We had an 8:00 departure from Golmud. I had 3 really sour kiwi fruits for breakfast as we left town. The first couple hours of driving were the least interesting of the trip – flat, dry sand and rock with an occasional salt lake. Later, things got more interesting – we started to see double humped camels in the desert and travelled amongst mountain scenery. While descending one large hill, the Chinese traffic police were pulling over all traffic. We were told that we would need to wait 40 minutes to cool our brakes because too many vehicles burn their brakes on this hill. They took our driver’s license so we couldn’t make a run for it. Meanwhile, many buses full of Chinese tourists came and went – many of them taking pictures of us and our truck. By midafternoon, we started to see large sand dunes. With the hopes of camping near them, we drove off a random road towards the dunes. We passed thru several fields and vineyards, where grapes were being harvested.
After pulling up to quarry where the military seemed to be working, we continued to an amazing spot overlooking the dunes. We set up camp and then watched sunset in a very comfortable temperature. It’s amazing the weather difference when there’s a 3000-meter altitude difference. Dinner was pasta and homemade cheese sauce and carrots cooked over charcoal. Since the temperature was so nice, we sat around the fire for quite a while and watched the stars.
Steps: 8,043
Fri, Oct 4
The winds picked up overnight. We were one of the few lucky ones that set up our tent in the quarry. Those that set their tents up on the side of the dunes had a sand storm overnight. As we boarded the bus, some appropriate music was played… “Mr. Sandman” by the Rat Pack and “Enter Sandman” by Metallica.
We drove to the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Moago Caves. These caves are/were a repository of some of the best Buddhist art work in the world. Unfortunately, much of it was taken by European and American archeologists. However, there are several large Buddhas and many paintings still there that are over 1,000 years old. Since it was still part of the one week Chinese National Day, the place was absolutely overrun by Chinese tourists. The tour is normally supposed to take 2 hours to see all the caves. We took 3.5 hours and still didn’t see all the open caves…it was queue after queue. I only had 5 minutes to look around the museum before we had to meet back at the truck and they had some interesting exhibits on how the statues are built and painted. Back at the truck, there was a Chinese press woman who wanted to take a picture of us and the truck for an article…we are quite the celebrities and oddities here – less than 1% of the tourists are non-Asian in this part of the country.
We came into the town of Dunhuang where we would be spending the next 2 nights. Dunhuang seems very pleasant and is very clean and safe. It is officially our first town along the “Silk Road” that stretches from Xian, China to the middle east. In town, I walked around to get my bearings and 3 of us arranged a driver for the following day to take us to several sites west of Dunhuang. I bought some grapes that are in season and grown around here and they might be the tastiest grapes ever. In the evening, a few of us went to the night market for dinner. We had rice and shared some dishes of spicy tofu, pork and bok choy, and mushrooms and peppers with meat. We went into a dried fruits/nuts store and sampled the local foods – raisins, almonds, dried apricots, and date. We walked back to the hotel on the brightly lit streets and took some photos at the night market and some of the lit sculptures around town.
Steps: 21,570
Sat, Oct 5
Today Barb, Robbie, and I will be heading out on a full day tour to the west of Dunhuang. My original plan for today was to head to the sand dunes for activities (micro lighting, paragliding, etc.) but there are so many tourists here I can imagine that’s an absolute zoo today so we’re hoping there will be less people farther out. We had an included breakfast of fried eggs and toast and then prepared ourselves for the day out. We left at 8:30 and first headed to the Western Thousand Buddha Caves (Grottoes). We were amongst the first tourists of the day at this site and we followed around the guide who gave narration in Chinese as we visited 6 of the grottoes. This was a far cry from the Mogao Caves from a day earlier – the murals were much more crude and the Buddhas were smaller, but the crowds were non-existent.
We continued to drive on to the Jade Gate where we bought a combined ticket for several sites we would see later in the day. First, we would drive all the way to the Yadan National Park to see the rock formations. This was once a lake bed, but erosion over the last 12,000 years has left interesting formations. What a weird National Park – the ticket price was nearly $30 per person. This included a shuttle ride. We waited with all the Chinese people and boarded a bus where all the narration was in Chinese. The shuttle ride lasted only a few miles and they let us get out of the bus exactly 4 times – once each for 5, 10, 30, and 5 minutes. Definitely not enough time and no time for some hiking – I guess Chinese national parks work like Chinese assembly lines.
In the car, the driver was fascinated with my lunch – a giant green radish and a couple carrots – he kept on offering me bread. We continued to 3 different sites after the park. The first stop was the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty. This great wall was built in 101 BC and predates THE Great Wall of China. It’s amazing this mud brick structure is still standing after over 2,000 years. There was also a beacon tower and some ancient wood piles.
Next, we moved onto the small and large Fangpan castles – these were earthen castles built in the Han Dynasty.
In the evening, I headed to the Dunhuang night market where I had minced pork and chilies in the local Muslim bread (sort of like a large English muffin). For dessert was a fried pastry with a sweet bean paste inside. After dinner, a bunch of us went to a great local show – a mixture of dancing, juggling, acrobatics, contortionists, etc. that told the story of the deer princess – a local fable that has ties to the Moago Caves. The show had some good special effects including snow, rain, and even 2 live camels!
We had a 9:00 departure from Lhasa. It took nearly an hour to get out of the sprawling city and then we entered the Tibetan plateau. It had rained pretty hard in the city overnight and that meant there was fresh snow on many of the peaks of the plateau…absolutely gorgeous. We saw 10’s of thousands of yaks along the way…definitely the cash animals of Tibet. The guide says a single yak is worth 10,000 yuan (over $1,600) We found a really lovely spot along the highway to have lunch. Very alpine looking and even with some pretty little blue alpine flowers and with little pica rodents.
By 4:00 we found our bush camp for the night. Just as we rolled in, it started snowing! We set up our tents in some wet snow, but later it stopped and then was quite nice, if not a little cold. I walked around and took pictures of picas, yaks, and some reflecting ponds. As dinner was being prepared, a pack of wild horses galloped by. We had a great chicken curry and potatoes for dinner. There was a nice bonfire thanks to some wood I found in a deserted apartment block (broken door and bed frames).
Steps: 9,124
Tues, Oct 1
It was 39 degrees in my tent this morning but had to be freezing outside as there was a thick layer of frost on our tent. I was on cook group today so I had to get up early and start preparing breakfast at 6:30 am. On travel days, being on cook group means you need to boil water for hot drinks and set out milk, cereal, and cut fruit for breakfast. At lunch, you need to cut tomatoes and cucumbers and set out bread and cheese or salami for sandwich lunch. For dinner, you help cook a full hot dinner followed by hot drinks. Doing this for a day then relieves you of this duty for at least the next 5 days (much more if we have city days, when no one has cooking duty because we go to restaurants instead). After bush camp breakfast, we started our long drive. The terrain we pass thru in the morning is probably best described as tundra – frozen earth, frost, and snow. Even though it was the start of China national day, we didn’t see much celebration as we entered China proper by late morning, except for the fact that we saw several hundred Chinese military trucks on the highway over the past 2 days.
Sadly, we had to say good bye to Ciwan, our Tibetan guide at the border of the province. Thanks to Ciwan, I visited some tea houses I wouldn’t have otherwise. We crossed 2 high passes today – over 5200 meters and like the heights we had reached in Tibet. We had lunch overlooking a great snowcapped mountain.
