Originally I planned to take a bus from the Royal Chitwan National Park and travel east along the Mahendra Highway and cross the border to India in Kararbhitta, which is near Darjeeling. I dream of visiting Darjeeling since years and thought I could stop there for a day or two on my way to Kolkata. But it seems that there was a strike going on in Nepal with road blocks on the Mahendra Highway. I can not afford to be delayed for a couple of days, otherwise I would miss my flight. So I decided to skip Darjeeling and instead stay some days longer in the national park, and then cross the border at Birganj/Raxaul and take the direct train to Kolkata. And there I am now, a bit exhausted and sweaty after a 19h trainride with 3.5h delay…

Maybe it is better that I did not see Darjeeling this time. Two days is not long enough for more than a glance. And I want to do some trekking in Sikkim in the near future, then I can also visit Darjeeling. Anyway my friend David would have been outraged if I visited Darjeeling without him

There are quite a few activities on offer for the tourists in and around the Royal Chitwan National Park. By far the most fun of all is for sure bathing with the elephants.

Every day before noon the mahouts (‘elephant driver’) bring their elephants to the river to wash and scrub them. For a small tip you can join them, help them scrub, and frolic in the water together with the big grey. The elephants seem to enjoy it as much as the tourists do.

If you know some Hindi, you can even try to give “your” elephant commands like ‘ooper do’, and if you got it right he will splash you with water from his trunk

I had great fun and it was a good conclusion for my all to short Nepal adventure.

Last night I slept on a watchtower in the jungle. For dinner I had a fine Daal bhaat tarkari (lentil soup, rice, curried vegetables and pickles), the Nepali version of a Thali. The guide also offered me some delicious spiced and dried fish from the local river, and a big glass of Raksi (rice wine) which proved to be stronger than it appeared at first and made me go to bed early…

We got up early at dawn. I love the sound of the awakening jungle, with every single bird calling and twittering. It is the time when the forest seems to be alive the most. We then went for a short walk in the jungle and I was lucky to meet a big, male One Horned Indian Rhino at short distance (well I was taking refuge on a tree at that time )

Since two days I am back from my small trek in the Annapurna area. It was a great experience, even though I got some health problem.

We did not follow our planned route (Naya Pul – Ghorepani – Tatopani – Beni). On the first day a local guide told us that the government is constructing a road up to Jomsom, so Tatopani and the way to Beni would be full of trucks. Instead the old route we choose to take the eastwards trail in Ghorepani. This path would lead us over Ghandruk back to Naya Pul.

As it is typical for the season, daily it started raining in the early afternoon. This forced us to start early in the morning, and we usually went sleeping not long after 8.

Day one was an easy start. We were not able to go far. We started late and had to take the bus for 2 hours from Pokhara to Naya Pul (1070m), so we officially started the trek after noon. It started raining early and we were forced to seek shelter in a restaurant. Luckily the rain stopped after an hour or so and we were able to continue a bit more to Tirkhedhunga (1540m), where we stayed for the night.

Day two was a crazy climb of endless flights of stairs. It was very exhausting, nonetheless we went very fast out of fear of rain. When we finally reached Ghorepani (2750m), I got acute mountain sickness (AMS) I did not realized at that time what it was, but I am convinced that it was altitude sickness, maybe combined with dehydration (I was drinking much less as I usually did when I went trekking). The symptoms where blood circulation problems (bloodless hand, feet, and lips), shivering, and a fast and faint pulse. In the night I also got breathlessness and a headache. During the next day the symptoms more or less vanished again, only the headache reamained.

As a result of my inadequate fitness, I decided that it would not be wise to climb Poon Hill and so my friends went there alone (with ~50 other trekking tourists ) But even from my room window I got a phantastic view that morning.

Day three is my personal favourite. Most of the way between Ghorepani and Ghandruk (1940m) is in old forests of rhododendrons, entire trees are covered with moss, lots of fern, and if you look carefully you find orchids. A nice dog was traveling with us a long time. We stayed in Ghandruk for the night.

Day four consisted again mostly of stairs, but this time downwards. murderous. When we finally reached Naya Pul, my knees where finished.

Aftermath: when we where back in Pokhara, I got 38°C fever and a terrible headache for 2 days. Then as suddenly as it has come, the fever vanished again and I feel great (only some blisters left on the feet, and some slightly sore muscles).

Fazit: The trek was a perfect introduction, it made me wanting more. I think next time I will come to Nepal, India or Tibet specifically for trekking.

Thanks Olivier and Thierry for taking me along, without you I would probably not have done a trek! I will miss you guys, see you in France some day!

I have arrived in Pokhara , the starting point of many treks in the Annapurna range. Here it is raining daily at the moment. Luckily the mornings are dry, it just pours in the afternoon for an hour or two. After dawn I got my first glimpse of the Himalayas thanks to the rains that have cleared all the dust out of the air.

On the way from Kathmandu to Pokhara I made a short stop the lovely village Bandipur. There I met a french family, Thierry, Severine, and baby Esteban, and their friend Olivier. They traveled all the way from France with their caravan!

Today I join them (the men) for a small 4-day trek, the Tatopani loop. It shares 3 days with Jomsom trek and Annapurna trek. We start at Naya Pul and follow the Jomsom trail north through Tikedhunga and Ghorapani to Tatopani, then we turn south to Beni. The highest point will be on Poon Hill (3210m) where I hope to make some nice pictures of the Himalayas.

Unfortunately I had a toothache for the last couple of days, either thanks to a vicious stone hidden in a yummy cinnamon roll or because my remaining wisdom tooth decided to start making trouble.

Luckily there is no scarity of dentists in Kathmandu. Especially in a lane near Durbar Square you will find many “dental clinics” like the one in the first photo. To survive the treatment in one of these highly sophisticated and modern clinics, you would have to make an offering to the toothache god in form of a coin nailed on the wooden log in the second picture.

As I am neither Hindu nor Buddhist, the toothache god would probably ignore my offering, so I decided I’d rather get an appointment with an america trained dentist…

Yesterday, on the 14th of April 07, the Nepalis celebrated their new year 2064. I had the chance to be in Bhaktapur, a city which is famous for its new year festival called Bisket Yatra.

The old city is a fantastic setting for the festival. It looks like a medieval town, the buildings are still made of bricks instead of the usual concrete, and in all the roads and squares, alleys and courtyards you find ancient Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas, monasteries and shrines.

The festival commemorates the great battle of the Hindu scripture Mahabharata. The festivities include pulling around the huge rath (chariot) which you can see on the photo. The rath has a special passenger, the idol of Hindu deity Bhairab. When the rath reaches its destination, a 25m high lingo (pole) is erected as a symbol of victory.

The festival was quite a spectacle, the streets were packed with people and everyone was enthusiastic or even ecstatic. The experience is surely one of the highlights of my journey. Browse in the Bhaktapur album to see the other pictures and the videos.

I have crossed the Indian/Nepali border between Birganj and Raxaul in the morning of 4. April. The picture shows a gate as seen from the Indian side. I presume it stands exactly on the borderline between the two countries.

It feels strange to leave India after nearly 6 months and to explore a new country. Traveling in India has become a routine, but now suddenly all the excitement is back. How does public transport in Nepal work? Do Nepali shopkeepers too refuse to accept dirty or torn bills as their Indian counterparts do? Will I understand the menu of a roadside restaurant or do I have to take culinary lessons again?