Nepal - Road to Sirkot

A great part of the trip was a two-day camping trip to Sirkot. The road to Sirkot involved several hours on the highway and then another hour or so on the roughest of dirt roads. We ditched the van in favor of jeeps for this section of the trip.

Heading up the highway.


We stopped in the town of Waling to switch vehicles. It was nice to get a break from the road. We stopped into a tea shop for some Nepali tea--a comforting mixture of black tea and milk. Chris and I particularly liked a variety called Masala tea--basically Nepali tea with a mix of spices added (cloves, cardamon, etc.--like mild, unsweetened Chai tea).


I snapped this thinking, "Oh, there's a nice still life."


My favorite shops to look at were the fabric stores and tailors. Beautiful fabric. This one had some smiling faces, too. When I asked if I could take a photo, the man said something that looked like, "Of course!" and waved his arm in a welcoming gesture.


I turned around and ran into Chris. He mentioned that he'd seen me taking a picture of the chickens. I said, "Chickens? What chickens?" We retraced our steps so he could show me. There were 4-5 chicks and a hen under that still life basket! Later on the trip, I saw a baby goat under a basket.


After leaving Waling, we left the main highway, crossed a wide river bed and headed up the hill.


A view from the back seat of the jeep, with Doc and Maggie up front. All vehicles I road in--jeeps, buses, taxis--had decorations inside. Usually a Hindu Ganesha (like the one here) or a spinning solar-powered Buddhist prayer wheel or a Buddha would be on the dash in the taxi. This jeep had flowers and bells as well.

Nepal - Guys on Launch

Maybe not the best name, Yuki Water.


Preacher, Chris and Doc at Sirkot.


Chris and I at Diki Danda.


Conrad, Chris and Jeff at the helicopter launch pad. We didn't actually go up in the helicopter, but that's another story.


Howard at Diki Danda.


Mark at Sirkot.

Nepal - Country Architecture

House at Begnas Lake.


Steps--flat stones inserted in the rock wall at strategic locations. Perfect.


I just like the bench and the light in this one. Near Sirkot.

The rest of the photos are from Diki Danda.




Vent hole for a fire indoors. Kitchen fire?

Nepal - Diki Danda Village/Launch

We drove to the launch at Diki Danda quite a few times throughout the course of the trip. It was a good way to get away from the crowds at the main Pokhara launch, Sarankot, and it was a good starting point for the cross country flights Matty and Brad had planned for us.

We went up by van or jeep, and a group of us usually got out toward the top to walk the rest of the way to launch. For the walkers, the first view of the village was this school right next to our launch. You could tell it took great will power for the kids to stay in the school yard instead of running out to talk to us and touch our gear.


Our first day on launch, the weather was still recovering from rain the previous day and that gave us time to walk around the village.


From what I could see, this was a typical water source. On my morning runs and on my walking day at Begnas Lake, I saw women filling vessels, washing clothes and washing their hair at spigots like this one at the edge of a road or foot path.


On our walk through the village, we met a man who addressed us in English and asked if we wanted him to show us their herd of water buffalo. He told us how he had worked in Saudi Arabia for several years, but was now happy to be back to his village and family. He described the work there as dirty and difficult. He didn't say what kind of work he was doing, but something related to the oil industry is my guess. He said that they had acquired the buffalo herd at great expense, but seemed optimistic that it would help the villagers be more prosperous. The water buffalo work in the fields and also provide milk. At a guest house I visited on another day, the owner had installed a system for harvesting gas from buffalo dung. The gas produced was piped to his kitchen as cooking fuel. It seemed like a real improvement over using wood for cooking, which aside from requiring huge labor and time to collect also contributes to poor air quality and deforestation.


On our second day in Pokhara, Jessica, one of our tandem pilots, asked how many pictures of baby goats we'd taken. We were like, "Wha?" As the days went by, though, we began to understand. There were cute little baby goats just about everywhere we went--on launch at Sarankot, on launch at Diki Danda, in the village at Sirkot, etc. etc. Here are a couple of them, along with a friendly villager. Note the garden--even from our rooftop vantage at the hotel in town it looked like most everyone was growing a few cabbages and cauliflowers in their back yard.


Green terraces.

Nepal - Parahawking

Our second day in Pokhara, the crew gathered in preparation for the drive to Diki Danda while Chris and I got ready to go parahawking. At the appointed time, a small taxi with unusual cargo arrived outside the hotel. Scott (the man) and Bob (the bird) emerged to signal our ride to launch.


Chris and I took tandem flights at the same time--me with Scott and Chris with Jessica--while Bob the Egyptian Vulture flew between us. We were feeding Bob bite-size pieces of raw water buffalo. The first step was to lightly wedge a piece of meat into the crook of your thumb. Then, you cover the meat with your other hand so the bird can't see it. If he can see the meat, he might fly into your lap to get it.


Better that he come for it when your hand is outreached and ready for him. When Scott blew his whistle to call the bird, I would stretch out my hand to be ready for him.


Bob would swoop in, land on my arm, eat and then take off.


He was extremely light.


My favorite part was the take off. He would stretch his wings, angle away and appear to just fall off to the side and into flight.


When I watched the video, I learned that I laughed each time Bob took off.


As soon as he was gone, my hand was back in the pouch for the next bite. We did this routine 8-10 times during the flight. Chris was doing the same on his flight. At the end of the flight, on the ground, Bob got a raw egg and that was his share of food and exercise for the day.

Nepal - Pokhara Rain Day

Our first full day in Pokara was a wet one. I was scheduled to have a tandem flight with Brad, one of the guides, but that was called off for weather. Instead we hung out in our room and then went out for a walk around town in the afternoon when the rain finally let up.


Luckily, there was a Japanese restaurant at our hotel, so we didn't have to go out in the pouring rain to get food. I shot this photo from the shelter of the restaurant patio.


When the rain stopped, we walked down for our first view of the lake.


Where else can you run into a friend from home as you walk along a lake halfway around the world. Hi, Matt!


Blossoms and prayer flags.

Nepal - Durbar Square

First view of Durbar Square. We walked unmarked streets to Durbar Square our first morning in Nepal.


It is where Kathmandu's kings were once once crowned. Palaces and many temples.


The king's palace was moved to another site 100 years ago, but Durbar Square is still a draw for it's 17th and 18th Century architecture. We couldn't tell what was original, as much of the square was rebuilt after damage from an earthquake in 1934.


The Square's holy sites are still very much in use for Hindu observances.


At the Kumari house. The Kumari is a young girl who is worshiped as a goddess. Once a girl is selected as the Kumari, her feet must never touch the ground. She lives here, is tutored and cared for. At puberty, she loses her Kumari status and returns to her village. Our guide called up to the window to see if she would appear, but we were told to return later. We did not.


Marigold in wood screen. The day we were there, vendors were selling strings of marigolds to be used as offerings at the temples. They were so colorful. I am still surprised this is the only picture of a marigold I got that day.