After an overnight flight, from Heathrow, I arrive in Delhi airport at an early hour. I am a little confused by some of the instructions and stand in a long queue with my visa before I am directed to a different counter for “foreigners.” I am relieved to see my suitcase in baggage collection and emerge through arrivals to find “Women with Wheels’, the transport to my hotel. Two immaculately dressed young Indian women escort me to a slightly beaten-up looking car. I clamber into the back seat next to my suitcase. No seatbelts! We stall three times before we have even left the car park. Then we are off. I had read about the traffic in India but nothing had prepared me for this, even the experiences in Vietnam. Motorbikes, cars, buses, pedestrians, cows- all heading in one direction and some towards us. There is a cacophony of sound, mainly vehicle horns blaring and tooting. I realise later that this is customary in India and not a sign of irate drivers. We swerve in and out of the traffic, narrowly missing pedestrians and vehicles. I can hardly believe that we will make it to the hotel in one piece. I close my eyes and try to breathe in deeply.
After about forty minutes, the road changes slightly. I notice piles of rubbish on the footpaths and tangled electrical wires everywhere. I think we are in an area called Karol Bagh in Central Delhi, where my hotel is located, innocuously named Hotel Perfect.
I am greeted enthusiastically by the hotel staff, who inform me that my room is ready and that my friend, Sonja from Australia is already here. We met earlier this year on a trip to Lombok and made a plan to travel together to India. At this very moment she emerges from the lift. We hug and head up to my room. It is dark and the bathroom looks a bit worn and the towels grey and scratchy. After I take a quick cold shower, we meet again in the lobby and have a slightly odd breakfast in the deserted dining room in the hotel. The hotel staff are helpful and escort us to an ATM. I wait at the bottom of the stairs and meet the first of many scammers, who tells me that he is a driver for G Adventures and can offer me a good price for a tour of the city. He proceeds to show me his phone with pictures of people he purports to know in England and some random wedding photos. He follows us all the way back to the hotel. As promised, the hotel staff organise a taxi to show us some major sites of interest around the city. First, we visit the Laxminarayan Temple, where Sonja is pestered outside by a man showing her pictures from the Kama Sutra. She shakes him off and we go inside the temple. We are wearing shorts so we are given some brightly coloured pieces of material to wrap around ourselves. After this we head to the government buildings, including Old Parliament House, which was the seat of the Parliament of India until 2023. We are able to take some photos from a distance. At this point it begins to rain, the kind of rain we had experienced often in Bali. Torrential. We are ill equipped with no umbrella or raincoats between us. The taxi then heads to Humayun’s Tomb Complex, where we get out and consider going in but we are getting wetter by the minute. We climb back into the taxi and head for Lodhi Garden, which contains various tombs. We try to walk beneath the trees to keep the rain off us. Drenched, we return to the taxi and ask to go back to the hotel. We dry off and change and then head out, escorted by a member of the hotel staff to the weirdly named Hooters restaurant, where I experience my first taste of true Indian curry. Again, a man joins us, claiming to be a CEO of a travel company. He has bad teeth and a squint and is clearly not who he claims to be. As we leave the restaurant, he expertly steers us into a sari shop ,“Just to look”. We are firm and escape, stepping boldly into the street trying to avoid being knocked over and scuttle back to the sanctuary of the hotel, avoiding dogs, people, tuk -tuks and motorbikes on the way. Welcome to India!
Later we meet our guide and fellow travellers. Our CEO greets us with the ubiquitous marigold garlands and places them around our necks. They symbolize purity, positive energy and connection between life and death and serve to ward off evil spirits, apparently. Our guide tells us to call him CP and he welcomes us to India. He tells us it is a country of three Cs: colour, cows and curry. I could add a few more already such as: crazy, chaotic, cacophonous and challenging! Our group comprises three Americans, one Canadian, four Australians, a German, a Brit who lives in New Zealand and me. CP gives us some more information about the trip ahead and then we all walk together back to Hooters for dinner and my second curry of the day. After this we dodge the traffic and head back to the hotel as we have an early start in the morning, which will prove to be the first of many.
