Chris and Paula’s World

Kathmandu > Delhi > Bangkok

Hello,
We are currently in Delhi on our way to Bangkok late tonight. The trip fom Khatmandu was pretty non-eventful despite the poor reputation of Royal Nepal Airlines — actually, now Nepal Airlines. We left about an hour late but were fed well (something we have both come to really appreciate en route) and landed safely in Delhi. Now that we have been in Delhi a few times and consider ourselves fairly good at getting around India, we arrived without a reservation at a hotel and found an awesome place to stay. Leaving an airport or train station in Delhi is funnier than when we first did it. The auto rickshaw and cab drivers all vying for your business (in fact many times resulting in them hurling insults at one another and a few times hurling arms at one another) have now become more comedic than scary. I still am not used to the looks from 80% of the Indian men and look forward to getting to Bangkok.

Thought I would mention the course I went on in Pokhara at the Ganden Yiga Chozin Centre. It was a three night retreat at the centre and focused on Meditation (3 hours a day), Buddhist Philosophy/Teachings (5 hours a day) and Hatha Yoga (2 hours a day). There were 4 of us in the course - 2 Europeans, me, and a girl from Shanghai. Really interesting to see the Chinese girl at this centre. The monk seemed surprised but they were all very happy that she was there so they could inundate here with pamphlets about Tibet and Chinese rule there. It was all done good naturedly, but it was of course interesting to see how little she was aware of in terms of what has happened in Tibet. Roughly 8 hours a day sitting on a floor cushion is not an easy thing. Meditation was really difficult (sitting still in that position as well as the fact that it was Deepawali, a very noisy holiday)…it is tougher than it looks!!! Amazing the thoughts that come to mind when you are trying to focus only on counting your breaths. The teachings were really interesting and included some spirited debating with the American Monk who was leading. Every night after the evening meditation from 7:15 to 8pm was silent time. No talking. Being in a cabin by myself, it wasn’t too difficult to do. There are other courses on offer where it is silent 24X7 for 10 days…ugh, I don’t think that would be for me. I think that Buddhism is fascinating and while I don’t see myself being a convert any time soon, I do appreciate the fact that it is a very compassionate and peaceful world view. It was great to learn more about it and deinitely want to continue trying to meditate and do yoga when I get home.

Our last week in Nepal was spent in Kathmandu and the surrounding Kathmandu valley. My stomach was STILL not good and went back and forth to a great travellers’ medical clinic three times. Think I am cured now, but it did put a bit of a kink in our plans while in the area. While in Kathmandu we stayed in Thamel, which is an area basically built for tourists. You can get a great pizza or chop suey, and buy cheap DVDs everywhere however you don’t feel like you are anywhere different from wherever it is you come from. We had some Nepali food there but found it to often be overpriced compared with the rest of the menu. We visited Paushupanath which is similar to Varanasi, with its burning ghats, as well as Boudanath with its famous and huge Buddhist stupa. At Boudanath we had lunch at a Japanese (!?!) restaurant overlooking the stupa, listening to everyone’s favorite song “Om Made Padme Hum” - a Buddhist mantra, played over and over and over again. I meant to ask if it is the only song legally allowed to play loudly from store windows, because it is literally everywhere you go.

We also spent a night at Nagarkot which promises the best mountain views at sunrise and sunset. We weren’t disappointed though we WERE freezing cold. We had misjudged the difference a little altitude can make. That and there was a several hour long power out that just seemed to make everything colder — not that there was heating in the rooms, but for some reason darkness makes it seem colder. We woke to a great view at sunrise in the mountain range that includes Everest. From Nagarkot we hiked 15 km back to a town called Bhaktapur. The hike was gorgeous thorough small villages, rice paddies,an ancient temple and pine forests, all with a mountain backdrop.

Forgot to mention that we also took an Everest Flight! It was amazing to fly close to the mountains and see them from that perspective. Thanks to Chris’ untiring research we chose the best seats on the 18 seater plane (right at the back with no wings in our way). A few German tourists complained to the attendant that we should all share seats (at least I think that is what they were saying) but the flight was 1.5 hours long and by the time they got around to mentioning it, we were turned around to go to the airport. As they say in Tanzania, “Pole Sana”!! “Very Sorry”! We got some glares at the end of the flight, but I mean, really…you gotta do your research!! Chris is going to laugh at that, as he is the research hub of this trip… I’m really just here for the ride.

Anyhow, Nepal was great.

As I said earlier, we are now in Delhi for two nights. This city will not win any awards in my book of favorites, but that’s ok. We are both looking forward to seeing Chad and Morgan in Bangkok and also looking forward again to seeing a totally new place. Nepal and India are similar in many ways - culturally, religiously, etc. It is always exciting to go somewhere that is different again. Of course we also can’t wait to get back to some quality beach time.

