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Blogs from Nepal, Asia
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May 21st 2013
Yesterday I took a decidedly harrowing taxi ride from Bouddha to Jocchne Tole (or Freak Street, as it was called in the 60's and 70's). Taxis here are barely distinguishable from regular beat-up hunks of junk, except that they may say "Taxi" somewhere on them. They're tiny, seat-belt-free (like Thailand!) Noddy cars from the 80's that seem like they're going to fall apart if your luggage is over a certain weight. Anyway, the way it works is, you negotiate the price, throw your stuff in the car, and hope to god(s) the driver actually understood your directions. Mine didn't, he mistook "Jhocchen Street" for "airport" - easy enough mistake, I suppose, so we pulled over to negotiate. I eventually found and pointed it out to him on the map, so we were off. At this point ... read more
May 18th 2013
This morning I woke up to the sound of gongs and chants from the nearby monasteries. It's a peaceful, hypnotic sound, and I fell back asleep feeling strangely comfortable in this new, completely foreign place. I'm in Bhouda, or Boudhanath, a holy site in Kathmandu. At the center of the area is a stupa, a kind of circular religious shrine where pilgrims come to pray and meditate. It's customary to only walk in a clockwise direction around the stupa, so as not to disturb the positive flow of energy - even if the place you want to get to is only a few meters in the other direction, you should go with the flow all the way around. There are prayer wheels all the way around that you spin as you walk past. Coming from the ... read more
May 16th 2013
Hi all, First of all many thanks for all the kind congratulation messages on here and on facebook, email etc. It's been a bit surreal being in the middle of nowhere and not celebrating as we would if we where at home - so it's been nice to get all the messages from friends and family. We're now in Manang and enjoying a couple of rest days. We'd been trekking for 9 days straight so it's good to stick the feet up. Our tea house is relatively luxurious, we have an en-suite lang drop with shower, which is warm between 2 and 3 in the afternoon!! There's even a tiny wee cinema in the town, it's only got 4 different DVDs to watch but it feels like the height of civilisation compared to the last couple ... read more
May 14th 2013
Hi everyone, We are delighted to let you know that Donald and I got engaged 2 days ago !!!!......here's the details ........ We hired a guide took a 4 day detour off the main Annapurna circuit into the restricted Nar Phu valley in order to visit the high desert like plateaus and traditional tibetan villages. Night 2 was spent at 4100m in a small village where we were the only visitors. I had a bit of a sleepless night with altitude sickness symptoms ( feels like a real bad hangover) and endured the all night thunder storm. We awoke next morning to find 4 inches of snow had fallen resulting in clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine with amazing views of surrounding mountains. D suggested we go for a wander to the top of the village ... read more
May 13th 2013
Hi all, We've now met many people in our time in Nepal, based on this we can confidently say that we're the tallest and whitest people in the country. We appreciate that we're very lucky with this trip, for any of you who were jealous here's something for you - a description of the Nepali bus experience. You're told it will take 6 hours, it takes 9. Imagine a medium-sized sauna with 45 people rammed into it. The only speaker is 5 inches above your head and plays what appears to be the same tune very loudly for the whole journey. You have a large kerosene gas cylinder wedged between your legs and locals on your arm rest and standing over you. To add to this glorious experience I had the start of Delhi belly, and ... read more
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May 13th 2013
Bonjour, je me suis rendu compte que je n'avais pas mis de photos de mon voyage au Népal en octobre 2009.... read more
May 12th 2013
I eventually arrived at the bus stop in Kalanki, and set off in search of a taxi, Thamel-bound. Rather than check out the guest houses I'd noted down, I opted for Khangsar, where I'd previously stayed. It wasn't the most modern or cleanest of places, but the staff were lovely and it was ideally located. I was pleasantly greeted by one of the guys there, who told me it was good to have me back, then a younger lad (that I'd never seen before) lugged my backpack up the stairs and showed me to my room. Luckily, it was only one floor up and had a double bed. After a quick bite to eat in the restaurant and a stint of magician entertainment from the fourteen year old lad that had carried my bag, I threw ... read more
May 11th 2013
I woke up around 4:20am on Saturday and got ready for my bus rude to Kathmandu. As I was preparing to leave my room, I heard a low-pitched grunting sound from outside the back window. I froze, casting my mind back to the tiger attack story, although, from my expert experience of watching the Discovery Channel, the sound didn't strike me as tiger-like. As time was ticking by, I decided to make a run for it. It was no longer pitch-black outside, so I knew I'd at least see my attacker as it mauled me to death. I ran out with my backpack on, stopping off on Cindy's porch to leave some travel wash (since she actually has the motivation to do these things, rather than lazily paying for laundry services, as I do), before heading ... read more
May 10th 2013
As predicted, there was no hot water on Tuesday morning, so a cat's lick had to suffice before setting off for Chitwan. I took a taxi with Patricia and Marissa (twins from Germany who were on a different, bus but ended up at the same lodge as me) to the bus station, and we were put on separate buses, headed for the same place. Throughout the five hour journey, I was right up front, next to the driver. I soon got chatting to a woman named Cindy, from the US. She's been travelling for fifteen months. I listened with interest to her travel stories, and we later decided to buddy up and find somewhere to stay. She'd written a list of lodges, so upon stepping off the bus, we spotted a guy holding a sign for ... read more
May 8th 2013
Mon sejour au Nepal s'est termine le 4 mai, je suis maintenant en Inde. Voici un resume de ce que j'ai fait depuis le restant du temps au Nepal. Il a finalement fini par faire beau a Pokhara et je voulais aller faire un tour a Sarangkot pour voir le lever du soleil sur l'Himalaya. Le matin de mon balcon a l'hotel je pouvais voir le mont fishtail, une premiere depuis que j'etais a Pokhara, c'etait bien parti!! J'ai pris un taxi jusqu'a Sarangkot et wow!!! Tout au long du chemin on pouvait voir les sommets enneiges; je capotais. Je pense que le chauffeur de taxi m'a trouve un peu intense tellement je m'extasiais... Arrivee a destination il reste a gravir une petite montagne et on a devant une vue magnifique!!! Ce sont les memes monts ... read more
