Nepal - Part 2

Ok, well after being without internet for 5 days we are back up and running, and we're going to try to get back on top of the blog posts.  So many things to talk about.  First thing first, finishing up our Nepali Adventure.

Day 2
We got up bright and early for our Mt. Everest flight.  Our driver took us to the airport where we got our boarding passes and waited around to see if the flight would take off.  They have the flights so early in the morning so that you can see the mountains before it gets too foggy.  Often times they cancel if it's already to foggy in the morning.  While we were waiting we ran into our American friends from the AUH airport--it was nice to see them.  Boarding for the flight was incredibly disorganize, as expected, but eventually we got to our plane.  Not gonna lie, it was little scary and everyone was joking about the ability of this plane to actually complete our trip safely, but the 10 passenger prop plane did it.  It was actually a pretty nice flight.  Despite taking my non-drowsy Dramamine I fell asleep during both the take-off and landing.

Our Mt. Everest Flight

The way it works is that you fly towards Mt. Everest and you get to see all the Himalayas.  It is really a surreal view with the mountains poking up through the clouds, you really get an idea of just how HUGE they are.  As you get close to Mt. Everest they start letting people go up to the cockpit one at a time to get their photo.  We definitely had to have the stewardess point out Mt. Everest to us, because it definitely isn't obvious which one is the tallest.  It was cool to have done it and check that off the list of life things to accomplish.

Our very own photo of Mt. Everest
(it's the one in the middle that looks black)

After that, back to the hotel for the breakfast buffet which was actually delicious.  They had a lot of Nepali/Indian dishes for the breakfast which were great.  They were much more savory than my typical breakfasts, but still yummy :)  Once our tummies were full, we packed up and headed out for the Last Resort which was our next destination for two nights.

Last Resort is 14km from the Tibetan border.  We were pretty excited about going to the Last Resort Hotel, sure that it would be nicer than our last hotel.  Paul was just completely exhausted and slept most of the 4hr drive to Last Resort.  I slept some too, but also took a bunch of photos.  It was really amazing driving through all of these little villages where there are small family farms where people were literally using an ox and a wooden plow on their fields.  We were there during the rice harvest, so people were manually harvesting the rice and then laying it out in front of their house to have the sun dry it up.  I really can't put into words what it was like to see all of this.  In so many ways it was exciting to get to see a part of the world that is just so different from the US, but on the other hand, the poverty was just so apparent and so widespread that it was really disheartening.  There were farms on these really steep mountains which they had terraced in order to be able to plant, the terraces would be maybe 3ft wide and you would see people just out there with their ox or completely bent over harvesting.  It would hurt my back just watching it.  And then we stopped at a little market/bus stop on the way up.  Two little girls walked up to us.  One was about 4 with a tiny puppy in her hands.  The other was just old enough to walk with just shirt on.  Neither were wearing shoes and the ground was so disgusting with animal feces and rotten fruit.  We tried talking to them, but they didn't really speak english.  The older girl gave the baby the puppy and she could hardly hold it.   And this is just so typical for these villages.

Typical roadside farm

Spreading out the rice to dry in the sun

It was very typical to have a cow or goats tied up just right
outside one's home

Traditional Nepali House

When we finally got to the destination, our driver stopped at the driveway/side road that we needed to go down and got out of the car.  He came back saying it was too steep/rocky for his car to go down...we both looked at each other thinking "this is odd for a resort," but didn't say anything.  So he and the security guard carried our rolly suit cases down to this place.  We're walking by tents and eventually get to this hut that has a bar and our guide is telling him that we're here to check in.  This whole time Paul and I keep exchanging glances saying "there is no way this is the 'Last Resort Hotel'".  So I had the guy our check-in sheet from the tour guide's office and he is confused because it's not their normal sheet.  After about 5 minutes I just asked the guy "Is this the Last Resort Hotel?"  With a big emphasis on hotel, and he says "oh no, that's another 5km down the road."  Thank goodness.  We were definitely not expecting to be staying in tents.

Beautiful landscape.  Most of the land was farmed in this
terraced fashion.  I really can't imagine all of the labor that
goes into farming this land.

