Sunday 24 March 2013

in the mountains

I left Adelaide on Tuesday evening and after 2 days of solid traveling I reached Pokhara, Nepal, and found Will standing out in the garden of the hotel I was meeting him at.
I haven't really done all that much since being here...but I have only been here for 2 days. Yesterday we did a lot of resting...in fact I think the only thing we did in between resting was eat. Oh, we ate some mouldy chocolate croissant from an overpriced bakery which we then boycotted.

Today was a little more strenuous. We climbed up a very big hill to the first ever (there are I think 75 built or being built now) World Peace Pagoda, a bright white domed building decorated with huge golden Bhuddas. Then we walked back through a forest and had a relaxing afternoon back at the lake (this is the touristy part) in Pokhara. We bought a few yak's wool products in anticipation of an upcoming trek. Now we are sitting on a balcony, drinking a beer and listening to a pretty awful concert being held to celebrate Earth Hour. How's the serenity...

Before I got here Will had 2 1/2 weeks of exploring Nepal on his own; though most of this time was spent trekking to Annapurna Base Camp (he made it!) and back. He saw a snowstorm and the sunrise over the Himalayas which would have been pretty spectacular. He also ate a deep-fried snickers bar and a deep-fried ball of chips...yes, a ball of chips. I guess you need that slow burning energy to trek through the mountains.

 In his first few days in Kathmandu he also ran away from a "trustworthy guide" who told him not to talk to foreigners as they will just leave him for dead in the mountains and who charged him $30 for a walk around the city. Once he escaped from him he celebrated Shiva's birthday by having lunch with a Nepalese family and visiting some temples.

That's about it for now. Tomorrow we are heading down to Chitwan National Park with hope of spotting a tiger (almost guaranteed impossible) and some rhinos (very possible).

There are no pictures in this post because although I have figured out how to move them from my camera (actually, Will did) to this tablet thing I still haven't quite ironed out all the kinks. And I'm too tired now. But once I do, that will be way cool. 

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