Bleary eyed, we meet at 6.20am in the lobby and climb aboard our small bus which will be our mode of transport for the next few days. Bags are expertly piled on the top of the bus. First, we make a brief stop at Connaught Place, known for high end shopping and nightlife and also famous for its iconic architecture. We are in the area of New Delhi, the capital, with much wider streets, vegetation and is much cleaner but still with relentless traffic. We visit the India Gate Triumphal Arch, which is the Arc de Triomphe of Delhi. Then back on the bus to head out of the city to begin our long journey to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan and known as the “Pink City.” We stop after a while for a quick breakfast of Masala Dosa and Masala Chai. We rejoin the traffic and seem to be moving at 2 miles per hour. CP gives us some more information about the country. The journey is tortuous but interesting. We pass broken concrete in the middle of the road and overturned vehicles left to rust, including a burnt -out petrol tanker. At a bottle neck where a flyover is being constructed, I see a man lying prostrate on the concrete, apparently asleep. I also see a cow lying in the middle of the road as vehicles wind around it and several monkeys and dogs are spotted on the way. We see kilns for brickmaking and a plastic recycling plant. India takes in plastic from all over the world for recycling but just seem to dump all of their own rubbish onto the road. CP explains that the reason for this is that Indians traditionally dropped everything onto the floor to be reclaimed by the earth but that obviously doesn’t work for plastic. Some small steps are being introduced, such as Masala Chai being served in small clay pots, which also seem to be thrown on the floor afterwards. I’m not sure how long it will take for them to be absorbed back into the earth, to be honest.
We hit a massive traffic jam and we are barely moving. CP jumps off the bus and runs off up the road. Five minutes later, he jumps back on. “Snacks,” he proclaims loudly with a big grin on his face. “And I’ve found a short cut.” He briefs the driver, and we swerve off the road. He is right! No traffic but just a herd of goats and CP points out a kingfisher and an egret. This is more like it! We rejoin the road but have successfully avoided the bottleneck and we are moving again, albeit slowly.
We are a little late arriving at our lunch stop on the way to Jaipur. and the women of the village greet us with more garlands as we enter. There is a calm feeling about the place after the chaos of the drive. I see a sign which says Vatsalya Campus. I understand that this is a social enterprise for women, by women who are survivors of domestic violence and from marginalised communities, giving them skills for employment and financial independence. They have prepared a simple lunch for us and afterwards three of them tell us their stories and describe what brought them here and how it has changed their lives, In this village they have learned the skills of block printing and show us how to do this, giving us a chance to try it for ourselves and then an opportunity to buy some of their products. This is the first of the examples we experience of Community Tourism, supported by GAdventures. GAdventures supports Community Tourism through its “G for Good” philosophy and partnerships, for example, with the organization Planeterra, which is a non-profit organisation that uses community tourism to empower local people to develop their communities and create sustainable livelihoods through tourism. Vatsalya created and runs the programme called Anoothi as part of it empowerment and livelihood initiatives for women. “Anoothi” means unique and extraordinary in Hindi, and the goal is to make these women aware of just how “Anoothi” they truly are . For more information see here
We say our goodbyes and head onwards to the Amber Fort, also known as Amber Palace. We climb into jeeps which take us to the top of the hill where the fort is perched. It was built in the late sixteenth century by Raja Man Singh 1 and was Jaipur’s biggest palace. Later rulers expanded and developed it. It is built of red sandstone with ornate gateways and beautiful marble halls. It is an extensive complex and we are guided through the courtyards on four levels. We are told that the king, Raja Man Singh had twelve queens and there were twelve rooms, one for each of them which had a connecting staircase to his room. He must have been a busy man. One of the highlights for me was the Mirror Palace made up of thousands of tiny mirrors. As night fell, the palace literally glittered. I was mesmerized.