By afternoon, mountain scenery was replaced by high plains. There was less livestock and more wildlife as we drove along. The wildlife I saw as we drove along included several antelopes, many picas, giant (and I mean huge) hares, and a fox that was red on top, gray on its belly, and had a white tip of a tail.
We got into bush camp around 5:00. This was our highest elevation bush camp at over 4800 meters. I got very nervous about the temperature of this bush camp as the puddles as we approached still had a thin layer of ice on top by late afternoon.
It was a bit sunny as we set up camp and cooked dinner of vegetable stir fry with garlic and ginger. However, as the sun went down, it got very cold. I stood by the fire until about 9:00 and then tried to stay warm in my sleeping bag and tent.
Steps: 8,017
Wed, Oct 2
It was a very cold 30 degrees inside our tent this morning. There was even frost on the inside! Thank goodness for the thermal silk long underwear I bought before the trip. After a very quick breakfast, we left a little early for a full day of driving. We saw lots of wild donkeys, deer, and antelope along the way. We were still on the high plateau but with views of snowcapped mountains in the distance.
By late morning, we had another problem with stuff in the fuel line but luckily it took less than one hour to fix it this time. We stopped at a small shop and had instant noodles for lunch since the bread bought in Lhasa was going stale and we were trying to catch up time.
As the afternoon drew on, we got further into the desert and the Kunlun mountain range. We saw some green lakes because of damming and lots of solar panels in the desert. We arrived into the city of Golmud around 6:30. Golmud is a pleasant enough town, with wide clean streets and not alot of traffic. We set out to find the night market but there wasn’t much, so a few of us just bought some deep-fried things on skewers – tofu, meat, vegetable, and fish patties. We stopped at the supermarket on the way back to get something for the following breakfast.
By 2:00 we left for Lhasa. Once again, the scenic drive was fantastic. Today we drove much of the way downstream along a river. At some points it was wide, and at other times, it was just the road and the river at the bottom of a massive canyon. Also interesting, is that the Chinese are building a fast train between Lhasa and Shigatse and we saw much of the ongoing construction – including miles of tunnels under/through mountains – quite an engineering feat.
We arrived in Lhasa just after 7:00. Lhasa is the capital of Tibet and also the largest city with an important historical past. As we drove into town, we could see the Potola Palace, perched on the only hill in the middle of the city. We also saw all the progress – this city is growing quickly due to an influx of Chinese development. Like other parts of China I saw last year, Lhasa is like a “Crane City” for the dozens of construction cranes that flank the city. They are even building an amusement park just outside of the city. The entrance to the city is basically a large toll booth style police checkpoint. One of the passengers joked “I always imagined the gates to Lhasa would look like this.”
We arrived at the hotel and found out for the next 2 nights we will be staying at probably the nicest hotel of the whole trip – the Lhasa Gang Jian Hotel. This has been certainly the cleanest hotel since Kathmandu. And everything seems to be in working order – the toilet flushes, the shower is hot, the shower has nice pressure. It has all the western amenities – an elevator, big fluffy towels, and even a bathroom scale. I’m happy to see I’ve lost a few pounds on the trip so far despite the constant snacking and sharing of cookies and chips on the truck.
I didn’t feel like joining the big group for dinner so I headed to the night market which was nearby the hotel. Some Muslim ladies were frying up all kinds of things on sticks – I chose several veggies, vegetarian dumplings, tofu, and an egg and she fried these and added spices – all of this for $1.50.
I continued to the spectacular lit-up Potola palace. There is a lighted fountain show in the evening and the square was filled with Chinese tourists.
Steps: 18,644
Fri, Sept 27
I woke up a little early to see the sunrise on the Potola Palace. It was certainly the start of rush hour and you could already see the pollution entering the air. Back at the hotel, we had the best breakfast buffet yet.
At 10:30, we had a guided tour of the Jokhang Temple with our Tibetan guide, Ciwan. Construction on Jokhang started in 647 in what is now the center of old Lhasa. This was a really beautiful temple, with lots of little chapels along the outside walls. Lots of locals were doing their daily prayers, which involves 108 repetitions of kneeling, out stretching on their stomach on the ground, then standing with a prayer motion above their head. If you’ve ever done or seen “Burpee” exercises from cross training, it looked like this without the jump. Even more local people were waiting to enter the temple to pray to the various Buddhas. Many of them brought melted butter as an offering in the form of burning butter candles. The art work in this temple was extremely nice – shame we couldn’t take any photos inside. This is a rule at many of the temples here – especially those with many tourists and high entry fees.
Our tour ended on the roof where there were fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and the Potola Palace.
Three of us went with our guide to a Tibetan Tea House. I might not have ventured into this place otherwise, but it was a great place to interact with locals and see a way in which they spend their day. We first got small glasses (about 3-4 liquid ounces) and then set a Chinese yuan bill on the table. A lady with a pot came along and gave us a sweet tea – a mix of tea, yak milk, and sugar. Each refill of the cup costed 0.7 yuan – about 12 cents. She would keep on coming around and filling the cup and making change with the money that was on the table as long as you wanted refills. You could also get food at the tea house – noodles, dumplings, or rice with a little bit of meat and vegetables for 5 yuan.
After lunch, I did a bit of shopping, searching out for a Tibet refrigerator magnet to add to my collection. There are a ridiculous number of shops selling all kinds of Tibetan stuff – mostly jewelry and brass pots and religious goods. What is lacking is the kitschy stuff – I only saw one shop selling T-shirts and they had about 3 of them. I walked around the old town a bit and visited a couple small temples. I also stopped at the huge supermarket. It’s alot of fun to look at all the weird products and try to figure out what’s inside. There were alot of packages with pictures of yaks on them – possibly yak jerky? Some of the snack foods look downright nasty. The Chinese certainly have different tastes than Americans. Even the recognizable foods have strange flavors – a box of Oreos with half peach and half grape flavored filling anyone? And that might one of the tamer flavors.
At 6:00 the group met for another group dinner. Nothing too fancy – I just had fried noodles with Yak meat. Nearly every dish in Tibet has yak as it is much cheaper and more abundant than beef, chicken, etc. About half of the group headed down to the Potola square because I told them how great the lit-up palace and fountain show was. This time we checked out the mob of people and we discovered there is nightly light aerobics in the square so some of us joined in! There was a small circle in the middle, with a larger circles outside that. From the outer circles we could watch what the inner circles were doing and follow that. Sometimes we were walking in circles, sometimes we were nearing the inner circle. There were stomps and arm gestures. There had to be at least 2,000 Tibetans doing the exercises – mostly people about 20’s but a few kids and a few older folks. It was a blast and since we have 3 more nights, I might be back!
Steps: 16,181
Sat, Sept 28
Another great breakfast at the nice hotel before we have to move to a cheaper hotel for the next 3 nights in Lhasa. The new hotel was awful and I have a high tolerance for bad hotels.
We had some free time before a later guided tour so I set off to use up the free time. I visited the small Ramoche Temple. Here I saw a sort of one-man-band monk – he was chanting, playing cymbals, and a big bass drum at the same time. I spun all of the prayer wheels as I walked clockwise around the temple.
