The main bazaar in Bandipur - a traditional Newari (one of the 100 or so tribes in Nepal) town which used to be a main stop on the trading route between India and Tibet until they built a new road in the valley below. Although it is now getting established as a tourist stop it still has a traditional feel about it with the old brick factories with wooden carved windows being used as shops/hotels and very relaxing with not one single tout.
As you walked down the street all the kids and most of the adults greet you with "Namste" - traditional greeting of respect - I think I must have photographed most of the kids in the town!
One of the main sights is about 11/2 hour walk into the hills to explore Siddha Gufa - the largest cave in Nepal (and locals say Asia~!!) which was only discovered about 20 years ago. I was glad that I decided to take the advice of the hotel and take one of the staff as a guide as it was pitch dark, slippy and there was a bit of scrambling - as you can see quite a drop down as well if you lose your footing!!
Me exploring the cave...
The view down to Bilmalngar from the cave.
Ryan enjoying a rest after I made him walk up another hill later the same day to see the views around Bandipur!
Some more of the adorable local kids who just run about and play - in fact at one point I was handed a one year old by his big sister who then took me to one of the temples - when we passed the kids dad he didn't even bat an eyelid that some strange woman had his kid!! And the only thing they asked was for their photo's to be taken.
Next day I decided to go on my own for the 2 hour trek to a remote village of Ramkot. Took bit longer than that - firstly as I kept stopping to take photo's of the wierd and wonderful bugs and butterflies - but also I think I managed to get off the main track a couple of times - as it had been heavy rains I also had to stop every few minutes to knock of the hundreds of leeches that were all over my boots before they got another bite!! Oh and I managed to slip down the side of a hill and get tangled up in a tree!! Luckily just covered in scratches and mud!!
Big Ugly Cricket thing....
Ramkot is completely isolated - a couple of hours walk from the next village, no electricity, shop and very basic conditions. When I tried to fill up my water bottle at one of the public taps around the village they were all dry (luckily I found one on way back out of the village!). Although, it was good and seems really pretty a hard life for the locals who again farm on the hillside to survive.
The local kids and a few ladies were all the people I saw in the village as everyone else was working in the fields - they all seemed a little bemused by the strange white lady with curly hair who was covered in mud and blood (from the scratches) who had wandered into their village!!
I'm sure in the more remote parts of Nepal that there are still hundred's of people live in these conditions.
I managed to get back to Bandipur a completely different, an uneventful, route than I took to Ramkot and found a local dance festival was in full swing.
A lady and her granddaughter who I met on my walk the next day to the Silk Farm (much more straight forward route!)
The chick that the children seemed to have rescued.
They didn't actually make the silk at the Silk Farm rather cultivate the silk worms from eggs to cocoons then send the thread elsewhere to me made into cloth. Silk worm has short life cycle of 50 days - just in case you ever get asked that on Who Wants to be a Millionaire...
A walk around Bandipur again just kept bumping into groups of kids - these one'w were on their lunch break from school.
This used to be the parade ground used for archery contests and fares now the kids use it at playtime but there are good views over the valley. The big Fig trees represent different Hindu gods.
As I passed another smaller school I was invited in to meet the kids by the 16 year old teacher - who spoke perfect English. This is a christian school with 6 classes and 8 teachers. It is for the poorer families and costs 50-120 rupees (40p-95p) to send your kid here each month. Every class I walked into the kids all stood up and politely said 'Namste"
And as it's rainy season nobody, even the kids, go very far without an umbrella or poncho (or big plastic bag!) - just like being at home :-)
This is Aarita the little girl who stayed in the house next to my hotel who also took me on a guided walk up this hill after taking me into her house to meet her grandmother and family.
The very friendly staff at the Bandipur Guest House.
Next I stopped at Gorkha another hill town a 21/2 hour (but 4 hour with changes) bus ride away - this is the birthplace of the founder of modern day Nepal.
Although bigger and a lot more modern buildings than Bandipur they still make use of the old buildings - this one is the post office - not sure I would trust anything to reach it's destination right enough!
Local believe these are the footprints of one of the Hindu gods - though which one varies depending on who you ask!
A climb up another 1,500 steps takes you to the main attraction the Gorkha Durbar - a combination of fort, palace and temple - pretty impressive views from here too.
A local girl copying one of the sitting positions of the gods.
The old palace which is now a museum - not the one the king has just been ousted from in Kathmandu!
My room at the hotel in Gorkha was on the roof and these boys live in the building next door. The oldest was 14 and was very aware of politics, his town and country history and told me lots of interesting stuff - they were very sweet and 'presented' me with a hand woven table amt before I left and wanted me to come back next year during school holidays so they could show me around :-)
The cable car to Manakamana - built for native pilgrims more than tourists as before this was opened in the 1990's pilgrims had to walk up the 1,000m (4-5 hour) route!! Funny enough there are now many more visitors (despite it being relatively expensive by local standards (and foreigners pay double that!!)
