Week 14 - 16 Pokaraha, Bandipur, Old Delhi, Bangkok

Pokaraha



Another visit to Pokarah to pick up my bag after rafting, end up staying longer than I wanted. Pokarah is like a Sunday afternoon. I go fishing with the motel owner, I stayed with him the last time, he tells me many interesting stories on our trip. He tells me of land he has bought for foreign friends and wives that he has found for others, he tells me of his french friend who is very happy with his two wives! Monogamy is now illegal in Nepal. He tells me of his friend who sunk to the lake floor a week ago and has not been found. He tells me of a Buddhist friend he helped build a house but now the Buddhist refuses to be his friend because he catches fish, says he he doesn't want the devil in his house! He tells me of a couple in their 20s who committed joint suicide by tieing a rock round their waist, they were from different castes and one family refused marriage.



I usually head left into town but this day I decide to head left towards the mountain of Serangkot (spelling?) and things turn a little twilight. I pass a German man who is dressed in pyjamas and is off his head speaking to himself. I get offered mushrooms all along the road. A strangely aggressive man tries to sell me mushrooms and weed, when I decline and walk away he tries one last time to sell me something and asks me if I would like a Nepali marriage! No thank you sir, marriage is far from my mind, although by Nepali standards I should have been married for 8 years and have 3 kids by now. Everyone enquires about your marital status, it seams quite popular for people to come to Nepal to find a bride.

Journey from Pokaraha to Bandipur
I get this large Jeep to Bandipur from a nearby town. I am awkwardly on the back shelf, with half my body hanging out the back and one arm pit in some poor chaps face. I think I am slowly killing him as I ditched my deodorant a week before in order to save space in my backpack. I think he is complaining about me, I feel embarrassed, so I brake the ice and motion to them that I smell and everyone on the jeep laughs at me. This seems to open up a discussion with the other passengers about me, they talk in Nepali and look and me and then laugh, I just laugh too!

Bandipur
Incredibly relaxing place, an old town with beautiful architecture situated in the hills.



There is about 8 other tourists in this town, i hang with 5 of them. Alex, a French man living in Malaysia about 35, French, a German man about 40, Marrie, a French girl about 24, Tadeus a Dutch man about 20. It is great to hang out with such a diverse set of people, we just relax outside in the evenings and drink chai.



I do a couple of walks around Bandipur, very atmospheric. I head to Mukundeswari to a Magar shrine with my new friends. The walk goes through some dense forest and it is difficult to make any ground, we soon get split up but we finally make it and the temple looks like a stone shed, quite funny. People have left offerings, all I have is a biscuit, so I throw that in and Alex throws in a cigarette.



We hang with this old lady in the small farming town of Mukundeswari, very entertaining. She gives Alex and French a big bag of potent weed, so they are very happy!



Journey from Bandipur to Old Delhi
I leave Bandipur Thursday at 10am and arrive in Old Delhi Friday at 6pm. A total of 32 hours spent on 3 buses. I get on a bus in Bandipur, the conductor tells me he is going to the border town and takes my money, half way there he tells me that he is not going there anymore and that I need to transfer onto another bus, after I share a joke with him about being a liar he gets me onto a new bus for free. I finally make it over the border and get some beautiful cheap Indian food and head towards the bus stand, a man outside the bus says that I need to buy a ticket from his office, I sense that I am potentially entering some sort of scam. I try to get on the bus but a man who looks like 50 Cent is blocking my way. I try to ask a guy who was on my Nepal bus whether he paid already but he does not understand me, I also ask the bus driver and he just shrugs. I follow my con man and he trys to make me pay 1000 rupees for the bus ticket, I know this is way too much, I shout at him that this is a commission scam but as I am doing this the bus starts to pull away and he tells me that I won't be getting on the bus at all. I manage to get him down to 500 rupees and board the bus. 50 cent boards the bus and takes my fake ticket and swaps it for a real ticket, with a cost of 350 rupees written on it. I Didn't lose too much in the end and under the circumstances I did well to get on the bus at all! When the guy from my Nepal bus understands what happened and that I have not much money left, he buys me food all along the way, I say no but he insists, he feels bad that I got ripped off. I trust this guy, so I accept him buying me food, after 9 weeks of travel in India, I can instantly tell who is good and who to avoid. He also travels all the way to Delhi and even gets me a good deal with the little money I have left on a rickshaw to Old Delhi. My journey on the bus travelled through some of the poorest parts of India. Every time the bus stopped I would get attacked by mosquito's, but thankfully they disappeared when the bus moved and air was flowing through. The whole journey was surprisingly not that bad, I drifted in and out of sleep and had about 10 different people sit next to me. If you had one of those speeded up videos, I would be in the same spot for 24 hours, while people all around the bus would be whizzing on and off.