Yak butter candles
I continued walking to see the Mount Everest mountaineers’ statue and then walked to see the Lhasa Department Store – the old state department store that is very expensive.
At 2:00 we met our local guide and took the public bus to the Sera Monastery. Sera is on the edge of Lhasa at the foot of a mountain and is the second largest monastery in Tibet with 3 different colleges. But what makes Sera most famous is its daily debates between monks. For 2 hours every afternoon, monks debate about philosophy. A standing monk asks a question with force – much animation and clapping and pointing. A sitting monk then needs to answer the questions. Another sitting monk acts as a judge.
We returned by bus to town and much of the group had dinner at the Tashi Restaurant that’s become a favorite amongst the group with its great service, food, and prices. I had some Yak momos (steamed dumplings) and steamed mixed vegetables.
A few of us went to the Potola square for the nightly dancing. Interestingly, there was a deer in the square. No one seemed to know where he came from but lots of people were trying to feed it (it didn’t like apples but did like grapes) and get their picture taken with it.
Steps: 24,596
Sun, Sept 29th
Last day in Lhasa! I will be glad to get out of the big city. After a breakfast of yogurt and half a pomelo (sort of like grapefruit but milder and like 4x the size), we had a 9:00 am appointment to visit the Potola Palace, the most famous symbol of Tibet. This meant we needed to arrive at 8:30 to go thru several checkpoints. It was almost as bad as the TSA – no liquids, lighters, matches, or knifes and involved a brief pat down. Apparently in the past, there have been protesters that have lit themselves on fire here to protest the treatment of Tibetans. After several entry gates, collecting the whopping $50 entry fee, and checking our passports, we had a steep ascent to the top of the palace. The light and clouds this morning meant we got some very good photos of the exterior.
From here, we had only one hour inside this building, where we were not allowed to take photos. Our guide pointed out seats and tombs of many of the past Dalai Lamas. Also, pictures of some of the past Dalai Lamas up to the 13th. The photo of the current and 14th Dalai Lama is not allowed to be seen here as he has been banished
Potola palace is also the winter home of the Dalai Lamas. In all, there are 1000 rooms in Potola but we only saw a small fraction of them.
After Potola, and since this was our last day in Lhasa, a few of us headed west to see some sites there. Several brides were having their wedding photos taken outside the palace.
Just after leaving Potola, I noticed a door and window in the side of a hill with people entering and exiting – of course I needed to check it out and it turned out to be a Tibetan Tea House in a cave like structure. So, we decided to stay and have some sweet yak milk tea and noodles for lunch. There was a single set of seats on the outer walls, then a table, then an aisle, meaning that we just looked across the aisle at the other diners and tea drinkers. A couple beautiful Tibetan women sat opposite of us and everyone was taking pictures of us as the only foreigners in the place.
We continued walking and took pictures of two large gold Yak statues. Workers were starting to adorn the statue with fake poinsettia flowers, with the red to signify China National Day which starts on October 1.
We continued on to Norbulinka, the largest city park in Tibet with several of the summer palaces of various Dalai Lamas from the 8th to the current (14th). It was interesting to see the various change in furniture styles. In the summer palace of the 13th, there were quite a few vehicles, including a tricycle, wheelchair, and horse buggies. In the summer palace of the 14th, there were sitting rooms, a bedroom, and bathroom with running water. Some of the furniture looked like 50’s era. All of the palaces were very nice but not very “palatial”.
We caught the bus back to our part of town and checked out the huge pharmacy with the interesting Chinese medicines. Most of the boxes were in Chinese, but one of the more interesting bottles with English was called “Essence of Kangaroo.”
Tonight, we had reservations as a group at one of the fancier restaurants at town, called Dunya. We’ve decided to celebrate a fake birthday since there were no actual birthdays in September amongst the group members. The theme of the night was to wear something you wouldn’t normally wear so there’s a whole mix of costumes – people dressed in spandex with their underwear on the outside, silly hats, a guy in a rice bag, a nerd, a samurai, pageant contestants, etc. I had some Indonesian style noodles with chicken and peanut sauce that wasn’t very good. Probably my most expensive but least tasty meal of the trip.
I had to walk by this monstrosity on the way back to the hotel… China opening their version of Times Square, a luxury mall, only a block from the historic Potola Palace
I felt great after waking up this morning – I think if I can keep the dust and pollution away, I will stay healthy. We wanted to leave the hotel by 8:00 so we could set off for Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region. Shortly after leaving New Tingri, the guide side “If you turn around and it’s a clear day, you will see Mount Everest.” As each of us jumped out of the truck, we were in absolute awe of the sight we were seeing – Mount Everest and other surrounding glacier covered peaks with 100% clarity. What a gorgeous sight!
A bit further, we crossed a pass at 5,248 meters. This is the highest elevation I’ve ever been to date (we will be crossing some higher passes later in China).
We continued driving. There is an interesting system there – you go thru a checkpoint and they give you a minimum amount of time to get to the next checkpoint. This means we sometimes must sit by the side of the road for 30 or 40 minutes. We used one of these opportunities to have lunch and lots of locals enjoyed the show!
On the second wait, we went for a short walk and visited a couple guys herding sheep and goats. It seems that all the shepherds spin their own yarn and knit as they watch the flocks. The guy we met today was knitting soles to a pair of shoes.
We arrived in Shigatse in the middle of the afternoon, and set out for a tour of the local monetary. The complex was huge with several chapels containing the remains of past Dali Lamas and Penti Lamas (2nd in importance). One of the chapels contained one of the world’s largest gilded Buddhas.
For dinner, we went to the “Sumptuous Tibetan Restaurant” and I ordered the “Yak Sizzler” as I was getting tired of noodles, bread, and dumplings for every meal. The Sizzler really met the spot – tender steak with vegetables and french fries.
We walked back to the hotel on a nice pedestrian street in the refreshing evening air.
Back at the hotel, we ran into another overlanding truck called “Madventures” who we’ve been paralleling for the last week. They also had to wait a few days in Nepal and must now rush their way thru Tibet. That company made the choice to go to Everest Base Camp in just one day from the Nepal border. No one was very ill but they said it was very cold, half of them were sick, and there was very little view of Everest. Added to this, the road was very terrible for many miles. They just got into Shigatse late that evening, so they hadn’t seen the Monastery in the beautiful late afternoon light that we saw. After hearing their story, I’m now happy we made our leisurely way thru southern Tibet.
Thurs, Sept 26
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel – with hard boiled eggs and lots of vegetables. The guides were out getting their required licenses to drive in China so we had a few free hours. Licensing involves driving tests, eye tests, multiple permits – alot of red tape. It was sprinkling a bit so I didn’t venture too far. However, I did walk down some of the shopping streets to get a nice view of the Potola palace of Shigatse (not THE Potola palace which is in Lhasa). I stopped in a few shops, including some nice Tibetan carpet shops. By the pre-approved meeting time, the licenses were still not ready, so we headed out again to buy snacks for lunch. I also looked at some of the fancy shops on the main shopping street – it’s surprising how expensive things are here – about American prices.
There wasn’t alot of sleep last night. Most of us started taking Diamox tablets that help alleviate the high altitude. Plus, the guides keep iterating how much liquids we should be taking in, so we heard alot of tents unzipping through the night. Despite the lack of sleep, I felt much better than the day before. We had our first bush camp breakfast (cereal, rolls, fruit, and coffee/tea) and headed off through the Himalayas. Early, we crossed our first high pass of the trip, at about 5145 meters (well above 15,000 feet). Surprisingly, I didn’t feel very sick due to altitude at all. It was really windy up there and 39 degrees F without the wind chill factor.
