Pokhara paradise

Second attempt at writing Pokhara blog entry a go go. Yesterday's attempt at an entry deleted itself after more than half an hour of arduous writing. One was not pleased. Anyhoo, on with the show!

After Kathmandu, Pokhara truly is a paradise on earth. The gorgeous Phewa Tal lake that sits nestled among the green, lush hills, the little boats that sit Lakeside and the utter quiet compared to Kathmadu. Of course there are cars and bikes and vans that pollute the streets with their black gunk coming out of their exhaust pipes, but  it's not to the same scale as Kathmandu, and I actually feel I can breathe. On the bus ride to Pokhara (the travel agents I booked the tickets from said the journey should take around 6 hours, and I felt that for a trip of 200km that was very optimistic. The bus ride took almost 9 hours) I got to sit by the window, and with stifling heat outside and inside the bus, I had the window open for a bit. And then noticed my seat was by the exhaust pipe, and black stuff was being expelled from this tourist bus I was on. Once I got to my hotel I scrubbed my face for quite a while and blew my nose at least 10 times. Oh to be in a country with unleaded petrol....

I have to tell you I won't be doing any trekking, mostly due to high prices on the most popular treks (4 days and 3 nights on the Poon Hill trek will set you back roughly $300). So instead I've spent my time relaxing and seeing the local sights. I hiked up to the World Peace Pagoda, an incredibly sweaty 90 minute hike through the forest. The forest was swarming with monkeys, butterflies, buffalo taking a cool bath, and leeches that could potentially fall out of a tree and attach itself to you. Luckily I survived without meeting a single leech (leeches always remind me of that one episode of Black Adder where the doctor prescribes him leeches to cure all his medical problems).

From the top there are breathtaking views of the lake and valleys. The stupa itself is nothing spectacular, but worth the hike up. To get down from the stupa I opted to go down the "direct route", rather than enduring the leech forest again. The direct route is a steep path made of uneven stone steps that take you down to the lake, and from there you take a boat back to Lakeside. Now I shall impart a little bit of wisdom on you: going uphill is always better than going down. I barely had functioning knees when I got down to the lake level, those steps were awful. And I mean awful. My legs just shook when I stood still. That boat ride back across the lake was glorious. Followed by an even more glorious cold shower.

I also visited Davis's Falls, a small waterfall a few kilometers from Lakeside. Apprently the falls got their name after a Swiss woman named Mrs. Davies was taking a bath nearby in the river, fell and then died once she hit the waterfall... I don't really know what to say...

It's easy to spend a day doing nothing but reading, eating so much curry (dal bhat, paneer butter masala, palak paneer, malai kofta..) and drinking beer or mint lemonade in Pokhara (I should know, I've had plenty of those days). Especially if you walk on a bit from the tourist hub of Lakeside, there is beautiful little place by the lake where the locals come and do their washing or bathe, and where there is shade in which you can sit with a book and find that hours have gone by and you're resembling a boiled lobster. And I've gotten teeny weeny tiny freckles on my arms from being exposed to the sun so much. Thanks for that, Dad.

I've basically turned vegetarian since I came to Nepal, simply because seeing all of that meat sitting outside for who knows how many hours just puts you off it. And let's face it, vegetarian curries are the best I've eaten a lot of curries whilst I've been here. A lot. Anything with paneer in it... *drools*

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Chitwan National Park where I'm going to see some elephants! And hopefully rhino too. And maybe a tiger. From there the plan is to cross the border into India after the weekend, hop on a train and go to New Delhi where it's even hotter than it is in Pokhara. I may melt at some point. And I think I've finally sent a postcard to everyone who provided me with their addresses, so if you have given me your address you should hopefully be getting one soonish!

Bungy, momos and monkeys

Namaste from Nepal!

I've been here for almost a week now, and time has flown (I also can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks since I left for my travels...)!

Most of you probably know of my adreline fuelled moment to jump a bungy on my first day in Nepal. What was I thinking???

