I wrote this post back in 2010 while I was backpacking in Nepal; I’ve updated and translated in English now.
Sunday morning in Pokhara. It’s hot and sunny. Wifi slowness is driving me crazy, as usual.
I’ve decided to write a blog so that I don’t have to send emails to my friends with the same info, and mostly for my mom, that every time I call her she asks me what I’ve seen and what I’ve done and I never know what and how to reply. So don’t expect erotic scenes, or at least not with me as protagonist (I should invent them anyway, as I never meet anyone who likes me back!). So here I am. Little by little I hope I’ll be able to describe the whole trip, or at least the most interesting parts.
Pokhara is 200km West of Kathmandu, you can get here in 6-8 hours on bus from Kathmandu. Yesterday from Bandipur it took us about 3 hours. I was on the top of the bus, again. More comfortable this time, as it was just Hilde and me and a blue bag that I put under my back; I was almost asleep, it was amazing in the sun. Hilde got an electric wire on her face, but a part from that it was all great.
There’s a lake in Pokhara, and we are surrounded by the Annapurna range. There are loads of activities for tourists, from bungee jumping to paragliding guided by a hawk, kayaking and meditation, but as I am lazy and timorous, I won’t do any of this. We came here because it’s the departing point for one of the most famous trails in Nepal. The Annapurna. There’s the “circuit” trek, that in about 14 days takes you up to 5416 meters of altitude, but we will do the one that is called “Sanctuary”, 12 days up to a max of 4095m. This is the idea, but until I leave I don’t believe it. I am so lazy that I might decide to spend 10 days relaxing by the lake instead. But you can’t come to Nepal and don’t go trekking, right? Or maybe you can… Maybe if unluckly I hurt myself just before departure…
When we arrived at the hostel we found ourselves in the dorm with a Dutch guy we had met in Kathmandu. A hot one, he’s a professional model and participated to a show in which you have to hitchhike from Beijing to Bombay (editor note: it’s a reality that is quite popular in Italy too now, Beijing express). He also takes some amazing pictures. He’s sitting right in front of me in this moment. He’s got a perfect mouth and a nice blond beard.
It doesn’t look much like Nepal here in Pokhara. You can even find grilled steaks with chips. And in the evening there are plenty of clubs with live music until the early hours of the morning. I was used to Tibet and Kathmandu, where everything closes between 10pm and 12am. Well, last night at 10 I was super tired and left Hilde in a pub with her vodka. J was also there anyway, I’m sure she didn’t miss me.
The second day in Kathmandu we rented a scooter and a motorbike with Lee. We went out of Kathmandu and drove to Dakshinkali, a hindu temple on a hill. It was nice to go around on a bike. Finally a bit of fresh air. Unfortunately it was Sunday. The temple is dedicated to Kali, a blood-thirsty goddess, and on Saturdays you can assist to processions in which chickens, ducks, goats and pigs are offered to the god, killed right there and grilled on the spot. It must be interesting. Once we got back to Kathmandu our bodies and clothes were covered in dust and pollution. Well, I’m getting used to it. It’s pretty much the same when you travel by bus, with the windows always open.
Dakshinkali Temple
In the evening we met with J, and Lee brought to the rendez-vous two old friends, two weird Mexicans we met in Chengdu. 19 years old, they are traveling for 6 months before they go to uni. One speaks Japanese and Chinese, plus a perfect English of course. The other one is an expert in making an amazing fruit salad cutting banana, papaya, mango and dragon fruit with an attention to detail like a wood carver.
On Monday we all went rafting on the Trisuli, a river that runs from Pokhara to Kathmandu. It was quite boring. I had already done rafting in Chile somewhere, and I remember I was afraid I could fall into the waters, among the strong currents and the rocks. The two hours on the Trisuli were never ending. It was more a cruise than a rafting. We could have played cards. From time to time there was a part a bit more exciting, with big waves that covered us, but it was short. But apparently I drank enough water to get me sick a bit the following day. Like all waters in Asia it’s probably not really drinkable. So on Tuesday I didn’t do anything, I just relaxed.
On Wednesday Hilde and I went to Swayambhunath, the monkeys temple. On a hill, it’s both Buddhist and Hindu. Along the long staircase to get there, hordes of monkeys walk around you and above you (on the trees, and better be careful not to be pissed down!). I found them quite ugly, but these were less scary than those on Mount Emei, near Chengdu, in China. Those were bigger, with the face of a naughty old man, and they attacked tourists. In Swayambhunath they were among themselves cuddling and cleaning from fleas. They were almost cute.
