Nepal. The road trip.

After 3 nights in Kathmandu, we set off early for our next destination.  The fantastic company we travelled with (https://himalayanadventuretreks.com/) had allocated us a lovely driver for the whole trip. He spoke some English and always was prompt, courteous, helpful and smiley 🙂  We were to drive 165 km  / 102 miles to Chitwan which doesn’t sound far.  However the roads in Nepal are the most atrocious I have ever been on anywhere in the world, and the journey took over 6 hours!! Part of this was due to the devastating rain that Nepal received in September, which cut off all roads out of Kathmandu because of deadly landslides. Enough mud had been scraped away to clear a track through, but there is seemingly no road surface, just bare rock.  This was the case on a lot of our journeys and the result was a speed that often seemed to be less than 10 mph and extremely bumpy.

We arrived at our next hotel, ate a late lunch, and then went on a guided walk around the area, which was in total contrast to Kathmandu.  We were out in the countryside and were warned not to walk anywhere on our own as there was a wild bull elephant wandering through the villages looking for a mate or easily accessible food or alcohol.  The next night it actually pushed over a house behind our hotel!!

The next day we went out very early for the day in the National Park.  It was a cold and misty start and we had to cross a river, then pick up a safari vehicle on the other side.

I had my first sighting of the Nepalese one-horned rhino, which has a very different look to African rhinos. It’s almost as if its body has been stuck together in different sections.  We saw numerous crocodiles too, and a critically endangered croc that I’ve never seen before called a Gharial.

Next on our itinerary was Lumbini.  Lumbini received UNESCO recognition in 1997 due to its historical and cultural importance as the birthplace of Lord Buddha. It’s an interesting story and many pilgrims visit it to walk in the footsteps of its most famous resident from over 2500 years ago.   There are many temples here  built in the style of various different countries.  We didn’t visit them all but there was a marked difference in design between the few that we did go to.

Our next hotel was in Tansen and our driver told us that there was a good view from the rooftop.  Each time I look at the image below I think that it would make a good jigsaw puzzle.

We had our first glimpse of snow covered mountains and I got up early the following morning, put on multiple layers as it was cold, and went up to the roof to photograph the sunrise.

Many hotels and restaurants arrange flower petals floating in water. I don’t suppose they last longer than a day or two but there’s no shortage of flowers to keep changing the displays.

On the way to our next destination we noticed in the distance a town where the buildings all seemed to be painted pink.  We eventually drove through it and were told that it’s known as ‘The Pink City’ and residents had been offered an incentive to paint their houses this colour.

After arriving in the town of Pokhara we spent a leisurely afternoon wandering along the banks of the lake.

The following day we took a boat trip and had a great view of the snow capped mountains.

That morning I got up at 4.15 to go and view the sun rise from somewhere a long way up a hill.  Unfortunately we got so far up a very narrow road when we discovered that the road was blocked and nothing could get through.  My driver had to do what seemed like a 10 point turn and I wondered whether I would miss seeing the sunrise as we drove back down the hill.  Eventually he pulled off the road and pointed to a building with an open rooftop and said “go there”.  It was absolutely packed with people but I did manage to get a good vantage spot on a staircase and watched the mountains start to glow.

The town of Pokhara is down in the valley.

After going back to the hotel for breakfast we went out to a couple more places.  If you look closely at the very bottom of the photo below you can see people’s heads.  This shows just how huge the statue is.

The following day we left for our final destination before going back to Kathmandu.  It was a tiny town called Bandipur, full of ancient buildings, and we were staying in a traffic free road which was really nice.  Our hotel was so old it had no glass in the windows and I thought that I’d be really cold at night.  However with the old wooden shutters closed it was very cosy and we loved the character of the place.

The woman below made many journeys up and down the street carrying these very heavy gas cylinders on her back.

A group of women were digging an area of soil next to a church and depositing it a short walk away.  The basket on her back below is full of soil and she’s taking the weight of it with a strap around her head.

Further down the road a women was busy sewing in a little building – again with no glass in the windows.

I noticed another woman just sitting outside her house and gestured with my camera to ask if it was OK to take her photograph. She nodded consent and I’m glad she didn’t attempt to alter her pose or smile for the camera.

The photos below were taken out of my bedroom window on the first floor (2nd floor to my American readers).  I’m not sure what was so dirty that the wall needed sweeping.

After another climb up a hillside to watch the sunset our trip was coming to an end.

We loved Bandipur and would have enjoyed staying another day as there were various walking trails to enjoy, but it was time to head back to the city.  The owner of Himalayan Adventures was taking us out for a farewell traditional Nepalese dinner that evening so we returned to the hotel we had initially stayed at.  The dinner was delicious and we were able to ask the many questions we had about the places we had been to and life in Nepal generally.   It was a fantastic trip, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely travel with Himalayan Adventures again if I wanted to explore more of the country.  We saw just a small part and I mapped out the route as shown below, then expanded my result in Google Maps to see just whereabouts in Nepal we were.

My desire to travel to different countries began as a teenager when my parents took me to Thailand.  It opened my eyes to completely different cultures and ways of life and Nepal was the 56th country I have seen.  I hope to add more to my list!