A day in Bhaktapur :)

Hi everyone, 

Been a long old week in the village this week, we've had our classes switched around so Rebecca is only teaching two classes a day now whilst I somehow keep teaching three classes? Not sure how they figured that out but we'll see how it goes. Time just seemed to pass very slowly in the village this week, no idea why but with hindsight (it's such a wonderful thing!) it's passed by fairly quickly and we were soon back in Kathmandu, and we had reason to celebrate! Firstly it was Zoe's birthday on Friday so we spent the afternoon in "The Garden of Dreams" in Thamel and played a little bit of frisbee before meeting up with everyone for dinner. Secondly, it's Ollie's first weekend back in the village after is first two weeks of teaching so it was great to have the group all together for a bit of a catch up. It was a late night for us aswell, probably didn't get to sleep until gone midnight (very late by Nepali standards!). 

Today we met up with some of Rebecca's friends who have been doing some charity work in Pokhara (having arrived in Kathmandu late Friday night having spent 13 hours on a coach!). We all went to the Farmer's Market just outside Thamel and had waffles and crepes for breakfast! After a look round the souvenir stands there we left Rebecca with her friends so they could catch up whilst the rest of us boarded a bus for the medieval city of Bhaktapur, forty minutes outside of Kathmandu. 

The city is beautifully preserved and is such a nice place to get lost in the backstreets, and with hardly any traffic much easier than Kathmandu! About a hundred meters into the city we got pulled into a side courtyard to help some local women spin some thread! Sophie and Laura got stuck in as there was only room for two to help. It was a great little window into the life of the people who live here, and the weaving machines were pretty cool aswell! 

Sophie lends a hand with some weaving

A few stops down we got the chance to try the city's iconic dessert; "King Curd"! Hands down the best yoghurt in the country and one of the best yoghurt a I've ever tasted, especially at 25 rupees (15 pence!) a tub. Later on at lunch we'd have it again but this time in clay dishes made in city itself. Local production all the way! 

Me and Zoe enjoy some "King Curd", delicious! 

Alongside the desserts the architecture of the city was amazing, all manner of wood carvings covered houses and temples alike and the details were impressive. At the centre of the city stood its Durbar Square, an area with plenty of amazing temples and shrines all interact lay decorated in stone and wood carvings. Alongside seeing the sights our visit to the city was also a hunt for some souvenirs. For me, I wanted to find some special photo albums to put all my gap her photos in. I was in luck, Bhaktapur is one of the main centres for the production of "Lokta" paper. This paper is made from the bark of trees above 2000 meters and the end product is used in all Nepali official documents because of its durability and it's unique property of never being able to be creased! I picked up two great locally produced albums and came away a very happy man, I can't wait to fill them with all my photos when I get back home! 

The east end of Durbar Square 

After lunch in Durbar Square we headed to another city highlight; Potter's Square. Here local potters churn out all many of clay products from water jugs, yoghurt bowls and even money pots! The process is open to view and you can even have a go yourself. After forming the products are set out around the square to dry in the sun. It was really interesting watching the skill of these potters, no way could I do it!

Potter's Square

An artist at work

 After a final walk to the bus stop we caught a bus back to Kathmandu at around 4:30 after a great day out. After a freshen up at the hotel we headed out to dinner with a new member to the group; Zoe's friend Ben, just arrived from India. We went to Northfield Cafe for another great dinner and traded advice and stories from our travels so far. We've all crammed a lot in let me tell you! 

Whilst it's been a great weekend there has been a bit of sadness building up. Zoe and Ben leave for Pokhara on Monday to start volunteering projects whilst the "Oyster Group" (me, Rebecca, Sophie, Laura and Ollie) now only have one more week as a complete group! Sophie and Laura now only have one full week left on their project before they fly home a week on Monday! It will be so sad to see them go after an amazing months together but we have one more weekend to enjoy with them before they depart for sunny old England. 

The end is approaching fast for me and Rebecca aswell, two weeks on Tuesday our time will be up aswell and before we know it we'll all have scattered around the world! I've been lucky to become part of such an amazing group of people and share this amazing experience with them and I'll be sad to leave Nepal behind in just over two weeks :(. But two weeks still remain and I'm intending to make the most of it! 

