Nepal, then on to India..

Flying to Nepal

Part 1: Nepal 

Annapurna Base Camp (ABC)

Ps: These are all my personal views on countries

Pure Nepalese hashish, a block the size of a pack of playing cards is in my hand. Enough to have you locked up in one of the worst prisons in the world or be paying a serious bribe to get out of trouble. I'm on a roof top bar named 'Facebook' over looking suburban Kathmandu. The waiters seem to know what is happening and go about their jobs cleaning the floor. The streets are bustling with action but it's quite up here. It's been planted in my hand by my new acquaintance. 'Beep Beep' his phone gets a message its Barbara from the French Consulate* in Nepal, shes after a few bricks hashish.

(name and country changed in case of international readers)

Welcome to Nepal.

Leaving the heat of Bangkok via Nepal Airways to the cool fresh climate of Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. Home to Mt. Everest and pretty much every other tall mountain in the world. I know little about Nepal apart from the obvious mountaineering, one thing I did know was Kathmandu traffic is next level. The taxi stand brought joy to my life. Seeing old Corollas and Cortinas covered in dents and scratches, I could not wait to get in a car and have some crazy Nepalese driver get us to accommodation. Now I've seen some shit and down right dangerous driving but this takes the cake. 'Merge like a zip', give way, driving on one side of the road, using the brakes. Non existent. I was in a van with a English guy, a German girl and a Asian guy who was brought up in New Zealand. It's smack bang in the middle of low season in Nepal due to it being winter so these were the only backpackers on the plane. Somehow we connected up with a guy who had just opened a new hotel 3 days ago. The German and I shared a room for a few dollars. Best bed ever. 

Kathmandu Street

It's strange here how quickly you can trust people, I could be a murderer for all she knows. I had known her for all of 30min, but it's part of saving money. The cheapest rooms all across Asia are in most cases 2 single beds in a room. So its most economical to share, even with a random. She left at 6am on the morning so I just had a day fluffing around the city. I decided to walk to Kathmandu's main tourist attraction, Durbar Square. Kathmandu is a city with absolutely no town planning. The roads are narrow, no footpaths, streets are all interlaced with each other. 4 storey buildings tower over everything. Where I'm staying is called Thamel, it's bright lights, fake North Face clothing stores mixed with traditional Nepalese clothing shops, travel agents and restaurants. On a side note Kathmandu has rolling blackouts, for 6 hours a day and at night there is no power. You either have a generator or live in darkness, there is no street lights so walking even down the main street feels like a back alley in South Auckland. Really shows how poor the country is and it's crap power grid. 

Temple

Tooth god!! Fizzing at this. Love teeth

Durbar square, where was I. Yes lost, at a 5 way intersection. This is where I met my acquaintance, Dim. With the offer of directions and a tour because he wasn't trekking as a guide due to low season we were off. I'm no idiot, there is always a hidden agenda with people like this and money involved, but Fuck it. I was in need of some excitement. He was actually really good as we took alleys to hidden city temples. The smell of incence, and the sound of flapping pigeons and religious chants filled the air. The temples are enclosed by suburbia and without a local would be hard to find. A visit to the God of Teeth was interesting for an dentist in waiting. If you have toothache you get a coin and nail it into the statue. The pain is suppose to subside. Surprisingly there is numerous dental clinics surrounding it. 

Reaching Durbar Square to realise the fee had risen to 700 rupees ($10) to enter, if someone is expecting me to get 700rupees out of me for some centuries old temples they can think again. Dim knew a spot though, up some stairs and across a roof top we had an amazing view over the temples. I looked down at the admissions office knowing I had won. 'Chai tea, I know a good place'... Here we go.. Over a tea he asks to shake my hand, interchanging a block of hash. It's a priceless moment, here I am sitting with a drug dealer, sipping a tea in a foreign country just loving life. Absolutely loving life. It was a chance to enter the underground, become a criminal with him, live a lifestyle of selling hash to foreigners. But Na, one more year of university then maybe. I'll let that story simmer there and you can wonder what happened next.

