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May - June 2023
Kathmandu, Chitwan & Pokhara Read more
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  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 1

    1. Lukla to Kathmandu

    May 20, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    We were woken up at 0600 by Gumbu , saying that we had to be at the airport in half an hour . Gombu said the night before to be ready for breakfast at 0700 , so it was a bit of a shock . Luckily we had packed the night before , and we managed to make it to the airport in good time .
    Lukla airport was complete chaos , the check in was rammed and we had to pay an extra fee for overweight luggage. Which started at 2000 ruppees, James managed to Haggle down to 200 😂
    After waiting about half an hour , the plane to Ramichap arrived , it was tiny and looked very old. The plane could only take 16 passengers and you could see straight into the cockpit.
    Take off was so scary , the runway is very short and you sort of fall off a hill at the end 🤣.
    Our flight was a grand total of 15 mins long to Ramechap , there was quite a lot of turbulence in that 15 minutes 😳.
    Ramechap was very hot and humid , and the minibus to Kathmandu was also transporting another flight , so we had to wait a while before we could leave . During this time , we met a lovely man called Sam, he was selling bananas , crisps and drinks by the side of the minibuses . He was so happy and funny and we got along very well . He was telling us to visit Darjeeling (where all the nice tea comes from) amongst other recommendations .
    The journey from Ramichap is about 5-6 hours long . The minimus was very cramped , hot and uncomfortable . Most of the main roads are under construction in Nepal, so it was a very bumpy ride . Our driver kept overtaking on blind bends whilst on his phone , it was crazy .
    After all that dodgy overtaking, we managed to get to Kathmandu in 4.5 hours .
    We checked into our room and sorted through all our clothes that needed washing from the trek and dropped them off at a launderette. We felt like we needed a good food binge after our trek , so we ate loads of fried chicken for dinner - which was amazing!
    Afterwards, we walked slowly back to our hotel room and watched a mountaineering film called "touching the void " before going to sleep . The bed is so comfortable .    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 2

    2. Durbar Square

    May 21, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    This morning we had a lie in until 10 and then went up and had a huge breakfast to fuel the day.. This didn't work... The food was lovely, but we ended up going back to bed for a while.

    Once up, and on the way to Durbar Square. We came across a square which seemed to have every single pigeon in Nepal in, it was choas, all the monks were feeding them seed and they were flying everywhere - choas!! We eventually walked on approx 1km to Durbar Square, which is located in front of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom, which is a World Heritage Site. Several buildings in the square collapsed due to a major earthquake on 25 April 2015. Durbar Square is surrounded with amazing architecture and showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The Kathmandu Durbar Square were the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city. Along with the palaces, the square is surrounded by courtyards and temples also. We saw ancient royal Elephant carriers, used to house the royals, the elephants had fancy headpieces and were often painted aswell.
    It was a fascinating day and sad that some of these were still being rebuilt in 2023 nearly 9 years since the previous big earthquake, they use traditional craftmen using old methods to rebuild using no modern machinary.

    We went to a lovely restaurant called Mithos and had an amazing Chicken Tikka wrap, and a starter, which had uncooked noodles in a Nepalese sauce.. They were both absolutely delicious. Best food yet in Nepal and some of the cheapest also! We will be back😁    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 5

    3. Monkey Temple 4 & 5. Sickness🤢

    May 24, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    May 22nd :
    James I went to visit to the most famous buddhist stupa in Kathmandu, known as the Swayambhu. This is a Tibetan name , which translates as "sublime trees ". The Swayambhu is a popular tourist place to visit as there are loads of macaque monkeys there.
    It was amazing to see monkeys thriving so well in human altered environments . They were very cute , lots of mother monkeys carrying their babies underneath them !
    There were lots of stairs to climb to get up to the main temple, it was well worth the steps as it was just beautiful , here is what the swayambhu has to offer:

    A huge gold plated Vajra ‘thunderbolt’ set in the east side of the stupa.

    Buddha statue on the west side of Swayambhu.

    The Sleeping Buddha.

    The Dewa Dharma Monastery, noted for a bronze icon of Buddha and traditional Tibetan paintings.

