Nepal In Retrospect
I took the six-hour bus ride from Pokhara back to Katmandu to prepare for departure. My five months in Nepal had come to an end. Five months is all Americans are allowed with a tourist visa. With the India border blockade leading to the fuel shortage on and squeezing momentum out of ‘progress’, it’s just a good idea to get closer to the airport because I might have to walk. I pulled back into the Holy Himalaya for a couple days and have a solid look at the places, people and animals I was fortunate enough to experience.
It seems like just yesterday I arrived in Nepal for the first time and was awestruck by the cultural and historical treasures of the three kingdoms that now make up the city of Katmandu. I hired a motorbike taxi and visited the Monkey Temple and the three squares and I took stacks of photos. Wandering the streets in Thamel became second nature and always crowded with tourists coming and going to the Himalayas or into Chitwan National Park. I chose a flight less traveled and bounced to Nepalgunj and Bardia National Park for a look in the jungle.
I ended up trekking in a virtually untouched area of the park with no other people around besides National Park patrols. Apparently permits have been difficult to acquire in the past but we managed to get two separate permits and took advantage of them. Tragedy struck with the first earthquake. Even in the west of Nepal, Thakadurwara, I felt the earth move. I moved on by bus to Chitwan where I ran into Rhino, Elephant, Crocodiles, Garials, and a plethora of deer and wild boar. It was a short visit but worth it.
I bused up to Pokhara where I volunteered with Hands Helping Hands and helped feed families in devastated outlying regions. I had to see Katmandu for myself so I took a taxi there with a full car of drinking water. All along the road there are still signs of the destruction. Katmandu was at a stand still with brick, wood and rubble filling the narrow streets, limited clean up and refugees filling the parks with makeshift tarp tents. Working facilities were non-existent and the smell of death hung in the air.
I was on the 3rd floor of a hotel in Pokhara when the second earthquake hit. People remained sleeping in the car park for fear of more. After-shocks and mild earthquakes continued on into double digits with avalanches striking the Himalayas taking out trekkers. Tourists evacuated the country and for the most part have remained away for now.
I blasted off to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, and Portugal, and returned to Nepal after two months in Europe for my last three months of the year in Nepal. As I arrived, Banda (Government strike of all automobiles) was in effect and made travel difficult. I returned to Thakadurwara to help with a new dining hall at www.wildtrakadventure.com for a couple months of serious heat. At the end Johnny Sparshatt and I headed for Shey Phoksundo National Park and lower Dolpa region. It was nice to be with the locals and hear their stories of life.
We ended up in Jumla and the end was near for me. A few days in Katmandu was all I had left. At Sam’s Bar an Austrian acquaintance left me with a wonderful woman teaching teachers in a small rural area to the south east of Katmandu. She is quite the traveller and I was taken by her knowledge. I’m now curious to go see what she’s up to next time I come to Nepal.
There were so many pictures to chose from I had to leave a lot out. Another way someday.
I hope Nepal finds peace.
