Nepal & The Mystical Himalayas
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Another adventure with Overseas Adventure Travel. "The mighty Himalayas rise to snowcapped peaks that are the very rooftop of the world. Sinuous green terraces wind as far as the eye can see along mountain valleys. Prayer flags adorn lively temples that reveal colorful ancient scrolls and exquisite carvings. This is Nepal...The Nepalese people live, farm, and pray in the foothills of the soaring Himalayas, along the Seti River, in bountiful Chitwan National Park, and in the kaleidoscopic swirl of Kathmandu and serene beauty of Pokhara....an unforgettable world of profound and ageless beauty, nestled beneath the rugged peaks of eight of the world's ten highest mountains." OAT Travel Booklet
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| View of a monastery from the forest trails at Gokarna Forest Resort |
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Scenes from Patan's Durbar Square,
one of the seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Nepal |
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| Ken cannot fit inside the rickshaw canopy! |
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| Mindboggling |
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| Amy getting a 'singing bowl treatment' |
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| Views through bus windows... |
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This fellow was posing as a holy man. He asked
for money when I photographed him.
He sure looked like the real deal to me!
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Views at the Boudhanath Stupa. Like Mecca is
to Muslims, Boudhanath Stupa is the main pilgrimage
site for Tibetan Buddhists. |
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And here is the magnificent Sagarmatha, or "Goddess of the Sky," Mt. Everest. Its summit height is 29,029 feet above sea level, and it is the tallest peak on Earth.
(Photo taken from the plane as we flew alongside the mountain.)
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| Handmade pottery in the village of Bhaktapur |
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| So hard not to buy everything in sight! |
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A woman we met while watching a side-of-the-road
aluminum casting operation. |
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Our women 'sherpas' carrying our bags on the way to Mala Lodge at the base of
the southern Annapurna Range in the Himalayas. |
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An inn on the old trading route between Tibet and Nepal.
Tibetans traded salt for Nepalese wheat. |
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In every village, the young men played this game similar
to pool but played by flicking disks into the pockets. |
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| Girls outside of the boarding school. |
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| Beautiful Mala Lodge. |
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Our very own Mount Machhapuchare, or Fishtail Mountain.
Right outside of our lodge. |
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Our 6:30 wake-up call was a knock on the door, "Good Morning,
Your mountain is clear!" Then coffee, tea, or hot chocolate was
served while we watched the sun rise on 'our' mountain.
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| On our trek to Thanchok Village, we saw many homes with barrel bee hives. |
Video of children at OAT-supported school singing to us.
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Prayer wheel in the museum
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| Old Nepalese dolls... |
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| and drums |
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As we entered the Thanchok Village,
we were greeted with necklaces of marigolds. |
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| Making the village home brew out of millet. |
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Our fellow traveler, Helen,
sampling the village 'ambulance.' |
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After feeding us a delicious lunch, our beautiful hosts
sang to us and some of the elders danced. |
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| Back at the lodge after a day of trekking. |
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| A scene of terraces on our trek out of the mountains. |
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| We made an unplanned stop at a wedding celebration. |
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| How could I not join in? |
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Back at our hotel in Pokhara,
Ken caught up with the news.
Notice the prayer scarf! |
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| Boats on Lake Phewa in Pokhara |
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After boating on Lake Phewa, we visited a Hindu shrine
where animal sacrifice has been replaced with split coconuts.
This is the coconut splitting machine. |
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| This guy seems a bit disrespectful of the goddess. |
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| We visited a Tibetan refugee settlement camp. |
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This beautiful woman tied to our wrists bracelets which she made as a welcoming gift. Our guide, Anil,told us this had never happened before.
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And this woman demonstrated
centuries-old spinning techniques. |
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| A weaver at the settlement camp's weaving facility. |
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A local musician boarded our bus and entertained us
by playing an instrument he had made. |
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At the Maya Devi restaurant and vulture conservation center,
this Egyptian vulture was quite a sight.
Go to parahawking.com to learn about
this important project to save the vultures. |
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After a wild three-hour river rafting trip on the Seti River,
we arrived at the lovely Seti River Camp. |
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| Scenes during the trek to the camp manager's village... |
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These women are carrying animal fodder
which they cut and gather from nearby hills.
The locals call them "walking bushes." |
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| Yup, we crossed the bridge. Not as scary as it looks. |
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| Solar panels and satellite dishes were a common site. |
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This young boy was cleaning small birds for dinner.
He catches the birds by putting glue on the tree's branches. |
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| And a young girl was very gently exploring the plucked creature. |
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| On to Chitwan National Park where we rode elephants to explore the jungle's habitat. |
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| The best sighting of all! |
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Back in the village, these fellows pulled our cart
to the village of the Tharu people. |
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We were briefed about the lives of the elephants and were given
food packets for them. Enlarge the photo and you can see
one in her mouth. I had fun scratching her armpit. |
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| From the beautiful Jungle Villa Resort ... |
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| ...we climbed into this kapok dugout canoe... |
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...as our guide poled the canoe through the
crocodile-infested waters of the Rapti River... |
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...to visit a crocodile breeding center.
Yes, the boat ride was a wee bit scary. |
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On the last day of our journey, we spent the afternoon with a
Nepalese woman and her husband who are friends with a
friend of ours from home. We explored the innermost marketplaces
of Kathmandu, saw the school Suchita attended as a child, and visited a Buddist temple. |
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This is the beautiful Suchita showing us a collection of
coins nailed together by local people before they go to the dentist! |
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| Colorful building fronts in the old section of Kathmandu. |
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Thank you Anil, for a wonderful journey.
We will keep you and Nepal in our hearts. |