After leaving the pass, the weather got nicer and nicer and we passed amazing scenery, cute little Tibetan villages, barley fields, and grazing yaks, sheep, goats, and horses.
There was very little vegetation around here due to the extremely high elevations. Around noon we caught our first glimpse of Mt. Everest, shrouded by clouds. Just seeing the mountain made up for the fact that we would not be going to base camp – we were very lucky.
After driving thru the town of Tingri, we stopped for lunch, hoping to see a bit more of Mt. Everest but by this time it was clouded over. The sun was incredibly hot here – a shocking change from the 39 degrees at the pass. With just a little time in the sun, several people were getting burned. There was lots of nice scenery and views of ruined monasteries on the way.
We continued to the town of New Tingri arriving around 3:00 pm. There really wasn’t much to do in this town, so we just walked the one main street and checked out some of the basic shops. I finally found a pair of sunglasses that wasn’t too expensive to replace those that broke over a week ago. I walked to a meadow next to town to get some photos of yaks, but it was clouded over and they didn’t seem to want to look my way.
Shop of Tibetan Achievement What You WoshTypical transportation in New Tingri
Back in town, it was only 5:30 but people were already looking for dinner. Most of the restaurants in town were named “Chengdu” or “Sichuan” or some variation on that. We checked out the menus and they all seemed to be the same with the nicer meals costing $20+, an absolute fortune in China. This town is frequented by the Chinese tourists on their way to Everest Base Camp, so the prices were definitely tourist prices. After all the searching, nearly everyone on our tour ended up back at our hotel restaurant where we could get Tibetan food. I ordered Tibetan noodles with Yak meat which was basically a very hearty soup with a little bit of Chinese Cabbage, Yak meat, and some great homemade noodles.
Tibetan Noodle Soup
I returned to the hotel to have a nice hot shower – the last hot shower I had was 6 days ago at the hot springs so it was a treat!
Sunday, Sept 22 We had our last breakfast at The Last Resort and set off a little after 8:00 for the border with hopes of entering China. First, we waited a couple hours on the Nepali side because we hadn’t gotten clearance from the China side yet. The Nepalis cheerfully stamped us out of Nepal and even let the fact that I had stayed a day too long on my 15-day visa slide and I avoided paying any fines. There were a few of us that had the same situation.
We lined up on the Friendship bridge and had our group visa and passports checked. We had gotten this far last week so we didn’t get too excited yet. Then the truck got across the mid-way point of the bridge. This hadn’t happened last week so this was good progress. Next, when the group was ready, we went through inspection – they checked our passports and scanned our bags for agricultural products. Next was a physical bag inspection but all they were really looking for was books that talk about Tibet – especially the Lonely Planet Tibet and China guides which talks as though Tibet is a separate country. The guards also tried to confiscate LP for Central Asia and Georgia and Armenia but after much arguing, we could keep these copies. Next, we passed immigration. Some of us, including me, got pulled aside to a second desk but we all cleared this and think it was because we had all been to China before. We cleared all of this by about 3:00 China time but now had to wait for the truck to clear. This was the worst part – as we had to wait at the dirty border. I don’t know which stench was worse – the smell of the rotting garbage or the smell of the trough that was known as the toilets. A customs official was supposed to come at 4:00 to check the truck but he was delayed due to a traffic jam on the hill. Around 5:30, people started getting hungry and alot of them were buying instant noodles. However, I walked down the road a little further and found a little restaurant where I got tea and homemade noodles with tomato and egg for $2. Some of the border guards helped me order. Very yummy and made all the people with the instant noodles jealous.
Finally, after 6:00 the custom official arrived and OK’ed the truck after only a few minutes of checking the truck.
We drove up many switchbacks to the Chinese border town of Zhangmu. We must have driven past 1000 transport trucks on the way up to town. We figure some of these trucks must wait for weeks to unload their goods in Nepal. It was dark and raining by the time we reached the town at 2,300 meters. I started taking my altitude sickness pills today since we will be at Everest Base Camp within 4 days.
Steps: 9,352
Mon, Sept 23
The day started out very badly… at a meeting at 7:30 we found out that we will not be going to Everest Base Camp. Even though we were forced to enter China 6 days after we were supposed to, they did not extend our exit date. That means we were going to have to cut some days out of the China portion. Although it is possible to get up to EBC in a day or two, this is not safe and people die from altitude sickness from this so the decision was made to skip EBC. Also, just visiting EBC does not guarantee you will see the mountain, as the cloud level is often between the base camp and the summit. This was disappointing for all of us, and one of the top 5 reasons I had booked this trip in the first place. We were told to have some breakfast a pack for a 9:00 departure on our way to bush camp at higher altitudes. Several people wanted to stop at an ATM and we did on the way out of town. Unfortunately, the truck didn’t start after the stop. After more than 4 hours, they discovered it was the same problem we had had in Nepal. Plastic in the gas pump. We all just roamed around the town and everyone ate lots of junk food. I bought a necklace charm at a small jewelry shop. The pollution from the trucks in this town aggravated my congestion and I really wasn’t feeling well at all. I think the quick change in climate has caused a cold.
Finally, at 1:30 we departed the border town. The truck climbed and climbed up the amazingly engineered highway built by the Chinese.
There were lots of waterfalls and occasional spots were prayer flags were strewn across the highway. We stopped at a deserted highway checkpoint for lunch of cheese and veggie sandwiches – our first meal on the truck. The views from here were amazing – craggy peaks with some snow cover. Even though we were at 3800 meters, these mountains were much higher than we were. We continued to drive until about 4:30 and found a bush camp at 3900 meters, down the hill from the Friendship highway in a rock quarry – hopefully protected from the wind. It was noticeably chillier up here than it was in Nepal. I have changed from T-shirts, shorts, and flip flops to long pants, closed shoes and socks, and hooded jacket.
That night, we found out we had only traveled 40 kms from the border (about 15% of the way to our next spot). It has taken us the first 16 days of the trip to move only 100 miles from Kathmandu. It was really cold that evening and everyone pretty much just ate our dinner of Chili Con Carne, rice, and cooked cauliflower followed by some hot tea and then retreated to their tents.
The Last Resort Nepal is a great adventure base close to the NepalTibet Border. Not only can you do adventure activities like bungee jumping, canyoning, and white water rafting, it’s possible to do some quiet hikes up the various hills around to explore. Here are all the great things to do at the Last Resort Nepal:
Location of the Last Resort Nepal
The Last Resort is a 4 hour drive northeast of Kathmandu, along the Friendship Highway. Note you have to take all of your bags across a suspension bridge that’s 160 meters (about 500 feet) above the river below… the same bridge used for Bungee Jumping.
The Last Resort Amenities
In addition to adventure activities, the resort has a spa, sauna, massages, and plunge pool.
The Last Resort Plunge Pool
The Last Resort Glamping Tents
The glamping “tent” is very posh – a canvas army tent the size of a hotel room with a slanted tin roof build overhead. There is a full and a twin bed, luggage rack, and table. Outside is a cement veranda with a couple lounge chairs.
