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jonnik
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Trips:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Pushkar, Rajasthan
Pushkar
,
India
The journey from Agra to Pushkar was much fun indeed. The autorickshaw broke down on the way to the station so the journey was completed by cycle rickshaw. It really is incredible to see those guys cycling in temperatures in the mid 30's with 2 people and 2 heavy rucksacks in the back, you almost want to offer to do it for them, well almost.....We thought we might miss the train, but there was no need to worry as the train was over 2 hours late departing - we could have stayed in bed !!! It was a long, dusty, hot train ride to Pushkar but the time was passed by chatting with other travellers and some Indian students in our carriage. We eventually arrived in Ajmer (about 15kms from Pushkar) around midnight and there was a heavy police presence in the city - a bomb had recently been detonated in the city killing 3 people. We made a hasty exit crammed into a taxi with Bret (English), Chris (Polish) and Naria (Spanish) and, after Chris's fantastic bartering with the hotel owners, finally got to bed in the wee small hours.
We'd planned on spending about a week or so Pushkar, it's the kind of place to just kick back and escape the madness of those big Indian cities.
The holy town of Pushkar
Pushkar is a small town and an important destination for Hindu pilgrims due to it's Brahma temple (one of the few in the whole country). It's a beautiful place set around a lake in the desert of Rajasthan. We soon checked out of the shabby place we'd arrived at on the first night and moved round the corner to a place called 'Seventh Heaven'.
Jon relaxing in Seventh Heaven, Pushkar
Nik in Seventh Heaven
We'd read about this in the Lonely Planet, and after months of cheap dives we'd decided we'd splash out a bit (it was about a tenner a night) and do some serious relaxing. Things didn't quite go to plan as, after only a day or so of being in Pushkar, Nik had developed a nice bout of Gardiasis - a microscopic intestinal parasite. We'll spare you the gory details but this was what Jon got in India all those years ago and ended up weighing 8st 4 lb on his return !! Nik duly spent pretty much the rest of the time in bed (at least it was a nice bed) confined to the hotel. Jon managed to get out and about (between the numerous trips to the chemist), catch a few of the glorious Pushkar sunsets and make the sunrise pilgrimage up to the temple one morning.
Languar monkeys, Pushkar
We ended up staying nearly a week in beautiful Pushkar by which time Nik, after some strong antibiotics, was on the mend.
Nik and camel, Pushkar
written by
jonnik
on January 5, 2008
from
Pushkar
,
India
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Agra
Agra
,
India
After leaving
Varanasi
and it's lovely, friendly, helpful, honest rickshaw drivers we boarded the night train for the ride to Agra, mainly to see the Taj Mahal. We initially had lots of room in the carriage, there were us and an Indian couple in a carriage for 6, but this soon changed as they spread out and basically hogged like you wouldn't believe !! The train was late into Agra but we were soon at the hotel, a shabby chic affair, whose only plus point was the amazing view of the Taj - never mind, there's not really any other reason to visit this crowded and polluted city. Later that afternoon we had a tour round the city, taking in Agra Fort and Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb (also known as the 'Baby Taj')
Baby Taj
At the end of the day we headed down to the Yamuna river to see the Taj Mahal from 'the other side', witness an amazing sunset and chat with all the crazy children than come down here to chat with the tourists.
The following morning we were up before the crack of dawn to see
Sunrise
at the Taj. It's a bit of a con as entry for Indians is 25 Rupees but they charge us Westerners a whacking Rs700 !!! Anyway, musn't grumble, it's a fantastic experience to see the Taj change colour as the sun rises. We took about a million photos, and here is one with us both in...
The Taj
At night we nearly got proper ripped off by a pharmacist buying malaria tablets (nearly but not quite) and then wandered the crazy streets enjoying a festival (not sure what it was about) that was taking place.
written by
jonnik
on January 4, 2008
from
Agra
,
India
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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The holy city of Varanasi
Varanasi
,
India
We arrived in very hot Varanasi late afternoon and were met by hard working and very friendly Indian touts outside the airport. We negotiated (with about 10 people) a taxi into town, which only actually took us half way into the city as he informed us it was too busy to go all the way to our hotel. We then took a rickshaw who also failed to take us to the hotel (apparently it was too busy) so we ended up walking the last bit in the burning heat ! We finally found our hotel and very nice it was in a prime position on the ghats overlooking the holy Ganges.