Finally, we climb back into the jeeps and hurtle back to the bus to head to our hotel for the night. On the way we pass the Jah Mahal, the Floating Palace, which was built in the 18th century as a royal retreat. Set in the middle of the lake, it literally looks as if it is floating. We stop to capture a quick photo before we finally reach our destination. We drive into a strange alleyway which leads to a quirky hotel. My room has coloured pillars and the most enormous bed I have ever seen. After eating a couple of bananas, I sink into it as we are leaving the hotel at 5.30am in the morning. And that was just Day One!
It is pretty dark at 5.30 am and we leave the hotel in taxis to pick up some bikes for an early morning city tour. In my case, I opt to share a rickshaw with Sonja as my bike riding skills are not great, especially in all of this traffic. The first thing we do is stop to feed the cows with grass. Back into the rickshaw for the next stop, to drink some Masala Chai at a stall on the roadside which is poured into clay pots. Then we are off again to see the Albert Hall Museum, from the outside. The sun is beginning to rise as we go on to the Hawa Mahal, also known as the Palace of Winds. It is built of red and pink sandstone and has many small windows and balconies. The windows provided a natural cooling system and allowed royal women to look out into the street without being observed.
Jaipur is known as the pink city because its buildings in the old city were painted pink to welcome in Prince Albert in 1876 and this colour was chosen to represent hospitality and warmth. They are made of red and pink sandstone. Some of it looks to me as if it is pink and some of it looks more of an orange colour but it is stunning, nevertheless. Leaving there, we head to the spice market, which is a bustle of activity at 7.15am in the morning, with piles of spices and vegetables and petals in shades of yellow, red and orange. A man drops a lot of yellow petals on my head, which stay there for most of the morning. We walk to the Govindji Park, where we join the locals in an unusual laughing yoga session. We do lots of laughing and it is truly hilarious. The session culminates in us standing together and being given handfuls of petals which we throw up into the air, leaving us all covered in the vibrant yellow, orange and red petals. It is a very uplifting experience. We literally run from here to the nearby temple to observe a session of prayer. The temple is packed with people and it is still before 8am. Time for another stop at a stall called Lassiwala for a cup of lassi. By the time we return to the hotel for breakfast it is still only 9am and I feel as if a whole day has passed already.
Off we go again by tuk-tuk to explore the spice market. For the first time I see a camel walking down the main road. We browse amongst the spice stalls, where I purchase some home-made rose perfume. Then on to a carpet making enterprise where we are shown how the carpets are made and invited to buy one to be shipped home. They are indeed very beautiful but expensive . We are more interested in the fabrics on the next floor and a few of us buy clothes or scarves. Next, we move on to the Observatory, the Jantar Mantar, built in the 18th century. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site, known for its collection of astronomical instruments used to measure time, predict eclipses and track celestial bodies. It has one of the world’s largest sundials. The Rashivalaya Yantra was also used to make astrological predictions, which were considered important for societal and personal decisions. There are twelve instruments each corresponding to a zodiac sign. The guide asks us for our date and time of birth and gives us some information about ourselves based on this. He also asks where we were born and I am sure he will not have heard of the town in the West Midlands where I was born. He tells me I am a “Princess lady who likes a luxurious life”. He says I have a jolly nature and am happy and like dancing. I should have white diamonds and wear blue and green, which strangely I often do. (Not the diamonds but definitely blue and green!) He suggests to one of the girls that her true love is her first love and we all get quite excited about this, as she tells us she has recently seen him at her place of work. We encourage her to make contact. It is hot and we are all a bit weary but the day’s events are not over yet. We have signed up for Bhangra dancing and we spend an hour learning some basic moves which culminate in a five-minute dance performance. It is great fun and I decide to see if there is a local group near me in Norwich so that I can develop this skill. There is! It is called Bollywood Sparkles Dance and is located about a mile from my house. The evening ends with a meal in a rooftop restaurant and some fireworks to celebrate the onset of Diwali. Another incredibly long day, full of contrasting experiences with tomorrow to look forward to as we move on to Agra, which will be the third point of the Golden Triangle for us.