That's it for this entry guys, thanks for reading! 

First week back and a day out in Patan!

Hello again everybody!

I'm back in Kathmandu once again after a very quick first week back in the village. Me and Rebecca arrived on Monday afternoon following a very cramped taxi ride with Sophie and Laura along with all our bags. After settling in back at home we headed to school the next day, which consisted of one VERY long meeting about new school timetables for all the teachers alongside other school things. We still have the same timetables as before but now we both have new class members as everyone has moved up a year following annual exams. Attendance was sporadic this week (I only taught 5 kids on Wednesday!) but we're optimistic that numbers will pick up next week. Still, had some great fun with the new classes and we're looking forward to carrying on. Zoe also spent Thursday and Friday in the village with us to get out of Kathmandu and take a look at the "real" Nepal. 

Bit cramped? The girls "enjoying" the taxi ride back to our villages

Rebecca and Zoe join class 5 for my creative writing class :) 

Me taking that lesson 

The first week back flew by and we were all soon reunited in Kathmandu (minus Ollie, who is spending is first weekend in his village). Today we had a huge day out to the nearby town of Patan, a former seperate city state to Kathmandu during the reign of the Malla Kings, on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Our first stop was Nepal's only Zoo! We spent a few hours wondering around and soaking it all in. The leopards and Bengal tigers were a particular highlight but the huge variety of birds were also pretty amazing. Strangely for Nepal though there was a Hippo in one exhibit.... 

Our next stop was Patan's infamous Durbar Square, an amazing place to see original Newari architecture. After lunch we headed to the incredible Patan Museum. Housed in a former Malla Palace the museum came about as a result of a joint restoration project between the Nepali and Austrian Governements. It opened in 1997 following the restoration housing an amazing array of sculptures and other artworks depicting Bhudist and Hindu deities. The displays also help visitors understand the meaning behind the sculptures and their relevance in each religion. I'm not an "arty" person put the displays were very interesting. One particular display explained the incredible "lost wax" sculpture casting technique (unique to Patan!). The process allows for incredibly detailed sculptures to be designed from the inside out without the risk of using molten metal. The clock tower at the end of the museum offered a nice breeze (it's getting hot here now!) and view of Durbar square. 

View of Patan's Durbar square, the museum is on the right 

A stone sculpture of Vishnu (a Hindu god), in the museum. This one was retrieved from an art gallery in Austria after being sold by a Nepali art dealer in the mid-late 1900's. 

Tonight we've had great fun together. We ordered takeaway pizza from Roadhouse Cafe and relaxed on the roof of the guesthouse. We're all going our seperate way for the morning tomorrow; Sophie, Laura and Zoe are going to a yoga class, Rebecca is going to an Easter Sunday church service and I'm going on the hunt for some souvenir inspiration. But we're all meeting up for an Easter lunch before we head our seperate ways for the week. 

That's it for this entry guys, next weekend we're planning a visit to beutiful Bhaktapur so stand by for some amazing photos! Happy Easter everyone (eat lots of chocolate!). 

8 days in Tibet: Day 7-8 - Back to Nepal

I have to be honest, the last two days got very boring. Over two days we spent about 24hours driving! But Tibet had one last treat for us before we returned to Nepal. On the way back we stopped at the first mountain pass to be treated with fresh snowfall across the whole panorama! This was a great goodbye from Tibet, honestly one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen! 

Road Trip! Gotta love these guys :) 

Amazing what 6 days and some snow can do to a landscape :) 

Wild donkeys on the plateau 

We're now all back safe and sound in Kathmandu and we're going to be very busy. Today me and the girls are preparing to head back to our villages tomorrow whilst Ollie has his Nepali lesson and orientation in preparation for starting his 2 months of teaching. Whilst we're all excited to get back to teaching we're all realising how close the trip is to ending :(. Sophie and Laura only have 3 weeks left before they head home whilst Rebecca and I finish a week after them! Still, I have a month left of this trip to go and I hope to make the most of it :). 

