Nepal Blog

We are currently sitting in a jungle being eaten by Mosquitos, better than being eaten by a tiger but still quite uncomfortable! 

We arrived in Bardia National Park (south west Nepal) this morning after a 16 hour bus journey on a local bus complete with drunk men sleeping on the roof. To be honest the roof seemed preferable to our seats which by hour ten had become harder than the hardest thing ever recorded on a hard-o-meter. Our bottoms had become as leathery as a rhino's and have bruises that rival my worst rugby injuries. Nevertheless we arrived at 5am, and slept until 2pm. We then proceeded to eat our own body weight in carbohydrates including, rice and soup, chow mien, chips and momos. Emma, having recovered from a bout of food poisoning (this time, the cucumber, not the pineapple, is getting the blame) hadn't eaten for 3 days so was pretty hungry! Our room is a little shack made of bamboo and clay with running water, all be it cold, and mosquito nets to keep our old nemeses at bay. We're hoping to stay for a few days and do some jungle treks to spot the elusive Bengal tiger, along with maybe a rhino and elephant!

Our previous stop was Pokhara, the last destination west for most travellers to Nepal, and the start of many of the famous mountain trecks. Having decided we were a. Too skint and b. too scared to attempt any real walking we opted to do a few little jaunts on our own. Armed with our Lonely Planet guide we set off around the lake to try to find the world peace monument, a must see in Pokhara. After a few wrong turns and cross words we found the rickety bridge which crosses the river to the hill where the beginning of the trail up to the monument begins. By this time, both of us had had a sense of humour  bypass and the sign warning about the likelihood of being mugged, was too much to take, so we about turned and went back over the rickety bridge to seek the sanctuary of our luxurious, if a little overpriced, hotel room at the butterfly lodge. The irony of being mugged on the way to the world peace pagoda would have shattered our faith in human kind. The rest of our time in pokhara was spent whiling away our time haggling with shop owners and eating momos (a delicious snack, like steamed dumplings, filled with vegetables, rice, or cheese and spinach, and you get 12 for 50 pence). Like any responsible traveller, we tried to spread our money around by eating/shopping at different places. However (because we are very close to the indian border) we found an amazing punjabi restaurant that we went to twice, where we feasted on mushroom panzer, spinach aloo, garlic nan, curry, riatia, dhal and a huge bottle of Everest  beer! Perfect.

We like Nepal a lot, even though we have been unable to enjoy ANY mountain views, due to the smog which drifts across the country from India and gets stuck between the southern planes and the Himalayas. There are lots of different cultures here. Many Hindus, and Buddhists, lots of Chinese and Tibetan refugees and Indians of course. Hundreds of dedicated outdoor pursuit types come from all over the world to conquer mountains (who drag their infants along too) and there are hippies who never left after arriving in 1975. It's a really chilled out place, with delicious food and prices that make it easy to linger for longer . With the exception of Kathmandu, you can get a decent twin room for 450 rp, (£3) a meal would set you back 250rp (£2), and an excruciatingly painful 16 hour bus journey is a tenner. We don't seem to get hassled to buy things here as much as is some places either, which is a relief! Unfortunately, Nepal is one of the poorest countries we've visited and women are the poorest of them all. The Illiteracy rate amongst women is 70%, and it's still legal for a man to take a second wife if a women doesn't bear him a child within 10 years. Diabolically, over 100,000 Nepali girls have been 'sold' to brothels in India. Girls are considered a burden and if a family can afford to send only one child to school it will inevitably be the son. Despite this, we have seen many a happy family scene and lots of children, both boys and girls, making their way to school, so maybe, hopefully things are changing. 

We have two weeks left of our great adventure. It's hard to believe its been almost a year since we began. It has been the best experience imaginable and we are both so glad we had the opportunity to do it. We are planning to visit Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha and then to Kathmandu ready to catch our 3 flights which will eventually take us to heathrow (Delhi, Mumbai, London).  HOME SOON! 

Love Roo and Emmalington Brown-pants xxx