We travel on the bus towards Agra, where we stop first at the Red Fort. This was built in the 16th century as a powerful fortress. Located on the right bank of the Yamuna River, the crescent-shaped fort is approximately 1.5 miles in circumference. Its walls rise 70 feet high and are surrounded by a moat. Inside the fort are numerous buildings, including palaces and halls. It is impressive but I am itching to get to the Taj Mahal as this has been on my bucket list for a long time. From one of the window openings, we can see the Taj Mahal in the distance. I am excited!
We reach the Taj Mahal at around 3 pm and the plan is to remain here for a few hours until dusk. It is considered one of the most beautiful buildings ever created and is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is built of white marble with inlaid gemstones and intricate carvings. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife who died in childbirth with her fourteenth child. She was in fact his third wife but was the love of his life.
Despite the crowds of people, it is easy to move around and take photos. As everyone knows, it has a central dome with four minarets. The most amazing thing is its perfect symmetry, no matter what angle you look at it from. That is something to marvel at. As I get closer and take photos, I find that I can’t get all of the four minarets in one photo so it doesn’t look symmetrical at all and actually looks quite odd. There are two red sandstone structures which have been built on either side. One is a mosque, which is still used today and the other is a meeting place for people. It was built to balance out the mosque and maintain symmetry..
We walk slowly towards the magnificent Taj Mahal, taking countless photos. We are stopped several times and asked to pose for photos with various people. Everyone seems to ask where we are from and ‘Welcome to India’ is a phrase I have heard many times in the last few days. I can’t imagine us welcoming Indians to England in the same manner. There is scaffolding on the top of the building which reminds me of the Sacrada Familia in Barcelona where building and repairs are always ongoing.
We go inside, where there are two tombs of the Emperor Shan Jahan and his wife, Mumtaz Mahal but they are replicas as the real tombs are in a lower -level crypt which is not open to the public. Photos are not allowed. These tombs are ornate but the actual tombs are apparently decorated far more simply, in accordance with Islamic tradition.
We take more photos and the sun begins to set, bathing everything in an orange glow but eventually we have to leave. It will be a day to remember! That evening we go for dinner at a restaurant called Molecule Air Bar and we sit on the rooftop restaurant ordering exotic food which is served up in extraordinary ways. I had a chocolate dish which was delivered in a theatrical manner, involving dry ice and frozen petals which were sprinkled on top. After this some of us go down for a spot of dancing and others go home to the hotel. CP waits until we have had enough and then escorts us back to the hotel. We will leave for the train station just before 7am in the morning.
I haven’t yet mentioned the toilets or the difficulties I have with the early starts. Let’s just say that it continues to be a challenge . I had always felt concerned about visiting India and the effect a constant diet of curry and spicy food may have on my body with the added problem of Crohn’s Disease, but I am not doing too badly. We are being careful about where we eat and avoiding street food and ice in drinks. The squat toilets are sometimes difficult but generally there are western toilets available. I am amused at the station to see two signs, one for western toilets and the other for “normal toilets”.
We are catching a train today which will take us from Agra to Orchha. It is a smooth ride and then we get into tuk-tuks to head towards a paper making plant set up to support tribal women from the area. It is very quiet as I think many of the women are not working, possibly preparing for Diwali. We arrive at our hotel, called the Hotel Ganpati Palace, which is a family run establishment and quite charming with a lovely garden. Others dash off to see more sights and I opt for a massage . I am getting quite exhausted and my cough is worsening. There is another fort to visit, the Orchha Fort and Sonja and I head off to meet the others there. A guide has been organised and we look around. Again, this was built in the 16th century and is a complex of palaces, temples and pavilions. There are spectacular views of the river and the town. The guide suggests we climb up and wait for the sunset. Everyone is getting a bit crotchety now as we are tired and it is hot. A few of us want to return to the hotel, but we are all being polite to the guide who is giving us a lot of information. He wants us to stick together until the end of the tour. Eventually we wend our way home to the hotel as we still have to visit the puja, a Hindu prayer ceremony at the Ram Raja Temple before dinner, right in the middle of town. It is lit up as we approach and the ceremony has started but it doesn’t last long and happens every day after sunset.
