Today we are going to be enlightened i can feel it.....Off to Buddhas birth place, they actually have the exact stone Buddha was born on in a glass box (me and Giselle are a little dubious to how they new the exact stone but who are we to say any different.)
We got on a bus very easily, no suprise there, but we were a little suprised when we jumped on and it was just a few polish men sat there (Hmm thats unusual), they all said hello and asked us where we were from and then carried on talking in Polish. Some of them went and sat on the roof, i was wearing a skirt and in the lonely planet they advise you to be on your guard to duck, i decided i should wait untill my ducking skill were improved. The bus driver pulled over just down the road "we just have to wait here abit." Polish man "thats fine, just chill man." We had a chat with the polish man infront of us and found out they were making a documentary on a man who has an orphanage for the blind children in Kathmandu (I think thats right). Oooo exciting ! They had a nice big video camera with them. The man the doccumentary was on was very lovely and looked quite alot how id imagine Jesus to look.
Polish man turned around to us again looking rather pleased with him self "Do you know what this is?"... It was a little flat tin with a strange picture on... me and Giselle "um no"...."hahah, its white Indian snuff......do you want some?".... I tend to avoid snorting strange white substances as a general rule, and when its from a strange Polish man in Nepal who's baught it in India the answer was pretty self explanatory. "Hahaha, not today thankyou".
The bus journeys was one of our best, though i would like to say if you ever watch a polish documentary theres a high chance me and giselle are going to be looking awkard sat behind a lovely bearded man on a bus.
We got to Lumbini and said goodbye to the film makers. Buddhas birth place was really quite lovely and relaxing, we walked alot and past alot of Cows that all seemed to have a duck following them (if anyone knows why all the cows had a white duck as a friend let me know.) We wondered around, i got stressed as i was hot and everything was so far away, then Giselle got stressed cause i was stressed, we nearly got a rickshaw then didnt cause it was expensive and it wanted to take us some where that we thought we might of already been (rickshaw man wasnt best pleased.) We then went to a nun temple and spoke to some German guys who told us there was a Peace Pagoda right the other end (we really like the last one so decided to check it out).
We would like to apoligize to the rickshaw man who had to cycle us all the way there, it was a long long way! we just assumed it wasnt, sorry im sure it did your legs good.
Last day in Nepal but off to India tommorow YAY
I'm a little terrified of venturing into Varanasi though!
That night I decided if were to come back i would dye my hair brown and get a major fake tan to try and draw less attention to myself, Giselle reply was..."except in Pokhara...In Pokhara you can be freeee" We miss you Pokhara.
The sticky hooks dont really keep our mosquito nets up, thankfully weve only had to attempt to use them once :) Giselle also found a dead mosquito in her bed.
Also Fusion Garden Restaurant in Lumbini was very lovely and would reccomend, they also ran after a bus they thought was ours to stop it, it wasnt.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Monday, 28 March 2011
"life why are you so hard" Giselle
I cant remember what part of the day the above quote was said but rounds the day up reasonably well :)
Bye Bye Chitwan you will be missed with all your elephants and Rhinos.
We got on bus for a Bhairwaha (i really have no idea how to spell it). The family that had shared our jeep to the elephants were on it as well, they were locals but spoke very good English especially the little girl. The journey was very hot and felt like it lasted forever, we seemed to stop for a ridiculous amount of time in each location. Once we got to Bhairwaha we were the only Europeans left on the bus, and the last to get off. WHAM as soon as we stepped off the bus every man and his dog had rushed to us, "Do you want to go to Lumbini"..."stay in my Hotel blah blah blahh"...."You want rickshaw?". Me and Giselle grabbed our bags from the man on the top of the bus refusing any help, while shouting no at them all. I would like to of had a birds eye view video of it, as we moved away they all and i mean all followed us !They weren't normally this persistent. The dad of the family we had been with came over to help us and directed us in the way of the market. (thank you). But it was too late my angry voice came out and i shout "NO! WE DON'T WANT A RICKSHAW TO YOUR HOTEL!" I must of been at least a little scary as most of them left us alone (not all though). We walked most the way but then couldn't work out our little map and eventually got a rickshaw (but with a man who wasn't yelling at us).
Checked into a hotel, we seemed to be the only people staying there but we did manage to knocked 50rs of a night (ooooh yeaaa). We got to our room, YAY full length mirror. The toilet was however just a whole in the ground (that was our first experience of such things and our last so far) the toilet did have a flush though. Giselle went to go try it out. It was fine until i heard Giselle do a little scream, naturally i just assumed she had had problems squatting and had just weed on herself. "Alicia !! oh no wait i don't have my trousers on !" I now tried to think of another reason she may of just screamed, I couldn't....... "The taps come off !" after she had managed to put her trousers on i went in, she had managed to put the tap partly back on but there was a lot of water squirting every where. This was one of those catch 22 moments, do we go tell the hotel owners and risk them wanting to pay them some money for damage or try and fix it our selves. Well, naturally we chose to try and fix it ourselves. My thoughts were "Let's just try and gaffer tape it on"..."don't you think we should tell them"......"No, you pulled there tap off they might want us to pay some money". This was all discussed while holding the tap to the wall. Giselle got the gaffer tape and we tried to fix it. It didn't work. Then came the removing of the tape. "Ahhhh" The whole tap came off again and water went every where ! We eventually called the hotel man up, and we felt immensely bad as he also got soaked, the only difference being was we were in rubbish clothes and he was in a suite. He apologized and moved us to another room, that he said was the same but i didnt think was as nice, the tap didn't brake though :)
Bhairawha is nearly as bad as Dumre and they don't sell toilet roll any where !! (we found some packets of tissues eventually)
Bye Bye Chitwan you will be missed with all your elephants and Rhinos.
We got on bus for a Bhairwaha (i really have no idea how to spell it). The family that had shared our jeep to the elephants were on it as well, they were locals but spoke very good English especially the little girl. The journey was very hot and felt like it lasted forever, we seemed to stop for a ridiculous amount of time in each location. Once we got to Bhairwaha we were the only Europeans left on the bus, and the last to get off. WHAM as soon as we stepped off the bus every man and his dog had rushed to us, "Do you want to go to Lumbini"..."stay in my Hotel blah blah blahh"...."You want rickshaw?". Me and Giselle grabbed our bags from the man on the top of the bus refusing any help, while shouting no at them all. I would like to of had a birds eye view video of it, as we moved away they all and i mean all followed us !They weren't normally this persistent. The dad of the family we had been with came over to help us and directed us in the way of the market. (thank you). But it was too late my angry voice came out and i shout "NO! WE DON'T WANT A RICKSHAW TO YOUR HOTEL!" I must of been at least a little scary as most of them left us alone (not all though). We walked most the way but then couldn't work out our little map and eventually got a rickshaw (but with a man who wasn't yelling at us).
