UPDATE: All is well on the Manasulu so far. Two more days until we cross the BIG pass. Mike and I are trekking with a couple from Alaska and a couple from Colorado.
Manasulu Circuit with Mike Howarth (UK).
Mostly offline until about Nov 20th.
Category: travel
delayed in Nepal
We’d planned to start trekking the Manasul Circuit (11 days) on Nov. 4th at latest.
Unfortunately government offices are closed for 3 days due to National holidays in Nepal.
Even the dogs are off work.
The city is lit up like Christmas in Canada.
So … our new start date is Nov 7th.
We’re doing the lightest, fastest trek allowed under Nepali law. Two hikers, one guide. Total cost is about $500ea.
The big news in Nepal is the upcoming election:
As the country goes to the polls on November 19, tussles among contesting political parties and election candidates could pose a bigger security threat than underground outfits or poll-opposing parties in the central Tarai, police have said. …
We’ll likely still be in the mountains during the election.
Rick at 57
… I’m sure he’s going to settle down sometime soon. 🙂
The second time I’ve celebrated my birthday in Kathmandu.
Bhaktapur is wonderful
Bhaktapur Durbar Square is a conglomeration of pagoda and shikhara-style temples grouped around a 55-window palace of brick and wood. The square is one of the most charming architectural showpieces of the valley as it highlights the ancient arts of Nepal. …
Here’s the view out my window. ($6 / night)
Bhaktapur is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its rich culture, temples, and wood, metal and stone artwork.
There are more French international tourists than any other nationality.
Surprisingly, there was also a very large group of Chinese tourists here today.
It’s not difficult to spot the Chinese. 🙂
Lunch at my home away from home, Shiva 1 Guesthouse.
$5.50 including a pot of coffee. 🙂
more Bhaktapur photos
Bhaktapur is relatively CLEAN … for the sub-continent.
The $11 entry fee is used, I hope, to keep the suburb like Kathmandu 1970 something …
related – FILTHY INDIA – NOT FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS! (47 PICTURES)
Some Californians just back from Pokhara, Nepal told me it’s now just as polluted as Kathmandu. 😦
It was paradise last time I was there.
boo …
McSadhu. India 1999.
Virgin America Safety Video
Virgin is cool.
… Director Jon M. Chu, Choreographers Jamal Sims and Christopher Scott, Virgin America teammates, and dance stars like Todrick Hall and Madd Chadd to give our safety video a new song and dance — literally. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
(via Dvora Meyers)
… in December 2002, The Economist had quoted an expert as claiming that “No large airliner has ever made an emergency landing on water” in an article that goes on to charge, “So the life jackets … have little purpose other than to make passengers feel better.”
This idea was repeated in The Economist in September 2006 in an article which reported that “in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero.”
Of note is the 15 January 2009 ditching of US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320 narrow-body jet, which successfully ditched in the North River section of the Hudson River …
All on board survived, showing that inflatable slide rafts and life jackets can sometimes serve their purposes, although photographs from the incident show that very few passengers were wearing life jackets. …
train out of Dehradun, India
My train ticket wallah delivered my ticket to the hotel. It’s complicated to purchase a train ticket yourself in India.
Delivery fee $1.60.
I caught the 5:10am Shatabdi 2nd Class non-AC Dehradun to Delhi. About 6hrs. If all goes well, I’ll connect to my flight to Nepal.
Dehradun, the capital city of Uttarakhand state in north India is on nobody’s tourist radar. Yet I managed to spend 4 nights here. 🙂
A few pics.
The Clock Tower.
There are far more toilets in India than the last time I was here, 14yrs-ago. Some Hi-Tech.
Garbage disposal system has advanced more slowly.
Ram Rai mausoleum, one of the few downtown highlights.
more Dehradun photos
I stayed at the Hotel Relax. Recommended. I found it through Trip Advisor, a service I’m using increasingly over Lonely Planet.
worshipping monkeys
Hanuman is a Hindu deity, who was an ardent devotee of Rama according to the Hindu legends. He is a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and its various versions. …
Hanuman participated in Rama’s war against the demon king Ravana. According to Jain texts, Hanuman is a human of vanara clan whose emblem is the monkey. …
One of my photos from Rishikesh, I should submit that for postcard consideration. Postcards are still popular in India.
I’m spending a lot of time studying monkey antics.
Mean, smart, incredibly agile.
visiting Mussoorie
Tourist town on a ridge.
… This hill station, situated in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayan ranges, is also known as the Queen of the Hills. …
Being at an average altitude of 1,880 metres (6,170 ft), Mussoorie, with its green hills and varied flora and fauna …
The main promenade in Mussoorie is called, as in other hill stations, the Mall. In Mussoorie, the Mall stretches from Picture Palace at its eastern end to the Public Library …
During the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion, the Central Tibetan Administration of the 14th Dalai Lama was at first established in Mussoorie before being moved to its present location in Dharamsala …
Now, Mussoorie suffers from overdevelopment of hotels and tourist lodges, given its relative proximity to Delhi, … and has serious problems of garbage collection, water scarcity and parking shortages, especially during the summer tourist season. …
It has a nature walk known as “Camel’s Back Road”. …
I stayed on the Camel’s Back (the best part of town) at Lonely Planet darling cheapo, the Broadway Hotel.
Here’s the view out my door.
Spiritualism is important in India. Check the impressive hospital just off the Camel’s Back.
Education is important in India.
Woodstock School is a Christian, international, co-educational, residential school located in Landour, a small hill station contiguous with the town of Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India.
One of the best schools in the nation.
Trash disposal is not high priority in India. Mussoorie is better than most other towns, however.
Like most tourists, I enjoyed Mussoorie. 🙂
farewell Rishikesh
I’m off to Mussoorie.
Rick McCharles 