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Published: October 27th 2011
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Dakshinkali Shrine
Post sacrifice butcher area - the sacrifices are plucked / skinned here ready for family lunch K - 5.30am on Saturday October 16th saw Mark and I bleary eyed in at taxi heading for Dakshinkali, a shrine dedicated to the Hindu God Kali who many Nepalese Hindus worship through animal sacrifice.
The ceremonies start at about 5am and when we arrived at about 6.15am there must have been over a thousand people queuing with their offerings – coconuts and marigold garlands in many cases but also a large number with chickens or goats. Although the atmosphere was thick with incense, in many ways the scene resembled a line at the supermarket rather than a temple. The 2 or 3 queues wound down a gorge to a tiled area with several small alters. There were 2 men there – one dealing with the coconuts and the other dispatching the chickens and goats. The atmosphere was very calm and none of the animals exhibited any distress – even when the throat of a fellow goat was cut in front of one of them. I guess no-one ever said goats had vivid imaginations?!
After making a small offering to Shiva the animals are returned to the owner who takes them to an on-site butchery 20 meters away where
Fish Tail Peak from Pokhara
Remind me why we trekked to 3000 meters when we can see this from the base camp bar?! they are skinned or plucked and returned ready for family lunch.
I know that many of the animals I consume have had more terrible lives and deaths than these little goats and chickens– the only difference being that my meat is executed behind closed doors. I didn’t therefore find the scenes distressing mainly because the atmosphere was so calm, the sacrifice so quick and professional and the use of the meat so pragmatic. It was not something I need to see everyday but very interesting and well worth the early start.
The following Monday saw us back on the buses and a 10 hour drive to Pokhara, a mere 200KM away and our base camp for our trek around the Annapurna Mountain region. The drive takes this long due to the torturous switchback roads plus their poor condition (plus accidents and roadworks). As an aside the first Nepali roads were only built in the 1950s. Prior to that Nepal really was an isolated country, only accessible by climbing over the Himalayas! Most of the current roads have been built with foreign aid – but unfortunately the monsoons cause terrible damage every year – and few of the aid
packages include road maintenance elements. Hard to understand why not – you can understand why this was missed in year 1 but year 50?!
We traveled down with our guide, BB, and our porter Gheshop and had a fantastic 5 days trekking through very varied scenery. Forests, rivers, tiered hills and of course snow capped mountains! We discovered that Nepalese “flat” actually means undulating hills but other than that I would describe the trek as challenging and rewarding without making you want to jump off the next cliff! After a 5 hour uphill trek on Day 2 we had another early start (4.45am) to climb to the top of Poon Hill (3210 meters) where we saw sunrise over some of the major mountains of the region. Freezing cold and the Chai tea salesman could probably double his prices and I wouldn’t complain (100 rupee / $1.25 is actually extortionate by Nepalese standards but the man deserves every penny!).
To have or not have a porter – that was the question! Actually a no brainer. Porters were the life–blood of Nepal until the roads came and remain an important transport link. However as modernization hits they are losing a
Poon Hill at Dawn
Worth the one hour trek at 4.45am! staple income. We consolidated our luggage into one backpack weighing just over 10KG. Our porter was grinning when he picked it up – and we knew why when we saw some of the items they carry – see photos!
I dont like small planes but Mark (rightly) insisted we flew back to Kathmandu and we arrived back safely after 40 minutes rather than 10 hours - a little (OK a lot) achey but generally very pleased with ourselves. I have added trekking to Everest Base Camp to my bucket list of things to do before I am 50. Which of course is a LONG time away!
Factoids: Trek started in Nayapul (1050 meters) and peaked at Poon Hill (3920meters). Per our guide we walked approximately 70 - 80km.
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Kevin
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Woo hoo Poon Hill!
Well done Kate and Mark! Chika and I trekked the Annapurna circuit back in 1999. Such great memories. Thanks for sharing - makes it very hard to be motivated to sell software today knowing the rhythm and pace of hanging up high in the Himalayas, away from everything. By the way - had any of the Tibetan momo's (the dumplings) while in Kathmandu? Ahhh.. our favorite. Thukpa soup as well! All the best, Kevin (and Chika)