At Swayambhunath temple
In Swayambhunath a couple of children came closer to us while we were reading the Lonely Planet. They must have been about 5 years old. They asked for a rupie or two. A few minutes later two more boys approached us, about 14 years old, and asked if we had some rupies for the younger ones. It looked as if the 5 yrs old were working for the older.
I wasn’t expecting the children situation to be so bad in Nepal. Near Thamel there’s an area where during the day children sleep on the pavement. I’ve been told that during the night they sell drugs and have some other traffics. With the first light they sniff glue until they are dull. It’s terrible to see. There are NGOs working here that might help them, but I guess they like their independence, even if miserable.
After the monkeys temple we went to Durbar Square (Durbar means palace in Nepalese). It’s the main square in Kathmandu, full of temples and interesting palaces (editor’s note: I’m talking about before the earthquake in 2015 here, I don’t know how the situation is now). Other interesting Durbar Squares are in Patan and Bhaktapur. That day in Kathmandu there was an important festival taking place, the Indra Jatra. Indra was an Aryan god of the rain, arrested in Kathmandu because he stole a flower for his mother. During the festival a guy with a huge red wig that impersonates Indra, runs up and down around te square to run away from the people that had to arrest him.
There was a huge crowd on the steps of the temple, watching the show.
In the meantime, a long queue of cars with ambassadors was arriving at the palace to watch the show from a terrace. I even saw the Nepalese presidente, but I don’t know which one he was. At one point Kumar Devi, a young girl that is considered a living goddess (until her first menstruation, at which point another girl will take her place), was carried on a throne around town. Kumar Devi never leaves her house, only in rare occasions (among them was this one) and her feet never touch the soil. There was a huge crowd on the steps of the temple, watching the show.
In the evening we had something cheap for dinner. Chinese spaghetti at 50 cents in one of those local restaurants (the dirtiest, the tastiest, says Lee) and a bottle of vodka from the supermarket, to drink on the roof of the guesthouse.
The following day we went to Patan, a town that has now been incorporated in Kathmandu, separated by a river only. It’s an old town. It’s nice just to walk around and get lost in the labirinth of its streets and hidden passages. With a beautiful Durbar Square, that we saw quickly to avoid the guys that wanted us to pay 2 euro (I know you think 2 euro is nothing, but I actually eat 4 times with 2 euro!).
In the evening back in Kathmandu we had dinner in another local restaurant, with two young kids super cute; later relax in a western style club where a sprite cost twice my dinner. Goodbye Lee, last time I see him.
Kathmandu is a peculiar town. It’s very chaotic. If I stayed one more day, I think I would have kicked some motorists down their motorbikes. I couldn’t stand the horn all the time. And it’s so complicated to walk around! I’ve learnt just those two streets around the Thamel, the tourist area of Kathmandu, enough to be able to go back to the guesthouse where I was staying. It’s also quite expensive, considering it’s Nepal. A beer is almost 2 euro, for example. But you can find street food for few cents (and still at a touristic price, usually double or three times what a local pays; but I accept this thing, as few nepali are lucky as we are and can afford traveling). I love “momo”, himalayan dumplings; with 30 cents you can get 10. Great snack. And there are shops for tourists, with western products (and western prices). No juice for me in Kathmandu, it’s too expensive.
In Kathmandu there are temples and statues everywhere. And courtyards, hidden behind tiny alleys, that you can enter only walking, surrounded by houses. Nice. They hide the best secrets. Yesterday, in Patan, walking around we entered these small alleys that brought us to a small square, from where another alley went to a new square, and so on. Like a labyrinth hidden from the cars. Peculiar.
Patan
I’ve been traveling with a girl for the last 10 days, because I would like to have a companion for the trekking on the little mountains that are here, called the Himalayas, and share the expenses to visit a National Park. But it’s difficult. I would prefer to be alone, and she probably feels the same because I realize I can be a jerk. It is true that traveling can test your friendship or fondness for the people you are with.
I wrote this back in September 2010 when traveling around Nepal, and I have just updated and translated it.
There’s a lovely full moon in Bandipur. I love it. Especially because I’m coming from Kathmandu, where you don’t see anything because of the pollution.
Bandipur is a quiet little village on the hills. I saw kids playing football on flip-flops, farmers, big trees.