The bazaar at Manakamana - ok so I have just worked out how to take black & white photo's with my camera (I know it would have made sense to read the instruction manual before I left!!) - only think I need to do now is work out how to take night photo's as they are always blurry - any suggestions welcome???
Manakamana Temple - considered one of the most sacred temples in Nepal and pilgrims come here to pray for male children.
The sacrifice alter behind the temple - after making their wishes at the temple many pilgrims take their sacrifice (normally goat or chicken) to this alter and well I think you can work the rest out...... At least I didn't put on the photo of the headless goat!!
The Holymen and pidgeons at Manakamana - lucky for the pidgeons it seemed to be the day for sacrificing goats....
Ryan The Tiger enjoying his first ever ride in a Cable Car :-) (Yes the people sitting in the car with me thought I was mad!!)
The road back to Kathmandu from the cable car.
Just in case you haven't worked it out I absoultely love Nepal - not only is it beautiful with amazing scenery but the people are just so freindly and unassuming. The only hassle is from the odd tout in Kathmandu, which relative to other tourist areas is not that bad. The only thing I don't like is the traffic and pollution in Kathmandu especially around all the temples which they could close off to traffic. Hpefully the change in the political situation here (very interesting to be here just now with that all going on as well) will bring some over needed improvements over time. I will most definetely be keeping Nepal on my future travel list and I felt a little sad today when I booked my onward flight to Bangkok as I had to go a few days earlier than intended or wait another week!!
One of the main sights is about 11/2 hour walk into the hills to explore Siddha Gufa - the largest cave in Nepal (and locals say Asia~!!) which was only discovered about 20 years ago. I was glad that I decided to take the advice of the hotel and take one of the staff as a guide as it was pitch dark, slippy and there was a bit of scrambling - as you can see quite a drop down as well if you lose your footing!!
Me exploring the cave...
The view down to Bilmalngar from the cave.
Ryan enjoying a rest after I made him walk up another hill later the same day to see the views around Bandipur!
Some more of the adorable local kids who just run about and play - in fact at one point I was handed a one year old by his big sister who then took me to one of the temples - when we passed the kids dad he didn't even bat an eyelid that some strange woman had his kid!! And the only thing they asked was for their photo's to be taken.
Next day I decided to go on my own for the 2 hour trek to a remote village of Ramkot. Took bit longer than that - firstly as I kept stopping to take photo's of the wierd and wonderful bugs and butterflies - but also I think I managed to get off the main track a couple of times - as it had been heavy rains I also had to stop every few minutes to knock of the hundreds of leeches that were all over my boots before they got another bite!! Oh and I managed to slip down the side of a hill and get tangled up in a tree!! Luckily just covered in scratches and mud!!
Big Ugly Cricket thing....
Ramkot is completely isolated - a couple of hours walk from the next village, no electricity, shop and very basic conditions. When I tried to fill up my water bottle at one of the public taps around the village they were all dry (luckily I found one on way back out of the village!). Although, it was good and seems really pretty a hard life for the locals who again farm on the hillside to survive.
The local kids and a few ladies were all the people I saw in the village as everyone else was working in the fields - they all seemed a little bemused by the strange white lady with curly hair who was covered in mud and blood (from the scratches) who had wandered into their village!!
I'm sure in the more remote parts of Nepal that there are still hundred's of people live in these conditions.
I managed to get back to Bandipur a completely different, an uneventful, route than I took to Ramkot and found a local dance festival was in full swing.
A lady and her granddaughter who I met on my walk the next day to the Silk Farm (much more straight forward route!)
The chick that the children seemed to have rescued.
They didn't actually make the silk at the Silk Farm rather cultivate the silk worms from eggs to cocoons then send the thread elsewhere to me made into cloth. Silk worm has short life cycle of 50 days - just in case you ever get asked that on Who Wants to be a Millionaire...
A walk around Bandipur again just kept bumping into groups of kids - these one'w were on their lunch break from school.
This used to be the parade ground used for archery contests and fares now the kids use it at playtime but there are good views over the valley. The big Fig trees represent different Hindu gods.
As I passed another smaller school I was invited in to meet the kids by the 16 year old teacher - who spoke perfect English. This is a christian school with 6 classes and 8 teachers. It is for the poorer families and costs 50-120 rupees (40p-95p) to send your kid here each month. Every class I walked into the kids all stood up and politely said 'Namste"
And as it's rainy season nobody, even the kids, go very far without an umbrella or poncho (or big plastic bag!) - just like being at home :-)
This is Aarita the little girl who stayed in the house next to my hotel who also took me on a guided walk up this hill after taking me into her house to meet her grandmother and family.
