I am officially rubbish at keeping this blog I really wish I didn't get so far behind with it but it's just finding time and when it's so nice outside I don't want to spend my time slaving over this in an internet cafe - think I need a really cheap net book next time.
Photos from the next bit of the journey are here.
Bandipur - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162467&id=771224918&l=7754b784a7
Kali Gandaki rafting - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162469&id=771224918&l=2227a2f4d5
Was going to take an interesting route to Bandipur which is halfway between Pokhara and Kathmandu but then apathy set in - I would have had to drag myself up to the bus station, be ripped by a taxi driver along the way so I decided to take the easy option tourist bus back to Pokhara getting off at Dumre. I still ended up getting scammed with that as they would only sell me a ticket to Pokhara but it did have the advantage of leaving from just round the corner from the hotel so saving on the hassle of getting a taxi for a ridiculous rate. Saw one of the saddest sights on the way to find the bus, all the street kids were cwtched (as I prefer to say -*see below for translation) up together under blankets outside the Moroccan consulate - I really felt guilty for not taking some food over to them (too busy trying to find the bus) as they were the kind of kids who really needed help - some you find are just asking you for money just because you are a foreigner.
Eventually found the bus only to find a rather chunky Nepalese woman sat in my seat - I always find it petty arguing about seat numbers so I just sat where there was a space behind a rather excitable Norwegian who was forever checking his altimeter, which was a bit pointless as the Prithvi Highway isn't a spectacular mountain road mostly it follows the Trisuli river along the valley. Bandipur was how I imagined Nepal would be - little wooden houses lit by candlelight when the power went off (this happened everyday just as the sun went down) and no cars - I ended up with a very sweet room behind the bar of Newi Guesthouse - no hot water but there was a lovely patio out the back that overlooked the hills - really peaceful place.
Photos from the next bit of the journey are here.
Bandipur - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162467&id=771224918&l=7754b784a7
Kali Gandaki rafting - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162469&id=771224918&l=2227a2f4d5
Was going to take an interesting route to Bandipur which is halfway between Pokhara and Kathmandu but then apathy set in - I would have had to drag myself up to the bus station, be ripped by a taxi driver along the way so I decided to take the easy option tourist bus back to Pokhara getting off at Dumre. I still ended up getting scammed with that as they would only sell me a ticket to Pokhara but it did have the advantage of leaving from just round the corner from the hotel so saving on the hassle of getting a taxi for a ridiculous rate. Saw one of the saddest sights on the way to find the bus, all the street kids were cwtched (as I prefer to say -*see below for translation) up together under blankets outside the Moroccan consulate - I really felt guilty for not taking some food over to them (too busy trying to find the bus) as they were the kind of kids who really needed help - some you find are just asking you for money just because you are a foreigner.
Eventually found the bus only to find a rather chunky Nepalese woman sat in my seat - I always find it petty arguing about seat numbers so I just sat where there was a space behind a rather excitable Norwegian who was forever checking his altimeter, which was a bit pointless as the Prithvi Highway isn't a spectacular mountain road mostly it follows the Trisuli river along the valley. Bandipur was how I imagined Nepal would be - little wooden houses lit by candlelight when the power went off (this happened everyday just as the sun went down) and no cars - I ended up with a very sweet room behind the bar of Newi Guesthouse - no hot water but there was a lovely patio out the back that overlooked the hills - really peaceful place.
Bandipur was such a change after Kathmandu, the only downside was the excessive throat clearing in the morning. Once more I cursed the Lonely Planet as I tried to follow the map - even in a village I couldn't get to grips with it but even sometimes that turns out well as I ended up on the top of this cliff looking at the most amazing view down the valley - it really took your breath away seeing the immense gap between the valley floor and the tops of mountains. Spent the afternoon walking to a Hindu temple overlooking the village and hanging out with some sweet goats - wildlife that I could cope with before heading back to the guesthouse. Later I chatted to Rana who helped out in the guesthouse and tried to teach me some Nepali - sorted out the word for goodnight and how to write the numbers before being joined by her brother Kishor who was the local school teacher and tried to explain Maoist politics to me - another strike had begun the previous day. The sky was so clear and it was an amazing starry night - you really can't believe how many stars are out there it was like being back in Kashmir which has the most fantastic night skies that I have ever seen.
Sometimes you can't get things right - do you be rude and ignore people or do you speak to them and get shafted. This happened to me the following day when I took the bus back to Pokhara - getting off the jeep back to Dumre (half price on the way down) I was met by a young lad who asked me where I was going, I didn't need his help as I'd sussed out the Pokhara bus left from the opposite side of the road. However he insisted on pointing it out and then following me and showing me where to sit which I was protesting about as I might be a bit dippy at times but I have managed to suss out seat arrangements on buses. He was followed by his mate a rather shifty looking bloke who then demanded 250 rupees as the fare back to Pokhara - I said I'd pay when the bus set off "No you pay now or you get off" he said agressively - I argued with him for about 5 minutes but I knew if I got off he would just follow me and make trouble on every bus I tried to get on so I paid rather reluctantly and as predicted he then gave the money to the conductor less his fee for doing bugger all. When this happens (which isn't very often and 250 rupees is about 2 pounds) I just look at the fact that the money won't bring them happiness as it's tainted and in this case with a bit of luck a thundering great big truck would come down the highway and flatten the little shit if he was crossing the road that often ripping people off.
