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Quick link:Nepal Pics
December 23, 2003 - 9 pm - Kathmandu, Nepal - 19 C and partly cloudy
(Tony) On December 21, Indian Airlines carried us across the India-Nepal border, passing some spectacular mountain views. The guide book told us to sit on the left side of the plane to get the best views, and it was not joking! Looking out the window, the peaks of the tallest range are at eye level! At first glance, I mistook the snow covered peaks for clouds! As soon as I stepped out of the plane, I could sense the energy in the air here (this is in stark contrast to the lack of energy in Delhi). It's strange, as there is a lot of poverty here, but the people seem to be (generally) happy with what they have. This impression that the people are generally happy with what they have has also caused me to stop worrying about theft. If people are happy with what they have, then they are less likely to try to steal. We are still keeping our eyes open, but from reading the guide books, I had thought that Kathmandu would be a lot less inviting.
One thing that wasn't all that inviting was catching a taxi from the airport to our hotel. There were several touts as soon as we left secuirty at the airport, and they were quite pushy. One insisted that we should go with him as he is the cheapest taxi. However, I know that if these touts end up taking you to a hotel, you end up paying a much larger bill for your room, as the taxi driver collects a commission for taking you to that hotel. We already had a reservation (which would exclude any of the commission stuff), but the driver still tried to collect a commission at the hotel (dispite me telling him that we had a reservation and there was no commission for him). Thankfully our hotel operator got rid of him with a rather curt Nepali sentence that I did not understand (but I'm sure that it was good!). Egypt was definitely a good warm up for this kind of stuff! Whenever talking about Kathmandu, one has no choice but to discuss food - variety of food, low cost of food, great taste, etc... I can say that Kathmandu has the largest selection of food that I have seen - from Thai to American to Japanese to Indian...and there is even steak (only not beef - instead it's buff, as in waterbuffalo)! And it is all (relatively) cheap! A huge several course meal that we can barely finish is approximately 7 dollars US for the two of us (with alcohol and live music included)! I had pork liver last night, by the way. Yesterday, we were busy with taking care of upcoming flights, and did not see much of the city. However, even just walking to the Indian Airlines office and back to the hotel we saw a demonstration, with riot police patrolling the area. This is definitely a sign of the political turmoil this country is currently going through, and seeing this made me glad that we have decided not to go on a trek. However, this country is so beautiful that we will definitely be back in the future to do a trek (it would be amazing to get to Everest base camp!). Today we did manage to see some of the sites in the city, such as Durbar Square, which is a large downtown area full of temples. We hired a guide to take us through this area, and it was great to hear about the various tales of gods and godessess from a local guide (usually we only have the Lonely Planet)! There is an interesting mixture of Hinduism and Buddism here, and this leads to a wide variety of beautiful and detailed temples, from multi-level pagodas to tall stupa monuments. My personal favourite is the Buddhist stupa - it is made up of a large dome that forms the base, with a smaller rectangular 'box' on top and a spire rising at the very top. The box sometimes has a pair of eyes on all sides, representing the all seeing aspect of Buddha, with a strange looking nose, which is a Nepali number 1, representing unity. It is an awe inspiring site. Another thing that we really were able to experience today is the narrow and crowded shopping streets. It is crazy here! There are mainly very small cars and motorbikes moving down the streets, along with bicycle rickshaws and numerous pedestrians. The motorbikes seem to have no fear and plow through the crowds as fast as they can. I'm amazed that noone gets hurt! Walking down these streets is an amazing experience, with all sorts of shops along the road, mixed with numerous temples and shrines, and people filling in most available space. Almost everyone seems to be in a good mood throughout this, which definitely enhances the whole experience. One final note, not on Nepal, but on Christmas! It is rapidly approaching, and I (we) wish everyone watching this webpage a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We are missing everyone terribly and our thoughts will be back home, even though we are half way around the world! Thank you for all your emails and guestbook postings - we appreciate them immensely! I think I have rambled enough for now, as we have to get up early to catch the bus to Pokhara at 6:15 am tomorrow! December 27, 2003 8:01 pm - Kathmandu, Nepal - 9 C and raining
