namaste!

Namaste! (which literally means „I salute the god in you“)
After a long and exhausting journey, we finally arrived in Kathmandu. This city that seemed fascinating at first, got very tiring after only a short while. So far we have never seen a more polluted capital, the smog is almost unbearable and wearing a mask is a must if you don’t want to get a sore throat. And the traffic is crazy too! You’ll find every vehicle from a riksha to big busses and there seem to be no rules for driving, except that you drive on the left side. Everybody is honking all the time, which makes it very difficult to sleep at night. Our hotel was situated in the heart of Thamel, a very busy quarter of Kathmandu and for this area it was quite alright. Still we had to struggle with bedbugs and an annoying travel agent, who ripped us off by selling us overpriced trips to overrated places in and around Kathmandu. This is why after three days we were very happy to leave this place.

Thamel Kathmandu:

Durbar Square:

Swayambhunath aka Monkey Temple:

Bodhnath Stupa:

We were looking for a quiet place, so we decided to go to a little village called Bandipur. After only three hours on the bus, we got in a huge traffic jam because of an accident with two casualties. So we were stuck in traffic for about two hours. We were already thinking about walking the rest of the way, when finally our bus moved again. Bandipur was a really nice little village on the top of a hill with a beautiful view of the surrounding area. We stayed at a guesthouse, where we met Perry, a really funny guy from the Netherlands, whom we would meet a lot in the coming days. In Bandipur we did our first little hike to a nearby village called Ramkot. It was a nice opportunity to see the everyday life of simple farming people and we finally got our silence. But even in Bandipur, far away from big cities it was impossible to find some sleep because of dogs barking the whole night!

Ramkot:

After two nights we took a local bus to Pokhara, the second biggest city of Nepal situated on a lake below the impressive Annapurna Range. Since Nepali people are quite small, there was almost no leg space between the seats and it was a rather uncomfortable ride. Perry, who was on the same bus, was suffering quite a bit. In Pokhara we stayed at the Pokhara Choice Inn, a really fantastic hotel with a nice view over the nearby lake. We were looking forward to having a good night’s sleep in this relaxed and laid back city. But then, in the middle of the night we heard the shattering of glass and people screaming. At first we feared that there might be a riot going on, so we went out on our balcony to see what was going on. We couldn’t believe what we saw! A nearby building was completely in flames. BOOM! We witnessed and felt the vibrations of several huge gas explosions and were shocked by this traumatizing sight. That’s when we started to panic. We knew that most Nepali households were cooking with gas and in our heads we were already seeing pictures of this fire taking over the whole city. So we quickly went inside, packed our stuff and ran out to observe what would happen from a safe distance close to the lake. It took almost one hour until the firefighters arrived. Their truck was really old and must have been from the fifties. They had to leave the scene several times to get more water, but luckily, after a while the fire was under control. During the whole incident, the locals stayed surprisingly calm and soon we felt like we were totally overreacting. So we went back to our hotel to finally get some sleep. Apart from this incident we really enjoyed our stay in Pokhara. We did a boat trip on the Phewa Lake and visited the World Peace Pagoda, from where we enjoyed the magnificent view of the Annapurna Range. Furthermore, we made all the necessary preparations for trekking the Annapurna Circuit.

World Peace Pagoda:

First we took a bus from Pokhara to Besisahar. From there we started our trekking. It was an amazing experience: the views, the changing natural beauty and scenery, the cultural life in the small villages we passed along the way and the feeling that you’re far away from it all! Fully equipped with our backpacks we walked a total of 125km in 11 days and reached an altitude of 5416m above sea level, when we crossed the Thorung La Pass. On our trek we met many other trekkers from different countries, such as China, France, Russia, England, Belgium, Germany and a cool Danish guy called Mars. But usually and due to the low tourist season, we were mostly by ourselves. In some lodges we could stay for free and in others we just had to pay one hundred rupies (= CHF 1.-). The downside of choosing wintertime was the severe coldness at night. Temperatures reached a maximum of -22 degrees and all our liquids froze regularly.  Under these harsh conditions you start to appreciate the simple things, like a warm fireplace!

Nowadays we’re back in Pokhara, doing our laundry, cleaning our gear and organizing further adventures.

Cheerio, the steffles