Christmas Eve in Chame

Well wefinally made it out of Kathmandu despite the protest strike. The first place we were supposedto visit was Bandipur but due to the strike being over a couple of days we skipped it and headed straight for Bessi Sahar which is where we started the trek from. Our first two days were short trekking days, 3 - 4 hours and we finished before lunch. The second days stop we visited a local school and they were doing their exams.
The next days hike started to get harder as the hills increased. The scenery is wonderful and the weather has been fantastic, blue sky sunny days.
We have passed many mule trains in both directions along the track, all loaded up with rice and some with building materials. We have been following the river passing many small rivers. The food has been excellent and the guide and porters are terrific. Today it is much colder as we have reached over 2,600m and many of the small streams we have passed are frozen.

We are looking forward to the Throng La Pass which we should summit before the New Year.

Off treking in Nepal

We this will be the last post for quite some time. We head off tomorrow morning to Bandipur and start the trek on Tuesday 19th December.

We may have internet access in some places but in many of the villages they don't even have power let alone internet access.

So far Nepal has ben very good and we are looking forward to the next part of our adventure. We may update along the route if we have the chance but most likely we will be unable to add to the blog.

Kathmandu

We had a great nights sleep as there was no wedding next door. We set off just after 8am looking for a place to have breakfast. We found a tiny little shop under a stairway with one table and 3 seats called Western Nepal restaurant. We had a set breakfast of tea, toast and jam, 2 eggs and a potato and tomato fry for 100 rupee ($1.19). It was excellent food and value and we will be going back tomorrow. After breakfast we headed to the Northface sale but it was very crowded and didn't have what we were looking for. We ended up going to the Mountain hardware shop and purchasing a pair of 4 season gloves each.

We headed back to the hotel and managed to get all our pictures loaded to flickr and the blog up to date before checking out. We walked to our new hotel, the Kathmandu Guesthouse, being asked every few meters if we wanted a taxi or a cyclo. David found a hairdresser in the hotel and had a haircut with clippers ready for the start of our new tour. He loved the haircut which included a head massage and is already planning to have another one when we return after the trek.

After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets trying to do some shopping but most of the shops were closed. We saw many of the shops that were open pulling their goods inside and shutting the roller shutters and a group marching down the street. In front of the group some westerners were running. We went into a shop that was open and they explained to us that there was a strike on and students were  protesting against the unsafe prisons as someone had died in prison recently. He said he was taking a risk being open and would shut down the shutters if the protesters came his way as they would smash the shop front. David commented that he was feeling a little uneasy as he was not sure how volatile the situation could get, so we took a different route back to the hotel and later on went back out and shops slowly began to open again. We bumped into Carli and Bronwyn who had been stuck inside a shop when they closed, they had also seen a group of riot police near the more expensive shops where we had been in the morning. We were also advised that the strike may continue tomorrow and even on Monday when we need to head off to start the trek.

 

The Road to Kathmandu

Woke to the sound of the diesel generator at 7am, a recurring theme throughout India and Nepal due to power shortages. Had a buffet breakfast and took a short minibus ride to the Chitwan bus depot where we boarded our bus to Kathmandu. Gi had booked us seats on the left hand side of the bus so we would have good views on the trip.

We loaded our bags in the luggage storage of the bus and took our seats. We had amazing views of the deep gorges, fast flowing rivers and looming mountains. At times the road and some bridges were very narrow and it seemed like we were on the very edge of the road. We had a very good driver and felt safe even though it was a bit scary at times. We arrived in Kathmandu around 3pm and our first impressions as we drove in was that it reminded us of La Paz, a city in a bowl. We caught taxis from the bus stop to the hotel, checked in and then met up again at 5pm for our orientation walk. Our hotel, Kathmandu Prince hotel is located in Thamel, an area full of shops and restaurants. We were shown the essentials such as ATM and places to eat and also supermarkets. Catriona even managed to get some gluten free biscuits! We wandered around looking in the shops selling the real fake Northface gear and ended up buying some down jackets. We met back up with the group at the New Orleans restaurant for dinner. We both had steak and vegetables which was quite nice after eating vegetarian for so long. After dinner we all headed back to the hotel but did not manage to get much sleep as a wedding party had set up camp across the road. They just started to warm up as we went to bed. Band started at 3pm only bongo and brass instrument, by 4pm only the bongo was left playing, people were still yahooing though. At 4.30am a full marching band started up again and we watched them walk down the street outside our hotel.

