Off to Chitwan

Our 6.30am alarms were again very much unwelcome, and by 7 we were on our way in a taxi to the bus station to go to Chitwan. It is a national park in the South of Nepal, about a 5 hour drive from Pokhara. The bus was not great; there was no A/C and the fans hardly did anything, so I had a very sweaty journey. As usual we had a lot of stops on the way, which was good for getting a quick walk in, but meant that we didn't arrive in Sarauha, the town next to Chitwan, until around 2.30.

After arriving we called the hostel who came to pick us up from the bus station. We unpacked and then we're told about the various safari packages available in the park. We went out in search of food and to compare our hostel's prices with other local ones, but after 2 places offered similar prices and no sign of food, we headed back to book at our hostel and have some lunch. We booked a full day 8 hour walking safari with canoeing for around £25 each; a lot cheaper than the tours being offered by agents.

After lunch we wanted to just stay in our room but the power was out meaning there was no fan and it was absolutely boiling. Even with monsoon rains outside it was like a sauna, and so we decided to walk into town. It become apparent quickly that there wasn't really anywhere to walk to. The town itself is tiny with just a few shops selling the same souvenirs, a few restaurants and some hotels. After our wander we headed back and watched some netflix, before discovering that the fan was on and our room was bearable!

Around 7.30 we headed out for dinner, and were warned by the hostel staff to be back by 9 due to the wild animals roaming around the area. Great. We found a restaurant and ordered but the food took forever. 9 came and went before most of our order had arrived, and we didn't end up walking about until gone 9.30. Fortunately we survived the walk with no wild animal sightings, and faced with yet another early start went to bed soon after.

Laura x

End of the trek

The end of the trek! Our guide had suggested breakfast at 7.30 so that we could leave at 8 and get a taxi back to Pokhara around 12, and also told us that the walk was mainly flat. So untrue. After some very questionable porridge we set off, and again we were going up and down a lot. By this point I was just very excited for the trek to be over and was practically running along, until we came to an area full of leeches. It was truly grim, and we spent ages getting them off ourselves and each other. Our guide Ganesh had a small rag full of salt and showed us how to use this to easily remove the leeches which was great, though the sheer quantity of them meant that none of us escaped leech free.

At one point Ganesh took us off path and said that this was because a lot of landslides had been happening on the route he usually took. At one point he pointed over to this path we would have taken and showed us an active landslide happening then! Lucky escape. The walk seemed to go on forever; he said we were about an hour away when we were actually over 2, and by the time we arrived at the taxi point at half 1 we were all shattered. Fortunately I got a lot of sleep in the taxi ride back to Pokhara, where we then collected our big bags and headed to our room. We said goodbye to Ganesh and tipped him, and then headed out for food. It was half 3 by this point and we were all starving!

After lunch we came back to the hostel and had some very well needed showers and washed our clothes. I've never felt so clean! We then sorted out our stuff for a while, before going to get some breakfast for the following day and taking advantage of a cheap cocktail deal at a lakeside restaurant. By the time we'd had our drinks it was 9pm and after so many tiring days we headed to bed ready for another early wake up.

Laura x

Day 4 and hot springs

Day 4! By this point I was starting to feel glad we opted for a 5 day trek and not longer, as the rooms seemed to be getting progressively more damp and less modern, and I wanted a well functioning fan and some cheap food. We were woken early at around 6.30 by the school group in the room next to us. Not ideal, and as we weren't having breakfast until 8.30 we were now all overtired.

We set off on the walk around 9.15. We were assured by our guide that today's walk was primarily downhill, and while that was true, we climbed too many steps for my liking, and it was actually one of the toughest days. We stopped off half way to get some lunch, before finally arriving at our tea house around 2.30 ish.

Here had the added bonus of some local hot springs, and after showering and washing our clothes we headed there with our guide at around 4. They were next to the most crazy river which had terrifying signs saying that it may break the banks and flood the hot springs. Cute! Regardless, we spent an hour or so in there which was so nice. It just feels like a bath, though with a couple of leeches which were far from ideal.

When we arrived back we had dinner, and then watched some netflix before bed.

Laura x 

Poon Hill!

The day started abruptly with a 4.15am alarm, and at 4.30 we set off to Poon Hill to watch the sunrise. The walk up took about 35 minutes and it got lighter as we climbed. Sadly it was too cloudy for us to see the proper mountain sunrise view, but the view we did have over the mountains was beautiful regardless, and we spent the next hour or so up there taking photos

We headed back just after 6, and had another sleep before showers and breakfast at 8.30. After eating and filling up our water bottles we head off for another day of trekking. This time we were somewhat wary of the "4-5 hours" description, but our guide assured us that it was longer than yesterday. We left just after 9.30, and the start of the route was primarily uphill. Not the most enjoyable when you've already done an uphill walk at 4.30am! We climbed so many steps but took a few breaks to make it easier.

