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Namaste,
Our arrival in Nepal went quite smooth. We got our 15 day visa on arrival and an airport pick-up service which was organized through the hostel, saved us from getting lost in the chaos of Kathmandu's streets.
Nepal, especially Kathmandu, is very different from anything we have seen so far. If you would just stand in the streets with your eyes closed, you could hear the taxis, buses, scooters and rickshaws honk non-stop, merchants calling out to by-passers, trying to sell their items and birds singing or traditional music playing from any direction; you could smell the exhaust from the vehicles, the sewage and garbage (which is lying basically anywhere) from the city and also the most delicious spices and street foods. As soon as you would open your eyes, you would see taxi drivers fighting for the attention of customers, people trying to sell their fruits which they drive around on their little stands, women with beautiful Saris in all sorts of colours, school kids holding each other's hands when they walk through the streets, women washing clothes on river banks or little springs and cows, chicken and dogs running around on the streets.
Nepal has a big variety of food and like any other country it differs from region to region. Very popular are Nepalese Thali Sets (Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian) which is usually plain rice served with Daal (Lentil Soup), curry mix and pickled vegetable. The best part is that it is an "All-you-can-eat" meal and the cost typically is between 100 and 250Rs. which is between 0.80 and 2.00EURO per meal. We love to try many new things and were never disappointed so far.
In order to look a little less touristy (as if this would be possible) we go outside only with little cash tucked into our pockets and the cameras in our hands. In addition, we bought new pants; traditional wide pants which are not just extremely comfortable and good against the heat but also make you feel more covered up and give men less to see when they stare at us from time to time.
Our overall impression (and we received confirmation from a couple of different people) is that the women in Nepal are the ones that work the hardest and this especially includes physical work. They carry heavy loads attached to their backs with strings wrapped around their foreheads. Perhaps this explains why the average age of women is 65 when they die and for men it is 75. Furthermore, many Nepalese own little convenient stores where they sell drinks, cookies, small snacks and sometimes even fruits or cosmetic articles. Sometimes you can find even 5 of these little stores directly next to each other and all owners just sit outside all day long waiting for business.
When we arrived at Kathmandu airport there was a sign saying "Stay Calm and Relax". This motto became our mantra for every journey we took with any kind of public transportation. These past 2 weeks showed us that usually nothing goes according to plan; bus journeys mostly take longer due to heavy traffic and/or accidents on the streets. Especially in some rural areas the roads are so narrow that hardly 2 vehicles fit next to each other and every time, before driving around a corner, buses and trucks have to honk and announce their appearance. This and the bumpy roads guarantee for a lot of excitement during overland journeys.
On our first day in Kathmandu, we were happy to have Felix, a guy who we met at the hostel with us as everything was overwhelming and we did not know anything about standard prices (wanted to avoid getting ripped off - they might charge you for a bottle of water 100Rs. instead of 25Rs.) or bargaining. In the next 3 days we went to see the Durbar Squares in Kathmandu and Patan. A Durbar Square is the old and historical part of a city, where the Palace and many Hindu and Buddhism Temples are and where the kings and queens of each province used to be crowned until Nepal became a Democracy in 2008. The Squares are all different and special in their own way. Typically it is a very crowded area with locals and tourists alike. We also went to see the "Monkey Temple" (Sowyambunath Temple - Holy Monkeys live in the north-west part of the temple) and the Boudhhanath Temple. These 2 Buddhist temples are very famous in Kathmandu though the majority of Nepalese (81%) practises Hinduism. After 3 hectic days in Kathmandu, we continued on to Bhaktapur where we found a cute guest house directly on Bhaktapur's Durbar Square. We spent the day wandering around and observing locals following their daily routines. The next day we got up early and watched locals praying before starting their day of work. Many Nepalese offer tours around the Durbar Square (typically tours are offered at all tourist sites) and after refusing many times before, we agreed to take a 2 hour tour. Well, the tour ended up being rather disappointing and only lasted for an hour. We received some information but the lack of motivation from our tour guide was clearly noticeable.
For us it was time to flee to the mountains for some quiet time - next stop Nagarkot. This mountain village (as many others) is the starting point for trekkers and basically depends on tourism. We stayed there for 2 nights and were able to see 2 beautiful sunrises directly from our room. We went for smaller walks and relaxed on our balcony from where we had a great view over Kathmandu Valley - unfortunately without the Himalayan Mountains as they were covered in clouds.
When you speak with other tourists about their travel plans for Nepal, you will most likely hear that they came for trekking. Since we only had 15 days for Nepal (most treks are 12-17 day treks) and did not have any proper equipment with us, we decided against trekking and booked a 2-day rafting trip and a 2 night stay in Chitwan National Park instead. The Rafting Adventure on Trishuli River started from Kathmandu where we got picked up at 6:30am and after a 4 hours bus ride we got dropped off at the starting point. Our luggage was brought to the owner's home where we would stay the night. The rafting itself was less exciting than in Canada but since the water was a lot warmer, we were able to jump in numerous times. Our guides themselves jumped into the water, threw us in or started water fights between or within the raft. For lunch we stopped at the shore and they prepared a simple meal on the beach for us. All the others who were rafting with us left after the day was finished and only we stayed overnight. At first we felt a bit awkward being surrounded by a whole bunch of people who mostly just spoke Nepalese but by the time we left the next day, we perfectly got along though we spoke different languages. We slept in a tent right at the river bank and were amazed once again how happy the people here seem to be, living simple lives, being used to constant power outages (several hours a day the power gets turned off by the government) and not having the luxuries like most Western Countries.
After the rafting we took a bus to get to Sauraha, a small town at the entrance to Chitwan National Park, where we got picked-up by our Hotel. The next day we had to get up at 6:00am and left for our canoe trip at 7:00am. The National Park is a rainforest and therefore the climate was hot and humid already early in the day. During the canoe ride we got to see a few crocodiles, Kingfisher's and a couple of peacocks. After the canoe ride we went to an elephant breeding farm where they currently keep about 8 elephant cows which are either pregnant or just had a calve. One calve was only 2 months old and so cute. Then we headed into the jungle for a 2 hour walk where we saw different birds, deer, Palash Trees (Silk Cotton Trees) and a rhino with her calve enjoying a bath. In the afternoon we went on a 2 hour elephant ride. However, our Mowgli Experience was very disappointing. All elephants had wooden baskets strapped to their backs which fit 4 tourists each. None of them seemed to be happy and some even looked unhealthy. Later we found out that all elephants are privately owned by people who mainly use them to make money as a tourist attraction. The day ended with a Tharu cultural show where we got to see traditional dances.
After our trip into the Jungle and a much longer bus ride than expected (7 instead of 4 hours) we arrived in Pokhara. Getting off the bus was probably the biggest challenge. While we were waiting for the driver to hand us our backpacks which were strapped to the roof, we were bombarded with taxi drivers and guest house owners. Trying to ignore them is pointless. Since we did not have any accommodation pre-booked anyways we took one gentlemen by his offer to include the 150Rs. taxi fare if we would stay with him and ended up staying for 1 night at his guest house for 600Rs. (including the taxi fare).
Pokhara is a nice little town with a fairly big tourist area located directly on the lake and surrounded by mountains. This was our last stop before crossing the border to India.
After 2 weeks in Nepal, we are able to say that this is a country with many contradictions and we both agree that we want to come back one day.
Cheerio,
Ann & Sabrina
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