Rhino...what rhino?

Chitwan National Park - 1,000 square kilometres of jungle and grassland, 300-odd one-horned rhinoceros, 100 or so Bengal tigers and untold numbers of deer, monkeys, crocodiles and assorted other wildlife. What did we see - the bottom of a fleeing barking deer, 4 peacocks, one long-legged buzzard, a lot of unidentified birds, several pretty butterflies, the prints of a bear and a tiger in the mud and a lot of elephant grass. Nary a rhino or a tiger.

BUT....we got to ride on an elephant FIVE times!!!!! The very first time was just after we arrived at the river that borders the park. This after a 5 hour ride in the "tourist" bus from Kathmandu - 5 tourists and 40 Nepalese all trying to get home for the annual 10-day Dashain festival. It took 90 minutes to get out of the city cos every Nepali in town was on the same road at the same time all trying to get out.

Anyway, we were met at the bus station in what felt like the middle of nowhere by smiling Chitwan staff who drove us 20 kilometres to where the taxi would take us the rest of the way across the river and into the Chitwan Jungle Resort where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. We could see the taxi as we approached the river - two elephants wading through the water! Yup - our ride to the camp! Fanbloodytastic! After a huge delicious and very late lunch, we just had time to pull on a fresh shirt before we had to rendezvous for the 'next' activity on the schedule - an elephant safari! Off we went with two Englishwoman who had just arrived from Tibet, like us (we later established they had been on the Exodus bus we had seen parked outside our hotel in Nyalam) for a fun ride through the jungle. Didn't see any rhino, but we did get lost and the elephants had to crash their way through the undergrowth - that was, when they weren't busy eating it!

So, rhinoless but exhilerated, we arrived back at camp just in time to grab a beer before the slide show started. That's where we learned about the 300-odd rhino etc. Then, it was dinnertime and then bed since we all had to be up at 5.30 ready for a 6am...wait for it....elephant safari. Still no rhino but lots of birds and butterflies and it was truly gorgeous watching the sun rise over the elephant grass. Back to camp for breakfast and then it was off on a nature walk. That's when we saw the bear and tiger prints. Also heard a mongoose running away from us and spotted a couple of peacocks. Back at the camp and we indulged in beer (Smithy and me), G&T (Dot) and Malibu and Coke (Allison). Being Brisbaneites, Smithy and I are quite accomplished at the lanquid tropical lifestyle - drink beer and do nothing - and Allison found it most alluring. It was all we could do to drag ourselves out of our deckchairs and in for lunch. Bloody hard life, this!

The after-lunch activity was elephant bathing. Smithy duly suited up whilst I bravely volunteered to document the event and off we all went down to the river to wash the elephants. What a lot of fun it was watching from the bank as Smithy and Dot got saturated by sprays from the elephant's trunk! There was also a baby elephant there which was very cute and extremely interested in my camera - tried to take the lens cap for a snack. It's a very odd sensation having an elephant trunk snuffling over you. Like a soft, gentle vacuum cleaner.

We were scheduled to go for a jungle walk in the afternoon, but the director was disappointed that we hadn't seen any rhino so he changed the plans and - darn it - we had to go for another elephant safari! Still no rhino, but we loved the ride through the jungle.

Yesterday morning we had to get up at the crack of dawn (well Smithy and I slept in till 6am instead of going on the nature walk like Dot and Allison) and have brekky before our 7.30am departure when - you guessed it - we had to take the elephant taxi back across the river to the waiting Land Rover that drove us to the bus station for our trip to Pokhara.

If we thought the Kathmandu-Chitwan trip in the tourist bus was long, then the Chitwan-Pokhara local bus was endless. Squashed onto the back bench between a Nepali man and a very big Chinese man and his girlfriend, it was a very long hot journey with our bums rendered numb from the bars under the "cushion". But we were well entertained by the two young men sitting on cane stools in the aisle in front of me as they played and teased two little Israeli brothers and a couple of little Nepalese boys who also squeezed onto their seat.

