Night before was the same pouring so heavily the whole night, but at least we had the power thru out… we woked up about 0730hrs to shower and packed up to get ready for breakfast and to catch our bus to India border at 0930hrs..
Before we could finish packing the man came knock on our door to inform it was breakfast time… so we stopped halfway and went out at about 0800hrs and join Joanne for breakfast… Same breakfast omelet and fried potato and toast.. we hurried thru our breakfast and went back to pack our bags… Our clothes and shoes are still wet from day before.. sigh…
We quickly finish our packing headed back to the dining hall to settle our bill. Exchange our emails with Joanne and Christine and was on the push start jeep to the bus station… Arrived there in time for the busese bid our farewells to our new friends whom were heading to Pokhara or Kathmandu..
Got it the local bus and got ready for the extremely dreaded ride to the border… I could see in Ramli’s face that he extremely dreaded and can I say hated to take the bus again.. and for the both of us .. Back to India again.. AAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
As usual local bus it stop every few mins to pick up locals and all the way the same… Ramli was elbowed at his head, “armpit” on his shoulders…. I didn’t dare ask about it cause he might just explode as his facial expressions is clear enough of how frustrated he was… Finally finally we arrived 2km away from the border after about 4 hrs ride… It would have been faster if they didn’t stop… Sigh
Got off at the bus station and was pestered by the rickshaw riders… 150IRP to immigration office they shouted.. we just walked as we thought its very expensive for 2 km ride… 2 of them followed us and finally offered 100IRP each… ok what the heck… it is so hot so we got on and they rode us near the border and told Ramli it is better to get a taxi to Gorukhpur which we were suppose to go in India to try get our train tickets to Varanasi as we didn’t book in advance… Ramli got down and went to talk to the person about the taxi… Taxi to Gorukhpur costs 1300IRP he agreed as he didn’t want to take the local bus again for the time being… so we waited for the taxi to come .. we got in and the driver asked us to wait for 2 mins. So Ramli went to the money change to asked for the rate to change some Indian rupess.. it is 5 rupees more than what the taxi company offered. Luckily didn’t change with this dishonest man..
While I was waiting for Ramli in the taxi the driver came and asked if we were heading to Varanasi.. and I said yes.. He say , can take taxi to Varanasi … 7hrs… I asked the price and he said 3500IRP from Sonauli to Varanasi… so I confirmed with him again if we have to pay additional or minus 1300IRP which we had paid earlier… he said minus from there… so I went and informed Ramli… as we were really exhausted mentally and physically with the bus rides we had previously we just gave in to the call for some “luxury” … The driver seems very happy and brought along his son for the ride…
Eventhough the ride costs about USD78 for about 250kms ride. We thought it was needed to keep our sanity!! We didn’t know if we will get the train tickets or bus tickets in Gorukhpur and we didn’t want to stay a night as we have seen bad comments about this city on the net.. The most crappiest, dirtiest and noisiest city in India… we don’t want to experience it again at least for now…
We went on our way at about 1400hrs… the driver has a “thing” for his horns!! He kept pressing them and holding them for like 15secs each time.. and each interval is like 20secs away.. you could imagine how we felt.. the heat the never ending honking the dust from the road!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
We tried our best to keep our cool and just kept to ourselves through out the journey.. I think this is the time for us to stable down our selves… so many thoughts was running thru my head and I guess the same for Ramli… hours pass… honkings pass… at about 0930hrs we finally arrive in Varanasi city… Yahoo!! The driver brought us to a Hotel Surya… woa!! It looked all poshy and “atas” we told him we couldn’t afford this place but he kept insisting… We told him we wanted to go to another Hotel Alka which Joanne recommended to us.. She stayed there when she was in Varanasi just weeks ago… The driver didn’t give in insists we asked for a room..
Ramli went over to the reception and was glad to hear there isn’t any room !! but still the driver didn’t give up… went in and talk to them privately and came out to ask us to wait for 5 mins.. kept telling him we cant afford but seems he don’t understand. While waiting Ramli went and check on the internet for the address of Hotel Alka, came out with the number and address and told the driver to bring us.. Before he told us he didn’t know about this hotel but now he is saying to us there is no room.. Ermmm we think he should be getting commission from Hotel Surya.. I told Ramli try call to Hotel Alka and check.. so he and the driver went into the reception and borrowed the phone..
Luckily there was room so the driver had no choice but to bring us… After about 30mins of driving we finally arrived at the hotel after asking the locals and calling the hotel… The room with attached bathroom costs 750IRP a night… It was very clean so we just took it… We paid the driver the remaining fee and after counting he ask for “present” meaning tips… Ramli told him we have no money but he again seems not able to understand… stood there looking sad… we just ignored him, checked in the room and after a while he left.
We didn’t have any food since breakfast so we ordered chowmein from the hotel but noodles ran out so we had to eat fried rice… While waiting for the food, we both started talking about the day… I told Ramli luckily Joanne recommended this nice hotel if it was going to be a crappy dirty hotel.. I am so going to go mad… I rold him I need at least a clean and proper room to keep my sanity… causer I was thinking to myself if it is going to be a dirty room after the long ride I would want to go home the next day!!! He laughed at me..
But what he felt was worst, he said if he could he want to just get out of India tomorrow first thing into Pakistan.. He couldn’t take the honking, the dirt, the noise and everything about India… He HATES India and Nepal!! I told him Nepal is not so bad, just Kathmandu isn’t that pleasant…
Sigh hopefully both of us will be able to keep sane and persevere thru India… We still have like at least 10 days to go … We haven’t been to Agra, Delhi to get our Pakistan visa, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Rajasthan…
We need to chill…..
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Day 33 Chitwan national Park 31st July 09
Today we will be going canoeing, Jungle trekking, Elephant breeding centre, Elephant Bath, Elephant ride and cultural Performance. Seems like its gonna be an interesting day. Hopefully the weather will be on our side….
The dugout canoe
The croc that was "near"
Cristine, Joanna and me
Anyway we woke up today at 0600hrs. Cindy showered first and at the same time did some laundry.I woke up a little later, showered and while washing my face, suddenly there was no more water. WTF!! I turned the tap on and off but only managed to get a few drips of water but luckily there was pail filled with water so I only managed to wash my hair, face and brush my teeth. Well not too bad I guess.