Now Nepal is actually one of the poorest countries in the world. The Government screws over everything, nothing is done for the people. Corruption runs rife through anything and everything. Its seems to portray this image of beauty due to the Himalayas but underneath that its really struggling. Surrounded by India and China (2 greedy countries) resources, power and children are often sent or trafficked across the boarders.

A quick google search, 89% sure this is the kid I met

The rest of the day in Kathmandu was spent fluffing around again. You often get confronted by the street children asking you for money. Its common that most sniff glue. This one promises he doesn't, I refuse to give him money but give him some of the average bread roll I had purchased. These kids do it tough. At night it drops into the negatives. Its freezing and dark. Most seem to have no shoes and their feet look in horrible condition. They are unwashed and show signs of disease. Forced to come here by their families to either make money, or fleeing family violence most people turn a blind eye to them. 

I end up sitting outside my guesthouse, the locals are always keen for a chat and many speak good English. I'll buy them a chai (tea) from one of the locals who will bring it to you in a glass cup and magically reappear as soon as you finish it to collect the empty cup. The usual topics come up. Do I want a Nepalise girl, do I want Hash. In the space of 1 hour I had 5 really good chats. I wrote down some of the topics talked about but the piece of paper has gone walk about. I then saw the little street kid with his bag a glue going for it. Typical 

Raisin

Nepal is becoming a mecca for mountain biking, with thousands upon thousands of centuaries old walking trails providing amazing riding. I'm down on my mountain biking and was one of the main reasons I came to Nepal. Now I don't usually do tourist activities. I'm a traveller, not a tourist. But today was the day when everything changed. I paid for a mountain bike guide. And yes it was worth it. Raisin was his name. One of the top ranked Nepalise riders, only riding for 3 years and considered a veteran of the sport. He was Tenzing Norgay on wheels. Amazing thrashing down through the local villages, past locals who are surprised to see a Westerner, on a space age technology bike. In the thin mountain air though its tough work, after coming from Thailand where more alcohol was drunk than water it was even harder. Biking back into down through the rough street of Kathmandu, Raisin bunny hopped this stream of water coming across the road. With zero time to react, and the fact it was an over flowing sewer. Curried shit everywhere. Yes, not ideal. Haha

Pokhara

From here I bused to Pokhara, a tourist town situated on a lake. Himilayas as the backdrop.The main tourism activity in Nepal is of course trekking/hiking/tramping/whatever you want to call it.Now with time short I had decided I couldn't be bothered doing a week long trek. But as the search for budget accommodation was proving tough I decided to ask this girl from Seattle if she knew anywhere good. She had just got back from doing Annapurna Base Camp and said it was 'sooo amaazing'. 

From that moment I was rushing around sorting Permits, Conservation passes, renting warm clothes, buying Northface gloves and beanie (its the middle of winter and I had only carted over polyprop pants and a top) and the next day I was off at 5am to hit the mountains.I planned to do the 8-10 day trek in 5 days, people said it was impossible. 

Yet a guy I met on the piss in Cambodia said he had done it, with his rough set of plans I was on my way. And I always take peoples word who I meet on the piss in Cambodia. I'd say I'm rather fit but the last actual tramping I had done was one of school camp in probably year 10. One of those tramps where you burn you pasta to the bottom of you pot over you gas cooker as you are still at the age when you have no idea how to cook, there's that kid whose tramping attire consists of a cotton t-shirt and jeans, and then there's the kid whose mummy thought he might need a brand new pair of 'insert hardcore mountaineering brand here' boots while other people are doing it in their ragged New Balance sneakers. You get the picture, but New Zealanders have tramping in their blood as I was told by this German lady.

