Many people who travel to Nepal do so with one thing in mind: to go trekking. Why they would want to subject themselves to 15 days of torture is beyond us, but apparently it's the 'thing to do' in Nepal... Anyway, due to this trekking frenzy, we've come across so many people who only venture out of Kathmandu to climb Everest base camp or walk the Annapurna circuit. Given our shared dislike of physical exertion, we decided to see what else Nepal had on offer. So here's a list of things to do outside of Kathmandu:
1. BUS SURFING
(OK, we just made this name up, but it aptly describes what we're talking about.) Buses in Nepal get full very quickly and as that wise old Asian adage goes; "if you're going to drive somewhere, you might as well cram as many people as possible into and on the vehicle... and then add a few more." Because of this, seeing people riding on the roof tops of buses, is about as common as spotting a goat on Nepal's city streets (which is pretty common). It was only a matter of time until it was us on top of one of those buses holding on for dear life... actually in 10 days, we clocked up 7 hrs of rooftop riding, or as we like to call it, bus surfing.
2. WHITE WATER RAFTING
Nepal has some of the best (and cheapest) white water rafting in the world, so we could hardly pass up on an opportunity to spend 2 days honing our rafting skills on the Lower Seti river. Turns out that although we'd never done this before, we were better prepared for it than our 16 year old safety kayaker... our advantage was that, unlike her, we can swim. This discovery was made when, on the 1st day, her kayak flipped in an rapid and she nearly drowned... with this in mind we made valiant attempts not to fall out of our raft from then on. Aquatically challenged safety kayaker aside, we had an awesome time raging down the rapids and camping overnight on a riverside beach... we just wish we'd booked a longer trip!!
3. USING A SQUAT WITH NO HOLE
After Tibet, we figured we'd used the worst toilets on Earth... and we had, but Nepal brought a new toilet style into the mix that rivals those of Tibet. Introducing, the squat with no hole. Yes, that's right folks, it's pretty much a concrete slab. As a user, it's by far the easiest toilet going round - if you don't mind standing in a puddle of someone elses pee, that is. We're not sure what really happens with number 2's, and we don't really want to find out.
4. SHARE A BUS RIDE WITH A GOAT... or a rooster... we did. A few times.
5. ANNAPURNA VIEWS
We had no idea how big the Annapurna mountains are. They're friken huge. No one has ever reached the top. You can see them from everywhere. And they're amazing. We recommend the views from the tiny hill-side village of Bandipur and Sarangot hill in Pokhara. On a clear day, the views don't disappoint.
6. TREK TO THE WORLD PEACE PAGODA, POKHARA
We use the word 'trek' lightly, but this 2 hour uphill walk was 'trekking' in our book... and enough to put us off actual trekking for life. The snake that slithered across our path, the billion steps up the mountain and the relentless heat all combined to make it a tough walk, BUT, the views of the Annapurna's (see above) from the top, made it all worth it... plus, we got to experience world peace.
7. KOREAN TEMPLE STAY
We never thought living in Korea would come in handy on our travels, but boy we were wrong! After meeting two Koreans on our bus to Lumbini (the birthplace of Buddha), they told us about a Korean temple in the area where we could stay and be fed 3 meals a day - for free! Well, for a donation but still... we never got to do a temple stay in Korea, so aside from eating Korean food and brushing up on our Korean language, it was a nice unexpected addition to our trip in Nepal.
8. BE CONSTANTLY MISTAKEN AS AN ISRAELI
"Shalom shalom" was the usual greeting we received from Nepalese shop keepers as we walked down the street. "you from Israel?" was the question we were often asked... we knew there were a lot of Israelis around, but we didn't understand the constant confusion (Claire maybe - at least she has dark skin and curly hair, but Amy doesn't exactly fit the bill). Then one day, after a guy gave us a particularly hearty "shalom", we asked him why he thought we were Israeli... he replied "it's because of your get-up, you know!?" After rewinding our minds to 1976 when the word "get-up" was last used, we realised he was talking about our clothes... Not sure how a t-shirt and shorts qualifies as Israeli 'get-up', but apparently it just does.