That's it for this entry guys, thanks for reading! 

8 days in Tibet: Day 6 - More palaces?

Our fist stop of the day was the Potala, the Dalai Lama's winter palace. It dominates the Lhasa skyline and has over 2,000 rooms (we could only see 35% of them!). After climbing the "300 steps" to the upper courtyard we entered the palace itself. Sadly photos were forbidden so again you'll have to take my word for how incredible it was! The place used to house the Tibetan government before the Chinese occupation so seeing both the political and religious areas of the palace was fascinating. The palace also contains more tombs of previous Dalai Lamas, most of them covered with between 3,000-4,000 ounces of gold and jewels! 

The Potala, an amazing building! 

The courtyard, the black material over the door is made of Yak's wool 

After a lunch break we headed to another very special place, the Dalai Lama's summer palace compound. Alongside temples and previous summer palaces was the one built by the current Dalai Lama. He designed it himself and construction was finished in 1956. It was a beautiful building and all of it was open to visit, including his bedroom and meeting room where he would receive guests and pilgrims. Sadly he only got to enjoy this palace for 3 years before he fled to India to avoid a Chinese plot to kill him. The clock on the staircase is fixed at 9am, the time he left the palace. 

Me outside the current Dalai Lama's summer palace 

Taking a break on the pond in the Summer Palace compound 

After the palace we had a few hours for some souvenir shopping before dinner. Sadly our tour of Tibet was at an end and we now had 2 days of solid driving back to Kathmandu!

8 days in Tibet: Day 5 - Welcome to Lhasa

We had a long day of driving on this day, but the viewpoints were worth the drive. We saw amazing valleys, stand-alone 7,000 metre peaks and glaciers. The highlight though was a huge alpine lake (638 square kilometres!) and the viewpoint at a high pass above it. Here we got a special treat, getting up close and personal with the lion-like dog that is the Tibetan Mastiff! This is a very rare Tibetan breed of dog and at the moment will set you back £60,000 if you want one! 

Me at the viewpoint overlooking the valley, check out all those prayer flags over my left shoulder! 

Rest stop! Nice to be out of the van and check out the mountain! Over 7,000 meters high this one.

The glacier at the back of the mountain in the previous photo 

My new best friend! Me and an amazing Tibetan mastiff 

Enjoying the view of the the alpine lake 

We arrived in Lhasa around 3:00pm and checked in to the hotel. After lunch (handmade noodle soup - yum!) Norbu took us for a walk through the streets to visit the Jokhang temple. In this temple is one of the the oldest and most valuable Bhuda statues in the world. Made of solid gold, it was brought to Tibet by a Nepalese princess as a dowry when she married King Songsten Gampo. The view from the roof gave us our first proper look of the famous Potala, the Dalai Lama's winter Palace. Dinner gave me a chance to try the famous local beer, "Lhasa". This beer has altitude in mind, it's only 3.8% and is very tasty (and affordable; about £1 a bottle!). Day 6 would be our last day of sightseeing, but we'd be getting to know all about the Dalai Lamas! 

8 days in Tibet: Day 4 - A lesson in Tibetan Bhudism

We got to lie-in until 9 that day, very welcome! Our first stop was the Tashilhunpo monastery on the outskirts of town. You have to pay to take photos inside the monastery so that's why I don't have many photos of monastery visits, take it from me though the insides are pretty amazing! 

Tashilhunpo is one of the oldest and largest monasteries in Tibet. It was built in the mid 1400s by the first Dalai Lama and could house 3,000 monks. Sadly only 300 remain at the monastery following a series of restrictions placed on monk numbers following a series of protests against Chinese occupation in 2008. The Inside the monastery buildings was amazing, alongside hand-painted walls there were the tombs of past Dalai Lamas, some of them decorated in solid gold and jewels! Norbu was incredibly knowledgeable about everything, he ran us through everything from the Tibetan funeral procedure (known as "Sky Burial" as dead bodies are cut up and left on a mountainside for eagles to eat and carry their spirits to Nirvana) to Tibetan history, including how the great Tibetan king, Songsten Gampo, united Tibet under Bhudism in the early 1400s. 