The very friendly staff at the Bandipur Guest House.
Next I stopped at Gorkha another hill town a 21/2 hour (but 4 hour with changes) bus ride away - this is the birthplace of the founder of modern day Nepal.
Although bigger and a lot more modern buildings than Bandipur they still make use of the old buildings - this one is the post office - not sure I would trust anything to reach it's destination right enough!
Local believe these are the footprints of one of the Hindu gods - though which one varies depending on who you ask!
A climb up another 1,500 steps takes you to the main attraction the Gorkha Durbar - a combination of fort, palace and temple - pretty impressive views from here too.
A local girl copying one of the sitting positions of the gods.
The old palace which is now a museum - not the one the king has just been ousted from in Kathmandu!
My room at the hotel in Gorkha was on the roof and these boys live in the building next door. The oldest was 14 and was very aware of politics, his town and country history and told me lots of interesting stuff - they were very sweet and 'presented' me with a hand woven table amt before I left and wanted me to come back next year during school holidays so they could show me around :-) 
The cable car to Manakamana - built for native pilgrims more than tourists as before this was opened in the 1990's pilgrims had to walk up the 1,000m (4-5 hour) route!! Funny enough there are now many more visitors (despite it being relatively expensive by local standards (and foreigners pay double that!!)
The bazaar at Manakamana - ok so I have just worked out how to take black & white photo's with my camera (I know it would have made sense to read the instruction manual before I left!!) - only think I need to do now is work out how to take night photo's as they are always blurry - any suggestions welcome???
Manakamana Temple - considered one of the most sacred temples in Nepal and pilgrims come here to pray for male children.
The sacrifice alter behind the temple - after making their wishes at the temple many pilgrims take their sacrifice (normally goat or chicken) to this alter and well I think you can work the rest out...... At least I didn't put on the photo of the headless goat!!
The Holymen and pidgeons at Manakamana - lucky for the pidgeons it seemed to be the day for sacrificing goats....
Ryan The Tiger enjoying his first ever ride in a Cable Car :-) (Yes the people sitting in the car with me thought I was mad!!)
The road back to Kathmandu from the cable car.
Just in case you haven't worked it out I absoultely love Nepal - not only is it beautiful with amazing scenery but the people are just so freindly and unassuming. The only hassle is from the odd tout in Kathmandu, which relative to other tourist areas is not that bad. The only thing I don't like is the traffic and pollution in Kathmandu especially around all the temples which they could close off to traffic. Hpefully the change in the political situation here (very interesting to be here just now with that all going on as well) will bring some over needed improvements over time. I will most definetely be keeping Nepal on my future travel list and I felt a little sad today when I booked my onward flight to Bangkok as I had to go a few days earlier than intended or wait another week!!
Ok so I have been nagged a few times for telling you all about the things I am doing but not how I am feeling (well you know how good I am at all that touchy feely stuff!!). So here goes - I think I have never felt so relaxed and unstressed - any problems that have come up just get sorted out and I am surprised at how much I enjoy not having a plan - getting up in the morning and deciding whether I want to stay in a place another day or move on etc - it is quite liberating.
On the bus on the way back to Kathmandu I was thinking that maybe I would never end up coming home (though not quite sure what I would do after my money ran out right enough!!). But then on checking my e-mails today I had so many lovely e-mails and messages from you guys at home that it reminded me that I have lots to come home for (eventually!!).
I do think at somepoint I still want to settle somewhere for a few months as you see a different side to the place than when passing through as a visitor and I was tempted to do that here but I am not quite ready yet to go back to having a daily routine :-)
So enough sentimental drivel - it is now 9.30 pm and I must go find something to eat (you can get almost any kind of food in Kathmandu) - if I haven't replied to your message/e-mail yet I will do so over the next few days between visiting a few small towns as day trips from Kathmandu.
Next update should be from Bangkok.
Jack xxx
2 comments:
Hi Jakks,
Have you joined the Gurkhas yet then?
I have a ceremonial Kukri if you need to borrow one.
Nothing much to update you on here. I'll update you when I have news.
Ade.
Hey Ade's - no the Gurkhas said I was too experienced for them - having heard the stories of how I dealt with you lot they were a bit scared to hire me - so you'll just have to hold onto that knife - though you may want to hide it from your wife if she see's the last comment you put on here she may be tempted to use it!!
All fine here I am just getting used to life in Thailand - have one or two photo#s to upload when I find an internet connection that is fast enough.....but so far it is good lots of Temples and now making my way northwards away from the temptations of Bangkok @=)
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