After that we headed out to the dining area for breakfast. It was omelet with onions and tomatoes, Toasted bread and fresh vegetables. It was good actually. Lars was there but before we headed our separate ways, we said our goodbyes cos we will not be seeing him anymore as he had to catch a bus at 0930hrs. We promised to stay in touch by facebook. Maybe we’ll meet again in
So after the hearty breakfast, the 2 ladies and us went out, took the jeep to go for the Canoe ride. Arrived at the place after 10 mins ride. The canoe was a traditional one. Wow great! It’s made by carving out the centre portion of a single tree trunk. So all of us got in one by one. Trying to keep the balance of the boat at the same time. Trust me you do not want to fall into the water as it’s really filthy and filled with a lot of bugs. As we sat down, I can see all different kinds of bugs, spiders and insects on the side of the boat and even on the floor. Yucks!! So I tried my best not to rest my hands or legs against the sides. We saw part of a crocodile’s head in the water about 10 meters away from our canoe, king fisher bird flying across, peacocks flying, yes in case you are as lost as I am, peacocks do fly but they cannot fly more than 2 km continuously. Hehehe. But I think half the time I was flicking insects off my shirt or legs so I didn’t get to see much wildlife. Anyway 15mins later the guide asked us if we wanted to go for a Jungle trek. Everyone opted for it. So the boatman paddled towards the river bank and dropped us off there.
After everyone got off the boat, we had a briefing before we started the trek. It was about what to do. For example, if we see a Rhino, and if the rhino runs after us, we will have to climb a tree and be at least 9 foot off the ground. I was like what!!! Ya right like as if I can climb a wet tree with a pair of Sanuks. It gets better. If an elephant runs after us, we should run into a dense part of the forest so that it couldn’t get us. Here comes the best part. If we see a tiger, look the tiger in the eye and walk slowly backwards and away from it. Maybe he forgot to say, after you pee in your pants you should look the tiger in the eye…. I was thinking what have I got myself into. So after that scary brief, we started the trek. I think all of us were just looking out for tell tale signs of the unwanted animals than enjoying the nature. Hehehe.
during the trek
Anyway we finished the trek after about 20 mins and I think everyone was relieved. Except for “donating blood to the mosquitoes and a leech ( the Spanish lady got one on her leg), there was not much to see.
Baby Elephants out of enclousure
The trek ended at an elephant breeding centre. We went into this room first for a rest and at the same time have some information on the elephants by reading the posters pasted on the walls.
After that we went to the “Than” the place where they keep the elephants and we saw a mother elephant with a pair of twin calves. It was a nice site and while walking we saw a small elephant walking out from the “than” towards us. On its own, without any keeper around. At first I feel a little scared but the guide told us its ok. We all patted the elephant and took pictures with it. The guide was saying that the friendly elephants will be allowed to roam freely in the compound. After a while another small elephant came over to join the “crowd”. We didn’t know that elephants has so much hair on them and each strand is so thick and coarse like bristles from the brushes. The guide tried to play with the elephant with his bamboo and the elephant with just a little of its strength was trying to break it.. haahahahaha . than Cindy suddenly realize that she has left the sealife cam at the room we went in earlier, she ran back to the room and luckily came back with it. The person in charge help to keep it in the cupboard for safe keeping. Phew. We continued walking while the 2 elephants continued playing..
We left the centre and waited for the canoe to come to help us cross the river. We heard there was a flood nearby as the rain yesterday was so heavy. It just kept pouring the whole night and we could hear it loud and clear in the room as we are “protected” by zinc roofs with some parts leaking.. About 10mins later the canoe came slowly at the mans own pace. We cross over and got on the “push start” jeep supposedly heading towards the flooded area. The flood was quite bad damaging some of the houses nearby the river but we heard it was common during monsoon so I guess not much “damange” as the villages are all prepared.
Headed back to the resort about 1030hrs and there wasn’t anything on till 1230hrs.. We got back to our own rooms had a shower and rested till lunch. Met them at lunch and chatted with them,
Carolynn and Scott the couple from West London told us about their adventures from Mumbai to
Joanne had the same experience while she was in
We enjoyed our veg cheese burger lunch and enjoyed their company. Till about 0300hrs it is our time to go for the elephant ride..Yahoo!! while we are getting our things to go it started pouring again.. hmmm nvr mind just go since we are all geared with raincoats.. Off we went on the big truck that came and pick us up... on the way we had to pick up other tourists from the nearby resorts… Slowly people filled up the truck with French, Dutch and CHINESE!! The noisy Chinese nationals.. we just wanted to have our ear plugs if we have them!!
30mins later we arrived at the pick up point, we were the first to get on our ride. Four of us had to squeeze into the small square crate…Amazingly we fitted just nice… as the elephant moved it felt real weird.. thump …. Thump….. thump…. While swaying lightly side to side.. we felt bad for the huge elephant as it has to carry maybe about 200kgs on its back in the rain… we went into the jungle and started our way.. on the way we were hit by tree branches and didn’t see anything for the first 30mins.. But we were just so amazed by how strong the elephant is.. Cross small rivers and up and down slopes slowly but steadily with all the weight it had on its back … there was another elephant just a few metres from us.. Cindy call it the warrior elephant cause it has drawings of a red band across its forehead and some decorations on its ears… Warrior elephant was really hungry.. It kept stopping along the way to get leafs and branches to chew on.. The mahout could not control it and had to keep
hitting its head to ask it to move on.. we felt really bad for warrior…
trying to get a picture of us
The male Rhino
After a while we heard Joanna talking to the mahout, she turn and told us that the mahout was telling her is raining, and we are like ah huh it has been raining since we started.. but when the mahout close his umbrella and pointed with his finger and pointed to say a Rhino then she got it.. WAHAHAHAHHA Raining and Rhino.. and yes we saw a big male Rhino just 50m from us..woa!! the elephant continued to walk towards the Rhino to pass… we were worried that both the big animal might have a clash of soughts…When the elephant was just behind the rhino it let out a sound blowing out from its trunk a few times seems to be signaling the Rhino to move!! And after 3 times the Rhino move along and walked towards a nearby water puddle totally ignoring our presence.. we were impress with our elephant!
The other 2 Rhinos
All of us
We headed to a open field just ahead and there was 2 more rhinos one small and one medium size.. Maybe they are a family dad, mum and baby… we felt for them after a while as about 10 elephants with tourists surrounded them.. Our elephant and warrior waited for them to go before we go near the rhino to get some pictures.. about 15mins later we continued on our jungle route and with no other animals in sight we arrived at the starting point ..
We all got down the elephant and Cindy wanted to treat our elephant with some bananas where the villages were selling. She asked the price and was shocked.. A small bunch of bananas maybe maximum 4 pieces costs 50NPR = 1.00SGD crazy!! We wanted to bargain but then when the mahout saw told us not to buy as his elephant don’t eat banana… ermmm we were curious … so we didn’t buy any…
Got back to the resort about 1750hrs a bit drenched… And nothing till dinner at 1930hrs so headed back to our rooms to take a shower again and rested.. Seems they like us to rest a lot… wahahha
Dinner time came and it was still pouring… we were thinking what we will have for dinner as before we smell curry from the kitchen and was thinking it might be Dhal Bhat… we joined the rest in the dining hall and joanne also guessed the same as she saw the settings on the table is just fork and spoon… Christine was worried cause she didn’t try Dhal Bhat in Kathmandu and only had it on the flight from Delhi to Ktm with Yeti Airlines and she said was too spicy for her… oops..
