I receive warning updates from the US embassy in Nepal. They're finally going to have elections April 10th and this is associated with an increase in violence, they've had four bombs go off in the Kathmandu valley. They are going to pretty much shut down government services for 8 days due to the elections and the Nepali New Year which is right after the elections. To top it off, they're going to close the roads and borders around elections. Not the best time to visit if you want a peaceful uneventful time.

Going from Sauraha, gateway to Chitwan NP in Nepal, to India, is supposed to be simple. Take a 3 hour bus from Sauraha to Sunauli, cross the border, and go on. Ya, right. First, you have to be ripped off by your friendly hotel staff who give you such great deals. The price of a minibus from Sauraha to Sunauli should perhaps be around 150 Rs plus, so maybe around 200 Rs. Not 400, as the cheating folks in town would have you believe. Ok, no big deal, you're used to being ripped off with a smile. We take the jeep through the morning fog to the bus stand.

For the 40 days I was in Nepal, I spent about 81500 NPR. I just added up my ATM withdrawals to get this number. This came to $1294.49 USD in ATM withdrawals at an exchange rate of 62.96 NPR/USD. I also paid $30 USD for my visa. I stayed in Nepal from 11/13 to 12/23 or 40 days, so I spent $33 USD/day, or about $990/month, which is a bit more expensive than I would have thought. I only bought a few dollars worth of souvenirs.

After trekking a bit in Nepal and buying a small amount of souvenirs, I wanted to mail home the extra stuff, like warm clothing, that I no longer needed. Not a good idea from Nepal. First, you have to find the main post office in Kathmandu, which opens at 10am. The trouble starts with the shipping rates. Here is what I got (prices in Nepali rupees):

For air mail
US base 776, 1st kg 934, additional kg 580 (direct route)
IL base 974, 1st kg 347, additional kg 249 (via India)

For surface mail
US Base 775 plus 354 per kg
IL base 930 plus 468 per kg

EMS is even costlier

A friend asked if I was feeling fatigued from travel, which I'm not, but I am annoyed at the lying scumbags you constantly run into. Getting more used to them and more rapidly categorizing each scam. It's stupid, if you take away the words it goes something like (in their head): oh look, a walking sack of money, I will tell it crazy things and super-insane prices and it will vomit money at my feet. While, in my head: oh look, another stupid local seeing me as a sack of money ready to vomit money at its feet, it's definitely going to say some stupid lies and then say some stupid price and I'm going to smile at it the whole time going la la la no money from me la la la. They really like my hat, to them it means "walking sack of sucker money"; what they don't know is I'm Israeli, and they the suckers! (They fear Israelis 'cause we don't take shit from them.) Why the Lonely Planet goes on about some misguided sense of charity?

Crack, the stick falls across the side of the elphant. He stands a minute, then the mahout urges him along. Crack, it falls across his head. The elephant twitches, the strong strike is felt. A beast this large, 6000 kg, is not easily moved. The stick is sturdy bamboo, solid, flexible. Enough to beat off a rhino, a tiger, or so the park guide would believe. Another elephant comes up carrying its cargo of tourists, fleas on its back in an unpadded wooden enclosure, caged. This elephant's brow is painted a shiny black and colorful patterns are drawn on its head.

We walked. And walked. For about 50km. We saw many birds, including a common brilliant-irridescent green kingfisher, herrons, eagles, ducks, and more. We also saw crocs and many big-animal signs. When an animal weighs 2500 kg, like the one-horned rhino, it is hard to miss its poops, which are giant mounds of black balls of partially-digested plant matter. Many tracks of rhino, tiger, elephant, leopard, and even tracks of a mother tiger and her cub. The closest we got was to hear a rhino moving around in the bush.

Going on a walking safari tomorrow and next day w/ Tiger Trail Adventure Tours in Chitwan, Nepal. The guide says if you dont piss of the rhinos they should leave you alone. Piss off apparently means run up to them and take a flash picture in their face while shouting in Belgian. Fortunately I don't speak Belgian.

A few more photos are online from Pokhara and the Buddhist Baudha temple in Kathmandu. There are also a few more photos from Kathmandu and Patan.

Follow the link to pictures from my partial trek of the Annapurna Circuit, from Khudi to Manang, in November-December 2007.

I went for a walk to the Peace Pagoda in Pokhara. Walk down along the lake, turn right, cross the dam at dam side where people do their washing, then follow along some rice fields for a bit until you come to an orange temple with a spring, where you turn right and head up the hill. The rice has been harvested and people were out in force threshing. The fields are dry now and only the lower stalks remain. As I was walking up the hill across the valley came Old MacDonald Had a Farm followed by It's A Small World After All.

I'm going to hit the Annapurna Circuit (AC) in a couple of days. I loaded up my backpack today with just about everything I'll be taking and hiked up to the Peace Pagoda in Pokhara. My stupid left knee hurts, as expected, but my chest, which had been bugging me, is no worse. The weight isn't so bad, either. I'll just take it slow and easy while my body gets used to things.

A bit of practical information for a change. I'm spending more in Nepal than I anticipated. Exchange rate is around 62Rs/1USD. Food runs about 250Rs/meal. Lodging is 300-600Rs, depending on where I'm staying. Internet is 30-60Rs/hr. Water is 10-20Rs/liter. So figure 750Rs food + 400Rs room + 45Rs water + 60 Rs internet ~ 1250Rs/day or $20US/day and I haven't even bought any trekking gear or snacks. Laundry ranges from 50Rs/kg in Thamel to a ridiculous 300Rs in some places in Pokhara. A bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara is 350Rs.

I've posted the rest of my China photos (at least those that I care to post) as well as some photos from around Kathmandu in Nepal.

I take the flight from Chengdu to Kathmandu. I am tired, hardly slept the night before, kept up by a persistent cough, pollution. I sleep through take off. Half an hour in to the flight, bright light wakes me and I reach to close the shade. Arrested. Beyond the plane stretches a plain of clouds, soft, billowy things, they stop at a range of mountains. I cannot sleep through this. One peak stands above the rest, a single cloud forming from the wind rushing past it, as it rushes past, a pebble in a stream. Could this be Everest? No, it is too soon.

Here is my equipment list for the Annapurna Circuit in late November / early December. I met someone who had just finished the trek around the 20th and he said it was -18C at the pass.

Equipment for Nepal Trek in November

Backpack
Backpack rain cover
Hiking poles
Trekking book
Sleeping - sleeping bag -15F, sleeping bag liner
Eyewear - glasses, spare glasses, sunglasses + case
Footwear - boots, flip-flops

Malaria info from CIWEC clinic. Basically, risk is low for most people in Nepal.

CIA World Factbook: Nepal
US Consular travel warning for Nepal
US Embassy in Nepal

Nepal books