After heading toward the border and saying goodbye to Sophie, we arrived at the Friendship Bridge - the border between China and Nepal. Understandably, as it is an international border, no photos were allowed but it has to be one of the most scenic crossings we have done. Prior to this we had also travelled along the Friendship Highway which was also amazingly beautiful...
The border crossing was relatively straightforward, with the only hiccup being the fact they confiscated the copies of China Lonely Planet guides as they were too sympathetic with the plight of Tibet. Getting into Nepal was straightforward too - pay the visa fee, get visa and get stamped. All 22 of us done in about an hour - yay, the easiest crossing in a long time.
Our first stop was The Last Resort, a jungle resort for all sorts of adventurous activities like canyoning, bungy jumping etc. Not really my cup of tea but they also had a lovely bar area and did massages so it was an ideal place to chill out with a glass of wine. What no-one told me was that to get there I would have to walk over this 160m high bridge with my backpack and all of my stuff! Anyone who knows me will know I don't like heights or going over bridges so I was totally terrified but it was either go over or stay on my own in the truck for 3 days, so over I went! Needless to say a double vodka was required at the other end to get my blood pressure back to normal!
The bridge!
For me it was a relaxing few days, but some of the other (crazier!) members of the group both jumped and swung off the bridge. I watched them all but my favourite reaction was from Pernille who shouted 'Oh my f***ing gggggggggggooooooooooooddddddddd' as she jumped.
On leaving, I once again had to cross the bridge of doom! However, once over and calmed down it was time for the drive to Kathmandu where we were to spend the next 9 nights. This was the most time we were to spend in the one place and it was down to us having to apply for our Indian visas - more about that later!
The drive in to Kathmandu was incredibly scenic. However, once we hit the city the chaos was immediately evident. We were given directions to our hotel by a policeman who sent us up narrow streets with low lying electrical wires - not ideal for a truck the size of Calypso!
Some pics of the scenery going to Kathmandu.....
will Calypso fit under these?
Crazy wiring!
The reason for being in Kathmandu for 9 nights was to accommodate the above, however I do think that the itinerary could have been better thought out to allow us to get to Kathmandu, drop the visa applications off and then return a few days later. Maybe if we had had a local guide in Nepal he could have made that suggestion to Odyssey but we didn't have one (something that would turn out to be a bit of a bone of contention as the trip went on - more for India than Nepal though).
Overall though, I did have a good time in Kathmandu and visited many of the sights, ate some amazing food and did a cookery course - all of which were highly enjoyable. It also gave us the opportunity to shop, buy lots of souvenirs and do some practical things like shipping stuff home. I also managed to make some plans for the end of the trip - I got my flight to New Zealand booked as well as made plans to meet up with Katie, Angi and Peter from my previous India trip. Exciting!
Nepalese yellow lentil soup - yum
My favourite - chilli chicken
Some Nepalese kids posing for the camera
Jo posing at the denture shop!
Jo getting a haircut Nepalese style
Man carrying a washing machine on his forehead!
Freak Street!
Monkey Temple.....
Kathmandu from the Monkey Temple
Stairs up to the monkey temple
Patan......
Not an uncommon sight - piles of rubbish were everywhere
Cooking class.....
Our next stop was Chitwan National Park in the south of Nepal - home to tigers, rhino, elephants and many other species. Our first challenge though was to get out of Kathmandu - something that would take over 3 hours as we kept getting lost. Again something that may have been avoided by having a local guide? Just a thought?
Once we finally made it to Chitwan we quickly made our plans for elephant safaris the next day , which we were all looking forward to. It was great fun and we got to see some wild deer, wild boar, snakes and, best of all, rhinos.
My elephant
Deer
Jo and Dav on their elephant
Rhino
and again....