Our stay in Nepal was short and sweet but with our flight home booked for late November, we wanted to allow ourselves enough time to explore India... and as we sat in a jeep waiting to cross the Indian border, watching Indian truck drivers punch rickshaw drivers trying to overtake them, we knew we'd be in for an interesting last 6 weeks of our trip.
1. BUS SURFING
(OK, we just made this name up, but it aptly describes what we're talking about.) Buses in Nepal get full very quickly and as that wise old Asian adage goes; "if you're going to drive somewhere, you might as well cram as many people as possible into and on the vehicle... and then add a few more." Because of this, seeing people riding on the roof tops of buses, is about as common as spotting a goat on Nepal's city streets (which is pretty common). It was only a matter of time until it was us on top of one of those buses holding on for dear life... actually in 10 days, we clocked up 7 hrs of rooftop riding, or as we like to call it, bus surfing.
2. WHITE WATER RAFTING
Nepal has some of the best (and cheapest) white water rafting in the world, so we could hardly pass up on an opportunity to spend 2 days honing our rafting skills on the Lower Seti river. Turns out that although we'd never done this before, we were better prepared for it than our 16 year old safety kayaker... our advantage was that, unlike her, we can swim. This discovery was made when, on the 1st day, her kayak flipped in an rapid and she nearly drowned... with this in mind we made valiant attempts not to fall out of our raft from then on. Aquatically challenged safety kayaker aside, we had an awesome time raging down the rapids and camping overnight on a riverside beach... we just wish we'd booked a longer trip!!
3. USING A SQUAT WITH NO HOLE
After Tibet, we figured we'd used the worst toilets on Earth... and we had, but Nepal brought a new toilet style into the mix that rivals those of Tibet. Introducing, the squat with no hole. Yes, that's right folks, it's pretty much a concrete slab. As a user, it's by far the easiest toilet going round - if you don't mind standing in a puddle of someone elses pee, that is. We're not sure what really happens with number 2's, and we don't really want to find out.
4. SHARE A BUS RIDE WITH A GOAT... or a rooster... we did. A few times.
5. ANNAPURNA VIEWS
We had no idea how big the Annapurna mountains are. They're friken huge. No one has ever reached the top. You can see them from everywhere. And they're amazing. We recommend the views from the tiny hill-side village of Bandipur and Sarangot hill in Pokhara. On a clear day, the views don't disappoint.
6. TREK TO THE WORLD PEACE PAGODA, POKHARA
We use the word 'trek' lightly, but this 2 hour uphill walk was 'trekking' in our book... and enough to put us off actual trekking for life. The snake that slithered across our path, the billion steps up the mountain and the relentless heat all combined to make it a tough walk, BUT, the views of the Annapurna's (see above) from the top, made it all worth it... plus, we got to experience world peace.
7. KOREAN TEMPLE STAY
We never thought living in Korea would come in handy on our travels, but boy we were wrong! After meeting two Koreans on our bus to Lumbini (the birthplace of Buddha), they told us about a Korean temple in the area where we could stay and be fed 3 meals a day - for free! Well, for a donation but still... we never got to do a temple stay in Korea, so aside from eating Korean food and brushing up on our Korean language, it was a nice unexpected addition to our trip in Nepal.
8. BE CONSTANTLY MISTAKEN AS AN ISRAELI"Shalom shalom" was the usual greeting we received from Nepalese shop keepers as we walked down the street. "you from Israel?" was the question we were often asked... we knew there were a lot of Israelis around, but we didn't understand the constant confusion (Claire maybe - at least she has dark skin and curly hair, but Amy doesn't exactly fit the bill). Then one day, after a guy gave us a particularly hearty "shalom", we asked him why he thought we were Israeli... he replied "it's because of your get-up, you know!?" After rewinding our minds to 1976 when the word "get-up" was last used, we realised he was talking about our clothes... Not sure how a t-shirt and shorts qualifies as Israeli 'get-up', but apparently it just does.
Our stay in Nepal was short and sweet but with our flight home booked for late November, we wanted to allow ourselves enough time to explore India... and as we sat in a jeep waiting to cross the Indian border, watching Indian truck drivers punch rickshaw drivers trying to overtake them, we knew we'd be in for an interesting last 6 weeks of our trip.
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