So when they came out with the big silver trays, we all knew …It is Dhal Baht!! We all dug in some with hands some with spoons and fork.. It was tasty but not spicy at all Cindy told Christine… told her it is catered to European taste.. not spicy… we all finished our dinner had tea and was waiting for desert as the night before we had hot custard, even lumpy it was tasty!! No desert came only the guide came to ask us to get our rain coats to go for the Tharu cultural dance… ohhh we were disappointed…
No choice… a total of 8 of us headed towards the jeep… another 2 tourists came to the resort in the afternoon… we all got in and guess it right.. they had to push start the jeep again and with everyone all inside.. my goodness… 4 of the hotel workers were using all their strength to push start.. we felt real bad… but they made it and off we went to the cultural hall.
We all went in and the hall was already half filled with tourists.. Woa we didn’t know there was so much tourists in Chitwan so I guess monsoon didn’t stop anyone from coming… while waiting for the show to start the power was cut so many times and we were all in total darkness and people was screaming and all.. it came back on with the help of the generator but went out again.. Wahahha
So finally about 10mins later the host came out to announce the start of the programme.. This host has a real funny slang which was so difficult for us to understand.. we just tried our bests and the first presentation started… It is all men no ladies .. hmmm 1st dance was a warrior dance or something.. Men with their bamboo poles circling and hitting each others bamboo.. It was all very synchronized and performed very well… and after the next few presentations is also almost the same… not that interesting interesting but acceptable for some entertainment…
The finale was invitation of tourists to go up and dance with the villages. Scott went up and seems to be really enjoying himself.. At first everyone seems to be embarrass to go up.. But after 1 min so many tourists mostly Europeans went up dancing like mad … but there was this particular European lady in purple, she was really letting loose and seems not to be following the beat at all… Myself, joanne, Christine and Cindy is looking at her all the time.. 10mins went by and she is still dancing the same… suddenly power cut again but after it came on again we couldn’t see her on stage … she left.. wahhahha that was the entertainment for us today I guess… kekekke Christine remember her from the bus we took from Ktm to Chitwan and told us she is from
The monsoon night ended with laughters and we all headed back to our rooms after arriving at the resort about 0930hrs.. Rested for the night and waited for morning to come with no programme except breakfast …
Day 32 Thamel to Chitwan – 30th July 2009
Didn’t sleep well after cause Ramli was tossing and turning as the small nepali bed is too short for his long legs. Finally doze off but was again awaken at about 0200hrs with a super aching stomach!! I feel a diarrhoea coming.. My Goodness!! Couldn’t there be a better time… Sigh I couldn’t tolerate the pain anymore and had to go, this time I told Ramli I’ll go on my own… Again tip toed to the toilet outside let it all out and felt a little better but still having the pain in my stomach… After I was sleeping and waking and sleeping and waking up… Could hear Hari’s dad snoring then after Dipendra coughing cause the day before he was playing in the rain… Finally 0400hrs came and time for us to wake up… Hari woke us up and gave us black tea for breakfast, another bed tea just like Sikkim.. Hehehhe but I didn’t drink cause I think I got the stomachache from the food or drink.. Didn’t want to make it worst I didn’t drink but dear Ramli helped me even he was also feeling funny in his stomach.
We bid our farewell to Hari’s wife and Dipendra and went on our way on a early morning “trek” down to the invisible bus stand. Hari could walk in the dark… Don’t know how he do it.. Both of us equipped with the tiny lighter torch still stepped into puddles of water.. After 15 mins we arrived at the foot of the hill got into the van at the front and waited for the other villages to come and fill up the seats… Ladies were carrying their huge baskets which seems to be carrying vegetables for the market getting up… After about 10mins the van filled up ..
Arrived at the invisible interchange at about 0515hrs, got up the other van heading to Thamel and again waited for it to be filled up. At this junction there was a huge pile of rubbish which wasn’t cleared by the garbage collectors who are all on strike since 7 days ago as they are demanding for higher wages… Hari told us this strikes happen every month… Oh my.. It is also the same piles of rubbish in Thamel also, even infront of the temples in Durbar Sq and infront of the Stupas.. Hmm we couldn’t understand… But like Ramli said at least they throw everything together in a pile and not everywhere… And at this pile of garbage there were old people going thru the rubbish not sure looking for what.. The stench was terrible…
The van left the interchange and we arrived at Thamel about 0545hrs, just enough time for us to shower and do the final pack up and meet Lars at the junction to head for the bus station for our bus to Chitwan. Bid our final farewell to Hari and went to the hotel..
Met Lars at the junction at went on our way to the tourist bus stop. Got up the bus and were on our way on the 5 hours journey to Chitwan. Me and Ramli just slept all the way till we have to stop for breakfast and after continued sleeping till we arrived at Chitwan. Lars as usual couldn’t sleep and was trying to read his 600pages book…
Got down and Eden Jungle Resort already have staffs to picked us up. Hopped on the push start jeep and headed to the hotel. Chitwan village was like other villages in Nepal.. No much of a different.. Arrived and was given Fanta orange as welcome drink. There was another 2 lady with us, Christine from Barcelona and Joanna from New Castle.. We made friends and was chatting with them about their journey. After the manager of the resort came and spoke with us about our package and what we could do this afternoon. As our package was only 2 d 1 night we could only do the elephant riding at 3pm and nothing else till tomorrow maybe Tharu Village tour… Hmmm we asked how much it costs to extend one more night as Ramli was interested to see the cultural dance happening tomorrow and for me the canoeing.. USD15/night/pax… So we thought ok why not just do it.. So for today we wait till about 1630hrs for the Tharu village visit and Lars will go for the elephant ride alone as he had a morning flight to catch on Sat to Delhi so he couldn’t stay longer.
We chatted with Joanne till about 1600hrs before we got to our rooms to get what we need for the tour.. The manager took us on the “tour” which was actually just around the corner, the village we saw on our way there.. Hmmm so many kinds of different houses nice and big ones and the traditional ones made of dried grass and cow dung… and if it rains the bottom of the houses will fall apart but they will just need to fix it back with more cow dung.. Hmmm but we both thought the tour was a bit boring .. We were expecting like maybe really traditional houses or maybe like “show” villages..