Life on the ghats is very, very interesting. It's the kind of place you can sit and people watch all day. People are washing in the river, drinking the filthy water (there are dead pigs and monkeys and God knows what else in it), getting a shave, playing cricket, leading their water buffalo, and just about everything else.
Gambling by the ghats
We took all this in on the first full day, and took a sunset cruise down the river on the first night. We passed the various ghats including the Manikarnika Ghat where hundreds of cremations take place every day. At the end of the cruise we watched the nightly ceremony of light at the Dasasvanedha Ghat, performed by young Brahmans and pretty impressive.
The following morning we went on a sunrise cruise and performed our own puja, placing lighted candles and flowers onto the holy river.
Pooja
Later that day we took the slowest rickshaw in India (maybe the world) north to Sarnarth where the Buddha delivered his first sermon about 2,500 years ago. They have attempted to recreate the deer park that existed in these times but we're not sure how the Buddha would feel about seeing the deer fenced in and birds in cages. We also went to see the Jain temple in Sarnath, which was pretty impressive and got hammered by the resident mosquitoes. After another ride in the extremely slow rickshaw we took a stroll along the ghats at night, still very busy and very crazy...
The ghats at night
The last morning Jon was up early to take a final walk along the ghats and soak up some more of Varanasi's unique atmosphere - it was just such an interesting place. Back at the steps up to the hotel I met a friendly goat who posed for this lovely photo - he must have known I'm a Capricorn.
What is it?
written by
jonnik
on January 3, 2008
from
Varanasi
,
India
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Back to Kathmandu
Kathmandu
,
Nepal
After 3 nights in Chitwan we took the bus to
Kathmandu
where we would get a flight back to the madness of India- there was no way we were gonna spend 3 days on a bus to get to
Varanasi
!! We didn't do a great deal here over the next couple of days- we did a bit more shopping (it's
Kathmandu
after all), bumped into a couple of people we had met on the trek, and spent too much time trying to book a room in
Varanasi
.
The security at
Kathmandu
airport was like nothing we have ever seen. Talk about the world gone mad !! We must have had our bags checked about 5 times and even had to have a hand luggage checked at the bottom of the ladder before getting onto the plane, k-razy !!! But eventually we were up in the air for the hour or so flight to
Varanasi
and it was bye-bye to
Nepal
. We both said what an amazing place it was and how we would definitely be back one day.
written by
jonnik
on January 2, 2008
from
Kathmandu
,
Nepal
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Chitwan National Park
Sauraha
,
Nepal
After
Pokhara
we headed south for a few days at Chitwan
National Park
- we hoped to see some wildlife. We stayed in the Traveler's Jungle Camp, which had been recommended to us by a fellow traveler, in a place called Sauraha just outside the park itself. Chitwan is located south of
Pokhara
and at a lower altitude and the weather was boiling !!! We went on an early morning canoe ride down the Rapti River, which was good, and saw some real life crocs !!
A real life Croc !!
After the canoe ride we took a jungle trek through the
National Park
but didn't see any tigers or rhinos, in fact it all felt a bit contrived. We saw some funny baby elephants at the breeding centre. Later that day we helped to bathe some more elephants
Look out !!
There wasn't a great deal to do at night here apart from chill out with a cold beer and watch the glorious sunsets.
Sunset at Royal Chitwan National Park
The highlight of our time here though was getting to see a wild bull elephant who would emerge from the park each evening and head into town to do the wild thing with a female elephant who was based at one of the lodges. He was cool....
Wild elephant
written by
jonnik
on January 1, 2008
from
Sauraha
,
Nepal
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Last few days in Pokhara
Pokhara
,
Nepal
We had a well earned lazy morning the day after the trek. Bhek came round and we arranged to go to his village the following day. By now the weather was just as it was when we set off, hot and sunny - what happened to the bit in between ?
The next day we were up early to head up to Sarangkot for the Annapurna
Sunrise
, and we finally got to see the beautiful mountains.