Checked into a hotel, we seemed to be the only people staying there but we did manage to knocked 50rs of a night (ooooh yeaaa). We got to our room, YAY full length mirror. The toilet was however just a whole in the ground (that was our first experience of such things and our last so far) the toilet did have a flush though. Giselle went to go try it out. It was fine until i heard Giselle do a little scream, naturally i just assumed she had had problems squatting and had just weed on herself. "Alicia !! oh no wait i don't have my trousers on !" I now tried to think of another reason she may of just screamed, I couldn't....... "The taps come off !" after she had managed to put her trousers on i went in, she had managed to put the tap partly back on but there was a lot of water squirting every where. This was one of those catch 22 moments, do we go tell the hotel owners and risk them wanting to pay them some money for damage or try and fix it our selves. Well, naturally we chose to try and fix it ourselves. My thoughts were "Let's just try and gaffer tape it on"..."don't you think we should tell them"......"No, you pulled there tap off they might want us to pay some money". This was all discussed while holding the tap to the wall. Giselle got the gaffer tape and we tried to fix it. It didn't work. Then came the removing of the tape. "Ahhhh" The whole tap came off again and water went every where ! We eventually called the hotel man up, and we felt immensely bad as he also got soaked, the only difference being was we were in rubbish clothes and he was in a suite. He apologized and moved us to another room, that he said was the same but i didnt think was as nice, the tap didn't brake though :)
Bhairawha is nearly as bad as Dumre and they don't sell toilet roll any where !! (we found some packets of tissues eventually)
Saturday, 26 March 2011
"White trousers not good,............white people good though" Ishaw
The early bird catches the worm.....breakfast at 6.30, pancakes YUM ! Ishaw came to meet us and took us down to the river (im afraid i didnt find out the name of the river). It said in our paper work that there would be canoe rides, i was worried they were going to try and make us row (i wasnt feeling particularly adventurous and didnt want to do that) thankfully they didnt. It was a lovely boat ride down the river, Giselle was sat in front of me and ishaw in front of her, he was telling us all about the birds and pointing them out. Behind me was another man who i hadnt seen before, he was talking alot in what im guessing was hindi but occasionally he would say the odd word in english, like 'deer' (when there was a deer). I didnt know if he was talking to me or not, it was fairly awkward as i wasnt sure what to do, so i just occasionally turned round and said thankyou.
We got to the river bank and Ishaw was very happy that we were the first to set of on our jungle walk (the man who was sat behind me followed us). We'd only been walking for a couple of minutes, "im sorry i need to go to the toilet" Ishaw said and put his hand out to tell us to wait there. Me, giselle and the strange man. I looked around to find lots of silver like spiders in webs, thankfully they stayed where they were. Giselle "do you speak English?"... man looked slightly scared and shook his head. Giselle then beautifully mimed a spider biting, to see if they were biting ones.
Ah Ishaw appeared from the bushes and waved us to follow him. All of a sudden the floor had lots of red scary looking bugs on the floor. "err what are these"... Ishaw turned around "they are Red cotton bugs, not poisonous"...man "Red cotton bugs, not poisonous". Ishaw then proceeded to pick one up, they freaked me out alot and some were really small and some were massive ! it was a task and a half to avoid standing on them, i think i managed it though.
Ishaw being the genius of a guide he is after following rhino foot prints, looking at their poo and climbing some trees got us amazingly close to some ! I was very impressed and terrified ! We also got to see a crocodile across the river (Giselle was dubious to whether it was a plastic one or not though, i don't think it was). We also saw some sloth bear poo and foot prints sadly no bear though :(.
On the walk back we stopped of in a tall watch tower to have a rest. Ishaw started to tell giselle that here bag was a good colour for jungle trekking but here trousers wernt. "White trousers not got....... White people good though".... hmmmm me and giselle did a little laugh here, only a little politically incorrect. Ishaw had a strange sense of humour but thats why we loved him.
Back at the hotel we had a quick change of clothes and then out to the river again we went. Lots of baby elephants were all playing and spraying water every where. The man told us to take are shoes and glasses off, we did. He then ushered us on top of the elephant, what !? how are we meant top climb on that. He put his hands out and gave me a leg up, pretty much threw my self on and put one leg over. WOW on an elephant bar back, crazy! The baby elephant soaked us and i mean wet through. I was no longer too hot any way. I have probably got some horrible water related disease now.
That afternoon we went on an elephant ride in the jungle, sitting bare back on an elephant was pretty comfy, sitting on the weird seats they made on the elephants how ever were not in the slightest comfortable. (we were sat there for around an hour to an hour and a half, i am now covered in bruises.) Recently i have started to get motion sickness, i haven't worked it out fully yet. I'm fine in cars, trains, buses and on small boats, but put me on a ferry boat or make me try and watch a hand held camera film or doc and i feel like i could be sick every where (nice i know). Sadly the elephant ride goes into the latter category, i wasn't sick but i sure didn't feel my best! It was all made better though when we came meters from a rhino in the open air ! He didn't seem too bothered and just ate some grass. There not as big as i expected but they sure are incredibly cool. We also saw some spotted deer, a mongoose and strangely enough a chicken (it may of been lost, ran quite fast when it saw the elephant coming.) Our elephant was the cutest thing, it kept on picking up massive sticks and wafting them around in a jolly sort of way, me and Giselle were sat at the back and our feet ever so often got hit by its tail that was constantly wagging.
Chitwan was well worth all the pennies, and a special thanks goes to Ishaw, thanks for finding me some Rhinos!
We got to the river bank and Ishaw was very happy that we were the first to set of on our jungle walk (the man who was sat behind me followed us). We'd only been walking for a couple of minutes, "im sorry i need to go to the toilet" Ishaw said and put his hand out to tell us to wait there. Me, giselle and the strange man. I looked around to find lots of silver like spiders in webs, thankfully they stayed where they were. Giselle "do you speak English?"... man looked slightly scared and shook his head. Giselle then beautifully mimed a spider biting, to see if they were biting ones.
Ah Ishaw appeared from the bushes and waved us to follow him. All of a sudden the floor had lots of red scary looking bugs on the floor. "err what are these"... Ishaw turned around "they are Red cotton bugs, not poisonous"...man "Red cotton bugs, not poisonous". Ishaw then proceeded to pick one up, they freaked me out alot and some were really small and some were massive ! it was a task and a half to avoid standing on them, i think i managed it though.
Ishaw being the genius of a guide he is after following rhino foot prints, looking at their poo and climbing some trees got us amazingly close to some ! I was very impressed and terrified ! We also got to see a crocodile across the river (Giselle was dubious to whether it was a plastic one or not though, i don't think it was). We also saw some sloth bear poo and foot prints sadly no bear though :(.
On the walk back we stopped of in a tall watch tower to have a rest. Ishaw started to tell giselle that here bag was a good colour for jungle trekking but here trousers wernt. "White trousers not got....... White people good though".... hmmmm me and giselle did a little laugh here, only a little politically incorrect. Ishaw had a strange sense of humour but thats why we loved him.
Back at the hotel we had a quick change of clothes and then out to the river again we went. Lots of baby elephants were all playing and spraying water every where. The man told us to take are shoes and glasses off, we did. He then ushered us on top of the elephant, what !? how are we meant top climb on that. He put his hands out and gave me a leg up, pretty much threw my self on and put one leg over. WOW on an elephant bar back, crazy! The baby elephant soaked us and i mean wet through. I was no longer too hot any way. I have probably got some horrible water related disease now.
That afternoon we went on an elephant ride in the jungle, sitting bare back on an elephant was pretty comfy, sitting on the weird seats they made on the elephants how ever were not in the slightest comfortable. (we were sat there for around an hour to an hour and a half, i am now covered in bruises.) Recently i have started to get motion sickness, i haven't worked it out fully yet. I'm fine in cars, trains, buses and on small boats, but put me on a ferry boat or make me try and watch a hand held camera film or doc and i feel like i could be sick every where (nice i know). Sadly the elephant ride goes into the latter category, i wasn't sick but i sure didn't feel my best! It was all made better though when we came meters from a rhino in the open air ! He didn't seem too bothered and just ate some grass. There not as big as i expected but they sure are incredibly cool. We also saw some spotted deer, a mongoose and strangely enough a chicken (it may of been lost, ran quite fast when it saw the elephant coming.) Our elephant was the cutest thing, it kept on picking up massive sticks and wafting them around in a jolly sort of way, me and Giselle were sat at the back and our feet ever so often got hit by its tail that was constantly wagging.
Chitwan was well worth all the pennies, and a special thanks goes to Ishaw, thanks for finding me some Rhinos!
