Pokhara, Bandipur, Nepal just keeps getting better!

So after our trek we went out to Pokhara to relax by the lake for a couple of days...we rented a row boat with a few other tourists and set off across the lake...it was a tough paddle across as the other guys in the boat had never paddled before and didn't quite understand how it worked (Lou, you would've left these guys in the middle of the inlet...)...we climbed the hill on the far side of the lake up to a Japanese world peace pagoda, our third of this trip, and one of 100 planned for around the world...The trip back was even more of an adventure as a storm was closing in on us and we were battling the waves with basically only me with a single paddle (paddle is a bit of a stretch...heavy piece of wood with a bit of plywood at the end...) struggling to push a giant wooden boat against the waves...Brie was actually a much better help than these strongly muscled guys...
Our second day we went to the mountain museum which was interesting...we learned about the 14 mountains that are over 8,000 meters and later that day the sky cleared and we saw Annapurna 1, one of those 14!
We went to Bandipur the next day which is one of our favourite places in the world! It is perched on a hill, overlooking fertile farmsing valleys on either side...we stayed in a traditional old house converted into a hostel...it was an amazing building...and then we started talking to the family that ran it and they were an amazing family! The mom couldn't speak much English but she was very kind, the daughter spoke great English and stayed up with us playing Uno after Brie helped her with her homework, and the grandmother who didn't speak any English somehow managed to be the jokester! The Aunt came in and grabbed Brie and brought her up stairs and dressed her in a Nepali Sari--and then we had a photo shoot, complete with tika (red dot on the forehead) and fake flowers! The aunt even gave Brie all the bangles that she had tried on! The family was so generous...they were always giving us the most fragrant flowers and sent us off in the morning with bananas!
The town itself was amazing too--no cars(as is the case with most of my fav cities around the world!) and a wonderful town square surrounded by ancient building with beautifully carved wooden windows...we walked around town enjoying the architecture and the views then hiked up the hill on the far side for even better views...The next day we decided to hike down the hill to the main highway so that we could pass Nepal's biggest cave...it was all down hill so we though it would be no problem in our Keen sandals...the only problem was that we forgot about all the leeches that have shown up for the monsoon! I took of my shoes at one point and picked off 8 leeches and another time 5 more! There was blood gushing from my toe where a big sucker had cut me open...Brie escaped fairly unscathed although she had to pick off a couple as well...I picked off the majority while standing on a giant rock and the blood was gushing out of my toe so we decided to do a little sacrifice and ask for no more leeches! We left our flowers and our banana peels in a pattern around the blood and it may have worked because we had no more leeches (although that also could have been the bug spray that we put on or the much dryer ground...) We eventually got to the cave and went in--it was very interesting...from a fairly small opening in opens up to a 60 meter high cavern...we explored all the nooks and crannies with the help of a local guide and Brie shrieked a little as the bats swooped overhead...we walked down to the highway, jumped on a bus and came back to Kathmandu...
We walked around town yesterday and then up to the monkey temple today--Kathmandu is FULL of ancient  statues and temples and the architecture is amazing...we love this city...
Unfortunately, the buses and taxis went on strike today and we left both of our day trips to the end...we will still walk to Pashupatinath and Boudda if we have too but Bhaktapur is out if we can't get a bus...and getting to the airport will be a bit more interesting...oh well, all part of the adventure!
We fly from KTM to Delhi on the 21st and then from Delhi home at midnight on the 22nd so we will see you all soon!
This will probably be it...can't wait for salads at home...bye for now!

We're Back!

We made it!

But first to fill you in on what went on before trekking...which mostly involved a lot of traveling...

After leaving Varanasi, we set off for the border which involved a train, which was late, and took longer than expected, a bus, which got stuck in a traffic jam for 45 mins in 39 degree weather with 80%humidity and people on top of us dripping sweat onto us, and then another bus which didn't leave for over an hour in the scorching heat...all together, 14 hours of travel and litres of sweat lost!

Our last memory of India is a lovely Indian man, telling us Indian money is illegal in Nepal and that it would be taken from us and then pointing us to his friends store which had a HORRIBLE exchange rate...(large Indian bills are illegal to use in Nepal but not illegal to possess)...Our first memory of  Nepal is the tourism officials giving us an exchange rate that is BETTER than the actual rate with no service charge!

Lumbini was lovely! We rented bikes and rode around Buddha's birthplace and all of the buddhist temples that have been built there...we got to the far end and ended up getting stuck in torrential monsoon rains but it was still fun...

The next day saw more crazy travel...taking the local bus from Lumbini to Kathmandu..halfway into the trip we heard a big smash and looked up to see that the windshield was smashed...we quickly turned around and chased down another bus...apparently, someone had thrown something out of the window from the oncoming bus! Both buses emptied and after a lot of arguing we turned around again and continued along...not sure how they resolved it...needless to say it was late again...14 hours later we were in Kathmandu!