At last we see the mountains
Later that day we headed to Bhek and Prakash's village where a huge landslide had killed 5 people just before we arrived in
Pokhara
. Bhek recounted the story of what had happened as his wife made us lunch.
It was then back into
Pokhara
and the final farewell to our mountain guide - what a man !! That night we packed our bags ready for leaving
Pokhara
tomorrow morning. We both felt pretty sad to be leaving this beautiful place and it's amazing, friendly people.
written by
jonnik
on December 31, 2007
from
Pokhara
,
Nepal
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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The Trek
Pokhara
,
Nepal
Day 1 - Phedi to Tolka
Up early, sun shining and sky blue - here comes the mountain views !! Power breakfast ready for big day, Bhek and Prakash (guide & porter) arrive saying how fantastic it is that the weather has changed and the monsoon is finally over. Bhek confirms that we won't need to take waterproof trousers (ha ha !!). Take a taxi to Phedi to start the ascent up to Poon Hill and on the way we have fantastic views of the Annapurne Range (come on !!!).
So we start out from Phedi (altitude 900m) and it's a steep, steep climb up an endless stone staircase and the sun is belting down and it's boiling !! I ask Bhek how long the stairs will go on for, and despite telling us earlier it is an easy trek, he replies 'hours'. We stop after an hour or so for a drink at a chai shop and Nik purchases bamboo staff, to become her best friend over the next few days. We continue, it's uphill, uphill and more uphill (and still hot and sunny), and stop for lunch in Pothana (1900m). We have been told that it's best for everyone to order the same food at these small teahouses so we follow Bhek and Prakash's lead and have Dhal Bhat Takari (veg curry, rice, dhal and poppadom). As we're waiting for lunch to arrive we notice the sky isn't so blue in one direction, it's looking a bit grey. We ask Bhek if he thinks it might rain this afternoon, 'Possibly', he answers. Soon after we set off again the rain has started, gentle at first but soon it's raining very hard and the snow-capped mountains have long since vanished. We continue upward to Deurali (2100m), but after a while, mid afternoon, we start a steep descent, this wasn't what we imagined !! We thought it would be slowly upwards each day to our destiny at 3210m, but it seems we are very wrong and all the hard work of this morning will be lost. The steps are very slippery and we both take a fall, we are also getting reacquainted with our old friends the leeches, they seem very hungry ! And to top things off Nik has developed a migraine ! We arrive in Tolka (1707m) at around 5pm, but it seems our hotel is at the far end of 'town', and we finally make it there, knackered and very wet (it's still raining) another half an hour later. Bhek has chosen the Hira Guesthouse ('more comfy than the others')....
Classy hotel on the first night
...Nik isn't feeling very good at all by now and has a lie down in our 'comfy' room (it was only 100 Nepalese Rupees - about 80pence). We order more Dhal Bhat Takari and are in bed, fast asleep, by about 9pm. Let's just hope the rain stops by tomorrow...
Day 2 - Tolka to Chhomrong
Up early, power breakfast, Nik feeling better, still raining hard. We set off downhill again, and continue the descent for 2 hours down to Landruk (1550m) where we stop for chai and to remove our boots and socks and de-leech our aching feet. They have these bowls of ash on the table at the teahouse that people put the leeches into (we don't) so that they end up a writhing mass of ash covered leech, lovely ! The descent is more gentle after (but we're still heading down and it should be up !!) as we follow the river to New Bridge (1380m), but soon we are climbing steeply again all the way up to Jhinu (1760m) where we stop for lunch. Luckily the food takes a while to arrive giving us chance to rest (Nik sleeps) as we shelter from the torrential rain. After lunch it's another steep climb to Chhomrong (2150m), but it's not as hard as we'd feared and we seem to arrive before schedule at around 3.30pm. Hot shower and hot tea to warm up, Bhek was going to show us around the village but the rain is persisiting so we have a well earned pre-dinner nap. We meet some girls from San Fran who are heading to Annapurna Base camp (next time...) and then it's another early night. (P.S. It's still raining.....)
