Blogs from Nepal, Asia - page 8

The plan of attack for today was a) find an ATM as I didn’t have many rupees and b) see some of this Biska Jatra festival and c) maybe squeeze in a walking tour if I could. As I walked into Dubar square (the main square) I was offered a taxi and a guide within 30 seconds. Not bad considering it was still early. I turned down the taxi and negotiated a price with the guide. Once we had a agreed a price the first question I asked my newly found guide was where is an ATM. Which of course he was most happy to show me the way. That being said Roshan was an excellent guide. What I thought would be a one or two hour tour turned into four. We walked all over the ... read more

For the first time ever I had the best seat in economy. Front row, looking down the aisle into premium economy. Ie Lots of leg room. It was a great flight, I read, I watched movies, I slept. Awesome (perhaps Singapore air wanted to make up for the BestJet fiasco) The flight was late getting into Singapore although I still had an hours to make my connection to Kathmandu. Which was late leaving so it all worked out fine. The second flight I booked a window seat thinking I’d be able to see the Himilayas as we came into Kathmandu. I don’t know what I was thinking because it was dark when we touched down, so I spent 5 hours crammed in a window seat to see the lights from above!! Once down, negotiating the airport ... read more

One of the main reasons Nepal has thousands of tourists flood in from across the globe throughout the year is for the many epic trekking routes which the country has to offer, including, but not limited to, Mount Everest! On a much smaller, cheaper and realistic scale for a backpacker (and a sane man), there is also the Annapurna circuit situated in Central Nepal. Today, the APC has developed into several different smaller routes that can accommodate travellers on a budget or tight schedule and even allow the trekker to partake in the adventure without a guide. After spending weeks researching which trek would be best suited to our limited experience of following a map, as well as our now somewhat questionable fitness levels, we had decided on the Ghorepani - Poon Hill trek which is ... read more

The Himalayas have been on our bucket list for some time. When we saw photos of the soaring mountain range in the brochure, we were hooked. We voyaged to Nepal (home of 8 of the world’s 10 highest mountains) and Bhutan. Nancy and I flew Air Qatar directly from Philadelphia to Doha, Qatar and then to Katmandu, Nepal. There was a 10-hour layover in Qatar, the richest country in the world, per capita (oil). Air Qatar offered an evening tour of the city, which fit right into our schedule. This is a showplace for international architects; I.M. Pei designed the Museum of Islamic Art. The top of the museum resembles eye opening in women’s Islamic dress. Buildings are colorfully illuminated; one is more beautiful than the next. Only 13% of the residents are citizens; others have ... read more

The day of fear has come and gone. I was dreading being on a bus for 7 to 15 hours and not feeling well. Yesterday, Raj was trying to prepare or terrify me with what to expect. He said it was not uncommon for the bus to get stuck in a traffic jam due to other people popping tires, breaking axels, or engines overheating. I committed to refraining from eating and drinking anything but water during the journey and we made it back to our hotel in 7.5 hours with no major incidents. Going the oopposite direction this was not the case. There was one semi that had two flat wheels and another had been there long enough for the owners to have started a fire by the side of the road and started cooking. We ... read more