Guesthouse in Bandipur
The guesthouse here in Bandipur is amazing. I feel like I’m living in the past, at the time when my parents were children. Ceiling and doors are made of wood. The floor is made of pressed ground. There are giant spiders waiting for me outside the door (and I hope they’ll keep waiting outside). The bathroom is a boxroom behind the house, with a hole on the floor (but with cement around the hole, quite modern). There’s no flush, but a bucket with a small pot. I think you can use the same water to wash the floor or yourself after you’re done with what you had to do, as long as you use the left hand (with the right one you eat and shake hands). Above the shower there’s a container to collect the rain. No shower for me tonight. The cold shower gives me headache. I washed myself the Nepal-way. There’s a concrete small square in the middle of a room, with two containers full of water. One looks cleaner than the other, so I assume the first one is for face and teeth, the second to wash your feet. Nothing out of the ordinary. I’ve seen these mature men covered in soap, naked as mum made them (just a bit fatter maybe) showering in the Lhasa River in Tibet, little will be able to shock me now.
In Nepal they also shower in the street. Along the streams, if out of town, or from public fountains along the roads (how I saw in Kathmandu). Interesting. They are not fountains as we know them, like the Trevi in Rome. They look like roman baths, I’m not sure why, I don’t know if in Rome there were similar places. Well, they are spaces about 10×10 meters large, a couple of meters below street level, with a sink in the middle. People go there to collect water for the day or to shower. I saw many women washing their hair at these fountains. They are also a meeting place, where neighbors chat while they wait for their turn.
Public bath in Bandipur, Nepal
Coming to Bandipur from Kathmandu was kind of interesting. We were on a minibus, that can carry about 20 people. All squeezed. The road follows the river Trisuli, all bends and drivers drive like crazy. As a result, three people were vomiting. In their small black plastic bags. In Italy the driver would stop if someone feels like vomiting. Not here, there is not ime. The girl sitting in front of me lifted her bag full of vomit, to throw it out of the window (nevermind the plastic thrown in nature). The problem is that the bag had a small hole, from where a drop of vomit reached me. Strange enough it didn’t have a bad smell, so it didn’t bother me too much. It worried me more when some time later she put the head out of the window: if she was going to throw out, it would have hit me completely. Fortunately she felt better. Another girl spent the last half an hour with the head inside the black bag.
In Bandipur I met the first Italian traveler of this trip. He’s from Turin. He’s been traveling for 10 months and still has 3-4 months to go, that he will spend between Bangladesh, Iran and Middle East. Interesting. I’m going to ask him to be friend on Facebook (editor note: he’s now a well established photographer, Luca Vasconi; his pictures are really something, he has a special sensitivity.
Ok, power cut. It’s 11pm something and the power is cut. Time to go to bed.
I wrote this post back in 2010 while I was backpacking in Nepal, I recently updated and translated it and added pictures.
A week ago I was crossing the border. It’s funny how in 5 minutes of walking we went back of two hours and 15 minutes (Nepal has this weird time, don’t ask me why. When in London it’s 6 pm, here it’s 10.45 pm).
It’s like traveling in time, not only in space. And an unusual passport check in Kadari. If you don’t bother walking to the counter, you might enter Nepal without stamp (but I don’t know what would happen at the moment of leaving the country as you need a visa to travel anyway).
On top of the bus, on the road to Kathmandu
First day in Nepal and the adventure starts. I’ll have to use the “we”, because I was with Lee and Hilde (with whom I toured Tibet). We knew there was a bus that goes from Kadari to Kathmandu (changing in Barbise). We were happy to wait for the bus for a couple of hours, so that the bus would cost us 2.5 euro for the whole trip instead of the 5 on a 4×4 (things you do to save 2 euro when you are traveling on a budget!).
One hour later we discovered that there was no bus coming because a recent landslide (that I found out being quite common in Nepal) had interrupted the road and the bus was unable to arrive. So we had to rent the jeep. And because of the new conditions (no bus was coming), the price rose to 8 euro per person. Ok. For once, if you have no choice, you can do it. Shortly after Barabise, just one hour and half after we left, with 4 more hours to go, another landslide blocked the road. We waited for a bit, we took advantage of the situation to eat our first nepalese curry, then the driver told us that due to a huge rock that the crane was unable to move, we had to take our backpacks, walk over the landslide and take another bus on the other side to Kathmandu.
The landslide that blocked our road in Nepal
Ok. A bit of excitement walking on the fresh landslide, with stones still moving, but everything went fine. The fun part comes when we see the bus, full of people (as expected, as there was a long queue of buses and jeeps before the landslide, in our same condition), so we are suggested to pop on top of the bus. We weren’t alone. Well, it was actually quite crowded. At the beginning it was scary. I thought we were going to die, that a jump on the thousand of holes that dot Nepalese roads or a sharp bend accentuated by the crazy driving, would have thrown us far away. But no, it was a beautiful experience. We had a full view of the green hills and the rice fields, we exchanged greetings with the people on the road that were looking after their business (almost everyone had a small shop or was selling something along the road), we talked to our new Nepalese friends. About whom I found out I can’t tell the age. A boy that I thought was 16 yo was actually 26. With wife and child somewere. I also learnt the numbers from 1 to 10 (but I currently only remember ek, dui, tin 1-2-3) and we got a lot of rain (the rain season hasn’t finished yet). Anyway, once the rain was over, we were dry in 5 minutes.