(Tony) We have just returned from a short jaunt to the city of Pokhara, which is approximately 200 km west of Kathmandu. Pokhara is the launching point for treks into the Annapurna, but it is also a great place to relax for a few days and enjoy the peaceful beauty (and loads of good food!). Let me take a step back before I go into too much about Pokhara. One thing that I did not describe in enough detail in the last update was the food. As I said, the restaurants here are definitely notable, as there is almost every type of cuisine served in Kathmandu at some place or another! Most places do serve Nepali food, which is very good. This usually comes in the form of a set meal consisting of rice, curry (veg or non-veg), dall baht (black lentil soup), a papad (a chickpea flour flatbread) and spicy mixed pickles. Any time we have had this it is a taste explosion! And it is also an all you can eat deal as well! The mixed pickles are not like I am used to eating, which is mainly a strong pickle taste, with carrotts and cauliflower. Instead, it is a mixture of finely chopped veggies with a part-lime, part-pickle and part-hot flavour (I always look forward to it!). The Nepali set meal is a steal at around 2 US dollars for vegetarian, and slightly more for non-vegetarian. While in Pokhara, I had a couple of steaks, which were amazing and very cheap as well (around 3 usd for a large steak, veggies and potatoes). The waiter told me that it was imported beef, but I have a feeling that it was "buff," which is the name most places use for waterbuffalo. With the high price of imported fruit juice here, I'm thinking it was buff, but it was very good buff! Another thing that I described rather lightly in my last update was the Durbar Square and walking tour that we took. At the Durbar Square we hired a local guide to take us through and although he skipped over the area where, in 2001, the current king (at that time a prince) had the royal family killed in order to take power, we did get a lot of information regarding the Square. One of the most interesting things, to me, was the fact that there is minimal restoration and preservation work going on. Some temples are not in good shape, and most of the construction is wood, and not that resistant to damage. The Square also has vehicular traffic running through it, even though the "roadways" are extremely narrow. In most other countries we have been to, the historical sites are being protected in some way or another, but these temples were simply part of the city. One other interesting item regarding the Durbar Square was having the opportunity to see where the current living goddess resides. We were not able to see her (tourists are only allowed to see her during a certain festival once per year), but we were able to se the outside of building in which she lives. The story of the living goddess is quite incredible - a girl is chosen by a team of holy men that fits a laundry list of criteria, regarding things such as shape of eyes, curl of hair, etc. Her horoscope must also be compatible with that of the Kings, and her age should be 4-7. Once the girl is chosen, she remains the living goddess until she menstruatesm, and at this time she looses her divine power and becomes a normal child again. Incredible! Well, I'll move on to our trip to Pokhara. We left on the 24th, and took the "tourist" bus there. There were two levels of tourist bus to chose from - one for 275 Rupees (about 4 USD) and one for 12 USD. We decided on the cheaper option. When we reached the bus at 6:30 am, the bus certainly did not look as good as it did in the picture we were shown! In fact, there was about 10 buses heading to Pokhara that morning from the same bus stop and ours was the most run-down looking one there! Well, it did get us there, and it always feels good to save some money! It was interesting that the trip was 200 km and took 8 hours. In Canada, highways typically allow one to travel 100 km/hr (or more), but here there are many sections of road washed out (as the whole highway was build on the side of a valley), and there were numerous police checkpoints to go through due to the political unrest here. As soon as we arrived in Pokhara, we could feel how relaxed and peaceful the city is. The city of Pokhara is around 160,000, and it rather wide spread, but the touristy area is close to a lake. There were a number of nice sounding hotels there, but the first one we checked out was awesome (Hotel Nirvana - Rs 700 for an immaculately clean double with bathroom). I don't like to take the first place we see, but we were both very happy with it! The rooftop offered a great panorama of the mountains to the North, the highest of which is Annapurna 1 at 8091 m! Pokhara is at 800 m, by the way! The highest mountain in Canada, Mt Robson, is just under 4000 m, and when driving past it, you are probably at around 800 to 1000 m (for comparison). We had a very relaxing Christmas Eve dinner at a great restaurant. It gets a little cold here after the sun goes down (I'm not complaining - I know that it's nothing like in Northern Canada!), and we were attracted by the fire that was heating the place. It was a great meal - I had the steak and Krista had the Vegetarian Nepali set meal. I also had a Danish beer that is very common here, and of which I am becoming fond - Tuborg. That's all for tonight, but I will be writing more soon! December 29, 2003 8:24 pm - Kathmandu, Nepal - 9
