It is very nice to arrive in a “western” city such as Kathmandu after having
travelled India. Kathmandu is considered by my guide book (lets go) as a
mega of tourism. I am not so sure if there are more tourists over here than
in India but I suppose Kathmandu has been more “westernised” than north India.
I am not so sure if it is a good thing… but at least I am sure that I think it is
great to have access to all the western things I miss so much (chocolate,
steak and fries, western brands, etc). I feel I am in paradise,
especially after having eaten a big peace of chocolate cake with hot custard.
Kathmandu is much bigger than I had imagined! There are hotels, shops,
cafes, restaurants everywhere (especially in Thamel – tourist part of the
city). It is a very noisy and crowded place, not as crowded as India but we
can definitely see Nepal in India has their similarities. Nepali people are
quite friendly, not as aggressive as Indians ( at least here you can walk
for around 30 seconds before having someone asking you money or trying to
sell you anything – important to notice that I said only 30 seconds as more
than 31 seconds you would be asking far too much !!!)
There are so many things to do in Nepal that the 15 days I had planned to
stay here wasn’t enough. I had to extend it to 30 days ! Oh !!! I am not
very keen on staying in the same country for that long… but I couldn’t do
anything about it! I will have to struggle in China to be able to cover it in
only in 30 days !!!
After having a couple of days resting in Kathmandu I decided to start
exploring the country:
First Stop: Nagakort ( I am not so sure it is the right spelling!) It is a very
beautiful small village where, (it is what people say) you can get a great
view of Mount Everest ( but it needs to be very early in the morning!). I
stayed 2 days there, had a great time! I was so lucky that there was a
traditional Nepalese countryside party on the afternoon I got there. It was my
first Nepalese party! Yup ! I had heaps of fun, danced a lot, ate Nepalese food,
even drank some Nepalase beer ! It was exactly the same kind of party we have
in Brazil, party called there as Fiesta Junina, at least the decoration was
the same, even the bunting were the same. I felt I was back home, (great
feeling!). In the morning after I had to wake up at 4am to walk to THE
RIGHT SPOT (top of another mountain) to see the sun rise and Mount Everest.
It was so exciting, the first time I was going to see Everest !But…
guess what…?!After having walked for an hour… when I got on the top of the
right mountain…the sky got very cloudy and it started raining …. Conclusion:
I couldn’t see Everest… being honest the weather was so cloudy that I
couldn’t even see 30 cm in front of me…. I had to walk all the way back in
the rain!
Second Stop: rafting - I had already done rafting in Brazil a while ago. But
it was the first time abroad… yup! I went to check all the agencies to get
the best price (as I always do!) I got an agency it was US$75 with
everything included for 4 days rafting – even food ! Good deal! OK! Lets be
realistic, when I got to the rafting I discovered it was an Israeli
company… thus I was the only one there who spoke English instead of Hebrew.
But it didn’t matter so much as I even had the opportunity to learn some
words in Hebrew ( ok they were only 5 words…. but better than nothing.) They
were very friendly… as soon as I didn’t mention the atrocity they do to the
Palestinian in their country! Forbidden subject! But it was great, have
lots of fun … especially because:
1. My boat didn’t turn – I only got 99% wet
2. The scenery was wonderful I had the feeling was in the Nepalese Lord of
the Rings … very, very beautiful!
Third Stop: trekking - Oh God! Why nobody told me it was that hard!!!!
After doing the trekking I see I definitely was very sick and crazy on the
day I had decided to do the trekking – no other explanation! It was 18 days
trekking in a conservation park called Annapurna in the Himalayas – and
believe or not I did all the circuit!!! All of it!!! Now I need to be fair –
it was very beautiful – as it is a very long circuit and it crosses different
climates and altitudes, the scenery changes a lot! You start in a sort of
tropical vegetation – very green and full of waterfalls. As you go up the
vegetation gets drier and browner. When you go higher – the mountains are
covered by snow. After walking for around 10 days you get to the main part of
the trail – The pass which is the highest pass in the world being 5450m
higher than sea level. I don’t need to mention the snow avalanches – the cold
weather – the snow that I don’t know to walk on – the altitude sickness –
etc !!!! I was definitely crazy!!!! Usually people get guides and porters (
people who carry their bags) but as they charge around US$20 per day – you
can imagine I didn’t agree about getting the service! I also tried to get a
group of people to do the trekking with – but as I didn’t have much time
available to get it organized,I decided to go on my own and meet people on
the way! It worked pretty well… I met lots of people on the way – on the
first two days I walked with a Austrian family – a couple of days with some
German guys – some English nurses ( as you could imagined I was stuck with them at
the time I was very high up on the mountains – at least I would have some
help in case I got sick – walked some days with 2 Ozzi girls and finished my
nationality tour walking with some English guys ( almost around the world!)
Oh I forgot the most important detail…
Shower – do you mean cold water – or do you mean no shower?!
Bathroom – on the mountains it means a hole in the ground or going behind
the trees
Food – you can chose between fried rice or fried noodles – oh you can also
get tea and garlic soup but don’t ask me the price!
I think I have been missing even the underground in London!,
but I still consider myself very fortunate for getting out of there alive...
as everybody knows I am very clumsy - so you can imagine the amount of
accidents I had ! I suppose I should be forbidden to go up to the mountains
! (I cannot say it to my mum but many people die over there, down cliffs or
getting serious altitude sickness etc! - I cannot even mention the
percentage of people who die there in case my mum reads this page!)

Too late!