Tashinlupo monastery 

After our two hour tour we drove to our overnight stop at Gyantse before visiting another monastery; Gyantse Pachu. This was much smaller than Tashinlupo and built in 1418 by the Panchen Lama (senior to the Dalai Lama in a religious sense - the Dalai Lama's role (before the Chinese occupation) is to be the political and spiritual leader of Tibet, whilst the Panchen Lama is its religious leader) and a local chieftain. Most of this monastery is still in its original construction despite parts being badly burnt during the cultural revolution (when China became communist). The most interesting part of this monastery was its collection of books and scriptures. The monastery holds nearly 1,000, all between 500 and 900 years old. But most amazing of all is that they are all written in real gold ink! Most of the books had also not been read for almost 300 years and are unlikely to ever be opened again. These were true Tibetan cultural treasures!

A shelf of some of the books inside the monastery, we all chipped in to take photos in this room 

An example of the gold writing 

Us at the monatary's Stupa 

After some photos by the monastery's impressive stupa we headed back to the hotel. That night was special for Rebecca, it was her 19th birthday! After dinner we surprised her with a huge cake at the restaurant. This day had to be one of my favourites of the the Tibet trip, I learnt loads and had great fun with everyone. Day 5 would see us arrive in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa! 

8 days in Tibet: Day 3 - Everest Base Camp to Shigatse

Early start that day but we caught up on sleep in the van on the way to EBC, helped a lot by the blankets provided by the hotel staff which we spread out in the back of the van. We drove across the plateau as the sun was rising, looked a lot like the surface of Mars! Thankfully we all weren't too badly affected by the altitude, only a few headaches and 10 minutes when my hands just wouldn't move! We reached EBC around 9am with amazingly clear views, Norbu told us it was only this clear around 3-5 times a year! 

Me at EBC, truly amazing views of Everest!

About to tie up our prayer flags at Base Camp 

Throwing up our mantra cards, make a wish! 

Me and Ollie 

Team photo :) 

After a warm up Jasmine tea in one of the tents we did a few rituals for our families and friends back home. First we wrote their names on a string of prayer flags and strung them up in the middle of base camp, the mantras on the flags would bring good luck to them. Secondly we did the same thing but on small mantra cards. We threw them up in the air together, made a wish and the wind scattered them all over base camp. Rituals complete we took some photos before heading back to the hotel for lunch. 

After lunch we drove 6 hours to the town of Shigatse, Tibet's second largest town, to stop for the night. After showers Norbu took us to a local restaurant for dinner, I ordered meat dumplings on soup (delicious!), and briefed us on the next day. This would be the start of the sightseeing part of the trip. 

8 days in Tibet: Day 2 - Reaching the Plateau

We left the hotel at 8 that morning under crystal clear sky. We made good progress throughout the morning, making our way out of the mountains and onto the seemingly never-ending Tibetan plateau. I saw some of the most amazing mountain scenery I've ever seen that day, thankfully there were lots of photo stops along the way. Some of my particular favourites were at a high pass (at a little under 5,000 meters). That afternoon we also got our first glimpse of Mt EVEREST! We all got a little excited as we would be heading to the Tibetan Everest Base Camp (EBC) the next day. 

Me with the Himalayas in the background just at the start of the Plateau 

At the first high pass, just posing :p 

Our first view of Mt Everest! It's the big peak second from left

Rebecca and Zoe enjoy views of the plateau outside Tanzing 

We reached our stop for the day, Tanzing (also known as "Dog-Town" due to the huge numbers of stray dogs!) in early afternoon. We took a walk to a hill just outside the town after lunch to make use of the clear weather to grab some photos. We all got a little bit cold even though the sky was virtually clear, the wind coming from the mountains was freezing! We were all in bed for 9:30 that night, we had a 6am departure for Everest Base Camp the next day! 

8 Days in Tibet: Day 1 - Kathmandu to Tibet

Hello again everyone, you find be back in Kathmandu once again after a truly amazing 8 day tour of Tibet! I've learnt so much about an amazing country and seen some incredible things. So let's get started! 

