Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Kathmandu-Bodhnath-Patan-Pokhara
Ok, so it really is true that Kathmandu (especially Thamel) has the ability to suck the money out of you with out even realizing it.
We spent that first day in and around Thamel exploring all the shops and temples near by. I managed to somehow spent more then I usually do in 3 or 4 days on some singing bowls and a statue, although I did bargain him down 1/4 of the price he was originally asking.
During the day we noticed a lot of kids throwing what appeared to be water balloons at people from the roofs of the buildings. Upon closer inspection (Teresa being nailed in the back with one) we realized that they aren't exactly water balloons but a thick plastic bag that you twist at the top and through really really hard to try and get it to break on contact.
At first we thought these were just some punk kids and started getting really pissed but then we noticed more and more of it happening and I realized that it was close to the end of March and that we must be getting close to the "Holli" festival.
Holli is a Hindu celebration for spring and the way it is celebrated is by having the whole city close down for a day and having a huge water fight with colored dye powder, water balloons, and buckets. Westerners are especially targeted if they go out on the streets and most people stay inside their hotel rooms on this day.
Not knowing exactly what to expect we bought some provisions that night for the next day ( bringing our daily total up even further) and dodged a few water balloons on our walk back to the hotel.
After a day of shopping and expensive eating we decided to just hide in our hotel room for the evening even though by the looks of it everyone else in the town was crowding the many bars that are in the Thamel district.
Thamel at night is full of bars thumping music, live bands playing, colorful lights and and hordes of people, taxis, rickshaws, and motorcycles. It's kind of how I would picture Bangkok or Hong-Kong except not as many white tourists...
So the next day we slept in, the town seemed eerily quiet since all the shops were closed. But it didn't take long till you could hear people running around yelling "Happy Holli" and the sounds of water being tossed off the roofs by the bucket load. We watched the spectacle for a little while from the roof as people walked by completely dyed from head to toe kept running by while being attacked from all angles. Literally every roof had a group of people on it tossing down colored water balloons and buckets and if they missed their targets there were people hiding out in the alley ways and in the shops.
After a little while of watching we decided to go down and join in on the action. As soon as we approached the door to the hotel the people who worked their got us initiated by breaking a few balloons over our heads and we were off.
On the streets it was like a war zone. People running and ducking from the attacks from above and groups of people would just surround you with a colored powder in their hands and the would rub it into you face and hair as much as the could all the while screaming "happy holli!"
We managed to score some colored powder of our own and fought back a few times but still being a westerner made us a prime target and after only an hr or so we were completely dyed red, blue and green.
So we went back to the hotel and tried to wash off as much of the dye as we could and spent the rest of the day lounging on the balcony, where we were fairly safe from being attacked, and watched the action continue.
The next day we went up to Bodhnath, about 18km from Kathmandu, where the largest Stupa in Nepal is. While the Stupa itself was really neat the area around it has turned into a giant tourist trap. Upon entering one of the Monasteries around the Stupa there were some bratty little Indian kids running around yelling and beating on the drums. Their parents obviously didn't care how disrespectful this was and continued walking around taking pictures and talking very loudly.
We noticed a little monk was waiving us over and asked us to sit down. So we did and he started chanting some sort of blessing and touching a few different objects to our heads (this would have been pretty neat if I could actually hear what he was saying over those damn Indian brats) and after a few minutes of this he looked up and said "200 Rupees." You've got to be kidding me. A monk of all people trying to trip off tourists after we had already slipped a little donation into the donation box down stairs. I said no, no way in hell am I going to pay 200 rupees for something I didn't even ask for. We argued a little bit and I ended up giving him only 100 rupees and left the Monastery disliking Kathmandu even more.
The next day we went to the Durbar Square which is home to a dozen ancient temples and was once where the royal palace was located. The architecture of the area was really neat even though the area was completely full of touristy shops and rip off restaurants. There is even a living Hindu Goddess located here and she only makes appearances on special occasions.
Apparently Kumari Devi, who is a living goddess until she reaches puberty, is chosen though a long process and then moves into a building in Durbar square called Kumnari Bahal with her family and is only allowed to make a few appearances to the outside world a year.
We spent the day walking around taking pictures and exploring all the little side streets and had lunch at a roof top restaurant overlooking the square.
Since we had both had enough of Kathmandu and decided to not do the Everest trek due to concerns about the Maoists in the region the next day we were off to Pokhara.
For the first time we used a "Tourist bus" complete with a free buffet lunch at a riverside resort along the way. The comfort of the bus and the lunch were both really nice but the people on the bus were all pretty obnoxious. They would all take there time and ignored the bus driver when he would try and get going again after stopping for a bathroom break. All of them with their huge cameras around their necks and fanny packs on would just blatantly ignore the driver and his helper and most of them seemed to be constantly complaining about one thing or another. Not to sure if we will take that bus again...