After a early wake up call on our last morning in Tibet, the group and I headed for a long drive to the border at Kodari. After crossing the border relatively painlessly, we clambered onto a Nepalese tourist bus, and drove 10km to The Last Resort; the place where we were gonna spjkdjkfjdsklend our first and and where I would spend my first hour shitting bricks.
 bhs
To get to the actual resort you have to cross a suspension bridge that stands at 160 metres above a gorge with a babbling river gushing below. The bridge is also where you jump the bungy from. I found out that I could jump it on that same afternoon, and so I spent the next few hours in a perpetual state of fear as I am somewhat afraid of heights. Jumping a 160m bungy seems like the thing to do then, doesn't it? Jeez.

Anyway,  got grouped with 4 guys from Laos, who were also jumpng for the first time, so we were all standing on the bridge shaking with nerves. I went second to last, and by that point I was lietrally shaking. The worst part was having to walk to the very edge of the platform that I had to jump from, but I did it! With a massive roar of terror and went leaping through the air and plummeted meters down below into the gorge. Aside from it being truly terrifying, it was so cool! Though I don't feel the need to ever to jump another one. Huh.

After coming down from my adreline high, it was time for a beer and some chillaxing in a cool pool at the resort. Followed by drinkypoopoos with Johanna accompanid by plenty of popcorn (I cannot think of anything better than getting free popcorn).

The next day we headed towards Kathmandu and our hotel in Thamel. After some ambling around in Thamel with Johanna, our group headed to an über fancy hotel called Dwarika's for a traditional Newari dinner which consisted of 6 courses. My beer there cost more than a pair of trousers I bought from Thamel earlier that afternoon.

The next day after visiting Durbar Square and Pasupathinath Temple (where saw dead bodies being prepared for cremation and plenty of marsupials) it was time to bid farewell to the other Finns and my Mummy with whom I'd shared a special trip to the roof of the world. As teary as it ma have been, being on my own felt good. And as relaxing as it had been to be brainless and not have to think about anything, being on my felt good. I have the cutest little hotel room in the centre of Thamel (I have my own balcony!) and doing what I want when I want is awsum.

I'm planning on doing a cooking course in every country I possibly can, and went to a momo cooking class on Tuesday with two Aussies!  Momos are Nepalese dumplings with meat and vegetables, usually steamed but also fried. We made two different veggie ones; mmixed vegetable (cabbage, onion, carrot, spring onion, coriander, spices and ghee) and then a spinach and yak cheese momo. We also made a peanut sauce and a tomato and chili sauce to accompay the momos. Making the momos is a time consuming but fiddly business, but the end result is so worth it. The momos were so good, especially the spinach and yak cheese ones dipped in the peanut sauce. And even if our momos were a little ugly, especially compared to the momos of our instructor's,  who has probably made thousands of momos in her life, they were super nom.

Yesterday I walked up to the Swayambhunath Temple, also known as Monkey Temple. The surrounding area around the temple is just swarming with monkeys. Also I saw so many teeny weeny monkeys, that clung to their mumsie's tummys when mummy had to run somewhere *u* And the steps up to the Stupa was gruelling... So many uneven, steep steps. My knees were so wobbly by the time I made it back to the hostel. That afternoon I made my way to the Kaiser Library. The overwhelming smell of old books hits you in the face as you step, and the walls are lined with old travel and history books. The amount of books about Winston Churchill that were there was really quite astounding... and odd. And amongst those was even a book on good old C.G. Mannerheim. Go figure. Very cool library, it even houses a stuffed tiger and coats of armour. Today I visite the largest stupa in Asia, the Bodhnath Stpa, that is gracefully covered in pigeon poop. Kathandu really is the city of the pigeon *shudders*

Im heading to Pokhara on Saturday morning for some hiking and breathtaking views. Also, the disarray of photos is because I'm writing this on the Blogger app on my tablet and it only allows you to attach photos to the end of your text. So bear with.

First post from across the universe.

Tashi Delek!