We were very happy to reach the Pokhara View Hotel and spent the late afternoon sleeping off the beers we had on arrival, straightening out the kinks in our backs and showering off the day's dust. Woke this morning to a wonderful vista of mountains out of the window of our room. We've been for a very leisurely boatride on the lake, done a little retail therapy (gifts for folk back home) and now have the arduous task of deciding where we'll go for lunch.

Gosh...and we have four more days of this. I don't think I can take it!

Illegal Aliens

Our trip from Nyalam to Zhangmou - the Tibetan border town - was one of the eeriest we have ever taken. We drove through a jaw-dropping gorge shrouded in mist and cloud. There's a 1,000m drop between the two towns and we never realised it meant straight down! Looking at the window over the edge of the road was a dizzying drop right down into the raging river soooo far below. The 'hills' alongside us would appear out of the clouds, then slink back, waterfalls cascaded over the road - we drove around them, behind them and through them (instant carwashes!).

About a kilometre out of Zhangmou we began encountering the parked trucks - huge behemoths looming out of the mist, all waiting for their turn across the border. Zhangmou is a one-street town, winding its way down the mountainside. We were sandwiched between several aforementioned behemoths as we inched our way through the misty town. People and buildings would materialize out of the fog and disappear again. It was all quite surreal!

We finally reached the Immigration station where the line of people was slowly but simply processed through - they didn't even check our bags as we went through customs (I can only hope for the same at Brisbane with my pack full of incense, tea and Mt Kailash soil!). Then it was back into the Land Rover for the 10 kilometre drive to the Friendship Bridge. Out we got and waited in the drizzle for a 45-minute 5 minute wait. Finally, we were off. Shook hands with our driver, Rinzin-la, waved goodbye to Tenzin and followed the line of porters carrying all the gear from the truck (and our kitbags) through the drizzle and across the Friendship Bridge. We almost walked past the Nepali Immigration station - and in hindsight, we should have.

Way back in Brisbane, when we went to the Nepalese Consulate to get our visas, we were told that a multi-entry visa was only valid for 60 days, not the 90 we had thought. Well, that's no good, we said. So the Consul sold us two single entry visas - one for 30 days and one for 60 days. Now, usually for your first visit, you get 60 days, then any subsequent visa is for 30 days. Fine and dandy you'd think, except that we'd only be in Nepal for 5 days on the first visa and it would be really good if the 60 day visa got used for our re-entry. When we got to Kathmandu, we were able to get the officials at the airport to stamp us in on the 30 day visa. You beauty! The plan's working....

But then came Kodari and the over-officious officials at the border. Our second visa is no good because it was issued on the same day as the first one. An hour we spent trying to tell them that that was what their government's representative in Australia had sold us. All to no avail. Take this letter to Dept. of Immigration in Kathmandu they said and waved us out into the rain.

Curses! So, we stood in the rain waiting for our Sherpa, Zangbo, who emerged out of the drizzle to take us to the Land Rover that would take us to Kathmandu. This was a Land Rover that was filled with all the stuff that came out of the supply truck plus Sherpa and Cook. So Smithy got the front seat cos her long legs wouldn't fit in the back. I sat behind the driver, Nowri the cook beside me and Zangmo beside him. All nice and cosy except the expedition barrels in back insisted on being on my lap, so the whole trip was spent rearranging all the gear in the back. Filled to the gills as it was, we still stopped in a village and bought a huge sack of aloo (potatoes) that somehow fit on the roof.

It was a long long trip to Kathmandu, broken by a lunch stop for delicious dal bhat (lentils and rice) and a quarrel with some Maoists who wanted a payment of 500 Rupees (approx AUS$10)per person before we could proceed. I insisted I would not pay any more than 200 rupees altogether, it wasn't my responsibility to support them, I had no extra money blah blah blah. Just when it looked like a complete stalemate, they let us go (without taking the 200 rupees) but we'll have to pay next time! Right.

We finally arrived at our hotel after a substantial detour into the Kathmandu countryside to Zangmo's cousin's house to drop off those wretched expedition barrels, the tents, dining table and sundry other stuff, then a slight detour via Boudhnath to drop off Nowri and his cooking pots. We had enough energy to go shopping to get some drinking water and coffee, fell into the shower and ordered room service for tea - it was pouring with rain and we were far too knackered after our 11 hour day to even think about venturing out for a meal. At least from now on, we'll be off Beijing time and be more in sinc with the sun ie 7.30am won't be pitch black!

