flight to Pokhara

Up at 5 am today for the flight to Pokhara. A little confusion at the hotel, as 7 groups were leaving at the same time, and the driver left with our bags but not us. We got to the airport eventually, for the 25 minute flight to Pokhara which is west of Kathmandu and part of the Annapurna circuit. On the way I got my very first fews of the Himalayas.

Pokhara is small and seems very laid back. It seems cleaner. We passed over lush green terraced hillsides on the way in. It's also very hot, and its actually lower in altitude than Kathmandu. The lakeside area has things like trekking gear shops and health spas.

market at night

I came back to the old market area this evening. It gets dark about 6:00 pm so the markets are open well after dark. Just as hectic, maybe even more so. It could be more busy than usual because it's festival time and the shrines are open.
I tried to take some pictures.

the people

Just a word about impression of the people so far. The guide books talk about the friendliness of the Nepali people, and it seems true. For example, after I was in the hectic market yesterday, I was trying to get back to the hotel quickly for the meeting, probably flustered, with a hurried look, stumbling on the rough sidewalk. A passing stranger simply paused and said 'namaste' with the slight bow of the head and hands, and it brought me right back on track. Around the same time, while I was stopped, looking at the map, a fellow stopped and seemed to want nothing but to converse for a while, talk about Nepal, maybe practice his English.

Even in the chaotic traffic with the honking and passing, you have to realize that it's not aggressive. My experience in Hanoi a few years ago helps to understand this. The honking is just to let you know they're there, and if you get in the way they just go around.

Politics never seems far from people's minds. The monarchy was overthrown a few years ago. The guide on the sight-seeing tour said that most people actually didn't want an overthrow of the monarchy, but rather a slow change to a constitutional one. However the king was too stubborn to allow any change at all. Since then, governments have changed a lot and people are frustrated with the lack of stability.

On another note, among the tourists in the backpacker area, I hear quite a bit of Mandarin spoken. It seems the young people from China are travelling.

pashupatinath and boudhanath

This morning was a sight-seeing tour that was part of the package for the trek I'm doing. We went to Pashupatinath, an important Hindu temple of Shiva, and to Boudhanath, a large Tibetan Buddhist stuppa. It was great to see these sights, as they are two of the most interesting things in Kathmandu, but they are out of the centre of town so would not be as easy to get to on my own.

We first went to Pashupatinath. This is a temple to the god Shiva, and many Hindus try to get there at least once in their lives. It seemed to be a large, spread out complex occupying both sides of a river. The first, most striking thing you see as you approach along the river is the public cremations. The funeral pyres are set up along the sides of the river, and several were going when we were there.

Our tour guide explained the process, the timing of the ceremonies and cremation etc. While public cremation is very different to Western eyes, I didn't feel anything negative about it. Rather, I felt rather conscious of invading peoples privacy by being there. But then, even that may be my own cultural background speaking.

We continued on to see various statues and structures of the temple grounds, and places built into a cliff where sadhus, or spiritual hermits, go to meditate. We also saw a shelter where sadhus live, where each gets a small space to occupy while they are there.

We then went to the Boudhanath stuppa, one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist stuppas, and many Tibetans have settled in the area around it. I love the 'all-seeing eyes' or 'wisdom eyes' of Buddha, that are painted on all sides, and which are characteristic of Buddism in Nepal.

We also went into the adjacent monastery, and a school for painting Tibetan thankhas.

After the tour we came back to the hotel, where we were given our duffel bags to pack our stuff for the trek. The baggage weight limit for domestic flights has been reduced to 10 kg, and it took some ruthless paring down of gear to get it down to that.

evening of first day

I walked to the tourist / backpacker section called Thamel, just beside the old market area I was at today. Dense narrow alleys clogged with people and honking cars and scooters. Packed full of internet places, restaurants, and shops selling everything from Tibetan Thankhas to trekking gear.

first day in Kathmandu

I arrived in Kathmandu very late last night, wasn't at the hotel until about 1 am, but woke up early. So today was seen through kind of a jet-lagged haze.

Very hot today, probably almost 30 degrees during the day, even though it got quite cold at night. In the morning I met briefly with the tour leader, to give information and pictures required for the trekking permit. I then walked to the old, central part of town, about 2 km from the hotel. Not really knowing where I was going, I ended up straight into the bustling, chaotic main market street, with a maze of tiny alleys branching off everywhere, and a shrine, temple or stuppa on every block.

The biggest festival in Nepal is starting about now, and stuppas are being freshly painted, and there is a lot of activity around the shrines. It's an interesting blend of Hinduism and Buddhism, and most shrines have images or statues from both religions. Practices that would be used, say, in Tibetan Buddhism, like lighting butter lamps, are also used at Hindu dieties without discrimination.

I was shown around for a while by a local guy who was full of information about all the different shrines. Of course it was about asking for money afterward, but it was worth the interesting tour and being able to navigate the maze of streets.

Back at the hotel, there was a group meeting for the trek. There are nine of us. We didn't state nationalities, but I detected Australian accents. It's also an older group. Everyone seemed friendly and easy-going.

Start of Nepal trip: made it to Hong Kong despite the typhoon

Start of a new trip to Nepal in 2011:

I'm sure glad I planned to overnight in Hong Kong on the way to Kathmandu, with the long delay I never would have made a connecting flight.

There was a typhoon sweeping through the southeast Asian coast, and the plane arrived late in Vancouver and so my departure was delayed by 45 minutes or so.

In the air, there was some turbulence that was so strong I could barely hold a book in my hand, I was swaying from side to side so much. We actually landed in Taipei for a while, to refuel, as the captain said he anticipated a long holding pattern above Hong Kong. Eventually we landed in Hong Kong without difficulty. Although I've set a personal recorded for the longest time sitting in one airplane - 16 hours.

Apparently all the planes started landing at once, and many people with missed connections needed to stay the night, so the lineup to check in at the aiport hotel took over an hour. In the hotel I noticed that all doorways leading outside had a rope across them with a sign saying to stay indoors for safety reasons.

This morning, however, it is sunny, with a wind that is strong but refreshing despite being warm and a bit humid. I got up early despite the late night, had a big breakfast and walked around outside. Hopefully that will help speed up adjusting to the new time zone.