Speaking of shoes: In every guide book, and every person will tell you and it common knowledge that if you are doing a long trek you need good quality shoes of the correct size. I had to rent some. So made extra effort to get the perfect pair to insure I would have minimal foot related issues. And I had no issues with them at all....... Not

Of course I got: a shitty Chinese made pair, 1/2 a size to small (crucial error), laces fucked. Generally the biggest pieces of shit ever. Blister after 20min, yes 20min. How it works here is you don't need a tent, there is these little villages along the way that you can stay at. The accommodation is called Teahouses, pretty much a place where you can get tea, a bed and a feed. Its possible to get a guide and a porter (someone to carry your stuff) but I choose the $1 map option. Porters are crazy people, the speed they walk at with huge loads strapped around their heads is impressive. I once saw one carry the biggest suitcase for a Korean, one that you can wheel through an airport. Koreans we met on the trek seem to take up everything they own into the mountains. Its good for the porters, they get paid. But its tough work! I tried to lift some of the gear they are carrying. Would be over 30kg sometimes. We saw gas bottles, ovens, chickens. Anything you need must be carried in, donkeys can only go so far.

Porters

Misty Porter

Little brother, big brother, Dad. Porters

The first day I walked 9 hours, holy fuck. 9 hours. Uphill. Violent uphill at times.2-3day in 1 day.

 

Still a long way to go

I spent the night it a pretty much deserted village of tourists. Was nice standing around the open fire in the rice field with the locals as they gossiped about the days happenings. But the next day I would meet my walking buddies. A girl from Holland a Industrial Designer and a girl from England who is a professional white water rafter. Also both solo travelers. The trail was pretty empty of tourists compared to the high season, I wouldn't want to do it any other time than winter. Sure it cold but once you get walking it down to 1 or 2 layers and you a sweating. Like no tomorrow. Mix this with not washing clothes for 5 days you can only imagine how bad we smelt. The air gets really thin and even the smallest step becomes harder and harder. Altitude sickness is always a constant issue, with those more fit likely to get taken down by it as we are more used to pushing ourselves. But we all seemed to cope alright with just minor headaches.

Entering, poor weather

On the walk up to Annapurna Base Camp which sits at 4130m from memory, higher than Mt Cook the weather packed in and the fog rolled down the valley. Its bitterly cold up here. All the rivers are frozen, waterfalls frozen. Drink bottles frozen. But as we reached base camp a window through the fog cleared for less than a minute and we were greeted with one of the most spectacular views. Annapurna Base Camp is also called the santuary because its "surrounded by a ring of mountains, the Annapurna range, most of which are over 7000 metres. With the only entrance a narrow pass between the peaks of Hiunchuli and Machapuchare"

The man himself

Infront

Behind (Annapurna 1 to the right, 8000m high)

Tibetan pray flags. 

Up here its cold, probably the coldest I have ever experience, mixed with wind chill I would take a stab at say below -15. So cold its nearly unbearable to stand outside. Even with 100 layers on.We did a quick mission to get some photos and got back inside for yet another pot of tea and some food. That night my water bottle would freeze solid inside my room. Its that cold.

Leaving, weather better

On the topic of food, don't not come to Nepal if you like food variety. I am not kidding in saying the locals eat the same meal twice a day 365 days of the year. Its called Dal Bhat. Curried lentils and rice. I was so sick of it after the 3rd time. The other single specialty are Momo's. Its like a dumpling, steamed. Ones with Buffalo meat are probably the tastiest. So the walk down the boots had become more painful than... so after 6 hours walking that day, they got removed.

Heading out

And the jandals/flip flops/thongs/slippers came on. Heaven. I am not going to lie. I could actually walk again. Though still faced with another few hours of walking and a 8-9 hour day the next. Locals and other trekkers were loving it. I was like, 'look I'm from New Zealand. Its the national footwear of choice. I could climb Everest in these.'

Mach 1.0

And from that moment on I had pioneered a new sport, Extreme Jandal Trekking. See you can customise jandals and actually turn them into a sturdy pair of shoes if you have electrical tape, I had none. But with the help of the Dutch girl and her industrial designs skills, her handy dandy string we created a masterpiece in shoe design.