At 5.30am we got up as we had booked a mountain flight on Yeti airlines. We met Mary and Phillip in the lobby at 6am and set off to the airport to be in time for our 7am flight. Unfortunately the airport was closed due to fog and we ended up having to cancel the flight to be back in time to meet up for our sight seeing at 11am. We jumped in the same minivan we had taken to the airport and headed off to Swayambhunath, one of Nepal's holiest Buddhist sites. We were shown the 375 stairs to the top but luckily were driven to near the top. The guide showed us around and gave us 20 minutes free time to take photos. The area surrounding the main stupa was covered with shops and people trying to get you to buy their wares. We bought a CD and some prayer flags and David took a few photos before we walked back down to the van.

Next stop was Bouddhanath which is 6km east of the centre of Kathmandu. It is the largest stupa in Kathmandu valley and is in the heart of Nepal's Tibetan population. It is a world heratige site and there are more than 45 Buddhist monasteries in the area surrounding the stupa.

We then set off back to the hotel and from there set out to lunch which we had at Pilgrim's read and feed restaurant which was at the back of a book store. We wandered around looking through the shops for the rest of the afternoon and had our final dinner with the group at Rum Doodle restaurant. After dinner we said our good byes and went to bed. Happy to be at the end of another great trip.

Chitwan National Park and Sauraha

We had a knock on the door early in the morning by our guide who said there was a rhino down by the shore. We got dressed and went out onto the terrace to watch the huge animal wander up and down. It was finally chased off by one of the villagers to the other side of the river. Once it reached the other side it was chased again and then it chased someone into the water. After the early excitement we had breakfast, David had Catriona's bread rolls, and a banana and apple from the packed lunch the day before and Catriona had a banana and a cup of chai.

We caught the canoe ferry back over to the park and had a half hour walk to the crocodile breading centre. Gharial crocodiles are fish eating crocodiles with a long thin snout and are almost extinct. It was interesting to see the different stages of development of these crocs as well as the breeding sized animals. We had a 20 minute walk to the jeeps and we had a 2 hour jeep ride back to Sauraha and the hotel. We did see a few spotted deer and some large storks but not much else. The group behind us were lucky enough to see a leopard.

We had lunch at a garden restaurant with Alisha, Prue, Mary and Phillip and it was very good. We had free time in the afternoon so we wandered the streets, Catriona tried to update the blog but the internet connection was not very good. In the evening we watched the locals do some stick dancing which was interesting and afterwards we headed off to dinner at a rooftop restaurant we had visited the last time we were in the village before setting off on the safari. We shared a vegetarian mousaka and David had a few beers and Catriona a couple of gin and tonics. After dinner the group took over the music system using their ipods or iphones. We both had a great time until catriona pulled a muscle in her left calf and was unable to continue dancing. David got some ice from the bar and Catriona spent the next 20 minutes with her leg up. Luckilly we had been eating dinner on cushions on the floor. Catriona headed off to bed after the pain got too bad and David followed about 10 minutes later.

 

Chitwan National Park

8.30am and we boarded a minibus for our 5 hour journey to Chitwan. It started out foggy and we noticed an improvement in the roads and the fact there were much less people compared to India. The vegetation changed to jungle/rainforest as we ascended into the mountains. We stopped at a roadside restaurant to use the facilities. The views from the back of the restaurant were lovely and Alisha managed to get a great photo of an old man sitting in the restaurant next door.

We arrived at the hotel, which is set in lovely garden, at 1.30pm and had lunch that we had phoned through the order for on our way. After lunch we had a bicycle ride through surrounding villages. The direction we took was changed from the usual as they had reports of a sighting of a rhino. We left our bikes outside the elephant breeding centre and walked to where the rhino had been spotted. We were told that if the rhino charged we were to run zigzag and try to find a large tree to hide behind or climb if possible. It was an amazing site to see a rhino so close. It was just grazing on the grass and eventually moved down to the river where we were only 10 metres away from it, luckily though we were on an embankment and were safe. We managed to see another smaller rhino as well which is very rare as two male rhinos do not usually tolerate each other. The story goes that the older one was once the dominant male in the area but was getting old and had been beaten, the younger one had been orphaned and so the older one looked after the younger one. Now as the younger one is getting older they graze further apart, probably about 50 to 100 meters.

