from the himalayan kingdom and back (part II)

I left you on my last entry about my experience in Nagakort. It's been more than a week since I left Nepal and my heart is still firmly there. Buried. I can't get over the place. None of the places I've visited has ever made me feel sad to leave. The funny thing is that I knew nothing about Nepal before I went and now, after the trip, I'm still none alot wiser but it has made me so conscious of all that's going on in this little 'extraordinary' country- as described by lonely planet. It's no rocket science to figure why Nepal is so extraordinary.


Strangely, I probably would not have given the protests and curfews a second thought, if not for the fact that it affected us in such a big way while we were there. The mobile and international lines were also severed so that I was unable to contact my loved ones until close to the end of the trip- (it became something of a reality when one of us joked that snail mailing would be more efficient). But in a way I'm glad all that happened, happened. Everything happens for a reason right? We were in Kathmandu at a time of instability and unrest and since then, the situation deterioriated considerably. But at least for now, after 3 weeks of turmoil, the dust seemed to have settled abit and things are looking calmer with the king agreeing to step down. I don't know the full story but I hope the country is on a rebound and life for the very nice locals I've met will return to normacy.

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The night before, together with my friends, I drank an itsy bit of red wine which helped me sleep a whole lot better. We wake up to a stunning view from our balcony. Glorious.

You know it's going to be a Good Morning! when you're sipping a cuppa of Nepalese tea to this. Indulgence!

As the day wears on and the sky clears up, the Himalayas comes into full view (you'll have to look closely to see that in the picture above). Where the mountains and the skies meet. Surreal.


Above, our group watches the local news as we find ourselves in the midst of another discussion of our options- leave Nagakort and head back to Kathmandu or stay? We did some trekking and returned to the resort where I have some quiet time with man's best friend.

This is a really good dog. I think it belongs to the resort owner. Very chill-out dog. More chill out than me. You have to be if you stay in Nagakort.

After Nagakort, we arrived in a curfew-free Kathmandu-although that too didn't last, it was long enough for us to visit Dubar Square - 'the open-air musuem' and do a bit of shopping at Thamel- the main tourist shopping district in Kathmandu.


Fast forward the trip- There was alot of disappointment about not being able to see Pokhara and Chitwan National Park due to the on-going conflict and curfew there. But hey, at least we got upclose with the world's highest peak. No, we didn't climb Everest, we took a shortcut by Buddha Air. (Amazingly, just about everything there is called Buddha, Everest or Yeti i.e Everest bank, Everest Beer, Yeti Airlines etc..)


The Himalayas....

And Everest..

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The Everest flight, the one that burnt my pocket through and through, was also easily the highlight of the trip. It would be fair to say I broke my bank on this trip. But then again, I'm laughing to another kind of bank. To see the full range of Himalaya in all its splendor was an other-worldly experience. To describe it would be cheapening it. I hope the pictures translated the thrill that I felt. In short, I LOVE VACATIONS. They are the favourit-est thing I like to do. It really frees my mind and allows me to focus on what is directly in front of me- be it a mountain, a sunrise, a riot or what not. It's extremely liberating! We've made some small talk about a trekking expedition in Nepal. I hope it materialises.

I'll round this post with the very charming man we met on the Everest flight- he, whose name I stupidly did not get, is an Everest climber who hails from Greenland. He summited Everest on his second attempt without oxygen till 8,300m.


He is also incredibly modest....

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from the himalayan kingdom and back

Namaste everyone! It feels good to be in familiar territory. Thanks to all those who send me greetings and well wishes in the time that I was in Nepal- I needed all that luck.

I returned on Sunday night from one of the most unusual trips ever! Imagine a holiday where your hotel was attacked by protestors, the streets were sometimes empty except for the militants roaming on the roads, you flew out on a rescue helicopter and you wake up every morning waiting to discuss your 'options' about where can you possibly go??? For most, that would fall way short of a dream holiday. Yet despite all of that, I left Nepal with a very heavy heart and a determination that I will return again. And soon. In my 7 days there, I've grew very fond of the country, its uniqueness, its people, its mountains, its simplicity, it's steep traditions -it really is a special place. Every Nepalese should feel so proud.

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The above pic was taken from my hotel room on the first day we were there. By this time, the king had implemented a curfew forcing all the locals to shut their stores and stay indoors. Unfortunately, the tourists were not spared either.As the political unrest grew, the curfew would boil over to Chitwan and Pokhara, two other hot tourists hubs.
The next day, our bus was stopped by a group of militants on our way to another hotel. I took this picture from where I was sitting- at the back of the bus. A protest ahead had blocked the roads and we were not allowed to pass through. We had to unload all our luggage, drag it through the protest and to the hotel which was about 15min away.