There is a plan for a visit to the Khajuraho temples tomorrow which will mean leaving at 5am and I decide to opt out. In the end this doesn’t happen and everyone does their own thing for the day. I have breakfast with a couple of the group and we do a bit of shopping. Back at the hotel I get a henna tattoo on my leg drawn by the two sixteen -year- old members of the family. They are a delight and want us to take pictures and videos for their Instagram page. At 4pm some of us leave for a cookery class and eat the food we cook. We have a few hours to kill before heading to the station to catch the overnight train to Varanasi.
We collect snacks for the journey on the way and head to the station. We seem to be rushing, although we are in plenty of time. I trip but manage to right myself and feel panic after the falls I have had recently. Group members are very reassuring and come to my aid as I am shaky. CP takes over my bag until we reach the platform. Crisis averted. We board the train around 11pm and there is a flurry of activity as we assemble the sleeper beds, put sheets and pillowcases on and chain our cases to some clips on the seats. The group are in different parts of the train but I am with four of them in my carriage. It is surprisingly comfortable and I sleep, needing to get up only once to use the fairly dreadful toilet. The train doors are open as we race through the countryside in the dark night. Men stand by the opening, which seems potentially dangerous but normal for India.
We wake around 7am and turn the beds back into seats and eat our breakfast snacks. We arrive a couple of hours later and board another coach with our luggage, which is a bit cramped and head to Varanasi. Here we are to say goodbyes to one of the group and another three are joining us. CP has warned us several times, “If you think Indian cities are crazy so far, wait until we get to Varanasi!”
Varanasi is described in the notes as “a quintessential Indian holy city where millions of Hindus travel for worship, to mourn or to die.” The first thing we do is take a boat trip on The River Ganges (Ganga as it is known in India). From the little boat we have a great view of the shoreline. We see smoke rising from where the cremations take place. CP tells us that many people come and stay in hostels waiting to die as they believe that dying in Varanasi will bring salvation. The bodies are bathed in the river before being placed on a pyre for open-air cremation and then the ashes are scattered into the Ganges for reincarnation. The boat pulls in a bit closer but we can’t take photos as sign of respect. CP raises the point that we are not actually able to smell burning bodies but I understand that it is masked by essential oils, ghee and sandalwood.
We get off the boat and walk for a while. We see men bathing in the river. We buy some small flowers and candles and place them in the river, watching them float away, symbolizing sending wishes and prayers down the sacred river.
It is time to gather on the ghat steps with the crowd to watch the puja ceremony. We have a great vantage point and are sitting right next to the priest who is conducting the ceremony using a microphone. It is incredible to believe that this happens every evening. It is noisy and colourful and involves singing, chanting and bell ringing, with offerings being made to the goddess Ganga. The ceremony culminates in lamps being waved in the air, which are lit and look oddly like the shape of a Christmas tree. At this point we leave and head to the pizza restaurant next door ,where I eat a pizza and some apple pie. Quite a contrast to the events of the evening and not quite in keeping somehow but utterly delicious. The puja is an amazing introduction to our two days in Varanasi and something that will stay in my mind for a long time to come.
