“What to do in Kathmandu?”

8th – 14th February 2013

Although not the cheapest option, flying direct to Kathmandu from New Delhi is certainly the quickest and easiest method. An overland crossing is lined with problems (so I’ve read) and with a flight ticket costing £75 and taking just over an hour, it was a no-brainer for us.

The first problem (hopefully this post won’t be a list of problems!) occurred in New Delhi airport, more specifically, in the duty free area. We knew we had to find a cash machine and get some dollars ready for getting a visa in Nepal, but couldn’t spot one anywhere. What was also a little strange, was that there were no currency exchange kiosks anywhere either. After enquiring as to their whereabouts, we were told that neither a cash machine nor currency exchange office existed in the airport. This created a problem. We had to find $80 from somewhere in order to pay for our visa when we land in Nepal. We had no idea how big the airport would be when we landed and didn’t want to find out what happened if we couldn’t cough up the cash. New Delhi airport – sort it out, invest in a couple of ATM’s.

Luckily, Kathmandu (in fact Nepal in general) is far more switched on. With a cash machine and a currency exchange office next to each other, they know exactly what tourists need. The fact that you can’t buy a tourist visa using Nepalese Rupees is a little baffling. I know the dollar is obviously stronger than the rupee, but still. Most of the places we visited, hotels, adventure sports offices, even some restaurants all offered services in dollars. Being a Brit and a Dane, these figures meant little to us and it normally came as a shock when we asked for the price in rupees.

Out of the airport doors, the sun was high in the sky and with a cool breeze we soaked up our first Himalayan view. The snow capped peaks that stretch panoramically across the horizon are breath taking: we already loved Nepal! Our hotel had provided a free pick-up service, which is a great way to save money and more importantly, confusion when landing in a strange city. As we crawled through the busy streets, tourists were everywhere, all peering into shops and trying not to be hustled too much as they browsed through a variety of souvenirs. The shops themselves were so enticing. Beautiful wooden carvings, richly coloured textiles, musical instruments and trekking equipment are just a few to mention. But what seemed apparent, was the lack of plastic, tacky items, that we came across frequently in India. For once, I was really looking forward to a shopping spree, much to Malene’s delight.

Our hotel was basic, but the rooms were large, there was hot water, the internet worked and the manager was helpful. With the added bonus of an airport pick-up (and drop-off) included in the price – 700 rupees (£5 per night) seemed like a good deal for a city that was crammed with hotels and tourists queuing to fill them. I must stress, to get a good price, you need to haggle and haggle hard. Be prepared to walk out and find somewhere else. Quite often, when you walk out, they will normally ask you back – that’s when you know you’ve won the battle!

We stayed in the Thamel area: the most touristy area, but good for a short stop. About half an hour walk to Dubar square and other temples, Thamel offers live entertainment in the evenings, great shopping and a host of restaurants offering food from around the world. Unfortunately, it was this international cuisine that was an early downfall for us. Our second evening in Kathmandu hit us hard. We decided to eat continental style and ordered a couple of cheese burgers at a beautiful restaurant lit by candle light and soaking in the atmosphere of quiet, chilled out music. The burgers, were delicious. The price, reasonable. The effect 4 hours later however was not so pleasurable. 24 hours later, most of which were spent either asleep or on the toilet, we felt a lot better. We had survived our first bout of food poisoning.

However, I don’t want to finish off our Kathmandu experience write-up with a negative feeling. There were so many great things about this city, mostly in the way it felt when walking around. It is far more relaxing than anywhere we had been to in India. The Nepalese people are absolutely delightful, very helpful and have very pure and kind hearts. We spent an afternoon at Dubar square which was very entertaining. Although advised by another tourist not to go, this was one of my hi-lights of our stay in Kathmandu. With huge temples and beautiful views across the city, this is a great place to relax and watch the world pass for a little while. And that’s exactly what we did. Sat high up on one of the temple steps and eating some fresh momo’s, we watched locals and tourists mix beneath us. Tourists, like ourselves, are fascinating to watch and we both recommend it.

As for a place to fly to, Kathmandu proved to be a lovely first stop. A place to find our bearings and learn what was on offer for the rest of the country. We used this place to plan out our next month, but I don’t think we would have believed at that point, just how good this month would turn out to be. This post is short, and probably incredibly boring for most, but I’m itching to write up what happened in our second stop: Pokhara, the adrenaline playground of Nepal, possibly the world!