C
(Tony) I'm back! After the nice, relaxing Christmas Eve, we followed that up with a similarly nice, relaxing Christmas day. We woke up a little late, ate breakfast and headed down to the Ghat (stairs down to the lake) to rent a boat for the afternoon. For a mere 3 USD, we rented a boat and oars (no life jackets) for 4 hours. We started out just paddling, but we spotted the a Buddhist temple on a hill located on the south side of the lake. After landing at a spot underneath the temple (and trusting that our boat and oars would still be there when we returned), we started hiking up the steep, stone- staired path to the temple. It was a tough climb for us, as we haven't been exercising all that much, but it was awesome to stretch our legs! It was also a very interesting climb, as it took us through terraced farmland, a forest and a small village. I would say that the people of Nepal are generally shy, until you say hi to them first (namaste in Nepali - say "Nah-Mah-Stay"), and then you find out that they are very friendly! Most people here also know that it is Christmas for us and we sometimes the response we received was an enthusiastic "Merry Christmas!" At the top is a 35 m tall, white Buddhist stupa with 4 Buddhas facing the 4 cardinal directions. On top of the large stupa is a gold spire and the entire thing is impressive enough, let alone the location. The views are incredible, and a good write up on the pagoda can be found here. We snapped a bunch of photos and took in the mountains under the warm sun and then headed back down to the boat. Thankfully, our boat was still down at the dock where we left it! We boated around for the rest of our 4 hour limit, which was a lot of fun. When he headed back to town, we parted ways and went looking for gifts for each other. That was great, as there are a huge amount of shops to choose from, with a very diverse selection of goods - and all prices are negotiable! It was a very different activity for us, as we haven't been buying anything (due to lack of room). After an hour of shopping we met back up and exchanged gifts - two shirts (the embroidery work they do here is so cool!) and a card for Krista and a gore-tex pack cover, a small Nepal calendar and an elephant sculpture for Tony. It was really fun to only have an hour to shop for gifts (we were only shopping for each other, and that made it a lot easier!). It was a very memorable Christmas, even though I wasn't around my family (I was able to speak briefly with them - the 2 second delay made conversation a little difficult). It was the fantastic combination of the warm sun and spectacular mountain view that made the day so relaxing. On boxing day we headed out for another hike to a viewpoint closer to the mountains. We cheated a little by catching a cab partway, but later on we were very thankful that we did, as the hike lasted all day. We reached the top after taking the cab, hiking up a paved road for two hours, then stair climbed up even rock steps for another hour. The view was amazing, with the Annapurna range stretched out before us. It is incredible to think that we were so close to such gigantic mountains! After resting our weary legs for time, we started down - this time not catching a cab at all. It was a very long walk, and the stairs seemed harder on the legs on the way down (doubtlessly due to the previous days walk). It was another memorable day and I slept very well that night! On the 27th, we took a bus back to Kathmandu - this time the 12 USD one - and it was worth every penny. The maintenance work done on this bus is far superior to the cheaper one, and this results in better brakes and more power. Both of these are vital to survive on the roads of Nepal. The drivers here use the third lane (of course), the roads have no shoulder, and quite a bit of the traffic on the roads are slow-moving heavy trucks and buses. This leads drivers to take chances when passing (passing on blind corners, or any other time they can't see on-coming traffic), and this leads to many close calls. The well functioning brakes and conservative driver were worth that extra money. A rain day and some more sightseeing in Kathmandu brings us to today. The rain day gave us time to think a little, and the more I think about Nepal, the more I enjoy it. This country has a very positive attitude and many people have an entrepreneurial spirit that, I think, will allow them