Monday, 21 March 2011
Second Holi...........not so cool
I'm going to apologize in advance if this blog doesn't make sense, the key board is awful and the writing on the screen doesn't come up until ages after i have written it. It does how ever have spell check so i can see what is spelt wrong this time. I also haven't been writing in my little book the last few days as so much has been going on, so this is all from memory ( and i can ask Giselle as she is seated the other side of the room this time.)
So we left Pokhara and butterfly lodge despite being tempted to stay there forever, and for the first time we had decided to book one of our visit with a tour group as the price seemed reasonable and we both felt like we wanted someone else taking charge for a few days. We got on our tourist bus and to know ones surprise the bus had literally been double booked. A couple came on "seats B 5/6" yep they were meant to be sitting in the exact same seats as us. They didnt mind and just sat some were else, the people who arrived later were less than pleased and had to be moved to another bus. Off we went around an hour later.The bus journey wasn't particularly comfortable (On the other hand the public buses we had previously taken had been surprisingly nice.) But we did have a nice conversation with a man who i think had been living in India for two months and was in the process of designing a pair of trousers with lots of pockets. Part way through the journey two young local lads came on and started singing and playing a small strange violin thing. Admittedly it was fairly good but i did not want to hear it, simple as really, so i just put my ear phones in an tried my hardest to ignore them, as did everyone else (even when he did come and sit on my arm rest).
We finally arrived and me and giselle went of in a jeep to Hotel Riverside, gis was in pain for the most part of the journey as she banged her head on the jeep bar (wuups) We also tried are hardest to avoid yet another Holi celebration. Hotel looked nice and we did get complimentary drinks. After settling in we got our lunch and a young man came and told us he was going to take us on a village tour, he never did, i think we were possibly eating to slow and he got impatient. Instead the man in charge got another young lad to take us to the Baby elephant sanctuary, "can you cycle?", yes i replied because in my eyes i can. We went to get our bikes and straight away i knock over two of the nicely lined up bikes. "oh sorry !" (turn round and knock another one down), "im really sorry !" i say while trying to stand them up again. They laughed and didnt seem to bothered. I was then reasonably nervous. I was paranoid about getting hit by a car, getting attack in colour from strange people who were to busy enjoying Holi to care about my cycling ability, I was also a little concerned about breaking the bike.While wobbling around on my bike with giselle behind me laughing (sisterly love) I tried to explain that i wasnt particularly good at riding bikes. "you dont ride very often" he said,"no i cycle lots, i just haven't improved" the sad but honest truth. I made it to the sanctuary alive and only got a little colour on me from the festival celebrators.
The boy tried to makes us pay (we had already paid as we had decided to opt for a package trip.) Giselle got stressed but we decided to just pay and just take it up with the big man at our hotel. The sanctuary was nice but out guide (the young man/boy) couldnt really speak very good english so he was just there being awkward. My favourite bit of the day had to be on the ride home, when i over took an elephant on the road with my bicycle it was crazy. We got our money back but felt abit cheated, so we weren't really in best of moods when we went for dinner. We had finished and were nearly ready to hop of for a good nights sleep, when a man came and sat next to us "you going to culture programme?" eurghhhh yes we were meant to be doing it but we thought every one had forgotten about us and we just wanted to be boring and sleep. We acted a little confused to begin with and then said "yes i think so".
Of we went with this man in the dark to some dance thing i was hoping it wasn't going to just be us trying to dance with locals. On the way the man introduced himself, Ishaw was his name and he was going to be our guide for the next day or so. He seemed friendly enough and could speak pretty good english. "I've also wanted to ask an English person what Swindy means".... um i thought, i didnt even know what swindy meant. The next time he mentioned it he said "Windy" (i could only guess he meant the weather). He was looking at a sign so i turned to look, in big letters 'Wendy's Hotel'. Oooooh Wendy. We tried our hardest to explain Wendy was just a name, "Wendy's hotel, Perhaps Wendy also means something different" he said. He didn't seem convinced or satisfied with mine and Giselle answer, oh well. The 'Tharu culture programme' Was really just a dance show, but an amazing one, people in Nepal sure know how to strut their stuff. We all got up at the end and danced on stage (we being me, Giselle, Ishaw and a lovely lady called Nia who we had met previously in Pokhara). I went to bed happy even though our hotel did try and make us pay again and i did knock over a few bikes earlier in the day :)
Im now going to say sorry that i am so behind on my blog ! we have been unable to get to computers the last few days and i now want to go listen to some music and drink nice tea so shall carry on tomorrow. There are lots of exciting things to come in the next few blogs so it will all be worth it ! thank you :) xxxxxx
So we left Pokhara and butterfly lodge despite being tempted to stay there forever, and for the first time we had decided to book one of our visit with a tour group as the price seemed reasonable and we both felt like we wanted someone else taking charge for a few days. We got on our tourist bus and to know ones surprise the bus had literally been double booked. A couple came on "seats B 5/6" yep they were meant to be sitting in the exact same seats as us. They didnt mind and just sat some were else, the people who arrived later were less than pleased and had to be moved to another bus. Off we went around an hour later.The bus journey wasn't particularly comfortable (On the other hand the public buses we had previously taken had been surprisingly nice.) But we did have a nice conversation with a man who i think had been living in India for two months and was in the process of designing a pair of trousers with lots of pockets. Part way through the journey two young local lads came on and started singing and playing a small strange violin thing. Admittedly it was fairly good but i did not want to hear it, simple as really, so i just put my ear phones in an tried my hardest to ignore them, as did everyone else (even when he did come and sit on my arm rest).
We finally arrived and me and giselle went of in a jeep to Hotel Riverside, gis was in pain for the most part of the journey as she banged her head on the jeep bar (wuups) We also tried are hardest to avoid yet another Holi celebration. Hotel looked nice and we did get complimentary drinks. After settling in we got our lunch and a young man came and told us he was going to take us on a village tour, he never did, i think we were possibly eating to slow and he got impatient. Instead the man in charge got another young lad to take us to the Baby elephant sanctuary, "can you cycle?", yes i replied because in my eyes i can. We went to get our bikes and straight away i knock over two of the nicely lined up bikes. "oh sorry !" (turn round and knock another one down), "im really sorry !" i say while trying to stand them up again. They laughed and didnt seem to bothered. I was then reasonably nervous. I was paranoid about getting hit by a car, getting attack in colour from strange people who were to busy enjoying Holi to care about my cycling ability, I was also a little concerned about breaking the bike.While wobbling around on my bike with giselle behind me laughing (sisterly love) I tried to explain that i wasnt particularly good at riding bikes. "you dont ride very often" he said,"no i cycle lots, i just haven't improved" the sad but honest truth. I made it to the sanctuary alive and only got a little colour on me from the festival celebrators.
The boy tried to makes us pay (we had already paid as we had decided to opt for a package trip.) Giselle got stressed but we decided to just pay and just take it up with the big man at our hotel. The sanctuary was nice but out guide (the young man/boy) couldnt really speak very good english so he was just there being awkward. My favourite bit of the day had to be on the ride home, when i over took an elephant on the road with my bicycle it was crazy. We got our money back but felt abit cheated, so we weren't really in best of moods when we went for dinner. We had finished and were nearly ready to hop of for a good nights sleep, when a man came and sat next to us "you going to culture programme?" eurghhhh yes we were meant to be doing it but we thought every one had forgotten about us and we just wanted to be boring and sleep. We acted a little confused to begin with and then said "yes i think so".