We stopped off at the elephant breeding centre on our way back to the bikes and watched them being fed. We also saw a man making up the little parcels of grain wrapped in grass that they fed to the elephants. We finished off our ride through pretty fields of mustard and villages of mud brick / straw and tile homes. After the ride we went shopping and Catriona bought a beanie and a shirt and we also bought a Nepalese flag and some presents. We enjoyed an Everest beer and a gin and tonic at the garden bar before heading out for dinner in the town.

We had another early start with breakfast before heading off on our canoe ride into the national park. We saw many birds, a muggar crocodile and a gharial crocodile as well as a spotted dear.

After the canoe trip we had a jungle walk for the rest of the day. We were advised what to do in the event we came across different animals before we set off into the jungle. We saw lots of evidence of wild animals such as tiger prints, rhino poo, sloth bear scratch marks and poo and a hog dear. At around 4.30 we arrived at the river bank and caught a canoe ferry to the other side where our hotel was. We enjoyed a few drinks watching the sun set and were lucky enough to see some locals taking their elephants down to the river for a wash. We went down for a closer look but they were already on their way back. They did stop for us to take photos and also let us touch them. The one we touched was a very old female and her handler got her to lift her trunk up to say Namaste before they left.

  

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and afterwards had a few drinks and sat around a fire while one of the locals played a guitar and some people sang along.

Nepal - Lumbini

We made it through the Indian immigration and received our departure stamp then walked through no mans land to the Nepal immigration to purchase our visas. It was a straight forward process and once we had the visas in our passport the official welcomed us to Nepal. We thought it was a lovely touch and has been our best dealing with a countries immigration so far. Said goodbye to our Indian drivers and boarded a mini bus for the hours drive to Lumbini. We arrived at 3pm and checked in to our rooms then met the group in the lobby at 3.30pm for our walk to the world heritage site where Lord Buddha was born. We entered the building has been constructed over the ruins of temples built over the rock on which Buddha was said to have been born. We waited in line behind many pilgrims for our chance to see "the" rock then headed outside to enjoy the peaceful surroundings. It was quite amusing to see a monk with a megaphone talking to a group of pilgrims.

We wandered around the grounds and then walked to the Chinese Monastery, unfortunately we arrived at 5.20pm and the monasteries close at 5pm. Luckily though, the man at the door let us in and we were able to listen to the monks chanting for a little while before walking over to see the Korean temple across the road. The Korean temple was a huge concrete structure that has not been finished. It will certainly be a grand structure once it is complete. It was dark on our walk back to the hotel but we made it safely and met for dinner at 7pm.

Leaving India

After 9 hours driving we made it to the boarder with Nepal. The roads were very bad even though we were on a National highway but our drivers were very good. As we leave India and look back over the last month I find that I do not agree with the common saying that people who travel to India either love it or hate it. We have found many of the places we have visited to be lovely but can't say we love India and we definitely do not hate it. India is facing some huge challenges with their ever expanding population. Their sanitation is way below healthy with open sewers in most of the towns and even cities we visited. Rubbish being thrown onto the ground and not cleaned up, men urinating wherever they please and spitting their tobacco everywhere all contribute to bringing the overall enjoyment of the places down. As we have said in a previous post there is an assault on all of your senses. The pungent smell of spices mixed with the heavy odor of urine, the noise of the traffic with trucks, cars, bikes and tuk-tuks blasting their horns wherever you go. The heat which would be unbearable in Summer but luckily for us was hot at the beginning but has become cooler as the month passed. then there were the spectacular sights and the brightly coloured clothes of the women.

On the positive side the people have been lovely and it has been quite funny to have many of them want to take our photo. The interaction with the locals on public transport and at some of the monuments has also been a highlight.

Varinasi

7am meeting this morning for the morning boat trip on the Ganges to view the Ghats. We had the usual beggars asking us for money and also young children wanting to sell us flower and candle offerings. It was not too foggy to start with and it was very peaceful out on the river. We watched the colourful procession of people along the Ghats, people bathing, people washing, people drinking the Ganges water and a couple of people being cremated. We had around an hour floating around then headed back to the hotel for breakfast.

