Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas my friends.

I decided that the fact that I am once again away from my family for Christmas will not ruin my day.
I started the day with good breakfast in a company of a friend from San Francisco, talking about his travels to Asia.

I booked a tandem paragliding for the noon and I was excited  ,but  nervous too.
We drove up the hill in the jeep and got ready for take off. The scary part was to run down a hill towards a cliff, hoping that the parachute will pick enough wind to pick us both up.
It did and I was gliding like a bird up high, surprise how peaceful and mellow the flight was. It was a perfect day with clear sky and I the views were unbelievable!

Couple of hawks were flying around and I felt like in the Heaven. It sure made for memorable Christmas day for me.

We got back to town in the afternoon and I bought bottle of wine, to open by the lake to enjoy the afternoon sun and watch the sunset. So there I was, sitting in a broken purple boat on shore, in a company of Stefano from Italy who was passing by and took up on my invitations to join me.

I went into a beauty salon and got henna painted on my hand, something I wanted to do for a long time.

I had dinner with Stefano in the restaurant with fire, and than danced with fellow tourist and locals in Busy Bee pub.

Merry Christmas

Bandipur, Ramkot and bloody Gorka

Tuesday
I hiked to the little village 2 hours away from Bandipur. The trail let around and over the hills, with nice views of the valley bellow.
Ramkot makes you feel like you got back into 18Th century. Little houses, gardens and fields, domestic animals. I got to see some of the original round houses too. I started talking to one girl and asking her mostly about what they had drying on the sheets of  fabric in front of the houses. Beans, corn, wheat. She took me  me around the house to the back where other girl was grinding the corn on hand powered stone mill.
 I was walking around feeling bit out of place. Only few tourists make it here and there are not any stores or restaurants.  Just the village, the way it is and always has been.

Wednesday
I spent the  day walking around Bandipur, taking last few pictures of the town. I sat in the sun on my favorite spot in the field on the ridge above the town, looking at the distance Himalayas. I finished the book I picked at my hotel. It is time to move on.
I will leave tomorrow morning, I will miss Bandipur.

Gorka
Last breakfast in Bandipur, I enjoyed sitting outside, watching the sunrise over the hills.
I was lucky to get on the right bus, it took me all the way to where I needed to get to the bus to Gorka. The driver liked to drive fast and he was speeding down the hill, cutting the sharp turns. I got of in Abu Khaireni and people directed me to my next bus.
There was one  getting ready to leave. They tossed my backpack on the roof and I got super spot in the front, between the driver and other 2 men. Tight squeeze for sure, the shifts stick rubbing on my leg. Hour ride and we were in Gorka.
Gorka has none of the charm of Pokhara and Bandipur. It is dirty, loud and even the old town is not much impressive. I came here to see the Gorka Durbar, the palace and temple, on the top of the hill.
I found room in rather run down, cheep hotel in the old town and set up to hike the 1500 steps to the temple.
Lots of locals heading up the hill too, some of them with goats in tow.
I was almost at the top of the steps when I noticed people carrying heavy plastic bags down the hill, so I peeked in to see what is inside and..... yes in deed .... baby goat with the head cut of.... so the red dots I saw on the steps were blood....I was trying to not get sick, as there were more and more bloody bags being carried around.
I made it to the gate and paid the 50 rupees for me and 200 for my camera and I went in exploring. There was a long line to the temple, people waiting with their goats, that were about to be sacrificed.
I walked around looking at the beautiful wood carvings framing the doors and windows. There was a second temple, there were people getting blessings from holy man. This was the place where roosters were waiting with their owners for blessings.

The walkway on the back side of the palace had views of the Himalayas. I found the Royal Guest House and thank to Lonely Planet book, noticed the erotic motives carved into the wood. I just had to take pictures for you my friends!

I walked one more time around the temples, told good bye to all the animals and started the 1500 steps down to town. I stopped at one of the fast food stops on the side and bought a healthy snack ( Nepali version of doughnut,  freshly fried, still dripping the oil.... yummy!)

Friday
I am back in Pokhara. I had to take bunch of local buses. There was a strike at the bus station and most direct buses got canceled. My old room was available and I felt like coming home. Pokhara is getting all decorated with preying flags hanging over the main street. The Street Festival should be big event. I hope it will be fun way to celebrate NYE.