The walk past the protest was both exciting and unnerving. Somehow, I didn't think the locals would hurt us. They were not after us. Below, the splendid view from our next hotel, Hyatt Regency makes it all worthwhile. We kept our spirits up. (From left, Guan Da, Frida, Marcus and me. Prior to the trip, I had only known Frida. In the time we were in Nepal, we very quickly formed a bond with 4 other tour members. On hindsight, the trip would have turned out very different if not for them.)

We managed a short trek to the stupa- a beautiful temple adorned with colourful prayer flags. The pair of eyes, can be seen from all four sides of the stupa- locals believe that it watches over Kathmandu. In one of the photos, the locals lined up to pass pails of waters to help out in the renovating of the stupa. Talk about teamwork!Meanwhile, the local children playing around the area provided for many kodak moments. Here, a man sits and takes a quiet moment. The stupa is alot to take in!

But not all is well back in the hotel. The next morning, the Hyatt sign is gone, the guard house was smashed and there was no nothing on the streets but rocks and rubble.

On the same day, the group makes a decision to fly out of Kathmandu to the hill resort in Nagakort. Land transport was out of question given the protests and curfew. The helicopter ride was quite an adventure in itself. We arrived on Nagakort, which is about 2,300m(?) above sea level. Even as chaos boil below in Kathmandu, there was none of that in Nagakort. Below, I love the shots of this family- one of the first ones we saw upon landing. Gradually, we even became quite acquainted with them. There was a lovely little motel cum restaurant that we discovered by chance- such a charming place overlooking the valleys. I love their lemon grass tea- it's hand-picked mind ya!A short walk brings us to a charming resort where we had some great, great, local food. In the evening, the temperature drops to 7 degrees- the coldest I've been exposed to. Our solution? We warm up easily to a glass of wine, card games and alot of laughter.

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And I'll leave you for now with these parting shots. In my next post, I'll tell you about Nagakort's sunrise and an upclose and personal encounter with Mt Everest. Cheers!

Collages

Looking through my old scrap books last weekend, I stumbled upon some treasures- namely snaps of my days as a geeky teenager, interning in the zoo. The stint was 6 months long...and I was assigned to the public relations dept. As you will later find out, I was I 'PRing' more with the four/no legged than the two-leggeds.

The snaps are not very clear- these are 'secondary photos' if you know what I mean. But my memories are still clear. So allow me take you through this very memorable journey in 2002. I love to re-live those days!
The scrap book starts off with a postcard I got while serving time in the zoo...(One of the best things about working in the zoo is the amount of cutsy freebies you get. Until today, I still keep loads of animal-theme postcards, stationery, post-it pads..)


Orang Utans are some of the most people-friendly animals...so alot of my animal encounters were with these primates. Suria (below left) was a very popular 4-year-old orang utan when I first met her. She was still a baby then, so I could carry her but I always remember how strong she was. Once we took her out of the zoo for some conservation event, and she was almost ripping the metal bars inside the van apart. Scary. But she's still a lot milder than Chomel (below right), know for her temperamental mood swings.



Here Suria is with her Mum whom I think was very curious about the bracelet I was wearing. We were preparing to take a shot but she was fiddling with that bracelet the whole time. Our closest kin, they are incredibly human-like. Really intelligent.

Then then there was Town, who I believe must be one of the oldest resident of the Singapore Zoo. Very handsome and gentle. Whenever I arrive for work early, I would go to the petting zoo corner to feed him some carrots and sugar cubes.



Probably the craziest thing I did during the internship was entering the cheetah's cage. Some thought I had a death wish but they are really like your dosmetic cats. At least this one was. It helped that I was on good terms with the cheetah keeper. I literally had to beg him to let me in. but he did cave in eventually and even took this shot for me. He must have taken at least 20 other shots but this is one of my favourite. Cheetahs are truly spectacular animals. They are so sleek and so agile and truly truly great looking. They also have huge, fearsome looking yellow- green eyes.
The cheetah is so at ease with her keeper.There are plenty of new births in the zoo. And it's big news everytime a new baby comes along, especially endangered species. This time round, it's a new baby goat.

And there's the huge Burmese Rock python which was nearly as heavy as me. They really coil around you and make themselves cosy. Snakes are not all that bad, even if the movies make them all to be scary, slimy creatures. The truth is, they are not at all slimy. And these are extremely cool, calm and collected animals. And really, they can't be less bothered about humans- in fact, i think their attitude towards humans sums up how things work in the animal kingdom. Leave them and their habitats alone and they are more than happy to leave you alone.
There are still loads of other snaps from the zoo, but these are amongst some of my favourites. Besides all these fond memories, I've also met some of the greatest people in the zoo- the keepers. I really admire all those keepers who take care of these animals. Their jobs must be some of the toughest, most important jobs in the world!