We took a vacation from our trip

Out of hectic India and into less hectic Nepal, phew.  Before our trip, we had decided to go to Nepal for the world famous trekking opportunities.  We packed warm clothes and a small amount of gear to use while trekking and dreamed of the crystal clear views of the Himalaya and Annapurna mountain ranges.  Once we arrived after six weeks of running around India, however, we realized that the combination of the fatigue we were feeling, a shortened time in country due to our previously unplanned trip to Bhutan, and the disappointing haze that blocked all the mountain views made the idea of trekking a lot less appealing.  So we didn’t travel Nepal the way we thought we would or the way anyone should when they come to Nepal, but we did have a nice little vacation from our trip, living it up tourist style.

On arrival in Nepal

We arrived in Kathmandu and immediately headed out of the center of the pollution clogged capitol city for one of the smaller towns outside the city but still inside the valley.  We arrived in lovely little Bahktapur and were greeted with bright orange leis by the staff of our Italian run hotel.  We were treated to a 3 course Italian feast, complete with wine.  Not things we expected in Nepal but a foreshadow of how we would spend the rest of our time there.  The next day we explored the town, finding one charming spot after another.  Bahktapur is full of wonderful old brick buildings built around narrow brick streets and motorized vehicles are supposedly banned from entering (although apparently not motorcycles, dirt bikes, occasional cars and tractors, go figure).  The real draw there is the Durbar Square, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The square has several pagoda style buildings (the pagoda style was actually invented in Nepal and then exported to China and then Japan, which are more famous for the style but not first), a golden gate with a golden water spout behind it, tons of lion statues, and a building famous for its intricately carved wooden windows.  We spent a great day wondering Bahktapur and finished it off with another Italian feast, a perfect way to kick off our time in Nepal.

Yeah, his job looks easy

The famed golden spout could use a little polish,
but cool nonetheless

The next day we headed by 6 hour bumpy bus ride (Nepal is infamous for their crumbling infrastructure) to Pokhara, still thinking we would find a nice 3 day trek to complete and say we trekked in Nepal, even if only a short one (lots of people come to trek for 20+ days at a time, we had originally planned on 7).  On arrival we found what can only be described as a Mexican beach town without the beach but with a healthy dose of charm and a picturesque lake (think Playa del Carmen or Puerto Vallarta without the mega resorts, Senor Frogs, or the beach).  As the busiest tourist town in Nepal, this place knows how to cater to tourists.  Every building is either a hotel, a restaurant, a souvenir shop or a travel agency selling river rafting, paragliding, or trekking trips.  Every restaurant offers free WiFi, happy hour specials, and can make a mean espresso or latte (a very pleasant change from the crappy Nescafe instant coffee we’d been drinking all across India).  Now it’s certainly not our usual style (we typically go for the more authentic experiences, hoping to get to know the real culture), but we quickly got sucked into vacation mode, enjoying our lattes, eating pizza and momos (an awesome Tibetan snack similar to a dumpling), and relaxing.  We cruised around town on our rented motor scooter and just explored at a leisurely pace.

In front of our hotel

Ziggy (our dog) look-alike with the under-bite

We were still entertaining the idea of trekking despite the disappointing haze that prevented us from actually seeing the mountains we were told surrounded us, when we came across what seemed like a great idea.  Listed at # 25 of 140,000 things to do in the world on Lonely Planet’s website was a yoga and meditation retreat just outside Pokhara called Sadhana Yoga.  Since we didn’t get a chance to do all the yoga or meditation we thought we would do in India because we were so busy moving around, we thought “what a great idea to go and do the #25 activity in the world and practice some much needed yoga and meditation”.  We were wrong and so was Lonely Planet, this was not a good idea.  We planned on staying three days but left after day one.  Somewhere between the 5:30 am bell (the same bell used all day to signal the next activity in the prison-like full day schedule), the group nasal cleansings followed by group snot rockets (yep, we literally sat in a group and poured saltwater into our noses with Neti Pots and then did weird breathing exercises that looked a lot like the chicken dance to dry the sinuses), the terrible “yoga” classes that were neither relaxing nor beneficial, and the equally terrible chanting meditation classes, we decided it was time to leave.  So much of a time to leave that we scrambled back down the mountain in the pitch black dark after paying for our one full day.  The last time we take the advice of Lonely Planets’ website of top things to do in the world.  

