T.I.N. - This is Nepal

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We arrived in Nepal in the evening and as soon as we were in our taxi to the hotel we were in love with the country. It seemed to have all that was good about India (cheap, friendly people, warm) and none of the bad (smells! piles of rubbish on the street and cows!). We checked into Holyland Guest Houst and met Birenda the manager who supplied us with a fresh cup of chai and we organised how we would spend our week in Nepal to make the most of it. It was decided that we would spend a day doing the general sightseeing around the Kathmandu Valley and then 3 days in Chitwan National Park with a bit of rafting thrown in for good measure. We were dubious on the price he offered us so we took some time to look around for a better deal in the town but to our surprise everywhere was way more expensive so we went back to the hotel tail between our legs and promptly took him up on the offer!

Nepal only has power for 8 hours a day and these 8 hours change everyday so it really is like 2nd guessing when you're gonna have light and when you're not. The first night in Kathmandu there was no power in the evening so we headed out into Thamel and found a lovely restaurant called helena's where we had a traditional meal (ahem! chilli and chips...) by candlelight on cushions - yum! we then ambled back via the plentiful shops (also in the dark but that doesn't stop them from selling) to our hotel for a well deserved night sleep after Kolkata! or so we thought.. but we got rudely awoken by all the lights being turned on as the power switched on at 2am and we had left all the switches on in our ignorance! what a shock to the system! groan...

The next morning, predictably the power was back off again, and we set off at the crack of dawn with our personal chauffeur, a young lad of maybe 17 with limited knowledge of english but enough to get us to the main sights in Kathmandu! First up was Pashupatinath Temple.. our driver dropped us off and with no information about where we were heading we walked up to the temple doors. We were immediately directed to pay 250Ruppees for the pleasure and shown the way to the river. It was only then we realised where we were. It's the main holy site for Hindu's to be cremated in public by the river. At the time there were about 3 cremations going on and we watched through our hands as one body was wrapped in orange cloth and the family began to light the fire around it. It was really tough to see and I felt like we were intruding on a personal event. The bodies can obviously take hours to burn so most of the time the family stays a little while and then the creamators are left to keep the fire burning and poking the body as if it's a piece of meat on a BBQ until the ash can be put in the river.

There were plenty of monkeys around the river, and Suzie got all excited and bought some nuts to feed them. Personally I looked at their faces and decided I didn't like them one bit so kept my distance and I'm glad I did because as soon as Suzie started feeding she was finished and had emptied the bag at her feet and was running screaming towards me! A quick exit was neccesary so on we went!

Next stop was the Bouddhanath Stupa, basically the biggest Buddist stupa in Kathmandu, and probably the most photographed. It was interesting to see something different as we had mainly only seen Hindu temples so far and it's obviously quite different. We climbed up on it and went for a wander round it and watched some people praying around it which is quite a full body workout as you raise your hands to the sky and then bend down to the floor, stand up reach up and then back to the floor several times.

After that it was the much anticipated Monkey Temple! It's right at the top of the valley so the views were ace but the monkeys were a bit disappointing. There were a few of them but not as many as I had hoped there would be. They did have a special monkey pool to play in though!

That evening we went out and sampled some Mexican food at a restaurant that offered free cocktails.. I doubt there was much alcohol in them but I was dying for a mojito. We met some British army guys in there who had been working on the hospital equipment out in Nepal, they had some interesting stories to tell about how Nepal works (or doesn't work as they would say!) On our way home, we were rather not subtley offered weed by the guy jumping in front of Suzie and yelling "Marijuana!!!!" right in her face. We politely declined (obviously) and he then offered us sex and added that "it's very good!" to which we promptly got right out of there!

The next day we got up early to go rafting! We were both really really excited even though by all reports March is one of the worst times to go rafting as the rivers are quite shallow. We went with an older Swedish guy who was really amusing. Firstly he came prepared for rafting in a big blue Nepali shirt and the tinest shorts I've ever seen a guy of his age wearing - you could hardly see them under the shirt, at first glance I didn't think he was even wearing anything! We had a bit of trouble walking down the valley to the starting point of the rafting but once in the water everything was great. The rapids were pretty tame but exciting enough to keep things from being boring. We all got in the water for the calm bits and I was surprised by how clear and clean the water was - it was ace! but boy it was cold but soon warmed up. I was chatting to the safety guy who was in the kayak watching us and he tried to persuade me to swim down the next lot of rapids.. I was obviously umm-ing and ahhh-ing for a bit but by the time I had decided not to do it, it was too late (or so he said) and off I went. WOW! it was soo exhilerating and my heart was pumping so fast but I loved it and stayed in the water for the next bigger set of rapids. The kayak guy helped by showing the best way for me to go down them and off I went. I was shattered by lunch time and was glad for the break. The Nepal guide had brought us tourists some sandwiches which we ate appreciatively though they were gross and we ended up giving them to some children playing nearby! The Swedish guy took off his new shirt to try and dry it in the sun and he didn't realise that the colour from the dye had run all over him and he was now as blue as a smurf! sooo funny!

