Goodbye Nepal, Hello China!

The Chinese love to climb! This is what we have found out from our two days so far in Beijing. At any photo opportunity they start climbing, so much so that we regularly see signs telling people 'no climbing please'. Naturally these get ignored…

We were supposed fly out of Kathmandu on March 31^st but Air China had other ideas for us as we found out when we arrived at the airport and our flight had been cancelled, for about a month without us knowing! The next flight was in two days so Air China kindly paid for 2 nights in a 5* hotel, all our food and a taxi back to the airport. I had steak for breakfast two days in a row!!! The hotel was a world away from the noise of Thamel and had electricity all hours of the day! It did cost 30 times more than our original hostel though so you would expect something good for all that money.

When we did finally catch our flight we flew via Lhasa in Tibet and we were both worried we would need a permit just to transfer planes which you cannot attain unless you go via an organized tour. Luckily everything worked out fine and the views on the plane were phenomenal! We saw Everest and there were no clouds over Tibet so we could see the barren, rocky red landscape with crystal clarity.

We arrived to Beijing after 3 flights and caught the subway just before it closed to our hostel at the dead of night where we pretty much went straight to sleep. The next day we wondered around Tiananmen Square and had the obligatory photos taken with the giant portrait of Mao (when in China do as the Chinese do!). Mao is a much revered former leader of China who the Chinese love! We sidestepped the Forbidden City as it was a Sunday and crazy busy with Chinese tourists and instead went to the Ming Wall ruins where the cherry blossom festival was taking place. Whilst wondering around we began to realize just how big Beijing is. Especially compared to Nepal where we could (and did) walk to every sight!

Today we went to the Forbidden City which had lots of ancient gates, temples, very pretty gardens and Chinese tourists climbing everything for a photo! A nearby park with good views where we watched pensioners practicing Tai Chi, dancing and playing shuttlecock hacky sack, it looked great fun! The Drum tower, Bell tower and the Lama temple which had a MASSIVE Buddha 28 meters high carved out of a single piece of Sandalwood!!! It's in the Guinness book of records too!

Tomorrow we have booked onto a Great Wall tour where we'll be taking in the Mu tianyu section of the wall (little bit renovated, little bit crumbling down). We will also be seeing the Ming tombs and the Olympic stadium aka 'The Birds Nest'!

We found out that our blog is banned in China so hopefully this post will work!

Love K&C

Pokhara, Holi & Kayak Clinic

Would you believe that only 8 days after postage that our ‘small package’ actually made it safely back home!!!!  Very impressed with the Nepali post system! 

After our trek we had a whole week of relaxation in Pokhara.  In the middle of this week was Holi.  A crazy festival celebrating water and colour before the start of monsoon season.  It involves lots of excited locals, music, parades and people saying ‘happy Holi’ before slapping some coloured powder on you or squirting you with a water gun!  We got coated in mostly red powder (see flickr photos!) as they seem to give westerners ‘special attention!’  That week we also did a little sight seeing to Devis Falls and the Bat Cave (thousands of bats of the ceiling – was very cool!)

The Kayak Clinic began on the lake in Pokhara; here they teach you the basics – paddling in a straight line (surprisingly tricky!), doing turns, self rescue, team rescue and Eskimo roll.  We have never swallowed so much water in our lives practicing all the techniques!  I really needed a nose peg and by the end of day we were exhausted and left wondering how we’d do it for another 3 days on a river!

Day 2 came and we set off on our Lower Seti River adventure.  I must say at this point that we had a brilliant group - mostly because they might all read this! Hehe.  We were separated into 3 groups for when we did rapids; The A Team was Chris, Shereen & Andrew; Group 2 was Kat & Dr Jim and Group 3 was Michael, Will & Jess; we all bonded in that English way of banter and competitiveness that kept us going through the 4 days!  This was also a day of learning – high&low press, eddy in and out of currents and getting through (or not in my case) the rapids.  Mostly grade 1-2 to start with which Chris sailed through and managed independent Eskimo Rolls, I struggled and really hated the first morning.  But the food and the camp cheered me up!