After about 1 hr it started pouring so we headed back to the resort and enjoyed the tea while waiting for Lars to return to tell us about his adventure on the elephant ride.. He came back after about 15mins and all drenched. He only saw 2 rhinos on the 2 hr ride so he didn’t enjoy it much. About 0730hrs dinner came, ate chatted for a while till about 2100hrs then headed back to the room to rest.. Not much “action” today… Maybe tomorrow… But got to know 2 nice ladies on this trip and got to know their stories…
We bid our farewell to Hari’s wife and Dipendra and went on our way on a early morning “trek” down to the invisible bus stand. Hari could walk in the dark… Don’t know how he do it.. Both of us equipped with the tiny lighter torch still stepped into puddles of water.. After 15 mins we arrived at the foot of the hill got into the van at the front and waited for the other villages to come and fill up the seats… Ladies were carrying their huge baskets which seems to be carrying vegetables for the market getting up… After about 10mins the van filled up ..
Arrived at the invisible interchange at about 0515hrs, got up the other van heading to Thamel and again waited for it to be filled up. At this junction there was a huge pile of rubbish which wasn’t cleared by the garbage collectors who are all on strike since 7 days ago as they are demanding for higher wages… Hari told us this strikes happen every month… Oh my.. It is also the same piles of rubbish in Thamel also, even infront of the temples in Durbar Sq and infront of the Stupas.. Hmm we couldn’t understand… But like Ramli said at least they throw everything together in a pile and not everywhere… And at this pile of garbage there were old people going thru the rubbish not sure looking for what.. The stench was terrible…
The van left the interchange and we arrived at Thamel about 0545hrs, just enough time for us to shower and do the final pack up and meet Lars at the junction to head for the bus station for our bus to Chitwan. Bid our final farewell to Hari and went to the hotel..
Met Lars at the junction at went on our way to the tourist bus stop. Got up the bus and were on our way on the 5 hours journey to Chitwan. Me and Ramli just slept all the way till we have to stop for breakfast and after continued sleeping till we arrived at Chitwan. Lars as usual couldn’t sleep and was trying to read his 600pages book…
Got down and Eden Jungle Resort already have staffs to picked us up. Hopped on the push start jeep and headed to the hotel. Chitwan village was like other villages in Nepal.. No much of a different.. Arrived and was given Fanta orange as welcome drink. There was another 2 lady with us, Christine from Barcelona and Joanna from New Castle.. We made friends and was chatting with them about their journey. After the manager of the resort came and spoke with us about our package and what we could do this afternoon. As our package was only 2 d 1 night we could only do the elephant riding at 3pm and nothing else till tomorrow maybe Tharu Village tour… Hmmm we asked how much it costs to extend one more night as Ramli was interested to see the cultural dance happening tomorrow and for me the canoeing.. USD15/night/pax… So we thought ok why not just do it.. So for today we wait till about 1630hrs for the Tharu village visit and Lars will go for the elephant ride alone as he had a morning flight to catch on Sat to Delhi so he couldn’t stay longer.
We chatted with Joanne till about 1600hrs before we got to our rooms to get what we need for the tour.. The manager took us on the “tour” which was actually just around the corner, the village we saw on our way there.. Hmmm so many kinds of different houses nice and big ones and the traditional ones made of dried grass and cow dung… and if it rains the bottom of the houses will fall apart but they will just need to fix it back with more cow dung.. Hmmm but we both thought the tour was a bit boring .. We were expecting like maybe really traditional houses or maybe like “show” villages..
After about 1 hr it started pouring so we headed back to the resort and enjoyed the tea while waiting for Lars to return to tell us about his adventure on the elephant ride.. He came back after about 15mins and all drenched. He only saw 2 rhinos on the 2 hr ride so he didn’t enjoy it much. About 0730hrs dinner came, ate chatted for a while till about 2100hrs then headed back to the room to rest.. Not much “action” today… Maybe tomorrow… But got to know 2 nice ladies on this trip and got to know their stories…
Day 31 Thamel 29th July 2009
After Lars went into the nearby travel agent to check on the
Monkey Temple
Man cleaning up the candle holders
Monks chanting away
We took a cab which agreed to bring us 2 ways at 400NPR, hopped on and when were arrive in
We walked down to the entrance and we couldn’t find our taxi… Where did he go? We haven’t even pay him for the drive up. We asked the drivers who approached us where he went and they told he will be back in 5-10mims.. So we stood and waited but he didn’t turn up, so decided to will take another cab to go back to Thamel. Told one of the taxi driver and he said ok will bring you but you have to pay me 400NPR he could pass the other 200NPR to his friend. We were like ok fine as long you really know the other guy we don’t mind. While we were going down we saw our taxi driver.. His taxi had the hood up not sure if repairing or what ? So we asked the driver to stop he say is okay I know him very well I will pass him the money later..
After arriving in Thamel we went to look for Adam travel about the package, he couldn’t offer us that price so we decided to head back to Sahara Travel for the cheaper option. On the way Lars had to change some money so the guy who also works in the travel agency beside somehow knows we are looking for the package asked us to go in for a chat.. They also couldn’t offer us and say USD45 is the bests they could offer. Of course we didn’t take it and left for Sahara Travel. Got there confirmed with the Manager and got our tickets. Parted ways with Lars as he was planning to meet his friend for lunch.
We thought we wanted to go back to Potala Restaurant again for the Halal Food but I decided that we should go look for the one that Hari recommended, Annatolia Restaurant. We asked for directions from a shop keeper. We found it after 5mins of walking, the entrance of the restaurant seems posh and expensive. But we just went ahead cause we need some “chicken”!!
Our Lunch.. Meat!!
We were ecstatic when we saw the menu, I ordered chicken briyani and chicken momo to share. Ramli ordered veg briyani and chilly chicken. We waited anxiously for the food, and Ramli sms Hari to invite him to come have lunch with us. While we were eating he came and just had masala tea. Even after many persuasion for him to order something he didn’t want to. We were telling him our plans to Chitwan tomorrow and he said he actually wanted to invite us to his house for DhalBhat.. Oh my we forgot we had a date with him to visit his house and family. So we asked if we could go today and back the same day. He said is not possible to come back to Thamel as there is no transport in the night but he said we could stay over in his small house and come back to Thamel the next day early morning to catch our bus. So we thought since we had made plans with him we should do it. And told him we will meet him at 4pm at our hotel lobby cause we will go to Durbar Sq now to take photos.
The holy man
We rushed to Durbar sq which was about 20mins walk and met Lars and his friend Walter on the way. Said hi and parted ways.Arrived there took some photos of the temples and holymen than left. It was already 1530hrs when we left and we still need to withdraw some money from the atm and get some sweets or chocolates for Hari’s children. We are running late… On the way back we saw this boy about 9 to 10yrs old he was holding a tube of glue and squeezing out the yellow contents into a plastic bags. We have heard and seen boys doing it with the bag but to see him doing the action upfront was a real upsetting sight.. We are so curious to why no one stop them or no one take actions but let them continue doing it…
Arrived at the hotel about 1600hrs and still haven’t pack up as we wont have time tomorrow to do it. Luckily Hari wasn’t here yet, and he send us sms to ask if we arrived so Ramli told him to come at 1630hrs.. By the time we showered and pack up it was already 1645hrs we rush down to see him watching TV downstairs. Followed him to the local invisible bus stand and took the local van. The van under
Hari told us we need to do some trekking to his house, so we told him its no problem for us… His house was 1500m abv sea levels in the hills so we wont get high altitude sickness it is fine. We climbed up about 15mins and finally arrived at his house… Woa there are so many children outside his house and when they saw us they were like so ecstatic and excited and everything.. They held my hands and kept talking to me in Nepali…Hmmm Sorry I don’t understand… They knew we were coming as Hari called to inform his wife before.. And they put up a branch to the entry area of Hari’s house and put purple flowers on it to welcome us.. Woa we were so honoured and touched..