Louise and Mahala
Jules, Phil, Andy and Me on our elephant
Rhino again
Me with the elephant
elephant bathing
We left Chitwan the next day with some frustration - we would happily have spent longer there despite the very warm, tropical conditions. This was another scheduling frustration which was starting to build amongst many in the group - something that was about to get worse very soon.
Our next stop in Nepal was Janakpur. I have no idea why we stopped there as the only good thing about it was the hotel we stayed in which had good aircon and English TV and Movie channels. We were scheduled to spend 2 nights there, god knows why as there was pretty much nothing to do. Jo and I had a quick wander round the temple, which was nice but we were getting a bit temple'd out. Late on our last night there I got a phone call to the room from Teresa who informed me that we would be spending another night here. 'Why????????' I asked. To my, and everyone else's, dismay Teresa had been informed of an uprising in Darjeeling, our first stop in India, and we were not able to go. I was not looking forward to telling Jo as this was one of the things she had been most looking forward to on the trip - sitting on a tea plantation in the Indian Himalayas drinking a cup of Darjeeling tea. She was pretty disappointed to say the least.
A meeting was called for early the next morning where Teresa and Simon advised that they would be spending the day working on a revised itinerary and would let us know later in the day. As we were not entering India in Darjeeling any more our whole itinerary would be changing with the only thing in common being that we would have to get to Kolkata (Calcutta) to catch our flights to SE Asia. It was also at this point that we found out that Teresa had only become aware of the issues in Darjeeling when she called the hotel there to confirm the booking and they had told her we couldn't come. It should noted that until that point there was disappointment in the group at the change to the itinerary just because they were excited about the route but total acceptance to the fact that we couldn't go due to circumstances out with the control of Odyssey - it's the nature of the journey that we are taking that this is a possibility. However, the fact that this had come to the attention of Odyssey by chance was totally unacceptable and made most of us pretty angry. The unrest was serious - with tourists being cut off with no access to food or water for days on end. The Foreign Office advice was against all travel to the region - something done very rarely and only in the case of real danger. Also, if we had gone there with that warning in place it would have invalidated most people's insurance policies. Myself and others were further pissed off by the fact that the warning had been in place for days. This was a known volatile region so why was no-one from Odyssey checking on this daily in the lead up to our imminent arrival? Was the safety of 20 passengers and 2 crew members not important enough to Odyssey? It's hardly like we would be inconspicuous in a bright blue and orange truck. If I was travelling on my own I would be making sure that I checked on the regions I was visiting but this was why I had booked with a company.
Frustrations on the Odyssey front aside, another day in Janakpur awaited and there was even less to do there that day as it was the weekend and all of the shops were closed. Nightmare. A day in front of the TV with the wifi was the best option whilst we awaited our revised itinerary. A few of the group started planning breakaway side trips for 2 reasons. Firstly they had lost faith in Odyssey, although I have to point out not in Teresa and Simon who were doing their best with a bad situation, but with Pete and Kirsten the owners of Odyssey and what was perceived to be their lack of back office support. They themselves were on the road running the Istanbul to Beijing trip and had only been available to Teresa and Simon when they had free wifi. Not the best way to run a business! Secondly, they now had the opportunity to visit Agra and the Taj Mahal which had not been an option before.
When the revised itinerary was posted it was not great but I decided to stay with the trip rather than leave with the breakaway guys. This was largely due to the fact that I had done what they were planning- Agra, Jaipur and Delhi - rather than an urge to do what was now planned. But hey-ho the decision was made and we were leaving the next morning and we were India bound. Despite the change I was excited as I had loved India so much when I had been there previously.
I know that this has been a bit of a moany blog, with some less than flattering comments about Odyssey. However, I do want to give an honest account of my trip and these issues have definitely dominated in Nepal. If anyone reading this is thinking about doing the trip then I feel that these are things they should be aware of and perhaps questioning Odyssey about. To give this balance though I have to point out that I am glad to be doing the trip and over the last 4 months have seen and done some amazing things.
Anyway, enough for now - see you on t'other side of India!
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