Anyways when we arrived in Kathmandu we pulled into the bus station, which was completely surrounded by taxi drivers and hotel touts like sharks circling their prey and as soon as we stepped off the bus we were immediately surrounded with people yelling "good hotel!" "good price for you" "taxi, taxi, you want taxi" etc.. all the usual annoyances which we had gotten pretty used to by now and brushed most of them off. Then one guy approached us and wasn't really over bearing and offered us a taxi ride. When I asked him how much his response was "One Hundred Five Rupees" which I though an odd number and had a laugh about it. So we decided to go with him and on the way he started talking about his "families hotel"... Usually this is just a scam to get some commission by taking us to a hotel that will charge us even more to cover his commission. But after talking to him a bit we got a good feeling from him and it turned out to actually be his hotel that he runs with his family. The room was clean, I talked him into a good rate, and his family is really really nice.
Pokhara is such a welcomed relief from the city of Kathmandu. It's located on a nice lake called the Phewa Tal, which is actually the second largest lake in Nepal. One clear days there are amazing views of the Himalayas and the surrounding foothills.
The first full day in Pokhara we rented a little row boat and spent almost the whole day paddling around the lake and we both got pretty sunburned. We brought some lunch and drinks out there with us and had a really relaxing day.
Yesterday we woke up pretty early and began what was supposed to be a 5 or 6 hr round trip hike up to the World Peace Pagoda which is a large stupa that overlooks the Lake, the town, and the mountains.
After some lucky guessing we found the trail and started heading away from town and through the woods up to the pagoda. Along the way we ran into two little boys who began with the usual questions "where you from" Where you going now" "how old are you" etc... then the started walking with us and asked if we wanted a short cut...of course I knew this could only be heading for one thing...money... But the kids were cute and they were actually doing something instead of begging so when they said "we guide?" we agreed.
So they took off leading us through a maze of smaller trails that seem to lead directly uphill (it seems that they haven't caught on to the use of switch backs in the Himalayas yet) and at an amazing pace. We were trailing behind sweating and panting as they hopped along looking pretty unfaded by the heat or the strain of the hike. When we reached the top of the ridge it seemed that either their short cut or their speed had cut at least an hr and a half off of the time we planned on hiking. We tipped them two American dollars and a hand full of rupees and we continued on up to the pagoda.
When we got there we were pretty disappointed to see that we couldn't actually get on to the Stupa because of renovation but there were some pretty amazing views of the town below and the mountains in the distance.
We hiked back to town and had a nice lunch on the lake and met with a guide for the trek that we want to do and decided to go with him since he gave us a good rate and is good friends with the owner of our hotel.
Today we are going to be buying permits and other provisions for the Annapurna Base Camp trek that we are leaving to go on tomorrow morning! I probably won't be able to update until we get back from the trek so see you in 10-14 days!
We spent that first day in and around Thamel exploring all the shops and temples near by. I managed to somehow spent more then I usually do in 3 or 4 days on some singing bowls and a statue, although I did bargain him down 1/4 of the price he was originally asking.
During the day we noticed a lot of kids throwing what appeared to be water balloons at people from the roofs of the buildings. Upon closer inspection (Teresa being nailed in the back with one) we realized that they aren't exactly water balloons but a thick plastic bag that you twist at the top and through really really hard to try and get it to break on contact.
At first we thought these were just some punk kids and started getting really pissed but then we noticed more and more of it happening and I realized that it was close to the end of March and that we must be getting close to the "Holli" festival.
Holli is a Hindu celebration for spring and the way it is celebrated is by having the whole city close down for a day and having a huge water fight with colored dye powder, water balloons, and buckets. Westerners are especially targeted if they go out on the streets and most people stay inside their hotel rooms on this day.
Not knowing exactly what to expect we bought some provisions that night for the next day ( bringing our daily total up even further) and dodged a few water balloons on our walk back to the hotel.
After a day of shopping and expensive eating we decided to just hide in our hotel room for the evening even though by the looks of it everyone else in the town was crowding the many bars that are in the Thamel district.
Thamel at night is full of bars thumping music, live bands playing, colorful lights and and hordes of people, taxis, rickshaws, and motorcycles. It's kind of how I would picture Bangkok or Hong-Kong except not as many white tourists...
So the next day we slept in, the town seemed eerily quiet since all the shops were closed. But it didn't take long till you could hear people running around yelling "Happy Holli" and the sounds of water being tossed off the roofs by the bucket load. We watched the spectacle for a little while from the roof as people walked by completely dyed from head to toe kept running by while being attacked from all angles. Literally every roof had a group of people on it tossing down colored water balloons and buckets and if they missed their targets there were people hiding out in the alley ways and in the shops.
After a little while of watching we decided to go down and join in on the action. As soon as we approached the door to the hotel the people who worked their got us initiated by breaking a few balloons over our heads and we were off.
On the streets it was like a war zone. People running and ducking from the attacks from above and groups of people would just surround you with a colored powder in their hands and the would rub it into you face and hair as much as the could all the while screaming "happy holli!"
We managed to score some colored powder of our own and fought back a few times but still being a westerner made us a prime target and after only an hr or so we were completely dyed red, blue and green.
So we went back to the hotel and tried to wash off as much of the dye as we could and spent the rest of the day lounging on the balcony, where we were fairly safe from being attacked, and watched the action continue.