From then a lot of the walk was more downhill, as Poon Hill was the highest point of the trek, and it was much nicer going down, especially alongside waterfalls and rivers which gave a nice breeze. We managed to do this walk in about 3.5 hours, arriving in the village around 1pm. We had lunch and then went for a little wander around the nearby area. Again, there wasn't much to see or do, and here it was raining so even worse. A large school group also checked in, and initially this was super annoying as they were shouting through the paper thin walls.

After dinner we sat and watched some netflix, and then one of the school group asked if we'd like to join them for cards. In an uncharacteristically sociable moment we agreed and spent the next hour or so sat with them playing cards and asking about their trek. They were all 16 and so nice and polite, and I was impressed that they were all taking on a long trek at 16! I'd never coped! At 10 they went to bed and we soon followed.

Laura x

Trekking to Ghorepani

Trek day two! After discovering that there is very little to do in the trekking villages we requested breakfast at 8.30 as opposed to leaving at 7.30 as our guide suggested. After a bowl of porridge and putting on our wet clothes which just hadn't tried thanks to monsoon rains over night, we set off on our 4-5 hour walk.

The walk wasn't too intense, though it began to get pretty hot at some points which wasn't ideal. We also had our first encounter with leeches. Grim. After a couple of hours of walking I asked Ganesh how much further it would be, to which he replied half an hour! Somehow we'd done the 4-5 hour trek in 2.5! We were very glad we hadn't set off at 7.30 as we'd have arrived at the village by 10, though just after 12 wasn't much better! The village was beautiful with amazing mountain views from our room, which did improve the long time we spent there.

We filled the afternoon with a wander around the (tiny) village, watching a couple of pre-downloaded netflix episodes on katie's iPad, dinner and a lot of games of cards. Being quick trekkers makes the day a bit boring evidently, though with an early wake up the next day it was probably a good thing that we got a lot of rest.

Laura x

The trek begins

Today we started our trek! When we originally planned to go to Nepal I hadn't really thought about trekking but the more I looked into it the more it became apparent that nearly everyone who goes to Nepal treks. We managed to get ours cheaply; around $75 for a 5 day trek. We woke up at 6.30am ready to meet our guide at 7am and set off in a very precarious taxi to the starting point of our trek.

The journey took around an hour and a half, and our trek began about 8.30. We'd been told we would be doing around 6-7 hours of walking a day, and so we set off. Fortunately it wasn't too hot when the trek began, and although our small backpacks were annoying they weren't too heavy to carry with us. We walked through small villages, along big trekking roads and through areas of forest with waterfalls. At one point we had to take our shoes off to walk through the water.

We stopped off for some lunch very early at around 11.30am at a village restaurant. The food was a lot more expensive than in the towns and cities but we had brought snacks with us, and comparatively to England it was still very cheap. Our final two hours for the day was almost entirely uphill, and the most challenging part of the whole 5 day trail. By the time we reached the town we were spending the night in we were all very sweaty and very ready to rest.

After showers we went for a wander around the tiny village, and aside from being chased by some very weird birds we didn't find much to do. We ended up watching some netflix downloaded on katie's iPad and then playing several games of cards to pass the time around dinner and sleeping. It was very peaceful, though, and nice to do nothing. When it got dark it was truly amazing to see; there was no light pollution at all and it was so completely pitch black. It definitely made sleeping at 9.30 even easier.

Laura x

Off to Pokhara

This morning began abruptly at 6am as we needed to wake up to get the bus to Pokhara where we would begin our trek. We had breakfast, collected our bags and then met at reception. We'd been told that the hostel owner would take us to the bus station, and stupidly assumed that this meant that we would be driven. It came as a bit of a shock when we then started a 15 minute walk before 7am, though forunately it wasn't too hot.

We then had a 7 hour bus drive to Pokhara, complete with 3 stops, for the toilet, breakfast and lunch. The ride was okay though the roads out of Kathmandu are really awful; I seriously thought we were going to tip over onto one side, and this was even scarier as we began to drive around and up the mountains. Fortunately we made it in one piece, and got off the bus. We went outside the bus station to find a cheap taxi and one agreed, then as we neared the hostel said he wanted more money. We gave him what we'd agreed and got out there, not realising this meant we had a 10 minute uphill walk for the sake of saving about 50p.

After checking into our hostel and a quick shower we ventured out for some food. We found a very cute little family run place and had a late lunch, then walked down to the large lake. As it was the weekend a lot of locals were out with their families and I expect we featured in many of their photos. It was very pretty but soon began to rain and so we headed back to the main street after a while. Here we went to lots of shops to get snacks and breakfast for the trek, as we'd been told that they would cost a lot more in the mountains. We walked down the road further, there were lots of cool places including several vegan and raw food places, but we returned with our bargain snacks in tow.