 

After breakfast the rest of the group set of for Sarnath the place where Lord Buddha gave his first sermon after he gained enlightenment. We stayed at the hotel not wanting to spend another couple of hours in a car when we have an 11 hour trip the next day. We managed to post a few days up to the blog and also talk to David's Mum and Chris. We then set off to have lunch at a restaurant down near the Ghat. It was a peaceful setting to have lunch and we also saw two newly married couples walking down the the water for their blessings. After lunch we noticed a bookshop next to the restaurant that sold yoga related books and CDs. We ended up spending over $60 on books and a couple of CDs that at home would have cost us $100s. The books were heavy so we went back to the hotel to drop them off before going out to do some more shopping. We bought David a 3 tiered tipin before going back to meet the group for our afternoon boat ride to watch the puja ceremony.

The ceremony was much earlier than usual because of the lunar eclipse. We watched for quite a while then we sailed into the middle of the channel to have our own ceremony where we put the little floating lights into the river and made a wish. They looked very pretty on the water.

  

They dropped us off on the shore near the old town so we could finish off our shopping. We managed to buy 4 pots that fit inside each other for the van and Catriona bought an Indian outfit. We had dinner back at the hotel and headed off to pack all our new items ready for our 4am start.

Ganges

We had a 3 hour drive to get to the boats, there were 3 boats for passengers and a kitchen boat. We were in a boat with Gi, Mary Phillip, Prue and Alisha in another and Pat, Bronwyn and Carli in the last one. We floated down the river a little then they tied the boats together and enjoyed the delicious lunch they had made while floating down the river.

After lunch it was more peaceful sailing down the Ganges. David decided to have a go at rowing, which he found out was very hard work and he ended up with 2 blisters on his hand. In the evening we stopped on an island where they set up our tents and a toilet tent. We had a lovely dinner or rice dahl, eggplant, chips, pasta, chai and we finished off with custard and fruit. They lit a small fire which we stood around talking and watching the flames. We headed off to bed at around 10am and were very warm with our 3 blankets even though the temperature was supposed to get to 6 degrees Celsius.

We got up at 6.45am and had a cup of hot masala chai. Pat, Phillip, Mary and Alisha joined us for yoga by the Ganges. Just before breakfast Phillip and Pat went into the Ganges, up to their necks for a dip. Catriona went in up to her knees. They made toast, and porridge for breakfast with some more masala chai. After they packed up the camping gear we set off again into the fog down the Ganges.

We snuggled up under blankets to keep warm but the boat men were pulling their clothes off as they warmed up rowing down the river. We quickly lost sight of the other boats in the thick fog which did not clear until around 10am. When the sun finally broke through it did warm up and David, Gi and Catriona played a couple of rounds of Uno. We had lunch on the boats they  lashed together again before disembarking and boarding a couple of cars for the one hour drive to Varanasi.

We arrived in Varanasi around 4.15pm checked in showered and met the group at 5pm for our orientation walk. We wandered along the Ghats (steps leading down to the river) where people were swimming, bathing, drinking the Ganges. We also saw people being cremated and people getting ready for the puja or prayer ceremony. There were children trying to sell us little dishes with candles and marigolds in them, and many persistent touts trying to sell postcards or necklaces. We left the Ghats once we reached the old town where we were given the opportunity to visit a cloth shop where the proprietor gave us a rundown on all the different types of cloth available. A few people in the group spent up big buying pashminas and scarves some over $50. We left the group to find an ATM as we had been struggling to find one that was open. We could not find the group again so decided to walk back to the hotel and passed another wedding along the way. It was 9pm by the time we made it back to the hotel. We had a dinner in the hotel restaurant then headed off to bed very full.

