Curry in a hurry

Welcome to India:

So glad I've got a camera again! enjoy.


Sikh worshiper at the Golden Temple.


Sunrise at the Golden Temple, Armritsar, Punjab, India


Sikh guard with Golden Temple in background


Golden Temple, home of the Sikh Religion, which was founded by Guru Nanak in the 1600's.


The motley crew. We had to walk around the temple in a clockwise direction, in bare feet and with our head covered. They provided the scarves. There's a 24 hour chant performed by 4 Sikh priests, and free food provided to everyone, free entry. This is a really interesting religion, and really cool place to visit, glad we made it up here.


Last taxi ride in Kathmandu, on the way to the aeropuerta. My nickname is now BUCK. The mustache will probably be gone by the time you read this, am getting too many stares.... ;-)

So, we took a 5.5 hour train ride from Delhi to Armritsar yesterday, it was excellent. Great food served, A/C, comfy not crammed seats. Awesome. Armritsar is in Punjab (a state) and the home to the Sikh religion. The Sikhs have a long and ghastly brutal history with the Muhgals, and it was pretty interesting checking out the Golden Temple and museum. We were pretty much the only tourists there, among hundreds of Sikh's coming to worship.

Heading in an hour to the Pakistani border to watch the 'closing ceremonies' which is a Monty pythonish event which occurs and sunset everyday. The Indian and Pakistani army's meet eachother to lower their flags and try to out stomp, out march, and out scowl eachother. Later today we're hopping an overnight bus to Ganganga and then onto Bikaner. Bikaner has a temple full of rats (~40,000), which we hope to enter and photograph, one catch... Have to take our shoes off. Should be like that scene in Indiana Jones, looking forward to it?

Smelly Delhi

Flew into Delhi this arvo, no drama. Took a taxi to Parahganj, the main backpacker district and found a hotel easily enough. Taxi ride was crazy, as usual, but didn't see any dead bodies on the road, which is a good thing. When Tim was here two months ago, there was crushed dude all over the street... gross. India is pretty intense, that's probably the best way to describe it. You can't believe anything that anyone says, because 98% of the time they're trying to rip you off or set you up to get ripped off. It makes you feel bad for that 2% of times when some is actually being sincere. But I'm sure we'll adjust and be having a fine time whilst touring.

Just had a nice meal and tour around the bazaars a bit. Heading North tomorrow but will try to upload some photos if possible. Had some fun with the beard, am now sporting a hulk hogan style handlebar mustache and ridiculous sideburns... Let the fun begin!

The UN goes rafting

Rafting was spectacular! The river was freezing but bearable. Our raft flipped twice, the other one flipped once, I went for a unexpected swim once, and we all had a blast. We had a really good group with one American (me), two Canadians, one Australian (matt), four British, two Spanish fellas, two Russian girls, and an Israeli guy. Plus our eight Nepali guides, all of us and our stuff was packed into two rafts, one gear raft, and two safety kayaks.

We hit some great rapids each day and had some chances to hop out for a swim whenever we wanted. We did hop out a few times and stayed in for a minute or two before our bodies went completely numb. The river is glacier fed, and feels like it. It's also that cool blue/gray color and twists and turns through gorgious valleys and massive cliffs.

The first day started early with a two hour bus ride to the put-in spot. We packed everything up, inflated our rafts and got lecutured on how to do difficult things such as: How to put on a life jacket, how to paddle, how to wash our hands before eating, how to wash our dishes after eating, etc... Once on the river things got way more interesting. We hit a few rapids straight away, little brother and big brother. Got through them without incident and were cruising nicely. The next rapid had no name, which I thought that it wouldn't be that bad, I was wrong. We got into it and next thing I know, our raft dropped into a big hole and I was swimming. Got back in straight away, but I was hilarious to all that I fell out, just cold and wet for me. After that I realized all of the rapids for the rest of the trip weren't named, so that was NOT an indication that they weren't big. ha!

