Whither Nepal (jon)
forecast
Hot. Thunderstorms in the afternoon with their usual coolness. Possibility of lingering Maoists. otherwise, absolute chaos with a smile.
Nepalis have been the most loving, trustworthy and trusting, generous and willing (to be touristed, is that a word?)we have met yet. They are poor by our standards, for sure, and they are pushy to get us to buy stuff, because they are poor and we have money and, hell, we came here! Kathmandu is very comfy for me, the constant buzz of crazy mixed traffic and the tiny shops with everything being made in the back room, there is something very homy about it. Thamel, the touristed part of Kathmandu, is where we are at a great place called the Acme Guest House. They arranged our trek into the Annapurna Conservation Area. That was a 5 day trip into the Himalaya on these steep trails that had tea houses and lodges all along it. No cars, only people on foot. The villages use terraced gardens to grow food and livestock (chickens, goats, water buffalo) and feed intrepid travellers like Shannon and me Dal Bhat (lentils and rice with pickle and potatoe, delicious) and pancakes. Don't order chocolate cake, they don't have it this time of year (so why is it on the menu!!??) (Whiny tourist). We actually had a porter carry most of our stuff so we only had like 20 pounds each, less even. And a guide to keep us on the right trail and translate for us. The panoramas of the Annapurna range (Annapurna north, one and 4, Machupuchere, Niligiris) and a bunch of others we took pictures of, otherwise known as the Great Barrier, goes on forever. Absolutely wonderful, once in a lifetime thang, even though I want to come back here and film some climbing on one of the 8000 meter (24000 foot) peaks. 5 days and 80 kilometers later, we emerged from the woods at Naya Pul and returned to Pokhara to begin another journey...
This time to the jungle. We stayed three days at the Chitwan Jungle Preserve in a place called Sauraha in the south near India. We rode Elephants into the jungle to find wild Rhinoceros, Monkeys and the ferocious Deer! We also bathed with the elephants, amazing to be so close to one on its side in the water, just kind of lolling around, getting petted and scrubbed by one of the people who basically spend their lives caring for these huge beasts. One of the full grown weigh 12,000 pounds. They are cute and have sweeet eyelashes. It was like communing with a whale lolling in the water like that.
That is all now, very amazing place, kind of exhausted. Slow internet means no pictures right now, but soon, hopefully in the next week. We have a ton to post...
Jonathan
Hot. Thunderstorms in the afternoon with their usual coolness. Possibility of lingering Maoists. otherwise, absolute chaos with a smile.
Nepalis have been the most loving, trustworthy and trusting, generous and willing (to be touristed, is that a word?)we have met yet. They are poor by our standards, for sure, and they are pushy to get us to buy stuff, because they are poor and we have money and, hell, we came here! Kathmandu is very comfy for me, the constant buzz of crazy mixed traffic and the tiny shops with everything being made in the back room, there is something very homy about it. Thamel, the touristed part of Kathmandu, is where we are at a great place called the Acme Guest House. They arranged our trek into the Annapurna Conservation Area. That was a 5 day trip into the Himalaya on these steep trails that had tea houses and lodges all along it. No cars, only people on foot. The villages use terraced gardens to grow food and livestock (chickens, goats, water buffalo) and feed intrepid travellers like Shannon and me Dal Bhat (lentils and rice with pickle and potatoe, delicious) and pancakes. Don't order chocolate cake, they don't have it this time of year (so why is it on the menu!!??) (Whiny tourist). We actually had a porter carry most of our stuff so we only had like 20 pounds each, less even. And a guide to keep us on the right trail and translate for us. The panoramas of the Annapurna range (Annapurna north, one and 4, Machupuchere, Niligiris) and a bunch of others we took pictures of, otherwise known as the Great Barrier, goes on forever. Absolutely wonderful, once in a lifetime thang, even though I want to come back here and film some climbing on one of the 8000 meter (24000 foot) peaks. 5 days and 80 kilometers later, we emerged from the woods at Naya Pul and returned to Pokhara to begin another journey...
This time to the jungle. We stayed three days at the Chitwan Jungle Preserve in a place called Sauraha in the south near India. We rode Elephants into the jungle to find wild Rhinoceros, Monkeys and the ferocious Deer! We also bathed with the elephants, amazing to be so close to one on its side in the water, just kind of lolling around, getting petted and scrubbed by one of the people who basically spend their lives caring for these huge beasts. One of the full grown weigh 12,000 pounds. They are cute and have sweeet eyelashes. It was like communing with a whale lolling in the water like that.
That is all now, very amazing place, kind of exhausted. Slow internet means no pictures right now, but soon, hopefully in the next week. We have a ton to post...
Jonathan
posted by squid | 9:27 AM
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