Old Delhi
Arriving in Delhi was my most nervous experience, just because of all the horror stories I had heard. Two friends from Nepal told me to go to Old Delhi away from the tourist area and I never regretted it for a moment. I arrive at the Jama Masjid, a Muslim temple, designed by the same architect that designed the Taj Mahal. It is a large square surrounded by 4 storey buildings housing hotels, shops and restaurants, there are little alleyways spurring from the square, selling the most delicious cheap food that I have found in India. This is the most vibrant place I have been to ever! On my arrival at night, my eyes are wide open with all the life this place contains, there are pig heads and kebabs being cooked on large flames and just a mass of people everywhere. I find a hotel, take off my shoes and my feat are badly swollen from the travel, it takes 2 days for the swelling to go down. I wake up early and look out onto the square, two men are throwing old meat into the air and a group of eagles swoop down to collect it. all around the square people are walking up from a night of sleeping on the street. After staying here for 3 days I realise these are workers who have no homes, they have most likely come from surrounding areas. The people sleep rough but in a good, non threatening, non drunk/drugged up way, just a thing they have to do to get by before they start another day of work the next morning.



My whole stay in Old Delhi is based around food, it is all I think about, it is the best way I can become part of this place, even for a short while. The food here is so cheap but absolutely amazing, the restaurants are mainly for the poor workers who sleep around them, but they accept me when I eat with them, they make sure I pay the right sum of money, that I get a free top up of food if I am entitled and they order the waiters around for me! The owners dislike me, but I don't care as the customers make me feel at ease and welcome. My favourite place is a chai shop, like a Muslim version of a pub, I go there twice a day and start to get to know the regulars and the young waiters smile on my return, I can't communicate at all, I get friendly with an old Muslim man, he is maybe 70 and I feel frustrated that I cannot understand him, he could tell me so many fantastic story's from his time in India, he also gets frustrated at not being able to communicate. We communicate through gestures, he buys me chai and offers me a beadie (small cigar type thing), I buy him chai. Learning a language is key, I want to learn Hindi so much. My typical breakfast is big, I eat poori (puffed pastry/bread) with pea and potatoe curry, masala chai, sweet banana's, lassi (a beautiful yogurt type drink). I am stuffed and content. Meals typically cost me 12rs, that is 15p (30cents).



I do leave Old Delhi occasionally and get the underground, I head to a bar with an American to New Delhi. The underground tannoy tells me, among other things, not to make friends with strangers, I find this baffling, is this just while using the underground? or is it everywhere? I feel I need more information on this statement, how am I supposed to get along if I don't make friends with strangers, all friends start out as strangers.

It happens to be FA cup night, didn't even know it was on or that the new Wembley was finally complete, the bar had some drunk English people it it, it felt wrong, all the Indian people where staring at the leery English! Wanted to be back at my chai shop! I buy Time Out and try to do other things in New Delhi, but seam to fail each time. I try to see a famous Indian musician but it is sold out, I chat to some rich Indian ladies outside, they make me laugh, they are so snobby. I try to go to a free painting class but I arrive late, I try to go to the modern art museum but it is closed on Tuesdays, ahh well! When I am away from Old Delhi, I just constantly think of its food, each time my new adventure in New Delhi fails I scurry back to the safety of Old Delhi. I spend a Sunday at the Old Red Fort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Fort), get a little board so head to a Sikh Temple, spend the afternoon listening to awesome tabla music, there is food and the floor is comfy, before I know it, the day is over.

I want to stay in Old Delhi much longer, it is a short romance, but like short romances it ends on a high.

That's it for India. Wooops, I forgot to go to the Taj Mahal!!

Bangkok

Bangkok is much better than I thought it would be, it's great being in a modern place again. Finally buy a charger for my MP3 player and a new camera and some DEET mozzie spray, finally!. Hang with some english and danish people and watch some covers band, skoot round town with them in this noisy tuk tuk thing. My room is the size of two single beds and has no windows but I love it and it's cheap.

