From Chitwan to Gorkha, Bandipur, Pokhara and Lumbini

Journey so far: .. Taiwan > Hong Kong > Beijing > Harbin > Yanji > Songjianghe >Changbai Mountain > Dandong > Dalian > Dandong > Chengde > Beijing > Datong > Hohhot > Huitengxile > Hohhot > Taiyuan > Zhengzhou > Xi'an > Lanzhou > Zhangye > Jiaugyuan > Jingtieshan > Jiaugyuan > Dunhuang > Urumuqi > Kanas Lake > Urumuqi > Kashgar > Tashkurgan > Karakul Lake > Kashgar (Kashi) > Hotan > Qiemo > Ruoqiang > Shimianquan > Golmud > Lhasa (Tibet) > Gyantse > Shigatse > Shegar > Everest Base Camp (Rongbuk) > Zhangmu > Borderlands > Kathmandu (Nepal) > Chitwan National Park > Gorkha > Bandipur > Pokhara > Lumbini > Kathmandu ...

Gorkha
Arrived in Gorkha looking for a place to stay and found a great local family run "hotel and lodge". Brilliant find, for only Rs 150 (just over a pound!) for the room with 4 beds. We didn't have a shower, but these days showers are not that important. I stink, Kate stinks, we save money and travel a little further.

Everyday we ate dinner at the restaurant downstairs, Rs 45 (32p) for all you can eat dhal bhat. Dhal bhat is a typical Nepali dish which foreigners soon get sick of because its the cheapest and most easily available dish all across the country. It usually consists of dhal (lentil soup), bhat (rice), tarkari (veg curry) ochar (pickle), saag (spinach) and sometimes curd (weird home-made yoghurt that often tastes like vodka!) for pudding. I love this stuff and enjoy the curry flavours, sometimes the spiciness is enough to make my mouth glow, but I'm getting used to it. Unfortunately Kate can't stand spice, so she struggles.

The Dahl Baht always comes on these beautiful metal trays. Such a delight. Cutlery is optional.


While we were in Gorkha we spent one day visiting the Gorkha Durbar, which is a fort, palace and temple all rolled into one. The walk up the mountainside took us about 2 hours in the hot midday sun, but when we arrived the views were magnificent. The actual place sucked, the paved floor was sticky from all the sacrificed animals blood and it smelt like old blood and pigeon crap. Plus it was tiny, so after two minutes we'd seen it all. The views were worth it though.

Bandipur
Didn't like it. A cute tourist village of hell. I was amazed at the level of restoration and preservation of the 'original' look. However it made it's money on the back of foreiengers so everything was expensive and felt like staying in a themed street you get in Disney. Great for photo's, poor for authentic local culture.

Strange town.


Pokhara
I loved Pokhara. Big, cheap and friendly. We found a clean, double room with hot shower for less than a pound a night! It has more interesting sights than Thamel in Kathmandu. We hired motorbikes and drove around like bikers! Never having driven a motorbike with gears, I was forced to learn fast. After a couple of stalls and embarrassed looks trying to ignore my mistake I was on the road doing wheelies. Kate was not so confident with my skids around corners.

The best thing was that the views were gorgeous (lakes, mountains...), the food amazing, but compared to Thamel in Kathmandu, there's no crazy traffic or narrow streets. We finally saw the World Peace Pagoda built by the Japs and marveled at the somewhat cloudy views of the Himalayas.

Views of Pokhara


Lumbini
Lumbini is an interesting place to see, especially if you're interested in Buddhism.

From Pokhara, we (being Kate, me, Chris and Emiko) took a 10 hour bus journey down to Lumbini - a famous Buddhist pilgrimage site as it's the birthplace of Buddha. We stayed for a day only sleeping in the Nepali temple pilgrim accommodation for "donation only". It was a low budget, basic place but perfect for our pockets.

We spent the whole day wandering around the newly-created 'gardens' which are about 5km long and 3km wide. First we saw the Mayadevi temple, which supposedly was built on the exact place where Buddha was born.

Mayadevi temple, where Buddha was born.... oooooh!


Now we go to India....

Pictures from Tibet and Nepal

Here are current pictures of Kate and I in Tibet, travelling from Lhasa to the Nepali border via Everest Base Camp. After these, there are some pictures from Nepal, including the animal fun at Chitwan National Park.