Day 3 slightly more relaxing to begin with and I didn’t total on every rapid so it was becoming more enjoyable!  The scenery is beautiful down the river Seti and it was nice to have time to take it in and appreciate the surroundings.  I learnt guitar roll too (easier version of Eskimo Roll) and even managed one all on my ownsome!  We both came out on a looooong grade 2+ which bloody hurt due to the shallow waters and the rocks!  Again camp was a welcome break and we had chips & pasta carbonara that night – lush!  Our last day and it was the big one – it was grade 3 day!  We had some warm up rapids and amazingly I stayed on board all day!  We had to get out and have a look at the grade 3 to decide whether we kayaked or got on the raft to clear it; I was almost wussing out for the raft when a bit of encouragement for the team made me go for the kayak!  Soooo scary but sooo amazing when we both got down it!!

It was 4 days of pushing ourselves physically (our muscles really ache now!)  But an amazing new experience; we made some really good friends; we’d recommend paddle Nepal to anyone it was so well organised and we both cleared the grade 3 – WOOP! 

We’re back to Kathmandu now and preparing for China in 4 days – eek!  So excited!!

A Small Package!

It’s now been a month since we left the UK and yesterday we decided to buy some souvenirs of Nepal. Going elephant crazy we bought a small blue hand carved elephant and a very pretty elephant throw that might adorn our sofa when we return! We had already bought some woollen hats and gloves for our trek that we’ve become quite attached to so we thought today we’d find the local post office and send a package home.

Down some back streets and asking a few different locals we managed to locate the post office where we were told we’d need to find a box. “A box” we said “do you not sell a box that we could use?” “No, no” the woman replied “just ask around the nearby shops and they should be able to sell you a box”. Out the post office we went in search of a box asking at the shacks (which were the local shops) if they had a box we could buy. Naturally they all laughed at us and told us “no” they had no boxes to sell.

A helpful man understanding our plight suggested we head down to the fruit market on the corner of the street – at least we think that’s what he suggested! Down to the fruit market we wandered and we spied a lovely empty box of the finest imported Chinese Apples lying on the floor looking a bit dishevelled and a little bit like the rubbish that it was. We approached the proprietor of the fruit stand and asked if we could buy the box on the floor at his feet to send things back home with. He said we could have the box for free whilst laughing. Feeling that we at least owed him something we then bought 1 kilo of oranges from his store for 90 rupees.

Clutching the box in our hands we walked confidently back to the post office, proudly displaying to all the nearby shops that there are in fact boxes to be found (literally) on the streets of Pokhara. Upon entering the post office the woman smiled as if we had passed a test and asked how much we’d paid for the box and seemed very pleased when we explained we had gotten it for free but bought some oranges in return.

Souvenirs safely in the box we were then asked if we had our own tape to seal up the box. Unsurprisingly considering we hadn’t even thought to bring our own box we did not have any of our own tape with us. Luckily they let us use theirs (and we used a lot because the box looked like it was falling apart!). Kat was then asked to write the address and ‘a small package’ on the box. The now lumpy looking box ‘safely’ sealed up tight was then covered in (admittedly very pretty) stamps by the woman resulting in this (there are many more stamps on the other side!) –

Hopefully in 3 - 4 months this package might arrive back home...

Poon Hill & Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Summarising the trek isn’t easy but I’ll give it a go!  We saw some of the most beautiful scenery which seemed to change over a couple of hours of walking from grassy hills, to forest, to canyon, to river bed to snowy mountains.  We learnt to hate stone steps and must have gone up and down thousands of them over the eleven days!  Chris challenged himself by firstly trying to grow a beard (work in progress) and secondly by carrying the rucksack the whole way (massively appreciated by me!).  We coped with the altitude no problems, got up to base camp 2 days ahead of schedule, watched 3 avalanches, survived on a staple diet of daal bhat (rice, mild curry, lentils and pickles – and free second helpings!) and even found a place that did chocolate cake! 

There were a few stand out highlights of our trek; the first came very early on when we got the local bus to our start point at Nayapul – we missed our stop so the conductor put us on a school bus going the opposite way and then they put us on the top of another local bus to make it back to the start point!  Exciting but a little scary riding on top of a bus through the valleys! 

