Nepal is a land-locked country just like Switzerland. There is so much of similarities between these two countries, not only in terms of geography but also in its people. I attribute this to the correlation between geography and how it affects the people and society in general. God is fair. When you don’t have the sea, you have the mountains! And I’m very sure that the people must be thankful of it.
Our 4th anniversary vacation is to this special place, the country where so many people have heard of, yet still feel too remote to go. We decided to make this trip as we have heard favourable feedback from our close dear friend.
Nepal, a kingdom for many centuries until recently. The politics has transformed her into a republic. I queried how this affects the people, but none gave satisfactory answers. Hence, I conclude and could sense that, the people generally have lots of uncertainties, awaiting some changes yet with an attitude of “whatever will be, will be”, perhaps influenced by their religions and the philosophy underpinnings
Our journey started by boarding the flight MI 412, an Airbus A320 bound for Kathmandu. We were surprised to be given an emergency exit row, which of course, turned out to be a blessing because of the legroom it offered. My feelings of anticipation and curiosity finally got answered. We landed at Kathmandu Airport, a humble airport where most countries would start to have initially. Immediately, we rushed out of the plane to beat the full-flight of passengers who were also going to queue for the visitor’s visa. The application took us more than an hour, as all the work was done manually without any aid of computers. I realised that after living in an efficient society, we really need to watch out for our patience and respect that things could be done differently due to the different circumstances. Welcome to Nepal, I told my Hubby!
Isn’t it enlightening to be out of our comfort zone sometimes?
After paying for our visa worth US$25 each, we went on to collect our one-piece of check-in baggage. We always travel light and avoid giving flight attendants a hard time finding space for baggage stowage in the overhead compartments.
When we finally got out of the airport terminal, I saw my name written on an A4-size paper and instantly, I made eye-contact with that person holding it. He turned out to be our faithful driver Shuman for the entire 5-day trip. Then, we were also greeted by our first guide Jack, a Nepalese who’s an avid mountain climber and trekker and given a brief introduction about Nepal, Kathmandu and the Nepalese culture.
Our first taste of a third-world traffic jam was during the journey from Kathmandu airport to Hotel Marsyangdi in Thamel. The vehicles seldom follow what we call the usual traffic rules. Honking is a must, not because they are rude, but a courtesy to say “please excuse me” or “please watch out” in a land where there’s a lack of traffic lights. Honks too can be in any tunes and some even mimic our ringing tones, a few years back (before the mobile phones have mp3 or polyphonic ringtones).
After checking-in to the hotel, we immediately dumped our bag and went out exploring the area. We went looking for a decent place to have lunch and of course, we had to be flexible in our selection criteria. We opted for a meal at another hotel’s restaurant with a few tables occupied by foreigners. We thought, it should be safe for we didn’t want any diarrhoea case on our first day there.
We walked around the vicinity and very quickly we learned that retail etiquette here was very different from elsewhere like Seam Reap for example. People here do not actively woo tourists into their shops. Hardly, we saw anyone standing outside the shops. For the shopkeepers only entertain when we walked in or wanted to make payment. Most of the time, we were left alone to roam the shop and items on display. I found this very liberating somehow as I felt that our personal “time and space” are being respected.
Then we met Jack again for the tour in Kathmandu city. We first headed for Swayambunath Temple, a UNESCO Heritage Site, situated on an elevated land. We were given an auditory tour by Jack, who explained very patiently on the religions of Nepal, Hinduism and Buddhism mainly. Quite contrary to what most of us knew, Nepalese are mostly Hindu. Buddhism has a unique branch called Nepali Buddhism, although we’re just used to Tibetan Buddhism, Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism only.
In the temple, we saw a swimming pool for monkeys (yes, we actually saw them chilling and swimming! And oh, how adorable our dear cousins look!) , stupas with Buddha’s eyes (a symbol as common as Greece flag in Greece and hibiscus in Malaysia) and of course, the majestic view of Kathmandu valley! We strolled around the main temple there and made a clock-wise walk around it with our right hand turning the prayer wheels. It’s such a Nepali/Tibetan thing to do, I thought.