I got amazing sleep last night – slept nearly 11 hours with the sound of the roaring river, pounding rain, and sounds of the jungle.
The Last Resort Nepal Food
Our stay at the Last Resort included breakfast and dinner each day. We had a really good buffet breakfast -bowls of papaya, yogurt, and museli – lots of energy for a day of hiking and activities. Dinners are healthy too – meat and lots of vegetables, but the food is in no way Nepali food. A sample dinner that I had during my stay was mushroom buffalo dish, eggplant salad, lots of veggies, and custard desert.
Hike to Your Hearts Content
There are hikes in every direction from the Last Resort. It seems like most people at the Last Resort just come for adventure activities, so you will probably have the trails to yourself and the locals. Hike up in the rice terraces to get great views of waterfalls and a viewpoint of the suspension bridge where the people bungee and canyon swing.
Canyon Swing and Bungee Jumping
I have bungee jumped a couple times in my life so I decided against it. But when I realized it was possible to do the world’s highest Canyon Swing, I had to do it because I like to try everything once. A few minutes after deciding to do it, I inquired about getting on the canyon swing . They said sure – and I could jump in 10 minutes! Without thinking about it too much, I signed a waiver form that said I had no heart conditions along with other disclaimers about what I was getting myself into. I handed my big camera off to someone on my trip and took my little hand/waterproof camera and strapped it on my watch. I walked out on the suspension bridge – 160 meters above the river (about 500 feet) and looked down. The bungee master put a climber’s harness on me and made sure it was really tight. They hooked the canyon swing onto me with 3 caribiners and checked them. The bungee master walked me out the “plank” and I hung my toes over the edge. He gave me a few last minute tips and then started the countdown…”3…2…1″ by the “2” I started to scream a little and at “1” I jumped off the edge. After 7 seconds of free fall, I eased into a swing, as I swang back and forth in the canyon. I took out my camera and took a few pictures, including some cute “selfies”. Eventually, a rope across the bottom was raised and I needed to grap ahold of it and pull myself to a ladder on the canyon side. As I pulled up to the ladder, my shorts got caught on a screw and I was stuck! I used one hand to hold onto the rope and the other to free my shorts.
The bottom of the gorge was great. I took some photos of the white water rapids below and then started the steep hike to the top. After all, if you swing 500 feet down, you need to hike the 500 feet back to the top!
Just swingin’…post jump!
Go Canyoning
Canyoning is a combination of abseiling/rappelling and sliding down waterfalls. I had never abseiled before so why not just abseil down waterfalls for my first time?!? The gear was pretty serious. First we put on a thermal suit. Then put on a wet suit. This was covered with a contraption that looked like half a yellow diaper in the back with harness in the front. They added a thick leather fingerless glove for our right (guiding hand) and a bright orange helmet. We were ready to go! We hiked about 10 minutes thru the village outside of the resort and got to a small set of waterfalls. The guide said “Let’s go swimming!” He had us slide down some small waterfalls on our butts. After a few minutes of walking thru the stream and sliding, we got to our first abseil spot. As one of our 3 guides set up the first rope, one of them gave us instructions:
* Hold one part of the rope loosely with your left hand
* Hold another part of the rope more loosely with your right hand.
* The right hand must be held behind the back. This would be my hand that controls the speed.
* If you fall, use your left hand to push off the wall
* Lean back
*RELAX
*DO ALL OF THE ABOVE AT THE SAME TIME.
Our first abseil was the shortest at 10 meters (just over 30 feet). The guides watched carefully on our first descent and gave me the tip that I needed to keep my right hand around my back. On the third abseil and the first big drop (30 meters) I fell and banged my arm on the rocks about half way down and the rope was on the wrong side so the guide had to lower me to the bottom. After that, I got much better and didn’t fall agian. In total, we descended 7 times with falls ranging from 10 meters to the last drop of 45 meters (about 150 feet!) By the time we stopped, we were at the bottom of the canyon. We had to walk us the big hill again (the one I had climbed the prior day after the canyon swing), but this time it was in the sun and we had on soaking wetsuits, weighing well over 10 lbs. Somewhere on the way from the canyon to the campground, I got a leech on my foot. I had never seen leeches before, but nearly everyone on the trip has had a leech in the last couple days.
Visit Small Villages
Along the many hikes around the Last Resort Nepal are many little villages. One day we headed up a trail. Along the way, we were approached by a local who offered to give us a tour of the local school since he was a teacher there. Kids go to school 5.5 days per week, with Friday afternoon and Saturday off. Since they only had a half day today, some of the kids were absent but normally they have 50 children at this school for grades kindergarten to 5th grade. It was interesting to see the classrooms and types of things they were learning about – from the solar system (in Nepali), math, and English. The children were pretty shy. Even though the school was so close to the tourist site of The Last Resort, we don’t think many tourist get out that direction.
We kept climbing the hill waiting for a great viewpoint and it was steep! Yet, locals with large packages sometimes passed us. They were fascinated with us soaking ourselves in the local shared water faucets – really needed for such a hot day.
After climbing and climbing we found a HUGE tree at the top of the hill and a great rock beneath – a great spot to stop our rough, hot hike. Everyone agreed that they had reached their limit.
However, I got a second wind and really wanted to see the waterfall so they agreed to wait as I hiked a bit further. The additional hike I did took me on pretty flat trail, through the fields, past a small grotto.
The view of the falls was so-so but it was worth the additional walk. I returned to the big tree and after a drink of water, we headed back down the hill. We heard lots of thunder as we descended the hill, but luckily the rain stayed away. We would have hated walking down the hill if it were wet.
Check out the Honeycombs
There is a short walk down the road to see the interesting honeycombs in the rock cliff north of the Last Resort
Have an Everest Beer at the Last Resort Bar
This speaks for itself. The most popular beer in Nepal is Everest Beer, with a picture of the mountain on the bottle. You can get cold beers, enjoy the music, socialize, and play board games in the Last Resort Bar.
Where to Stay Near the Last Resort
As an alternative to the Last Resort, you can stay at the borderlands just a few miles south. I stayed there one night and they have a better pool and Nepali food. It’s a bit cheaper than the Last Resort. (Check Rates and availability)
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Another early morning, as I am unable to sleep a whole night. I feel bad for my roommate as I’ve been coughing due to the high dust/pollution content in the air. To visit some other sites further out in the Kathmandu Valley, a few of us are going out to a nearby city to visit the UNESCO temples there, then 4 of us will continue on to Nagarkot where if it’s clear enough tonight or tomorrow morning, we will be able to see sunset or sunrise against Mount Everest. We will then hike half way back to Kathmandu to get some fresh air and hiking in the countryside.
So, again I sit on the rooftop terrace for sunrise as the same huge bird migration tends to happen each morning. 1000’s of birds fly overhead – so close I can hear their wings flapping.
5 of us met for an early breakfast at 7:00 and then we set off for a two day trip that I had planned. We took the hotel van to Bhaktapur, a suburb that is about 9 miles east of Kathmandu city. The Durbar square and temples here are also part of the UNESCO sites of the Kathmandu valley. We spent most of the day walking around this fascinating old city, down it’s cobblestone alleys and popping into Hindu and Buddists temples.
We stopped at potter’s square where there were 1000’s of pieces of pottery laying out to dry.
