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Our little family adventure
  • Jean, Angie, Lila and Seb
  • Jean, Angie, Lila and Seb

Our little family adventure

We are travelling for 6 months for a bit of world education for Lila before she starts school + we like travelling :) Read more
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  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler
    1

    Day 5 Jomsom to Kagbeni

    June 12, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Today we left for a morning of trekking leaving Jomsom towards Kagbeni. Passing amazing arid surrounding with lots of stones and rocks (macapaca would be in heaven) and the occasional lush green apple orchard and always surrounded by beautiful mountains. We crossed small parts of the river bed, climbed and descended different paths and saw horses and donkeys. It was nice to arrive in Kagbeni, an amazing old Tibetan town.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Day 5 Kagbeni

    June 12, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    After finding a nice place to stay and a shower and rest, we headed out to explore the old town of Kagbeni. There is an old Tibetan monestary and a very old part of town with amazing old stone walls, old wooden doors and people with amazing character in their faces just about town. We had a nice tea at a cute old tea shop, watched people coming home in the afternoon after working the wheat fields and saw a herd of long haired mountain goats pass us in the street.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler
    2

    Day 6 Kagbeni to Jharkot

    June 13, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    We left Kagbeni this morning after a yummy Tsampa porridge breakfast and followed the river upstream. We were about to head back to the road when we came across a family herding mountain goats who showed us part of the way, we saw one of their tiny day of goats and the had to climb up from the river to the road side. We were met with newly tarred road, which was odd but made for easier walking. The view was nothing short of spectacular, with huge mountain peaks all around. The road is tarred as the are a huge number of jeeps heading up to Muktinath, a holy pillgramage site for Hindus. So much of their tourism over the past 10 years has moved from trekking to Nepalese and Indian pillgrams. Lila managed to do some walking to a nice view point and we were lucky to catch a lift on the back of a tractor and then walked to what we thought was our next destination, however was the village before. We decided to rest here for the night and rethought whether we would aim for Muktinath, as this was quite an amazing old village.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Day 7 Rest day Jharkot to Muktinath

    June 14, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    We decided to take a rest day at Jharkot, because we loved this old village, but also because it would allow us to go to Muktinath, a famous Hindus pillgrams site, but also a place at 3760m above sea level and surrounded by amazing peaks. From Jharkot, Muktinath is about 30-45min walk, but pretty steep uphill (as you climb 250m in altitude)...so for us it's about twice that time. Lila did a pretty amazing job walking most of it (possibly motivated by the lolly reward at the end...ahhh no... we have been turned to lolly bribery!). Lila enjoyed ringing the many bells on the way and Jean had a little dip in the freezing cold holy water at the temple at the top. There is a huge black Buddha, and other small side shrines and temples which make this a pretty special experience. After a meltdown from Lila (we're unsure if it was her hangry or altitude sickness) we walked down whilst soaking in the magical mountains surrounding us and then had what I think was my best meal in Nepal so far, home cooking from our guesthouse.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Day 9 Jomsom to Tatopani

    June 16, 2018 in Nepal

    Bumpity bump and more bumpy than a camel ride can describe our bus trip down to Tatopani today. Taking 5-6hrs to cover 55km on what in some sections could barely be described as road. We had an hour stop for some 'road works', which generally means fixing the road after a landslide. Saw a herd of goats pass in front of the bus, including one goat which had literally just given birth. Drove through lots of running water (which Lila found very amusing). And the bumpy ride must have been somewhat rythmic, as Lila also managed to sleep for a short period!Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Day 10 Tatopani to Ghara

    June 17, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We had a huge day today, Lila walked the entire walk by herself without asking for a lift :) and she chose a good day to do it, it was around 5km uphill ascending 500m in altitude. Our game was to guess what thing we would see next, and it was nice that it was more likely to pass cows or horses instead of a truck or jeep. When we climbed the main ascent, we were treated to some easier walking towards the top of the hill and passing hills would open up lovely views of the next hills with a sprinkling of houses or villages. We finally reached the village of Ghara that we would spend the night. We found a sweet simple guesthouse and Lila was so excited to find other children here that she spent the rest of the afternoon running around with them, whilst we were tired from the days walk. Lila decided the wanted to shower like the other girl and washed under the tap if very cold mountain water and we had our first taste of yak cheese which Lila instantly loved and were treated to amazing home cooking for our dinner of potato cheese momos and fried potato with tomato and cheese.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Day 11 Ghara to Chitre