In the morning, we make another early start so that we can take a boat and see the sunrise form the river. On the way we see another ceremony and the lit-up lamps look even better in the slightly grey and misty dawn before the sun comes up. We enjoy some great views of the sunrise from the boat and then step ashore to begin what is described as a spiritual and heritage walk. We start by walking through the cremation site, which I am surprised we are allowed to do and as I look down, I can see a body wrapped in yellow silk. Smoke rises from the piles of wood. It’s an odd feeling to be this close. We then explore the narrow backstreets of the city which are adorned with murals. These serve both as decoration but also as a reflection of local life, religious beliefs and spiritual significance. We stop for chai and lassi but I don’t drink any today as I am feeling a little queasy. We take a taxi back to the hotel. There is an optional trip but Sonja and I decide to look for a massage. Our efforts are unsuccessful but we end up having lunch in a five -star hotel which is a pleasant way to spend lunchtime and not expensive. I remark that it is the cleanest toilet I have seen in India so far! We make an evening visit to a silk making area, where a few of us buy beautiful scarves and then we head to the Surya Kaiser Palace Hotel, which is known for its fine dining, muti cuisine restaurant. I opt for a salad which contains some unusual ingredients but makes a change from curry.
A few of us decide to spend a short while in the bar and then head up to our rooms. I get out of the lift and insert the key into the door to my room. A man emerges from the bathroom. I nearly jump out of my skin! “What are you doing in my room?” I shriek. I can hear music and I can see clothes that cleary aren’t mine. “What are you doing in my room?” he replies. I back out hastily apoologising profusely and find Sonja in paroxysms of laughter in the hallway. How did that happen? I think there was some confusion about both of us getting out of the lift on the wrong floor! I retreat to my own room hastily.
Another day filled with different experiences but this is our last evening in India as tomorrow we will cross the border into Nepal. I am looking forward to experiencing the contrast with India. My head is full of the sights, sounds and smells I have encountered this week but with every ending is a new beginning. I am excited about the new experiences which lie ahead and the first sighting of the Himalayas. I fall into bed.
Part Two. Nepal.
Another early start as we leave at 6am to head to the border crossing. CP has ordered breakfast on the way, which we eat out of cartons. Some of the ingredients are not that great for me but I have some cauliflower and mashed pumpkin as a replacement. We arrive at the border around lunchtime. We are crossing at the Sonauli (Uttar Pradesh) border. It is the main gateway for travellers heading to Buddha’s birthplace, Lumbini and on to Pokhara and Kathmandu, where we are also heading. First we get off the bus and our cases are loaded onto a rickshaw. We have to walk through No Man’s Land to the customs and immigration office on the side of the road, which is easy to miss. CP has already forwarded our information, for those of us who have not applied for visas in advance. It costs 30 American dollars for the visa. It is a fairly easy process as it is not crowded today and soon we are walking through the archway which welcomes us in Nepal.
We board our next bus for a shortish drive to our hotel and after a quick refresh, we are on our way to Buddha’s birthplace, the Maya Devi Temple. CP tells us the story about how Buddha was born. His mother apparently gave birth to Lord Buddha whilst holding a tree. He emerged from his mother’s right side and was immediately able to walk and talk. He took seven steps and lotus flowers sprang up in his footsteps. Inside the temple is a Marker Stone, embedded into the ground which marks the exact spot where he was born. We are able to go inside to view this and then look at the sacred pool, which I am fascinated to see is full of turtles. CP advises us to take some time to walk around and maybe sit down and meditate for a while. The place is peaceful so I do just that. I then speak to some of the monks dressed in orange robes sitting by the lake. One of them ties an orange bracelet onto my wrist, which signifies a blessing or good luck.
We leave the area to walk back to the bus and on the way, encounter some enthusiastic teenagers who want to me to have a photograph taken with them. Their enthusiasm makes me smile and I think about some of the difficult teenagers I have worked with over the years and how they would never have done that in a million years!
The next day we are heading towards our next stop for two nights, the Barauli Community Homestay. The journey by road is quite different. The road is bumpy in places and we bounce along through potholes at times, Highly-decorated trucks pass us proclaiming. “Buddha was born here” on the top of their windscreens. We stop for lunch at a roadside restaurant. We learn that CP discovered this place some years ago and G Adventures have been using it regularly. The woman who runs it is called Lakshmi. She lost her home and the little restaurant on the side of the road in the 2024 monsoon when heavy rains and a landslide destroyed it. For eight months she struggled with no income and rebuilt it herself. Such is the incredible resilience of Nepalese women. She serves delicious noodle soups and Nepalese thali. I enjoy a bowl of her noodles.