Feeling blue and loving it.

4th – 6th January

16 hours on a sleeper train is an ordeal in any country. Surprisingly, here in India, it was a very cold, yet smooth journey. Frozen to the core, we stepped off the train at 7 in the morning, with the sun beginning to show. Instantly confronted by a rickshaw driver we were eager to get to our accommodation – Gopal guest house, in the heart of the old city. It didn’t take long to reach guest house as we bumped our way through narrow, quiet streets. Checking in was fast too, which was lucky as we really wanted to get to bed for a quick power nap after our disturbed night previously.

When we awoke, we stumbled our way up the 2 flights of stairs until we reacher the large roof space. We were instantly struck by the great sight of the Mehrangarh, a large fort constructed in the stone on the side of a mountain. It overshadows the little blue houses that are Jodhpur. What took us even more by surprise was the introduction of sunshine. For the past 2 weeks we have slowly gotten used to the Punjab winter. With foggy days that don’t get much warmer than 7 or 8 degrees, we often wore our thermals and took plenty of layers on. And this was exactly what we were wearing today, at 9am on the roof as the temperature soared beyond 20 degrees. It was so nice to find the sun, we hope you never leave us again!

That day we crawled our way up the side of the mountain to the fort. We passed goats and cows, but the real surprise was white people…lots of them! We had spent so long away from tourists that we were beginning to think that we had India all to ourselves, the reality was, the Punjab doesn’t see much tourism, but we quite liked that. At the top of the hill, the views were spectacular, little blue box-shaped houses, different sizes and shapes sprawled across the desert-like hills. The blue city, was definitely blue, and very much alive! The fort was beautiful and caught our imaginations. It was lovely to imagine how people must have lived here hundreds of years ago, the battles they had, the royalty, the rich, the poor. The Indian history is certainly a rich and powerful story and fascinating to learn.

The remainder of our first day was spent searching the old bazaars and markets. Hundreds of textile shops and antique stalls selling everything from rugs to incense. With constant bargaining we were able to buy some lovely items, unfortunately, our bags are almost full. The hardest decision will be ‘what to leave behind?’ The common belief of Jodhpur is that everyone is trying to sell you something. This is definitely true. However, they are still lovely people, who genuinely love to talk and share their experiences with you…even if they are slightly disappointed when you leave the shop empty handed.

Jodhpur really captured our vision. The decorative balconies and finely detailed carved archways are incredible. It’s attention to detail, but in an old rustic type manner. It allows you to loose yourself as you gaze across rooftops and peer into a different world. A world of organised chaos, bright colours and sweet incense. We left the flat green rice fields of the Punjab and over-night entered a different land. The green lushness has been replaced by hard, warm red rock, but the people remain the same: loving, hospitable and curious.

We could have stayed much longer in Jodhpur. Getting lost in the labyrinth of streets that seem to take you in circles and browsing through the beautiful shops was so much fun. But, it’s time to move on…further west to Jaisalmer, home of the dessert and of course, camels!

Rose gardens Vs. Rock gardens

14th, 15th and 16th of December.

Our trip to Chandigarh, would be our first test of traveling since our journey from Delhi over 3 months ago. It is a place that everybody talks about, a place that is quite different from anywhere in the Punjab, if not all of India. We were both excited to go and had planned it a few weeks earlier. The only problem was my Christmas nativity drama. I had, foolishly, given myself 2 weeks to organise, write and direct the children’s first ever Christmas play, and then translate it all into Punjabi for the audience to understand. Still, slightly stressed, it was a good idea to go ahead and visit Chandigarh.

Luckily, we managed to hitch a ride with someone from school who was on their way out there. The journey took 2 hours, or just around the corner as the locals would say. Finding ‘Hotel Silver Bell’ took a little while as we all peered through the jeep’s steamed windows and searched the densely packed buildings for clues. But things were going well, and before long, we were checking in and were quick to evaluate our room which was basic, but clean and even had a little balcony that overlooked the Himalayas. After so long being ‘apart’ from Malene whilst at school (and sleeping in separate rooms with our ‘Indian’ family), it was lovely to be together again.