We get back on the road and keep driving.  It's not looking too promising, but we're hopeful.  But the farther and farther we go, the more we're getting concerned.  Finally, we pull up to this cable pedestrian bridge and our driver stops again...really?  Oh yes, really.  The guide grabbed my bag and paul grabbed his rolly suitcase and we walked over the 100yd cable bridge and arrived at the "Last Resort Hotel."  All I can say is that I think it was good that we stopped at the other place first, I think it helped brace us for the Last Resort.  It was definitely not a resort.  More of a permanent tent place.  We really only have ourselves to blame though because we didn't do any research on the trip so we were totally unprepared.  Here we are with our rolly suitcases showing up to a place that is filled with pretty much all hardcore backpackers or hippies (in Paul's terms).  We got to our tent, which was 2 beds, a side table, and a suitcase holder thing.  We could see where they had washed the sheets and towels, but it was quite apparent that the comforter had never been washed (and this is european style where there are no top sheets, just the comforter right on you).  Some deep breaths, and we were off to the dining area for lunch.

Our "Resort Hotel Room"

We had buffalo, mac & cheese, fries, and fresh veggies--all of which was actually pretty good.  We also both got a Mt. Everest beer which was good, but not as good as the Nepal Ice.  We relaxed for a while.  Went and napped in our tent (fully clothed as we were afraid to touch anything).  I also changed into my only pair of leggings which I had just thrown in my suitcase on a whim and a few extra layers on top--I pretty much wore this the whole time I was there bc it was all I had for camping.  We had dinner which was decent, played some cards.  When we went to go wash our faces, I brought my towel.  It honestly smelled like they had washed it and then dried it by putting it on the back of a cow that walked through the pasture all day...not pleasant, but what could we do?  That night I woke up with a horrible stomach ache and had to go to the bathroom a few times.  Miserable!  By morning I was feeling better though.  I just ate some toast and fresh fruit for breakfast.

My buffalo lunch (I loved their plates and bowls)

Day 3
Day three started with an abseiling/canyoning trip right after breakfast.  This was definitely a highlight of the trip!  Basically we repelled down about 7 waterfalls, the tallest was about 150ft.  It was a lot of fun.

Repelling down the waterfalls

Josclyn on the first waterfall

Paul self-repelling down one of the falls

Then we hiked back to the camp.  Paul started feeling a little funny, but we showered in our solar heated "hot showers" and headed back to watch some people bungy jump from the bridge.  Then I started feeling bad.  And it all went downhill from there.  We were probably making about 5 trips/hr to the communal bathroom and just laying in bed in utter pain.  For the first time since we've been together, Paul said he was cold and asked me to hold him.  It was miserable.  After a few hours we got the guide to come and bring us re-hydration salts--he made us up some bottles of really salty, slightly orangey drinks to help us out and told us "if you don't start feeling better in a few hours, we'll take you to a clinic."  I decided right then and there that I was going to start feeling better, there was no way I was going to find out what a Nepali hospital was like.  We did eventually start feeling a little better that evening, but our stomachs were just so sore and painful from having been through the sickness that we could hardly move.

Our "hot water" source (it was better than our first hotel)

Our self-imposed quarantine--not good times

 
By the next morning we were at least mobile enough to get up and have some dry toast for breakfast.  I feel like I've sounded pretty negative about Last Resort.  Honestly, I think it was really just because of our lack of preparation.  Had we expected it to be like that and packed appropriately I think it would've been much more enjoyable.  Plus, we got sick which never helps anything and it restricted us from doing any hiking or white water rafting.  Last Resort itself was really quite beautiful.  It was so green and the building were made of stone, and they had cute signs, and their dipping pool was really pretty and tranquil.

Last Resort signs

Last Resort Dipping Pool

Last Resort Dining area

That morning our driver arrived and took us back to Kathmandu.  He told us that they hadn't been able to book the Grand Hyatt which we were hoping for, but that he did get us Dwarika's Hotel which was the best hotel in Kathmandu with local decor.  I was hoping for the best, but honestly preparing for the worst.  When we showed up I might've shouted for joy had I had the energy.  It was wonderful.  A very needed luxurious place.  I'm glad we only stayed one night as it was quite pricey, but at this point in our trip we needed to be able to sink into a comfy bed that we didn't have to worry about whether the sheets had been cleaned.

Our Dwarika's Bathroom

Dwarika's Hotel courtyard

Dwarika's Hotel

After getting refreshed in an AMAZING shower, we eventually decided we were feeling good enough to venture back out.  We went back to the Thamel district and decided to try our hand at some bargaining.  After much back and forth, we finally got a NorthFace windbreaker fleece for each of us and a nice internally framed NorthFace day pack.  That's 2 fleeces & a backpack for $75!  We were so proud of ourselves.  Especially because we had asked our guide before what he had paid for the same fleece and we ended up getting the same prices as a local Nepali :)

With our spirits lifted again, we went back to GAIA for the third time!  (Dinner first night, lunch that day, and now dinner that day).  We just couldn't get enough.  Again, it was delicious.  I finally asked our server what fruit was on the tree above our heads and he said that they were pomelos...more on that in another post.  With our tummies full (although I still couldn't eat much or barely walk without intense pain in my stomach), we headed back to Dwarika's.

