Pokhara, Nepal

Following our 7 hour bus ride (to drive 200 km!!) through some beautiful rural Nepal we arrived in Pokhara, where we've been based for about a 2 weeks now. Pokhara is a much smaller city than Kathmandu, its population sits at around 120,000. All around Pokhara is rural farming, similar to what we've seen throughout the foothills of Nepal. Nepal is mostly serious mountains so all of the farming is done on what seems like endless terraced land which steps up and down the mountains, valley after valley. Pretty mind boggling to think of the amount of work required to cut and mould all this terraced farm land. We have been told that most of what is grown is rice, corn and wheat, with 2 harvests a year. The people that live in the rural areas are incredibly adept at living in these far-from-flat landscapes. When you watch them it seems gravity defying how quickly they can move about and function on the slopes. Houses for the farmers cling to the mountain sides, most only accessibly by footpath. We have heard stories of children who must climb up and down mountains to go to school sometimes taking 3 hours for a one way journey. Most of the farming is done by hand; no machines are involved on these terraces, although we have seen water buffalo pulling a plow in the lower valleys, with the farmer riding the wooden plow. The farming techniques have probably not changed much in hundreds of years. Within the last month we have been watching the women harvest the rice from the fields. They can carry massive amounts of the rice stalks on their heads (looks like wheat) and then they beat the stalks to loosen the rice. Although it is hard work, the women are still wearing bright coloured sarees, which look really beautiful dotted all over the landscape.


We came to Pokhara, because it is located on lovely lake called Phew Tal, which normally has excellent views of the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas. Unfortunately we are here at totally the wrong time of year for views, as the Himalayas are totally obstructed by thick haze. We were really disappointed about this because we have come such a long way, but we have since caught a tiny glimpse of them, so at least we know the Annapurnas truly are there! And they are huge mountains!!! No great photos yet though, but hopefully as we do our 3 week trek up above 5000m, we will get climb above the haze and see more of the giants!


Last week we went on a 3 day rafting trip down the Kali Gandaki, which is Nepal's holiest river. This river is located in a remote region and the few villages along the way only have access to the outside world via footpaths. The scenic and quiet journey down through the gorge was just what we were hoping for and camping along the river's edge in a tent was wonderful. During the evenings we had a white sandy beaches to camp on, with beautiful lush green hills all around us. We could hear the bats flying madly above us all night and sky would magically light up every few seconds from lightening in the distance. To top it all off, our candlelit campsite was visited by cute fireflies throughout the night and that was a real joy to us all. Our rafting group was such a great mix of people that we all hung out together the whole time and had a superb time.


Two days ago we hired motorbikes with a few from our rafting trip and we drove up one of the valleys for a couple hours. We stopped for a little picnic of coffee and biscuits, which was a real treat. We all loved having the freedom of the open road at our fingertips (we're usually restricted to public transport) and it was great to be back on a motorbike with the warm wind in our hair.

It is currently Nepali New Year here (Happy New Year 2064!!) and the Nepali's have been celebrating for over a week with traditional music pelting out to the streets and the big festival is right next to our hotel. The ferris wheel is a big rickety contraption with paint chipping off and it goes far to fast for it's own good. In fact, the seats hanging from the wheel virtually catapult off when it reaches full speed, and people scream like they should on a roller coaster, not a ferris wheel! Certainly different "Health and Safety" standards!!

In a few days we will start the 21 day Annapurna Circuit, which is a trek that will take us from 1000m-5400m through various landscapes and high mountain villages. We are really looking forward to being high in the mountains and will hopefully get some great views. We hired our porter, Rajoo last night, who speaks good English and has great knowledge of the region. We both feel a bit odd about hiring someone to carry our backpack for us, but the Nepalese think it's odd if we don't, so heck, why not, it will certainly make the trek at high altitude that much easier!

Durbar Square & Full Moon Sacrifice

[New Kathamandu photos have been added to our Nepal Gallery]

With only a few days remaining in Kathmandu we are trying to see some of the sights around the city that we haven't seen yet. The Thamel area is very nice and perfectly geared towards the Western traveller and sometimes makes it difficult to reach out into the 'Real' Nepalese areas of the city. It's been great to recharge our batteries a bit, while also venturing around the city taking in the sights. We went for a long walk up to the Monkey temple which hangs over the city, usually visible even through the thick smog(pollution) and haze(natural). The Buddhist Monkey temple has a long, steep set of steps to get up to it which really had us questioning our fitness and ability to trek the Annapurna Circuit (we've become horribly unfit while living in the UK). The other bit of sightseeing around the city included a visit to Durbar Square, the oldest part of Kathmandu and home to the Living Goddess- The Kumari, who is a 9 year old girl (were very lucky to see her, as she only occasionally comes to the window).