The first day was spent exploring the western styled shops in the big, central shopping area. Unfortunately, the prices matched the elaborate window displays and we didn’t find too many bargains. One thing we did find however, was the school girls Christmas presents: necklaces with a single letter for their names. Buying anything over here is a challenge, there is no fixed price on anything, very few price tags and if there are, then they are normally wrong, or ‘altered’ by the seller. It’s all about haggling. All the time, trying to speak as much Punjabi in order to make the seller think that you’re not a tourist, and in fact, you’re totally clued up on prices; how ever far that might be from the truth!

We explored a 40 acre rose garden and felt like Cupid’s young lovers again and spent the evening in a very expensive restaurant with silver service waitering, posh drinks and some very tasty food. The following day, Malene and I took a rickshaw out to the famous rock garden – Nek Chand’s collection of waste products, along with beautiful waterfalls and mysterious walkways through dark tunnels. Apart from the constant photo taking by the locals (something we will eventually get used to), we enjoyed an undisturbed, fascinating walk through the imagination of a collectors mind.

Chandigarh proved to be as beautiful and ‘different’ as people had claimed. It was still very Indian by nature, but the hustle and bustle was not as obvious. It was a lovely break away from our routine at school, and lovely to be ‘in love’ with each other again. So thank you Chandigarh, although a bit pricey, a beautiful, green and somewhat unusual city, that we’ll never forget.

A toast to new friends

Making friends in a foreign country always feels good. It’s essentially the acceptance into a new culture and a goal that I have always had, albeit subconsciously. However, meeting really special, loving people and getting to know them over a period of time takes this idea to a new level. Malene and I feel so lucky to be meeting great people almost on a daily basis. But ‘lucky’ doesn’t sum up our greatest fortune in meeting Poonam: our greatest Indian friend.

The orphanage/school/church in which we are working in has some very wonderful and caring people. The teachers are warm-hearted, dedicated givers and we have enjoyed sharing with them the differences between our culture and theirs. The children, of course, are the hi-light of every day, their energy is contagious and their love is endless. However, one person has truly made us feel at home and treated us with such kindness. She has always been there to talk to and never stops thinking about us, which is so valuable to us when we sometimes feel a long way from home. We both wanted to say, from the bottom of our hearts, a huge thank you to Poonam. We hope we can repay the amazing generosity and love you have given to us.

We came to India to help. In reality it is India and specifically you, that is helping us.

I suppose this leads me quite nicely to one of the loveliest afternoons we have had here so far…Poonam’s Birthday celebration. Malene and I planned on taking Poonam out for dinner one evening as a way to celebrate her Birthday, but it was difficult to find a good day. She is the backbone to the orphanage; from waking the children up in the morning, to teaching, to administering medication, Poonam is always needed and always there to give. Luckily, we eventually found one afternoon/evening in which we could whisk her off to the local town of Nurmahal. Enjoying the sights of an old red-stoned palace, the three of us took the time to talk and laugh with each other. With our two cultures being so different, its often amusing and enlightening to compare them.

We visited a lovely Hindu temple, full of water, statues and stories. With a wonderful friend as our tour guide, we felt like VIP guests of honor in a strange and beautiful land. We continued our afternoon by strolling through the narrow, meandering streets and gazing into shops. Often dodging motorbikes who dashed passed us, we took the time to really appreciate our surroundings; ‘Deep India’.

With fresh food being cooked at every corner and the vibrant colours of fruit and vegetable lining the street, we soon starting salivating and thinking about a place to eat. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the three of us walked along the dusty roads in search of a restaurant. Eventually, we found what appeared to be a large, dark house. With no lights on outside, I wondered how they attracted customers, still, we went inside. With a warm greeting, we were shown to our table. For the next 10 minutes we looked through the menu as Poonam was kept busy translating the various dishes. For Malene, butter chicken, for Poonam and myself, only one option…pizza!

As we sat back after our ice-cream dessert, we agreed that we had had a beautiful evening. I even had my first beer since Delhi which felt oh so refreshing. But it was our new friendship that really got my head spinning and spinning in the most wonderful way. As we slowly get more acclimatised to this new way of life, we now understand the importance of taking this journey with the company of good friends. So to you Poonam, we raise our glasses:

“Thank you for being a wonderful friend and may we share many more special moments together.”