to adapt to changes that will doubtlessly come as they become more developed and the uncountable number of children grow up and join the work force. From my experience here (which is not all that broad), everyone is very anxious to have their cihildren educated, and that will definitely assist the future generation to adapt. One good example is a man we met in Pokhara. His job is to embroider patterns, pictures and/or designs onto shirts (pictures of mountains, religious symbols, etc). There are lots of these shops around, and the job entails hand drawing the design and then embroidering it (this can usually be completed in about 10 minutes). The man we talked to works from about 8 am to 10 pm, 6-7 days a week and he said that it is very difficult to save anything for the future, as in the 18 years he has been doing this, business has never been very good. When talking about his children, though, he was intent on putting them school. That's pretty amazing when I'm sure that there's no government pension plan as we have in Canada. There's my "opinion column" for the day - I will end in saying that it will be very interesting to see this country in a few years (we will definitely be back). Tomorrow we move on to Varanasi, India, and on Jan 11 we fly to Singapore. We luckily found a money "exchanger" to change our remaining Nepali Rupees to USD, which was not as easy as one might think. Anyway, after packing up tonight, we will be ready to leave. I'm off! December 29, 2003 8:34 pm - Kathmandu, Nepal - 7 C and partly cloudy
(Krista) Tomorrow we leave Nepal for India, and in retrospect, our visit has been much too short. In total our eight days here has been a great introduction to the urban life of Nepalis, we haven't had the opportunity to experience rural life, any of the real "touristy" things, nor have we been able to learn much of the language, outside of "Namaste". Namaste is a wonderful alternative to hello or goodbye, and it means "I salute the God in you". Formally one is supposed to put their hands in prayer position while saying it to the person they are greeting (analogous to shaking hands). When walking into shops, restaurants or hotels, one is only really required to say Namaste, but I personally like to raise my hands in prayer, as it makes the encounter much more pleasant (in my opinion). On Christmas day, Tony and i hiked up to a Buddhist stupa across Phewa Lake in Pokhara (the World Peace Pagoda). On our way up, we walked right through a small but very busy village (I believe there was some form of party going on). Here we had the opportunity to pass through rural Nepal, seeing folks of all ages playing and celebrating together, and thus made very good use of the formal method of saying Namaste. I love seeing the little kids raise their prayer hands to their face in greeting, and I love doing the same to the seniors in the villages. Through our very brief stay here, we have met some incredible people, primarly through our visits to restaurants and hotels. Rarely will you meet an ungeniune person who isn't more than willing to serve you, or ensure you have the most perfect meal. In all the restaurants or hotels we have been too, we have always been helped to the fullest degree, and it seems that everyone takes their jobs so seriously. It is a wonderful and inspiring atmosphere, and meeting these people (99% of them have been men) always makes dining enjoyable. We have observed that this reliable level of enthusiasm and genuinity (is that word?) is somewhat rare in the service industries around the world, and wonder why it is so reoccurring here. Perhaps it is because these people (men) really understand how good they have it in comparison to some (most) people living around them. I think this is something us westerners fail to realise or reflect upon. We rarely give much thought to the fact that there are many many people who are much much worst off then we are in the West. Living here in third world conditions is not easy, nor is it comfortable, but people here seem to be content with what they have. I wish I could take a piece of this country home with me to show people just how easy we have it. People here don't have clean water, many don't have running water, and most have to visit a communal water tap (or even a well) with buckets or barrels to retrieve their daily water. Laundry is equally labour-intensive, as there are no such thing as washers. Woman can been seen all over the country washing their clothes in rivers (most polluted), fast running ditches, or in small buckets. Clothes are dried anywhere and everywhere - on fences, bridges, piles of brush or bricks, and even on temples! Whenever we ask "when will our laundry be done", the response is always "it depends on the weather". How do people shower and bathe? In the poorer districts I have seen them using buckets, washing themselves outdoors, on sidewalks, and even in the middle of temple grounds. As for heating, there really is none, and very few (if any) buildings are insulated, and since it drops to around 3C at night, it gets really cold (none of the hotels we have stayed in have been heated, leaving us with sleeping in long underwear and burning candles). Many people don't have warm clothes, jackets, or even decent blankets (I have seen many torn and ratty sheets out to dry). Even though North Face may object, the cheap rip-off jackets that one can purchase are a blessing to these people, as it provides them with affordable and decent protection against the elements. Oh yeah, we can get a real decent North Face fleece jacket (rip-off) for about $4US here. With the average annual income sitting at about $200Us, you can understand some of the difficulties a country like this faces. Hygiene and cleanliness take a second priority to survival. On our way to Pokhara on the 24th, our bus drove us by some real eye-opening raw food marking and preparation practices; raw chicken, goat or duck sitting outside on less-than sanitized tables, or people just slaughtering or de-feathering chickens/ducks right out front of their "house" or on the street. I can see why vegetarianism is so big here. Most of the children (and some adults) we see on the street are dirty from head to toe, including their clothes. Many lack decent footwear, wearing ill-fitting sandles or flip-flops. Life's little luxuries are definitely different here than they are back home. Video games and computers are nil, except in internet shops. Private phones must be rare, as many people use the public STD/ISD phones that are smattered all around the towns. Good luck hearing a cell phone ring. Ping pong is a big thing here though; we have seen many men or teenagers playing on their concrete tables with bricks as nets. There is also another popular outdoor game that we have seen being played on concrete tables. It is a cross between pool and shuffleboard (they use a sugar or salt to lubricate the surface). Kids don't have toys, they play with anything they can find, such as cans or rocks, or even pigeons. In the tourist regions, I think the kids find alot of enjoyment out of running up to tourists, and saying "Hello", followed by "1 rupee", or "cookie", or "sweet", or "chocolate", or "biscuit" (pronounced as biscoot), or "money". These kids sound so adorable, I can see why some tourists continue to exacerbate this begging by giving them something when they ask. Not all people live as I have just described. Some make a good living running businesses or working, and likely live a comfortable life by their standards. Its just Tony and I have seen much life on the streets, and it is mostly the poorer aspects of the country we have witnessed. The big question is: do these people have opportunities to make enough to afford a rip-off North Face jacket, or is it their caste that has put them where they are? Further, do these people want to have running water, or are they perfectly comfortable the way they are. Knowing that the caste system is the norm here raises some insane questions. Okay enough...I just have to tell you about this waiter we have recently met. Him, his wife and two kids (12 and 14) live only about 5kms out of central Kathmandu (here in the Thamel district), and by taxi this would be about 100 rupees for foreigners ($1.33 US), and thus about half for him. However, he cannot afford it. Instead he works from midday to 11pm in this Thamel restaurant, then sleeps out back. He awakes at 6am to walk one hour home, visits with his family, then walks one hour back to be at work. My jaw dropped when I found this out. And this is only one person of the many we have met here in Nepal, I can only imagine what the other stories are. Speaking of restaurants, what is food like in Nepal? Amazing. Rice and beans (Dal Baat), are the rural norms, according to many trekkers and mountaineers who have had to live on this meal for weeks and months. I personally love these lentil soup and rice mix, as it usually comes flavoured with cilantro and other goodies. The "typical" Nepali meal that we have been purchasing in restaurants is a smattering of goodies: vegetable curry, chicken curry, dal (lentil soup), steamed rice, a pickled vegetable mixture, a poppadam (a big chickpea flour chip), and cold veggies. All dishes in this meal are all-you-can-eat, and as soon as you finish any of them, waiters are on you to refill your bowls. My absolute favourite dish is called a "chatamari", a rice-flour pancake topped with buff meat, egg, or both. Tony's favourite meal are called "mo mo's", a steamed or fried dumpling filled with either veggies, buff or chicken (see one of Tony's entries above for what "buff" is). A spicy pickled dipping sauce accompanies these things, a real treat for only $0.25 Canadian. Other treats we have encountered is some restaurants' "happy hour". Many restaurants in touristy areas weasle us in by offering two cocktails for the price of one. Here in Nepal, I have enjoyed many a pina colada or mango daquiri. The