Kathmandu

Allo from Nepal.

Well, after leaving Gokarna last wednesday afternoon, I reached Kathmandu on sunday evening after a taxi journey from Gokarna to Margao in Goa, a very long train ride from Margao to Patna, a overnight stop in the city of Patna, a bus from Patna to the border, a rickshaw from the Indian side to the Nepali side of the border, and finally a minibus from the Nepal side of the border over a mountain range to Kathmandu.

Nepal has a different climate to India, it's influenced by the altitude mostly and at present it's fairly warm in the daytime if the sun shines, but cool at night with the occasional thunderstorm and heavy rain included too. Most of the tourists in Kathmandu walk around in shorts and t-shirts, but I've been dressed in trousers and jumper as I think my 5 months in tropical South India has altered my body temperature. It is nice not to be sweating all day though, and there's no mosquitoes here either.

On my first day in Kathmandu (yesterday), I went to a place called Bodnath about 6km east of Kathmandu as I'd heard it was a quieter place than the city to stay. Unfortunately for me, Bodnath and its guesthouses were full of western Buddhist students so I had to return to the city. Kathmandu is a bit of a tourist place which isn't my cup of Chai, so I'm taking a bus at 7am tomorrow morning westwards to the city of Pokhara. It should be more peaceful out there with better scenery and less traffic, although I'm sure it will provide all the familiar tourist paraphernalia which I'll endeavour to avoid.

I took a walk around the Durbar Sqaure area of Kathmandu today, here's a few photos of it plus Bodnath too:

Prayer wheels at the Stupa in Bodnath.

A monastery next to the Bodnath Stupa.

Another monastery.

The top of the Stupa - I couldn't fit it all in one photo.

Kathmandu has a great maze of narrow streets to wander around in, plus loads more things to explore in and around the city. As I need to return to Kathmandu at the end of April to obtain a new visa for India, I'll check out the rest of Kathmandu on my return here.

Kathmandu also suffers from power cuts of approximately 8 hours a day, which means that sometimes the city is plunged into near darkness at nighttime. When I arrived here I had to have a well deserved and very necessary hot shower by candlelight, but hopefully continuous electricity will be available tonight. If not it's going to be a laugh trying to pack my luggage in the dark.

Cheers
Chris

Leaving Gokarna

Allo from Gokarna.

I've had a very relaxing few weeks at Gokarna and Paradise Beach, but soon I must move on as my visa for India runs out on the 2nd April. I left Paradise Beach on the 15th as a storm wreaked havoc on the beach a day before, and the sea was too powerful to swim in. I stayed with a Brahmin family at their guesthouse at one end of Gokarna beach next to a temple, which turnd out to be a really great location with Kudle beach only 15min away and a great view of Gokarna beach too.

I'm catching a train for 42 hours on Wednesday evening to Patna in Bihar state, and I should cross the border into Nepal sometime before sunday afternoon.

I've uploaded an assortment of photos I took around the locality.

My guesthouse, and the bathing tank of the temple in the foreground.

Looking past my guesthouse to the temple.

Fishing in the sea near to my guesthouse.

Rear view of the temple next to my guesthouse. Last friday, a student from Bangalore drowned in the sea just to the left of this photo.

The face of Rama carved out of a rock on the headland above Gokarna beach.

There's lots of cows in Gokarna, but I've not seen any elephants yet.

Striking a catalogue pose in my new clobber for Nepal. I hope the vest and lunghi combo is warm enough...

It gets really hot around midday.

A stone tablet propped up against the house in the photo above.

A continuation of the beach at Gokarna, leading up to the hills in the distance. It's a long way to the end.

Gokarna from on top of the headland at the southern end of the beach. There really is a town underneath all those coconut trees.

Helping cook Chilli Gobi at the Beach in Gokarna.

Reading up on the next destination, Harry Hill style.

Sunset from my balcony.

At the fish market in Gokarna.

I'll publish the next report from somewhere in Nepal once I get there.

Cheers

Chris

Back on Paradise Beach

Allo.

I arrived in Gokarna around the end of February, and after a few days staying in town I moved out to Paradise Beach.

I've managed to get a bamboo hut right on the beach, and there aren't many people around the beach at the moment so I think I'll be here for another week or so at least. I need to leave the country by the end of the month. It's getting really hot here now, temperatures in the mid 30s all day long.

Cheers for now

Chris