Day 3 - Chhomrong to Tadapani
Up early, it's lashing down and has been all night. Bhek quickly shows us round the village and we realise (to Nik's amusement) that he thinks Jon's name is David !! He's been calling it me for 2 days now and it seems too late to correct him, so it continues. We set off in the rain, it's uphill for a bit, and we have a scarey moment crossing a landslide. The new path that has been made in the rubble is barely 6 inches wide and it's a steep and very long drop down to the valley below. We take a tea break in a small village and there are a few other trekkers there, we are all very wet and all pick the leeches out of our boots, socks and everywhere else the buggers have crawled to. Again, the path leads us down, down and down again and we're all cold, wet and getting a bit miserable - we are so close to huge mountains but can't even see a glimpse of them. After descending all morning we stop for lunch at Gurjung. We are soaked and cold but keep our spirits by teaching each other card games - it's very funny as Bhek and Prakash have totally understood our instructions and we seem to play by different rules. We have yet more Dhal Bhat Takari and it is amazing how much these guys can eat !! It's also pretty crazy that they have the same meal twice a day, everyday. We ask them why they never try anything else and they tell us they like Dhal Bhat Takari (fair enough). We set off again in the neverending monsoon heading uphill this time to Tadapani and Nik asks Bhek if Tadapani is the village we can see high up in the clouds, miles away. 'Oh no', he replies, ' you can't see it, it's beyond that village' (oh dear). So up, up, up we climb through the forest and the mud and finally we arrive at Tadapani (2680m) late afternoon. It has rained all day again, we are cold so take a hot shower to warm up then crawl into bed with sleeping bags and blankets to try and get warm. After an hour or so (and still pretty cold) we head into the communal room at the guesthouse and are amazed and delighted to find that it is warm, very warm in fact. The room is dominated by a huge table, big enough to seat about 30 people, and under the table there are numerous terracotta fire pits keeping the place warm. The table has blankets hanging over it's sides and we pull them over our laps and warm up (it's heaven !!). Also under the table is washing lines where everyone can hang their wet clothes to dry. The guesthouse is quite busy and we meet lots of funny people all talking about the rain. We learn that after dinner the local villagers have arranged to come to the common room and put on a performance for us all. They soon arrive with, about 15 initially, and are soon singing and dancing for us. More and more arrive as the evening progresses and before long we are all dragged up to do a little dance of our own !! It's all very funny, very heart warming and just what we needed to lift our spirits after a hard, cold and wet day.
Joining in with local entermainment
We head to bed after receiving our flower garlands with smiles on our faces, despite the rain which is still falling heavily.
Day 4 - Tadapani to Ghorepani
It's another early start, amazingly it's not raining and we catch a glimpse (allbeit a fleeting one) of the mountains through the mist. Life goes on around us in the village, the women washing dishes and cooking and the children playing.
Faces of Nepal
We set off towards Ghorepani, downhill at first and along a ranging river, stopping at Banthanti for chai mid-morning. Checking our feet for leeches (amazingly there are non today) Nik notices the first signs of a blister developing (let's hope it doesn't grow). We then set off and are soon climbing again up through amazing scenery in the worlds largest rhododendron forest.
Kenty enjoying the trek
It's pretty steep all the way up until we stop for lunch in Upper Deurali at 3190m. By now the rain has started again and, given the altitude, it's cold outside. We huddle round a wood burner in the teahouse and swap stories with a cool Dutch couple from Amsterdam. After a fairly long lunch we are reluntanct to leave the warmth but eventually set off, in the rain, for an easy afternoon stroll, up slightly and then down, down, down to Ghorepani (2870m). At the guesthouse we huddle round another wood burner, play more confusing cards and (like everybody else staying there) talk about how we hope and pray it will be dry and clear the following morning for the 4.45 a.m. hike up to PoonHill for the dramatic Himalayan sunrise. We order (yet) more Dhal Bhat Takari and are so tired (almost too tired to eat, but not quite) and are in bed not long after 8 (party animals !!). It's cold in the room and we pile on the blankets, Nik has a makeshift hot water bottle (hot water in her drinking bottle) to keep her warm. We set the alarm for a frightening 4a.m. and say our prays that tomorrow (like no day yet) will start clear and without rain. There's not much hope as we can hear the rain lashing down as we drift off to sleep.