Gin Fizzes are pretty good too. Our favourite place for these cocktails is by far the Maya Cocktail Bar in Thamel, Kathmandu. Every cocktail we tried here was much better than any in any restaurant in Pokhara. December 30, 2003 10:20 am - Kathmandu, Nepal - 5 C and foggy (Krista) Throughout our travels around the world, we have encountered touts approaching you on the street, in the airports, and even hopping into taxis with us. These touts range from people trying to sell you trinkets, to taxi drivers or rickshaw drivers, or tours, or even convincing you that their hotel is much better than the one we have reserved. This type of a thing is a constant in any of the poorer countries we have visited, but nowhere have we seen or heard what we have here in Nepal. Taxis seem to be the biggest places for relentless touts. To avoid this, the Kathmandu airport has set up a "pre-paid" taxi service, whereupon you pay for your taxi to your reserved hotel in the airport before leaving. This way you have paid a fair price, and aren't going to be screwed for higher prices along the way. Another way taxi drivers screw you, is by convincing you to stay at a hotel of their choice (one technique they use is telling you your reserved hotel is full, and even go so far as pretending to call the hotel's front desk, who is likely in on the deal, and having the person on the other line tell you that he is right, the hotel is full), and then claim a huge commission for bringing you to the hotel. We were under the impression upon arrival that the pre-paid taxis do not subscribe to this touting nonsense. However, we were very surprised when another man hopped into the passenger side of our cab at the airport and proceeded to try and sell us his trekking and tours business. Further, and this really got us, both of them hopped out of the cab at our hotel (where we had already agreed on a price during our booking a few days earlier), and stood around until we checked in to get a cut of their commission! Luckily, the hotel operator gave them a few quick and harsh words in Nepali, and they scuttled away commission free. This is something one travelling to either India or Nepal, or even Egypt needs to be aware of. Other touts we have encountered are those people on the side of street trying to sell you goods, or tours. It becomes very easy learning to say no or even ignoring the person (it sometimes helps telling them you don't speak English). However, there are two types of touts that are very hard to ignore - one is funny and the other is absolutely devestating. The funny one are the men who walk up to you with a good, such as a mini violin or a chess set, and shove it in your face while saying "Yes??". We get a kick out of these guys. The devastating touts are those who walk around asking if you want to buy drugs ("hashish sir?", "smoke?", "marijuana, hash or opium?"). I absolutely hate the fact that tourists have created this type of a market in this country. We were approached by one or two men for this type of sale in our entire trip to Egypt, however here in Nepal we are approached one or two times every street we walk down. It is terrible. I understand that Pokhara is trying to eradicate this, and make the city drug-free by 2005. I wish them the best, and hope they are successful. Hotels in Nepal are quite a nice treat, compared to Egypt and our first experience in India. For $20US or less, you can get a very clean and comfortable room. Often you can bargain the price down too, especially if you decide to stay a few nights. Further all hotels we have encountered have restaurant or drink service (a hot lemon tea at night is uncomparable), and run laundry services. The only problem is the lack of heating in the rooms, and often the lack of shower curtains around the bathtub, or even a lack of a bathtub or shower stall! Our first room had neither, and you had to shower right on the bathroom floor. Our first hotel was chosen out of Lonely Planet (actually all of them were): the Sidhartha Garden Hotel. This was a very nice run hotel, with pleasant and helpful staff. We paid $20US a night (+12.2% tax) for a double room with private bath and balcony overlooking the hotel's garden. Our stylish and bright room reminded me of a cottage, and if it hadn't been so cold in the room, we likely wouldn't have left (the comforters on the beds did do an amazing job of keeping our body temperatures up a night). Because of the cold, and the price of the room (almost too much), we moved onto another hotel, called the Mustang Holiday Inn, where we had a huge double room with cable TV for 950 rupees, or about $13US a night (tax included). The staff here were amazing, and we returned here upon our return to Kathmandu after our brief trip to Pokhara. Hotel shopping in Pokhara was a little different, as we were approached by many touts upon leaving our bus at the "bus station". Knowing that these touts and taxi drivers reap considerable commission if they drop you off at a