    June 18, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    We woke this morning and Lila enjoyed a fire cooked corn with the other children before they got ready for school. It was another day of uphill walking, ascending roughly another 500-600m in altitude to about 2300m over 8-9km. Lila's amazing walking yesterday, didn't seem to transfer to this morning, however it may have been leaving new friends. There was lovely walking through forests and sometimes what seemed like never ending stone stairs. Lila We passed 2 villages were were hoping to stop at for the night, however being the off season they didn't have any guesthouses open, so we continued onto Chitre where we found a fancy (for this part of the world) hotel.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler
    4

    Day 12 Chitre to Nagathanti

    June 19, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Today we woke to a clear morning and were treated to views of the snow capped peaks of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I mountains. We have our last day of climbing before we got to the peak at The before starting our downhill descent. Another slow few hours of climbing lots of stone stairs often being passed by groups of mules carrying building supplies or food to Ghorepani (as it can only be accessed by foot). The hard work of the mules and their herders is contrasted by the almost hypnotic and meditative sounds they make with their bells around their necks. We finally reached Ghorepani and then had a lovely simple lunch at a home restaurant and Lila had a play with their little girl and homemade swing. We decided not to stay in Ghorepani and had some tea whilst we experienced some monsoon downpour. Lila was very excited to done her wet weather gear and we started our descent through lovely forest before stopping for the night at the next village.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Day 13 Nagathanti to Tikkedhunga

    June 20, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Today we continued our downhill descent and started to see more trekkers who were climbing to do the popular Ghorepani- Poon Hill trek. After passing Ulleri we were faced with the steep stone stairs descending 500m in altitude over 2km. We passed many going up (and not seeming like they were having a good time with it) and felt quite thankful we were going downhill, although our joints were feeling differently. We finally got to the bottom and crossed the river with a lovely waterfall to Tikkedhunga where we stayed the night...our legs very happy to be stopping after the punishing downhill climb.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Day 14 Tikkedunga to Pokhara

    June 21, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Our last day of trekking saw us leave the deep and narrow gorge and the path opened up to lovely views of terraced hills with small villages. We passed many people preparing and planting rice, tending their fields of corn or collecting plant feed for their cows or horses. There were school kids heading up the mountain and buffalos taking a dip in muddy waters. Our proximity to the end of our trek was becoming more evident with the villages we passed and when we reached Nayapul we caught the local bus back to Pokhara, which seemed so busy after the peaceful tranquillity of mountain village trekking (ironically Pokhara seemed so calm when we arrived from India). We thankful received a lovely welcome from our guesthouse sanctuary in Pokhara and all had very thorough hot showers to end a beautiful yet at times challenging 2 week Himalayan trek :)Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Rest and relaxation in Pokhara

    June 24, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We had a relaxing few days in Pokhara after our walk to rest our tired legs. Lila got some sunglasses, perhaps more a fashion accessory than eye protection? We visited Devi's falls and a cave which the falls run into, as well as visited a Tibetan settlement/ refugee camp and saw some amazing yak wool carpet making. We indulged in some galette in the hyper touristy North Lakeside (which we didn't know existed!) And indulged even more when we found a local dairy supplier with cheese! After seeing some massive screens at fancy restaurants showing the world cup the previous day, we passed a neighbourhood effort of a makeshift screen and projector from a balcony showing the world cup with people watching around the tree and the steps of surrounding shops. Our stay in Pokhara was so lovely and particularly as we found a haven in our guesthouse who made us so welcome. If anyone is heading to Pokhara check out New Summit Guesthouse :) it must have been pretty good because when we were leaving Pokhara, Lila asked when we would be coming back... hopefully it won't be too long until our next visit to Pokhara!Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    A quick visit to Kathmandu