Of we went with this man in the dark to some dance thing i was hoping it wasn't going to just be us trying to dance with locals. On the way the man introduced himself, Ishaw was his name and he was going to be our guide for the next day or so. He seemed friendly enough and could speak pretty good english. "I've also wanted to ask an English person what Swindy means".... um i thought, i didnt even know what swindy meant. The next time he mentioned it he said "Windy" (i could only guess he meant the weather). He was looking at a sign so i turned to look, in big letters 'Wendy's Hotel'. Oooooh Wendy. We tried our hardest to explain Wendy was just a name, "Wendy's hotel, Perhaps Wendy also means something different" he said. He didn't seem convinced or satisfied with mine and Giselle answer, oh well. The 'Tharu culture programme' Was really just a dance show, but an amazing one, people in Nepal sure know how to strut their stuff. We all got up at the end and danced on stage (we being me, Giselle, Ishaw and a lovely lady called Nia who we had met previously in Pokhara). I went to bed happy even though our hotel did try and make us pay again and i did knock over a few bikes earlier in the day :)
Im now going to say sorry that i am so behind on my blog ! we have been unable to get to computers the last few days and i now want to go listen to some music and drink nice tea so shall carry on tomorrow. There are lots of exciting things to come in the next few blogs so it will all be worth it ! thank you :) xxxxxx
Saturday, 19 March 2011
HAPPY HOLI !!!!
So me and Gis went to bed and woke up terrified and concerned about the festival Holi which i think is the festival of colour and water or just colour. Turns out it has actually been loads of fun ! and met some lovely tavelers as well which we had a drink with and heard there thought on india (as they have just left india). Were also meeting them for dinner which should be nice :). Basically the festival consists of people throwing and rubbing coloured powder on your face and wishing you a happy Holi, people also though spray water at you, throw water at you from the roof tops and so on. It can also be coloured water.I think we were very lucky to be in Pokhara for this as i think they are very tame compared to places like Delhi. Everyone seems very happy, ive only seen one person get annoyed.
We woke up at around nine and got in our clothes which we had baught for 100 rs each especially for holi (they were old once from a laundrettes) and went down into our hotel garden. We really didnt no quite what to expect, but the hotel people all went out together tourists and locals. I felt abit like a group from gangs of new york meeting other groups on the cross road. As we walked through the main street we got covered and covered everyone in our path wishing them a happy holi. We got to the end of the street where there was a band and everyone started dancing (including us). I struggle imensly with a dance move that you do crouched down, but i think they just liked that we were taking part. It was crazy, its like every one had just gone slightly mental with children just running every where. The dancing and the band started moving forward, people throwing the powder up into the air and children jumping up to put colour on your face. It really has been the most bizaar experience. I ended up being head to toe in coloured powder. But i wasnt as bad as some people, it got slightly worse when people from roof tops started throwing water down on the crowed and shouting "Happy Holi!", still it was ok, and them from nowhere me and gis got a rather large bucket of purple coloured water thrown at us. Giselle had just seen it and turned away so it only got her back, me on the other hand got drenched head to toe in purple stuff. "you look like the girl that turns to a blueberry in charlie and the chocolate factory" giselle stated. Thanx i thought. Oh well i was happy and it was holi so i survived. Though because i looked like i had really got into it people took it as an invitation to cover me even more in the stuff. still i dont think i looked as bad as some people (giselle might disagree). Today me and giselle have been asked atleast 3 times by strangers if we are twins. We are not twins. We are though nearly wearing identical clothes and shoes and do both have glasses on and are covered in colourful stuff, so maybe we do look like twins.
We also got interviewed by a man asking us about holi and if we have it in england, so we may be in a Pokhara newspaper. Quite a few people also took our photo (significantly more after we got drenched in purple water). Its our last day in Pokhara which is very upsetting as its been nothing but fun, i am sure that i shall one day return though :)
Anyway we are of to Chitwan national park tommorow for a few days.
Good bye Pokhara ! you will be missed.
Also just a reminder to check out my justgiving page. Im jumping out of a plane in July for a charity called Read international, about the charity and everything will be found on the link http://www.justgiving.com/Alicia-Silvester and if you feel like donating it would be massively appreciated :)
Thank you !
We woke up at around nine and got in our clothes which we had baught for 100 rs each especially for holi (they were old once from a laundrettes) and went down into our hotel garden. We really didnt no quite what to expect, but the hotel people all went out together tourists and locals. I felt abit like a group from gangs of new york meeting other groups on the cross road. As we walked through the main street we got covered and covered everyone in our path wishing them a happy holi. We got to the end of the street where there was a band and everyone started dancing (including us). I struggle imensly with a dance move that you do crouched down, but i think they just liked that we were taking part. It was crazy, its like every one had just gone slightly mental with children just running every where. The dancing and the band started moving forward, people throwing the powder up into the air and children jumping up to put colour on your face. It really has been the most bizaar experience. I ended up being head to toe in coloured powder. But i wasnt as bad as some people, it got slightly worse when people from roof tops started throwing water down on the crowed and shouting "Happy Holi!", still it was ok, and them from nowhere me and gis got a rather large bucket of purple coloured water thrown at us. Giselle had just seen it and turned away so it only got her back, me on the other hand got drenched head to toe in purple stuff. "you look like the girl that turns to a blueberry in charlie and the chocolate factory" giselle stated. Thanx i thought. Oh well i was happy and it was holi so i survived. Though because i looked like i had really got into it people took it as an invitation to cover me even more in the stuff. still i dont think i looked as bad as some people (giselle might disagree). Today me and giselle have been asked atleast 3 times by strangers if we are twins. We are not twins. We are though nearly wearing identical clothes and shoes and do both have glasses on and are covered in colourful stuff, so maybe we do look like twins.
We also got interviewed by a man asking us about holi and if we have it in england, so we may be in a Pokhara newspaper. Quite a few people also took our photo (significantly more after we got drenched in purple water). Its our last day in Pokhara which is very upsetting as its been nothing but fun, i am sure that i shall one day return though :)
Anyway we are of to Chitwan national park tommorow for a few days.
Good bye Pokhara ! you will be missed.
Also just a reminder to check out my justgiving page. Im jumping out of a plane in July for a charity called Read international, about the charity and everything will be found on the link http://www.justgiving.com/Alicia-Silvester and if you feel like donating it would be massively appreciated :)
Thank you !
Friday, 18 March 2011
We have decided today is going to just be a relaxing day so dont have much to write about. Last night we went to an italian restaurant which was nice and they were showing the cricket. The man who was serving us like to repeatedly tell us that england was playing. We left with nice full tummys to head home for an early sleep (we had got up at 4.15). On the way we ended up passing the young man that we see every night (i spoke about him in an earlier blog, he guessed we were sisters then laughed at us when I tried to say namaste). At first he didnt notice us then shouted "ahh it you, yea yea i was just thinking about you two". Later down the road another man "where have you been, been waiting for you all night". If we new the whole of Pokhara had been waiting for us we wouldnt of sat eating by are selves oh well. Tonight I tihnk we are going back to the dancing place to strut our stuff.
Also read Giselles blogs for the first time earlier, they made me laugh if your not reading them you should :)
Special thanks goes to you guys for reading my blogs, Thanx ! and much love xxxx
Also read Giselles blogs for the first time earlier, they made me laugh if your not reading them you should :)
Special thanks goes to you guys for reading my blogs, Thanx ! and much love xxxx
Thursday, 17 March 2011
"I hope you have a beautiful journey....just like you"
Today was a nice and early start, up at 4.15 am !! anyone that knows me knows im not the best in the morning but i was in such a jolly mood that getting up at 4 felt like the norm. We wondered out the hotel in search of a taxi (a man in the hotel assured us that there are always taxis about). Ahh weres a taxi, it seemed there wernt loads of taxis waiting for us. It was not to long though until one drvoe up to us pulled over "TAXI ?"....."yep, to sarangkot point". The taxi man told us it was going to cost 600 Rs, at first we thought this might of been abit expensive but after looking through our 8 year old lonely planet guide which said it would cost 500Rs we thought we had probly got a bargain.