I've not been able to update due to much excitement and also not being able to access my blog as it's run by Google and Google is bad in China. As is Facebook and Twitter. But don't worry, one is alive!

Our trip started off with a flight from Helsinki to Beijing, and from there we went straight to the Great Wall of China. Which was pretty great. And hot. And I did not realize it was so steep (it was super steep where we were), and wearing back jeans does not make for good climbing on the wall. From the wall we headed for a lunch of tasty chinese dishes and then to our hotel. Our first day was completed by a Peking Duck dinner, and seeing the chef slice the duck himself.And my god it was nom, so nom.

Can't say that I enjoyed Beijing a whole lot. The Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven were special and amazing, but the actual city of Beijing was less than spectacular. The smog and the 5 million cars buzzing around causing a head ache and reason not to breathe just don't make for a pleasant experience. Also, China should look into the use of unleaded petrol. I don't think my lungs are very clean at the moment.

From Beijing we hopped onto a train that would take us all the way up to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The train ride was just shy of 42 hours, but luckily we got Super Sleeper Carriages with only 4 beds per carriage as opposed to 6. I had a wee top bunk, and Mum had a bottom bunk, and then we got two nice cabin mates, Emma and Rakel who filled the other two bunks.

How to pass 42 hours on a train:
lSleep. Lots
lEat lots of noodles.
lDrink water, tea, beer and wine.
lWatch Glee and Miranda
lRead a load of fanfics.
lAdmire the view from the train
lGet to know your cabin friends
lListen to the Book of Mormon soundtrack to keep yourself amused
lSleep some more.

The finally we got to Lhasa in dire need of a shower. My hair was beginning to look really rather delightful, but I decided to save the dry shampoo for when I really need it.

After the healing power of a shower had done it's magic, it was time for our first meal at 3500m above sea level. I indulged in a rather dry yak burger, which was actually good despite it's dryness. I have to say yak is pretty tasty! It's the main meat eaten in Tibet, though most of the yak we see is cross between yak and cow. Tibetan buddhists don't eat fish at all, because they want to avoid killing as much as possible, and for a meal they would need many a fish, where as a two yaks could feed a family for an entire year.

I have to say, I've got monasteries and temples coming out of ears by now. We went to Sera Monastery to see the monks debate, to Potala Palace to see where the Dalai Lamas woud recide during the winters, and to Jokhang, the most sacred place in all of Tibet. And to many others. The colours in all of these places is incredible. Reds, blues, yellows and gold, greens... It's amazing. And the huge statues of Buddhas are pretty mindblowing; they're almost as tall as small buildings,and there are so many of them. And then the statues of old Dalai Lamas and Kings and Princesses..... They're never ending.

After spending four days in the hustle and bustle of Lhasa, we jumped into Land Cruisers and made our way even higher than we already were! 

Our first night was spent in Gyatse. To get to this truly delightful (not) little town, we first had to climb to roughly 4500m to get to the top of a pass to admire the view of a gorgeous, turqoise lake. From there we descended again, stopped for a rather mediocre lunch in a local town, and then made our way to Gyatse. Ok hotel, not so nice town.
After a sleep on a hard mattress, we headed to the Pekhor Chode Monastery and it's HUGE stupa with 108 altars. The altars were all dark, so I used my snazzy headlamp to peek into them. And some of them were so scary, especially the protection deitys.

From Gyatse we headed to Shigatse. This was a considerably nicer place than, Gyatse. A nice stroll through the town in schorching sunshine made better by witnessing a market stand filled with innards and other delicacies, including a massive liver with flies swarming around it. Schweet.

The next morning we visited yet another monastery; the Tas Hi Lun Po Monastery. Nothing too different than the other, except it holds the largest bronze statue in the world, one of the Buddha Maitreya (the future buddha). It's pretty high, around 28m tall.