    June 26, 2018 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    What is usually a 6-7hr bus trip for the 200km from Pokhara to Kathmandu, typical for us, ended up being about 11hrs long! We had a wizz of a visit to the capital city of Nepal, which Jean has very fond memories 15yrs ago, but of course has seen so much change in that time. Still, despite all the development, pollution and dust, it is quite a magical city, with a maze of small streets with amazing old temples, shrines and stupas almost every street corner or square and precious old wood carved doors or lined buildings.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Welcome back to India

    June 27, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌧 32 °C

    Lila was very excited to be taking the plane again, this time just a very short flight back to India. It was a bit of a mental challenge for me, to be leaving the relaxing energies of Nepal to go back to the buzzing, lively craziness of New Dehli.
    After readjusting our taste buds back to spicy curry, and enjoying masala chai we did some shopping, Lila and I learnt the hard way, to always give way to cows on the road, and Jean got his usual number 3 from a roadside barber who used scissors instead of an electric clippers as well as a got his broken rubber thongs (flip flops to the non Aussies) repaired by a shoe man, for now saving them from land fill. We ate some very yummy ice cream and visited the Tibetan quarter for a yummy dinner :)    Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Rishikesh

    June 30, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We are on our way back to the Himalayas but this time on the Indian side. Thanks to an old work friend Elyssa, we found out about workaway, which are volunteer opportunities for people travelling. We have stopped in Rishikesh for 2days on our way to our first workaway. Rishikesh is an interesting city on the banks of the holy river Ganges in the Himalayan foothills. It's known for its yoga retreats and ashrams as well as a place for local indian tourism visiting the holy river. And there are literally ashrams, organic sonething and Ayurvedic treatment places every corner you turn. This was a bit of an unplanned stop, as we were originally planning on staying in another town, so we spent our time visiting the same river we visited in Varanasi (this time Jean didn't go for a swim, but we saw someone happily drinking the water from the river), indulging in some expensive but very nice food at an organic cafe (after 2 other places we wanted to eat at were closed for monsoon season), chilling at a lovely cafe and Lila went on a lovely hand operated ride (which she loved!)Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Volunteering with Pahaadi

    July 1, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    After a scenic and lot less bumpy than Nepal bus ride we arrived at Laluri and Dov villages where we would volunteer with Pahaadi society. This new Ngo is run by Dev, a young passionate guy who wants to reverse the dessertification of the village by providing motivation and opportunities for people to remain in the village instead of going to the city. There are a whole range of different projects that they are working on including and organic garden and afternoon classes for children, which were the projects we would work on. These villages are beautiful, people are lovely, however it's pretty evident that life can be hard. Agricultural life involves long days in the field, also trying to fight off monkeys which enjoy the fruits of your hard work. Most families have buffalos, so this involves feeling them with a huge amount of grass, which is grown in fields and women or girls spending their days cutting grass and carrying the bundles of grass on their head up or down the hillside. some girls stop going to school to help their families with this. The village is primarily families and older people and younger children. There is pretty strong absence of people or men in their 20s and 30s as they leave for work in the city. There are beautiful springs where there is a generally good supply of fresh and cool drinking water, however the village only received town/ mains water every 2-3 days. The vehicle free village is such a nice thing, and it means you get a good work out walking within and between villages, which we needed to do each afternoon to get to the afternoon classes.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Mansi's birthday

    July 4, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We were lucky to be invited to a local 14 year old birthday party in the village. Mansi turned 14yrs old today, and was celebrated with a a group of mostly village women making music on the roof top, as apparently birthdays are a celebration for the mother. Followed by birthday cake and dancing to great cheesy Indian pop music :)
    Mansi has been so lovely to Lila and her family have been generous with chai and milk from their buffalos.    Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Most beautiful pool in the world

    July 7, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We were treated to a little hidden jewel in Dov village, a spring fed swimming pool, with amazing mountain views. Some village boys take the responsibility of cleaning the pool weekly and we are lucky to visit just after it's been cleaned. As well as being a swimming pool it's a showering, water collecting and clothes washing venue, so unfortunately our second visit the water wasn't as clean, but Lila enjoyed a little bath in our washing bucket :)Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Returning to Rajasthan

