Food for Thought (in Nepal)

Dal Bhat - a typical Nepalese staple of rice, lentils, and some curries. Dal means lentils and bhat means steamed rice. Good thing about every restaurant serving dal bhat is that they all make it slightly differently - we never got tired of it. 

Milkshake - never disappoints and they have yogurt versions, aka lassi

Nepali peanuts - salsa with peanuts. Very simple and can be very spicy

Pakoda - little deep fried nuggets in chickpea flour. 

Gurung bread - or Tibetan bread. Lightly fried bread that is sometimes crispy and sometimes doughy. Great with local honey. 

Momo - dumplings!!

Thukpa - think stirfry noodles in soup

Khaja - I ordered this because it was listed under "Nepalese dishes". Turns out khaja means snack so I just had a bunch of snacks on one plate. It was crunchy. 

Yak cheese - mild in flavor and semi-soft in texture. Below the yak cheese is in pizza form. 

Buffalo - almost no Nepalese eats beef as the cow is sacred, so buffalo it is!

Chitwan jungle safari

First off, congratulations to Nepal on finally passing their new constitution! It's been a long, difficult, and controversial process since the end of the Nepali civil war and the beginning of the Nepalese republic. Many Nepalis are unhappy that the new constitution underrepresents minority groups, and the last few weeks have seen violent protests in the Terai regions bordering India. Every Nepali we talk to has a different opinion to share. Regardless, the constitution finally passed this weekend, and in Chitwan there were celebrations, including rallies and lots of candles on the streets:

We stayed a few days in Sauraha, on the border of Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal, famous for it's rhino population. As expected for a jungle, the climate is hot, humid, and rainy, and everywhere is crawling with insect life. We visited during the low season, when it's extra hot and the elephant grass is tall and thick. It's hard to see lots of wildlife this time of year, but we saw plenty.

We spent a full day tromping around in the park. We started with an early morning dugout canoe ride down the river bordering the park. We saw a rhino in the river in the first 200m of our journey, plenty of birds, and lots of gharial and mugger crocodiles.

We continued with eight hours of hiking through the park's wetlands, grasslands, and forest, mostly through extremely thick vegetation. I've never been so sweaty. We mostly saw insect life (red cotton bugs and more leeches) and a few deer until the end of our trek, when we came across a lake in the grasslands. Emerging from the elephant grass we saw three rhinos 100m away! Our fellow trekkers were too noisy so the rhinos flipped their ears a few times and slowly worked their way back into the grass.

No further notable encounters except passing another rhino in the grasslands, but the underbrush was too thick so we only heard each other.

Chitwan wasn't made a national park until the 60s, and when it was thousands of villagers were relocated. We went to a tiny museum on the Tharu people, which included some compelling material on the loss of their culture after relocation. The area surrounding the park is now completely claimed by cities, villages, and farms, so it's easy to see the fate of the jungle had the park not been created.

We're briefly back in Kathmandu- it seems so much more polluted arriving after Annapurna and Chitwan vs. arriving from India. Tomorrow we're flying to Bangkok to start the SE Asia leg of our trip!

Update- felt a 4.5 magnitude earthquake today, just a small rumble but the dogs and birds didn't like it.

-Peter

Pokhara, Nepal's adventure sports capital

Pokhara, Nepal's second largest city, is normally a bustling tourist hub for outdoor activities. It's the perfect base for trekking in the famous Annapurna region. Pokhara didn't have any damage from the earthquake, but it has far fewer tourists than normally. We stayed here before and after our Annapurna trek, and there was a noticeable increase in the number of tourists as it gets closer to the October-November high season. The lakeside setting is beautiful, and when the clouds cooperate you can see the Annapurna Himal.

We did as many activities as we could:

-We went paragliding for the first time ever. Priscilla really enjoyed and her pilot let her steer. I was immediately sick from the constant circling to catch the thermals. Luckily we were over a forest.

-Whitewater rafting on the Trisuli River. Priscilla really enjoyed, and I again got really motion sick. Did only one day instead of our planned two.

-Rooftop yoga in the rain with a local guru.

-Saw the filming of a Nepali music video.

-Rented bikes and explored the city plus a few more sights: 1) a cave temple 2) a waterfall and 3) the excellent International Mountaineering Museum, with exhibits on Nepalese culture, the history of mountaineering in the Himalayas, geology, and conservation.

-Massages, more enthusiastic than skilled, but still a bargain at $20/hr.

-Outdoor movie at a cafe: "Empire Strikes Back", complete with trivia quiz.

-Peter

Monsoon trekking in the Himalayas

Back from 7 days trekking in the Himalayas! Four days up to Annapurna Base Camp, elevation 4150m, nestled in the enormous Annapurna Himal, home to the world's 10th highest mountain: Annapurna I, elevation 8091m. It's the (apparently shorter from this perspective) one on the right:

Annapurna I is the deadliest of the "eight-thousanders" and one of the most difficult to climb. More than 60 climbers have died on it, about 1 in every 3 who reach the summit.

The landscape is incredible. Towering cliffs, deep ravines, lush greens and icy peaks, all shrouded in clouds. Tiny villages only accessible by foot.

We stayed in teahouses: we're on one of the most developed trails so they were like extremely basic hotels. $3 a night for a room but you're expected to buy your (still pretty cheap) dinner and breakfast from them. Some even have pay-to-access WiFi and electricity! Good common dining room for meeting fellow travellers. We usually ate the same things every day: gurung bread breakfast, "dhal bhat, cold lemon" for lunch, noodles or rice for dinner.