Four hours later, with our bottoms striped in white and blue (the rusted iron bars that are meant to carry the luggage weren’t very kind to our bottoms) we finally arrived in Kathmandu, at night (it was 6.30 pm but super dark and I was so tired it felt like it was 2 am – also because of the time change).
We found a guesthouse at 2,50 euro per night. But first of all Facebook. Finally, after almost a month in China where Facebook is banned, it was nice to be back online. And skype call with my parents (it was 2010, there wasn’t whatsapp yet).
Second day in Kathmandu. I spent the morning enjoying the luxury of having the wifi in my room trying to upload pictures of one month of traveling, with a connection so slow that proved that my patience has improved a lot.
Wow, I love Janakpur! People is very welcoming. A lot of people stop me on the street to ask the usual questions, where I come from, if I’m traveling alone, what my name is, if I like Janakpur. A few times I was also asked “What is the purpose of your trip?”. The purpose of my trip? I don’t know! But they are not annoying, once they are done with the list of questions they go.
This morning in the shop where I stopped to buy a coke I met a very smart boy. 13 years old, he spoke a good English and told me that the Nepalese situation is not good. Because I told him I live somewhere near Venice, he told me about Marco Polo, born in 1254 or similar, that left Venice to go to China, where he lived for 17 years, becoming friends with the emperor.
By the way, the coke was to kill potential bacteria that I might have ingestited with a weird drink I had for breakfast. Just out of the hotel this morning, desperately looking for something to eat, I saw some people drinking this yellow thing, and I decided to try it. But it was cold, I should only drink something that has been boiled or that is in bottles. This drink was probably made with their tap water and some corn flour (from the taste of it). Quite thick. Not my favorite drink. And I’m expecting trots any time.
These days they are celebrating Diwali, one of the most important holiday for Hindu. Their Christmas, as they explain it. It lasts 10 days. Tomorrow will be the most important day, when thousands of goats will be sacrificed to gods (I read this is only a tradition of Nihang Sikhs). For many families it will be the only occasion to eat meat. I would like to participate to the celebrations, but tomorrow I must leave Nepal because my visa is expiring. It would have been interesting.
An oblivious goat
I like walking around the town. Janakpur is different from other places I’ve seen in Nepal. It’s grey and dusty, roads have few cars, many bikes and many people walking. And I’ve met only one other foreigern, from Australia.
This morning while I was walking around I could hear prayers and songs coming from speakers. I sat on the steps of a temple, surrounded by many small altars, and I looked at the people around me. A family (the man dressed in bleach white) entered escorted by a group of armed men. In the temples priests (or servants?) are dressed in rags, very skinny; women wear bracelets on both ankles and their feet are red. A man sells newspapers and he has a large group of men, sitting on the steps of the temple, reading his newspapers. A cow tied to the column of a temple. She also has a red forehead. A guy moaning as he prays. In another temple two men dressed in white are sitting on the floor and are talking, one with a long grey beard, and the usual skinny man that brings them water to wash their hands.
The cow is holy for hindy. They consider it their “mother”, or at least this is what I understood from a guy on the bus yesterday. Poor hindy, I wonder what they feel when they come to Europe and see what happens to their holy cow. There are many cows roaming freely around town, it looks like if they were also taking a stroll; people walk around them, most times ignoring them, sometimes they stop to put the red powder (tikka) on their foreheads. These white cows with red forehead are quite pretty. I wonder if they have a owner and how they find them?
Janakpur Women Development Centre
This morning I went to visit the Janakpur Women Development Centre, near Mithila village in Kuwa. It was interesting. The center was founded in 1989 I believe; here work women from the village, very poor, that have the chance to create a space out of the influence of the husband. They make pottery, carpets, bags. They sell to tourists and they export, even to Italy, but the lady couldn’t tell me where exactly. I bought a cup (I love cups) and some mirrors to hang on walls. I wanted to send them home, but the post office is not like those you find in Europe. There was nothing, no envelops or packages you could buy, only a tiny counter where I was told that I couldn’t send glass because it can be broken and they don’t want to take the risk. I will try from India. It’s a shame, it would have been nice to have an envelop with a stamp from Nepal.
