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Published: April 20th 2010
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Nepal has offered us a range of totally different experiences; from the frantic polluted congestion of Kathmandu to the beautiful tiered rice paddy fields and water buffaloes ploughing in the countryside valleys.
A highlight of Kathmandu was visiting the Shiva temple where we enountered the colourfully painted Hindu holy men (Sadhu's), one of which was reportedly 103 years old! Also, this was where on the banks of the river we saw the burning bodies being cremated on the ghats.
Public transport is an experience in Nepal - whilst on a local bus half our group had to sit on the roof - but there was still room for chickens & bags of rice inside! Our bus was comparatively empty considering many of the others had people hanging out of the doors and windows, but always with a typical Nepali smile and good humour.
On David's birthday we celebrated in style at a restaurant where the waiters sang a traditional Nepali song to him using Andrew's umbrella as a microphone. David wore a Nepali 'Topi' hat, and instead of a cake had a huge watermelon with candles in it! And the gift from our tour leader was a cannabis
Bagmati Ghats
Cremation in Progress plant that he picked from the roadside whilst trekking through local villages.
A real highlight for us was the 2 days spent white water rafting on grade 2 & 3 rapids, plus camping overnight on the river bank. The rapids were excellent fun although both of us did nearly fall in on one particularly fierce vortex! It was a great team building exercise and we really bonded as a group. At the end of the 2 days we were sad that it had finished; though after 22 miles of rafting and paddling we were pretty exhausted!
The village we went to after was Bandipur, which had no electricity or running water and you'd be surprised how quick you can wash yourself when using buckets of cold water!! . Everywhere we have been there have been daily powercuts for at least 12 hours due to a problem at the main hydro-electric plant. However, it hasnt bothered us; Nepal is such a fascinating place and the people so lovely you just dont mind.
For our next part of the adventure we headed off for a 5 day trek up in the foothills of the Annapurna mountain range, camping along
Paddy Fields
The View from Trisuli Village the way with a total of 29 porters, cooks, guides and the essential 2 toilet tents! We thoroughly enjoyed the trek and waking each morning to watch the sunrise over the majestic snowy mountains. The food was fantastic (no chance of going hungry) and it was fascinating to meet the people in the local villages with lifestyles that have probably changed little for centuries. At one of the sites we washed in the mountain stream whilst being watched by the water buffalo and then played musical chairs and volleyball with the children from the local village. At the end of the trek we celebrated with a huge dinner (including a cake), dancing, Nepali singing, and even the Hokey Cokey (or Hokey Pokey as the Antipodeans insisted it was called!)
We were genuinely sad to say goodbye at the end of tour, particularly to our tour leader - Hari, who is simply one of the nicest and most entertaining people we have ever met on our travels. Luckily though we were able to meet up with him again when we got back to Kathmandu, for a few more beers and few more tales from Hari's extrodinary life!
We then
Adrenaline Filled Fun!
White Water Rafting on the Trisuli River celebrated the Nepali New Year 2067 (which was 14th April in our calendar). All the families were out in force at the local fun fair, electricity being what it is though the merry go round was propelled by human hands! Not content with relaxing, we hired a boat and rowed across the lake followed by an uphill slog to the World Peace Pagoda but its serenity made it worth the effort.
The cable car at Manakamana is over 3km long hoisting you from the river bed to a village at the top of the hill where we wound our way through the cobbled streets lined with stalls to a temple. Packed with locals we watched them making their offerings and witnessed where the goats and chickens had been sacrificed; it was an experience of sensory overload! The goats even have their own seperate carriage at the cable station to whisk them to their ill awaited fate at the temple, whereas the chickens have to be content to ride 'economy class' with us in the cable car.
We have really enjoyed Nepal and we fully intend to come back to see more of its beauty.
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Wendy Wild
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hokey pokey
Missing you both. Loved checking out your blog on Nepal and Tibet. So many good times and memories. Been practising the hokey pokey boys!