On day 3 we got to Poon Hill which gave us a beautiful view of the Annapurna Mountain Range and insight into how far we still had left to travel!  That evening we stayed in a small town called Ban Thanti, the only westerners there, they asked if we would donate towards their hydro-electricity project (they currently have no power) we agreed to part with a small donation (about £9) and the whole village came to thank us by singing and dancing.  They performed for over an hour and the only way to make the singing stop was to do a bit of dancing of our own much to their amusement!  We got given flower necklaces and although initially the experience was an awkward one, it’s now one of our fondest memories!

It was day 6 when we made it to Machhapuchhre Base Camp, through deep snow that came to my hip!  As we arrived the sky misted over and a blizzard came down, the fire under the table kept us warm that night!  The next day, amazingly it was a bright sunny morning up to Annapurna Base Camp, the fresh blanket of snow making it even more special.  We reached 4,130metres – it was beautiful and slightly overwhelming that we’d managed to get there under our own steam, a real achievement. 

We stopped at a natural hot springs on the way back down, which was a lovely way to complete the trek.  It is nice to be back in the same room in Pokhara, feels like home for the moment!  We have another 7 nights here before the kayaking course takes us towards Kathmandu. 

Lots of love K&C

Pokhara

Pokhara has a nice relaxed feeling to it. From our room we have a view of the Himalayas (if it’s not too cloudy!) a short walk down the road takes us to Lakeside which is the main tourist strip built next to Phewa Tal lake. It’s got all the shops you can find in Kathmandu but less of the hassle J

We’ve been taking it easy here to try and get over our colds but never ones to stay still for too long we have done a half-day hike up to the World Peace Pagoda which has a lovely view over the lake. We’ve rowed ourselves around the lake for a few hours, circling an interesting pagoda temple on an island in the lake. Two days ago we did another half-day trek up to Sarangkot (1500 metres up) which is another viewpoint where you can get panoramic views of Pokhara and the Himalayas. We stayed the night in the Sherpa Resort and watched a thunder storm from our room (which does boast views of the mountains in good weather!). Then yesterday we woke up at 5:30 to climb to the highest point in Sarangkot and watch the sun rise over the city and mountains. We then scrambled down via a different ‘route’ which cannot be found in the Lonely Planet guidebook. This took about half the time but did pass through various farmers fields!

We were planning to do the Annapurna circuit trek (3 weeks) but due to our colds we amended our route so we’re now doing the Annapurna Sanctuary trek including the Poon Hill detour basically this means it’s a shorter trek (around 2 weeks) and slightly less altitude to worry about. We should be starting that this Sunday so they’ll be no blog updates or photos added for those two weeks. Lots of mountain views to look forward to!

We have just booked on to do a 4 day Kayak clinic on 23^rd March which we’re both excited about then it’ll be back to Kathmandu and onwards to China.

Love C&K

Chitwan National Park

It is hard to believe that Chitwan and Kathmandu are in the same country, here it is quiet, beautiful and relaxing compared to the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu.  We got here by bus which took about 6 hours through mountain roads.  The hostel is lovely; only the river separates it from the National Park and each night we watch a gorgeous sunset over the river.

On our first day we walked through farm villages to find the Elephant Breeding Centre; the elephants soon returned from a days work in the jungle carrying bamboo and grass leaves for their tea.  We particularly fell in love with a mischievous younger elephant, who I named Mildred, who liked to whip around her grass prior to eating it!  Very cute.

Our second day we wandered down to the river to find the elephant starting their bathtime!  It was an Indian man was first to ‘help’ and he was allowed on top of the elephant and got given a shower from the elephant’s trunk.  When his turn was finished the trainer pointed at Chris and said ‘you next?’ but before Chris could fully contemplate this, my shoes and socks were off, the camera was throw to Chris and I was in the water J This was one of the best experiences ever, being allowed to be so close to an elephant, climb on its back in a river and be soaked by it showering you was AMAZING!!  Best £1 I’ve ever, ever spent!

Day 3 was jeep safari.  A whole day in the National Park which was amazing to see, so vast and the scenery constantly changed.  It was a good day with lots of deer and monkeys spotted, a few rhino, wild boar, peacocks, crocodiles and tucans...the elusive tiger nowhere to be seen though!  A day in a jeep leaves you a little saddle sore I must say!  And our fellow passengers made interesting company...we suspect were eco-warrior lesbians!  It was a good day and we got a brief canoe ride to pass over the river from the National Park back to our resort.