Hi there !!
The kids
The kids with Hari and Me..
They couldn’t let us rest, they were pulling me here and there. The girls kept holding my hand and talking to me in Nepali. I tried to get their names but couldn’t remember any as all of them have names with 3 syllabus or more…Ramli said he wanted to take a picture for them… So they got more excited and was pushing and hitting each other just to get infront… As Hari’s kids was the youngest among all of them they had a hard time to be seen on photo… Kekekek After the kids started singing and dancing for us… And even asked to play “
Hari and Family
Before we know it is getting dark and some of the kids have to go home. We took a family picture for Hari.. His wife is only 21yrs.. So young and very pretty… We saw an old man climbing up the small slope in front of his house and asked Hari if he was his dad.. His dad was already 70yrs old but still very strong walking up hill collecting leaves and branches for the goat and cow… Hari asked us to go into his small mud house to take a seat and wait for dinner… His house has 3 storey, the ceilings was very low, Ramli couldn’t stand straight.. 1st floor is kitchen and eating area and also a small area for the 3 goats they have. A small narrow steps leads to the 2nd floor to the 1 bedroom and 2 beds with bags or barley and rice stacked neatly at one corner, 3rd floor was for fire wood storage so we didn’t go up and take a look. He showed us the room and bed we will be sleeping at for the night. We felt bad as we will be sleeping at the wifes and kids double bed, and the wife had to sleep downstairs… Got to know from him that the wife sleeps with the kids and he sleeps on a separate single bed just outside the room which I thought was very weird…
Anyway after chatting to him for a while upstairs we headed downstairs for dinner. His wife prepared Veg Dhal Bhat for us and black tea with hot milk. Ermm I don’t drink milk so I gave mine to Ramli. Hari took so much rice for me and I told him to stop scooping he just continued. I couldn’t finished mine and Ramli couldn’t help me too cause we had too much briyani for lunch earlier. The food was simple but nice .. The black tea tasted a bit weird cause they put salt into it.. Hmmmm After dinner it was already about 2000hrs so we brushed our teeths outside his house and went to the communal toilet which was ermm you should know… After headed upstairs and chat with Hari and 2 kids stayed back and sat down and look at us like as if we were the “tourist attraction”. Saw photos of Hari when he was young and also the photos taken during his wedding. He kept these photos in a safe in his cupboard.. Keekekke must be very valuable for him.
The boy was asking Hari why we are leaving so early tomorrow as they wished to see us again and hope we would be able to stay longer. But we told the boy sorry cause we had to rush for the bus so couldn’t stay.. Hopefully we will be able to visit again if we go for the Everest Base camp trek in another 2 yrs time or so. Even Hari’s son Dipendra was also asking the same and looked sad. We felt really bad…
Chatted for a while more and it was about 2100hrs so we told Hari we should rest for the night.. We laid down on the super hard bed, even with the thin mattress it was too hard for us. I doze off after about 10mins and about 0011hr I was awaken by my urgent urge to go and pee… I tried my bests to try go back and sleep but it didn’t work, guess my bladder is super over flooded. So I had to wake Ramli up and tell him to accompany me to get to the toilet.. Luckily Hari borrowed us his lighter cum torch we tip toped our way downstairs and tried to open the door which was “locked up” by 2 metal beams hooking on the door. Phew relief after … Tip toed back into the room..
Day 30 Thamel 28th July 2009
We walked out and saw Lars already waiting for us, we headed together towards Potala Guest house to meet up with Wendy and Dawa.. On the way Lars told us that he had diarrhoea the night before and thought might be the phad thai he are for dinner.. this will be the 2nd time he is suffering from stomach upset since we met him… When arriving at the hotel we got to know that Wendy also had the same problem.. Something must be wrong with the food they serve yesterday at the restaurant. But thank god Dawa, myself and Ramli is fine..
We slowly walked towards Durbar Sq looking forward to breakfast.. On the way we could see all the huge piles of garbage everywhere as we heard that the garbage collector is having some strike going on for 7 days.. My oh my you can imagine the garbage on every road.. The sight and smell was really bad… We even saw 1 crashed rat on the road… Yucks!! After walking about 15mins we came to
We arrived at Durbar Sq about another 10mins later, this place is so authentic and different from the rest of Thamel… The old palace was situated here and the Living Goddess Kumari was also staying in one of the old buildings.. Even it is only about 0930hrs it was already so busy with devotees going round for their morning worship and the honking of the vehicles and bikes… It is just so annoying … We saw holy mans all dressed up and with bright colours all painted on their faces ready for any tourists to come by to take their photos.. But only if they are being paid…
View from the Roof Terrace of the restaurant
Durbar Sq
Before all the photos we went for breakfast at the roof top terrace of a restaurant. We could see all the action going down below…Bells ringing in the temples, vendors selling flowers and the busy human traffic below.. Enjoyed our breakfast and headed down to continue where we stopped… We forgot to off the camera the night before so the battery drained out.. So me and Ramli decided we had to come back again to take more photos of this square… After about 30mins we had to part ways with Wendy and Dawa as they need to rush back to the hotel to check out…
Ramli, me and Lars continued walking back to Thamel to our hotel to get the spare battery before we head to Pashipatinath and Bodhanath for some sightseeing finally after 3 days in Thamel doing nothing..
After reaching the hotel we all used the toilet and cleared our bowels and then headed down to get a cab to go Pashipatinath our first stop.. Lars haggled with the young taxi driver for a while and finally agreed to 200NPR for the 3 of us..
We arrived at our first stop 20mins later and proceeded to the entry but was stopped and asked to purchase our tickets first.. Walked to the counter and only knew we actually had to pay NPR500 = SGD10 for a ticket… Since we are already here no choice paid and got in.. A freelance guide was following us and telling us where we should start looking… We knew that this place was where cremation took place for the hindus and the beginning of the Ganga river starts flowing from here… we could smell something burning and see the smoke from a far and guessed there should be a cremation going on…
Body burning
Cremation going on
So the first thing we saw was a body covered in what looks like hay being burned. It was a little bit disturbing after looking closer, we can actually see the skull and the foot exposed!! Its foot it still not burnt yet!! Grosse ….. Anyway we asked the guy that was still following us around if we need to pay him. Well you guessed it, yes we have to pay but he said its lesser than the ticket we paid for to enter. But we decided not to take his offer. He was actually cool with it left without any grudges. We continued walking in to another site where a body was being prepared for cremation. We stood there watching the whole ceremony.
