Nepal.... Well my biggest mistake was not planning for this part of my trip. After living in Tahoe on and off for 6 years a place like Nepal would have been a perfect place to explore, relax, and enjoy, but instead it was slightly rushed and left only partially discovered (by me that is).
The drive from Sunali to Pokhara was amazing; especially after leaving the chaos of India, if the driver was not absolutely bumping terrible trance/techno remixes I would say that the drive would have been perfect. Windy narrow roads the start out pretty low in elevation and begin the climb higher and higher in to the Himalayas. For me the Himalayas seemed so mystical, so untouched, so unreachable; but here I was cursing through the mountains on my way to a Pokhara a hikers/kayakers/ rafters dream. The villages that I drove through were phenomenal and I remember thinking what a simple life these people live, hard... definitely hard but simple and beautiful.
Pokhara was a dream, relaxing at first, but soon was filled with tourists alike, with their trekking poles, rugged look, it was basically a Patagonia magazine, or better yet a L.L. bean magazine, decked out head to toe in their hot new unused gear walking down the street, mostly middle aged people (with some money) "set out to conquer the world," or the Annapuna mountain range. Being completely unprepared for this it made me laugh because even booking my trek at the last minute, having half the equipment, and probably a fraction of the knowledge, I knew I was better off than these jokers. With that said there were plenty of crunchy people ready to take on the mountain, people who looked like they belonged there, hikers who were actually carrying their packs. It was a cool place to be for a week, Pokhara was an enjoyable city. Advice, get there before the crowds, early September.
Leaving Pokhara I was excited to see what the rest of the country looked like but my fantasy of the pristine Himalayas was just that, a fantasy. With population, poverty, and lack of education comes pollution and an abundance of trash. Nepal was NOT on the level of India but if their population was as high, it would fall to the same fait of their polluted neighbors to the south. the one thing I must credit Nepal for is that they do have garbage cans visibly, and they do know how to keep touristy areas clean, if you venture off the touristy path, watch what you step in because you never know what you may find.
Katmandu: As you creep over the hill after the LONG life threatening bus ride (which if you don't like heights, edges, or windy roads, your absolutely screwed), Katmandu comes into view, a sprawled city with its problems, mostly the same as big Indian cities, but with 1/2 the population. I was preparing for the worst but after arriving in Thamel (backpackers central) I was pleasantly surprised. There were a couple of busy tourist streets that had everything you could ask for; restaurants, bars, internet, English speakers, laundry service, culture, and more pack backers which is nice to see when in a big city. Being in Katmandu was a pleasant surprise, granted I stayed in a hotel which was pushed out side of Themal on a quiet little back street that at first I was a bit upset about, but once I realized how close I was to the heart of everything, it made my stay so much better.
Now in China and writing this blog, I can say my second biggest mistake was NOT taking advantage of having the Himalayas right there, currently struggling to get into Tibet to see the landscape, the Tibetan Plateau, the mountains, the lakes, it just doesn't seem possible. Katmandu and Nepal (although it is NOT Tibet) it still holds the largest mountain in the world and a trip to Nepal side of the Tibetan mountains would have been nice.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroNepal?feat=directlink
The drive from Sunali to Pokhara was amazing; especially after leaving the chaos of India, if the driver was not absolutely bumping terrible trance/techno remixes I would say that the drive would have been perfect. Windy narrow roads the start out pretty low in elevation and begin the climb higher and higher in to the Himalayas. For me the Himalayas seemed so mystical, so untouched, so unreachable; but here I was cursing through the mountains on my way to a Pokhara a hikers/kayakers/ rafters dream. The villages that I drove through were phenomenal and I remember thinking what a simple life these people live, hard... definitely hard but simple and beautiful.
Pokhara was a dream, relaxing at first, but soon was filled with tourists alike, with their trekking poles, rugged look, it was basically a Patagonia magazine, or better yet a L.L. bean magazine, decked out head to toe in their hot new unused gear walking down the street, mostly middle aged people (with some money) "set out to conquer the world," or the Annapuna mountain range. Being completely unprepared for this it made me laugh because even booking my trek at the last minute, having half the equipment, and probably a fraction of the knowledge, I knew I was better off than these jokers. With that said there were plenty of crunchy people ready to take on the mountain, people who looked like they belonged there, hikers who were actually carrying their packs. It was a cool place to be for a week, Pokhara was an enjoyable city. Advice, get there before the crowds, early September.
Leaving Pokhara I was excited to see what the rest of the country looked like but my fantasy of the pristine Himalayas was just that, a fantasy. With population, poverty, and lack of education comes pollution and an abundance of trash. Nepal was NOT on the level of India but if their population was as high, it would fall to the same fait of their polluted neighbors to the south. the one thing I must credit Nepal for is that they do have garbage cans visibly, and they do know how to keep touristy areas clean, if you venture off the touristy path, watch what you step in because you never know what you may find.
Katmandu: As you creep over the hill after the LONG life threatening bus ride (which if you don't like heights, edges, or windy roads, your absolutely screwed), Katmandu comes into view, a sprawled city with its problems, mostly the same as big Indian cities, but with 1/2 the population. I was preparing for the worst but after arriving in Thamel (backpackers central) I was pleasantly surprised. There were a couple of busy tourist streets that had everything you could ask for; restaurants, bars, internet, English speakers, laundry service, culture, and more pack backers which is nice to see when in a big city. Being in Katmandu was a pleasant surprise, granted I stayed in a hotel which was pushed out side of Themal on a quiet little back street that at first I was a bit upset about, but once I realized how close I was to the heart of everything, it made my stay so much better.
Now in China and writing this blog, I can say my second biggest mistake was NOT taking advantage of having the Himalayas right there, currently struggling to get into Tibet to see the landscape, the Tibetan Plateau, the mountains, the lakes, it just doesn't seem possible. Katmandu and Nepal (although it is NOT Tibet) it still holds the largest mountain in the world and a trip to Nepal side of the Tibetan mountains would have been nice.
PHOTOS:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc/MarcvaccaroNepal?feat=directlink
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