Village Dreams

At just 20, Harka Rai is a bright spark in Mahjkarka - pictured here setting up the single light bulb for the 'dancefloor'.

Soft spoken and reserved, Harka left the village at 17 to work in Subang Jaya, cashiering at supermarket Mydin. About 500,000 Nepalis, mostly men, leave the country every year for better salaries but often poor working conditions.

Harka was relatively OK, and learned enough Malay on-the-job to have a lengthy conversation with me. Other villagers gaped at us - two guys speaking in terrible Malay ('kampung kamu...banyak bagus, banyak cantik!').

Now he's back, married, and one of the wealthier villagers with 5 cows and a weathered looking iPhone 6.

"Maybe I will leave to work again, or open an electronic store here for all the villages.

Tourism would be good for us, so someone can give us help. If someone breaks a leg, 8 of us have to carry him to Sautang and there's only a pharmacy there. Operations we'll have to go Kathmandu. (18 hours by bumpy roads)"

We're talking in the dark as the small dancefloor around the corner throbs with life.

Harka pauses mid-sentence, his uncle drunkenly stumbles past us, then silently falls off the ledge, headed for the pile of firewood below. Harka grabs his arm, and his groggy uncle gracefully swings back up the step and continues into the darkness.

He's apologetic as always: "Please don't be angry, he is drunk."