Pokhara

13 April 2009

Hello, Marie-Claude here!

Right now, I am sitting in the wombat in an overlander campsite, 5 km out of Pokhara. Jonny is dealing with a little battery problem, and I’m updating the website. This is a powered campsite, but the power isn’t on all the time. 4 hours on, 8 hours off. Of course, I went to have a shower the minute the power went off, so had to have a cold one. I’ve had my fair share of cold showers by now and don’t mind, it’s just that when you look forward to finally get a hot one and get cut off... Oh well, at least I’m clean and can actually run my fingers through my hair!

I was sick for 3 days, but am finally getting better. For the second time in Nepal, I woke up felling stomach sick and had to rush for the bathroom. The only problem was that this time, I had an incredibly high fever. Jonny was worried and took extra good care of me...and then he fell sick. We spent a day and night in bed with a fever rushing to the bathroom and drinking rehydration salts... It’s no good when we’re both sick! It’s bound to happen though... Tomorrow will make 6 months that we’ve been on the road. Perhaps this was our bodies’ way of telling us to stop and rest for a few days.

While in Pohkara, we have been blessed with good weather and amazing views. Before we were sick, we had the chance to go to Sangarkot, a great view point not far from Pokhara. When we arrived, the Annapurna chain (with 2 peaks over 8000m) was clouded over, but we were patient and stuck around. Apparently they had not had a view of the mountains for days and days, but it was clear in the morning. We had just missed it, but were hopeful the clouds would clear. In the evening, we could a great view for the sunset. After a romantic pasta dinner with a Himalayan view (and mango juice in plastic wine glasses) we slept right next to a view point. We were woken up at 550 by a local yelling “SUNRISE. SUNRISE” We hopped out of bed, got dressed and went up the hill. It was so worth it! The entire chain was clear and cloud free! I was mesmerized! I’m so happy we camped at that spot and got to see the sunrise over the mountains!

We have decided that we are not exactly “trekking” people at the moment. We don’t have the money, the time, and frankly I think we’re a little lazy :) I got everything I wanted out of sitting in one spot and taking in the view for hours and hours. I even took out my guitar and sang to the mountains. (I maintain that’s what made the clouds clear, by the way.)

We’ve been in Nepal for two weeks, and have to leave by the 16th. We got what we came for: Momos, a taste of the Himalayan range, and our visa for Pakistan (Don’t even get me started on the visa for Pakistan...The office is open only 8 hours a week, the process takes 3 or 4 days not 1 or 2, it costs 78USD for a Canadian citizen and requires a letter to be written from the Canadian embassy which costs 50USD, and you need to sit in for an interview!) We were planning to drive all the way across Nepal heading west, but we met an overlander who has been on the road for 12 years who advised us against it. He has done it and says it needs minimum 4 days. In Nepal, things are always a little unpredictable, you don’t know if you’ll cross and 80 truck road block, a political march, a large fire, or closure of roads at certain times in national parks. He said that it was best to go south back to India, and that’s what we reckoned we would do. We’ll head straight to Dehli to deal with the Iranian visa (which we’ve learned from our experienced friend can take up to a month! yikes!) We hope to see Agra and the Taj Mahal.

Other than that, Nepal is quite a beautiful place. It can be a little unpredictable at times, with its road blocks, protests, traffic jams, and power cuts, but the people are welcoming. I will stay up to date on the political situation in the coming years, because it really feels like a big change is coming...

Marie-Claude

ps I’ve been eating plain crackers for 3 days...you know what would be amazing? Poutine....or a nice baguette and brie....or sushi....or onion soup... or smoked salmon with cream cheese and capers, or a nice vegetable lasagne....or chocolate cake, or cheese cake or any sort of cake (except perhaps rice)....mmmmmmmmmm

Kathmandu

5 April 2009

We made it to Nepal! We were both quite thrilled as we had never visited the king of all mountain chains, the Himalayas!

But to start from where we last left off, we drove from Varanasi to Bodh Gaya, the place where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment. After a quick visit to the cheap and tiny museum of Archeology, we went to the temple, where a beautiful Buddha statue is located. Right next to the temple is the Bodhi tree, under which lord Buddha sat when the said event happened. It was nice to see the devotion of certain pilgrims which must have come a long way with a lot less means than us. But apart from that, it did not seem like the town had a lot more to offer except for overpriced drinks and tourist touts. So we hit the road!

Our next goal was to make it to the border with Nepal. After a night at a gas station, we thought we would have an easy ride to the border. Little did we know, we were about to face the worst roads we had seen yet! Highway 28a took us a lot longer than we expected, and we didn’t reach the border until 5pm. The Indian customs and immigration were quite straightforward, apart for the usual bribe attempt from the immigration officer, and off we were to Nepal!

On the Nepali side, it seemed like a nightmare come true. Trucks were lined up as far as we can see, and it looked like we might be there for awhile. So JD went off to try to figure out what the deal was, and MC took the wheel. A few smiles to the truckers later, and MC had somehow amazingly appeared in front of the hundreds of trucks! Quite an impressive feat. During that time, JD sorted out the visas, and got started on the importation of the car. A couple of young guys, helped us out and within 20 minutes all was done! Of course, it was well dark by now. We asked the guys for a safe place to park for the night, and a little later, we were off to their village, where we were a welcomed with a fantastic hospitality! We were offered a delicious dinner, although we couldn’t finish the amounts they served us, and went and had a good night sleep after watching a couple of innings of cricket.

The next day, we took a quick visit of the temple in Birgunj. It was a holiday and it is what people do. Then, we hit the road for Kathmandu. The road, as i mentioned earlier, was everything we expected from Nepal. It went very high very quickly, with a million different stunning views, and the pure smell of the mountain. It was quite refreshing after India!

Arrived in Kathamandu, we found a parking space to camp. Our main goal here is to obtain a visa for Pakistan. Of course, we arrived on a Friday, and we cannot obtain any information until Monday. So we are just hanging out, enjoying the cool weather, and catching up on much needed chores- like laundry!

JD