As expected despite it being half 5 in the morning when we left our taxi there was a man ready in ambush us. "you want a guide yes?". we said no as we figured it couldnt be that hard to find the path up.
we hadnt been climbing for that long when a local lady ushered us into her cafe/ shop. "the best view is from here, tea? coffee?"....."um no thanx". we wondered around and then climbed her stairs to get higher. When we looked up we could see that the mountain definatly went up alot higher so we asked a young lady who was near what was up there. "tower"... the other lady came back "no no its army up there down here much better." We decided she was probly lying and there was no harm in finding out for our selves anyway so we left to carry on up the mountain. It felt pretty adventures climbing up in the dark with our torches but after awhile it was like when will we get there !
It was a little disapointing but that is nearly all to blame on the mist. The hope of seeing lots of mountains was gone it was just an awful lot of mist. The man up there said it had been like that for 2 days now. Oh well.
Giselle wanted to walk down abit and get some food and see if the mist cleared. I on the other hand was to busy feeling sorry for my self (i always thinks this helps when your ill). Although i have managed to avoid the runs so far (YAY) and any funny tummys, my skin how ever seems to not like it out here. The one thing i didnt really think about getting was heat rash or dermatitis ( i have now learnt my lesson).
We walked down abit until a local lady offered us tea or coffee, so we accepted. She was very lovely and there was a child there who got out her english book and started singing a song about a dog and cat (she was very good). The tea was also very nice. But on the other hand i couldnt eat her food ( i felt very bad and did pay her anyway)The scrambled egg did really look like it had been cooked for very long at all, and the toast (was a little bit just like bread) had just got a blob of honey and two blobs of butter on them (it also had an ant on it, nice). i had one slice of toast and couldnt eat anymore. We also got a snicker bar that was 6 months out of date, tasted fine thou.
The mist didnt clear so we decided just to start heading down the lonely planet said it would take aorund 2-3 hours but was farely easy path to follow (this was a lie). We walked the little bit we new down to where the taxis were, turned down a taxi "it's a very long way down, you want taxi?" we said we wanted to walk and giselle did actions just incase they didnt get it. He did and directed us in the right direction. After getting a little further down we bumped into a group of young men. "you want taxi" ..."no no we want to walk"(insert walking action". "you dont want taxi, you want to walk, you want a guide?" they all laughed at this point. "no were ok"..."you dont want a guide, you might get lost"...."no were fine we can find our way"...."its a free, you can have a free guide"...his friend then shouted "two free guides".... we said no again and laughed. They shouted tata and some other things along with "i hope you have a beautiful journey... just like you." we were a little worried they might follow us. They didnt.
The path home did take around 2-3 hours but we dont think we did it right though. We bumped into lots of lovely people on are way including a boy in his bike whp just rang his bell and confessed his love for us (not sure if he just learnt this at school or if he didnt no what he was shouting but it was a little strange.) We walked past a little girl "namaste, give me money" we didnt they dont seem to learn please. The main reason we new we had taken the wrong turn some were is when the path ran out, it was either go back, slide down a steep maybe once path that looked anything but safe or go through some ones house. We chose to attempt the latter. "Namaste !" giselle shouted this a few times into there garden, it felt reasonably dramatic. After a few shouts two ladies came out. We just asked where lakeside was and she pointed away through her garden we could take. It was pretty comical and im sure we looked like stupid tourists as we tried to find our way through her garden while getting a quick shower as we had to walk under her flower sprinkler. We could hear the old lady laughing, i hope we made her day, if not im sure we left her very confused. Special thanks goes to her.WHAM yep we saw some more monkeys ! i got some more photos as they were swinging in the trees this time so were less scary but by no way less cute, part of me now wants a pet monkey. We made it down the hill safe and soundly while passing some one who i think has a large resemblance to Robert Pattison, i have seen him 3 times today, giselle told me to shout Rob at him next time. Maybe i will.
As expected despite it being half 5 in the morning when we left our taxi there was a man ready in ambush us. "you want a guide yes?". we said no as we figured it couldnt be that hard to find the path up.
we hadnt been climbing for that long when a local lady ushered us into her cafe/ shop. "the best view is from here, tea? coffee?"....."um no thanx". we wondered around and then climbed her stairs to get higher. When we looked up we could see that the mountain definatly went up alot higher so we asked a young lady who was near what was up there. "tower"... the other lady came back "no no its army up there down here much better." We decided she was probly lying and there was no harm in finding out for our selves anyway so we left to carry on up the mountain. It felt pretty adventures climbing up in the dark with our torches but after awhile it was like when will we get there !
It was a little disapointing but that is nearly all to blame on the mist. The hope of seeing lots of mountains was gone it was just an awful lot of mist. The man up there said it had been like that for 2 days now. Oh well.
Giselle wanted to walk down abit and get some food and see if the mist cleared. I on the other hand was to busy feeling sorry for my self (i always thinks this helps when your ill). Although i have managed to avoid the runs so far (YAY) and any funny tummys, my skin how ever seems to not like it out here. The one thing i didnt really think about getting was heat rash or dermatitis ( i have now learnt my lesson).
We walked down abit until a local lady offered us tea or coffee, so we accepted. She was very lovely and there was a child there who got out her english book and started singing a song about a dog and cat (she was very good). The tea was also very nice. But on the other hand i couldnt eat her food ( i felt very bad and did pay her anyway)The scrambled egg did really look like it had been cooked for very long at all, and the toast (was a little bit just like bread) had just got a blob of honey and two blobs of butter on them (it also had an ant on it, nice). i had one slice of toast and couldnt eat anymore. We also got a snicker bar that was 6 months out of date, tasted fine thou.
The mist didnt clear so we decided just to start heading down the lonely planet said it would take aorund 2-3 hours but was farely easy path to follow (this was a lie). We walked the little bit we new down to where the taxis were, turned down a taxi "it's a very long way down, you want taxi?" we said we wanted to walk and giselle did actions just incase they didnt get it. He did and directed us in the right direction. After getting a little further down we bumped into a group of young men. "you want taxi" ..."no no we want to walk"(insert walking action". "you dont want taxi, you want to walk, you want a guide?" they all laughed at this point. "no were ok"..."you dont want a guide, you might get lost"...."no were fine we can find our way"...."its a free, you can have a free guide"...his friend then shouted "two free guides".... we said no again and laughed. They shouted tata and some other things along with "i hope you have a beautiful journey... just like you." we were a little worried they might follow us. They didnt.
The path home did take around 2-3 hours but we dont think we did it right though. We bumped into lots of lovely people on are way including a boy in his bike whp just rang his bell and confessed his love for us (not sure if he just learnt this at school or if he didnt no what he was shouting but it was a little strange.) We walked past a little girl "namaste, give me money" we didnt they dont seem to learn please. The main reason we new we had taken the wrong turn some were is when the path ran out, it was either go back, slide down a steep maybe once path that looked anything but safe or go through some ones house. We chose to attempt the latter. "Namaste !" giselle shouted this a few times into there garden, it felt reasonably dramatic. After a few shouts two ladies came out. We just asked where lakeside was and she pointed away through her garden we could take. It was pretty comical and im sure we looked like stupid tourists as we tried to find our way through her garden while getting a quick shower as we had to walk under her flower sprinkler. We could hear the old lady laughing, i hope we made her day, if not im sure we left her very confused. Special thanks goes to her.WHAM yep we saw some more monkeys ! i got some more photos as they were swinging in the trees this time so were less scary but by no way less cute, part of me now wants a pet monkey. We made it down the hill safe and soundly while passing some one who i think has a large resemblance to Robert Pattison, i have seen him 3 times today, giselle told me to shout Rob at him next time. Maybe i will.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
"Just give them your lip balm!!'