Our Getaway man, Praveen, assured us that we would get our visas sorted out no problem and arranged for his go-fer man, Raj, to take us to the Department. Suffice it to say, here we are in Pokhara, still not stamped into the country. There's nothing for it but to buy a 30-day visa once we get back to Kathmandu and then get it extended for a further 30 days when we return from our Annapurna Circuit. We're gonna have to go grovel to the Director-General for a letter explaining to the Brisbane Consul why we should have our money refunded for the no-good rubbish visa she sold us - this after we flounced out of his office declaring "I'm going to my Embassy!" it was the embassy that suggested we get the letter....

So, looking at our passports, we left Kathmandu on 5 September and haven't been seen since! No stamps or visas for China (we had to carry a loose sheet of paper that constituted our group visa) and now no stamp into Nepal!

She'll be coming round the mountain...

One of the main aims of our trip to Tibet was to do a kora (circumambulation) of the holy mountain Mt Kailash, located in western Tibet. One kora will cleanse you of the sins of this lifetime - excellent! The kora (53km long) also involves going over the Drolma La (pass) at 5630 metres - our highest elevation yet - so a well-deserved cleansing, I think.

We arrived in Darchen - the starting point, and a very unattractive little settlement - where I promptly threw up my lunch and all plans for starting the kora next day. Instead, I spent it in bed, resting after 3 more erk ups overnight and with what Smithy thought was a cracked rib but luckily turned into a torn cartilidge. Smithy did my laundry for me and we played yahtzee and drank tea.

Next day I woke up feeling hale and hearty so after breakfast we bundled into the Land Rover for a drive to meet the yakman - saving about 10kms off the start of the kora - a terrific start even if we missed the first prostration site at the sight of the south face of Kailash. Smithy and I set off up the valley, leaving the crew to load the yaks. We had a great time going at a steady pace and marvelling at the soaring red cliffs on either side of us. The first glimpse of the west face was marked by another prostration site - we saluted the face but didn't do full prostrations. A little while later Norri, our cook, caught up with us and we all walked together until reaching some permanent tent "teahouses". We entered one to have our lunch and spent 2 hours there waiting for the yaks to turn up! Finally they did - apparently the yakman wanted us to hire a fourth yak and when Tenzin (our guide) refused, he said there was too much gear and it took them 2 hours to negotiate the loads! Anyway, after another couple of hours of walking steadily uphill we reached our campsite, opposite the Driuzuk Gompa and with a stunning view of Kailash's north face.

Bed tea next morning was at 7.30 - which cos we were on Beijing time, meant it was still dark, being 5.30am local time. We were washed and breakfasted and on our way by 8.30 for what was going to be the hardest day of the kora - ascension of the 5630m Drolma La. Slow and steady was our motto - especially as the day started with a stiff two hour uphill slog! We were already over 5000m and the altitude was taking its toll on our breathing. I was taking 4 paces (a foot's length apart) for every in-and-out-breath. Smithy was doing it a little harder than that. Lots and lots of locals scampered past us -all with cheery "Tashi deleks" and broad grins. By 11.30 we had reached the base of the final climb to the Drolma La. Smithy decided to get her little tank of oxygen out and proceeded to slowly puff her way up. I went on ahead, slowly slowly, and reached the top an hour later elated with how easily I had done it. Once Smithy arrived at the top, we put up some prayer flags, took some photos and ate some celebratory jelly beans before heading down  the other side of the pass to our lunch spot. The climb up had really knocked the stuffing out of Smithy and the descent to lunch really knocked her about. She completely ran out of energy and what should have been a 2 hour hike to our campsite turned into a 6 hour marathon. Part of the problem was that our yakman, after waiting at the bottom of the pass for 2 hours, decided to up and leave for the prearranged campsite when we hadn't shown up! If he had waited, a new campsite could have been organised to cater to poor Smithy's knackeredness.