It feels like a mid trip re-charge, I spend a lot of time at malls and do most of the tourist sights and watch some kick boxing, outdoor markets and eat crab for breakfast at a floating market.

Week 10-14 - Jomson Treck, Karnali Rafting and Bardia

JOMSON TRECK
Arrive in Pokarah, fealing sh*te from the previous night, its 2pm, I have a 7am flight the next day to start my treck, my brain is not functioning, I have too much to do. Arrive at my rafting agency at 6pm, they send me into a panic, I have no trecking permit, walking shoes or guide. They convince me to get a guide, only $US10 a day and sort me out to pick up a permit at 6am the next day before my flight. Its 6pm, I still need boots, pack a small bag for the treck and I need to change my flight to Bangkok which departs while I am on my treck. I decide to get my Mum to sort the flight for me, I can't function enough to make a phone call. I have 5 hours sleep, then get up at 4am to pack my bag.

Day 1 - Jomson Village to Kagbeni
Turns out to be my loneliest day since being away. We head to the nearest village, after one hour I have blisters and by bag hurts from my rucksack, I start to sing Lemonheads 'I lied about being the outdoor type' to myself. Arrive at 11am at a quiet town where I will spend the rest of the day, wonder around, then head to hotel. There is a squabling english family and a group of French girls, the girls seem the best option, my 'bonjour' hangs in the air like an unwanted fart so I sit alone, drink masala tea and go to bed at 2pm. I sleep right through to the morning and get a lovely 15 hours in bed.



Day 2 - Kagbeni - Muktinath
I feal much better the next day, the french girls are more friendly and the english family have stopped squabling. The days walk is fantastic. My guide takes me to a guest house where I am the only guest, there is a lively young place up the road but I have no money to get a beer. I adjust to my solitary life, for entertainment I sit on a wall and watch an old lady throw stones at some escaped chickens. I ring my mum, she can't change the flight for me, I'm screwed. I have little cash and the phone calls on the treck cost a bomb. People say there are no cash points on the treck, but maybe there is one when we loop back to Jomson. I have 2 plans. I estimate the phone call will take 20 minutes, which means if I sleep rough under the stars and only eat one plate of boiled rice a day and drink boiled water I will be OK to carry on with the walk. The rain doesn't figure in this plan. The other plan is to fly back to Pokaraha, abort the walk and make my phone call. I like the thought of option one and surving real basic, it will be a test.



Day 3 Muktinath - Martha via Lubrah and Jomson
My favourite days walking on the trip, 7 hours total. It is a side route not manny people take to the Tibeten settlement, Lubrah. My guide says these settlements existed for ages before the Nepelease goverment found them. I enjoy the walk and try forget about the flight till I get to Jomson.



I get to Jomson, the sight of the ATM is the best thing I have seen on my entire trip, better than any temple. Things will be OK! I can make my phone call, drink beer and eat well.


When I saw some wheat crops swaying and swirling round a group of apple tree's, I instantly thought of Van Gough's paintings. It was better than seeing the ATM! My next town I stay at is real social, the rest of the treck becomes a lot more fun after the initial bad start.

Day 3 - 9 - The Rest of The Treck
The rest of the treck consists of about 7 hour days of walking but is incredibly fun, at times we hike up for ages only to walk back down the other side, makes the previous days efforst feal undone.






The lead donkeys wear this big tasstle thing. The naughty donkeys that veer off track are at the back where they seem to get constantly whacked.




My mountain pictures turned out a bit naff, they were beutifull.

POKARAHA
My base for walking and rafting trips, my guest house was fantastic, CBB MoMo. The owner took me fishing and played ping pong with me. Hung out with an english chap who took my bus from Kathmandu. My days basically consisted of: brakefast, walk/fish/cycle, read, lunch, siesta, read, ping pong, beer, dinner, beer, pool and then sleep to repeat the next day! Nice and relaxing. Feal a bit guilty when I hang in the chill out places, feal I should be out experiencing things.


Hindu wending in Pokaraha.