Khajuraho

Alisha, Prue, Mary an Phillip and the two of us decided to take an optional excursion to Khajuraho which is 175km away from Orchha. We had to leave at 6am as it was a 3 hour drive and we needed to be back by 5pm. The roads were horrendous and it ended up taking 4 hours to get there. The driver was very good having to dodge cows, dogs, people, cyclists, cars, busses and trucks. We had breakfast in the town  and met our guide for the day then headed off to the Western group of monuments of Khajuraho. The temples were built between the 9th and 12th Century AD in an Indo Aryan style. They are all intricately carved and as they are a world heritage site some of them have been restored and they are now surrounded by lovely gardens. They have many different types of carvings but  they are most well known for their erotic images of Tantric sex. One of the temples was taken apart for cleaning and it took 3 months to disassemble and 7 years to reassemble. We had 1/2 an hour of free time to wander through the complex and then it was back to the car for the 4 hour journey back to Orchha.

Back in Orchha we set off with the whole group for a cooking demonstration and dinner. The lady running the demonstration showed us how to make masala chai first then potato and spinach, eggplant with onion and tomato, vegetable palou, and dahl. Her sister-in-law showed us how to make chapatti. The meal was deliscious and everyone was encouraged to have second helpings.David and the rest of the group finished the meal with Goulab Jumon a desert made from wheat flour and covered in a syrup. After dinner Mary had her hand painted with henna and we sat around chatting with the lady until it was time to head back to Jhansi for the overnight train to Allahbad.

We were again in a 3 teir sleeper David on the bottom level and Catriona in the middle. We were expecting to arrive in Allahbad at around 7am but there was heavy fog so we were delyed just outside of the city by just short of 4 hours. We went to a hotel for breakfast and because of the delay missed seeing the house of the first President, but set off directly for our Ganges boat trip.

Orchha

We met in the morning at 9.15am for our trip to Orchha which consisted of a mini van ride to the station then a 5 hour train ride to Jhansi and a 40 minute rickshaw ride to Orchha. We arrived at around 3pm and went straight to the restaurant and ordered lunch then checked into our rooms. After lunch we had our orientation walk through the main street then had free time to look around. We ended up at a little rooftop restaurant where we had some masala chai with a great view over the palace complex. We met up with Mary and Phillip on our way out and ended up spending the evening talking to them, Gi and some of the local guides from Orchha. We also met Badam's younger brother and our local guide for the next day Indu. Indu managed to procure some rum which Gi shared with us.

6th December, we met at 9am and walked to the palace complex where we had a guided tour by Indu through 2 of the palaces. The first palace was the Raj Mahal which had frescos inspired by the Ramayana, Lord Vishnu and Lord Krishna. Our guide told us the story of when Krishna stole the milkmaids clothes as there was a picture of it in the fresco. We passed the hotel which is in one of the palaces and visited the Jehangir Mahal which was built for the Emperor Jehangir by Raj Bir Singh Deo, the local ruler. It was only used for one day as the Raj gave it to the Emperor as a gift and after staying one night he went to Lahore where he died. We had a group photo taken at the front gate then we were able to climb up to the top floor where we had great views over Orchha.

After the tour we caught tuk-tuks to Taragram, and intrepid sponsored NGO employing local tribal women to make paper products from cotton scraps.  We had a tour around the facility which ended in the shop where we were goinjg to order some business cards, but they were too busy at the present time so we just bought a couple of handmade paper books. Back in Orchha we had free time and David and I had lunch at Bhola Restaurant. We both had the Thali and a water and Catriona had a chai, all for under $6. After lunch we walked up a steep set of stairs to the Chatturbuj Mandir (Vishnu temple) which was built to enshrine the image of Rama. It is now in ruins but we had a great view over Orchha. After wandering around for a while admiring the architecture of the temple we set off for the Cenotaphs. There are 14 Chhatries built as memorials to the rulers. Catriona was tired and went back to the hotel and David found there was an entrance and that our ticket from this morning got him in. On her way back to the hotel Catriona was stopped by 5 young men in a tuk-tuk who asked for a photo. Three of them jumped out and had their picture taken with her and then the other two did the same. Meanwhile David wandered through the site taking many photos. David went back to the hotel just before sunset and both went down to the Betwa river to watch the sunset and life go by.

At 6.30pm we all met up in the village to go to the Ram Raja Mandir, originally a palace but now a Hindu temple. We attended a Puja or prayer ceremony where many people were chanting and paying their respects to the idols. Afterwards we had dinner at a small restaraunt with the group and Badam who had come home to Orchha for a few days before his next trip, came to see us.