    The temple dedicated to Harati, the goddess of all children. It is said that she was an ogress before Lord Buddha converted her to be the caretaker of all children.

    James and I went back to the hotel for a short while afterwards. We met up with Badrinda, who gave us our trekking certificates! Then we headed to a place called "Yogs rooftop restaurant " to meet Katie , Galen Benedict and MK for our final meal together.
    We had some cocktails and some nibbles together , James and I had chicken curry for main , which at the time was lovely , we certainly are paying for it now though 🤮.
    It was sad to say goodbye to Katie and Galen , but we wished them all the best for their short trip to Turkey and all of their wedding planning !
    Benedict and his girlfriend, MK are going to Pokara , so we may see them again !

    23rd, 24th May

    Unfortunately James and I have really bad tummies , most likely from the chicken at Yogs . We managed have a little look around Kathmandu on the 23rd, we managed to buy some sew on badges to go on our bunting that Kalata made for the van.
    Today has just been the worst though , both of us unable to.leave the hotel room and very uncomfortable from the abdominal cramps ! We hope this goes away very soon !    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 7

    6. Pashupathi temple 7. Sorting day

    May 26, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    6. Pashupatinath Temple and the Buddha stupa
    Fortunately , James and I were starting to feel better today and managed to do a bit more sight seeing - starting off with the Pashupatinath temple .
    The temple is situated on the banks of the river Bagmati in Kathmandu , the temple of Pashupatinath is one of the ancient places of worship. It is the oldest Hindu temple in Nepal, dating back to 400 BC.
    Open cremation is practiced here and has been for centuries , it is the largest cremation area in Nepal. It is believed that if cremated here ,you would be reborn as human or animal in your next life. By having the cremation beside the river it means you had all the elements surrounding your death, fire, air, water, earth.

    We were mortified to learn that 70 years ago in Nepal if the husband died early, the wife (whatever age) would be expected to burn themselves alive beside the husband being cremated. If she didn't abide the locals would stone her to death anyway. The president changed the law when his daughter's husband suddenly died at an early ago... Was very brutal to hear, especially that human sacrifice can still be found in some parts of Nepal.

    James and I found this whole experience quite strange , but it was very interesting and eye opening.

    We then headed to the Biggest Stupa in the world north of Kathmandu, another world heritage site. The Stupa was surrounded by quirky shops and nice cafes. We had walk around it a couple of times, buying a few bits along the way. It seems that at every Stupa/Heritage areas in Nepal, there is 50 million pigeons😂😂🇳🇵.

    7. Today we had the longest simple processes of our life... Firstly we went to Immigration office to extend our visa, when we arrived there was literally zero structure, people everywhere... We weren't expecting much for the mayhem Nepal is, but still! Firstly you do an online form, then big que to line 1 for a stamp, then across to line 6 to pay and then back to line 3 for a sticker which took about an hour to print😂 it seemed all these processes could probably be done from one line, but anyway, we finally had the stamp.
    We then headed off and got a sim card to last another 2 weeks, which fortunately was very straightforward .
    Finally we had to send a parcel, we knew this wouldn't be simple. After finally finding a card box, cello tape and packaging up all our trekking goods, we got to the cargo drop to find everything is emptied and they package the parcel for you.. With a detailed report of everything inside, this is aired onto Abu Dhabi and they do customs again there and then goes onto the UK. After a very long process to send an already packaged parcel, we had a list of goods and me assisting in the repackaging 😬 we had successfully dropped off our parcel.
    Quite a long day for things which should take no time. 😅 We still love you Nepal but you are crackers.
    We headed to a lovely restaurant for dinner and had some pasta dishes, the best ones yet. I ordered a sizzling chocolate brownie for pudding and it literally came out on a hot sizzingling pan, burnt to buggery! 🔥😂 Anyway early night as its Chitwan Safari early tomorrow morning.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    1
    Day 8