What an amasing nights sleep ! With the best nights sleep behind us and going to bed on a high we woke up raring to go. Had our first proper breakfast of the trip and went down to the lake. Today we have decided to go to the peace stupa and to a waterfall. We got a boat ride across the lake by a lady called Mia who was lovely. We had decided we were going to hike up to the stupa, which the lonely planet said should be a 2 hour round trip. It wasnt as hot today about 26 degree celcius so was quite looking forward to it. Once on the shore we past a restaurant called 'Typical restaurant' which made me chuckle it looked very typical. Then up the rocky steps "its like the steps up to mordor" and yep they did look very similar to them. The views were amasing and i got my first glimpse of snowy mountains !! very exciting. Apparently im not as fit as i thought and was pretty out of breath but i made my self feel better by reminding myself that i was now on my way to becoming the next steve backshall or Nick backer. We stopped of at a little shop on the way and baught some fanta (which was very flat). We finally arived at the top, the stupa was very beautiful, so were the views and we could see lots of snowy mountains now ! We took our shoes of and walked around the stupa which was nice and cold on our feet. I saw lots of butterflys, ladybirds, buzzing things and a spider ( i now want to be nick baker). We sat down in a cafe to work out how we were getting down and had a quick chat with some other travelers. In the lonely planet guide it said there was a waterfall near by that we could walk to so we decided to try and find this. On are way though we bumped into some other travelers who said that it was rubbish and wasnt worth it. So we didnt bother. They pointed us down a path and said its steep and down hill but just keep on going and you'l come out in Damside and from there can walk to lakside. We decided to listen to them and take the road down hill. It was no way as good and well used as the path up but it was some sort of path all the same. We didnt see anyone on the way down but there was always some sort of rubbish on the path which we took as a good sign that at one point not that long ago some people had been that way. It was pretty exciting but there were lots of insects and occasionally leaves falling on you which can be just as scary when you dont no what they are. We were a little concerned we had been walking for a while and not seen anyone and at some points the once upon a time path split up but we figure as long as we were going down hill towards the lake it would be some where close. After doing a few little runs from groups of flys and scary bugs giselle stopped me. AHH ! right in front of us were 2 monkeys just walking along on the path away from us. "OMG ! what do we do?" "I dont no! What does it say in your book" it said that they tend to hang in groups of 50 and that they like to try and take you glasses untill you give them food. "we dont have any food" umm "They can have my water bottle if they want" i started looking around my bag thinking what do i do if one starts running at me or trys to steal my glasses ! "I have lip balm".."yes just give them your lipbalm!" I only got 3 photos but there were quite a few but i was a) very shocked (the lonely planet guide said if you were very lucky your might see some monkeys, so wasnt expecting it) and b) i didnt want to scare them and i didnt want them running of with it. We carried on walking really slowly but loudly enough so they new we were there. One of them sat on a log stared at us but was quite content eating its branch, and the others just walked away from us further into the forest. I can easily say that has been the best bit of the trip so far, if not of my life. Really cant get into words how amasing they were. (I'm also thankful they didnt bite, thanx monkeys)
also im going to apologise for allllll the spelling mistakes ! im trying to write them very speadly ! maybe onday i will go back and correct them :)
also im going to apologise for allllll the spelling mistakes ! im trying to write them very speadly ! maybe onday i will go back and correct them :)
You English?...um yes...Your rubbish at cricket....Oh
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| Phewa Tal, the lake in Pokhara. It was beautiful. |
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| Mmmmm honey and lemon tea |
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
"YAY i can put my pillow on my willow"
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| Our first bus journey with our Nimbooz ! |
The bus was suprisingly good despite only having one travel sickness band between us. We arived in Dumre and got rushed of the bus. As soon as we were off everyone ran up to us "bus to Pokhara?", "bus to Kathmandu?" We were already rather flusted so just shouted 'NO!' at everyone. Dumre seems to just be one street with alot of buses. We walked down the street and booked our selves into the first guest house we found (we learnt our lesson here, always take your time. Even if everyone is harassing you).
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| Our Dumre room doesn't look half as bad in this photo! |
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| Giselle looking wonderful on our Bandipur walk :) |
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| The photos don't do it any justice. |
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| Mountains every where. |
"There and back again by Alicia Baggins" :D
Wel-come (That is how they like to write it)
So Giselle accidentaly called her rucksack Elton earlier,instead of Elvis. Tutut. As we were packing are bags on the last night in Kathmandu Giselle made a little joke about my bag maybe being called Baggins, I decided this was a good name, "oh yeaa ! together we are Alicia Baggins like bilbo or frodo" then made my self chuckle at the thought of naming the blog 'There and back again' by Alicia Baggins ( if you no nothing about lord of the rings that would of all gone straight over your head, apologies.)
Our last day in Kathmandu started with us desperately trying to book a bus to take us to Dumre for the next morning.We found a bus stop but it didnt go there.In the process we had to cross a rather large cross road, which i thought would be the end of me. The locals were just crossing all over the place and I guess were just hoping the masses of traffic coming towards them would stop. We gave up eventually and just went back to the hotel, the nice boy at the front desk rang up a place and booked it over the phone for us. It cost us about 6 pounds, sure we could of got cheaper if we had gone to the bus stop, but it did save us a lot of time and hassle.
The amount of time spent on bus booking meant we didn't really have enough time to go to the monkey temple. Instead we sat on a roof top restaurant and had some lunch, it was very nice but was abit expensive and giselles ginger beer did taste nearly the same as my 7up. After our tummys were full we went on the hunt for a new bag as mine decided to break literally as soon as we had left our house. Didnt end up getting one as im rubbish at bartering, and convinced my self I could sew it up (suprisingly my sewing has kept it together pretty well!)
After lots of wondering around and a man telling us several times he liked our trousers we went back to our hotel ( Annupurna Guest house). It was the cheapest and nicest place we had eaten. It cost us 350Rs for 2 plates of veggi fried rice and two pots of tea, though one of the teas had milk in it and they also gave us water which we drank some of as we didn't want to be rude. It does say in our lonely planet guide that you should be able to drink the tap water in Kathmandu this time of year (but not in the monsoon season). Im writing this nearly 2 days later and im still fine so I think were ok.
The family came and sat with us putting the television on.We watched a few things with them but my favourite was a comedy. I didn't understand the story fully but a man was looking for something. One of the bits I remember very clearly was a man laying down on a park bench waving his legs and arms around in the air. That had the whole family in hysterics, it was amazing they all just start laughing uncontrollably at the same time. I looked at Giselle and burst into laughter. (strangely that has been one of my favourite parts of the trip so far, the family at the guest house were very lovely and welcoming and Id happily go back to Annupurna guest house again.) While I was watching the TV I had 'a light bulb' as Giselle said and decided that traveling to the moon and climbing mount everest are nearly as good as each other. I'd rather climb mount everest. That is my new aim in life, mount everest here I come !!
Dear dog behind our guest house, I have a bus to catch at 6.30 tomorrow morning so please don't wake me up barking. Thank you.
Bye bye Kathmandu.
So Giselle accidentaly called her rucksack Elton earlier,instead of Elvis. Tutut. As we were packing are bags on the last night in Kathmandu Giselle made a little joke about my bag maybe being called Baggins, I decided this was a good name, "oh yeaa ! together we are Alicia Baggins like bilbo or frodo" then made my self chuckle at the thought of naming the blog 'There and back again' by Alicia Baggins ( if you no nothing about lord of the rings that would of all gone straight over your head, apologies.)
Our last day in Kathmandu started with us desperately trying to book a bus to take us to Dumre for the next morning.We found a bus stop but it didnt go there.In the process we had to cross a rather large cross road, which i thought would be the end of me. The locals were just crossing all over the place and I guess were just hoping the masses of traffic coming towards them would stop. We gave up eventually and just went back to the hotel, the nice boy at the front desk rang up a place and booked it over the phone for us. It cost us about 6 pounds, sure we could of got cheaper if we had gone to the bus stop, but it did save us a lot of time and hassle.
