stufabi goes to thailand

stufabi is leaving Nepal tomorrow and flies to Thailand. As the Thai-flag is pretty boring (don't you think?), we decided not to change our header and keep the pretty Nepali-flag...

In and around Kathmandu

Streetlife and Newari houses, Bandipur

On our way from Pokhara to Kathmandu we visited the small medieval town of Bandipur. A jewel off the beaten track where the omnipresent "one pen, one chocolate, one rupee"question hasn't reached yet. Bandipur's people are remarkably friendly and well educated which certainly is the result of an old-established school introduced by japanese nuns many years ago. An other evidence of the good education are the well kept Newari (the largest ethnic group in Nepal) buildings, temples and alleys. The main road very much reminded us of the old town in Murten, Switzerland.

During our stay we got to learn how to play the chess in Nepali-style. Hitting the enemies figures is much more important and more exciting than applying a strategy...

It's also an area short hikes such as climbing some of the several surrounding hills in order to catch a glimpse of the terraced landscape. An other walk lead us to a silkfarm which was a very rewarding experience because we got to know the process of gaining silk-thread.

The Stupas and Monastries of Bodhnath

If we had to decide of one symbol which pictures Nepal, it would be either an image of some mountains or the most visited Stupa of the country located in Bodhnath.

We lived there for a few days and entered several monastries, where the doors are open for visitors most of the time. Buddhism is indeed a very complex and true-to-life religion. Due to the big interest of western people, many monastries offer introductory courses. Unfortunatly we couldn't find any matching with our travel schedule. Nontheless, we found many opportunities to learn something about Buddhism while talking to different experienced Buddhists from Nepal or abroad.

Dhulikel

On the eastern edge of the Kathmandu-Valley, we stayed at the Nawaranga Guesthouse in Dhulikel. As most of the Nepali names have a beautiful meaning, so does Nawaranga: nine colours or colour of the rainbow.

The owner Purna (fullmoon) and his family are victims of the political unrest during the last 10 years. Their son got kidnapped by 4 years ago and is still missing. The daughter committed suicide. So Purna and his wife are now taking care of their 10 grandchildren.

Stories like that are also part of the fate of this country.

If anyone of you ever decides to visit Dhulikel ;-) we strongly recommend the dayhike to Namoboudha and Panauti. Even though it's only a 2 hour busride from Kathmandu there were hardly any tourists. The walk passes along small villages, cultivated fields (seem like all the villagers were busy harvesting potatoes), and finally the picturesque tre-storey-temples of Panauti.

A successful day in Patan

Since the day we arrived in Nepal we have been looking for a Singing Bowl. After having spent a lot of time doing research on the history, the usage and the actual value ;-), we realized that all bowls are manufactured in Patan. That's why we decided to finalise our research work on spot...

And we luckily did find a small shop whit a man who was very knowledgeable and reliable!

Yes, and now we are proud owners of a 2.5kg beautifully sounding Singing-Bowl!

What to DO in KathmanDU?

Eating, doing Yoga, chilling-out.

These three activities have been dominating our lives during the last week, completed by listening to livemusic, drinkin Gin-and-Tonics and shopping. So you can see, there is lots to DO in KathmanDU... ;-)

Often we were being joined by Michelle, a lovely Canadian, we met in Bandipur. Together we discovered our favourite restaurants in town with focus on (organic) salad variations. Of course we also were looking for places selling tasty local food and snacked around in various streetstalls.

Every other day early in the morning we tried to look good in different Yoga-postures...

Our american friend Chirag and the nepalese Yoga teacher Soumika recently set up a Yoga center. We really enjoyed these hours of moving our bodies smoothly.

Even though the exercises looked fairly easy we got up the following mornings with our muscles aching, longing for a day off...

...which we for example spent in the garden of dreams, a little oasis in the centre of Kathmandu but miles away from traffic an other disturbing noises.

Wildlife & Buddhism & Rural Nepal

Kingfisher, Chitwan National Park

The only acceptable foto of the wildlife we saw on our jeep safari in Chitwan National Park is this beautiful Kingfisher. This bird is so famous that they even named a beer after it...Our Safari was a success as we could see the very rare, giant black sloth bear eating on termites only 20 meters away! Other animals we saw: crocodile, dotted deer, colourful peacocks and several other bird species. However we could not see the endangered one-horned-rhino which is one of the main attractions in this National Park.

Elephant riding, Sauraha (Chitwan National Park)

In Sauraha, the gateway town to the park and our lodging place, we enjoyed ourselves so much riding on the biggest animal on the earth!

Every day the elephants ot the town are going down to the river for their daily bath and whoever wants can join them to have fun in the cooling water. Oh yes, it was so refreshing to fall into lukewarm water, as the air was around 40 degrees.What we also got to feel is that elephant skin is much rougher than human skin...




Stufabi in front of the World Peace Pagoda, Lumbini

Next destination was Lumbini, Lord Buddha Siddharta Gautama's birthplace (563bc). It is a pilgrimage place for Buddhists and Hindus as Buddha also is a reincarnation of the important Hindu god Vishnu.
The widespread development zone around birth site where Buddhist communities from all over the world build their monasteries and temples really is worth a visit. The white World Peace Pagoda for example was built by Japanese monks, the colourful ornamented door which Fabi tries to open :-) belongs to the Tibetan gompa and the huge praying roll Stufi is moving is located next to the German temple.
The effort of maintenance of the buildings and gardens varies a lot...some are in a very poor condition which is quite sad, but others are very well kept and it is a big pleasure to walk through the neatly arranged surroundings.

Man selling spices in a street in Pokhara

Stufi asking for directions, Pokhara

Here and then we rent some old style Indian bicycles with one gear...we love to explore the surroundings cycling! As the maps often are basic or rather not useful we count on the help of locals. Asking for directions using hands and feet can happen anywhere, even in the middle of a junction ;-)

Market, Tansen-Palpa
Escaping the heat, a winding road took us up to the medieval hill town of Tansen. Most parts of the old town are traffic-free because of the narrow and steep alleys. This fact requires the people to carry all the goods themselves.
Tansens main business is the weaving of a unique material which is seen all over Nepal. We visited one of the factories and were surprised how complicated the weaving-looms are built and how quick the workers handle these machines. At the market area you could buy all kinds of bags, clothes, hats, shoes etc. made out of this fabric.

Plumeria, Fabis favourite and all beloved flower...

We are very happy to still have three weeks left to continue our travels in this marvelous country.
The encounters with these beautiful and friendly people are always an enrichment, we truly love what we get to see and experience here.