The temple for local Hindus only
They have different area for different status and casts. Apparently the higher up river they are, the higher in society the dead person is. There are a few platforms where the bodies get burnt on. The highest platform is for priest or “Brahmins” The second platform is for the police men or soldiers. Third is for people doing agriculture and the forth is for the poor. It is an eye opener for us, eventhough we have heard of it and to see it with your own eyes is really different.
After we walked up to steps and check out the place. There wasn’t much to see, only saw small pagodas with some small structure in the middle.. All were the same. It was already 1330hrs and Lars had to leave and meet his friend whom was doing volunteer work in Boudanath.. We parted ways and both of us continued to venture thru the place.. When we decided we had enough we walked back to the entrance, while we were exiting a guide approach us and asked us to use his service then we were thinking maybe we should since we don’t know whats happening in the place and since he only asked for USD5 so we agreed.. He told us he was a Brahmin and showed us the string he was wearing across his body inside his shirt which indicates him as a Brahmin.. hmmm
Holyman
He explained to us how was the segregation of the platforms and explained to us that the casts system was actually given by the King to the people in the past. But now it doesn’t really matter anymore and what casts you are now is following your ancestors segregation.. He than told us about the ritual for the cremation, first they will wash the body at a stone slab at the river bank, putting some colored powders and flowers and cloths to cover the body. Then it will be moved to the burning platform by the family members. If the body was wearing any clothes it will be taken out as the body will be burnt without any clothes. Before the body can be placed down they need to carry and turn the body 3 times around the platform. After they will perform some rituals, then after the eldest son will put the flame in the mouth, the hands than feet. If the dead person do not have eldest son the priest will perform the ritual. The body will take 3 hrs to finish burning and all this time the family will wait there awaiting. The ceremony we saw earlier was for a woman and she had 2 sons performing the ritual and they are classified as “rich” so they are at the higher platform, apparently the sons will also have to shave their heads and only keeping a short pigtail like hair behind and have to be wearing white. After the body finish burning, only small bones from the spine will be left and the sons have to place it in a cloth and put it in the river into the riverbed. And the rests of the body will be thrown into the holy river. As they say this is the start of the
He was telling after the body cremation is done the son have to stay in the prayer hall for 13 days to perform the prayer ritual with the priests and abstain from any meat during this time. And during the ritual they have to offer as much to the priest like clothes etc and in turn their parent will get it in heaven. And hindus believed that the dead will be reincarnated after 6 days of their death.
After he brought us up to the many similar pagodas we saw and explained to us that the structure in the pagoda is actually a fertility symbol. It actually looks like a mill for soya beans used in the olden days. The protruding part actually symbolizes the mail organ and the hole symbolizes the female organs. There is total 108 similar pagodas in Pashipatinath, and the number 108 signifies the number of beads on the prayer beads. And women whom is not able to bear children will come and pray and do some rituals at the pagoda hoping to be blessed with a child.
We carried on and he showed us the various meditation caves for Buddhists and Hindus at the start of the river. Anyone who wants to do meditation can just go. Than just infront of the caves there is a small medical centre supposedly for people who is waiting for their turn to die after confirmation from the doctors that there is no hope of living. The guide was saying some old people will be put to death and when doctor determined the time left for them, they will be place a the stone slab still alive and waiting to go and supposedly the family members will feel very happy.. hmmm
We walked on and he showed us the erotic temple, and of course it is with all the carvings of male and female in intercourse position like the Kamasutara. Carried on and he showed us the Mother Theresa home for the aged, we walked thru the yard and thru the rooms seeing all the nice old people just chatting with each other or watching tv. The guide showed us a picture taken long ago when Mother Theresa visited the home.
Walked on and pass the prayer hall and the cremation area for the lower casts people. We saw 2 bodies on the ground awaiting their turn. And one body was in a freight coffin which seems to have just arrived on a Malaysia Airline flight. There were flies all over the coffin and we saw the family members looking at the coffin and one lady whom seems to be from the village was crying and we assume that is the wife of the dead in the coffin. Walked on and saw a few more bodies lying on the ground.. After about 45mins we finished our tour paid the guide 500NPR and continued on our way to Boudanath temple.
Arrived at the entrance and paid 100NPR each for entrance fee, went in and saw the biggest stupa in the World and woa seems there is a totally different village inside. There were shops selling antiques or prayer beads and restaurants. We walked around the stupa and after decided to get some late lunch at Restaurant Du Temple at their roof terrace seats… view was great and we both had sandwich which was also good. As there is only the stupa to see we left the place about 1 hr later back to Thamel.
Arrived in Thamel, bought 2 chillies and 2 limes for the sardines which we are going to cook for dinner with our electric cooker. Finally some stinging is happening after 15days or more.. We cooked rice than egg than the canned sardines from
Our sardine for dinner..
Day 27 to 29 Thamel – 25th till 27th July 2009
We had to be at the lobby at 0700hrs to get a taxi with Wendy and Dawa to get to the bus station… Went down at 0700hrs and they were already there drinking tea… Seems we are always late.. Kekeekkeke
Rahul also was there but he wasn’t taking the bus with us, he bought van tickets to Kathmandu instead.. Phew… It was relief for me cause I am getting a bit “sick” of him being in our face for a while and what happened during the trekking trip, I never really got over it.. And adding on, the way he talks and wanting to borrow our ipod, laptop and iphone just got me a bit of the track…
Like when we were in Muktinath he asked Ramli without any hesitation to borrow his Iphone cause he is so bored and needed some music. As the phone had personal and confidential data on it we could not borrow it to him to use it in private.. So we rejected him and he didn’t ask further, but later he asked for my ipod… So we thought ok fine since we have the laptop we could just listen to songs from the laptop.. Morning came and he came back with the ipod but battery was flat.. As we were leaving we didn’t have time to charge it.. When we reach Jomsom the next day afternoon he asked for it again and saying the same reason he is bored… I told him we didn’t have time to charge it yet and he insists and persisted that we charge it and borrow to him… Hmmm and some other things just kept adding on and I just couldn’t accept the way he was acting… so was relief that we will be taking separate buses that day..
We arrived at the bus station and saw the French ladies there and also the American father and son where we met during the trek… Chatted for a while and headed on to our own buses to be on our way to Kathmandu..