The amount of time spent on bus booking meant we didn't really have enough time to go to the monkey temple. Instead we sat on a roof top restaurant and had some lunch, it was very nice but was abit expensive and giselles ginger beer did taste nearly the same as my 7up. After our tummys were full we went on the hunt for a new bag as mine decided to break literally as soon as we had left our house. Didnt end up getting one as im rubbish at bartering, and convinced my self I could sew it up (suprisingly my sewing has kept it together pretty well!)
After lots of wondering around and a man telling us several times he liked our trousers we went back to our hotel ( Annupurna Guest house). It was the cheapest and nicest place we had eaten. It cost us 350Rs for 2 plates of veggi fried rice and two pots of tea, though one of the teas had milk in it and they also gave us water which we drank some of as we didn't want to be rude. It does say in our lonely planet guide that you should be able to drink the tap water in Kathmandu this time of year (but not in the monsoon season). Im writing this nearly 2 days later and im still fine so I think were ok.
The family came and sat with us putting the television on.We watched a few things with them but my favourite was a comedy. I didn't understand the story fully but a man was looking for something. One of the bits I remember very clearly was a man laying down on a park bench waving his legs and arms around in the air. That had the whole family in hysterics, it was amazing they all just start laughing uncontrollably at the same time. I looked at Giselle and burst into laughter. (strangely that has been one of my favourite parts of the trip so far, the family at the guest house were very lovely and welcoming and Id happily go back to Annupurna guest house again.) While I was watching the TV I had 'a light bulb' as Giselle said and decided that traveling to the moon and climbing mount everest are nearly as good as each other. I'd rather climb mount everest. That is my new aim in life, mount everest here I come !!
Dear dog behind our guest house, I have a bus to catch at 6.30 tomorrow morning so please don't wake me up barking. Thank you.
Bye bye Kathmandu.
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Still alive and not yet ill. Always a bonus.
For breakfast we purchased a box of fruity bars, a bottle of water and tried our first Nimbooz (this is a lemon flavored drink which we came to love) this came to around 400 rupees. Dubar square was harder to find than we anticipated and my orienteering skills seem to be horrific, so Giselle is now in charge of getting us from A to B. On the way we decided to invest in a map of the area, lucky for us two rather attractive male travelers were also in the shop. I think we upset them as we wouldn't do a book change with them. Sorry guys but i want to read the one I brought with me first.
We eventually found Dubar square and paid 300Rs each to get in, I found it confusing and am sure if you came from a different direction you could get in with out paying, but maybe it wouldnt be worth it. I saw my first cow (in nepal not in my whole life) layed down behind a temple, and lots of pigeons. Also saw my first real life monk. A street you should try and avoid is one we got told to go down if you wanted to buy a phone, I think its called Nhyokha street, here young men like to throw water bombs (it seems just to be this one street) some one later told us that they think they were probably preparing for Holi the festival of colour and water. Also try and avoid the motor bikes, young men like to swerve them at you, one shouted "long live" after.....thanks for that. Or you could just avoid young men.
Giselle has now made friends with a shop owner. Me and Giselle nearly lost each other as I had stopped to read a sign and she hadn't noticed. Now every time we walk past the mans shop he laughs and shouts something along the line of "Dont you loose her", "Theres your friend", "You should hold her hand", and to which we just laugh, smile and carry on. He seems like a happy man. We had dinner in a place called Yak restaurant, it was very quiet which was a bit concerning but it was quite early and got busier as we were leaving. The food was nice, though we did see some ants crawling up a wall. We figured if there were loads of them they would round all the sauces that were on our table.
Half way through the meal just to freak Giselle out I had a nose bleed. Admittedly it freaked me out as well. I read my medical book ( aka best birthday present Giselle has ever got me) cover to cover that night in search of any thing to do with nose bleeds. It says not to worry, so mum don't worry about it ! I have now however started to take a mask out with me as the air pollution is crazy, we have been wearing scarves but there not very thick. The total cost of the meal was 490 rs for both of us.
Was woken up by a barking dog last night, a cat then decided to join in screeching.
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| My first sighting of a Nepalese cow |
Giselle has now made friends with a shop owner. Me and Giselle nearly lost each other as I had stopped to read a sign and she hadn't noticed. Now every time we walk past the mans shop he laughs and shouts something along the line of "Dont you loose her", "Theres your friend", "You should hold her hand", and to which we just laugh, smile and carry on. He seems like a happy man. We had dinner in a place called Yak restaurant, it was very quiet which was a bit concerning but it was quite early and got busier as we were leaving. The food was nice, though we did see some ants crawling up a wall. We figured if there were loads of them they would round all the sauces that were on our table.
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| Our scrummy meal and the setting for my slightly terrifying nose bleed. |
Was woken up by a barking dog last night, a cat then decided to join in screeching.
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Why did Giselle bring me here ! Whats wrong with Germany or France ??
Despite nearly falling over on the tube we made it to the airport with four and half hours to spare. After wondering around finding stuff to make our rucksacks stand out we invested in a tag each with a picture of the tube map and a brightly coloured strap to put around each of the bags. While attaching the strap Giselle came out with "I'm going to call my bag Elvis, and together we can be Giselvis. Were like Jedward !" Amazing I thought. I have yet to think of a name for me and my bag.On the way to checking in Giselle fell in love with an airport man "I think i love him". Nothing particularly exciting happened in this bit so i'll just skip it but we made it through to departures easily enough. Our first single serving friend was made while waiting to board, a young guy who was traveling to Delhi for the first time on his own for a month, he looked terrified. We briefly told each other where we were going and wished each other good luck. Me and Giselle were overly excited about the about of stuff you get on the jet airways flights.A cushion, blanket and a hot flannel ! YAY annnddd they were showing the kings speech, 127 hours, black swan and true grit on the back of the seat screens, this was the main reason for our lack of sleep. We also got 3 meals !Once we had started to relax the captain spoke and it sounded like "no talking is allowed on this plane". What ?! turns out he said no smoking.
It wasn't just the TV's that kept me and Giselle entertained, to the left of me a strange lady had started clipping her nails (which i thought was a bit weird on a plane) she then started brushing her teeth and used her flannel to wipe under her arms (we now call this doing a Shirley after her), she was generally a bit strange. (Shirley ended up staying in the same guest house as us, Proffeser Shirley and actually seemed like a nice lady.)
We got off our flight in Dehli to change to fly to Kathmandu, this is where we were a bit scared about loosing our rucksacks as they were being moved to a new aircraft. We had to go through customs again, but all the females had to go into a private room with a security lady to get searched, this concerned me a little but turned out to be fine. Once through to departures Giselle wanted some water but we were lacking in the Rupees area as we couldn't get any in England. So we did it by card, the lady took the card and waved to follow her, so we did, it was just to another bar. The man there typed into the machine and handed it to Giselle and all seemed well. We said thanx and were on our way. It wasnt til Giselle checked the receipt that we realised that our 2 bottles of water had cost us Rs700 which is around 7 pounds. Pretty sure the man did this on purpose, oh well.Welcome to India !
Got on second plane and slept, except when we got more food YAY though couldnt eat it all as some was more spicey than my taste buds could handle. Landed in Kathmandu, this is when it wasnt really clear what we were meant to do, so just as any one else would do we followed a tour man. Had to fill in some paper work and then went to change some pennies. This is where id like to say to any one who may in the future travel to Nepal, get a visa before as the line of people was massive and we could of been there forever waiting for one. Out of nowhere a tourist man started shouting "SECURITY SECURITY" apparently a nepalese man had stolen some of his money. Have to admit none of the security seemed that bothered, but I dont know what happened because we left.
I found my rucksack straight away, wuhooo ! but yep Elvis (giselle rucksack) was nowhere to be seen. It took us a while but he was in a random pile of bags, some one had obviously decided he should be put there.