Me and the other half high above Yamdrok-tso at 4900 metres. This was the first day of our 6 day adventure from Lhasa to the Nepali border.


The gang, from the left, Nils(Germany), Kate, me, Chris (Canada), Emiko(Japan) and my Tibetan English student holding some sauce. We are in her little restaurant that filled with fatal levels of smoke and melted plastic bottle gasses when she stoked the fire.


Us, bloody high up, with the Himalayas laid out behind. Everest (Mt.Qomolangma), is the tallest peak on the left. The face mask kept some of the frigid air from my ruined throat!


Our first bus journey in Nepal, from the border. We have the excitement/near death experience of riding on the roof. Kate felt pretty good before we started rocking and rolling down the road!


The cutest kid living in Kathmandu, Thamel. We played with her outside the internet cafe for ages. She wanted to give us her cheese balls (coated in her spit).


My girlfriend grew up on a farm and has a natural affinity with animals and cow dung. She especially liked the cute baby elephant wanting food. This was taken at the Elephant Breeding Program in Chitwan.


Kate ready for the jungle trek, this is before we encounter all the animals. I just swam across the lake to show Bishnu, the guide, that he wasn't the only man trained in extreme out-door survival techniques. I think he respected me a lot more after that.


Blissfully unaware that the elephant below us is capable of many scary things, and was about to show us just how strong and loud she is.


Steps are for losers, use the trunk for easy access. This elephant was beautiful and didn't endanger our lives once. She loved the bath.


One evening in Chitwan, we take a picture in front of the Rapti River at sunset. On the other side the National Park begins, so no swimming across or you might get shot or eaten by a tiger. :o)


After Chitwan we find ourselves in Gorkha, home to the famous British soldiers. From here, the Gorkha Durbar, one finds a panoramic view of the valley and the Himalayas from the Nepal side. Because of perspective Everest looks lower from this side. Isn't Kate really short?


We rejected the over-priced hotels for this local man's lodge. He made us curry every night, filling our plates up until we either exploded or said "Stop". A great bloke with many entertaining friends. This is his front store with the restaurant at the back.


Now we are in Kathmandu, Thamel (again) waiting for our Indian visa's to come through, and then it's on to India.


MC

Animal fun in Chitwan National Park

Journey so far: .. Taiwan > Hong Kong > Beijing > Harbin > Yanji > Songjianghe >Changbai Mountain > Dandong > Dalian > Dandong > Chengde > Beijing > Datong > Hohhot > Huitengxile > Hohhot > Taiyuan > Zhengzhou > Xi'an > Lanzhou > Zhangye > Jiaugyuan > Jingtieshan > Jiaugyuan > Dunhuang > Urumuqi > Kanas Lake > Urumuqi > Kashgar > Tashkurgan > Karakul Lake > Kashgar (Kashi) > Hotan > Qiemo > Ruoqiang > Shimianquan > Golmud > Lhasa (Tibet) > Gyantse > Shigatse > Shegar > Everest Base Camp (Rongbuk) > Zhangmu > Borderlands > Kathmandu (Nepal) > Chitwan National Park (Sauraha) ...

Chitwan National Park, just south of Kathmandu.


Nepal is fantastic. Everyone is so warm and friendly and even the most uneducated, elderly man speaks English. Not that you'd ever need to speak Nepalese in Thamel, Kathmandu! This small area in Kathmandu spoils western tourists with everything one would find at home, of course at a price. So we have stayed here for a week and feel ready to leave, after having our fill of wonderful western food!

The tiger balm, rickshaw and taxi boys are driving me nuts with " Sir, you want? very good price, best price?" The streets are narrow and filled with choking pollution spewing from taxi's and motorbikes. In a country that relies on tourism and international aid for economic stability, I can understand Thamel. The people have developed tourism well here and you can escape this shopping centre with ease.

Busy, narrow streets of Thamel, Kathmandu. You just want to scream with frustration at some of the drivers’ intent on running people over!


The recent (November) Peace Treaty was signed by the Nepal Government and Maoists rebels, the agreement includes monitoring and management of arms and armies in the presence of U.N. officials. The sad news is that over 13,000 people have died in the decade-long insurgency.

Nepal - a turning point in history? (BBC NEWS)

Not with a little inference from the U.S on how the agreement should be realised, reassuringly the Nepalese opted for a different strategy. This certainly opens the door for both parties to start running their country together with tourism expecting to expand once again. I hope so.

