We stay in large tents in an adventure complex where students learn and practice some outdoor skills like: orienteering, rappelling, raft building, kayaking, etc. After a few days, we drive a couple more hours up to Dabhosa where we do a full day expedition through the villages, wheat fields, rivers, and waterfalls of the country side.
It was a great trip aside from some student frustrations here and there. But we did have some great adventures including visiting a village school to build a brick bathroom building and rappelling down the face of a waterfall.
We also had a lot of chances to work on leadership and share some fun and cultural experiences. We had a visit from a number of Warli villagers who performed a traditional Warli dance. We also had a talent show where some students sang and our principal juggled some fire. All in all, lots of good memories and another fun WWW trip.
The day after getting back we hopped on a short 2 hour flight up to Kathmandu, Nepal for our week long Diwali vacation. It was a very spur of the moment decision to go to Nepal. We wanted to do some exploring in north India and see some plantations and get into the Himalayas but all the Indian cities up north take quite a bit of flight hopping and driving to get to so a 2 hr direct flight to Nepal made the decision for us.
We really knew nothing about Nepal before going except for the trekking/mountaineering type of tourism. After going there and learning more about it though, I would not hesitate for a second to go back. The cities are pretty impoverished, dirty, and lacking infrastructure just like India, yet there is a completely different feel to it. First of all, Nepalis are some of the nicest people we've met. They make the list right along side Egyptians and Cubans as the friendliest people on Earth (according to our personal experiences). That alone makes a country so much more fun to travel in when you know you are welcomed and can let down your guard a little bit.
Beyond the general kindness and overall tourist-friendly atmosphere, I never expected to see so many cool and beautiful things in Nepal. The culture of the country is an interesting blend of Tibetan Buddhist, Indian Hindu, and indigenous tribal and village life. Even though it lies between two massive countries, it still has it's own identity which makes for some really interesting food, art, architecture, and cultural values. (We should note here that we bought more stuff in Nepal than a few of our other trips combined...oops!)
What makes the Kathmandu valley so interesting and unique is that it was not settled by Indians, nor Chinese, but the Newa people who created a unique combination of both. There are pagodas and temples that hint of Chinese architecture yet they are side by side with innately carved stone Hindu temples. My favorite architectural and artistic piece was the detailed wood carvings that were used all throughout the cities and villages. Nearly all buildings are made of brick (as opposed to the ugly cement towers of India) and they frame in beautiful pieces of wood to make windows and door frames.
In our first few days of hanging around Kathmandu, we went out of the city to a couple of these Newari cities, Bhaktapur and Patan where we spend the day walking through the old medieval streets and grand Durbar Squares to enjoy the sights and experiences of historic Nepal. It was beautiful and culturally and historically interesting which makes for a great trip. Even our hotel had the same amazing architecture and art work all around which only added to the ambiance and overall experience in Kathmandu.
We also made our way to a number of Buddhist temples and sites to get a feel for the Tibetan influence. This included a hike up to the top of the monkey temple to see the judgmental and ever watching eyes of Buddha overlooking the city (and of course the monkeys that give it it's namesake) . A short drive away is also the Boudhanath which is one of the largest stupas in Nepal and the world.
An interesting place for sure. Not to mention the markets and food and, of course, the mountains that surround the whole valley. We could only see some white tips behind the hills in Kathmandu but a quick 20 minute ride to Pokhara put the massive peaks right in our back yard.
Pokhara is the second largest tourist spot in Nepal and lies between foothills on a lovely lake. This is a gorgeous spot and definitely makes it into my top list of favorite places. It's got that serene, hang out on the lake and relax atmosphere. It's got miles of restaurants and shops following the edge of the lake.
It's got hiking, mountain views, caves, waterfalls, and everything you need for a adventurous or relaxing vacation. We stayed at a really nice hotel that you had to boat across the tip of the lake to get to. We had a great time here, hiking up to the Peace Pagoda, hiking over to Devi's Falls, an underground waterfall and accompanying caves, and the pinnacle of our trip (literally) paragliding off the Sarangkot view station.
Pokhara is nested at the foot of the Annapurna range (not where Everest is...sorry) which holds several of the highest peaks in the world. Because of its close proximity, the views are stunning and virtually unobstructed.
The landmark peak is Machapuchare or the "Fish Tail" due to its very geometric triangular shape. While not the largest peak in the range, it is the closest to the city which makes it dominate the center of the range when seen from Pokhara. A short 20 minute drive up the side of the hill and you are in Sarangkot, a small village that has a perfect panorama of the valley and the Annapurna range.
This is of course the place to be at the beginning and end of every day to watch the sunrise or sunset over the mountains. We woke up early one morning and drove/hiked up to see the sunrise which was spectacular. Of course we were surrounded by other tourists and a line of professional photographers trying to get their perfect shot. The views were stunning and we stayed up there for a couple hours just enjoying the view and having some breakfast. And what better way to get back down the hill than to just jump off! So we booked a 30 minute tandem paragliding trip that hooked us up with a professional pilot who strapped us in and ran us off the edge of the mountain.
We floated around the Sarangkot ridge for a while just enjoying the mountains in the distance and the lake and terraced rice fields below. Amazing experience and a hobby that I wouldn't mind picking up. The pilots were great and explained how everything worked and even let me maneuver the controls for a little while. We floated out over the lake to a landing field back at the edge of town. We hopped in a van and were back to our hotel before lunch. Fantastic.
All in all, a surprisingly outstanding trip given the fact that we knew virtually nothing about where we were going prior to leaving. Somewhere I would not mind returning to some day.
Pictures are already up and ready on Picasa so have a look. I've got some video of the Warli dancers and a few other things from WWW that I'm working on getting up to YouTube as well so stay tuned!
For now, it's trying to keep pace with the blazing speed in which November is flying by and getting ready to head back state-side for some Christmas in the northwest (no singing...please). We'll be spending most of our time in Seattle but will make it out to Boise for new years as well (if the region doesn't get hit by another ice age like the last time we were home!!)
From now until December I need all of you to be salting the roads every day and get your hair dryers out and ready to clean off that runway cause we don't want to play airplane leap frog through the south west again!
See you all soon!
K&E
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