On the way to turning down lots of other people who wanted us to get in there taxis we found Annupurna guest houses man and followed him. (this is something else i would reccomend if traveling here, booking a place to stay that can pick you up from the airport even if you just want to stay there for one night.) This is where we met Shirly (strange plane lady) who had been to nepal lots of time before and does lectures, she specialises in medicene.
First thoughts of Kathmandu : OH GOD ! why am here? Saw 2 monkeys while I was in the cab and im pretty sure there is no system to their traffic (they seem to beep at anything and everything.) Have to admit I was pretty scared just generally (I dont think that having only 2 hours sleep over 2 days helped though). The weather is a nice temperature, so thats a plus.
Got to our guest house and said alot of namastes, and got taken to our room. Is basic but im happy with it, we have a shared bathroom which is also reasonably nice though the light seems to just do what it wants. Once we got in our room we tried to settle down and work out what we wanted to. Giselle wanted to reread the nepal book (as everything we read seems to have just gone out of our brains) and I a) wanted to kill Giselle a little bit, 'It was her idea to come here, why couldn't we of gone somewhere nice where I wouldn't be scared of everyone and everything.' and b) wanted to get out asap, I was actually scared of the thought that we would be spending the next 2 months of our lives here and wanted to try and get a nice thought into my head instead. Giselle read abit of her book, we then locked our rucksacks in our wardrobe with a bike lock (would also recomend taking one of these) then locked the door and were on our way.
We went up to the garden on the top of our guest house, it was amazing, the sun was really low in the sky and you could see all the mountains around Kathmandu, even the buildings looked pretty. (This is were I started feeling better.) I looked down and on top of the house next to us there were a few chickens who looked happy and a bird in the sky some sort of large bird of prey was flying around, Blish !
We then wondered round the streets but decided to head back and get some food from the guest house (it was tasty and cost Rs200). This is where we met and Dutch man who seemed upset by how much it had changed since he was here 20 years ago. Then went to bed. (so far not bitten by a monkey, dog or moquitoes YAY)
First shower... the light went out... shower in the dark, oh well. I'm sure theres many more of those to come
OK, I thought lying in bed it's not that bad, I can handle it.... well actually I have no choice whether I like it or not I am now here for two months. Wish me luck.
Special thanx to Kevin for sponsoring my sky dive on just giving !! I appreciate it.
It wasn't just the TV's that kept me and Giselle entertained, to the left of me a strange lady had started clipping her nails (which i thought was a bit weird on a plane) she then started brushing her teeth and used her flannel to wipe under her arms (we now call this doing a Shirley after her), she was generally a bit strange. (Shirley ended up staying in the same guest house as us, Proffeser Shirley and actually seemed like a nice lady.)
We got off our flight in Dehli to change to fly to Kathmandu, this is where we were a bit scared about loosing our rucksacks as they were being moved to a new aircraft. We had to go through customs again, but all the females had to go into a private room with a security lady to get searched, this concerned me a little but turned out to be fine. Once through to departures Giselle wanted some water but we were lacking in the Rupees area as we couldn't get any in England. So we did it by card, the lady took the card and waved to follow her, so we did, it was just to another bar. The man there typed into the machine and handed it to Giselle and all seemed well. We said thanx and were on our way. It wasnt til Giselle checked the receipt that we realised that our 2 bottles of water had cost us Rs700 which is around 7 pounds. Pretty sure the man did this on purpose, oh well.Welcome to India !
Got on second plane and slept, except when we got more food YAY though couldnt eat it all as some was more spicey than my taste buds could handle. Landed in Kathmandu, this is when it wasnt really clear what we were meant to do, so just as any one else would do we followed a tour man. Had to fill in some paper work and then went to change some pennies. This is where id like to say to any one who may in the future travel to Nepal, get a visa before as the line of people was massive and we could of been there forever waiting for one. Out of nowhere a tourist man started shouting "SECURITY SECURITY" apparently a nepalese man had stolen some of his money. Have to admit none of the security seemed that bothered, but I dont know what happened because we left.
I found my rucksack straight away, wuhooo ! but yep Elvis (giselle rucksack) was nowhere to be seen. It took us a while but he was in a random pile of bags, some one had obviously decided he should be put there.
On the way to turning down lots of other people who wanted us to get in there taxis we found Annupurna guest houses man and followed him. (this is something else i would reccomend if traveling here, booking a place to stay that can pick you up from the airport even if you just want to stay there for one night.) This is where we met Shirly (strange plane lady) who had been to nepal lots of time before and does lectures, she specialises in medicene.
First thoughts of Kathmandu : OH GOD ! why am here? Saw 2 monkeys while I was in the cab and im pretty sure there is no system to their traffic (they seem to beep at anything and everything.) Have to admit I was pretty scared just generally (I dont think that having only 2 hours sleep over 2 days helped though). The weather is a nice temperature, so thats a plus.
 |
| It's amazing looking around and seeing mountains in every direction. |
We went up to the garden on the top of our guest house, it was amazing, the sun was really low in the sky and you could see all the mountains around Kathmandu, even the buildings looked pretty. (This is were I started feeling better.) I looked down and on top of the house next to us there were a few chickens who looked happy and a bird in the sky some sort of large bird of prey was flying around, Blish !
We then wondered round the streets but decided to head back and get some food from the guest house (it was tasty and cost Rs200). This is where we met and Dutch man who seemed upset by how much it had changed since he was here 20 years ago. Then went to bed. (so far not bitten by a monkey, dog or moquitoes YAY)
First shower... the light went out... shower in the dark, oh well. I'm sure theres many more of those to come
OK, I thought lying in bed it's not that bad, I can handle it.... well actually I have no choice whether I like it or not I am now here for two months. Wish me luck.
Special thanx to Kevin for sponsoring my sky dive on just giving !! I appreciate it.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Well, apparently im giving up my phone for lent.
 |
| I started to worry about Giselle's sanity as she got a bit too excited about the choc muffins. "Oh god two months of this" |
we are now lacking good luck, I have however replaced it with an indian medicine bag ,which has a stick in it to drive away evil spirits (this is just as good as a good luck charm im sure).
Wake up, bath, check everything is packed, open a email account for my little brother ("make sure you email me everyday!"), eat scrummy lunch, upload music on to mp3 (for the 3rd time), photocopy everything, say bye to Daisy the dog, mum and al. YAY off off we go! With lots of chocolate muffins (thank you mummy Silvester) dum dum dum, we have plenty of time to get to the train station.....sorry to interrupt the story but Gis wants me to tell the world that shes upset because shes lost her sock (yep start as you mean to go on hmmm)......any way, yes we were on the way to the train station, "oh god is that the time !" "whens your train?" "umm 13.58"... ahhh ! so we realize we probly aren't going to get that train and dad was going to be late for his concert. (This is when I feel the good luck charm would of been useful.) I kindly offer my phone to Giselle to ring up dad's concert, she takes it. We arrive at the station with 15 seconds to spare.
Thank you for late trains ! YAY :). Finally I felt like I could relax, wait a minute .... "Gis wheres my phone ?" In response she put her hand in her pocket "I left it in the car" then proceeded to burst into laughter...."what, your joking"...."hahahahah um no"...........oh well it could be worse.
We arrived safely in London even though Giselle did manage to drop all her train tickets and part of her rail card with out even noticing all over Kings cross station.Thank you to the nice lady who did notice and was kind enough to run after us. We are now sitting comfortably in Roisin, Anna's and Chris' house, Thank you ! also thank you James for my milkyway bar :)
Bye Bye England
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
First day of Adventure: Off to London we go :)
Today is the first day of the Adventure ! I shall try my hardest to keep this blog going throughout my adventures.To start with I would like to introduce the person I shall be spending the next 2 months with, my traveling companion Giselle, and this is her blog :) Enjoy ! http://futurespiceshopowner.blogspot.com
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
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