Nepal

Off to Nepal!!! I was concerned about my passport because I decided to leave it in my pant pocket and give it a wash, smeared my India stamp along with others. However, when the immigration looks like this a smeared stamp is not a problem. Jesica, a Swedish girl that I took the bus with from Varanasi (22 hours) had more of an issue than me. The Nepal side said the "8" for the exit date from the Indian side did not look like an 8 (October 8). We had to go back to the Indian immigration and ask them to make it look like an 8, they dicked around for a while until I finally took a pen and give it to her to do herself. We also had issue because Indian Immigration asked us for 50 rupees each ($1.10). There is no fee, when asked the reason he said because we wanted a stamp HA corrupt fuck, but he was correct, we did need the stamp and it's not really worth arguing over a dollar when he has your passport in his hand imo. 



Following pictures are from the bus ride between the India/Nepal border and Pokhara, Nepal.

Arrived in Pokhara and stayed with Pej and rose; a French couple I originally met while couchsurfing with Jeeva in Kuala, Lumpur. Phewa Lake is the 2nd largest in Nepal and a short walk form where they rented a flat.

Pej spent much of his time working on building this catapult. Living the good life!

There is a huge festival coming up. They are selling goats for the sacrifice. I would definitely be able to catch it in Pokhara but I was leaving for a 17 day trek of the Annapurna Circuit, made it a goal to watch the sacrifice in a village or two on my hike. Will have to read the next blog to see if I do.  

 Was in Darjeeling, India for 2 days with view points of the 3rd largest mountain in the world and potentially Everest but the skies were never clear. It took a full week in Pokhara but the wait was worth it, a panorama view of the Annapurna range from my balcony.Caught me off guard, opened the front door in the morning and BAM!! My very first view of the true Himalayas. They look so close and incredibly steep. I thought they would be further considering I had't seen them in a week here. This range is the deadliest range in the world to climb

also a view of Pokhara from the balcony

hiked up to the top of a hill with a view of Pokhara and Phew Lake

World Peace Pagoda on top of the hill

sunset over Phewa Lake

I spent about 2 weeks total in Pokhara staying with Pej and Rose. In the middle I did the Annapurna Circuit which I will post about separately. Took this picture as I left the city. Good bye Pokhara :(

Next stop: Kathmandu. The next block of pictures are all from the Monkey Temple

monkey temple in Kathmandu

Had a great time in Kathmandu as many people that I did the 17 day trek with were there. Also, A well off Nepali family invited me into their home, they have two children ages 8 and 10. I received a high dosage of Dal Bhat, the Nepali cuisine of choice. I read that 22 out of 24 million Nepali's eat Dal Bhat 2 times per day, based on my limited experience I have no doubt it is true. Anytime on the trek you asked a guide or porter what was good at a specific lodge they would reply "Dal Bhat good here". Nobody ever witnessed a Nepali eat anything but Dal Bhat on the trek! It is a combination of rice w/ lentil soup poured over the top, but all are not the same, can have potatoes, mushrooms, spinach, chicken (rare from my experience) etc. Anyway, here is the family I stayed with

Their home

I suppose it would be classified as an upper middle class home, is a very nice home. One of the reasons I love to stay in people's homes is not only to interact with locals but to get a small glimpse into how they live by seeing basic things such as what their kitchen looks like or what their daily schedule is. From the outside it is obviously a nice place, 3 stories! They are living well above that of the average Nepali. However, it is not up to Western standards. There is a refrigerator, but no freezer. No oven/stove, but they have portable gas burners that sit on the counter. Small tv with very good selection of channels including; hbo, espn, nat geo, discovery etc., no computer in the home etc. 

view from balcony

My pictures of Kathmandu didn't come out as nice as some other cities imo (Kolkata/Varanasi for example) but it was a great walk, there is so much energy in the city, kids playing everywhere...

From Kathmandu I headed to Chitwan, Nepal on the bumpiest bus I've ever been on. Wasn't so bad though. Stayed in the nicest room I had since Thailand 2 months earlier. It was well above my regular standards, could even sit in a lounge chair on the river using wifi! Did a 2 day tour which is something I'm not use to, was relaxing to have everything planned for me. Started the tour by watching one of the coolest things I have ever seen, elephants playing soccer!! They were practicing, had a big game coming up

Did a short canoe in the morning but failed to see any crocodiles. There are 2 types native to here

Our main objective was to spot one of the 500 Rhinos in the 932 km2 park. There are also roughly 100 tigers also but they are very rare to see

Didn't spot any wild life on the morning walk, went on an afternoon elephant ride

through the town on the way to the park

and into the park. I was concerned I was taking away from the elephants practice time, would be a shame if his day job prevents him from winning the big game 

I came with zero expectations but was nice to finally see some wild life, deer...

looks like Tiger food

Finally spotted not one, but two Rhinos!

"since 1973 the population has recovered well and increased to 544 animals around the turn of the century. To ensure the survival of the endangered species in case of epidemics animals are translocated annually from Chitwan to the Bardia National Park and the Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve since 1986. However, the population has repeatedly been jeopardized by poaching: in 2002 alone, poachers have killed 37 animals cruelly in order to saw off and sell their valuable horns" (wikipedia)

Now it is back to India. Next stop Rishikesh, the self proclaimed yoga capital of the world and one of the 4 holy cities in Hinduism