17 June 2005: Kathmandu Calling

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone is enjoying cream teas in the English summer, and doesn't mind having another one of my incresingly irregular emails from Asia. I'm relaxing in Kathmandu after doing some mountain biking in the Himalaya, and since I can't use my legs anymore I thought I'd do some typing instead.

http://www.whereismark.fotopic.net/c516233.html (Weeks 9-15)

It's been a while since India, but after leaving the sand-castle city called Jaisalmer we headed to other forts in Jaipur (the pink city) & Jodhpur (the blue city). In Jaipur that was an amazing astonomical park called Jantar Mantar (trans: calculation & measurement) that was bulit by the Maharaja out of marble. These measure the position of the celestial bodies - telling the time & your horoscope. Each time one instument was built, the Maharaja thought "if I was only bigger, it'd be more accurate" till he had the biggest sundial in the world constructed (27m). But the whole park is speactacular & looks more like a modern art instalation.

In Jodhpur there's the Majestic (Mehrangarh) Fort, the most imposing and impossibly fairytale fort you'll ever see. Which, unsuprisingly, was never taken. We also tried getting tickets for the 6th one-day internation cricket match between India & Pakistan in Delhi (the two most cricket-mad nations in the world). But it was pharcical! We had to give up in the end. Wrong information from newspapers, tourist offices & the TV meant we gave up & left - when really we should have just relied on good old-fashioned Indian corruption to procure a ticket!

Varanasi on the Ganges, was the most hassled & maziest city I've ever been trhough in my life. But sunrise on the cremation ghats & candles floating down the river at night, as well as fghting kites overhead probably made it all worthwhile. But I was relieved to escape India & get to Nepal, especially with the Monsoon arriving around the corner! 6h on the train & 4h+8h by bus later, we were in Pokhara - the city by the Lake.

Lovely place, but we quickly started on the Annapurna Circuit - a walk up the Marsyandi Khola through stunning hill-top villages, terraces of vibrant green rice & windswept Tibetan settlements. With the troubles in Nepal, the trail was very quiet & we only saw a handful of other trekkers each day (though it appears every Israeli between 20-30 is now in India & Nepal) when it's usually much busier. We both adapted to 7h hiking with rucksacks (& the rigours of multipel stops at teahouses) till we were at Manang (3420m). We could see Annapurna II, III & IV (include an avalanche) but the valley is pretty warm.

A side-trip to Tilicho Lake (highest in the world - 4900m) was gruelling, dangerously laid with scree-slopes, but spectacular. Quiet & frozen, except for occasional rockfall & avalanches. Then we were at Throung Phedi ("foot") & joined up with some others for the 5am push over Throung Phedi (5416m - highest pass in the world). We'd been lucky with the weather & this day was no except. You could see infinity.

Then downhill into the deepest gorge in the world, following the Kali Ghandaki river. Sacred water, ethernal flames, etherial mountains, Forbidden Kingdoms (Mustang - forbidden because $700/week is out of my budget!), apple pie & great people all the way to Tatopani (trans: Hot Water) for beer in a natural hot spring pool during a lightening storm. Could you ask for better?

How about views of the Annapurnas, Nilgiri, Dhaulagiri & Machhapuchhare (Trans: Fishtail mountain - closed to mountaineers) at Ghorepani - and then an extra few days into the heart of the whole circuit, the Annapurna Sanctuary. What can I say? GO THERE YOURSELF. If you like mountains, it's the place to be. Read Herzog's "Annapurna" about the 1st ascent of an 8000m for a taste of the area. We didn't see any Maoists though.

Pokhara was a great place tore-energize & try white-water rafting on the Kali Ghandaki for 3 days (mad fun), and then having a go at kyaking the Seti Khola. The latter getting a bit too wet & wild (grades 2 to 4-) for us. You go into the rapid, paddle like mad to stay in a straight line, get flipped over, bounce off the submerged rocks with your helmet, get sucked upside-down into a whirlpool, & eventually have the chance to save yourself with eskimo roll. The cheaper option of course, is just to climb inside a washing machine in the safety of your home.

The Seti river took us down to the Royal Chitwan National Park & some safari walks. Now this seemed like a good idea at the time, but in this season the heat is overpowering so many ofthe animals are sleeping. We were guided by two Nepalese armed with sticks.

Rule1: If it's a tiger, keep calm, look them in the eye & back away slowly.
Rule2: If it's a Rhino, run away in a zig-zag & climb a tree.
Rule3: If it's a sloth bear, run away very fast & don't climb a tree. They like climbing trees.
Rule4: If it's a snake, run away.
Rule5: If it's an elephant, run away very *very* fast (they can hit 40kph) & don't climb a tree. They like to pull trees down! If you're lucky they can't pull it down, but they may get their mates to guard the tree while they get a trunk full of water, use it to soften the roots, and then pull it down. Lovely creatures.

And we're armed with sticks. Great!
As it was, we heard a royal bengal tiger in the grass, but we stayed out of the grass; heard an elephant pulling down trees but stayed away; and saw croc, rhino &many birds. The biggest danger turned out to be the Maoists. We walked out of the jungle to catch the next morning's bus, but discovered the Maoists had blown up our bus that morning killing 32 & injuring 50 - just to kill 3 soldiers on the bus. *gulp*

After that, mountain biking round the Kathmandu valley & through the city's traffic seemed like a relaxing thing to do. Such friendly & inquistive people, great forests, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe at Nargarkot & crazy-long uphills & downhills. I think I crashed twice, and Martin 3 times - as well as scoring a goal for England in a local village game. Afterwards, since Kathmandu valley has 6 World Heritage Sites to visit there was plenty to see. Tomorrow I'm on the 5:30am bus to Tibet so won't email for quite a while. Why does being on holiday involve getting up even easrlier than I used to for work?

Well, hope I haven't written for too long & that you're all fantastically interested + entertained.
Take care all, and live long & prosper

Mark