Then we went downhill to the busy city centre, where we visited the Kathmandu Durbar Square, a place with a few buildings registered as UNESCO Heritage Sites. In the square, we saw many peddlers of fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers. We also spotted a traffic of small cars, some exported by Malaysia’s Perodua. The model Kelisa is commonly used as public taxi there. The highlight encounter was when we visited the Kumari temple. We were told that if we manage to catch a glimpse of the Kumari (Living Goddess), we will be blessed. Well, we were not so lucky at that time. But we saw the vehicle, like a bull-cart that is used to carry and parade the Kumari in one of the festivals here.
Jack told us that a Kumari is chosen among a few girls, who survived a scary ordeal of being in solitary with frightening images of dead animal heads, masks etc. The only girl who is proven to be un-shattered and undisturbed will be crowned as the Kumari. A Kumari will bring honour to her family and will be replaced when she reaches puberty.
After the Kumari temple, we made our way back to the hotel by foot. The walk is interesting as once again, we could immense ourselves into the daily struggles of the people here by seeing bits and pieces of their way of life. The traffic congestions at cross-roads, unfinished roads with puddles of water, long queue in a famous lassi shop, peddlers on bicycle selling little packets of nuts (which I thought were condoms, initially!), tiny Nepalese men but carrying loads, two times their weight and smoke, yes, black polluting smoke from vehicles especially the TATA lorries and tractors, definitely made an impression!
We retired for the day after a full meal of vegetarian dishes and mixed grill.
After a really good night sleep, we woke up to another exciting day ahead. We had breakfast, which was of hotel standard in any first-world nations. The hearty breakfast is then followed by a 5-hour car ride to Pohkara. Our new guide was Chij, Jack’s brother who just went for an interview to become a Gurkha soldier. According to Jack, Chij didn’t make it. We anticipated a sad and gloomy guy but Chij was in his cheerful and pleasing self when we first met him. We asked a lot of questions about his interview and about Gurkha soldiers. He answered them patiently and I could sense he was struggling to give us the best answer he could with his rather limited English compared to fluent Jack. Occasionally, Shuman, our driver had to intrude to rescue.
I dreaded the journey from Kathmandu to Pokhara as we were constantly being bombard by black smoke emitted by the polluting TATA lorries that were passing by. The people here seldom use the car air-conditioner and are more comfortable winding down their windows, perhaps, to save on petrol.
The roads are surprisingly well-developed to cater for these TATA lorries that carry loads from Calcutta or other Indian cities to Kathmandu. The roads are on the hill-side and ascending and descending, connecting one hill after another. It reminded me of Genting Highlands. In the journey we saw lush greenery of padi hills and fields and occasionally, corn. You can tell that agriculture is a major part of Nepal’s economy. We also saw billboards and you guess it right, the beer and cigarette boys.
We made a pit stop nearby after a split road, one going to Pokhara and the other to Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Buddha. We had lunch at a hill side restaurant where we saw a few travellers like us. Lunch was simple yet sufficient. At least, we could escape from inhaling more toxic fumes.
Finally, when we saw a welcoming arch and snow-capped mountains from afar, we knew we would be reaching Pokhara. The climate is cooler in Pokhara, maybe because it does not have much development going on. The clear day didn’t last long. Soon, it began to rain. Well, we counted our blessing as it did not rain while we were on the road. It would have been dangerous.
We checked-in to Hotel Meera and then we went boating in Phewa Lake, a heart-shaped lake with tranquil surrounding of hills and mountains (you can see Machhapuchhre or Fish Tail mountain, but only on a clear day). In the middle of the lake, stood Barahi Temple. We alighted from the tiny wooden boat and paid our respect to the temple’s God. Then, the rain started pouring quite heavily again. We paddled back to shore. While the boatman and I were paddling, Chij pointed a stupa-like temple on top of one of the hills as our destination for tomorrow. When queried how are we going to go up there, he told us, we’re going to hike! Gosh, it seemed impossible to us!