Lunch with family
As soon as I got out of the post office I was invited to visit a family for a tea. That became a pork with puffed rice and vegetables, and a glass of grapefruit juice. I had just had lunch, but I couldn’t refuse. The mother of the family even gave me some bracelets and a necklace. Probably they hoped I would bring their 20yo son to Italy. They were a well-off family, compared to the average nepali, all children had been to university, one was in the army, the other in Kathmandu working for Qatar Airlines. But I’m european and when I work I probably earn 4 times what they do, so for them I’m rich, a good solution for the son. They had to invite me, they said, because I’m a guest in Nepal.
They also invited me to sleep with them, they hoped I could meet the father, that was at work, and another of the brothers. I excused myself saying that my bag was at the hotel. They were incredibly welcoming, and it was nice and funny at the same time, spending some time with them.
There’s a sudoku on the page of the Kathmandu Post that was used to wrap my mirrors. And I am scared of letting one off, in case I got diarrhea.
Janaki Mandir
In the afternoon I went to Janaki Mandir, a temple described by the Lonely Planet as similar to Taj Mahal. It is very beautiful indeed, different from other temples I’ve seen in Nepal. It is built in honor of Rama and Sita, husband and wife. Women wear their most precious sari to come here.
There’s a guy with a white sheet around the waist and long hair wrapped in a tail, wild, my type. I don’t now if he’s a priest or he’s studying to become one, he crossed the courtyard a couple of times carrying wood.
While I was sitting there, looking at the people around me, there was always someone coming to talk. The usual questions. A guy was slightly different. It was a true interrogation. Favorite book, hobbies, movies, and so on. He asked me what I think of the political life in Nepal. I don’t know? You tell me. Not very good, he said. He thinks maoist, despite being part of the government now, aren’t happy and want to rule alone and they cause troubles. They are like HitlerS, he said. He liked to say “it means”, to confirm obvious facts. Like “do you eat meat” – Yes. “It means you are not vegetarian”. “Do you speak Nepali?” – no. “It means you cannot understand nepali”. I don’t understand the reason of this. It wasn’t annoying, it was interesting, this approach. While he was talking to me I couldn’t stop looking at the sweat between his nose and the mouth.
I heard many people complaining about the government. They say it’s corrupt and it keeps 95% of International Aid. It’s a shame. Nepal is a beautiful country that needs a good government and a boost to the economy. People deserve to live a better life.
In the evening I stopped to drink a fresh juice of tiny oranges and I saw that many people were drinking a white thing, a bit thick. I found out it was lassi (like a milkshake, but I don’t know what it was made of, it tasted of yogurt and lemon). Delicious. I wonder how they make it. Very refreshing, and it’s a blessing with this heat. I went back after dinner (fried fish very salty) and I had two more. I wonder if I will find lassi in India too? (I will have loads).
I was really surprised by the hospitality and warmth of people in Janakpur. At first I thought they were a bit intrusive and too curious, but they have been a good company throughout the day.
This morning I woke up again at 4.45 to take the 6am bus from Tansen to Janakpur. A lovely chai tea (it’s made with boiling milk, no water, with some tea leaves and a lot of sugar, something we are not used at all in Italy) at the bus station, before we leave. Unfortunately they hadn’t started cooking their lovely things they fry for breakfast. At 6.45 I could see the first food stalls, but we were on the bus and we didn’t stop for 3 hours.
It was nice to see the country waiking up. At 5.30 there were quite a few people around. I believe in Italy too there are people who go to work this early, but it’s different because here you can see people walking on the street, while in Italy everyone drives.
Following is a gallery of images taken during the long trip, mainly from the top of the bus.
Driving towards the valley you could see the morning mist and I thought of San Martino, an Italian poem that I only know by heart because of a song by Fiorello.
I had promised myself I wouldn’t have gone up a bus anymore, because I might loose all my hair (every time I get off the bus it has a huge amount of knots), but from Naayangarh the bus that I had to take was so full that I had to go up. We were pretty squeezed there too. I arrived in Janakpur at 7pm, quite tired. Tanja went to Kathmandu, where she is taking a flight to Hong Kong.
Janakpur, finally
I’m in a little muslim restaurant near my hotel. I order rice with chicken but instead I got Dal Bhat. They offered me a glass of tap water, yellow. I had to refuse.
12 hours in this part of Nepal (South East) and I have already received two marriage proposals. They find me attractive because I have fair skin. And I am actually quite tanned at the moment. Face creams have a solar protection of 90+. Some are whitening.
I can tell we are getting close to India, it’s not the Nepal I’ve known so far. The trip is getting more and more interesting.