So, a long long hike down the valley. Tenzin went on ahead to find the campsite and said he would send someone back with a thermos of tea, but it seemed like hours before he reappeared with the sherpa, Zangmo. We were only 30 minutes from the campsite by this stage and finally staggered in 11 hours and 55 minutes after leaving that morning! Barely able to eat the specially requested hot chips, we fell into our sleeping bags on the promise of a sleepin to 9.30 the next morning. As we got into our tent, we could see lights bobbing on the ridge behind us - people were still coming down the valley at 9pm, so they were having long days too!

Woke up on the third and final day of the kora to find it snowing! We donned our wet weather gear and with Tenzin in the lead, started off down the valley for our rendezvous with the Land Rover and supply truck which would whisk us away to our campsite beside the holy Lake Manasarovar. For the next three and half hours, we had a delightful hike through the snow, then as the weather cleared, we found ourselves walking above a stunning river gorge with cliffs of purple rock. It was all topped off by a magnificent eagle gliding past us down the gorge!

The trucks were such a welcome sight and we walked in with huge grins on our faces. We had done it! Completed a kora of the sacred mountain. I don't know about Smithy, but I was bubbling with joy at the sense of achievement. We scoffed a delicious lunch then jumped into the Land Rover to head for a two day camp beside the massive Lake Manasarovar where we lounged around eating tsampa (roasted ground barley mixed with tea - very tasty), played yahtzee, thought about doing some laundry and watched the clouds enveloping Mt Kailash and the huge Gurla Mandhata across the lake.

So, our sins have been cleansed twice over now since tradition has it that everyone who sets eyes on the Jowo Buddha at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa has their sins purified - we needn't have done the kora at all! But we are so glad we did. You don't have to be a devout Buddhist to feel the aura about Mt Kailash, Kangri Rinpoche, the Nine-Stacked Swastika Mountain - to give it all its names - it's a special mountain and we feel privileged to have been able to do a pilgrimage around it.

20 Days In Tibet

We're back in rainy Kathmandu after a fantastic 3 weeks in Tibet. An amazing country filled with wonderful people - they're super curious but really really shy, so they'll stare and stare but back away when you respond. Can't possibly write about everything that happened, so a few highlights will have to do.
Huge huge landscapes: rolling hills, endless valleys, fields of barley being harvested, grazing yaks, snowcappd peaks on the horizon, blue, blue fastflowing rivers, quaint, traditional buildings and villages.
Serendipity: poking my head into an open doorway at Drepung Monastery to find a young man sitting on the floor and singing as he's printing pages of scripture from woodblocks. He grins and gives me a freshly printed page to keep! And then gives Smithy one (and an apple each)
Religious dancing at Sakye Monastery. Went for the usual tour to find the courtyard full of locals all waiting for a special dance to start. Two hours later, we get up from our front row seats with our heads full of the colour and spectacle of the dance.
People: three tiny mites who come running out to say hello when we stop just outside Gyantse. They giggled and squirmed with delight when I showed them thier picture on the camera.
The sharply dressed young man at Sakye who took an interest in my camera. I showed him how it worked and off he went taking pictures of the crowd around us (and Smithy)- including a very good one of me!
The shy shy young woman in traditional dress and with a child on her back (also at Sakye) who could not take her eyes off Smithy.
The weather: brilliant all the way. Some light showers sometimes overnight, but sunshine and blue skies most of the way. Towards the end of the trip, the weather got colder. Strong winds would blow up each evening and leave us scurrying to the shelter of the tent. We'd wake up to find nearby hills dusted with snow. It snowed heavily on the last day of our kora around Mt Kailash - magical!
Roads: A beautiful two-lane highway from the airport to Lhasa - would make an Aussie roadmaker blush. The rest? They ranged from OK to shitful (direct quote from Smithy). Reasonable dirt roads to what road as we bumpd over the landscape. But our trusty Land Rover and Rinzin our intrepid driver got us through everything.
The wildlife: 4 glorious eagles that soared silently past us (on separate occasions) with wingspans of up to 6 ft; 3 orange/blue foxes; herds of kang (wild ass); small groups of gazelles; a marmot-lik creature called a chiwa - hundreds of them; small mouse-rabbits called chipis which would dash and dive for their burrows as you passed; 3 hares; yaks (of course, but not wild); hundreds of different kinds of birds, including cranes and yellow ducks (in reality an apricot colour).
Tibet is an amazing place - it's dirty and squalid with ugly Chinese towns, the loos are disgusting most of the time, the food preparation questionable but the scenery is breathtaking (literally at 5000 metres!) and the people delightful - big welcoming grins as soon as you say ''Tashi delek"