    8. Chitwan Safari Day 1

    May 27, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ 🌧 29 °C

    Today we got up early and were taken to the bus station. We got on what Nepal call a Tourist bus, which is ultimately a short wheelbase coach. It was a long 6 hours bumping and braking along the Nepalese roads. We finally got to National park looking areas and suddenly Tiger warning signs were along the roads which was quite exciting. Upon arriving, we had a drink and some lunch and then had a couple of hours to kill before heading out to look around a traditional Tharu village. We were caught in a really bad unexpected storm of high winds and sidewards rain, "it's raining sideways! " (family guy). When this calmed down we walked along the river to an Government Elephant Breeding Centre. Along the way we saw a variety of birds, deer and upon arriving we saw some Wild Boar, White spotted deer and Jackals. The Elephants were all chained up when we arrived but this is due protection from "local poachers" and protecting them from locals as they destroy precious crops. We weren't overly happy to see the Elephants like this, but on the other hand they have been an asset to protecting the park from poachers and assisting vets getting to wounded wild animals as they blend in so well. The number of asian elephants is on the up and there is a decline in the amount used for tourist purposes, only approx 20 are now used for this purpose, down from 100, 2 years ago.
    We then came back and went to a Tharu Cultural Show which was very interesting and involved tribal dancing with fire show aswell. We came back had some dinner and spoke with Valerie, a retired teacher from Switzerland, who had been working in Lukla on a school her friend set up.. Was very interesting talking to her about her friends successes but they need more long term English teachers.. @ Mum!! You could retire to the mountains ⛰️😁    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 9

    9. Chitwan Safari AM

    May 28, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Chitwan safari day 2 :
    First activity today was canoeing in the Rapti River to spot some crocodiles !
    The canoe boats are dug out single silk cotton trees, with tiny little wooden stools to perch on , it couldn't get much more rustic than that! . Each canoe boat could fit about ten passengers .
    The canoe trip was about an hour long , we saw plenty of Mugger crocodiles ( the ones that attack humans) quite close to the boat , they were big ones too ! They can grow up to 6 metres long and are considered extremely dangerous compared to the Gharial crocodiles, that only eat fish .
    We were also lucky enough to see a cute little turtle 🐢.
    Along the river we also saw lots of birds , such as kingfishers , open billed stalks and green shanks . There were some peacocks too !
    After the canoe ride , we went for a walk in the jungle , the guide had to give us a safety talk in case we bumped into any rhinos, tigers or bears , which was very amusing seeing as we only had the guide and a big bamboo stick for protection . We were told to give the tigers eye contact and never turn your back to them . For the rhinos , hide behind a big tree and for the bears , run away in zig zags due to their poor field of vision . We felt very reassured to know this !
    Unfortunately we didn't get to put this advice into practice on our jungle walk , but we did see some lovely birds- including a huge bird,called a Sarus Crane .
    After our jungle walk , we were offered to go and bathe an elephant . Although we felt a little uncomfortable having much to do with trained elephants , we agreed that we would go and bathe the elephant .
    We happily walked into the crocodile infested waters to splash about with the elephant , whose name we think is tickles. Tickles lay down in the water and let us splash him , but tickles had the advantage and managed to get James and I completely drenched . It was so funny and a genuinely amazing experience that we will never forget.    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 9

    9. Chitwan Safari PM

    May 28, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After a busy morning and once dry from the Elephant encounter, we set off to go on our jeep safari. We had to first get in a canoe to cross another crocodile river to get to the jeeps. The jeeps had approx 12 people in, me and Grace were sat on the front which made great views. We went through a mixture of terrains, from Marshland to jungle, grasslands to swamps. Along the way we saw many different deers, about 6 rhino's, peacocks and many colourful birds. The safari was about 4 hours so we covered alot of the park, we were happy to see the working elephants enjoying the grasslands with their keepers also. About half way around the park we stopped to see a Gharial Crocodile Breeding Centre, these crocs are funny looking with a really thin jaw, they only eat fish so pose little threat to humans here. Unfortunately we didn't see any of the 128 Royal Bengal Tigers roaming the park, these are quite rare to see and usually spotted dusk time; we are hoping to see these tomorrow night when we stay deep in the jungle in a treetop house. These tigers are lovely to see but living in such close proximity to humans, they cause quite a commotion with the locals. When the tigers are getting older they are slower and get lazy for meals, that is when livestock and humans become on the menu. They kill roughly 12 people here a year and the crocodiles it's roughly 8 per year.
    We have a long walk into the jungle tonight, to get to the tree house. It will take approx 1 hour, seems so strange being able to walk through active jungles, but we have had a training on what to do if we encounter these animals and have a guide with a big stick.... 😬. So all will be fine, apparently we have one of the best houses for viewing as its right next to a river where the animals come to drink and bathe in the evening. We are heading to the house at about 5pm so will have about 3 hours view before it gets dark, then we use a big torch if we hear anything at night. We are super excited!!    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 10

