Thursday 7 March 2013

Reporting in with a horrendous sunglasses tan from the snow

Written by Ellen

Chillin with Mr Buffalo in Kathmandu
After almost three weeks in Nepal we feel like we have been here for months already. On a couple of occasions we have sat back and thought how lucky we are to still be alive......only yesterday our overcrowded bus hit a motorcyclist, last night the building next door to our hotel caught fire and the local buses are still persistent on driving with propane tanks rolling around on the floor because they must make deliveries to villages along the route. BUT aside from that we managed to squeeze in a ten day hike over the Annapurna region of the Himalayas with the ultimate success of walking through the world's biggest mountain pass at about 5500m above sea level. We have seen buffalo, cows, crazy-eye-mountain-goats, yaks, monkeys, eagles, horses with bells and have drunk our weight in tea.

Along the way we have met so many amazing people. With them we have tried Tumba (a hot Nepalese beer where you add hot water to fermented millet to make a drink that smells like sweaty feet), momos (steamed or fried wontons filled with either buffalo, chicken, vegetables or cheese) and dal bhat (a dish filled with lentils, potato, spinach and about 5 cups of rice that will continue to be refilled until you fight to say you are really too full to eat more).
Walking through Shivapuri National Park, north of Kathmandu, with all our new friends from Alobar 1000 hostel.

The Monkey Temple in Kathmandu

 In


Kathmandu we visited many amazing temples (stupas as they are called here) all covered in colourful prayer flags that carry thousands of prayers in the wind. A particular memory is of the Pashupatinath temple where cremations are held out in the open along the river. The temple is open for all locals and tourists to visit so we watched the rituals of one cremation and listened to the wailing of the women from the family - a deeply moving experience we will never forget.

North-west of Kathmandu in Pokhara, which is where we have spent the last couple days, we climbed up to the Peace Pagoda. This is 1 of 100 Buddhist stupas around the world built to promote peace. In Nepal it overlooks a big lake within a beautiful mountain range.









At the top of the Peace Pagoda. Looking down onto Pokhara, the lake and surrounding mountain range.
The cold showers will continue for another 10 days but we feel nicely thawed after freezing in the snow of the mountains. While I recover from the worst sunglasses tan that Alex continues to laugh at and we wait for our washing to dry from the laundromat that currently has our washing hanging out to dry in the street, I'm sure Nepal will still continue to reveal many secrets to us.

2 comments:

  1. Wow what an experience I would give anything to have done what you have done my bucket list now is just to fly over the Himalayas in the smallest of planes.
    Congrats we are proud of you both
    take care, enjoy and love from us
    Trish and Neville

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  2. been waiting on the blog you guys,,have to go for now will enjoy reading with a cuppacoffee later tray,,,

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