Mach 2.0 'new and improved'

I managed the walk out in them, and its no easy walk out. Thousands of steps, deep valleys, dust, mud, cow shit. But worth it for the achievement. Finally getting back in the Jeep to head home was the best feeling. Legs and blisters causing serious pain. Was hobbling around for the next few days.Had some drinks to celebrate the end of it all, and this is where you see the strange side of Nepal. So every person is born into a Caste, you are either high, medium, low or lowest of the low to put it simply. At 11pm every night anyone that isn't high caste must go home. You can never get out of your caste, its blood. Your caste will more than likely determine you job and your income. High caste people in Nepal are crack up, they walk around in high heels and all try to look like European models. Here if you are wealthy, you show it.
From Pokhara I would go on to catch the bus to the most fucked up place in the world: India.But my Nepal adventures don't finish there

Just some random shit that doesn't really fit in anywhere: they are obsessed with anything western. I have seen Facebook branded clothing, iphone 5 jandals, Fake Adidas sponsored cars. Weird stuff going down.

Kid cut his finger. Bandaged it up. Legend

Getting the shoes all geared up for india.

Part 2:
So today would be the day I start the trip from hell, but looking back it was an experience. The rollercoaster ride across 2 countries. It begins at 4am with me having to get to the bus station to catch the 5am bus to the boarder of India and Nepal. Factor in I had just done a 5 day trek, had a big night out. I was exhausted. Not just any bus did I choose but a dreaded public bus. Reading the newspaper here you soon realise that buses full off cliffs all the time. "45 Die in Bus accident". Buses are substandard, non warrented I would assume, pieces of shit. They are made for Indians/Nepalise people which are tiny so they are so cramped. There was not one straight in the whole 8 hours to the boarder. Its just going through mountain after mountain, after mountain. The bus picks up anyone that wants a ride, so soon all the seats are taken and all the isle space is taken. Babies, religious people, farmers, businessman they are all in here. 
And with most locals not really riding buses much the whole bus is car sick. Little bags are given out to spew into, the day had heated up and I decided to open my window. The lady in front continues to spew her guts out as she has been doing for the past few hours. The untied bag is tossed out her window, but is sucked back into mine! Shit defied physics here, the bag miraculously remained upright and landed on my lap. That was the closest call in my life. The thick bile vomit would have turned this trip deeper into hell.

Highlight of the day: Lunch. NZ 0.70c - 10 Pakoras, bag of peanuts and 2 teas. Back to hell.

So eventually you get to the boarder, but not really. You have to get some cyclo rickshaw guy to pedal you there. He turned out to be the most helpful person I have met. Not only did he tell me where do go, he also told me how to avoid the boarder scams, find a bus, find immigration. Asian boarder towns are shit hole. Its a wasteland of buildings, rubbish and immigration buildings are always hard to find. You could quite easily just stroll on through without any issue. I was coming into India blind. I knew nothing about where I was going apart from the name of a Guesthouse in Varanasi. I had a LonelyPlanet kindly gifted to me by some fellow New Zealanders but was yet to open it. So I got the required stamps, told to Touts ( tout is any person who solicits business or employment in a persistent and annoying manner) to fuck off as they try scam you for buses, money changing and other shit.

Speaking of money changing, who the hell really needs to change money these days, especially with some dodgy dude at a boarder crossing. ATM's are so common, but every 2nd person asked you 'change money'. Sometimes you get better rates, if you know the rates. Other times you are just asking for trouble. A polite 'fuck off' usually does the trick.

Nepal, an amazing country. Beautiful scenery but the thing you will miss the most is the people. The friendliest so far in Asia. But at the end of the day, Nepal is just a warm up for the next country.

So I made it: INDIA

Incredible India, everything is possible

I'm going to stop there. Otherwise this yarn will be too long. I'll post the next blog soon. Would this day result in my sleeping on the streets of Varanasi. You will have to wait and find out.

#yolo