We then retired for the day with a really good dinner, almost gourmet-like, despite it is only a small town hotel restaurant.
We are supposed to wake up at 5 a.m. to meet Chij for a sunrise view in Sarangkot. We woke up but Chij didn’t turn up. It was raining very heavily outside. We thought, we should sleep in and he would probably be waiting for us once the rain stops and the day breaks.
We had our breakfast at the hotel. The tea and coffee in Nepal never taste familiar and I thought maybe, they use yak milk here. Braving the rain and no longer able to contain our curiosity, we explore the town and found the place to be so peaceful and slow-moving.
There are a lot of shops selling trekking gears and they look as good as the originals in Pohkara. We shopped for a water-proof jacket for me and we bought a hiking stick, just for fun. When we headed back to the hotel, we saw Chij and he took us to see the World Peace Stupa, which was the temple on top of the hill he pointed yesterday.
When we arrived at the foot of the hill, it was still raining. The stony stairs made slippery slopes when it was still raining. No surprise that we fell three times because of wrong footing.
The journey up to the World Peace Stupa was quite a gruesome one, maybe because of the rain. If this is just a mini trek for the elementary, how many times fold the difficulty of a real trek in the mountains? I wonder now. Our fitness level definitely needs improvement!
The World Peace Stupa is built by the Japanese as a gift to Nepal. There are four sides of the stupa, which made a complete story of Lord Buddha’s birth, his enlightenment, his teaching (the Dharma) and his death, if I remember correctly. I walked around the stupa bare-foot as a mark of respect.
After getting some rest and admiring the view of Pokhara and Phewa Lake from the top, we descended the hill. The journey was as horrifying, maybe worse. Chij despite wearing only a normal shoe could walk down with ease. Whereas, we were in full gear of hiking boots and stick could not match his nimbleness. All three of us had leeches on our feet and ankle area. We wondered where did the leeches go after sucking our blood, as we did not see any but patches of blood that stained our socks.
After the hill, we headed for the Tibetan Refugee Camp. There, I bought a bracelet as souvenir from a Tibetan lady who claimed to make all the bracelets herself. When I wanted to pay, she placed the bracelet near her heart before giving it to me. I felt like she was giving me her blessing and well-wishes. Such simple yet amazing gesture! I decided to have a photograph taken with this smiley and English-speaking lady.
Later, we went to visit Gupteshwor Cave. Inside the cave stood Lord Ganesh. The temple is quite small with devotees lining up for blessings. We were refrained from taking any photos. Inside the cave was quite humid and the sound of waterfall was roaring.
Then we visited Devis Fall nearby, which reminded me of Rhine Fall except the size of the latter is a few times mightier. The current of Devis Fall is so strong that when the water flows and beat on the big rocks, splashes of water will defy gravity and form a rather high fountain. Devis Fall was once a harmless stream of river water. One day in 1961, a Swiss Lady named Mrs Devis was having a bath when suddenly a big and forceful gush of water flowed and swept her deep into the cave. She did not survived and it took a long time to recover her body. Hence, the place was named after her. I felt so sad after knowing the story. It haunted me the whole afternoon.
Along our journey back to the hotel from Devis Fall, the day began to clear up and we could see the mountains. What a wonderful sight!
For lunch we had Nepali cuisine. The spices used in Nepali food are milder compared to Indian but somehow, it tasted the same to me. After lunch, as the day was getting clearer, majestic Machhapuchhre started to reveal herself. We took a walk to have a clear view of it and along the way, we saw many more shops and a even Chinatown!