None of us bought any pottery as we figured it would last about 2 seconds in our bags before breaking.
After seeing the main sites of the Durbar Square and the tallest temple in Kathmandu, we were following a walking tour map and it zig-zagged us all around the city. One stop was a small temple along the river where we soon realized a goat had been sacrificed just minutes before. It was a gruesome, bloody scene that involved a beheading. We continued on to what was described as a modern Buddhist temple. One of our traveling companions who grew up in Thailand noticed some Thai script that said this particular temple had been financed by the King of Thailand. We were shown the 3rd floor altar and they offered us lunch, but we declined.
We continued on to a smaller, older square to admire the intricate wood carvings. We stopped at a bakery and had goodies, then we walked one of our group to the bus station to head to Kathmandu, as she was not planning on staying in the country tonight. On the way to the station, we stopped to admire the erotic carvings on a small temple and had some great chilled yogurt in little clay pots that’s a specialty of the region.
We walked to the bus station to Nagarkot. A bus was leaving as we arrived, but to ride we’d need to ride on the roof. It was just a little too sunny to do that, so we waited for the next bus. There were 6 other backpackers on our bus. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many on one bus anywhere I’ve been traveling before.
After an hour of uphill climbing, we arrived to Nagarkot. Since we were the only tourists with overnight packs, as opposed to large backpacks, we hightailed it to one of the better budget choices – the Hotel at the End of the Universe. They only had a few available rooms, and one of them they showed us was the penthouse suite. We negotiated a price of $50 for this awesome suite – including breakfast for the four of us.
The room was a small room with a king size bed and a large room with beds in 3 of the corners + a table in the middle with cushion seats. We had an old TV, VCR, and DVD player and a foos ball table! But the best part of the room was it’s balcony with a table and 4 chairs. The receptionist showed us where we’d see the Himalayas if the skies were clear in the morning. We didn’t have our hopes up too high because the guidebooks warned that September isn’t a very clear month.
We relaxed on our deck to watch the sunset. Our western view was of the Kathmandu Valley itself and we were on a ridge on the eastern side. We were rewarded with a spectacular sunset due to the high smog level in the air. But even better, we saw our first glimpses of the snow covered Himalayas. First, a small opening in the clouds gave us a look at a very interesting peak. Then, another opening, and we could see a pyramid shaped peak. This one started to look pink as the sun set even further.
We were all hungry from a long day of touring, so we headed out to dinner. We wanted to find some more local type diner rather than the typical hotel restaurant fare and we had seen a number of restaurants down near the bus station. We stopped at a few, not satisfied with the choices but then we came upon the “Chill Out Restaurant” Inside was the woman who ran the restaurant, her 2 daughters, and 2 grandparents all watching TV. There was just one table but she had another table on a deck so we sat there since it was smoky inside (it seems that many of the elderly here are cigarette smokers). 3 of us wanted the Nepali Veg Set (rice, daal baht, veg curry, and pickle) and the other wanted something else.
“Fried Rice”
“Don’t have”
“Mo Mos”
“Don’t have”
“Alright, 4 Nepali Veg Sets”
We waited over an hour for our food but it was worth it for probably my favorite meal in Nepal so far. A giant mound of rice, with a small side of delicious curry and pickle. Then a huge bowl of daal baht for the table to share and a plate of cucumbers. The cucumbers here are very different. Much shorter, fatter, tastier. No one else at the table is eating raw vegetables (it’s a way to get food sick) but I haven’t been having any issues so I eat the whole plate. After eating so much food, she came around with more rice, curry, and daal baht. All you can eat for $2! The grandmas were encouraging the little girls to dance for us as we left – they were so cute.
As we ate, and later as we walked back to the hotel, there was an electrical storm brewing in the night sky.
Apparently, it rained quite hard that night but I slept thru it.
Despite weather forecasts that show thunderstorms and 40-60% chance of rain every day I’ve been here plus the next 10 days, this is the first time it has rained since I’ve been here. Our days have all been warm and partly cloudy.
Steps: 18,344
Wed, Sept 11
I woke up at 3 am – I seem to be waking a little earlier everyday. Unfortunately, it seems my body is trying to revert back to Seattle time. Or maybe it’s the altitude? Nagarkot is at 2,175 meters altitude. At 3 am the skies are totally, clear – stars at 360 degrees – from the Himalayas to the valley. I start to get excited that we might have a really good sunrise against the mountains. So excited, that I can’t sleep anymore. Well, I continued to watch the stars, but as 4:00 rolled around, some fog started to form. By 4:30, it was completely clouded over. At 5:15 sunrise time, there wasn’t a sunrise nor any view of the mountains. But then later, a few peaks started to clear and we saw peek-a-boos, similar to the night before.
We had a nice breakfast of omelet and toast, and then set off for the day
We stocked up on water and snacks in Nagarkot for what we thought would be a 3 hour mostly downhike hike to Changu Narayan temple. Luckily as we left town, we saw a nice map of the hike we were planning to do so we took pictures of it as this would be our map for our descent.
Just out of town, we left the road and were on dirt tracks. Lots of kids were on their way to school. Some of them were asking for chocolate, but some of them just wanted to say “Namaste”. The trail took us through some charming little settlements of several farm housed and terraced corn and rice fields.
We saw the locals doing their daily work, such as laying out corn and hot red peppers in the sun to dry. Some of these women carry the heaviest, largest containers of all kinds of things, only with a strap around their forehead to hold the weight. The map was fairly straightforward but occasionally, we would ask “Changu Narayan?” to a local and they would point the way. Besides the beautiful farmland, there were amazing flying creatures – huge butterflies, golden brown dragonflies, and lots of birds. We stopped at one beautiful local Hindu temple on the way and had some snacks before the only uphill climb of about 25 minutes. This took us to the top of a ridge, where we would follow the ridge all the way down to the temple. The total hike took us just over 4 hours, with lots of photo stops.
It was great to breath the fresh air – free of the dust and pollution of Kathmandu city.
The other 3 wanted lunch, so they went to a little local cafe as I headed up to the temple to relax. I sat in the shade and listened to the chanting of a Hindu service as I read info in my guidebook, looked at the carvings, and people watched. At one point, a couple dozen kids came into the temple on what appeared to be a scavenger hunt. It must have been an english based Nepali school as many of the children were speaking in english. I didn’t see another tourist enter the temple as I sat there, but lots of locals would go thru, some of them ringing the bell 3 times.
Changu Narayan is the smallest of the 7 UNESCO sites in the Kathmandu Valley. It has some of the oldest and most intricate carvings, including many of the carnations of Vishnu.
After a quick self guided tour, we headed down to the bus stop and caught the bus back to Kathmandu for a much needed shower.
I met much of the group at the New Orleans wine bar, and then a few of us went to Yeti Cafe to have Momos – traditional dumplings. I ordered the “Chili Veg Momos” which was 10 spicy vegetable momos in a bowl covered in a thick sweet chili and vegetable sauce. Very yummy.
I boarded my Dragon Air flight at 7pm. I was lucky to see downtown HK city lights as we flew away. Somehow we managed to gain 2 hours and 15 minutes of time zone change between HK and Nepal. Nepal must be on the weirdest time zone adjustment – I’ve seen 1/2 hour adjustments before (Darwin, Australia) but never 1/4 hour adjustment.
