkers. It didn’t matter; I had plenty of time to complete that leg before lunch. As I slowed down I was able to observe the buildings, the people and environment more closely anyway.
I was also in a little pain due to the blisters on my toes and the sore on the left heel. After showering and taking off the blister pack I realised that it had developed a rather nasty open wound. I should have treated it sooner. Our trek leader was very good at applying a new bandage. This helped considerably but it was to cause me walking problems for the next few days.
The photo below shows the garden of the lodge where we stayed in Lukla. We had a relaxing lunch in the lovely sunshine with a wonderful mountain view as the backdrop. The photo features my daughter Rose who first inspired me to undertake this trek. To the right of her is the control tower of Lukla airport. The runway is behind the stone wall surrounding the lodge garden.
Related Article:
- Trek from Phakding to Lukla – extracts from my travel journal written during the trek.
Lukla, Nepal