After rafting our guides waited for the bus to Chitwan with us which was I was grateful for as I'd have no idea which one to get. Our bus was unfortunately full so we were offered these stools in the aisles or to ride on top with all the bags. We were dubious at first but then thought what the heck and up we went. We met some other travellers up there including Tim the Aussie Policeman who wouldn't shut up all the way to Chitwan - bless him he's a nice guy and provided us with some laughs! The bus ride was entertaining and a little scary at first but once you relax all you can think about is how sore your bum is on the metal roof rack! loved it up there and would recommend anyone to try it!

We arrived at Eden Jungle Lodge Resort late that evening and it was a little basic but the owner, Dawn(?) was in high spirits and we got out evening feed with a few laughs from him included! Our meals were all included in the package so it was good to have 3 course meals every evening of traditional Nepali food. The next morning we got up really early for a morning boat ride down the river. We were with a few other people including two lovely ladies, Helen and Anna and a family of Germans who had the weirdest dress sense! I think they were paranoid about mossies because they all tucked their trousers into their socks and wore balaclavas under their hats! It was really relaxing and peaceful though we didn't see any animals only random birds and a couple of crocodiles - nothing to worry about though. We then went for a jungle hike through the forest with our local guide Luxman. He was so knowledgeable about all the animal tracks and was genuinely really interesting though sadly we only saw monkeys during our 3 hour trek. We left the jungle just in time for the elephant bathing. What fun! Me and Suzie shared an elephant and we were quickly soaked through. The lovely elephant was clearly so happy to have us on board that she kept dunking her head in the water and therefore allowing us to fly off over her head into the water - great! Getting back on the beast was tough to say the least and very ungraceful! I had no idea what the bloke was telling the elephant to do but he did keep saying something that sounded like "Pizza Hut! Pizza Hut!" and then the elephant would soak us! After lunch that day we went for a walk around the local villages and met some local children. It was really interesting to see how the village got on with their day to day lifes. There were loads of baby animals that we naturally 'awww-ed' at throughout. That evening we went to the local cultural show that the village puts on for the tourists basically to demonstrate traditional dancing. This traditional dancing for some reason includes men dancing around in a circle hitting sticks together and a man dressed up as a peacock waddling around the stage. It was really funny to see!

Our elephant safari was more successful than the previous walks in the jungle and we saw some deer, monkeys and 2 rhinos bathing in the mud. It was really cool being on the elephant but not so cool when your elephant fancies a bit of bark off a tree and will not leave the tree alone until she's had it. We must have been manoeuvering around this tree for about 20 minutes while the elephant tugged at the branch to and from every direction she could until she got it! phew because it was not comfortable for us at all! Also our elephant threw a bit of a hissy fit when the driver got off and headed into the jungle for a piss. I swear he did it on purpose to give us a thrill or something but the elephant was hitting her trunk on the floor and swinging out something rotten, it wasn't cool! A great experience all in all though!

The next morning we got up and went to the Elephant Breeding Centre! The babies were sooo cute. There were these 2 month old twin baby elephants and the Nepalis are really proud of them because they are the first twin baby elephants to survive in the world in a controlled environment. There were several slightly older babies too and most of them will be trained when they are 2 years old to either be government elephants or village working elephants. These poor elephants live up to 80 or even 100 years old and they are allowed to retire from duty when they are 70 years old! what a sad life cos I don't think they get the same working benefits as us for some reason! The reason they are chained up by the way is for safety, as obviously elephants are very dangerous animals. One of the elephants pictured lost a tusk fighting a wild elephant that arrived at the centre. The ones that work for the government are used to help regulate poachers in the Chitwan Forest who are after the tusks of the wild elephants.

That afternoon we spent entirely on the longest bus journey up and over hills on our way back to Kathmandu, the number of times we had to stop were too many to count as lorries had crashed all over the place and a couple had even fallen off the cliff quite worryingly. So safe to say we were glad when we arrived back in Kathmandu safe despite it taking so long!

Back in Kathmandu we had a quick change and it was out to experience the long anticipated Fire & Ice Pizza!!! Y U M.... I mean seriously YUMMMMMMM!! proper pizza! Thanks so much Mark & Kate for the recommendation! It's reputation was so good in fact that Hollywood's finest were out and about there and Tilda Swinton and entourage were sat at the next table. For the uneducated out there, she won Best Supporting Actress last year's Oscars and she was in Narnia as the White Witch! Sadly couldn't get a picture of her so you'll just have to take my word for it. We met Tim the Aussie here too and we all went for a few drinks around Thamel! I had one super strong Long Island Ice Tea and I was gone gone gone. All I remember was that it was a fun night and Tim still didn't shut up!

I had such a great time in Nepal, I can't wait to come back so I can really appreciate it's beautiful scenery and do some proper trekking in the mountains and to visit Pokhara becuase it's suposed to be beautiful!

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Comments

[elizabeth]

tilda swinton in nepal??? random lol. it all sounds amazing and i am terribly jealous -= i on the other hand spent the afternoon at school helping a class get ready for their easter play tomorrow as apparently im a "professional" although it mostly entailed telling children to speak louder and not fidget. good times. xoxo