Back in Pokhara decided not to go back to the Paradise as I was still a bit miffed about the service charge so ended up at a new hotel which was a lot quieter re the screaming kids but the downside was the mythical hot water and the band playing next door - Nepali bands don't seem to have a repertoire that extends past 1975 - so once more endless renditions of "Smoke on the Water" sent me to sleep.
Took a bit of time to sort out the rafting trip as it was a lot quieter than when I first arrived in Pokhara so some companies weren't running the trips but eventually I found one. It was ace and I wish it could have gone on longer but since they built a hydro electric dam what was once a five day trip had now become a three day one. I ended up on the "party boat" with Nigel and Mandy from Cumbria, Eimear and Aaron from Ireland and Dan from America - Nigel and Aaron were like a double act and we spent the whole time laughing which sometimes I don't think Dan got, as he said to Eimear when she asked him if he was enjoying it "Yes it's just don't get as audibly excited as you guys". The first big rapid we came to, the boats were sent down on their own as it was just too dangerous - two of the boats then got stuck on the rocks and all the provisions including the tents got absolutely soaked. The waves were great but I don't think it was as scarey as Rishikesh as it was later in the season - you could see as we floated along how high the river level had risen after the monsoon. First night we dried off the tents the best we could but they were still a bit damp and smelly - evening was spent playing cards and drinking the rum punch that Eimear and Aaron had got the lads to make though it was a little on the light side rum wise - think the guys had helped themselves to quite a bit of it.
Back in Pokhara decided not to go back to the Paradise as I was still a bit miffed about the service charge so ended up at a new hotel which was a lot quieter re the screaming kids but the downside was the mythical hot water and the band playing next door - Nepali bands don't seem to have a repertoire that extends past 1975 - so once more endless renditions of "Smoke on the Water" sent me to sleep.
Took a bit of time to sort out the rafting trip as it was a lot quieter than when I first arrived in Pokhara so some companies weren't running the trips but eventually I found one. It was ace and I wish it could have gone on longer but since they built a hydro electric dam what was once a five day trip had now become a three day one. I ended up on the "party boat" with Nigel and Mandy from Cumbria, Eimear and Aaron from Ireland and Dan from America - Nigel and Aaron were like a double act and we spent the whole time laughing which sometimes I don't think Dan got, as he said to Eimear when she asked him if he was enjoying it "Yes it's just don't get as audibly excited as you guys". The first big rapid we came to, the boats were sent down on their own as it was just too dangerous - two of the boats then got stuck on the rocks and all the provisions including the tents got absolutely soaked. The waves were great but I don't think it was as scarey as Rishikesh as it was later in the season - you could see as we floated along how high the river level had risen after the monsoon. First night we dried off the tents the best we could but they were still a bit damp and smelly - evening was spent playing cards and drinking the rum punch that Eimear and Aaron had got the lads to make though it was a little on the light side rum wise - think the guys had helped themselves to quite a bit of it.
The other boat was a lot quieter but I suspect that was down to the mixture of languages - Birger and Karsten from Germany, Jean from Canada and Daniel from Sheffield - it was a bit strange that out of the twelve of us, three of us came from Yorkshire - maybe we travel more as I hardly ever meet anyone from Wales (5 in 7 years). Jean was a quiet lad with a sense of humour, liked Thailand and had been travelling for 10 months - he had Nigel totally convinced that he was from Israel so much so that Nigel asked him about his time in the army much to Jean's amusement.
The second night we had a camp fire which was a really cool - a little old lady came down from the village with her lovely dog Bangay and sold some rather cheap alcohol at a price. The Nepali guys did a song and then Dan offered to do a 18th century German madrigal on the bucket - that has got to be strangest thing anybody has ever offered to play when I've been sat round a campfire! The final day there were a few rapids, Eimear got well soaked nearly falling out of the boat at one point, then Dan took over as guide (he was raft guide in the US) - I think he found us a bit hard to control as we were laughing so much. Back in Pokhara we all went out for a meal but were a bit let down by the guides as only one showed up (they had suggested it) - the one who showed up was the one we all didn't like as he was a right cocky sod - on the first day he had said to me "how old are you, 40?" so we weren't really happy giving him the tip that we had originally agreed on. Sad saying goodbye to everyone as I was the only one staying on in Pokhara and it had been a great trip.
Okay that's it for the minute - hopefully some more next week - now in Trichy in Tamil Nadu in the far south - lovely and warm - only two weeks left on my visa I am so going to miss this place when I leave.
The second night we had a camp fire which was a really cool - a little old lady came down from the village with her lovely dog Bangay and sold some rather cheap alcohol at a price. The Nepali guys did a song and then Dan offered to do a 18th century German madrigal on the bucket - that has got to be strangest thing anybody has ever offered to play when I've been sat round a campfire! The final day there were a few rapids, Eimear got well soaked nearly falling out of the boat at one point, then Dan took over as guide (he was raft guide in the US) - I think he found us a bit hard to control as we were laughing so much. Back in Pokhara we all went out for a meal but were a bit let down by the guides as only one showed up (they had suggested it) - the one who showed up was the one we all didn't like as he was a right cocky sod - on the first day he had said to me "how old are you, 40?" so we weren't really happy giving him the tip that we had originally agreed on. Sad saying goodbye to everyone as I was the only one staying on in Pokhara and it had been a great trip.
Okay that's it for the minute - hopefully some more next week - now in Trichy in Tamil Nadu in the far south - lovely and warm - only two weeks left on my visa I am so going to miss this place when I leave.
* Cwtch - welsh word for a cuddle or a hug. Pronounced 'Cutch'.
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