Peace celebrated across the nation this month! :o)


We had had enough of Thamel after a week, not the food though! And hopped on a bus for Chitwan National Park, south of Nepal.

We went trekking in the jungle and our guide, his name is Bishnu, was so interesting and engaging. He had loads of experience guiding in this jungle and knew so much about birds that I was instantly hooked, binoculars in hand! He could even name them by their call or notice a baby eagle perched high in a tree that took us some time to spot with his finger pointing.

I loved all the open space and quiet creeping up on animals. We were really lucky
because the second guide walking in front heard a sound of a one-horned rhino. With his hands cupped around his ears to get a clearer sound and accompanied with Bishnu, they motioned everyone to stay still. We looked at each other, puzzled. Then we heard it too! These animals are wild and dangerous, roaming free in the jungle and they sometimes charge, so at the beginning we were instructed to find a tree (thick one is better) and stand behind it and if it runs at you, climb over six feet. The guide whispered that there were two in the bushes somewhere and they could smell us!

We saw a rustle in front of us then nothing. Bishnu walked forward, with only a stick to protect him and saw round the corner the rhino had popped out onto the path. He motioned for us to run up, we did, cameras in hand and trying to be quiet. We came round the corner and in front of us was the biggest, baddest rhino arse ever! He looked around at us, ears twitching and decided to walk off. We followed at a distance and he disappeared again into the jungle. To our surprise Bishnu then started squawking. The second guide told us this was the sound of a baby rhino, he was trying to lure it back out again.

Go on, I dare you, run!


And that was the fullness of our rhino encounter, we spoke to all the other groups at the checkpoints and we were the only ones to see it. It's a rare and amazing privilege. Rare unfortunately due to poaching, as the Maoist insurgency disrupted the armies efforts to police the area. :o(

The Bengal tigers on the other hand are harder to escape, all you can do is shout and scream and hope they have already eaten! They are really shy and thankfully we saw none running for us, we only saw one captured that had been turned into a man-eating-tiger by it's mother. Better behind bars, but a sad thing to see a wild tiger like that.

The tiger we saw had a mean stare and was frightening even in her cage,


Also during our stay we washed an elephant (her name was Basanti), one thing they love to do. We rode into the lake on top of her, having got on by being lifted up on her trunk. She stood in the lake like a giant and then rolled over with us on top, throwing us into the cold water. We played with her for some time and fed her some bananas before going back to the hotel to shower off the lake water and elephant piss from our bodies!

Another day Kate, Emiko, Chris and I rode a different elephant (also female as bulls are too dangerous) into the jungle to spot more wildlife. However this was soon forgotten when the elephant got spooked and went a little crazy. Kate, being from South Africa knew how dangerous they could be, so she started freaking out. This concerned me! I had thought they were timid, gentle creatures, but the shear strength and speed of the elephant was scary.

The driver bashed the elephant over the head with his metal pole, this did not hurt the elephant as its skull is thick and the driver grows up with the elephant from a young age so he can predict her movements. It's still disturbing to watch.

The elephant was 'growling' (a kind of low grumble that I could feel with my feet through her skin) and refusing to walk forward. Then she trumpeted loudly and started running up and down the path, turning quickly looking behind her. This continued for a while. The driver only spoke little English but kept repeating "dangerous!”

Us four on top were being bashed about and feared it might rear up or even start to charge, smashing us into tree branches. Thankfully it calmed down and we got home safely. The experience shook me up and Kate amazingly took a shaky video of the elephant trumpeting and reeling from side to side with another disturbed elephant.

Luckily we made it back to town safely and the elephant began to calm down. We got back to the hotel and discussed why it had got spooked, all night.

This elephant is part of the elephant breeding program which we supported by going to the centre and getting close up to the elephants during feeding time. Amazing creatures.


After the previous days of excitement we took the rest of the stay more leisurely and only took bicycles to "20,000 lakes". I loved the eventual relaxation and fine weather.

20,000 lakes, wetland north of Chitwan National Park. There aren't actually that many lakes, maybe one or two big ones that have been broken up.


After Chitwan we headed for Pokhara, with Gorkha and Bandipur as stops along the way.

To be continued....

For a full account and extra details on Chitwan, Kate has her story to tell:
Kate's Blog

MC