Nepal - 5 to 19 November 2008

Introduction

Namaste to Nepal - a country famous for trekking, adventures, fantastic scenery, friendly peaceful people and home to a world-class artistic and architectural heritage.

Background and History

The recorded history of Nepal centres around the Kathmandu Valley and can be traced back to the 8 th century BC when Mongoloid people, the Hindu Kiratis arrived from the north east and numerous separate kingdoms existed throughout this crossroads of the subcontinent and the Tibetan plateau. Buddhist beginnings date from the birth of Prince Siddhartha Gautama in the 6 th century BC and continues through to the Mauryan Empire until the 4 th century AD, when it lost ground to resurgent Hinduism and the particular creative period of the Licchavis lasting until the 8 th century. Then the ‘dark ages' until the Malla Kings (who were forced out of India) came to power around 1200 and who were responsible for outstanding art and the pagoda-style architecture. Their period stretched for 550 years and was fragmented with many independent states when Prithvi Narayan Shah unified Nepal from his hilltop kingdom of Gorkha in 1768. This Shah lineage enjoyed power for more than 200 years until the brutal decade long conflict between the king and Maoists culminated in parliamentary democracy in 2006.

Our Experience

Despite this being the most hectic border crossing we've ever encountered, the formalities of our immigration and customs clearance for Tipperdee went relatively smoothly and after 2 hours we were happy to be in the mountain kingdom. With things a lot more stable now, it was tangible how different the plains of the Terai were to that of India – the air was cleaner, hardly any noise and people smiled a lot more! We headed straight for Lumbini, 22km east of the border and a major pilgrimage site as it is Buddha's (Prince Siddhartha) birthplace. Lumbini's Buddha Hotel was just the spot for 2 nights to enjoy Nepali styled thalis and Tibetan momo's (dumplings) in a relaxed garden atmosphere. We immediately got busy with the mouse trap and it was put in place that evening. The next morning much to our disappointment, Basil was still at large, he had managed to steal the cheese and escape our trap!

We spent most of the 6 th November being transported on a cycle rickshaw around the Lumbini Development Zone, a protected area with the Maya Devi temple at its centre – where Queen Maya Devi gave birth to Siddhartha. This sacred garden contains the foundations of ancient stupas and monasteries, including a stone slab foundation marking the exact spot of Buddha's birth and a sacred pond where his mother took a holy dip before giving birth. Although tough to swallow that someone was cycling all of us around, we enjoyed the tranquil tour around the site to numerous colourful monasteries constructed by different Buddhist communities from around the world reflecting their unique interpretation of the philosophy. The saga of Basil the mouse was finally concluded when Jo-Anne noticed him that evening behind the sunhats at the back of the van. After much screaming and with the help of a local Nepalese, we were able to direct him out of the vehicle with Jo-Anne jumping and screaming much to the amusement of our Nepalese aid! The next morning we were all relieved to continue north without him (or her?) in the vehicle.

The incredibly scenic 8hr drive north along the Siddhartha Highway via Butwal and Tansen led to Pokhara. We did just under 200km through valleys, over rivers and mountains, past traditional villages and a road that twists and turns every few meters. We arrived just after sunset and wild camped on the shore of Lake Phewa. When daylight allowed us to orientate ourselves, we discovered Pokhara, a village on the lakeshore and surrounded by huge Himalayan peaks – the Annapurna Massif at 8000m, just 50km away. Set in a valley with lush subtropical vegetation mixed with rice terraces and gorges, the setting was idyllic. Tranquillity Lodge was our choice for the next 3 nights (just $9 a night) and with such a safe parking for the vehicle in a beautiful garden, we decided to share the bedroom without the kids! Finally a spotless little bathroom and wonderful white crisp cotton sheets, even with our own little balcony looking out over the van in the garden! Most of our time was spent walking the Lakeside strip with its souvenir shops and funky restaurants and using Tipperdee to explore the surrounding area. The drive around Phewa Lake to Pame Bazaar (village) through rice paddies and lush forests with mountains all around was peaceful and heavenly – a complete contrast to the urban hustle of old Pokhara when we headed to the Seti River Gorge. Here the milky white river gushes by 50m below street level and a nearby small Buddhist gompa gave us a peek into the philosophy as a monk taught 3 ladies with much chanting and ritual. The kids though were more captivated by feeding the nearby cows! Tipperdee then had a tough job climbing to the top of lofty Sarangkot along a windy steep dirt track but the sunset views of the Annapurna lined up against the horizon was worth the sweaty palms and short hike to the top.