Our bus wasn’t full, was a smooth and easy ride with stops for breakfast and lunch.. But the day was real hot and stuffy… After about 7hrs we arrived in Kathmandu city with no hic ups… As we could not remember where Hotel Hana was, Dawa helped to call the hotel and one of the guy volunteered to pick us up half way..
We parted ways with Wendy and Dawa and said to meet up again for dinner or something the next few days.. When we were walking towards to hotel we saw Rahul… Oh My God… Just chatted for a while and checked in and got our bag already in the room.. Unpacked did some laundry and rested for a while before we went out to find some snacks and do some shopping for toiletries and provisions..
We came back to the room about 0630hrs did our prayers and felt a little sleepy so thought we would take a nap and wake up later to cook Maggie for dinner… Before we knew I woke up and checked the watch twice and confirmed it was already 2330hrs.. My goodness we must be very tired or sleepy… We woke up brushed our teeths and wash our face and went back to sleep… till the next day…
Morning came and we finally got the chance to wake up only when we wanted to… in the afternoon we went out to the Pakistan embassy to check on our expiring visa and only knew we could not extend but have to reapply for another.. Since it takes about 2-3 working days we decided we will do it when we are in Delhi as we don’t want to be stuck here for so long… Headed back to Thamel for lunch than went back to the room and rest “lepak”…
5 mins after we reach the hotel seems that Rahul could hear us or something.. He came knocking on our door and asked if we wanted to go for dinner as he had found the Halal restaurant, we told him we were just having Maggie as we spent to much money for the trekking so we needed to thrift a little… He left us after a while and we ate dinner and after got a call from Dawa inviting us to join them for dinner. Since we already ate we just join them for tea… We asked Rahul along as it wont be polite of us to leave him out since he is staying at the same hotel as us…
After the tea and cake session with them, we agreed to meet up tomorrow for breakfast and visit Durbar Square and after Bodha Nath Temple with them since they are heading to Dawa’s house which is near Bodha Nath…
Garden of Dreams
Looking for something?
Entrance to the Garden of Dreams
Feeling Model
Another day in Thamel, but today we woke up with rain falling.. Finally Monsoon is here? We got ready and was going to head to meet them at their hotel but the reception told us that Dawa had called and ask to cancel the appointment as it was pouring.. So headed back to the room made teh o and had cake for breakfast… Ramli was sorting photos on the laptop and watching tv, I felt so sleepy so took nap till about 1233hrs before I finally wake up and we decided to go look for lunch.. We walked around Thamel and finally stumbled upon a halal restaurant!! Potala Restaurant.. Woo finally some CHICKEN!! We were so desperate to eat chicken we orderd curry chicken and chilly chicken with some other dishes and finished it… The plates are real cleaned and shiny.. Whahahahah
After lunch we tried to walk to Durbar Square but got lost after about 1hr or walking.. So decided to head back to Thamel have some black tea and snacks while we wait for the dinner at 1930hrs with Lars whom will arrive in Thamel today from Pokhara and Wendy and Dawa…
Dinner came and it was nice to meet up with Lars again and a Scottish friend he met on the bus on the way back … Dinner wasn’t that delicious but the company was great!! After we headed to the New Orleans bar to meet up with the French ladies again before the leave Kathmandu tomorrow for France… We ordered our hot drinks and the bar was already closing but still no sign of them… When we stood up to prepare to leave they came . They got here late cause they were having dinner at another restaurant… Chatted for a while and made plans with Lars, Wendy and Dawa to meet up tomorrow morning for breakfast and a tour to Durbar Square..
Bid our farewells and good nights and headed back to the hotel..
Rahul also was there but he wasn’t taking the bus with us, he bought van tickets to Kathmandu instead.. Phew… It was relief for me cause I am getting a bit “sick” of him being in our face for a while and what happened during the trekking trip, I never really got over it.. And adding on, the way he talks and wanting to borrow our ipod, laptop and iphone just got me a bit of the track…
Like when we were in Muktinath he asked Ramli without any hesitation to borrow his Iphone cause he is so bored and needed some music. As the phone had personal and confidential data on it we could not borrow it to him to use it in private.. So we rejected him and he didn’t ask further, but later he asked for my ipod… So we thought ok fine since we have the laptop we could just listen to songs from the laptop.. Morning came and he came back with the ipod but battery was flat.. As we were leaving we didn’t have time to charge it.. When we reach Jomsom the next day afternoon he asked for it again and saying the same reason he is bored… I told him we didn’t have time to charge it yet and he insists and persisted that we charge it and borrow to him… Hmmm and some other things just kept adding on and I just couldn’t accept the way he was acting… so was relief that we will be taking separate buses that day..
We arrived at the bus station and saw the French ladies there and also the American father and son where we met during the trek… Chatted for a while and headed on to our own buses to be on our way to Kathmandu..
Our bus wasn’t full, was a smooth and easy ride with stops for breakfast and lunch.. But the day was real hot and stuffy… After about 7hrs we arrived in Kathmandu city with no hic ups… As we could not remember where Hotel Hana was, Dawa helped to call the hotel and one of the guy volunteered to pick us up half way..
We parted ways with Wendy and Dawa and said to meet up again for dinner or something the next few days.. When we were walking towards to hotel we saw Rahul… Oh My God… Just chatted for a while and checked in and got our bag already in the room.. Unpacked did some laundry and rested for a while before we went out to find some snacks and do some shopping for toiletries and provisions..
We came back to the room about 0630hrs did our prayers and felt a little sleepy so thought we would take a nap and wake up later to cook Maggie for dinner… Before we knew I woke up and checked the watch twice and confirmed it was already 2330hrs.. My goodness we must be very tired or sleepy… We woke up brushed our teeths and wash our face and went back to sleep… till the next day…
Morning came and we finally got the chance to wake up only when we wanted to… in the afternoon we went out to the Pakistan embassy to check on our expiring visa and only knew we could not extend but have to reapply for another.. Since it takes about 2-3 working days we decided we will do it when we are in Delhi as we don’t want to be stuck here for so long… Headed back to Thamel for lunch than went back to the room and rest “lepak”…
5 mins after we reach the hotel seems that Rahul could hear us or something.. He came knocking on our door and asked if we wanted to go for dinner as he had found the Halal restaurant, we told him we were just having Maggie as we spent to much money for the trekking so we needed to thrift a little… He left us after a while and we ate dinner and after got a call from Dawa inviting us to join them for dinner. Since we already ate we just join them for tea… We asked Rahul along as it wont be polite of us to leave him out since he is staying at the same hotel as us…
After the tea and cake session with them, we agreed to meet up tomorrow for breakfast and visit Durbar Square and after Bodha Nath Temple with them since they are heading to Dawa’s house which is near Bodha Nath…
Garden of Dreams
Looking for something?
