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The captain said “If you’ll look out the right side of the aircraft, you will see Mt. Everest”. There it was the tallest mountain in the world. It was a bit in the distance, but there was no mistaking what we were all looking at.
After landing (on the second try) we made it into the capital city of Kathmandu. The ride into the city was an eye-opener. From an island with no cars, to a traffic nightmare. Trucks, cars, and motorcycles everywhere passing as they please, horns blaring constantly, avoiding each other and the livestock in the road. The town is very old and of course was not made for autos but that does not stop anyone.
We found a place to stay and were told there was no electricity. “Okay”, we said “when will it be back on?” The reply “We don’t know”. The electricity goes off every day for as much as 16 hours a day. You have power for 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours at night, most of the time. The times can vary and once on you never know when it will go off.
We did our usual walking tour
around town and were fully assaulted by the sights, sounds and smells. One thing you notice is everyone walking around with masks on. I don’t mean the Mardi Gras type either. The streets are so incredibly dusty and the auto exhaust so heavy you breathe in these particles and your eyes and nose become a complete wreck.
The walk was fun with people selling everything from mountaineering gear, tiger balm, knives, antiques, to fresh marijuana and hashish. There are stupas and temples on every block, some are hundreds of years old, some older. In the western world these places would be blocked off. Here you can climb all over them, hang laundry on them, run wiring on them and even drive your moto up on them. Most of them are made of brick and wood. The carvings made in the wood are incredibly detailed and surprisingly well preserved because it is so dry here. Every block has some ancient wonder on it.
The locals all stare at us as we walk by and of course we stare back and take photos. Their clothes range from t-shirts and jeans to the women in stunning saris. Even the children are
nicely dressed with make-up and lots of piercings. There are “holy men” at all the major sites who are dressed in brightly colored robes with painted faces waiting for you take their pictures, for a fee of course. They want to give you a blessing and expect you to give them money for it, sounds like the ones at home.
We took a few day trips in the Kathmandu valley to check out some of the ancient cities and the not so ancient ones also. Bhaktapur was one of the places we stayed, a city founded in the 12th century. We had to pay a fee of $10 US just to get in the gates. It was supposed to be completely traffic free but no one told the truck, car, moto or tractor drivers that. We spent hours walking the streets, down the alleys and through the hidden courtyards. The locals were amused with us taking photos of what they considered everyday life. From here we hopped on a local bus to Nagarkot, a small town with a few resorts scattered around on top of a hill. The main draw is that you can supposedly see Mt. Everest in
Stupa
Bodhnath
the distance, so they say. We trekked from the bus stop up to the top looking to see the mountains but we could barely see 10 kilometers. The dust and smog made it impossible to see anything, so after having lunch at “The End of the Universe” hotel we made our way back to Kathmandu.
From Kathmandu we took a 7 hour bus ride to the lakeside town of Pokhara, hoping the weather would be clear enough for us to see the mountains. It is the starting point for trekking the Annapurna Mountain region. It’s rumored to have excellent views of the Himalayas but we couldn’t confirm this because it was just as hazy there as Kathmandu. We did some local trekking but after a few days we decided to head on down to Chitwan National Park.
After maybe the worst 6 hour bus ride we had been on during our entire trip in Asia we arrived in the middle of an open field, also known as the bus depot. We took a ride in a horse drawn cart to our guest house and were told to get ready for a trek into the jungle. We were informed
not to wear anything white, yellow or red because it could spook the animals and possibly make them attack! About two minutes into the park our guide said in a low voice, “There’s a Rhino”. Sure enough there was a male Rhino weighing around 1000 kilos. The rest of the trek brought across two more Rhinos, a mother and her baby, lots of monkeys, a mongoose and three kinds of deer including one the size of a small horse. That night we were invited to have dinner with the guest house owner and his friends the local chief of police and the commander of the local army base. After beers and vodka, always a good combination, we treated to a local Nepali dinner. It was great to hang out with these guys and their families.
The next morning we were off again into the jungle but this time on the back of an elephant. A pretty uneventful morning followed but it’s not every day you get to ride into the jungle on the back of an elephant. We had a small break before crossing the river and getting into a jeep for an afternoon safari. This was another good
Hands
Part of a wedding ceremony. day in the jungle with sightings of five more rhinos, dozens of deer (spotted and barking types), peacocks and lots of other beautiful birds. We had a quiet un-eventful night until Ruthie shook me awake telling me something was in the room. Well, it wasn’t in the room but a civet cat had jumped on our roof trying to eat fruit from the tree in our yard. A short nap and once again Ruthie woke me up. This time there was a 1500 kilogram wild bull elephant complete with ivory tusks eating the bananas from the trees less than 10 meters away. We watched it from our window for about an hour while it was destroying the trees behind our guesthouse. This was awesome, absolutely incredible.
A five hour bus ride the next day and we were back in Kathmandu. We had splurged and booked a sightseeing flight around Mt Everest so we could at least say we saw some mountains while we were in Nepal. It was just not meant to be for us to see the Himalayas. The morning of the flight it stormed for the first time in months and the airport was shut down, we
waited for hours to no avail, all flights were cancelled for the entire day.
I’m sure Nepal is a beautiful country but we will just have to take someone’s word for it. It is so dusty and smoggy here you cannot even see the sun. This is not even the slightest exaggeration. Many of the places we have visited were supposed to have the some of the most stunning views in the country but we had trouble seeing across Kathmandu. We ran into others who were coming back early from their multi-day treks because there was no visibility. The blame ranges from it being so incredibly dry to the massive air pollution. You can definitely see the dust just hanging in the air; it is everywhere, in the buses, in your room, on your person and even in your bags. You can see it, smell it and of course taste it.
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