    10. Tree top night

    May 29, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 39 °C

    This morning, we had a lovely lie in until about 0900 as the beds were just super comfy, the comfiest we have had yet. We wanted to conserve our energy ready for the watch house in the jungle tonight.
    It was seriously hot today, about 43 degrees, so we didn't manage to do much throughout the day, although we did have a little look around the village for a short while.
    At around 430, we set off to our jungle watch house. We went over the Rapti river, past the elephant sanctuary and into the jungle. En route we saw lots of monkeys and deer, as well as lots of birds. The walk to the watch house was about an hour long, and it was still extremely hot.
    When we arrived, James and I were shown to our room, which was on the top floor! We shared the watch house with another couple, they didn't seem bothered by the beautiful nature surrounding us and they went to bed very early, whilst James and I sat with the guides untill about 10, just listening to the jungle sounds, spotting the fireflys (so cool) and searching for wildlife with the torches.
    We spotted so many crocodiles, some deer, herons and Malibu's too. The noise of the jungle was so beautiful, relaxing and calming. It was quite a funny night as the guides shared their home brewed jungle booze with us!
    James and I actually slept really well in our boiling hot room. We woke up just as the sun was starting to come up and it was a glorious sunrise! We were woken up at 0430 by our guide as there was a Rhino infront of us, drinking from the river. We also saw the elephants from the sanctuary being taken on a safari crossing over the river!
    We started to walk back to the hotel at 0530, we had to catch the bus to Pokhara for 0730. Pokhara will take about 7 hours on the bus, but we are super excited as we have booked a nice spa hotel with a swimming pool as a treat for my birthday tomorrow!    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 11

    11. Transport to Pokhara

    May 30, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Day 11
    After our night in the tree top , we started walking through the jungle and back to the hotel at 0530 . We managed to squeeze in a quick breakfast before getting dropped off at the chitwan bus station , ready to catch our bus to Pokhara.
    The bus journey to Pokhara was so bumpy, it felt like a very long 7 hour journey . The man infront of us kept reclining his chair and poor James had no room .It was really funny as everytime James asked him to move his seat up , he just reclined it again about 5 mins later .James did very well to keep his patience .
    When we eventually arrived in Pokhara , we grabbed a taxi to the hotel . Its a real treat to stay in a nice hotel with a pool , and that serves proper coffee !
    We sorted our room out and grabbed a drink before going into the pool . The swimming pool although refreshing, is in the shade and is absolutely freezing - so we didn't stay too long in there .
    After a quick shower , we had an early dinner and chilled on the roof top terrace for a while , enjoying the view and the sun set .    Read more

  • JGM TRAVELS 2023Nepal🇳🇵
    Day 12

    12. Grace's Birthday

    May 31, 2023 in Nepal ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    Day 12

    Today was a special day, as it was Gracie's birthday. We got up at our leisure and had a huge posh breakfast from our hotel. We had a swim and enjoyed sunbathing for a few hours, later in the evening once it had cooled down, we headed to the Pewa Lakeside for a sunset walk. It is really beautiful here in Pokhara, mountains surrounding us. We had a mooch around the shops to replace our rucksack which hasn't even lasted 2 weeks, and we got Grace a couple of birthday gifts. In the evening we went to a lovely highly rated restaurant called Fresh Elements, we had some nice pizzas and a few beers whilst listening to a local band. The service and food here was incredible, they wrote on the cake and lit a candle for Grace which was really sweet. We sat in here till late and was the nicest evening experience we have had in Nepal.Read more

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