Before long, it was dinner time again and we were treated to a cultural dance. The dance reminded me of the traditional dances in Malaysia with great influence from the farmers’ lifestyle.
The next morning, we woke up again at 5 a.m. This time around, the weather was perfect. Chij picked us up and we were driven to Sarangkot, in a Kancil! If we have seen the most beautiful sunset in Santorini, here in Sarangkot, we saw the most beautiful sunrise in the world. The sunrise was slow. The climate was cool. The silence of the early morning was abound. Gradually, when the ray of sun pierced into the sky, the backdop of mountains made the most dramatic appearance behind the green hills and the valley below in front of us. I was amazed! My heart was fulfilled as finally, I saw what I came to see and want my Hubby to see, white mountains just like Switzerland.
Chij slowly named all the peaks of the mountains in front of us. Among them were familiar ones like Annapurna I, Annapurna II, III, IV and the famous Fish Tail. Then we headed back to Hotel Meera for breakfast, our last meal in Pokhara.
After checking-out we met Chij and Shuman who would now take us to Nagarkot via Kathmandu. This time around, the road from Pokhara to Kathmandu had less traffic and thank goodness, TATA lorries too. We made a pit stop for lunch and in just a while, we finally reached the borders of Kathmandu. The jourmey only took us four hours this time, perhaps because of our friendly chats. Our sense of achievement was cut short when a traffic line-up of cars stopped almost stationary for 15-minutes. We thought it was quite common to turn off the car engine while waiting for traffic to clear. This time, it would not clear.
Shuman, a really skillful and experienced driver opted for an alternative road to make into the city. When he exhausted all roads that lead to the city, we had to pull over and find out the reason for the stoppage. Chij found out that there was a demonstration going on by one of the ethnic groups in Nepal. It was believed to be by Newar people after the government refused to grant enough money for a festival. It is an ethnic group of people not built for Gurkha soldiers, I was told by Shuman a Newar himself. Chij occasionally made fun of him for not being as physically strong as he is, with his cheeky smile of course!
We were stranded in a place unknown next to a local Nepalese home. The place looked underdeveloped with looming poverty by our standard. Nonetheless, you could still see lots of smile from its people living with very limited means.
After waited for four to five hours, the traffic began to clear up. We were finally able to make our way to Nagarkot, which is a town situated at 2100 meter high. The guys were tired and running late behind schedule. I pitied them, as they had to wake up early for their journey to Pohkara again, the next morning.
I forgot and regretted for not giving Chij and Shuman all our cereal and muesli bars as they must have been starving making their way back to Kathmandu when it was way passed dinner time. I was thinking of a toilet at that time. The time when we bid goodbye to these two fine gentlemen, I had been holding my bladder for the past 11 hours already!
When we arrived at Country Villa in Nagarkot, we already missed the sunset view. Nonetheless, we were in time to enjoy the dinner spread of buffet. We dined at the terrace because of its cool climate. The villa’s surrounding was very peaceful and quiet. Some would come all the way from Japan, Singapore and Malaysia to enjoy the yoga retreat here.
We slept like a baby that night due to the long ride in the car. The next morning, I was woken by my curiosity to check out the sunrise view. Oh, wow! The view in front of our bed, which was facing a clear glass, floor-to-ceiling window was amazing! We could see the sunrise, with blanket of clouds and mountains as backdrops again.
During breakfast, we were told that, on a very clear day, we could see the Everest! Well, we were quite contented with the present setting as we could eat our breakfast with clouds beneath us. What a joy and luxury this place can offer!
Finally, it was time to leave. Jack picked us up this time. We miss Chij and Shuman somehow. Nagarkot, a magical and meditative place was a perfect ending to this fun-filled, quite action-packed trip for us. When we reached the airport, we bid farewell to Jack and in a way, we bid goodbye to Nepal.
I know I am going to miss this place. We can’t wait to come back and next time, we shall brave ourselves for a trekking trip, well, tea-house trekking to start with as elementary.