Still pretty quiet post-quake, so not very many people out on the trails, but lots of locals who always greet you with a friendly "namaste". The porters are particularly impressive: they carry everything that the villages and teahouses need, in wicker baskets with the weight supported by a strap across their foreheads. We saw porters carrying chickens, plywood, fruit, even one with a 75kg bag of rice, while he only weighted 56kg himself.

We considered trekking independently, but we're so glad for our guide
Ram. Constant smile, always eager to look out for us and explain everything about the mountains and the local culture and teach us Nepali phrases. Hands-down the nicest, kindest person we've met on our trip.

Any worthwhile trek will have challenges, and we had our share:

-Rain. It's the end of the monsoon season, so it rained every day, once for 20 hours straight. Day 2 it rained so hard that the rain seeped through my pack straps and collected in the bottom of my pack cover, soaking most of my (foolishly not plastic-bagged) clothes. Luckily the essentials stayed dry.

-Leeches. Vicious ugly vampire inchworms. Cling to trailside brush where it's damp and try to snag passers-by. We each had at least one breach our defenses, but caught many more creepily climbing our boots and trekking poles.

-Altitude sickness. We went slow the last two days up, but not slow enough and our time at base camp was short and uncomfortable. Minor altitude sickness is like a hangover: headache, nausea, dehydration. Symptoms can escalate to serious quickly, so we came down in elevation as soon as we could. Thus, few base camp photos.

Note to future selves: for maximum enjoyment, hike for 5 days or less and at altitudes below 4000m.

-Peter

Kathmandu after the earthquake

It's been four months since Nepal's April 25 7.9 magnitude earthquake. 9000 people died and hundreds of thousands were left homeless, and Nepal is facing a long recovery.

That said, Nepal is a big country, and much of it wasn't directly affected by the earthquake. Tourism is an important part of the Nepalese economy, but most of the tourists were scared off and the Board of Tourism is begging for visitors. We did our research before we left, and decided to come see for ourselves.

We spent three nights in Nepal's bustling, dusty capital Kathmandu, in the tourist enclave of Thamel. September is supposed to be high season, but not this year. A fair number of tourists, but outnumbered by the shopkeepers. We saw some collapsed buildings and a few refugee tents, but not as many as we thought there would be, at least not in the areas we went to.

We saw six(!) UNESCO World Heritage Sites in two days of sightseeing:

Kathmandu's historic Durbar Square. Lots of earthquake damage. Several famous temples are just gone, and the rest all have cracks and timbers bracing them up. Kasthamandap, the 1000-year-old temple from which Kathmandu got it's name, is leveled.

Swayambhu and Boudhanath, respectively Kathmandu's most important Nepalese Buddhist and Tibetan Buddhist temples.

Pashupatinah temple and the ghats: Hindu-only temple, plus riverside platforms (ghats) for cremations. We saw two. No photos.

Bakhtapur and Patan Durbar Squares: Main squares of Kathmandu's historic rivals, now part of one large conurbation. Fantastic temples but a few razed by the earthquake. Patan's was having a festival while we were there.

Kathmandu is pretty polluted, so we moved on as quickly as we could. We've been in Pokhara several days now, Nepal's adventure sports capital, and leaving tomorrow on the 8-day Annapurna Sanctuary trek. We'll be staying in teahouses instead of camping- there is electricity, showers, and maybe even cell reception, so it should be pretty luxurious!

-Peter

Food for Thought (in India)

Everything in India has been super delicious. The waiters always ask us if we want it spicy and they are always surprised when we say yes.

Lassi - thick yoghurt drink, can be salty or sweet. The best one we had was from a lassiwala that's been around since 19444. We stood on the side of the street drinking our lassi from a clay cup with a curd on top. 

Fenny - cashew liquor from South India. 

Roti - unleavened wheat bread used to eat everything with. There's also chapati but we're not sure what the difference is. 

Naan- leavened white bread used to eat everything with. 

Idli - little round savory cakes made from lentils and rice 

Papad - thin crispy discs

Poha - a South Indian breakfast item but I don't see why this isn't eaten all the time. It's got rice, nuts, turmeric, and just the right amount of spice.

Thali - a plate of several dishes which includes 6 tastes - spicy, sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and astringent. Sometimes these are unlimited, like an elegant buffet.

Bhel Puri - a Mumbai street food made from popped rice, veggies, and all the spices. It's sweet and tangy and spicy. 

Kebab - skewered pieces of spiced meat.

Tandoori - grilled pieces of meat, usually eaten as an appetizer. I don't have a picture of this probably because we were too busy eating it. 

Masala - masala just means spice mix so we had it with everything, even Pepsi. Below is a crab masala which is 8000x better than a Pepsi masala.

Biryani - a mixed rice dish. I'm pretty sure they add a lot of butter which is why it tastes extra good

Curries - sweet or spicy versions available. Curries are not the most photogenic of foods but very delicious nevertheless. 

Paneer Shahi Khurma 

Garlic Shrimp

Aaloo Maratha 

Cake - India sure knows their sweets and Carrie's birthday cake selection tasted a little like home. Thanks England!

Gulab Jamun - deep fried milky balls soaked in a sugary syrup.