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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