Oct 24, 2014, Friday– Kathmandu Nepal

This morning we stopped by Pashupatinath (yes, another World Heritage Site).  This area includes one of the holiest temples of Hindus.  It was a huge complex of buildings with many closed to non-Hindus.  But it was definitely worth the trip. 

The area is bisected by the Bagmati River which flows to the Ganges.  Along the river were “Ghats” that are used for cremations. 

The area had a pretty good colony of monkeys roaming around.

 

Next stop was Bhaktapur, not far from Kathmandu with a Durbar Square that is also a World Heritage Site.  Paul liked it better than the one in Kathmandu.  We drove through part of the old section of town, which is quite large, and then got out and walked some of the streets ... 

 The famous Peacock window

Water Well

Rice drying everywhere, even in front of shrines.

... to the Durbar square.

The Royal Bath:

One of the most memorable areas was the Taumodhi Square, a market square teeming with vendors and shoppers…almost overwhelming to the senses.

We also made it to the Potter’s Square, which Paul was particularly interested in to see the potter wheels.  We did see an “oven” where they were firing clay pots but no potter wheels, as the square was taken over with what seemed to be acres of drying rice.

Rules of the Road - Nepalese Style

• Drive on the Left
• Don’t hit anyone
• Honk as often as possible.
• Ancillary Rule – if present, lane lines are purely optional and are suggestions only. 

  

Oct 25, 2015, Saturday, Kathmandu - Nagarkot

Today was the Brother/Sister celebration portion of the Festival of Light.  Mohan (Big Boss Tour Operator for our Nepal trip) first took us to his mother-in-law’s home for some of the celebrations and an early lunch. 

Cracking the "knot"

One of the more significant rituals, as described to us, was “cracking the knot” to bring good luck to the house.  We both were having difficulty envisioning how one would crack a knot but it is all part of learning about new cultures.  Then they took us outside, placed a whole walnut on the door step and cracked it with a brick.  It's all in the accent.

Our celebration and lunch hosts

We then went to Mohan's brother’s home for more celebrations on the sister-in-law's side with a much larger group.  There were about six women applying tilaks (a vertical line of very colorful dots down the middle of the forehead) to a number of men, who in turn applied tilaks to the women.  Apparently they were all brothers and sisters.  (Or maybe in-laws).

The ceremony signifies a sister’s prayers for a long and happy life for her brother. The brothers then bless their sisters and treat them with gifts or cash. 

After the ceremony one of the women applied tilaks to us and the one other guest (Rosalind from South Africa).  We were then presented with trays overflowing with sweets and fruits as wishes for a healthy and prosperous coming year.

After all of the celebrations we were driven to Nagarkot north of Kathmandu Valley in the Himalayan foothills, passing some crowded buses.

The drive went through some beautiful farming country with many rice fields.  Many of the fields had been harvested and the rice stalks tied up as little "hay" stacks. 

Rice Paddies

The Nagarkot hotel (The Himalayan Club) overlooked a large valley with the Himalayan range in the distance.  

We had requested this overnight in Nagarkot to get some sunset and sunrise pictures of the Himalayas.  However, while the valley and foothills were beautiful it was too cloudy to see the actual mountains.  We did get a couple of decent shots tonight with some nice sunset color.


We were in bed very early in order to get up at 5:45 AM to try for some sunrise pictures.

  

Oct 26, 14 Sunday – Nagarkot – Kathmandu Nepal

Sunrise was at 6:00AM.  The clouds had cleared some and we spent some time trying to get some good pictures.  As it turned out, some of the pictures were pretty spectacular (we think).  Here are a few of the best out of many.

Reminds you of an abstract painting

Then it was breakfast and back on the road by 9:00am for a return to Kathmandu by noon.  

After lunch we walked down to the Thamel area to look around.  It was a very interesting area but the street vendors could be quite pushy. 

Awesomely Gigantic necklaces

Kathmandu is prone to frequent power outages (daily).  The way they string electrical wires on poles along the streets may have something to do with it.

Oct 27, 14 Monday – Kathmandu to Chitwan

Today was a 4+ hour drive to Chitwan National Park in Southern Nepal.  Again, a lot of haze but still some spectacular scenery (and a lot of traffic).

Rice terraces up the mountainside





Long line of traffic on narrow roads

More rice terraces on the mountain sides

Main Lobby building at Tigerland Resort

We stayed at the Tigerland Safari Resort,
located right next to the Narayani River.  Chitwan National Park is right across the river from the resort.

The resort has a huge open air bamboo and rattan “lobby” and all of the rooms are small, one and two unit guest houses with a small veranda.  Very nice and relaxing except they kept us very busy the entire stay.

Tiger Butterfly on Marigold

Narayani River

After lunch in the rattan and bamboo dining hall we headed out on a two hour elephant safari into the tall grasses of the park (called Elephant Grass as they are as high as an elephant's back). 

Rhino

The elephants are not the smoothest animal to ride on but we had a great view across the grasslands.  We saw four adult and one baby rhinoceros,  some deer (barely), a wild boar, a very small crocodile and tons of birds, including wild peacocks.  The elephants were not happy about approaching the wild boar.

Peahens

Wild Boar - The elephants did NOT like approaching him.

On the way back, Paul lost his lens cap, and the guides waded in the water trying to find it.  They don't like any litter in the park.   No luck.

Before dinner members of the local Tharu tribe performed several of their ethnic dances, some with sticks that they used as part of the dance, tapping each other's sticks in interesting, and sometimes complex patterns.