The high life

We flew into Lhasa yesterday and after an extremely loooong time being processed through the ever so clean and quiet customs and immigrations at the airport were met by our Tibetan guide, Tenzing and driver Chinchizli (I think his name is!). It was an hour long drive from the airport to Lhasa and very beautiful as we drove alongside the turquoise Yarlung River. Stopped for one photo opportunity at the famed rock carving of Sakyamuni (the historical Buddha), then it was on into Lhasa and our hotel, the Kyichu Hotel. Our room is very comfortable and spacious but the window looks out onto the grey breeze block building three feet away next door!

Smithy and I went for a little excursion to a nearby supermarket where we had fun buying coffee, whitener, biscuits, water, and some fruit. Then we had to work out where to pay...I finally forked over the princely sum of 38 Yuan for all our goodies (there's about 6Y to the Aussie dollar). We treated ourselves to an icecream each which we ate outside the supermarket. It was fun trying to figure out from the wrappers what the flavour might be. I swear there was one that was made from peas! I scored well, choosing one with chocolate ripples through it but Smithy dipped out on her purple one with what looked like it had nuts in it. Nope! Purple icecream in purple coating! And it tasted not quite like an ice cream!

Then it was back to the room for bit of a lie down. The altitude is really noticeable here - 3600m+ - so any exertion makes you puffed and the heart race. We both had headaches too but mine went overnight. Smithy woke up with one and has had one all day today. Which was bit of a shame as it was a major sightseeing day today.

First the Jokhang Temple, the most sacred monastery in Tibet. We joined the throngs of pious Tibetans moving clockwise in and out of the many many tiny chapels, all with their butter lamps burning. Very moving and completely fascinating. It is very difficult to convey the age of the buildings, murals and statues we were looking at. Some dated from the 7th century! Coming out of the Jokhang we joined the circumambulation of the Barkhor, the circuit around the Jokhang which Tibetans walk endlessly as part of their devotions. Stalls line the way and we had a great time peering at jewellry, clothing, musical instruments and so much more. Even more fun was watching all the people in their traditional dress as they went around.

From there, we were driven to the Potala Palace. We knew it was big, but boy is it BIG! It looms over you as you stand at its base. Incredibly, this 115m high, thirteen storey building was constructed without a single nail. Again, its sheer antiquity is overwhelming. We were touching wooden beams carved 1000 years ago! Sadly, the Potala is a mere museum piece now. I can't imagine how it would look and feel if brought back to life with monks and ministers all scurrying up and down the very narrow steep stairways.

After a tasty lunch with a panoramic view of the Potala it was off the the Sera Monastery, about half an hour's drive north of Lhasa. We saw how the scriptures were handprinted from wooden blocks and watched the monks debating points of Buddhist doctrine. Again, looking round all the chapels with their centuries old statuary was amazing.

So that was our first day of sightseeing. We had to have another little lie down to recover from it all before venturing back to the Barkhor to buy some T-shirts and to have dinner.

Apart from the Potala Palace and the Tibetan quarter around the Jokhang, there is absolutely no character to Lhasa - Tibetan or Chinese - it's just a metropolis, but one with very clean streets and relatively quiet traffic!

We have one more day in Lhasa then it's off on the open road to Everest Base Camp and then westward to Mt Kailash.