Day 5 - Poon Hill/ Ghorepani to Tatopani
The alarm goes off and it's still hammering down, it has been all night. We know there's no point bothering with the hour's hike up to Poon Hill this morning, there will be no sunrise views. We go back to sleep and wake again at 5.45a.m., just as it's getting light and get another glimpse of the Annapurna range. It's not quite what we hoped for but still very impressive. We go back to sleep again and when we wake up we decide to stay here for the day, have a chiller, and hope that tomorrow will be brighter and give us the views we have trekked up here for. We spend the morning and afternoon huddling around the wood burner, playing cards and reading and the sun actaully appears, giving us hope for tomorow. In the afternoon Jon makes the hour long trek up to Poon Hill with Bhek to see if there are any views form there, there aren't !
Another cracking view from Poon Hill
Many other trekkers have also decided to stay here another night in the hope that it will be clear tomorrow morning, but as the afternoon turns into evening it goes very grey and soon is lashing down again. We ask Bhek what he thinks the chances are that it will be clear tomorrow, he tells us that he doesn't think it will be and it's very unlikely we'll see the sunrise in the morning. As we're due to get up at 4ish tomorrow morning it's another early night (about 8.30pm) and before going to sleep we discuss whether or not we will go up to Poon Hill tomorrow just in case it clears when we are there. Jon decides he will probably go for it, Nik is not so sure. We are asleep before 9, and the rain is coming down by the bucket outside.
Day 6 - (Still in) Ghorepani to
We wake up at 3.30a.m. and can hear the rain lashing down outside. Jon stays awake listening to the rain until 4.30 and (being insane) decides that he will make the hour long trek to Poon Hill just in case it stops raining and is clear for the sunrise. Nik patches up her blisters and reluctantly decides to come too. We set off in the darkness, howling wind and pouring rain and after 10 minutes or so our torch batteries decide to give up on us !! So we trudge on up the hill, getting soaked, it's a kind of Sam and Mr Frodo experience. There is no sign of the rain ending and when we get to the top there are no views at all.
Poon Hill (3210m) - check that view !!!
It's all pretty funny though and we spend a few minutes up at Poon Hill sheltering in a wooden shack. We then trudge back down the hill in more rain and are greeted by looks of disbelief when we get back to the guesthouse. "Did you really go up there this morning ?!?!", people ask us. We have a huge breakfast, then are on the road about 8.30a.m. for the long descent to Tatopani. As we are leaving the guesthouse Nik picks up her trusty stick only to realise that it isn't her trusty stick at all - someone has made off with her faithful friend leaving a much inferior model, the cheeky @#*@ !! So we set off and it's down, down and more down until we stop for lunch at Sikha. After lunch we carry on down and on a steep descent we pass a porter carrying another man !! This guy must weigh about 75kgs and he's sitting in a little basket being carried by the porter uphill !!! To say the porter is struggling is somewhat of an understatement.
The rain has been coming down steadily all day but before long it's coming down by the bucket. Late afternoon, after heading down hill all day, we finally come to the Kali Ghanaki valley. We cross the river, which after 5 days of torrential rain is raging, on a rickety swing bridge and follow it up stream towards Tatopani. Along the way we have to cross a huge landslide (very scary - the river is raging below) and dodge the mules that carry things up and down the valley. At this point Nik is in severe pain with her blister, it hasn't been examined yet but she is wincing with every step. We eventually arrive in the village and it's quite civilized with bakeries and restaurants. We get a quick shower, Nik checks her feet...
The mother of all blisters !!!
...then it's down to the river for a bath in the hot springs we have heard much about. We didn't really know what to expect but after walking for 6 days it was a slice of heaven. The water was nice and hot and it felt fantastic to soak our aching limbs.
Cooking in the hot springs after a hard day
We stay in the water for about an hour then it's food and another early night. It's been a long day today, we were up early and have descended from 3210m at dawn to about 1200m now. We look forward to a short easy day tomorrow (or so we think !!) - there's no more hills to climb up or down and we should only be walking for about 2 or 3 hours (ha ha !!) - p.s. it's raining heavily outside.
