India and Nepal

Its Raining In Kathmandu

At last, some 9 months after the event, I get round to blogging about my trip to India and Nepal. Well, not really blogging because I'm writing it all in one hit, and not chronologically. So, not a blog at all, actually.

To be honest, I wasn't really up for the trip. I had a lot on my mind; none of which I felt would benefit from my being on a jolly 5,000 miles from home. But hey...c'est la vie.

For those interested, here's where I went, and the tour company I went with. I'd recommend them.

Explore!

I travelled alone, but joined a group of fellow travellers. Here's the rogues' gallery:

Marcela. Like myself, Mercela was travelling alone. Unlike me, she had a fantastic camera and took some awesome photographs. I limited myself to under 100 (principally because I loaded the wrong memory card into the camera and forgot to pack spare cards; but also as an exercise in 'quality control'). I think Mercela clocked up something in the order of 3,500 photos! I had to ask Marcela to pose for this photo when I realised all my pics of her had her camera obscuring her face.

Lorna and Shanna. I felt sorry for all the unwanted attention these guys got. Girls asked to have their pictures taken with them, and the boys...they just gawped. I guess the pale complexions and long blond hair they had added to the curiousity?

John and Delia.

Due to the somewhat limited facilities to hand, I saw rather more of Delia's bottom than is, well, decent. Didn't speak that much to John, but on the plus side, I never saw his bottom.

                                                            Solga and Walter.

These are Norway's experts in holidaying in the Far East. Walter explained massage etiquette to me (which isn't as pervy as I realise it sounds). Solga made me realise that all those cats that have made me ill over the years were probably male. I think she was right because this little fella below (or rather fellow-ess) didn't set me off at all. Maybe I could get myself a female cat?

She also knitted constantly, between ciggies, and produced these little keepsakes; one for each of us. Nice hey?

They've also convinced me that I should visit Norway - sounds great.

 
Mary and Mike.

From Yorkshire so, of course, had to include images of them playing cricket.

Mary introduced me to 'blipping'. I now have an account there. Do visit.

www.blipfoto.com/niallToday.

And lets not forget Anil, our ever resourceful and very well connected tour leader.

The guy with his back to us was..err..Derek.

He breezed in and out of the tour and did his own thing. He paid for the whole tour but left half way through, having done pretty much none of the excursions. Told me he couldn't stand religion and didn't get India at all. Then that it was his 7th visit and he'd been there for 4 months. Huhh?

                                 Cutting to the chase:

Things I Really Liked.

The people. So many people.

Counted 9 kids on this rickshaw. Guess it was their school bus. Looks like sports day too.

And the school parties were huge. All so smart.

People had told me India was a place of such contrast - incredible poverty in the midst of great riches. To be honest though, I didn't see any riches.

On the first day, venturing into old Delhi was an experience I will never forget. We travelled from our pretty regular hotel in the new part of the city along a typical city street to the underground - which was really clean and well organised. We emerged to this.......

 Gizz, our enigmatic boatboy.      Our very friendly Nepalese poolside barman.

Oh, and bloke taking a photo. Wonder how he got in there?

 Trains, planes and automobiles.

and elephants, canoe, ox & cart, cable car...

This is Everest. I liked that only Everest had a sort of flag of snow blowing off it. Not as close as I was expecting but at least I can say I've been there.   Unfortunately, one of these flights crashed recently on landing. All 19 killed. Apparently not as uncommon an event as you might expect. Funnily enough, that wasn't mentioned at the time. 

Disappointments 

Stupa. I dont ever want to see or hear about stupid stupa ever again.

Taj Mahal. Boring. Sorry to be such a trogladyte but apart from that famous image there's nothing else to see or engage with. I get the romance of it. My issue is, that nothing's enhanced by actually being there. Maybe its just so familiar already. Guess seeing the Mona Lisa is the same.

Not quite what I was expecting...

    

Dangerous Place

Heres why you dont leave your mobile in your back pocket when you use the train toilet:

and heres why you leave the driving to others:

The instruction says it all

And, of course, no matter how careful and hygenic you are, there's always the dreaded ......... 



Surprises

My first pleasant surprise was how great the flight was. I was expecting it to be all 'Bury Park', screaming kids, hassle. Seen too many 'Rough Guide' travelog shows and flown EasyJet & Ryan Air too often. Long haul flights are just fabulous. We had like a mini party with the cabin crew in the galley on the way home.

Pretty much the first thing I noticed when I got there was how freely people..err..how shall I put this, relieved themselves on the roadside. I soon learned, however, that there was a certain discretion employed (Delia take note!) unlike the guy I saw on the Edgware Road the other day who was just letting forth a huge arching fountain right into the bus lane. It was the middle of the day, he was young, seemingly sober, and there were no end of pubs and shops he could have popped in to. Needless to say, nobody so much as blinked. I dont have any photos.

Raising the tone, seems you really can sneak up on even notoriously shy animals like rhinos and deer as long as you are driving something 9 foot tall and weighing 3 tonnes. It was, really, amazing - like we weren't even there (Im talking elephants, btw)



There really are crocodiles in the highland waters of Nepal.

I assumed they were just winding us up, to see how gullable us tourists were. The river we canoed down was no more than a stream - seemed no more than 2 foot deep to me. And then, suddenly, 3 enormous, like 12 foot long crocs! Dont they live in warm places?


Too many temples can drive you nuts.

Its true, even the remotest capital has an Irish Bar. This pint worked out at about £12 a pint. Believe me, you can buy an awful lot for £12 in Kathmandu. This was the most expensive drink Ive ever had.

 

Amazingly for such a 'busy' country, vast stretches of the Ganges are completely deserted. So tranquil - and beautiful.

 

And finally...

After 3 weeks of glorious, warm, clear weather, on the bus out of India travelling into the foothills of the Himalayas, a rumour started to spread. Word is, its raining in Kathmandu.