We spent an hour or so doing some final washing and packing for the trek, and then headed out for some dinner. We ended up back at the lunch place (so keen)- but when a full meal and drink was about £2 who can resist?! We then headed back to the hostel ready for another early night.

Laura x

Kathmandu's temples

We woke up around 8 and headed to the balcony for our free breakfast, and headed out just after 9. We got a taxi to a very large Hindu temple in time to witness the morning cremations. It sounds extremely morbid but was a great way to learn more about the culture. As we were watching a man started to tell us all about what we were seeing, and it quickly became apparent that he was a guide. We opted to pay the extra money for his hour long tour so that was could learn more about what we were seeing, and from here he showed us around the temple grounds. We saw the cremation ceremony which involves the body being unwrapped and circled around before being laid on the cremation material. A candle is placed in the mouth and lit which starts the burning. As Hindus believe in reincarnation it wasn't as depressing as it probably sounds, and learning about the specifics of the tradition was really interesting. 

We also saw small different temples dating back to the 9th century; one was for fertility and couples would come here to pray if they were trying for a baby. We also saw holy men who live in small houses in the temple grounds, and wanted donations in return for photos with them. They looked amazing with their painted faces so i happily obliged. We spent a while there after the tour just watching people and then ventured off to another temple.

This was the tallest Buddhist temple in the world (?) and was very interesting to see. The temple grounds also contained a monastery where we lit a candle and also lots of shops and restaurants which was weird, but very convenient for lunch! After a while here we started he hour and 20 minute walk home. We didn't get very far as we were suddenly hit by the monsoon rains when we were in a shop. It was mental! In the space of 5 minutes it had become torrential and the roads were flooded. With a long way still to go we reluctantly opted for a taxi which was definitely a good decision!

After changing our clothes and having a shower, meg and I ventured out in search of a gym. We had found one about a 5 minute walk according to Google maps, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't there. We spent the next 45 minutes or so trying to find it, asked numerous people for directions and finally learnt that it had moved locations a year ago but that this had not changed online. Fortunately we discovered another gym near by and spent the next hour or so there, paying only 250 rupees (less than £2).

We headed back, showered and then went to get dinner with katie. The owners of the hostel recommended a restaurant and we went and got a nepalese thali which we had had previously, but they brought refills of the food and so I ended up eating loads. Katie and I then shared apple momos for dessert which were nice and cool to try. We headed back to the hostel ready for an early night as we had an early start the following morning.

Laura x

Monkey temple and booking a trek!

We checked when check out was and headed out in search of some breakfast. After not spending much the previous day we treated ourselves to a fancier breakfast than usual (in reality it was under £3). I had a bowl of muesli, fruit and soya milk which was so nice. Afterwards we wandered around the shops again where I purchased some dungarees. I've been trying to get dungarees in england for months so was very excited to get these, especially as I managed to barter them down to £5.60. Though a rat did run across the shop as I was trying them on...

Afterwards we checked out and moved hostel. It was only an 8 minute walk but felt like longer through the busy streets. We checked in and started speaking to the owner about our plans to go trekking. We'd been quoted $190 USD each by two tour companies for a 3 day, 2 night trek which seemed ridiculous in a country where a hotel room is about £2. After a long discussion about the pros and cons of having a guide, a potential route etc. we ended up booking a 4 night 5 day trek for about $80 each. This price included hiring a guide, our trekking permits, the cost of the return bus to the city where we start the trek from, and a return taxi between the town and the trekking start point. This seemed very reasonable, and whilst the man said we'd probably be fine without a guide we opted to have one anyway due to questionable navigational skills!

We paid a deposit on the trek and after some lunch headed out to see some of Kathmandu's main attractions. First we went to the royal palace, which was very underwhelming from the outside. It turned out to be a museum (?) and with a high entry price for foreigners we decided against visiting. We instead walked to Monkey temple, about an hour away. The walk was nice as it took as through the less touristy parts of the city where we could see small shops and people's houses, and were less likely to be hit by a motorbike. The temple itself was up a lot of steps covered in monkeys (hence the name) but they were very tame and didn't seem bothered much by humans.

The view from the top of the temple was amazing; it was panoramic over the city and we were really high up! Just as we were about to leave a man told us to walk down some steps and see a pool where the monkeys swim, but as we got there it started to rain so they weren't in there. We wandered around a bit more before venturing home, stopping for a drink on our way. We went out and had some dinner and another browse of the shops before heading back to the hostel for bed.

Laura x