Day 7 - Tatopani to Beni (or so we think)
So, today is gonna be an easy one. It's been raining all night but we head down to the hot springs first thing and get the pool all to ourselves, that is until a party of about 30 pilgrims arrive and decide to join us - all very funny. After a lazy breakfast (there's no rush today) we head off about 8.30 into the pouring rain.
Trekking Posse (all smiles before 'easy' last day)
Nik has done her best to patch up her blister and decides sandals are a better option that boots today, she still looks in pain with every step she takes. The first hazard we reach is the landslide that we crossed last night just south of Tatopani. Due to the rain, that has hammered down all night (and is still heavy), the landslide is still sliding in a places and it's even more scary to cross today, The newly formed path across it is the width of a human foot and it's the raging, angry, swollen Kali Ghandaki below us (don't fancy that much). It's back across the swing bridge, Jon grabs a handful of the local herbs to eat along the road and then we follow the river and the path is well formed and nice and flat if not a bit flooded in places. We carry on for 2 hours, Nik in pain and with very wet feet in her sandals, and arrive at a small village - the end of the trek. It's here that we will take a Jeep to Beni and then take a bus back to Pokhara. However, things don't quite go to plan...we learn that due to many, many landslides along the track the jeep won't be running today (gutted !!). We have some lunch and try and dry off a bit then set off again. Bhek tells us not to worry, there will be transport available soon. We walk for another 2 hours, crossing raging rivers where we all hold hands to help each other across, crossing more scary landslides (one that sees us very nearly hit by a nice big rock that bounces down the mountainside), and eventually stumble upon a jeep that will take us to our destination. We get in (us 4 and 13 others !!) and set off. We don't get far, in fact after about 7 minutes we have to stop as the jeep breaks down !!! So it's back out and walking again. Amazingly, the rain finally starts to stop and the sun comes out. We arrive at another village and negotiate a lift with a guy in his battered Toyota Corolla. This lasts for about 3 minutes before we reached another landslide and have to set off on foot again. Finally we reach Beni, where we should be catching the bus, however there are no buses due to the landslides. We get another Jeep but only for about 20 minutes to the next landslide !!
After that we struggle to find any more transport and it's back on foot along the river. By now it's starting to go dark, but hey, at least it's stopped raining !! We walk until about 6.30pm and get to cross one last scary raging river before we negotiate a taxi (he knows he can charge us loads !!!) to Pokhara. By this time we have walked for 10 hours and are nearly in Baglung.
It's a cold drive back to Pokhara (we've got wet clothes on and the driver insists on the windows open we must smell) which we finally reach at about 8.15pm. We grab a nice hot shower, then go out for a 'quick' bite (it takes hours !!!) and finally crash out about 11pm - what a day !!!
written by
jonnik
on December 25, 2007
from
Pokhara
,
Nepal
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Pokhara
Pokhara
,
Nepal
Pokhara Lake
So after returning from a relaxing few days at The Last Resort we took a bus (another delayed bus, this time mechanical trouble) to gorgeous Pokhara, for some mountain views and maybe (just maybe) a trek up into the Himalaya. We stayed up at the top end of the lake at the Vienna Lake Lodge, run by the incredibly friendly and helpful Santos and family. We spent a couple of days exploring Pokhara (it's only small) - swimming in and boating on the lake, a walk to the Shanti Stupa and what we thought was going to be a walk around the lake but ended up in us having to pay a fisherman to take us back over the water to our hotel (that lake is BIG). On the walk we somehow managed to take a wrong turn and were soon disoriented and becoming food to the many leeches that inhabit Nepal during the monsoon. Jon got off fairly lightly (it's the mosquitos that like me !) but Nicky took the full force of the onslaught and ended up with about 15 bites by the end of the day - but nothing a cold beer and some hot food couldn't fix. (Lesson learnt: never go walking in Nepal during the monsoon wearing open toed sandals, waders would be a better choice). One noticable difference about Nepal compared to India (certainly in Pokhara) was just how friendly and charming the people are. We met such nice, happy faces - the family that ran the juice bar where we had a daily fix of fruit smoothie, Buti the Tibetan refugee whose beaming smile we saw nearly everyday, and all the others.
