Our last days in Nepal

During our last days in Nepal, we went around Kathmandu visiting temples and religious sites.

Our first stop was Swayambhunath. With stormy clouds in the background, it made for a dramatic stop. Can you spot the monkey eating cotton candy?

Our second stop was Pashupatinath. This is a Hindu temple complex, crematorium, and the holiest site in Nepali Hinduism.  

Ali looking cute at the holy site.

Early morning light by the river, which is where all the ashes will be washed away.

How is that for some religious imagery?

Afterwards, we went to Boudhanath Stupa, the largest stupa in Nepal. This temple is huge!

Locals come to light incense, turn the prayer wheels, and be holy.

Remember kids, Buddha is watching!

Jungle Safari Nepal

Nepal is truly a land of extremes. We went from trekking the world’s highest pass to trekking in the jungle at near sea level. Our weather went from multiple clothing layers for keeping warm to baking in hot, humid weather and wearing layers just to keep the sun off.

We arrived at Sauraha where our host Martina and Polo, the riding dog, picked us up and gave us a ride to our home stay in town.

The home stay is in a rural area where the neighbors, have among many cattle, baby goats. The neighbors were very welcoming and let us play with the baby goats.

A nice home made dinner that Ali prepared at our home stay Boomerang Base Camp.

The next day we headed off into the jungle in Chitwan National Park. Chitwan National Park is located in the south of Nepal near the border with India in the Terai lowlands. The park facilities are very basic and trekking guides are mandatory.  A good idea when there are tigers, bears and other predators just trying to eat you for a snack or elephants, rhinos and other prey ready to trample you as they prevent becoming a snack.

We spotted many birds including eagles, king fishers and many others. Bird watchers would truly love this place.

A giant stork with an unlucky snail in its beak.

This is what the jungle jeep trails look like. Chitwan is a wide open space and animals could be anywhere, so lots of walking was involved.

We spotted wild Rhesus monkeys.

And we found Bambi as well.

We spotted wild buffalo roaming in the tall grasses.

At the end of our first day we even saw wild gharials. Lucky for us they only eat fish! Unlucky for us we saw no rhinos our first day.

So we had to head back the next day. Working elephants are used in the jungle on a regular basis.

Our second day of rhino hunting proved more successful. This one was munching away on the flower bed!

  

Here are our brave guides equipped with sticks to keep us safe from rhinos and tigers. As our guides showed us fresh tiger scratch marks, had us smell tiger pee, which they use to mark their territory, showed us trees clawed by bears, tree trunks rubbed away by itchy rhinos, and even trees trampled over by elephants we were glad we had them there to help us.

On the evening round we got a chance to get up close to a rhino. We had to be very quiet and stay still. They are very interesting animals to watch; the rhinos watch us just like we watch them. This fellow was passing the hottest part of the day in the creek taking a dip.

As we were leaving the park we got rewarded with the flower munching rhino posing for us again. This time it was standing up.

After walking walking 13 miles (21 km) in stifling heat and high humidity we were exhausted, but very happy to have seen so many wonderful animals in their natural habitat and very glad not to have become part of the food chain. 

Annapurna Circuit, The Last Episode

So we rented mountain bikes in the town of Muktinath from Mustang Mountainbikes and headed downhill... mostly. We had a lot of fun whether it was terrorizing small towns that are a dream to ride through, or screaming down high plains and salt flats at high speeds.

Here are the girls sneaking out from under a Gompa.  Inside, you can stand at full height and enjoy religious paintings.

Here are the girls racing each other on parallel roads.  It is hard to tell, but this is actually a steep descent.

Here is Ali cruising town like a pro! (Note the face mask for dust protection.)

Rhiannon . . . not so much!  :)

Cruising down rocky roads and steep cliffs made for hair raising excitment.

We took our time to do side trips and explore lakes and hidden forests.

As we dropped elevation the scenery became greener and lush. It was like riding in a magical forest.

But it was very exhausting none the less! Even Jurian, the owner of the bikes was feeling it.

Don’t you love when water buffalo come to say hi during your lunch break?

The road continued downhill almost endlessly.  It was blasted out of the side of the hill with loose rocks, mud holes and water crossings to keep it exciting.

We met other bike riders and all stopped for a break at the last waterfall before our ride came to and end.

Jeeps provide local transportation, but the bikes seemed safer. Maybe he drove down the river to pick those funny looking plants?

After the amazing ride and a break at the Tatopani hot springs we had to start hiking again, and this time up to Poon Hill.

Talk about slow food movement. All our food was local and as far as I can tell, organic. 

Forest nymph abound. Aren’t they cute?

Eventually, we made it to the top of Poon Hill. Can you spot Ali taking in the view on the bench below?

Since Rhiannon had to leave us in Tatopani, Jennifer offered to be our new trekking friend. She fit in right away!

I had to! How often do you get a selfie with a goat?

As we dropped from Poon Hill we decended into lush rain forests with wild orchids everywhere.

Last shot of the Annapurna circuit. The vegetation was back and so were the rivers. It was so tempting to take a dip in those swimming holes. Twenty-one days after we started, we completed the traditional Annapurna circuit and loved it!  We made our way to Pokhara where our legs would be sore for almost two weeks. 

Annapurna, we keep climbing.

After a few days of rainy weather and less than ideal rumbly tummies, the weather cleared up and our spirits were high. 

The views were grand and the sun kept us warm.

We stopped for tea at a smaller village where we had the most unusual tea setting.

The longest row of prayer wheels we saw. I spun all of them!

This part of Nepal is Buddhist without a doubt.

After unmounting our horses we entered the town of Manang.

The area turned out to be very photogenic. Can you spot the caves on the pinnacles where monks used to live?

In Manang we learned why we were so out of breath. We also decided to stay a few extra days and do day hikes to acclimatize.

Ali had the highest O2 concentration of everyone that attended the presentation on high altitude. She earned a candy bar for that feat.

Our day hikes took us to some amazing view points and we got to acclimatize. Climbing without the packs seemed easy and we almost sprinted up the hills.

We left Manang and went to a town with the funny name of Yak Yakarta. Wonder why they call it that?

We kept climbing for days, above the tree line the valleys became barren and dry. Below, the river was becoming a trickle and the waterfalls that fed it were frozen. We were getting close to the source and the pass.

To cross Thorung La pass we left before sunrise. The sun greeted us from the other side of the mountains.

Eventually we all made it to the top of the pass. That is 17,769 feet for the non-metric viewers. I found it exhausting and our trekking was not even halfway done.

What goes up must come down and the same day we crossed the pass we had to hike down the valley to where the trail ends on a patch of green. It was a knee buster!

So what to do when you have eight thousand plus feet to go downhill and you are an adrenaline junkie?  Well, mountain bike down the Himalayans of course!  But we'll save that for the next post.