NEPAL

Namaste! We recently spent two weeks discovering Nepal, and although thick clouds of dust at this very dry time of year obscured our view of the Himalaya, we found plenty of other stuff to gawk at. This view is the only (somewhat) clear shot of the highest mountains (if you enlarge it!)that we got, compliments of Thai Airways, on our way in to Kathmandu.

Kathmandu

Words nearly fail to describe this place, but we’ll try. Let’s see…fascinating, funky, friendly, crowded, chaotic, colorful, rundown, raucous, and really, really interesting. Now let the pictures speak for themselves.

Bhaktapur

Less than an hour’s death-defying drive from Kathmandu on traffic-choked roads, dodging water buffalo, and narrowly averting gaudily decked out Indian trucks belching black smoke and hammering on their horns, we arrived at the town of Bhaktapur. What a relief to spend a few quiet hours wandering the traffic free cobblestone streets of this fascinating place. We were thrilled to get lost in the town's medieval era labyrinth of lanes, and were fortunate to stumble across a primary school “sports day” race in progress. No PE attire for these cuties, just their too big/too small grubby school uniforms, shoes that needed lacing, and adorable little mugs that shouted enthusiastic hellos to us before it was their turn at the starting line. Most ran their little hearts out, but some lost interest halfway through the contest, gave it up, and wandered unperturbed back to their cheering classmates. What great timing for us! We also got to see Bhaktapur’s Nepali New Year preparations in progress, as the town was busy preparing their traditional triple-roofed chariot for hauling around during the festivities. The photo of the wooden peacock is from a 15th-century window, and is reputed to be the finest carved window in the valley.

Rhinos? What Rhinos?

We celebrated Nepali New Year (Happy 2064!) at the Rhino Residency Resort just outside of Royal Chitwan National Park. Our bungalow was a comfortable colonial affair, and we enjoyed being close enough to walk to the Rapti River so Terry could participate in the morning elephant bath time. Then we moved to a pretty resort inside the park boundaries for another two nights, and went on several different elephant and jeep safaris, a canoe ride, and a bird watching walk with four other friendly people (veteran travelers all) who were the only other guests sharing the resort with us – Claude and Jeannine from Sherbooke, Quebec and the Gundersons from Denmark. Many other tourists we spoke to after our visit to the park were lucky enough to have seen rhinos on their safaris, but all we managed to flush out were a few different types of deer and a bunch of peacocks. Our safari elephants were new mothers, so it was lovely to have their babies trailing along behind us through a very quiet (rhino-less) forest. Not that we’re bitter.

Adrenalin Rush on a Himalayan River

We spent a couple of nights at Borderland Resort, a beautiful, isolated retreat located just south of the Tibetan border, where we lodged riverside in a big safari tent. One of the best things we did on the entire trip was a day of steep whitewater rafting on the Bhote Kosi River, including some Class 4 rapids like “Frog in a Blender.” (We're the ones in the blue helmets.)