The next day we visited a Tibetan village for refugees, Tashi Ling where we watched their traditional labour intensive job of carpet making and browsed their handicrafts. The Devi falls was a bit of a let down – just a stream which vanishes underground, but the 4X4 trip up to the World Peace Pagoda at the south side of the lake was more than exciting. The kids though didn't even notice the hectic road or how rattled we were! But the views of the lake and mountains beyond were breathtaking. Japanese monks built this brilliant white Pagoda with a golden sitting Buddha to promote world peace – balanced on a high ridge above Phewa Tal. We spent the evening with Zsolt (the guy we met in Agra ) and his Hungarian paragliders at the Boomerang Restaurant for a dinner and cultural show – very colourful and quite an amusing repertoire. Our final day in this little paradise was for chilling, schooling and catching up with website duties. The latter part of the day we spent with the Hungarian group – first being video interviewed for a documentary on paragliding that they were making, then after supper we all visited a local boarding school called Shamrocks for socially disadvantaged children from the surrounding mountains. Shamrocks was very inspirational with their approach to education and the unbelievably disciplined children had us captivated. It was a great opportunity to immerse ourselves in the culture, albeit a wee bit stressful when we had to sit in front of the 47 children and talk about ourselves and our careers as questions were fired at the ‘panel' – which included Jade and Dane. The 26 year old principal has really done an amazing job with these kids and it was wonderful to see the interest on their faces. Everybody of course wanted to be a doctor so Gary had quite a time!

The 11 th November dawned and we had to move on, this time via Begnas Tal just 15km south. We crossed this gloriously serene lake by a small canoe like boat and hiked the 5km to Rupa Tal and back to the vehicle. The delightful trail winds its way uphill through pleasant villages and forests – the final leg of the Annapurna Skyline Trek, with incredible views of their snow-capped peaks. Similar views accompanied us for 60km through gorges and hanging valleys along the Prithvi Highway to Bandipur, a perfectly preserved Newari village on a high ridge. Once the ancient trade route to China , this treasure with its wooden 18 th century architecture is like a living museum with farmers tending their garden, women carrying baskets of fodder, children in school uniforms and goats and chickens wandering peacefully around. We wild camped for 2 nights on the old parade ground called Tundikhel with perfect views of the Himalayas . This is also the spot for teenage school kids to party for the day and night! The next day as we passed them, they were ready to slaughter a goat and with lots of squeals from the goat (as the first attempt was unsuccessful) and ourselves, we were well on our way to becoming vegetarians!! Walking the hills took us past the basic village hospital and old Magar settlements of Baralithok and to schools where we were thoroughly impressed by the 8 year olds as they read their English and sang for us. More windy dirt paths lead to Tin Dhara, a public washing area (clothes and body) where spring water emerges from the forest along five sprouts carved in the shape of mythical beasts. Passing numerous temples adorned with statues of the gods and ancient carvings we eventually hit ‘downtown' Bandipur, a no traffic slab- paved street lined with double storey Newari houses, many now converted to restaurants and home stays. We of course had to sample their noodle dishes before completing the loop back through the countryside to our home. Unfortunately we had to face the noisy picnicking of the teenagers – after the goat slaughtering and cooking, some alcohol had to flow which led to rather raucous behaviour and lots of loud music throughout the night! On rising the next morning the mountains had disappeared behinds clouds and mist and after schooling we descended the snake like 8km to the highway and continued east along a series of deep river valleys, passing ancient villages and cascading rice terraces to Kathmandu, and what a ‘todu' this was!!