Our first day of our Tibet tour was mostly driving. We left the Utse at 6:30 in the morning and drove the four hours to the border. On the way we had a quick break to watch the bungee jumpers at "The Last Resort" bridge, looked pretty amazing!

"The last resort" bridge 

Ollie enjoys the view 

Crossing the border into Tibet via the "Friendship Bridge" proved to be painless, although we had to eat Laura and Sophie's stash of 28 bananas in under 5 minutes as we weren't allowed to bring them through customs! 

A quick note for you, Tibet is currently occupied by China (highly controversially) so we had to go through Chinese immigration to pass into Tibet (more on this story as we go on). 

Our Tibetan guide, Norbu, smoothed the process along nicely and before long we were across. A short drive up the side of a gorge (which separates Nepal and China) we reached our stop for the night. After a quick lunch we transferred to the Hotel, very basic with shared bathrooms (and no separate gents and ladies toilets! - Men and Women are equal in Tibetan society so they don't have separate toilets) and a little bit of damp on the walls. No worries though, it was only for one night. 

After settling in we took a walk through town to stretch our legs. There seemed to be a police station every two corners we turned, seemed a bit over the top for such a small town I thought. Over dinner Norbu gave us a quick overview of Tibetan history and explained prayer flags to us. Soon it was off to bed before a half day drive to our next stop. 

Mid Month Adventure part 3: 2 days in Pokhara!

And so we come to the final few days of the last week. A little but of a holiday in the lovely town of Pokhara, long considered the adventure-sports capital of Nepal! We arrived in the early afternoon and said goodbye to Ratna, who had accompanied us all the way. After settling in to the hotel we all took a walk down the lakeside strip to get our bearings and stretch our legs. Pokhara sits right next to a beautiful lake, there are proper pavements and there is MUCH less traffic than Kathmandu. After a great dinner by the lake we were all in bed by 9 to catch up on sleep. 

The next day was really a chance to relax. Ollie and I slept in until 9 and had brunch at a small lakeside restaurant, my first egg and toast breakfast for months! We chilled at the hotel for the rest of the morning before we headed out to the Gurkha museum on the outskirts of town. It's a compact little place but the displays were full of history on the Gurkha soldiers throughout their history and the displays on Gurkha Victoria Cross winners was truly amazing. After an hour or so walking around the museum we met up with the girls, who had spent the afternoon getting massages from blind masseuses, and relaxed in the hotel garden and hammocks. 

Our final day in Pokhara was a bit more busy than the day before. We all had a lie-in again and had an incredible lakeside breakfast at Mike's, an American run restaurant that's famous for its breakfasts. I had poached eggs and ham on toast with hollandaise sauce, absolutely delicious! 

Ordering breakfast at Mike's. Worse places to have breakfast, check out the view! 

At 1 we headed down to a kayak rental place by the lake and organised a three hour rental (at £2.50 equivalent each I might add!) for some paddling on the lake. We all enjoyed our afternoon on the lake and soaking up the scenery. It was a great way to end our time in Pokhara and one of the highlights of the week for me. Our final meal that evening was a first for most of us. Zoe had found a great Japanese restaurant and insisted we all give it a go. We didn't regret it, the terayaki beef was amazing! 

Rebecca, Zoe and Ollie on the lake, on top of the hill in the right of the photo is the "World Peace Pogoda"

Me with Pokhara in the background 

Ollie, Sophie and Laura take a break 

The lads! 

The next day we had another 7 hour bus ride back to Kathmandu. When we got back Sophie had to go to the clinic to get a little problem sorted out, so Zoe, Ollie and I had to carry her and Laura's bags back to the hotel under some impressive thunder! Today we got our briefing for the final trip of our month off; an 8 day tour of Tibet! We look set to have an incredible time and I can't wait to get started! I'll post again when I get back to Kathmandu. 

The end of our month off is approaching and after that I'll only have another month teaching before my time in Nepal comes to a close! It's been a truly incredible experience but I've got Tibet and another month of teaching ahead. Bring it on! 