After fleeing Sadhana yoga and no longer having time to go anywhere else in Nepal or go trekking, we spent the rest of our time in Pokhara much like the first few days, doing Mexican beach town type things and living it up tourist style.  We went paragliding, Maggie’s first time, and got great views high over the town and lake (through the haze, sadly still no mountain views).  We took our scooter out of town to go check out a cool waterfall and supposedly South Asia’s longest cave (curiously leading us back to the waterfall, but the base of it this time), did a great hike up the side of a mountain up to the World Peace Pagoda (built by the Japanese in hopes of spreading world peace), and Todd had a very memorable trip to the barber/masseuse, receiving a hair cut, a straight razor shave (tragically parting with his beloved travel beard as he realized the SCUBA mask would not fit well once we get to Thailand and Nepali barbers are deservedly famous for their straight razor shaves), and an awkward but fantastic head/face/neck/back/arm massage.  We sipped lattes several times a day, drank beer nightly, ate giant meals of mostly non-Nepali food (with the exception of momos, their food is not so good anyway), and did some serious souvenir shopping like the true tourists we had become. 

The before shot

Should have kept the stash

Why wouldn't a haircut and shave
end with an awkward shirtless
massage?

So fresh and so clean

Our favorite kid ever, he kept revving our
scooter engine and, despite how he looks, was
really stoked to have his picture taken

After another long bumpy bus ride, we made our way back to Kathmandu, and boarded a plane headed to Paro, Bhutan the next day.  While we definitely enjoyed ourselves in Nepal, we don’t feel like we quite did it justice and don’t feel like we really know the place.  The Nepali people we met were wonderful, quick to smile and anxious to help, and that was in the tourist areas.  We’ve heard it’s even better when you get out into the countryside on a trek or a self-guided tour of towns along the roads.   Here are some things we wish we had done: actually do some trekking, visit Chitwan National Park (to see endangered one-horned rhinos), visit Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, and visit some of the towns that dot the countryside.  Oh well, we’ll save all that  for the next trip.  Now that our vacation from our current trip is over, we’re now back to traveling and are in the AMAZING country of Bhutan.  We’ll tell you all about it in our next post.  Until then, the picture we took this morning posted below will have to be a bit of a teaser.  You stay classy America.  

Top things we’ve never done before this trip:

1)  For Maggie, went paragliding (Todd went too but had done it before so it doesn’t count as a first).  We waited until we saw the hawks were flying, and then it was time to run down the hill towards the cliff to take off as the birds only fly when the thermals and winds are right.  Once in the air, we followed them again to find the best thermals to gain elevation.  High above the city of Pokhara and the surrounding lake, Todd’s guide glanced at his altimeter and told him we reached nearly 3000 ft above the ground.

2)  For Todd, received a straight razor shave.  Todd can definitely see why this is a luxury many men are willing to pay a lot of money for back home.  They are experts at it in Nepal, for cheap.  After trimming his beard with scissors, spraying water in his face and rubbing it in to loosen things up, the barber then lathered him up and went for it, expertly shaving off 2 months of unshaven facial hair (so sad, Todd was actually quite attached to the travel beard but the chance for a cheap, quality straight razor shave was enough of an enticement to take it off, especially with a SCUBA mask coming in the near future).  

3)  Did a nasal washing, when not sick, in a group.  We’ve used Neti pots before when we’re sick (for those that don’t know, it’s basically pouring a salt water solution in one nostril and out the other, cleaning and soaking inflamed sinuses in the process, great for temporary relief from congestion), but never have we done it with a group of 15 other people, especially when not sick.  Weird.  This was then followed by the strangest group of breathing exercises that amounted to nothing more than fancy snot rocket blowing (sorry to be crude moms) and one of which looked suspiciously like the chicken dance.  We were cracking up the whole time, but except for one other girl who seemed to only be laughing because we were, everyone else seemed to find this normal and were straight faced.  That was a weird yoga retreat, we‘ll just leave it at that.  

4)  Signed a contract and about 6 hours worth of paperwork while halfway around the world, then prayed the expensive shipping was worth it and it arrived safely (it did).  Todd had to print out and complete about 75 pages of paperwork for his new residency position and get it back before the deadline.  Thanks to the people at CU’s residency program for working with him to get all this stuff done.  

5)  Maneuvered a scooter through a herd of yaks that were crossing the road (we had gone through a herd of cows on a scooter before, see post #1 in India, but not yaks, we‘ll see what group of animals comes next).