What a vast contrast the Kathmandu airport is compared to HK. Our large plane landed on the tarmac and we had to climb down metal rolling stairs and board a bus to drive about the equivalent of 1 block to the terminal. Next, I had to stand in line to get my 15 day Nepal visa for $25. For folks who didn’t have visa photos, there was actually a booth at the airport. This took close to an hour. My bags were waiting as I got to baggage claim and there was a long line of people to exit customs but they all seemed to be Nepali so I just bypassed the line and the guys let me thru.
My ride to Annapurna Guest House was there. I picked AGH because it was cheap and it was very close to my other hotel where the tour would start the next night. So, I paid $14 for my room and shuttle ride from the airport.
Steps: 31,758
Sunday, Sept 8
I slept in a bit followed by a nice, hot water shower after such a long time. I checked out around 11am. It was pretty hot and humid outside with partial sun/smog. My walk was only 2 minutes to the Hotel Norbu Linka, where we had 5 nights paid for as part of our tour while we wait for our China Visas and Tibet Permits. There were a couple other people from the tour sitting in the lobby having their welcome drinks so I joined them. Not even 10 minutes later, Anna, the woman who would be my roomate arrived. We had a choice of a room on the 1st floor or the 5th floor. We chose the 5th floor for the great view, but she advised us there is not elevator. Buildings start at floor 0 here, so a room on the 5th floor really means on the 6th floor so lots of steps to our room. The hotel is very nice. Super clean. Nice people. Comfy beds. TV with lots of stations and A/C. Private, large clean bathroom with even a bathtub (not the combo toilet/shower that is typical in places I often stay.)
Today was a festival named Teej and I had read the best place to experience this was at the Pashupatinath Temple, the most holy Hindu temple in Nepal, on the banks of the Bagmati river. The Teej festival is a festival celebrating women, so only hindu women are allowed in the temple today. And boy, were there women. The queue to enter the temple had to be 2 miles long! All of the women had on beautiful red saris.
As tourists, we were allowed to bypass the queue. We stopped on the riverbank where we saw the cremation process. Bodies are covered in orange blanket and flowers and annointed in the river. Next, they are burned in ghats and the ashes a put in the river. This “river” was not what we typically think of as a river. There wasn’t much water and it was full of garbage and who knows what else.
There were several other smaller temples as part of the Pashupatinath complex, so we walked thru a park looking at the other temples and then walked thru the neighborhoods to Bodhnath (Boudha) Stupa. This is a huge dome with Buddha eyes painted at the top. This was such a calm site so we sat and pigeon and people watched. We walked clockwise around the Stupa, as this is what the pigrims do at Stupas. It is bad luck to walk the other direction.
We took a taxi back to the hotel and rested up a couple hours until our 5pm meeting with our group. All 22 of us where there – mostly Australians with a few Kiwis, English, and two Americans – me and a woman from Wisconsin who’s been living in you guessed it – Australia. The age range is very wide. There are 6 people in their 20s and the rest are in their late 40s to 60s. We didn’t learn about everybody’s job, but we did find out there’s a retired General Practician Doctor and 3 nurses on our tour so we should be pretty set if something medical comes up on the trip.
At 8pm, the whole group went out to a Tibetan restaurant where I had a huge bowl of chicken noodle soup and a large water for less than $1.50. The exchange rate is going crazy here as the rupee is dropping against the USD. A couple weeks ago, the rate was 96 rupees per dollar and yesterday it was 103. After dinner, I went back to the hotel and promptly fell asleep. I don’t feel at 100% health, but I haven’t come down with the full blown cold I felt coming on a day ago.
Steps: 12,646
Monday, Sept 9
I woke up at 5am, and went to sit outside on the pleasant rooftop terrace which is just outside our room. This is the best time to sit outside as it is not too hot in the morning. It was 90 degrees yesterday and the guy at the hotel said that it was cool. I watched sunrise and read a bit as I hydrated myself and took more Berocca. I watched the birds fly over the rooftops and listened to Nepali radio, thanks to my Sony Walkman. I like traveling with a personal radio as I’m able to hear the local music in each country (as opposed to listen to mp3s of songs I listen to at home). Nepali music is awesome! Similar to Indian.
After the great included breakfast at the hotel, 4 of us set off to walk to the Patan temple complex which was several miles away. We made a leisurely walk there, stopping to take pictures of interesting buildings and sites. We found ourselves walking thru Durbar Square of Kathmandu. We were supposed to have a ticket to this but didn’t realize. One of us had a ticket from the previous day a flashed it so we quickly skirted around the edge. I took pictures along the way and decided it might not be worth another visit back since we would be visiting numerous other temples in the coming days. We stopped in several shops to admire the saris. I almost bought a burgundy dress at a fair trade shop, but I don’t want to buy too much stuff – there’s still nearly 12 weeks left and I can’t bring too much stuff home!
At Patan, we did the Lonely Planet walking tour and saw lots of temples, stupas, buddhas, etc. We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Durbar square of Patan. Each of the main villages, many years ago, had a Durbar or main square, filled with temples. After so much walking, we took a taxi back to the hotel.
This guy was celebrating his 80th birthday!
A bunch of us went to the Yeti Cafe for dinner. They had mixed cuisine (Continental, Nepali) but I had the “Veg Nepali Set” which I’ve always called Veg Thali at home – rice served with several small main a side dishes – specifically a vegetable curry, daal baht (the Nepali national dish), sour yogurt, suated spinach, and a few vegetables.
Steps: 21,355
Thurs, Sept 12, 2013
Had another early wake up without being able to go back to sleep. I can’t keep up this 5-6 hours sleeping per night much longer. Today is our last day in Kathmandu. I’m looking forward to getting out to the country tomorrow and maybe my cough will clear up.
Today was a very interesting day in Kathmandu. The taxi drivers were on strike. Apparently, this causes about 95% of the vehicles to be off the streets and about 90% of the businesses are closed (although in the tourist ghetto of Thamel, only about 10% of the shops were closed). All in all, it was wonderful! No worries about being clipped by a taxi as you walk down the narrow streets. And best of all, no horn honking!
Nine of us were interested in going to Swayambhunath (aka “the Monkey Temple”). This is a couple Kms west of town, so we walked. We started out following a not so descript map and it took us much further south than we meant to be. We found the place where all of the hotel sheets must be washed – ladies spinning hand wheels and hanging sheets anywhere to dry – on clothes lines, on signs, in the grass in the soccer field, etc. While we were “lost” we came upon a distressed woman with a very sick child. The child was limp and had had some seizures. Luckily, we had one of the 3 nurses with us and she administered cold water to cool the child down. Through another woman who spoke good English, translated that the child had a very high temperature that caused this, and the child should have a cold bath and go to the doctor, but the condition was not life threatening. The child was acting much more with it by the time the mother thanked the nurse and took the child away.
After the excitement, we finally found the right way to the temple and we stopped at a smaller temple on the way. For some reason, there were a couple gold turtles living in this temple.
The Monkey Temple certainly lived up to its name. There were dozens of monkeys hanging around inside and outside of the temple. Big monkeys, baby monkeys, angry monkeys, cute monkeys, and more.