The day I fell in love....with Bandipur

I had a delicious breakfast last morning in Chitwan in colonial looking KC hotel, their potatoes were roasted with garlic and fresh ginger and it was amazing, the best eggs and potatoes I ate in Nepal so far.
The owner of the hotel gave me a ride to the bus stop on his motorcycle.

I only had to travel 3 hours on the bus to Dumbre where I got off and found a minibus that took me to Barnipur. My destination for the next few days. I found a seat and was  waiting for some 30 min as the  minibus was slowly filling up. it seemed full to me already, but not to locals, they kept finding spots, some taking the premium seats on the roof. Now there was about some 100 people inside the minibus and the driver was still  waiting for more.... finally, we took off, climbing steep hill, going on first gear most of the time, on a narrow road with serpentine.  As we were climbing the view got better and better, with the Himalayas peaks showing in the distance.

We made it to the top of the hill and I saw the little village set in the hill and knew I am in love! This little town has no cars, main street has old Newari style houses on both sides and there are little outside restaurants and cafes everywhere. That all with flowers blooming and old temples in the village and that all with amazing views all around.  And the bonus : there are maybe only 10 tourist in the whole town. I  think I will stay here for a while.

I found a nice hotel, in one of the original buildings, with nice decorations and I have my own wood carved window to look from. There is a terrace on the roof, perfect spot to watch sunset over the  Himalayas.
I had dinner in town with two Danish girls I met in the bus and we strolled around the little town watching people and taking pictures.

The sky turned all the shades of orange for the sunset and you could hear music from the wedding in the neighborhood.

Day 2,
I woke up early this morning, the music still going on ( what a party it must have been!), I got dressed and headed out to climb near hill to watch the sunrise.

I am updating my blog while eating breakfast in a cafe with view ( how else..). I am excited to be here and can't wait to go explore the hills around.

Evening: Today was a lazy day, I spent lots of time reading in the sun, on the main street, people watching.
I went for a walk in the afternoon and saw 2 old grandmas peeling corn and I was about to ask if I could take a picture of them with the pile of dry corn, when what I did was asked if I could help instead.
So there I was, sitting with old ladies, cleaning the corn. Their granddaughter came to hang out too and translate, since my Nepali limits to Namaste and big smile..... We had good time,  neighbors stooping by to look at me helping and everybody laughing as if they never saw such a thing... They fed me with Nepali meal and I was happy to spend the evening doing something unusual.

Day 3
Today was a nice day. I went for a long trek to the biggest cave in Nepal. The trail-head was north from the village and  I followed the ridge line for little. The valley bellow me was all covered in fog and the peak were being all majestic above it.  The trail was steep downhill, the rock steps very slippery. I was getting closer to the fog line and once I got into it , it was humid and cold.

I made it to the cave after one and half hour. I bought my ticket and got a guide. They teamed me up with older English ladies. Armed with bright flashlight we entered the cave. It was huge. Getting deeper inside, we had to be careful as the trail was bit tricky and again slippery. Lot's of " hold on to the rope and put your feet here and hold on to the rock.... very undeveloped.
The ladies chickened out ( they were in their 60s) in the last part of the cave, where you had to climb down a ladder, I am not sure why I was not too scared, I usually freak out about heights. Maybe the lack of light, made it all look just dark and not too scary. I made it all the way down and climbed to the next cave. There were some bats hanging from the ceiling.

Now I only had some 1000 steps to go up to, no big deal. The fog was gone and I could see the river and road on the bottom of the valley.
I made it up to the ridge line and found a nice looking field. The sun was warm and the view amazing. Perfect spot to lie down in the grass and read a book.

Elephants and Rhinos... Chitwan NP

I spent the last 3 days in Chitwan NP near Indian border.

 I got to see rhinos several times, once in the river by the sunset, once really close from the safety of the  elephant's back  and once when taking a shortcut to town from my near the jungle located hotel. Walking home after dinner, in the dark, with the fog around not letting you see more than few meters ahead of you, it was sure an adrenaline adventure.

The little town has his magic, it being off season, the restaurants and streets are empty. Here and there someone riding an elephant coming through.

There is a spot by the river, where the elephants take bath every day. You can come and watch or join. Good way to get wet for sure. I was there on a slow day and watched 3 elephants lying on their sides getting rub by their owners. Little like a car wash... just for elephants.
.

It was the season of mustard flowers blooming and season of baby animals. I saw puppies, kittens, chicks, ducklings, kids... and baby elephants when I went for an afternoon walk one day.

Chitwan NP was nice, but I was ready to move on.