KARNALI RAFTING
I wait for the rafting team in a town called Mugling and chat to an Old Gurka, the nicest person I have met in Nepal. He wears a Never Ending Peace And Love (NEPAL) t-shirt. The bus rolls up, it reminds me of the Scooby Doo bus, 8 young Nepelease kids fall out of the bus, that must be the team! There is also and Aussi, Scott and a Canadian, Kynan. As dusk falls, 2 of the nepealease lads sing and it starts to feal like Cliff Richards summer holiday bus, I start to get excited like a school kid going on an excursion. When night approach's the plastic shiva god at the front of the bus automatically flashes and insense sticks are burnt and 2 of the lads start to pray. I am a little confused but then figure it is to protect us on the roads at night as they are extrememely dangerous.


Half the dyas are spent chilling on secluded beaches, just as good as the rafting.


My, Scotts and Kynans tent. It feals like Ray Mears, I absoultly love it, we also catch a fish.









Buy chickens from a local village and strap 'em to the boat. Sorry vegetarians.

BARDIA NATIONAL PARK
It is surprising that something so chilled and perfect for tourists is so void of tourists. Good for us but the hotel owners desperately need people. Most likely due to Moaist activity in the area and Lonely Planet doesn't do it any justice by sugesting that it is a ghost town. The town life and people within the park is a great attraction in itself. Everyone is happy and peacefull, the village tour we did of the Nehru villages highlighted this.



Me and Kynan go on a Tiger Safari on foot! We only had large sticks as protection and one guide. We enter the national park and I am extremely scared but excited, I ask our guide if I should hit the tiger with my stick if it starts attacking him, he says, 'yes, please try!' My heart races, we head to a likely spot and wait, I soon calm down when I realise that the tigers are located across a river. We head to a large high up platform, on the way we walk through a mob of monkeys, one makes a noise that I thought was a tiger, which scared me massively, I ran to the guide for protection and realised my error as he laughed at me! When I arrive at the high platform I suddenly feal realy sleepy from all the previous fear, my legs are pretty weak after that and I just want to sleep, a few other people laugh at me for being so sleepy and mellow!



The baby orphan elephant that wanted to play. He was a strong bugger! He got washed down the river away from his parents.





I spend a lot of time cycling round the park on a bicycle and chat to a lot of the local people. I chat to a hotel owner who has had no customers for 10 days, he blames the army base oposite his hotel, would rather it be on the outskirts where it would provide more protection to the park and the tigers that get poached. I chat to an owner of a restaurant, he says he only has one daughter and no son, so his daughter does the work of both a son and a daughter!



On departing Bardia, me and Kynan ride the bus on the roof, good fun although I feal I may get decapitated by the low telephone cables, some are proped higher with long bamboo poles, I duck to make sure I keep my head! In the evening we head inside the bus, the back of the bus makes me feal sick due to the bad suspension, so I try to sleep on a buffet in the isle, but it cuts my circulation and I keep jumping up with cramp. A kid on the bus rabbits on at me as I try to sleep, everytime I tell strangers that I am 27 and single, they think I am some sort of Huge Hefner, he asks me if it is true that love is free in england! wtf! On a more serious note, the bus seams to double up as an ambulance. There is an incredably sick lady at the front of the bus, she ends up coming near to Pokaraha to a hospital, after spending around 15 hours on that bus. There is also a malnurished baby to my left which is very upsetting, I'm not sure what hospital the baby went to, if at all.



Other


Check out www.secretgardenparty.com and the 2006 photos, see if you can spot me dressed as Hunter S Thompson. Gonna miss the festivals. It takes me bloody ages to do this blog, so leave a comment so I know people are reading it.

shanti.

Week 9 - Nepal - Kathmandu, Bhakatapur, Thimi

Kathmandu

I like Nepal, a lot. It's the Nepalese New Year tonight, so I will be seeing in 2064 with my Aussi mate Paul, I won't be 84 till I see 2064 again! Should be a good night, as loads of young people kicking about here.



On my first day in Kathmandu I get lost. I have some food in a small room with a low ceiling, the food is laid out like a buffet, I point at a few dishes and get some great tasting chewy meat and spicy veg, I love it. I wonder further down the street and walk past a big steaming pot with what looks like an upside down dog inside it, I tell myself it is being de-fleed. I walk further and after getting directions, head back on myself. I pass the steaming pot again, the dog now has no fur and I can see it has had its head chopped off. I now realise that it is being cooked. I start to think of the chewy meat I ate just 500m up the road! I have asked a lot of people about what I saw and most say it cannot of been a dog, some say it is illegal, some say it is legal but not done, I am not sure what animal it was, but it was gross!