Entrance to the Garden of Dreams
Feeling Model
Another day in Thamel, but today we woke up with rain falling.. Finally Monsoon is here? We got ready and was going to head to meet them at their hotel but the reception told us that Dawa had called and ask to cancel the appointment as it was pouring.. So headed back to the room made teh o and had cake for breakfast… Ramli was sorting photos on the laptop and watching tv, I felt so sleepy so took nap till about 1233hrs before I finally wake up and we decided to go look for lunch.. We walked around Thamel and finally stumbled upon a halal restaurant!! Potala Restaurant.. Woo finally some CHICKEN!! We were so desperate to eat chicken we orderd curry chicken and chilly chicken with some other dishes and finished it… The plates are real cleaned and shiny.. Whahahahah
After lunch we tried to walk to Durbar Square but got lost after about 1hr or walking.. So decided to head back to Thamel have some black tea and snacks while we wait for the dinner at 1930hrs with Lars whom will arrive in Thamel today from Pokhara and Wendy and Dawa…
Dinner came and it was nice to meet up with Lars again and a Scottish friend he met on the bus on the way back … Dinner wasn’t that delicious but the company was great!! After we headed to the New Orleans bar to meet up with the French ladies again before the leave Kathmandu tomorrow for France… We ordered our hot drinks and the bar was already closing but still no sign of them… When we stood up to prepare to leave they came . They got here late cause they were having dinner at another restaurant… Chatted for a while and made plans with Lars, Wendy and Dawa to meet up tomorrow morning for breakfast and a tour to Durbar Square..
Bid our farewells and good nights and headed back to the hotel..
Day 26 Pokhara – 24th July 2009
While having breakfast
Today we had a breakfast date with Dawa and Wendy at 0830hrs, thought we wanted to just sleep in and wake up when we wake up.. But since it will be a nice Sunny day we got out to meet them at Newari Kitchen just 10mins walk from the hotel. We got ready and peep out the window to check if they are outside waiting for us, but we only saw the hotel guy walking in the room and seems to be cleaning up the room… Oh no did they check out already without informing us? I asked Ramli to walk over and just check things out and he said their bags are still inside.. Phew… wahahah and the guy told us that they have went about 15mins earlier to the Newari Kitchen to wait for us…
We went and walk along the street looking out for Newari Kitchen, after 10 mins we saw and went in. They were sitting upstairs.. The restaurants decorations look like we were in
While enjoying our breakfast we saw a familiar face walking towards us.. It was Rahul our guide… He looks tired and he told us the just arrived in Pokhara after changing 10times jeep and bus and had to stay the night in Beni in some super sloppy accommodation cause the hotels are all fully booked… Woa we felt bad but we thought that he should have waited for the flight instead of going thru the ordeal… We invited him to have breakfast with us and after he left to check in the hotel to clean up and rest…
Time just seem to past so fast when we are with Dawa and Wendy, we just chatted about everything and anything and seems we know them for so long… When we finally decided to move our ass to go cycle around the lake as planned it was already about 1130hrs.. My goodness…
We walked down the streets to look for bicycle rental and 3 of us got what we wanted and Wendy wasn’t satisfied with hers so she went to rent from another place which was 5NPR cheaper than ours and her bike is of a better condition… Anyway we went off happily towards the direction on the left side of the lake… Yahoo finally we don’t have to walk…
First League
Just us Cow boy and girl..
The view was superb, we saw padi fields and villages working .. Saw children trying to fish from the padi fields.. Hmm this was a first for all of us.. How did the fishes get in? Dawa was telling us that there might be heavy rain the pass days and caused the water in the lake to rise thus overflooding into the padi fields…So that is why there is fish in the padi fields..We stood there watching 3 of them putting their bait and throwing the line into the fields.. The little girl showed us their catch for the day… Fishes size of our palms or slightly smaller all hang by the mouths on a bamboo branch… Wow good job guys… We carried on cycling enjoying the sceneries and busy saying “Nameste” the the villages we pass…
Dawa taking a picture of me and wendy
Wendy, Dawa and Me
When we pass another village we saw school children just leaving school for home.. there was these 3 little boys who was walking pass us and one of them shouted… Picture picture!! So I asked if they wanted to have their pictures taken.. He said yes yes so Ramli took some pictures for them and they were happy and satisfied when they saw their faces on the camera screen.. 3 brothers I asked? Yes Yes!! And after photos were taken they hurried home and said bye to us and ran off … Its so nice to see the village school children so innocent and easily satisfied with the littlest things… This wont happen ever in
The 3 brothers
Race race race!!
Along the way another 2 students appeared and was racing Ramli and Wendy by foot …. They ran as fast as they could to try and out run both of them on the bicycle… It was so fun to see and I felt a different kind of joy… I cant explain my joy but I guess this children just gave me back my childhood… It was such a great experience for me personally, it is just so wonderful to see the village children they are different and touched my heart..…
The Padi Fields
When they finally gave up the race, one of the boys also requested to have a picture taken with his friend… And again was very happy to see their own faces and kept giggling… We carried on and they followed us and when I pass them the same boy said “ Can I sit?” I told him sure but please sit with the man infront… If you come with me you will fall.. Wahahah so I called out for Ramli to “tong pang” him … He hopped on and dropped him off about 5 mins later beside a river, he had to cross with river to get to his house… This boy is so smart and speaks very good English.. When he got up the “float” like thing to cross over he again shouted picture take PICTURE… when Ramli took it he shouted from a far and ask if it was nice!! Heehehehe I just couldn’t stop smiling … It is just these simple words and innocent faces that made my day…
We carried on cycling looking for the next village to get some sugar as Wendy said… It was a hot day… We cycled right to the end and sat down at a torn down eating place… We ordered our drinks and rested for about 30 mins… We tried the local fish curry which was good… And later Dawa requested them to fry some small fishes for snacks… Me and Ramli tried and was hooked… You could eat the while fish and the chilli was fantastic!! We ordered a second serving…
Young girls taking a shower
While resting we saw a few little girls showering at the local tap.. Seems so much fun for them just spraying water on each other… 1 girl came later to wash her own school uniform, shoes and socks as school is close on Sat so she had to clean up.. She is about 10yrs old if not mistaken… 2 pigtails and with big red ribbon tied on her hair… Wendy went over to have a chat with the girls…
After we slowly headed back to Pokhara central but first stopping at another café to get the final rest and have some snack for lunch before we head back… When we almost reached to return the bicycle Dawa suggested that we cycle to the lakeside and take a look since me and Ramli haven’t been there yet…Wendy had to check her mail so we went without her… We should have went with her cause just seconds we parted it started to rain… We just ignored and carried on but when we arrive the lakeside jetty it got quite heavy so we headed back returned the bicycle and walked back to the hotel all drenched…
View of the lake from the Village
We had dinner with Dawa and Wendy after we showered and rest for the day to get ready for the 6hours bus ride back to Thamel the next morning at 0730hrs…
Today was a great and fun day!!
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