In 2013 they’ve been to San Francisco, France, Montreal, Toronto, Northern Ireland, & Equatorial Guinea (West Africa).
Garth and Michelle are currently renting an apartment in Berlin.
Caroline and friends “drove our old Subaru all over Western Canada and the Western States in search of good ski tracks and gigantic outdoor music concerts”. She spent time in Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmania.
Carolyn got accepted for a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning at the University of Toronto. On scholarship.
🙂
14yrs ago I loved Pokhara.
My favourite mountain in the world is Fishtail, a stunning sight from town. If haze and pollution don’t obscure the view.
In 2013, Pokhara is bigger. Busier.
The tourist strip of Lakeside is not as ugly as Thamel in Kathmandu, but it’s still ugly. The same 14 kinds of businesses endlessly repeated.
The lake itself is pretty.
Pokhara … is the third largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu and Biratnagar respectively with … a population of 264,991 … situated about 200 km west of the capital Kathmandu.
… Three out of the ten highest mountains in the world — Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu — are situated within 30 miles (linear distance) of the city, so that the northern skyline of the city offers a very close view of the Himalayas. …
… the city is also a base for trekkers undertaking the Annapurna Circuit …
… There are two 5-star hotels and approximately 305 other hotels that includes five 3-star, fifteen 2-star and non-star hotels in the city. …
Adventure sports such as base jumping, paragliding, canyoning, rock climbing, etc. are targeted towards tourists. …
On the other hand, after 17 days in-a-row on the trail, it was glorious to get back to civilization.
I ate nearly every meal at Lemon Tree. Fantastic!
I stayed a Phil’s Inn for $9 / night. Hot showers. Comfortable. And quiet. Phil, a lay Christian preacher, is a terrific host.
In November 2013 flights Pokhara to Kathmandu were $106. The luxury bus $20.
That includes a terrific all-you-can-eat buffet en route at this resort.
Take the bus, if you can.
see my Pokhara pics & a few of the bus ride back to Kathmandu
You still need a visa in ADVANCE to visit India. Getting one is a pain.
I spent hours in a Kafkaesque office in Calgary, trying to get the paperwork right.
WHEN is India going to improve the process for applying for a tourist visa?
In Canada you are recommended to go through a 3rd party – BLS India. That helps. A bit.
All foreign nationals except those from Nepal and Bhutan need a visa to enter India. But the following nationals can probably get what we all want — a visa on arrival:
Finland
Japan
Luxemburg
New Zeeland
Singapore
Vietnam
Philippines
Laos
Myanmar
Cambodia
India is fascinating, once you finally get a visa.
On arrival at Mumbai International terminal, I changed cash at Thomas Cook.
US$200 got me … 11,250 rupees (“Trans Fees, Service tax, Education Cess., Higher Education Cess., etc)
Google (same day) told me $200 was worth 12,410 rupees.
So I lost 9.35% by going through Thomas Cook. Par for the course, I believe.
Using my Visa card cash advance was, the Thomas Cook agent told, was going to cost me about 16%.
There seems to be no good way to get cash when traveling abroad, these days. My plan in future is to try not to exchange currencies more than once. You get burned each time.
Many — including me — are finding the best fares and routing for long trips on Turkish Airlines. They boast more destinations than any other airlines.
Istanbul is trying to compete with Emirates and Qatar as the most desirable hub in that region.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was one of the GREAT men. An anti-apartheid revolutionary and President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
I honour the amazing things he accomplished in one lifetime.
I’m headed back to South Africa, arriving JOHANNESBURG on Jan 16th.
Swoyambhunath is an ancient religious complex atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley … It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living (there) …
The Swayambhunath complex consists of a stupa, a variety of shrines and temples, some dating back to the Licchavi period. A Tibetan monastery, museum and library are more recent additions. …
The stupa consists of a dome at the base, above which is a cubical structure painted with eyes of Buddha looking in all four directions with the word “unity” in the main Nepali dialect between them …
The 4th time I’ve been there, far fewer monkeys and feral dogs roam the complex than in the past.
see all my high resolution photos on flickr
I spent 30 days in Nepal, starting and ending the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bhaktapur. It’s a living museum of temples, wood, metal and stone artwork.
You could set a film there from hundreds of years ago without changing … anything.
Bhaktapur and the Monkey Temple are my two favourite places in Kathmandu.
I left a review of the excellent Shiva 1 Guesthouse on Trip Advisor.
See all my high res Bhaktapur photos on flickr.
Trip reports coming soon. In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite pics from 18 days trekking around 3 of the highest peaks in the world.
🙂
A delay in starting a big trek due to holiday turned out well.
Tihar … also known as Deepawali in terai region of Nepal is a five-day-long Hindu and Buddhist festival …
The name Tihar means the festival of lights, where many candles are lit both inside and outside the houses to make it bright at night. …
The second day is called Kukur Tihar or Kukur Puja (worship of the dogs).
In the ancient World Heritage site of Bhaktapur, it’s even more evocative.
more photos of Bhaktapur.
Rick McCharles 