Happy New Year 2065

Being in India was like travelling hundreds of years back in time. Being in Nepal, it seems I have been transported 50-odd years into the future. Yesterday was New Years day in the year 2065 - it's pretty surreal and does actually make me wonder if I fell into some kind of Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole.

I've just arrived in Pokhara. It took about 7hours by bus from Kathmandu and was actually a really nice trip with lots of pretty scenery that was like the south island but with rice paddies. It's always abit unnerving though when you pass lots of burned out buses that've crashed into cliffs along the way and your bus is overtaking other buses while hurtling around corners. I arrived in one piece though and am really liking Pokhara. Its so similar to Wanaka with a big lake and mountains which are so much bigger than I thought they'd be!

Here's some photos from around the Kathmandu Valley.

A god painted down Freak Street, near Durbar Square.

Markets down Freak Street.

The giant stupa at Boudnath, a nice town with alot of Tibetian Buddhists living there.

Prayer wheels around the stupa.

A little girl with 'free tibet' shaved into her hair in Boudnath.

The view from the top of the monkey temple (can't remember the name of the town). I thought it'd be a nice peaceful walk here from my guesthouse, but it turned out to be a walk through fields of rubbish until I was completely lost and had to get a taxi. The temple was a strange mix of monkeys, beggars, monks, and people selling drugs and handicrafts.

Marijuana growing wild on the side of the road.

Kathmandu, Nepal

I've finally arrived in Kathmandu. I had the train ride from hell from Jaipur to Delhi - I hadn't reserved a ticket and there was about 100 times too many people for each seat. I'd been planning on sitting on the ground between the carraiges, but even that part was full of people! But as all things in India go, the kindness of newly made friends guaranteed that everything worked out. I then flew from Delhi to Kathmandu on the scariest flight of my life - I think we were caught in an electrical storm because the whole trip was as though the plane was missing vital parts of its engine and at one point it actually dropped from the sky for afew (very long) seconds. The screaming and praying going on in the seats around me didn't exactly help to calm my fears of an early death either. But we landed safe and sound. I've been here about a week I think, but haven't been able to see much because once again I became crippled by sickness. By the fourth bout of the same illness, you really do start to lose your faith in doctors. Each time I went to a doctor in India they handed out colourful pills, told me to eat bannanas, and told me to 'dont worry be happy'. Sometimes you need a little more than a positive mindset and a bunch of bananas to cure an illness. But oh well, I'm in Nepal now and I have found a real clinic with real doctors in it and sterilised equipment and everything! So things are looking good....
Except for the political situation in Nepal that is. I wasn't aware that the election from last october had actually been postponed until this April - in about 4 days time. In NZ elections aren't really a big deal, but here there's all sorts of bombs and kidnappings involved because of the maoists (a communist party that's pretty pissed off) so Kathmandu is pretty much closing down and we're going into hiding until the elections over and things are safe again.
Besides all that bad news, Nepal is really beautiful and so are the people. They're really tiny people but have big kind smiles. It"s nice to be in a cooler climate too , the hills and crisp air remind me of Dunedin, and the electical storms at night are really cosy. It's also a nice break from the pollution, dirtyness, and constant stares of India - not that I don't love India, but sometimes being stared at all day does get abit annoying.
As usual, there's lots of manky dogs around (they make me miss Jake!) which is cool because they seem to keep to their territories and provide handy landmarks for me when I'm walking through the markets. I refuse to believe that something so cute, fluffy and smiley as a manky street dog could possibly have rabies.
Sorry, no photos yet, I'll get some up as soon as I can venture back out into the world. Thanks everyone for the emails and comments, it's sometimes nice to feel that home isn't so far away :)