The weather, after sitting out the monsoon all summer, now seemed to be breaking and after much (gentle) persuasion Nicky had agreed to come on a trek into the Annapurna range with me. We met with Bhek, the man who would guide us through the mountains for 6 days, and he explained that each day would be relatively easy (ha ha !!) and arranged that in a couple of days we would set off. The plan was to walk up to Poon Hill at 3210m and witness the sunrise over the mountains from this amazing viewpoint, as the Lonely Planet put it 'in an area blessed with many amzaing viewpoints Poon Hill stands out'....we shall see....
Row, row, row !!!
written by
jonnik
on December 23, 2007
from
Pokhara
,
Nepal
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Kathmandu & The Last Resort (near Tibetan Border)
Kathmandu
,
Nepal
Would you sleep here ?
Holy Baba
Festival in Kathmandu
The Garden of Dreams
Bodnath Stupa, Kathmandu
Chillin' at The Last Resort
Well, We spent a couple of lazy days in Kathmandu, booked into the Kathmandu Prince Hotel (a real bargain at US$10, the internet price is US$40 !!) and did most of the main touristy sights. We hiked up the 333 steps to the Monkey Temple at Swayanabath where the Buudha gave some of his teachings, visited Pashputinath Temple (the most holy Hindu temple complex in Nepal) where the bodies are burnt, hung out at Durber Square, and joined the throngs of Tibetan pilgrims at the amazing temple at Bodhnath. Kathmandu is a fantastic and very busy place, but we found solitude in a beautiful garden called the Garden of Dreams, which has recently been restored to it's former glory - we loved it ! The food in Nepal is great, as are the bars, but it's nowhere near as cheap as India and we were quite shocked at the restaurant bills after 3 months of much cheapness. The shopping is also pretty amazing with a million (and one) shops selling fanastic fake (but authentically fake) outdoor gear (clothes, shoes, and everything else you would want or need to scale Everest). After about a week of that crazy city we decided we needed a holiday (it's a hard life) so headed north, almost to the Tibetan border, to spend 3 nights at a beautiful place called 'The Last Resort'. It is home to the world's highest bungy jump, but at 162m we both resisted the temptation. The jump was off a swing bridge, like something out of Indiana Jones, only 10 times as high !! It was a nice place to chill out and enjoy some great food. We stayed in a tent and met lots of funny people including 4 crazy guys from Belarus. We did a bit of walking (in preparation for the BIG one - watch this space), relaxed in the sauna and plunge pool, and had our first (but by no means last) encounter with a Nepalese leech (uurrrrggghhhh !!!). Another reason for heading up to The Last Resort rather than Pokhara was that the monsoon was still in flow. There is no point going somewhere like Pokhara, with it's magical mountain views, if you can't see the mountains and the rain storms we were still having would have meant no views at all.
written by
jonnik
on November 23, 2007
from
Kathmandu
,
Nepal
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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Leaving India, bound for Nepal
Delhi
,
India
Nik at Red Fort, Delhi
We left a very hot
Amritsar
on 1st September (is it September already ?) on the mid-afternoon train to Delhi, arriving in the capital late at about 10.30pm. After being greeted by the lovely touts and rickshaw riders we made our way to the Smyle Inn where we had a room booked (or so we thought....). The hotel manager told us 'Yes, you may have booked a room with me but it isn't in this hotel'. What?!?! We ended up round the corner in the Hotel Euro International (soon to become known as Hotel Eurotrash, due to crappy service, along with crappy overpriced rooms with air-con that doesn't work !!)
Highlights of the visit to Delhi were the trip to the Red Fort, the avacado sandwiches (mmmmm, avacado....) and Jon's ten dish thali one evening (how daunting was that ?!?!)
After 2 nights we headed out by overnight train towards
Nepal
, arriving delayed, due to the heavy monsoon rains and flooding, in
Gorakhpur
, the worst town yet (or is that the worst town in the world, ever ?) We quickly escaped in a very crowded jeep and after crossing the border into
Nepal
a few hours later spent a night in a gorgeous (NOT) room in the border town of Bhairawa.
Jon overdoing it on 10 dish thali
written by
jonnik
on October 8, 2007
from
Delhi
,
India
from the travel blog:
Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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