Third trip to GAIA...this time wearing my great
NorthFace bargain

If you ever go to Kathmandu, I would highly recommend staying at least one night at Dwarika's, it is expensive, but it is very nice and I liked the local decor.  They seemed to have every detail covered in terms of adding some local flair.  And anyone who knows me knows that I love restored buildings.  There's just something so beautiful to me about a brick building that has been rehabilitated.  Dwarika's is like a mini village of restored brick buildings.

Dwarika's Hotel courtyard

A door pull at Dwarika's Hotel

Day 4
The next day we had brunch and then headed out to try to squeeze in a couple of site seeing locations before our flight.  First on the agenda was Pashupati.  The Pashupati Temple is the holiest temple for Hindus.  It is the place where all Hindus are supposed to come to be cremated when they die.  The river that runs through it is supposed to clean away their sins.  It was really an interesting place looking at it from a western viewpoint.  To us, it just seemed so dirty and unappealing.  But there were so many people there.  There was also a festival of some sort for women going on that day as well as a cremation of someone from the royal family.  On the platforms, there would be monks or holy people who would do prayers and rituals for people.  They were using flowers and leaves and they would say something and then put the leaf boat in the river.  There were two young boys in the river picking up burnt logs and moving them around so they could be reused again some other time.

Two boys moving burned cremation logs around
the "holy Bagmati river of Pashupati"

Then as we walked more towards the temple (we couldn't go to it as non-Hindus), we started seeing more of the "holy people" who have dedicated themselves to trying to obtain Nirvana.  Our guide noted that they were 60% religious and 40% commercial--he said this because (as happened to me) if you take their picture or get close to them they will start asking for money.  It was just a very bizarre place.  Hard to comprehend/understand how people believed in everything there.

A couple of the Hindu holy men

Next stop was Boudhanath, which is one of the largest Buddhist temples.  It has the stupa in the middle with Budda's eyes pointing in all four cardinal directions watching everyone to see if they are behaving righteously.  Then around the base of the stupa are the prayer wheels which have mantras on them.  Apparently they all say the same things, as well as the prayer flags.  It seems interesting that they would repeat the same mantra over and over and over everywhere.  Then the buildings around the outside of the temple are where the lamas (buddhist priests) live.  Our guide was trying to tell us that Buddhism is not a religion and that some Hindus are Buddhists, but not all.  He was saying that Buddhism is more a way of life, trying to achieve inner peace so that you don't have to work as much or something.  I just got really confused.

Boudhanath temple

One of the shops around the temple was a famous Tibetan artist's where he had trainees learning to paint very detailed traditional buddhist artwork.  They would use actual gold in their paints. The intricacy of their work was really amazing--had we been Buddhist, we probably would've bought something, but I really just couldn't think of what on earth I would do with one of their painting.  And especially because one of my new goals is to try to unclutter my life, it was a no-go.  I actually really enjoyed going to the two temples.  It was just so interesting to see.  You would never see anything like it anywhere in the West.

Thangka artist co-operative

After that, it was time to head to the airport.  It was, not surprisingly, disorganized and senseless at many points.  We both got patted down like 6 times at various security checkpoints, yet we got through with a quart-size bottle of water.  Then once we got to the "terminal"--it was just one room for all the flights with two holes in the wall which were "gates."  It was crowded and smelly.  But luckily our flight was on time and we didn't have to stay there for too long.  We both watched Inception and had some pretty good Indian food for dinner.  There was one really odd thing though, the women in front of us changed her babies stinky, stinky diaper mid-flight right there in the chair in front of us.  I was trying to make excuses for her in my head, but honestly, I've done quite a bit of flying over my life--many of which were longer than this 4hr flight and I have never had someone do that before.  It was really just odd...and smelly.

My sherpa was tired and ready for his own bed

Looking back, it was a good trip.  One with lots of fun photos, experiences we'll never forget, and a time when both Paul and I grew closer together.  However, I remember Paul saying in the Kathmandu airport while we were waiting for our flight, "I never thought I'd say this, but I just can't wait to get back to Abu Dhabi."  If nothing else, the trip made us realize what all we do have and that we really should be grateful for such seemingly minor things like clean water.

You can check out our full photo album here.