Thanks for reading guys, see you next time :) 

Mid Month Adventure part 2: Chitwan National Park!

Our second adventure of the week was all about the wildlife! And there was entry to see. 

We arrived at our lodge in the late afternoon. Our first activity was a local village walk, but I was feeling a bit ill so I gave it a miss to recover a little bit. After dinner we all headed a few streets away to enjoy a cultural dance show by a local community group of Tharu people. The stick dances were amazing and Sophie and Laura got up on stage with the dancers for the final act. They're drama and dance students, what did I expect! 

The next day started early with a ride down-river in a dug-out canoe for some wildlife spotting. Amongst the highlights were the endangered long-nosed crocodile (I forget it's actual name) that eats fish and a number of incredible birds, including ducks that had flown all the way from Siberia! It was a very relaxed few hours on the water and seeing so much wildlife close up was very special. 

A long-nosed crocodile 

After our boat ride we landed on a beach a little way down and headed into the jungle on a safari walk. Almost immediately we were seeing fresh Rhino and even a few tiger prints! Around 40 minutes in we had a very close (and lucky!) encounter with one of the park's main attractions, a wild Rhino! We were about 20 meters away but I'd didn't feel worried, there was a big tree to hide behind nearby! The rest of our walk was relatively uneventful, with only a few monkeys and some crocodiles to see. The heat crept up all morning and by the time we got back to the lodge it was roasting! 

Down in the jungle.......

The rhino we encountered on our jungle walk :) 

After a few hours break we got to the highlight of our time in Chitwan, an elephant-back safari! The group divided onto two elephants and we set off into the jungle, our elephants happily snacking on the way. After an encounter with a rather large deer blocking the path we came up close (the girls especially so!) with another rhino. Being that closed made me a feel a little uncomfortable but the Rhino happily let us get on our way after some great pictures. We finished our safari just as the sun was setting and we were soon back at the lodge enjoying our last night in Chitwan. We had to be up early the next day though, the bus to our final destination of the week, the chilled-out lakeside town of Pokhara 4 hours northwest of Chitwan, left at 7am! 

The girls get up close and personal with a rhino on our elephant safari 

My elephant towards the end of the safari, check out my beard! 

Mid Month Adventure part 1: White Water rafting!

Hi everyone, 

I've been VERY busy this past week but pleased to say I've now seen a sizeable amount of Nepal :). I'm back in Kathmandu after an incredible week with the group. I'll be doing a post on every major activity again so sit back and enjoy! 

Our first adventure saw us drive 3 hours south of Kathmandu for two days of white water rafting! After lunch on the beach by our start point we were off. The weather was boiling hot compared to our week of cold in Langtang so we were all cooling off by jumping off the raft for a swim during the first few calm stretches. Our first day was four hours rafting and there were plenty of rapids to keep us and the other boats occupied. The highlight of the rafting that day was a series of grade three rapids, these were pretty good fun even though I feel off on the last one. No harm done though as the safety kayaker was on hand to help. Towards the end of our day we reached a point where we could all take a leap into the river from a rock-face, a great final adrenaline rush of the day :). 

From left to right; Zoe, Umesh (our rafting guide), Rebecca and Ratna (our trekking guide who was looking after us) 

Some of the group take a dip in the river 

Me taking a leap onto the river towards the end of the day :). 

After a great afternoon we reached our lodge on the riverside where we would be spending the night. As me and Ollie were moving into our tent we discovered a rather large spider was sharing with us! We left him to it but I had to kill just before bed as we couldn't find a way to get him out of the tent, RIP. That afternoon was split between relaxing in the small bar/lounge area of the camp or playing volleyball with our rafting guides by the river. There was a real holiday atmosphere for the whole day and it was nice to unwind. After dinner it was off to bed around 9pm. 

Our unexpected guest.... 

Ollie and Ratna having some time-out 

The next day saw us finish our rafting with only a 45 minute run in the morning. After saying goodbye to our guides we caught a bus to our next destination, the infamous Chitwan National Park in Southern Nepal!