So after nearly 8 weeks, we're finally getting round to posting our first blog from Nepal. So much has happened, I'm not really sure what to write.
We started our adventure in Kathmandu. This was a bit of a culture shock for Kody at first, which is funny now we're used to it. We were then relieved to get out of the city and in to the countryside when we started our Langtang trek. But first, it was the bus journey from hell. Scary, scary stuff that you couldn't even describe, and the bus journey back to Kathmandu was even worse. The trek seemed about the right level of toughness for us and a good length too, with 6 days of actual trekking. Sadly, there was quite a bit of rain on the way up and, instead of a free day to explore the area at Kyanjing Gompa, we had an extra day of sitting in a cold lodge at Langtang Village. However, the next day we awoke to amazingly clear skies and the views at Kyanjing Gompa were totally worth it all. We had a wonderful, helpful guide and met some lovely people too, although we did have a creepy porter.
Pics of Langtang
After the trek, we thought we'd prepare for 4 weeks of hard voluntary work (haha) by resting in Patan. Here we bumped into our friends we met the first night and had lots of lovely chats. Patan Durbar Square was definitely worth the visit and so was the museum. We should have left more time for that though.
Patan
Then more shock came when the "hostel" we were supposed to stay in for our voluntary project turned out to be nothing like the website shows. Oh and we got told not to go to Chitwan and to basically sit around near Bhaktapur for a month. Or maybe spend an extra 16000 rupees each to do a "5 day" trip to Chitwan and Pokhara. We insisted on Chitwan and we're really glad we did, even if it was a bit of a disappointment too.. Turns out that i-to-i don't send much of the money this way. 4 weeks of voluntary work, ended up only being 1 week, due to not enough money for materials, and the festival. Lots of sitting around, reading, playing cards and board games. Oh and knitting! Hayley's started knitting Kody a scarf for Christmas haha. The lovely Subha, a lady who worked at the school, gave Hayley some needles and we managed to find lots of bright colored wool in the nearest town.
The first weekend down near Chitwan, we visited the National Park. We started really early in the morning then got a very sketchy canoe ride for 10km. We really thought we were going to topple in, which isn't fun when you have passports and cameras on you and there's crocs in the water! Next was a 20Km walk through the jungle. We managed to see lots of monkeys, a rhino but sadly no Sloth Bears (Kody has gained an obsession for these animals). At the lodge that night (yes we stayed in the jungle for a night), a rhino came really close so we got a great view. The Nepali people really like to please you though, which can be a good and a bad thing. In this case, they decided to start throwing things at the poor rhino, to try to get it turn round so we could have a better view. Not such a good thing. Another early morning and a jeep ride through another part of the park. Saw lots more monkeys, various birds and several nice looking villages. We chilled for a bit then had an elephant safari in the afternoon. Not the most comfortable thing when you cram 4 adults (plus 1 child on ours) into a basket type thing and you wobble lots. Did get a lot closer to the animals that way though and it's quite peaceful once you get used to it.
Chitwan pics
So for the rest of the time, we did a few more days of work then lots of sitting around, like we said. We did meet some friends that I'm sure we'll see again (reunion 1 and reunion 2...). But now we're back in Kathmandu and it's just the two of us (starts singing) again. Quite lonely but hopefully we'll meet some more people on the next trek (it's not cheating honest!). Applied for our Indian visas on Tuesday so back to pic them up next Tuesday then start our Helambu trek on Wednesday. Solo this time. Oh and Kody got a tattoo yesterday. Will try to blog a bit more often.
Kathmandu
We started our adventure in Kathmandu. This was a bit of a culture shock for Kody at first, which is funny now we're used to it. We were then relieved to get out of the city and in to the countryside when we started our Langtang trek. But first, it was the bus journey from hell. Scary, scary stuff that you couldn't even describe, and the bus journey back to Kathmandu was even worse. The trek seemed about the right level of toughness for us and a good length too, with 6 days of actual trekking. Sadly, there was quite a bit of rain on the way up and, instead of a free day to explore the area at Kyanjing Gompa, we had an extra day of sitting in a cold lodge at Langtang Village. However, the next day we awoke to amazingly clear skies and the views at Kyanjing Gompa were totally worth it all. We had a wonderful, helpful guide and met some lovely people too, although we did have a creepy porter.
Pics of Langtang
After the trek, we thought we'd prepare for 4 weeks of hard voluntary work (haha) by resting in Patan. Here we bumped into our friends we met the first night and had lots of lovely chats. Patan Durbar Square was definitely worth the visit and so was the museum. We should have left more time for that though.
Patan
Then more shock came when the "hostel" we were supposed to stay in for our voluntary project turned out to be nothing like the website shows. Oh and we got told not to go to Chitwan and to basically sit around near Bhaktapur for a month. Or maybe spend an extra 16000 rupees each to do a "5 day" trip to Chitwan and Pokhara. We insisted on Chitwan and we're really glad we did, even if it was a bit of a disappointment too.. Turns out that i-to-i don't send much of the money this way. 4 weeks of voluntary work, ended up only being 1 week, due to not enough money for materials, and the festival. Lots of sitting around, reading, playing cards and board games. Oh and knitting! Hayley's started knitting Kody a scarf for Christmas haha. The lovely Subha, a lady who worked at the school, gave Hayley some needles and we managed to find lots of bright colored wool in the nearest town.
The first weekend down near Chitwan, we visited the National Park. We started really early in the morning then got a very sketchy canoe ride for 10km. We really thought we were going to topple in, which isn't fun when you have passports and cameras on you and there's crocs in the water! Next was a 20Km walk through the jungle. We managed to see lots of monkeys, a rhino but sadly no Sloth Bears (Kody has gained an obsession for these animals). At the lodge that night (yes we stayed in the jungle for a night), a rhino came really close so we got a great view. The Nepali people really like to please you though, which can be a good and a bad thing. In this case, they decided to start throwing things at the poor rhino, to try to get it turn round so we could have a better view. Not such a good thing. Another early morning and a jeep ride through another part of the park. Saw lots more monkeys, various birds and several nice looking villages. We chilled for a bit then had an elephant safari in the afternoon. Not the most comfortable thing when you cram 4 adults (plus 1 child on ours) into a basket type thing and you wobble lots. Did get a lot closer to the animals that way though and it's quite peaceful once you get used to it.
Chitwan pics
So for the rest of the time, we did a few more days of work then lots of sitting around, like we said. We did meet some friends that I'm sure we'll see again (reunion 1 and reunion 2...). But now we're back in Kathmandu and it's just the two of us (starts singing) again. Quite lonely but hopefully we'll meet some more people on the next trek (it's not cheating honest!). Applied for our Indian visas on Tuesday so back to pic them up next Tuesday then start our Helambu trek on Wednesday. Solo this time. Oh and Kody got a tattoo yesterday. Will try to blog a bit more often.
Kathmandu
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