    July 8, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    We volunteered with Pahaadi society for a week and decided it wasn't the best fit for our family. Volunteering with a 4year old was perhaps a little more challenging than we first thought.
    One of the most difficult things was daily routine, we were eating in the evening around 9-10pm, so then Lila wasn't sleeping until after this and then she would wake early morning. She was often wanted to play when we were working in the garden and by the time there were afternoon classes with the children, she was overtired and exhausted.
    So we thought we would try another one in Rajasthan, it's a Democratic Learning Centre, where children decide what they want to learn. The project is based in Agar village about 90km from Jaipur.
    Our trip back to Rajasthan was full of learning. We had waitlisted tickets for a train from holy city Haridwar to Jaipur, which the online estimators suggested we had a 90% chance of being confirmed. Sometimes you only get the confirmation a few hours before the train is due to leave. Anyway we ended up being the 10% chance of not being confirmed. Next lesson, avoid travelling on Sundays, the only day off in India, particularly to Holy cities where everyone is also trying to leave on a Sunday afternoon. After finding our train tickets didn't get confirmed, we then found out all the air con bus tickets were sold out, so we ended up taking the local bus for the 12hr overnight trip to Jaipur. It was in interesting trip which involved going through a traffic packed New Delhi around 1am and getting suck in huge amounts of traffic. We passed huge big glamorous buildings which can be next to families sleeping under tarp tents, which really highlights the huge gap between the rich and the poor here.    Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Visiting Jaipur

    July 9, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 38 °C

    We decided to stop overnight in Jaipur as Jean has always wanted to go there, however his first impression was that it was dirty (and we funnily we arrived in the early morning when they are cleaning the streets, so is generally the cleanest). We took this opportunity to visit the City Palace and Jantar Mantar, a UNESCO site and with huge astronomical instruments.Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Workaway in Rajasthan

    July 10, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 37 °C

    We took the bus to Agar village to volunteer at 'masti Ki pathshala', a democratic learning centre for the children of the village. The idea of this type of school is to let the children decide what they want to learn, there is no curriculum/exams and children can come and go as they please. The centre operates in the afternoon, as the children attend regular government school in the morning. Gautam, the very passionate founder of this Centre faces various challenges, including working in a rural village which he is not from and trying to work with the mentality of people who only believe what they already know. We were lucky to meet other lovely volunteers here from Uraguay, France, Spain and India. We ended up staying 2 weeks here and did some stuff
    around growing seedlings, reducing plastic, team work, and just playing with the children.    Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Agar village

    July 11, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Our home for 2 weeks is the small village Agar in Rajasthan. When we arrived it was very hot, however we brought the rain with us which was so nice to cool things down. Agar is home to around 120 families and the world for most children here is no bigger than a 40km radius around the village. There is a lot of agriculture which includes growing grass to feed buffalos. Many families are also hand making amazing carpets, we were told they work for a big company in Jaipur which deliver the wool to the village and the carpets are made here and then go back to Jaipur to be sold. Many families are big with lots of children and like most villages in India, they live as a big extended family unit. The village has a main bazaar on the main street of town which features about 10 chai wallas, a few tailors, 3-4 barbers, 3-4 doctors/drug distributors, and many general stores which sell a bit of everything. There are lots of monkeys in the village, cows and goats are herded through the village many times during the day. The village becomes alive at 6am, as the daily water supply starts at 6am for about 30-45mins. In the dry season water often doesn't come every day. Here you will see people fetching water, filling their water tanks and children lined up to shower. Like many other villages we have seen, you see women working in their colourful saris and then you see men sitting around on the streets and they appear like they are doing nothing all day. Sorry that's probably a totally bias perspective from a woman!Read more

  • Jean, Angie, Lila and SebOur little family adventureTraveler

    Visiting Ajmer

    July 23, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    After volunteering in Agar we decided to head to holy pilgramage city Ajmer, not too far from Jaipur. Ajmer is a famous pilgrimage city for Muslims as there is the shrine of a Sufi saint. We were told it's quite an amazing peaceful place, however the number of people leading to the shrine made us decide to just pass outside and continue on. The following day we visited a Jain temple museum, with beautiful wooden carvings plated in gold. Jainism is an old religion originating in India, whose main principle is no harm or no violence to any living thing (moving or non moving), to the extent that some people sweep before they walk to avoid stepping on insects and not eating and root vegetables as kills the micronutrients in the ground. The idea of non violence doesn't apply to just actions, but speech and thoughts.Read more

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