Today, our final day in Chitwan, it was Chris’ time for a bath!  So off we went to find some elephants.  Now when we go horse trekking Chris always gets the laziest, sleepiest horse; today we found out that this pattern is not exclusive to horses!  Chris’ elephant was much happier being lay down and scrubbed in the river than doing the hard work of showering Chris!!  In the afternoon we did Elephant Safari on Gertie.  This was brilliant.  We saw more animals on elephant back for 2 hours than we did all day in a jeep!  At one point we were so close to a Rhino if I had straightened my leg out I could have touched it!!

Chitwan has been brilliant!  But tomorrow we move on to Pokhara – another long bus journey beckons!  We’re hoping this is where we will start our trek to the mountains, but we’re still waiting for my cold to clear as I can’t go up to high altitude with snot!  Will post again soon & more Chitwan photos to follow.

Lots of love K&C

Thoughts on Kathmandu

We’re having an amazing time in Kathmandu. It’s so different from anywhere that we’ve been before. Certainly it was intimidating when we first arrived because of the sheer volume of traffic and people on the streets. Everyone wants to be a guide for you / drive you somewhere or sell you tiger balm, daggers, hash, singing bowls etc. However there are also really friendly people who do just want to say hello!

Thamel, where we’re staying seems like a very touristy place but it’s come to feel like home in Kathmandu. It’s certainly as busy as the rest of the city but it’s got an underlying friendliness to it. We know what to expect and it does seem to have everything you could want (a lot of it fake), all in the millions of stalls selling the same items! It does lack electricity for the majority of the time. It seems power cuts are extremely common across Kathmandu and I think we’re lucky if we get about 8 hours within a day, hence why only 12 photos managed to get uploaded the other night. We can’t tell when the power cuts will begin and end during a day so at times Thamel is bursting with music and lights and then it all goes dark and if it’s night time we get out the head torches.

Today we’re taking it easy as Kat has a cold at the moment but hopefully some tiger balm will help! It’s nice to have the time to be able to have a day off from sightseeing!

The sights we have seen are fantastic and at least one building in every street has real character but for the most part they just haven’t been well preserved which is a shame. We’ve seen numerous Stupas (some giant!) which are pretty shrines with Budda eyes, golden tops and lots of multi-coloured prayer flags streaming down around them. We’ve been to Durbar Square which features traditional pagodas, buildings and is home to their living goddess and yesterday we went to the Bagmati river where they cremate their dead (nicer than it sounds!) it’s a Hindu hotspot for their religion. We have also seen lots of monkeys, cows, goats and pigeons (they’re everywhere at holy sites).

We’ll be travelling to Chitwan National Park in the next few days where we will hopefully see more wildlife and go on an Elephant safari! We’ll update again while we’re there if we can get internet and hopefully tonight we’ll upload some more photos to Flickr if the slow internet and power cuts allow!

Love C&K

Arrival to Kathmandu.

So we made it with our bizarre route of cheap flights!  There were a few worrying moments like when we were left in Instanbul’s transfer lounge, they took our passports and all the staff disappeared!  Over an hour later to my relief she returned with our passports and boarding card!  And then there was running through Sanjah airport as we arrived 50min delayed with only a 45min connection, with a man on a walkie talkie telling them to wait for the ‘kathmandu five’ and finally on arrival at Kathmandu there was a worrying 20mins where Chris’ bag was nowhere in sight – but it was finally found, hurrah!

Kathmandu is like nowhere I’ve ever seen before – haggling for a taxi as soon as we started to leave the airport, cars everywhere, bikes everywhere and pedestrians for good measure!  The rules of the road seem to be beep your horn and hope for the best!  Our hotel is basic but seems nice enough (there is a distinct lack of toilet paper but we do have very slow free wifi!).  We have only briefly ventured out into Thamel, backpacker capital of Kathmandu, but we’ve had some very nice dumplings for 50p and got some water for the room.  We’re planning a walking tour tomorrow to Durbar Square for our first look at some temples.

We will keep you posted on how we get on in Kathmandu!

Love K&C