The guide in our boat, Santos, was in it for a big ride and that's exactly what he gave us. Our raft hit every big rock, rapid, hole, and hydraulic in the river. After a while, we realized what he was up to and that it wasn't a coincidence that we were heading directly towards to biggest waves on the Kali Gandaki. He was great, and ensure our boat flipped whenever it was possible. On our first toss, I caught a paddle or something across the thigh, hurt, but was just a bruise. And once in the frigid water, I felt no pain. Everyone else in the raft escaped injury though a few were caught under the raft after the second flip. Not a good feeling! But easy enough to get out of, and all were good. Each day had its fill of excitement and flat water, until eventually pulling up onto and nice sandy beach to camp for the night.

Camping was great, we brought no shortage of food and it was pretty good too. We'd set up tents and raft shelters, which were cool. Just prop the rafts up on the beach with two paddles, then cover with tarp. easy. We had campfires each night and had some smooth rum punch on day 1. Day 2 was beers cooled in the river for a few hours, quite nice.

Here's some photos from Paragliding, Rafting, and a bunch of Matt and Tim's shots from the Annapurna Trek:


PARAGLIDING:


While riding up to the mountain top in the back of jeep to hurl ourselves into the air, ie Paragliding, we chatted up this guy on the far left. He just happened to be the retired German Ambassator to Nepal, who paraglides all the time. He now lives in the Hamptons with his wife, who's a doctor, and travels the world to paraglide and generally have a good ol' time. Very cool guy, I talked to him about paragliding in the states and the difficulties of managing different ecomonic growth rates within the Euro economic zone with only one Central bank to control interest rates... yeah, I'm a nerd at heart. But he's got a masters in econ and I'm always interested in that stuff.


We were joined by a couple of hawks while paragliding, and we actually followed them to find the good thermals. wicked. They would swoop in close to check us out and screech, guess they don't like to share the airspace.


Got some unique views of the Himalaya that few others get to see.


RAFTING:


Camp fire on day 1, enjoying some food and rum punch.



The guides, they were hilarious, and very experienced. They almost made us feel safe... j/k.


Plenty of food... I think I gained weight on this trip, if that's possible.

Annapurna Trek Photos:

(I lifted these off of Matt's blog, he spent hours and hours in the internet cafe resizing and uploading all of these. sucker.)

Here's a good shot of me walking up the pass at @ 16,000ft. Trails was steep and slick.

Day 2 heading up the lush valley before the environment changed into an alpine wonderland.

Really nice section of trail totally carved out of the mountain.

Our good friends Joost and Ashley, Dutch and American. Had many fun nights with them.

Looking out over Manang, spectacular views. Tim and I have our man beards in full effect. Matt has a few hairs popping out here and there.

Our crew with Annapurna II in the background.

Bam.

Over the pass, and down the backside. Matt and Tim had some drama with the icy trail and found sliding was their best bet. Aussies and snow don't mix well.

On the way to Jomosom, one of our favorite stops.

Wild swinging bridges over raging waters with mules, quite the combo. But we've never seen anyone fall in.

Tatopani (Nepali for 'hot water') known for its river side hot springs, which we enjoyed fully!

Sunrise at Poon Hill over the Annapurnas, an amazing morning view.

yeah, look at the photo, no caption neccesary.

Always in Maoist country.

We met a really good kiwi guy, Dave, and trek with him for a few days and finished up with another massive feed when we got back to Pokhara. good bloke.

The way down quickly became tropical and warm again, such a diverse and fun trek. If you're into long walks in some of the best mountains in the world, then check this place out, you won't be disappointed. It may cost a lot to get over here, but once in Nepal, expenses are absolutely minimal. For accom, food, snacks, everything, we were spending about $10 USD a day on this trek.

Goodbye Nepal...

So, we're heading to India today at 4pm, we'll be in Delhi for 2 days, then into the western state of Rajahstan. After a few weeks there, visiting various cities, forts, going on a camel safari through the desert, etc, we'll also check out the Taj Mahal (which is in Agra, not Rajahstan) and eventually head to the far south to the beaches of Goa. Goa's got quite the reputation as one of the worlds greatest hangouts. I'll be updating along the way and adding pictures whenever the internet is fast and allows it.

I'm really going to miss Nepal, I've been so lucky to have such an awesome time here. I was worried about coming before, but those worries were completely unfounded. Just goes to show how far off the international media can be about a place, and how much we believe them. Please, if you've ever thought of visiting Nepal, do it now. The country really needs your visit, and you will absolutely love this place. It's adventure paradise.