hotel (at least they try), we decided to have our taxi driver drop us off at the Greenlines Bus Terminal on the east end of the tourist strip called Lakeside. As we began our taxi journey, a man hopped in the front seat and tried aggressively to persuade us to a "nice" hotel he was touting for. As he was not listening to us, and being so desperate for us to not go to the Greenlines terminal, I had to outright tell him that we do not want to be touted in a taxi, and we know what he's up to. Obviously shocked from my boldness, he stopped talking. Disembarking at the terminal, we walked up Lakeside to find a decent hotel, stopping first at the Nirvana Hotel, which ended up being our resting place after having breezed through two further hotels (Hotel Giri and another). Although Hotel Giri was offering on 200 Rs a night ($2.67US a night), the attractive, very large and clean rooms, and professional staff at Nirvana justified the additional 500 Rs (to a total of 700RS/night or $9.33US). I really recommend this hotel, as the staff are very nice, the hot lemon drink is excellent, and breakfast is very reasonable. Because we saw a full-fledge washer on the premises, we decided to do our laundry there. My jacket has never been as clean as it was after they had their hands on it. the only complaint I have about this place is that they ended up ruining a white shirt I had received the day before as a Christmas present from Tony. Apparently they don't separate whites from darks, and the shirt ended up covered in blue dots. Luckily the owner was with us when we retrieved the shirt from the clothesline, and he saw my utter disappointment and offered us 210 Rs to buy a new one (replacement costed only 240 Rs). January 2, 2004 4:27 pm - Varanasi, India - 13C and hazy
(Krista) If anyone is planning on coming to Nepal, my greatest piece of advice is to come completely buck naked, and buy all you need when you arrive. Prices are very good, and although the clothes may not last your entire trip, they are very functional. As I was saying before, you can buy rip-off NorthFace and Patagonia gear for peanuts, as well as any type of gear you could ever need for trekking. Pauper shirts, t-shirts, sarongs, pants and capris are so cheap. I picked up a wicked pair of capri pants for $3.33 US (250 Rs), and could have easily bargained him down. In addition, souvenirs are also available cheap and plentiful, and you can easily get good practice on your bargaining skills while saving a few more cents. I really wish Nepal had been our last place to visit, as I would have bought an addition bag and gone on a shopping spree. January 5, 2004 9:37 pm - Jaipur, India - 11C and clear
One of the best things about travelling to foreign countries is checking out their versions of snack foods, and here on the Indian subcontinent, they couldn't be more interesting. You can find Lays chips flavoured with Chili or even Masala. My favourite of all time (I have at least one bag a day) is a type of chip by Frito-Lay called "Kurkure". There are three flavours: Masala Munch, Red Chili Chatka and Curry Masala. The first is the best. The chip is made from rice and gram flour, and shaped like a cheesy. Besides the non-brand-name snacks, you can buy crispy fried daal (beans), which may or may not contain potato-like sticks, almonds, cashews, curry leaves, raisins, and will always be heavily spiced. Chocolate bars are everywhere (just like anywhere else on the globe), however the sizes are much smaller (just like everywhere else on the globe except for the US and Canada). Nestle seems to have a firm hold on the cheap chocolate market everywhere on this giant globe, as every chocolate bar that can be found is theres. I dont' know why I'm talking about junk food, as I am so super full from dinner. The Brits also had cool chip flavours, now that I'm on it: Sea salt and balsamic vinegar, ham, roasted chicken, curry, spanish salsa, the list goes on. Actually, I think the Brits take the cake (or shall i call it chip bag) when it comes to potato chips. Every store seems to have their own brand of chips, and their own unique set of flavours As Tony likely mentioned, we spent Christmas Eve in Nepal travelling between Kathmandu and Pokhara. My expectations of this 8 hour, 275 Rs., bus trip were much higher than what we actually expected, and definitely proved that you get what you pay for here in Nepal....We had a number of choices for buses to Pokhara - they all left at the same time, from the same place, and costed around the same amount (250 - 300 Rs / $3.33 to $4 US). There was, however, an expensive option ($12US), the deluxe Greenline bus, that left from around the same place, but has an air-conditioned bus, lunch and mineral water was included, and the bus had a compartment for luggage storage. We figured the extra cost wasn't justified, decided to settle for the cheaper buses - I mean how bad could it be? Well for starters, for the first time on our entire trip, we had a bus where