Sightseeing Serendipity

Sunday Smithy and I went to Boudhnath - the biggest Buddhist stupa outside of Tibet. It's one of our most favourite places in Kathmandu - a bustle of people all circumambulating the stupa in a clockwise direction, music pouring from shops, bells ringing and people calling out, but peaceful and relaxing all the same. Went up to the Himalayan View Cafe's rooftop terrace for lunch and had fun watching the passing parade, taking photographs and filming kids flying their kites from the stupa. After eating delicious meals of dal bhat and vegie burgers, we joined the throngs circling the stupa, visited a brandnew monastery that is still being built - watched monks applying gold leaf to huge bells by hand - became part-time photographers as an Indian honeymooning couple asked us to take their photo, then a monk asked us to take his photo with his friend, then his friend asked us to take their photo with her camera. Finally I asked Smithy to take my photo!

We were on the hunt for a Buddhist flag to buy. Lots of places were flying them but not selling them. We turned down an alleyway out of the stupa complex and found a shop in a row there that were all selling monkish and monastery paraphernalia and voila! one shop had a Buddhist flag to sell. Smithy bought it in a flash, then as we were having a quick drink of water a crowd of little boy monks came pouring down the street "Why do we never have the camera out at the right moment?" wailed a dejected Smithy. A perfect photo opportunity gone begging. I peered around the corner to see where they all went and discovered another monastery with a huge crowd milling out front. Seeing other westerners there we joined in and learned there was to be a Long Life ceremony - but for whom we still don't know. The only Long Life ceremony I have ever heard about is for the Dalai Lama. Anyway, we decided to stay and see what happened. Smithy went into the temple hall, but I stayed outside cos it was too hot and crowded for me inside. Many Tibetans and monks were also outside, so I wasn't alone. For the next two hours we took part in a fascinating ceremony that involved lots of trumpets and drums, chanting, rice throwing, sprinkling of blessed water on heads, wearing of red headbands, being blessed by various relics and receiving a personal blessing from the abbot, who tapped every single person in the monastery complex on the head with his dorje (a ritual instrument otherwise known as the thunderbolt of wisdom). A wonderful unexpected experience.

Kathmandu I'll soon be seeing you....

Namaste! We staggered off the plane safe and sound and full of food to be greeted by Getaway staff. Whisked away to the Nirvana Garden Hotel to our basic but comfortable room. Spent the first afternoon buying essential supplies such as bottled water, having our first banana lassi, changing travellers cheques for rupees and surfing cable TV!

Had a pre-trip briefing with the lovely Praveen and handed over our passports and a small fortune in travellers cheques as payment for our two trips and sojourn at Royal Chitwan National Park. Then had bit of a lay down in our room to get over the shock of parting with all that money.

Kathmandu is as chaotic and noisy as we remembered it. Honking horns, ringing bells, barking dogs, hawkers selling all manner of stuff - Tiger Balm, silk purses, pen knives, buddhas, bangles, flutes and weird little stringed instruments.

Our hotel is next to a school and our balcony - yes, balcony (with table and chairs) looks out over the hotel garden (complete with fish pond) and into the school yard. Thursday afternoon kids were playing in the yard when the school bell sounded. As one, an enormous cheer of "HOORAY!" went up and all the kids streamed out of class and home!

Yesterday morning we were treated to school assembly with a wonderful rendition of what we assume is the national anthem. Later in the day we could hear them learning the English alphabet - reciting out loud "ABC..." just like we did at school.

It's hot, humid and cloudy cos of the monsoon. No mountain views yet. Took ourselves off to Swayambhunath yesterday - one of the most significant Buddhist/Hindu temples in the valley. Struggling up the 365 steps we kept passing a little family of nan, mum and daughter. I said 'Namaste' to nan and she responded with a whole lot of Nepali that I did not understand. Daughter smiled and then gave us two of the flowers she was carrying! Mine promptly wilted - an omen I should have heeded as I went on to get a little heat affected and ended up very hot and bothered and with a migraine that knocked me about for the rest of the night. Poor Smithy missed out on dinner cos of it despite my attempts to convince her to order momos on room service. We did treat ourselves to a bottle of Everest beer and a "Jolly" shandy!

Watched Shrek on telly before the power went out and fell asleep to the sounds of the generator, tooting traffic and thunder.