Durbar square is a collection of old temples and buildings dating back to the 13 Century, in the heart of the city, we will upload a few photos into our Nepal collection. Anyhow, i won't go into any extensive boring details on the square (i am sure if you really want to geek out on the details of this area of Kathmandu just do a search online, it is pretty neat). We did however feel compelled to make a quick blog entry today, because during our visit we came across an unexpected Full Moon ceremony.

While leaving the square we noticed quite a bit of commotion around one of the Temples at the North end of the square. After working our way through the mess of 'spectators' we saw that there was some sort of ritual or ceremony taking place, which was rather shocking. This ritual initially involved blessing a live goat with flowers and water in front of two shrines to the Gods, just before the goat was sacrificed.

[WARNING: Some people may find the following description graphic and uncomfortable as it involves animals and sacrificial killings. Stop reading NOW if you think you will find this uncomfortable.]

Following the blessing, the goats throat was cut and the head removed. The blood that came from the body of the goat was sprayed onto the shrines of two Gods before the body (but not the head) was removed from from the front of the temple. This sacrificial offering continued with a baby cow and then a duck, the sacrifice of the cow was particularly upsetting for Steff.


The cow's legs were tied before it was pushed onto the ground and the cutting began. The process essentially involves the cutting of the throat and the pulling out of a large blood vessel from deep inside the neck which is severed. Blood then squirts under pressure in large quantities all over the two shrines. One of the men involved in this is violently pumping the stomach or chest of the cow to aid in the pumping out of the blood. The blood was everywhere and I got sprayed with it on my legs and feet. After this the head is then removed entirely and certain innards of the cow are cut out and placed onto the shrines of the Gods. The head is placed on the ground beside the head of the sacrificial goat. Particularly disturbing was that the body of the cow continued to twitch and move without the head.

Unfortunately, we do not have any religious background on what was going on and simply came upon this ceremony. Our experience of this is understandably more disturbing without the background understanding. What we do know is that this ritual happens every full moon.

Steff was quite shaken up after witnessing this, we both felt we had just seen something from a historical sacrifice from some 1000 years ago. It was strange to see this seemingly barbaric act taking place while people were chatting on their mobile phones and taking photographs (that would be me included there). Steff felt that if this sacrificing needs to be taking place for religious reasons, at least there should have been some prayers or peaceful respect and thought given to these animals afterwards. Life around us just seemed to continue as normal. So following this we left back for the hotel to decompress and talk about what had just experienced.

We have uploaded the photographs from this but have created a separate link so that people who might find the images uncomfortable do not have to look at them. They can be found HERE.

Last day in Kathmandu tomorrow.

Hope that this update finds everyone well and healthy... J+S

To Everest and back...In about an hour!

Well, we are still enjoying ourselves here in Kathmandu. We have been looking at all of our options of things to do in Nepal and trying to come up with set plan, which we have pretty much done now.

One of our more difficult decisions was which multi-day trek (hike) we wanted to do; Everest Base Camp (15 days) or the Annapurna Circuit (21 Days). Part of us feels that because we are in Nepal we should go and see Everest, but we are aware that the Annapurna Circuit is a much more interesting and beautiful hike, which still involves hiking at altitudes upto 5400 Meters (Almost 18000 Feet). So, we are going to do the Annapurna and will be leaving in about 10 days. This left the problem of seeing Everest.

So yesterday, in a Budget-Blowing move, we went on a small propellor plane and flew along some of the really high Himalaya mountains to Everest, where we came within about 5 miles of the Giant. The mountains stuck out well above a thick layer of clouds and yes, Everest looks seriously Massive, even surrounded by the other giants.

Now we have seen everest, without the 15 day walk which doesn't always guarantee a view of Everest anyhow. There was a couple on our rafting trip that went to Base camp, never saw Everest, got very sick with the altitude and The guy Tom has been loosing his skin on his hands and legs which has been coming off since he reached Base Camp, pretty gross really. Apparently it is the dryness of the air that causes problems with the skin.

Also on our flight we got a view of the Annapurna mountains which we will be in on our big trek, they are pretty huge. Annapurna I comes in at just over 8000 Meters (Over 26000 feet) just a few hundred shy of Everest. This is also the mountain range that we have planned another rafting trip for.

On the 7th of April we will be leaving on a 3 day white water rafting trip down the Kali Gondaki river which runs down one of the deepest gorges on earth. The river runs through a remote section of the mountains with no road access, except for at the end of day 3. Anyhow, lots to tell about this river but i think it is best if we leave that for after we return from the trip.

For now we will be doing a bit more exploring around the Kathmandu Valley and relaxing a bit as well. We have also been enjoying a few movies that we have been watching on the laptop. There are no rental places here but DVD's cost 50 Rupees (39 pence, or just less than $1 Canadian), crazy when you consider we used to rent DVD's in the UK for about £3.50 each! It is a nice treat to relax and watch a film.

We hope that you are all doing well. We miss our family and friends and wish you all the best :-)

Love Justin and Steff