We climbed 365 steps up a steep staircase to the hilltop Temple. Inside, we admired the stupa and smaller side temples. We continued to a park behind the temple, which was completely covered in prayer flags. One monkey got a little aggressive with me at the park
We climbed back down the 365 steps and saw an interesting site. A monkey came up behind a woman and stole her plastic bottle of Coca-Cola. All eyes were on the monkey to see how smart he was. First, he tried to bite off the cap. A few people in the audience decided to show him how, so they started making twisting motions with their hand. The monkey mimicked this, but was unsuccessful in twisting off the cap. Next, he tried to take off the label. Then he resorted to the same thing I do when I have something plastic that’s difficult to open – he used his teeth. After about 5 minutes, he finally bit off the cap and promptly dropped the bottle, spilling half of the contents. It’s obvious that this monkey wasn’t used to drinking out of a bottle. He finally got a little bit of Coke in his mouth but it wasn’t clear if he liked it or not. He spilled nearly all of the contents before walking away.
We walked back to town, where I popped into a pharmacy. My doctor had prescribed Doxycycline anti-biotic for emergency cases before the trip, but I didn’t fill the prescription since the generic pills were about $80. I bought the same thing over the counter in Nepal for $1.10. My next stop was a solo trip to the Garden of Dreams, a lovely garden away from the hubbub of Thamel
In all, the afternoon was very therapeutic. The gardens were therapy for my soul. Afterwards, I had a one hour full body massage which was therapy for my body. I followed this by some shopping – well – retail therapy!
At some point in the afternoon, the leaders had posted that we have a “slight change in plans” and rather than meeting at 7am tomorrow to depart, instead, we will have a mandatory meeting at 7pm tonight. At this meeting, we found out that we will now be departing Nepal at least one day later. There are multiple permits and visas needed to visit Nepal. For tourists, we need a China group visa + Tibet permit. The group also needs a permit and guide 24/7, and the truck needs some permits. Apparently one of these permits will not be ready by Monday when were we supposed to enter Tibet. Also, the taxi strike yesterday meant that there were some things not yet supplied for the truck. This means we will spend an extra day (tomorrow) in Kathmandu.
After the meeting, many of us went to the Thamel House Restaurant that serves traditional Newari food. Newaris are one of the tribes of Nepal. I had a starter of lentils mixed with several spices. My main dish was a very spicy marinated wild boar.
Steps: 19,920
Fri, Sept 13
I actually slept close to 7 hours last night so I was feeling pretty good on Friday the 13th. Today would be our extra/bonus day in Kathmandu. To date, I had done all the things I had wanted to do in Kathmandu so at first I thought I’d have a chill out day – maybe go buy a day pass to one of the hotels with a pool. Or maybe go to the mall and watch a movie? Luckily, the only western movies were the One Direction documentary and Jobs – and I had no interest in either, so I needed to find an alternative plan. I had read about the interesting Hindu Temple of Gokarna Mahadev and saw that there was a walking trail from there to a monetary, so I convinced 2 others to join me for a day of temples, monasteries, and walking in the countryside.
We caught a taxi to Gokarna Mahadev which at first glance was a very small temple. This was not like the other temples we had visited – with ticket takers and harassment to provide guide services. This was a working Hindu temple. The carvings at this temple were great – dozens of Hindu gods carved at situated around the temple. The river ran by the temple and there were ceremonies taking place in the sacred river. But perhaps most fascinating of all was the tree that had grown over a small temple outside.
From there, we headed up the hill thru a small forest. This took us to a ridge line where we could see several Buddhist monasteries. We stopped at Pullhari Monetary. This wasn’t even in the guidebooks but it was fantastic! Beautiful gardens and a beautiful building. It was so peaceful up there we didn’t want to leave.
There was a small cafe outside where we had samosas and so other fried spicy snacks. My lunch costed about 20 cents. We continued along the ridgeline with views of the Himalayan foothills and rice terraces. The second, and most beautiful monetary we came upon was closed to visitors. The third monetary was called Kopan and appeared to be a retreat for westerners who want to take courses in Buddhist topics
We continued hiking down the hill to Boudanath Stupa which I had visited earlier in the week. It was even nicer this time since the sun was making it very photogenic.
We caught a taxi back to the hotel where eventually everyone from our tour congregated on the rooftop terrace to have a few before dinner drinks. Most of the group was going to a steakhouse, but a couple of us opted for some more local fare and went back to the restaurant that the group ate the first night. I got the Chili Buffalo Fried dish which was local buffalo (more like a water buffalo as opposed to the
After dinner, we went to the supermarket to pick up a few last minute items – snacks, toiletries, etc. We went back to the hotel and packed as we are departing tomorrow.
I only got about 3 hours sleep on my 13 hour flight from Vancouver, but I did manage to watch Hangover 3, Iron Man 3, Admission, and a fascinating documentary called “Eat, Fast, and Live Longer.” I was lucky to have a window seat and an empty seat next to me on a very full plane. There was a young traveler in the next seat on his way to do tours on 3 continents over the next 2 months.
After arrival, I was on the train to downtown hong kong in less than 30 minutes – deboarded, went thru immigration (no questions on what I was doing in HK or how long I’d stay), exchanged some money, and bought a return ticket on the Airport Express. A one way ticket on this fast train to the city is 100 HKD, but if you’re returning to the airport on the same day, the price is the same. There were cheaper alternatives like the bus but this way leaves no traffic surprises on the way back to the airport
So, I rode all the way to the last stop – HK Island and then walked up to the Peak Tram terminal, stopping at the Episcopal cathedral on the way.
The tram was a very steep train ride up the hill on tracks that were laid in 1888.
The 360 degree viewpoint was not open yet, so I walked further up the hill walking by the Tai Chi practicers in a park. The views from the viewpoint were OK today, although somewhat blocked by smog/haze. At least it wasn’t clouds. Totally clear days are not the norm here.
Back down the hill, I stopped at the free Botanical gardens and zoo. They had an excellent primate exhibit with several types of monkeys, 2 kinds of lemurs, and a large orangutan exhibit. And smack dab in the middle of the primates was a cage with a couple raccoons! It was awesome to watch the zookeeper feed the Orangutans carrots, squash, oranges, apples, and bread – they loved the apples! Then I stopped in the small visitor center to be told they’d be showing the baby twin Orangutans that were born in 2011. They were so cute!
From there I walked thru the Admiraly area and peeked in a very small temple. Then caught the Star ferry across to the Kowloon side (“Star” Ferry to Ssimshatsui). There were very good views from the boat.
I walked thru the Kowloon park and briefly stopped at the Hong Kong heritage center.
Next, I headed up to the market area and had lunch (sautéed beef and Chinese vegetables) at a bit of a dive. I walked thru the jade market and the local fruit market. They were just setting up for the famous Temple night market just a street away, but the only people on that street besides those setting up were what appeared to be more than 20 prostitutes spaced out over a 2-block area. I continued to the train station to return to the airport, but stopped to by a souvenir magnet and walk around a mall first.
Back at the airport it was smooth sailing thru immigration. I stopped at a pharmacy to buy some Berocca (Vitamin C and Zinc effervescent pills) because I have a slightly sore throat. The guy sitting in front of me on the Seattle to Vancouver flight had a pretty nasty cough so I hope I didn’t pick something up.
This day had been my first time in Hong Kong. Overall, it felt VERY safe and quite clean. There were lots of signs forbidding things that were pretty interesting (like a $1500 fine for spitting on the street or feeding the pigeons)
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