Hope that all is well at home. I keep thinking about the Christmas potlucks that we are going to miss (Tiff and Sheldon’s for one) and do wish that we could be home for that!!! Stay in touch and keep well.

xoxo
Paula

Paragliding over Pokhara

Well, I went paragliding, it was a blast! For someone who thought they were relatively afraid of heights, I almost forget I was up there. A very beautiful and scenic ride over the mountains and valley of Pokhara followed by some stomach turning acrobatics over the Phewa Tal (Lake). It’s a bit awkward when you look down and see the wing below you!

Chris

A few photos from Southern Nepal

Just a few photos that we have taken over the past week in Nepal. We have visited two places: Lumbini - the Birthplace of Buddha and Chitwan National Park - Nepal Safari Action.

You can see the whole batch here: http://www.chrisandpaulasworld.com/photos/v/nepal/

I wish the Internet was better and we could upload the whole bunch. You’ll all have to wait till the obligatory slides night at our house! Wait, we don’t have a house…

Buddha!

Paula riding a bicycle in Lumbini

Me guiding

Elephants crossing the river at Chitwan

The Lush Forests of Chitwan

Washing the Elephants

Paula’s Friend Jacques

On my own…

We’ve been in Pokhara, Nepal for a few days now. Pokhara is at the base of the Annapurna range of the Himalayan Mountains. 4 or 5 mountains over 7000 meters high all within sight of this town. The area of town where all the tourists hangout is called Lakeside. It is a strip that runs parallel with a beautiful lake called Phewa Tal. If you hike along the edge of the lake you can see the reflections of the snow capped Annapurna mountains in the lake! The strip itself is a myriad of restaurants, Internet cafes, stores that sell chocolate and toilet paper and other stores that sell North Face ripoffs (of pretty good quality) for a fraction of the cost.

Paula had a bad stomach for a day or so and now she is off on a 4 day meditation and yoga course. This leaves me for the 1st time on this trip, alone! For the 1st 5 minutes I felt lost, but sense took over pretty quickly…Now we will have something to talk about! After doing pretty much everything together, it does not leave much for conversation except for my usual yip yap about Bon Jovi and whatnot. I think the next few days will be good for me to do some hiking and some other outdoor activities solo. I can finally have the good side of the bed as well (the beds in Nepal might rank as the worst

I started out this post with the intention of uploading some photos from Chitwan National Park, where we did some safari-ing and had a lot of fun. But it turns out I brought the wrong memory stick with me, so they will come shortly.

Today is my sister’s birthday as well, so wish her a happy one!

Cheers everyone, I love and miss you all.

Chris

Made it to Nepal!!

Hello! We have arrived in Nepal!

We spent our last days in India in Varanasi, a holy city on the banks of the Ganges River. Varanasi is most famous as the site that Hindus go to die, or next best, where their ashes are sent after cremation for scattering in the most holy river in India. It was among the dirtiest cities that we have seen, however there is something almost magical about it. Spirituality is everywhere. On any of the tiny alley ways of the old city you will find several small shrines built into the walls or added on to the walls. The shrines are for several different gods, but the main ones seem to be Shiva and Ganesha. All are scattered with flowers or small offerings of sweets or incense. Everywhere you walk, like other cities we visited, your nose is full of both good and bad smells, sometimes at the same time.

In Varanasi we visited the burning ghats. As I mentioned, many Hindus go to Varanasi toward the end of their lives. The city has many “dharamsalas” or rest houses, as well as hospices where many will live until they die. Others come to the city and sleep on the streets. The burning ghats were very close to our hotel and the fires burn 24X7. At night you can see the light of the fires reflecting on the rising smoke, and with the Ganges alight with hundreds of floating candles (”puja” or offerings) it is a pretty amazing sight. We were told that depending on the day between 160 and 200 people are cremated at the ghats. Once a person dies, their family (males only allowed) attend their cremation. Small pyres are built from 200 kg of wood taken from enormous piles, the wood used is dependent on caste. The body, wrapped in a shroud is placed on the pyre and the wood lighted by a family member. People cremated at one of Varanasi’s ghats have “immediate liberation into the next life”. In a country where you see everything happening in front of your eyes, it seems to fit that the exit from life is a part of the mix. The sight of the fires (at one point we saw 14 burning) is something neither of us will soon forget.

From Varanasi we took a train to Gorakphur where we slept for a night. I ended up getting about 40 mozzie bites on my legs, which wasn’t a highlight. From Gorakphur we took a crazy bus across to the India/Nepal border. It was the perfect last trip from India. Packed, cramped bus that was delayed until one annoyed passenger got out of his seat and slugged the driver. The whole bus was standing and yelling (not sure which side they were taking) in about 5 seconds. About two minutes later the enraged passenger was seated and the bus departed.

We made it across the border and took a car to Lumbini where we stayed for two nights. Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha, and is therefore another holy city. We rented bikes and toured the town, most of which is a large reserve with many monasteries erected by different countries. Really nice place, but outside of the monasteries, the town pretty well shut down at 6 pm.

Today we arrived to a town near Chitwan National Park where we hope to do an elephant back safari tomorrow and some other fun stuff. More later.

Hope all is well at home

xoxox
Paula