We spent a day sorting out all of our passes and buses to get to the park and the next day we set off for Langtang national park...it is 117 km away from Kathmandu but the bus managed to take 11 hours...we did have to get off at one point and walk half an hour across a landslide and then get on another bus...this bus ride was reminiscent of the trip to Leh in some parts...they had recently cleared another landslide but the road was just huge rocks that the bus would sway across...Brie was at the window and as we tipped towards the cliff with no guard rail she screamed(she says she pulled a Kim in the boat on the way to hot springs cove!) and the Nepali's laughed! It was actually incredibly frightening in parts where the road was no wider than the bus and perched on a fresh landslide which could shift at any time...it was so frightening that we were forced to shell out $100 to book a jeep home, rather than risk it on the dodgy $3 bus...tough call, but looking back, the roads were in even worse condition on the way home with recent rains causing new landslides and making parts of the road nearly impassable mud slicks, so we are happy about our decision...

We were a little shaken from the journey but the next morning we awoke to sunshine and set out on our 5 day trek...without a guide, we quickly got lost within 5 minutes of setting out, a common theme of our journey...but after climbing 800 metres up then returning to the river, we climbed the proper 800 meters up to our first stop in Gatlang--an amazing town...it was like going back in time...wooden plows pulled behind cows, everyone is reliant on farming...it has been preserved remarkably well and it was such a treat to be the only "whities" in the town...Our next day brought us through rice patties and up terraced corn fields...an exhausting day but our wonderful reward in Tatopani was a community run hotsprings! Such a treat after a long hike... The next day took us to our peak, 3200 metres(twice Golden Ears!), which was a beautiful plateau absolutely full of wild flowers! And then down, through a tropical forest...the clouds settled over us at this point and walking through the trees with moss hanging and low fog felt like walking through a fantasy tale...We ended up in the village of Thuman...Someone had given us a solar powered light before we left to leave in one of the villages and we picked Thuman due to how remote it was...we were not sure how to pick where it would be used the most but we decided that a family would use it a ton...not to mention the houses are stitched together in 3-5 house blocks so we figured it would be shared between many...we picked a woman on the bank who was watching 7 or 8 kids and walked over to give it to her...she didn't speak much English but she understood enough and was so excited for the lantern! She quickly invited us into her house and started making tea! It was so neat to be able to experience authentic Nepali culture in this way although we were a little confused about the tea...we saw her crack an egg into it...and then a handful of white powder...no tea bag in sight...hmmm... she churned it in a big wooden tube, then into a 20 year old thermos that needed a good cleaning, then into our cups...we nearly vomited after our first sip! It is traditional Tibetan tea...which isn't really tea as far as I am concerned...rather, it is hot water with salt, egg and butter...a great way to replenish electrolytes in the hills but vile to taste...the worst part is that it would be rude to not ask for seconds...so we choked down 2 glasses(Erin you owe us for this!)  and then told them we couldn't have more because we had to get going...It tasted like sea water, with a rotten egg and moldy thermos...yuck! That day we set off for Timure, our last stop! We found a good guest house with an extremely animated Nepali host--it was fun to listen to all of his stories! On our last day we walked up to the Tibetan border to check it out...although we stayed back so as to not offend any Chinese border guards who may be sensitive about Westerners coming up to the border...and then we walked back to Shyaphru Besi...Overall, it was 5 AMAZING days of exceptional valley views (with the odd snow capped peak in the morning) and traditional Nepali culture...Not meeting other tourists along the way made it even more special as the villages felt undisturbed...a far cry from some of the tourist hot spots along the more popular treks in high season...Thanks for the suggestion Kristy, it was absolutely amazing!

And that brings us to today! Back in Kathmandu for the night...we head out to Pokhara at 7am tomorrow morning...

Crazy to think we have less than 2 weeks left! Time has flown by--see you all soon!

PS. We are craving so many different foods from home! Fresh veggies and FRUIT and meat and cheese and milk and on and on!

It's off to trekking we go...

Hi all,
   Just a quick note to say that we are leaving early tomorrow morning to do our trek. We are doing the Tamang Heritage trail in the Langtang park. We will be gone for 8 days or so! We will post when we get back and organized and rested. So if you don't hear from us for 9 or 10 days no worries.
   P.s. We are SUPER sad that we didn't come into Nepal earlier... It has been spectacular so far and we do not have enough days to do everything that we want to do here... There are so many things we wish we didn't do in India so we could spend more time in this wonderful country!
   Chat soon,
Love us,
Brie and Taylor
xoxo