it was mandatory for all luggage to go on the roof - yikes. Even though I can endure alot, and have a lot of trust for things, this isn't something I'm willing to deal with, as I have recurring nightmares of my undies strewn out over a Nepalese highway while being eaten by cows. Lucky for us we found out about this "roof carriage" thing ahead of time, we objected, and subsequently bought another ticket just for my backpack (at $3.33US, it wasn't too expensive). Since all buses leave from the same place at the same time, we were able to actually get a glimpse of the dozens of Pokhara-bound on the street at 7:00am, when we were scheduled to leave. Well guest what, our bus was the oldest and most dodgy looking bus there was. Actually it wasn't really a bus, it was a tin box on what we guessed was four wheels. Have you ever seen a bus that has perfectly right-angled corners? Maybe fifty years ago, when this bus was made. Getting comfortable on this bus was impossible, as there was absolutely no legroom for me, and definitely not for Tony. And while attempting to get comfortable on this metal piece of junk, we were starting to dread the coming eight hours. Fortunately for us at this time we had only the impressions that roads were going to be straight, flat and easy. Dumb us - this is Himalayan country. As soon as we left Kathmandu limits, we quickly realized why this 210km bus journey takes a hefty eight hours. We travelled along a barely-two lane road, through some of the most beautiful countryside, climbed and descended some of the tightest switchbacks up the world's tallest foothills, while playing chicken with every possible type of vehicle that exists (including donkey carts and cows). Apparently, the "get what you pay for" scheme also applies to the quality of bus and driver. Over all of these tight almost 180° degree BLIND swithbacks, our driver was in what Tony calls "the invisible third lane", or in other words, facing on-coming traffic and riding his increasingly squeekier brakes. At every turn I saw my life flash before my eyes and prayed that our time had not come. Unfortunately, with my 28years of life taking up most of my vision, I barely had enough periforal vision to enjoy the awesome scenery surrounding us. Breathtaking terraced fields climbed above hundreds of metres above our heads, and also gracefully stepped their way down hundreds more below our tires. We passed through tiny Nepalese villages of only a few houses and storefronts clinging to the mountain sides. Kids and adults alike were on the street side living entirely non-private lives out where all can see. Groups of men gathered around their concrete ping pong or shuffle-board type games, or around the latest piece of construction while one man was doing the work. Woman solo walking with their loads of daily goods hanging on their backs via a strap on their heads, and children running around half-naked (the bottom half). (I still cannot get over the vast amount of children in Nepal). Cows wandering arrogantly down the narrow roads as trucks, scooters and rickshaws swerve to miss them. Needless to say, during this trip we resolved NOT to save the $8US, and pay the extra expense on the Greenline bus, in hopes that the driver isn't kamikaze and the bus' brakes are in better shape. Plus, we get a free lunch, and our bags aren't going to be hanging from the rooftop over deep Himilayan valleys. We quickly figured this $8US extra would save our lives, and our personal items. Lucky for us, this turned out to be a great decision, as the bus was in much better shape (equivalent to a crappy bus in Peru), and was relatively comfortable (the chinese food buffet lunch definitely left something to be desired). Our bus driver was amazing, he only used "the invisible third lane" when he had a full view of what was in front of us, and only once played chicken coming around a blind switchback corner. It was so reassuring to see that this bus company didn't feel the need to pressure their bus drivers into being the first to reach Kathmandu. Our initial decision to take this safer Greenline bus was further justified when we later met up with one of the four Australians that had travelled in the tin can with us to Pokhara. Coincidentally she wandered into the internet cafe we were frequenting in Kathmandu, called her medical insurance company and explained that they had just been in a fatal bus accident somewhere along the route back from Pokhara to Kathmandu. She explained that their bus driver hit an oncoming truck head on, and at a considerable speed. Lucky for them, they were sititng in the back and thus were hurt only minorly, however those at the front suffered broken legs and arms, and both of the drivers were killed instantly. This was really scary as Tony and I are always at the front of the bus, and could have been with them on this bus had we not decided to splurge a little. |
Have a look at our Nepal Pictures
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