Following our monastery visit, we drove to Sakya, a really unpleasant little town. Thevisit there was only made more pleasant by a visit to a small nunnery on the hillside. The hike up there almost killed me; I guess small hikes at around 4500m are not my friend. But then again you're at a place with around 35% less oxygen than what you're used to, so getting out of breath after two steps is pretty normal. That 15min hike was worse than when I climbed up Wayna Picchu. But the nuns living in the nunnery were the sweetest little ladies I have ever met. They were so friendly and small! One of the teeny madams insisted to be photographed with me, and in one where we're standing together infront of a few Buddhas, you can she barely comes up to my shoulders. That visit to the nunnery has definitely been one of the best experiences in Tibet.

We also visited the Sakya Monastery, which was the monastery that founded the Sakyapa
school of Tibetan buddhism. I don't think any of us were sad to leave Sakya, but once we got to our next destination, Sakya seemed like paradise. Shegar is truly the arm pit of Tibet. It took Johanna (my Tibetan travel friend and companion) and I roughly 10 minutes to walk from one end of the other, and it was dusty and filthy. The hotel there, while grubby and run down from the outside, was surprisingly nice on the inside. We even had a small altar in our shared living room.

Our time in Shegar ended with a cold, early wake up call as we were headed to the base camp of Mount Qomolungma, or Mount Everest as it's more commonly known as. The car ride there was gruelling; 3 hours on the bumpiest road known to man, followed by a bus ride to the base camp, situated at 5200m above sea level. Can't say I was so impressed by it, or if it was worth spending 6 hours in a car jiggling about like a fish on dry land, but now I can say I've been to base camp of Mount Everest. And the view of the top of the mountain was pretty cool. We really lucked out with the weather, about an hour after we left a shroud of clouds covered the top of the mountain.

After a night in Lao Tingri, it was time to bid Tibet goodbye, and head to Nepal for the next stage of my adventure. We descended more than 3000m from barren, dusty plains and passes to lush, green and warm valleys serving a vast contrast between the two.

More on my nepalese adventures next time!

21 days to go

Only three weeks until I'll be waving goodbye to the lush lands of Europe and making my way to China and Tibet. I've finally managed to get most of my visas sorted, the only ones lacking are ones I have to apply for when I'm travelling or I get on arrival. I got my in transit visa for Sri Lanka (yep, you need one just to travel through Sri Lanka), and my Australian working holiday visa got approved last night so next summer will officially be spent Down Under cookin' some goodness for the folks!!!!!!!

The first in Nepal is being spent in The Last Resort, which in itself is seriously cool, though getting there really isn't. You have to cross the deepest gorge in Nepal on frikkin' rickety bridge and it's very possible that I'm going to die on that. Or poo in my pants, not quite sure yet.

This week I've been packing up my belongings in boxes, and can I just say that the amount of CD's and DVD's I own is ridiculous. And did I get rid of any? HELL NO. I did get rid of some books though which I feel I have earned a pat on the back for. I've also packed up some of my dishes, and have been really ruthless as to what I'm keeping and what I'm not. So I've only got one box of dishes and shizzle... Bloody miracle if you ask me. I am a bit sad to be leaving this flat behind me. I've been here for almost 3 years, and this place is so cute and nice and cozy and my first own home. Gonna get weepy.

I'm going to London on Wednesday to see my Dad, Moira and Fifi (and Saul too!), have some good times and then maybe weep a wee bit when I have to leave. We're doing dim sum in Chinatown and the Book of Mormon (yes, I know you're jealous, I mean it's Gavin Creel as Elder Price!!!!!!) and I get to check out my sister's new digs (stop growing up Moira).

I will be taking a wee tablet with me when I go travelling with a nifty keypad, so updating my blog won't be dependt on an internet cafe, but dodgy WiFi!! Also I am leaving armed with a folder full of NeNe Leakes, Honey Boo Boo, Glee gifs and many, many more. You're welcome.

Anyhoo, one must dash as one has to get ready for this weekend and it's celebrations. So many celebrations this weekend, folks!!!

It's very possible that this is gonna be me on Monday.