The capital was another developing-world city rushing into the modern era of concrete and traffic pollution. Thankfully a local TV producer had one of his employees take us to the heart of the Thamel district, which stressed us out endlessly with its busy, narrow lanes and shops almost touching the side of the vehicle. Miraculously Tipperdee squeezed through scraping the overhead power and telephone lines. Right in the centre of utter chaos we found a spot in his business parking area and camped right there for the night. We decided to make our way out of this hectic area before the city awakes the next morning. So up at almost dawn, we negotiated our way out through the narrow streets and tried to find accommodation where the vehicle could have safe parking. We eventually found peace at the Ambassador Hotel and could even soak up in a luxurious bath, something that Jo-Anne had missed since April. The next day we strolled Kathmandu 's medieval-like old town with its amazing cultural artistic heritage. Just walking through Thamel, we'd stumble across umpteen temples and shrines with unbelievable cultural significance, like Kathesimbhu stupa, a Tibetan Pilgrimage site encircled by various statues. Just when the crowded yet fascinating shopping streets and market atmosphere was getting to the kids, we hit the UNESCO designated architectural monuments of Durbar square. Our guide led us through the spectacular legacy of pagoda-style temples and stupas. This was where kings were once crowned and while some buildings date from the 12 th century, most are from 16 and 17 th centuries. We rang the bells to send bad luck over our shoulders at one of the many shrines to Ganesh (Shiva's son with the elephant head) and Gary even rubbed his back against one of the pillars of the Kasthamandap temple in a clockwise fashion to heal any back ailment! It was actually mind-boggling to be escorted through numerous temples, seeing Shiva's lingam in Maju Deval with its erotic carvings, then past Shiva and Parvati looking down from a balcony and Shiva in a fearsome reincarnation as Kala (black) Bhairab with 6 arms and a garland of skulls. The highlight was the Kumari Bahal (house of the living Goddess), home to the Kumari, the girl who is selected to be the goddess until she reaches puberty when her first period returns her to being a mortal. The current living Goddess (chosen in October this year) had to pass rigorous tests before claiming the title. Girls between the ages of 4 to 8 are selected based on strict rules defining hair and eye colour, sound of voice, features of the face, alignment of teeth, family circle and numerous others. They are then sent to a dark house where severed buffalo heads are on display and men run around making awful sounds with gruesome masks trying to scare them. The girl who comes out ‘unscathed' then claims the title of the Living Goddess! Unfortunately she was too tired to make an appearance for us as she's only 5 years old, but the three storey courtyard's magnificently carved wooden balconies and windows were eye-catching. The last hour of daylight we browsed the multitude of souvenir stalls and learnt a bit of the local game called ‘Tiger and Goat'.

The next day we headed away from the madness into the Kathmandu Valley and Bhaktapur, a traffic-free timeless town with cobble stone streets linking a string of temples, courtyards and monumental squares. The kids decided to sit this one out so we had a wonderful leisurely stroll through this amazing area, admiring centuries old traditional Newari craftsmen, people collecting water or washing under communal taps, women pounding grain and going about their daily tasks and then your wind gets blown away around the next corner with an outstanding cluster of exquisite temples ornamented with works of art – mostly outdoor displays of wood carvings that date back to the Malla Kings.

But as we yearned for our last view of the mighty Himalayas , we ascended the valley bowl to Nagarkot and a 360 degree view from the lookout tower on a ridge at 2175m. Here we wild camped amidst the locals revelling in the outrageous views at sunset and sunrise that stretched from Ohaulagiri in the west to Everest and Kanchenjunga in the east. The next day we again had to negotiate the horrendous traffic through the valley and Kathmandu as we headed back west on the Prithvi Highway via Mugling and south over the Mahabharat range to the plains of central Terai. Sleepy Sauraha and the beautiful garden setting of Riverside Hotel was our vacation spot on the fringe of the Royal Chitwan NP and a great place to celebrate Jo-Anne's birthday. We relaxed with sunset views over the Rapti River into the subtropical jungle and bathed with the Indian Elephants at their bath time – the highlight for Jade and Dane. It was quite impossible to sit on their backs as they wriggled, spurting water on us with their trunks. The next day we took a trip down river in a dug out canoe spotting birdlife and unique marsh mugger and gharial crocodiles. This led to a guided walk through the jungle to the elephant breeding centre, knowing that this was home to tigers and leopards! Our nerves were rattled when we stumbled across a rhino less than 10 meters from us, but the kids were excited as we planned an escape route down the embankment in case something drastic happened. The elephant centre supplies most of the elephants for the safaris at Chitwan and it was really special to see the first known recorded twins, just 12 days old. A horse drawn cart took us back to Sauraha through small Tharu villages that provided a glimpse of life on the Terai plains. The afternoon we lumbered through the jungle on the back of ‘jumbo' on a safari. Although thrilling, the elephants move with a rolling gait and the ride was less than comfortable, but provided a perfect vantage point to see spotted deer, more crocs and a full view of a mother and baby one-horned rhino (of only 200 left worldwide). Our 3 day stay here forged Nepal into our memories as one of the highlights of our trip!

The 19 th of November and the last day before our visa expired, we had to continue 170km west on the Mahendra highway to Butwal and south to Sunauli, the border town. We spent the night in the vehicle in the grounds of the Lord Buddha Hotel where we indulged in our final spicy Nepalese styled thali! After breakfast at 6:30am we braved the same chaotic border crossing into India and by 8:30am we were back fighting our way south in Uttar Pradesh.

Dhanyabad Nepal and Namaste!