The next day we went up to Bodhnath, about 18km from Kathmandu, where the largest Stupa in Nepal is. While the Stupa itself was really neat the area around it has turned into a giant tourist trap. Upon entering one of the Monasteries around the Stupa there were some bratty little Indian kids running around yelling and beating on the drums. Their parents obviously didn't care how disrespectful this was and continued walking around taking pictures and talking very loudly.
We noticed a little monk was waiving us over and asked us to sit down. So we did and he started chanting some sort of blessing and touching a few different objects to our heads (this would have been pretty neat if I could actually hear what he was saying over those damn Indian brats) and after a few minutes of this he looked up and said "200 Rupees." You've got to be kidding me. A monk of all people trying to trip off tourists after we had already slipped a little donation into the donation box down stairs. I said no, no way in hell am I going to pay 200 rupees for something I didn't even ask for. We argued a little bit and I ended up giving him only 100 rupees and left the Monastery disliking Kathmandu even more.
The next day we went to the Durbar Square which is home to a dozen ancient temples and was once where the royal palace was located. The architecture of the area was really neat even though the area was completely full of touristy shops and rip off restaurants. There is even a living Hindu Goddess located here and she only makes appearances on special occasions.
Apparently Kumari Devi, who is a living goddess until she reaches puberty, is chosen though a long process and then moves into a building in Durbar square called Kumnari Bahal with her family and is only allowed to make a few appearances to the outside world a year.
We spent the day walking around taking pictures and exploring all the little side streets and had lunch at a roof top restaurant overlooking the square.
Since we had both had enough of Kathmandu and decided to not do the Everest trek due to concerns about the Maoists in the region the next day we were off to Pokhara.
For the first time we used a "Tourist bus" complete with a free buffet lunch at a riverside resort along the way. The comfort of the bus and the lunch were both really nice but the people on the bus were all pretty obnoxious. They would all take there time and ignored the bus driver when he would try and get going again after stopping for a bathroom break. All of them with their huge cameras around their necks and fanny packs on would just blatantly ignore the driver and his helper and most of them seemed to be constantly complaining about one thing or another. Not to sure if we will take that bus again...
Anyways when we arrived in Kathmandu we pulled into the bus station, which was completely surrounded by taxi drivers and hotel touts like sharks circling their prey and as soon as we stepped off the bus we were immediately surrounded with people yelling "good hotel!" "good price for you" "taxi, taxi, you want taxi" etc.. all the usual annoyances which we had gotten pretty used to by now and brushed most of them off. Then one guy approached us and wasn't really over bearing and offered us a taxi ride. When I asked him how much his response was "One Hundred Five Rupees" which I though an odd number and had a laugh about it. So we decided to go with him and on the way he started talking about his "families hotel"... Usually this is just a scam to get some commission by taking us to a hotel that will charge us even more to cover his commission. But after talking to him a bit we got a good feeling from him and it turned out to actually be his hotel that he runs with his family. The room was clean, I talked him into a good rate, and his family is really really nice.
Pokhara is such a welcomed relief from the city of Kathmandu. It's located on a nice lake called the Phewa Tal, which is actually the second largest lake in Nepal. One clear days there are amazing views of the Himalayas and the surrounding foothills.
The first full day in Pokhara we rented a little row boat and spent almost the whole day paddling around the lake and we both got pretty sunburned. We brought some lunch and drinks out there with us and had a really relaxing day.
Yesterday we woke up pretty early and began what was supposed to be a 5 or 6 hr round trip hike up to the World Peace Pagoda which is a large stupa that overlooks the Lake, the town, and the mountains.
After some lucky guessing we found the trail and started heading away from town and through the woods up to the pagoda. Along the way we ran into two little boys who began with the usual questions "where you from" Where you going now" "how old are you" etc... then the started walking with us and asked if we wanted a short cut...of course I knew this could only be heading for one thing...money... But the kids were cute and they were actually doing something instead of begging so when they said "we guide?" we agreed.
So they took off leading us through a maze of smaller trails that seem to lead directly uphill (it seems that they haven't caught on to the use of switch backs in the Himalayas yet) and at an amazing pace. We were trailing behind sweating and panting as they hopped along looking pretty unfaded by the heat or the strain of the hike. When we reached the top of the ridge it seemed that either their short cut or their speed had cut at least an hr and a half off of the time we planned on hiking. We tipped them two American dollars and a hand full of rupees and we continued on up to the pagoda.
When we got there we were pretty disappointed to see that we couldn't actually get on to the Stupa because of renovation but there were some pretty amazing views of the town below and the mountains in the distance.
We hiked back to town and had a nice lunch on the lake and met with a guide for the trek that we want to do and decided to go with him since he gave us a good rate and is good friends with the owner of our hotel.
Today we are going to be buying permits and other provisions for the Annapurna Base Camp trek that we are leaving to go on tomorrow morning! I probably won't be able to update until we get back from the trek so see you in 10-14 days!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Pictures!!!
So here is a brief overview of all the pictures I have taken so far... I'm going to try and upload more pictures to the previous posts that correspond with them... and hopefully some from Teresa's camera as well.
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