Bhakatapur Festival
Paul had a good effect on me in a bad way. I was scared of motorbikes and foreign roads but we both decide to explore the valley on bikes. Was my first time on a scooter and first time on crazy foreign roads. We head off to the main road after a brief tuition, our plan is to stop occasionally in order to make sure the other is still around. At the first junction I turn right, for some reason Paul heads straight. I do a few loops and can't see him, I start to think we should have had a better plan. We have no hotel booked and the only directions I have is when Paul pointed the general way to our next town. I decide to head to Bhakatapur alone and try meet Paul there. On the way I sh*t it loads, but soon learn it is safer to go fast as the buses don't hogg your ass that way. I ask for directions and pick up one guy going to the same town but the bike wobbles like crazy with the extra weight and he gets off. I hit the Arnko Highway and finally get there, somehow. I fealt bad getting a bike, as my Grandad always told me never to ride one, as his brother Charlie died on one.

I arrive for a Chariot pulling festival, it is a competition between the West and East of town, the side to pull the chariot to their part of town wins and gets good luck for the crop season.



At 9.00 I am shattered so head off to my hotel, there is still no sign of Paul, there is a mob of kids ahead of me and a buzz in the air, not sure what is going on. The youths all start charging in my direction, I hide behind a temple wall to avoid the stampede and I somehow end up in the middle of a rock throwing riot. There are four Nepalese fella's perched by the temple wall with me and they all look as petrified as I am. Some youths with corrugated iron shields launch rocks over our heads to the east side of town behind us, there are also some shielded youths to the right, rocks started landing around us, I shout at them to chill! A squeaky voiced Nepalese guy helps me and we head down behind the protection of the shields. My heart is pounding like crazy. We watch for a while and decide to head off, I go down dark alleys with the squeaky dude, there are enough people about so I follow, all the ways to my hotel are closed off by the rioters, he invites me to stay at his house with his parents, I don't trust no one when travelling so I decide I will head back to the safety of town, where the old folk are chilling away from the riot. I wait for the riot to die down but then I get bored, so I walk about, taking safer looks at the rock throwing and run when everyone else does. I get worried about my bike getting damaged as I signed a waver that stated the bike is not insured and I would have to pay for any damage. I hang with another Nepalese guy, who helps me move the bike to a safe place. We walk past riot police after trying to find a way to my hotel, there are about 100 of them just north of my hotel, they have cleared a route and I get back to my hotel about 11 after two hours wondering about this crazy old town. I fealt safe in this town even with this strange festival going on and it sure did get the andrenalin going again, after having my first dose of the day on the moped!

The next day I have an email from Paul saying he went back to Kathmandu to try find me and would be heading to Bhakatapur the night I arrived. We finally meet up and swap story's of the crazy riot (Check out Paul's site linked at the right). Paul got a little injured as did my Nepalese friend who helped me move the bike.

We head off on the bikes the next morning to what is one of my favourite things I have done on my trip, we ride past army bases, paddy fields and do a big circle on dirt and tarmac roads, brilliant having the freedom of the bike.

A polish chick told me she also went to Bhakatapur for a festival, which consisted of all people, children to old men, slaughtering goats and chickens for the gods. She said the streets were awash with blood. Good old Nepalease festivals!

New Years Day - Kathmandu / Thimi
On my own again, Paul headed to Delhi. The worst hangover I have ever had, combat it with a trip to the Monkey Temple (forgot its proper name). The place heals me.







Had a good vibe, everyone was there to celebrate the New Year, there was a soundsystem and people were dancing and singing to 'By the River of Babylon' among other greats. Buy loads of fake outdoor gear from Kathmandu, which is slowly falling to piece's.

Thimi Bisket Jatra Festival
Head to Thimi for New Years Day evening for another strange but wonderfull festival. The Nepalease men are drunk on a potent homebrew called roxy, they are charging round town carrying a Khat (Palaquin), being pushed away by the surrounding croud.





I head back to Kathmandu and get drawn into a local bar by a covers band, turns out to be a bad mistake, get drunk, have 2 hours sleep, pack my bag and leave hotel at 6am for bus to Pokaraha.

Shanti.