Himalayan Shangri-La Dhulikhel

... offered some of the very things you miss when coming arriving from the backwaters. However, after a couple of days we changed our guest house and moved a bit farther from all the action, as Thamel can be exhaustingly hectic with all the hawkers and touts. One element that brings you the feeling of being in a developing country is of course the frequent power cuts, which seem to take place every single evening in Kathmandu.<br><br>We used a few days in ...

I love design or anything related to how design enables people to enjoy life or get more out of a design. I did not notice it when I took pictures but as I perused through my catalog of photos from Nepal I saw this theme. I am going to reorganize the photos to show this theme and how design is not just about art but how people get integrated into the art.<br><br><br>

I tried to write this entry a little earlier, but Kathmandu has rolling power outages and today the power was out for two hours in the afternoon. According to a Nepali I spoke to, the areas who receive the power outages are based on a "lottery". Apparently, this time of year is actually better as far as power outages- there are some months when power is gone for up to 18 hours at a time. It's little things like electricity that really test your patience in Nepal ...

... below. It was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. In fact, I would even go as far as to say it was bloody awesome. When I got down I was grinning from ear to ear, and shaking like a leaf. It was a brilliant way to end my journey to Kathmandu.<br> <br> We hitched a ride back to camp with the Ozbus crew who were also up at Last Resort doing bungy jumping and whatnot and I proudly told the story of how I very bravely (and slightly insanely) jumped off the bridge. I ate ...

... latter part of the monsoon (August and September) is a time of festivals, which will certainly enliven a visit to Kathmandu, and this is also the best time to visit neighbouring Tibet.<br><br>Because of its lower altitude, Pokhara is warmer and more pleasant than Kathmandu during winter, but hotter before the monsoon and wetter during it.

... t straighten out and cuts across to the middle lane. Surely he&#8217;s going to straighten out, but he doesn&#8217;t, I slam on the horn and realise he&#8217;s going to come across me. I now can&#8217;t go on the other side of him otherwise I&#8217;ll clip his back wheel so I slam on both brakes and everything turns into slow motion. I try to still shift the bike with my body weight as a last gasp to avoid him, but now everything is out of my hands. My mind goes into a state of ...

... an invalid with all watching in amusement they eventually eased up allowing me to walk on. 30 minutes into the 20 minute walk I asked if we were close and was told it would be about 20 minutes. The 20 minute walk took nearly 2 hours but we eventually got to Dhulikhel and at the hotel I collapsed on the bed. I wanted a shower but could not muster the energy or get the muscles to co-operate for an hour or so. Despite being in a small town ...

... the consumer and embarking on a course of unsustainability. The Hotel Milan were freely offering people boiled and filtered stream water, about as safe as you can get, but I heard a group of English people (whom I'm sure Australians would have referred to as 'whining poms') eschewing this water in favour of Coca Cola and then complaining that bottled 'mineral' water was not on sale.<br><br>The afternoon was spent pleasantly on the lawn overlooking a valley of cultivated terraces and ...

... breath sounding alarmingly short in the dawn silence. Nobody was around as I climbed and on one occasion I took the wrong path and had to turn back. My cardiovascular system was getting a workout it could have done without before having breakfast. After half an hour of plodding I heard the distant voices of other people. I sweated some more and lumbered nearer to the top and soon the people became visible and began to pass me on the trail as they descended. I received a few smart comments ...

... down on the foaming river, its waters the colour of melted sky. It was up and down walking and we soon found ourselves in a flood plain packed with paddy fields. We passed people regularly on the trails, mostly porters or local villagers and in each case a friendly 'Namaste' was required, which was always reciprocated with the coming together of the hands and a slight bowing of the head. The day was hot and we stopped in on quite a few tea houses for a cold drink (there is ...