We drive on to our destination, where we are greeted by the women as we enter the homestay. They put garlands around our necks and bless us with the red “tika” on our forehead. The homestay opened in 2014 and is another example of women-led community-driven tourism in the heart of Terai, right next to the Chitwan National Park. Each traveller staying helps to support women to gain financial independence and a sustainable future. We each have a traditional thatched small cottage which has a name rather than a number. Mine is called Maya. It is immaculately clean and has a mosquito net, the first I have seen. They organise opportunities for cooking, participation in local dance, bike rides and jeep safaris into the Chitwan National Park.
We head off in the afternoon for our first safari. There are two jeeps for our party. Although there are tigers in this park, it is doubtful we will see any. The first thing we spot is a mother and baby one-horned rhino but I just see them disappearing into the bushes and manage to catch a photo of their backsides. We also see a number of spotted deer. We take a diversion from the path and our guide tells us that they haven’t been down here since the monsoon. We get stuck, only temporarily and manage to ease out of the mud. As the wheels spin, there is a smell of burning metal. The jeep behind us, however, gets well and truly stuck and we spend the next hour trying to release them. This involves lots of pushing, laying down branches and vegetation under the wheels and eventually attaching a cable to help pull them out. Several people get off the vehicle and attempt to help or wander off to take photos. Hopefully, no tigers here! There are no more animals to see but after a lot more bumping around we drive though the neighbouring village in the dusk to our homestay. On the way we see lots of small children who run out of their houses to wave enthusiastically to us. We quickly change our dusty clothes and gather to watch some local dancing before dinner. It’s another early start as we will be heading into the park before dawn to see if we can spot some more animals in the early morning.
It is chilly on the jeep and I am unprepared. Some people have sensibly brought waterproofs as it is misty and is a bit damp. We see the locals up and about, some taking showers outside their houses and brushing their teeth. We enter the park and I am mesmerised by the amazing intricate cobwebs, glistening like jewels in the mist. It is difficult to capture a good shot of them, although I try. I am longing for the sun to come up so that I can get a bit warmer. First we spot some wild boar from a distance and some birds, including vultures. We are told that there is not enough kill for the vultures so they have to be fed, which is why they are all gathered in one tree. We suddenly come across a very large rhino asleep in the middle of the path. We get closer to stare at him. I think we wake him up as after a while he gets up and waddles off. As he departs, he lets forth a stream of urine as if to say, ‘`Well, thanks for waking me up.’ Not much more to see so we head back for breakfast.
Today is a bit more chilled. Sonja feels a bit dizzy and after almost falling and pulling a table over with her, she decides she needs a rest. I think we are all getting a bit exhausted, I decide to have a snooze before joining the bike ride around the area later in the afternoon. We gather in the courtyard to choose a bike. I choose one and ask for the seat to be lowered as I can’t touch the ground. Then I realise the brakes aren’t working so have to find another one, There are no helmets and I am a bit concerned. I am not the greatest bike rider at the best of times and the terrain is bumpy. We don’t go far before I realise that I just don’t want to do this and decide to return to the homestay. Instead, I find Sonja who feels a bit better and we decide to join the ladies from the homestay on the jeep which is to take chai and cookies down to the Narayani River to watch the sunset and meet the others on the bike ride. It is beautiful and peaceful and I know I made the right decision about the bike riding. One of the group had fallen off her bike and hurt her leg. That would have been me if I had continued, I’m sure.
The next day we leave the homestay for the drive to Pokhara. As ever, the drive is interesting and we see our first elephant walking along the road with the traffic. The scenery is spectacular and we see the Annapurna mountains. I have wanted to visit Pokhara for some time. Two friends who visited a long time ago tell me that it has changed enormously but I will see for myself. It is busy with a lot of hotels and traffic but the lake is still beautiful. I recently read an account by someone who travelled from London to Delhi by bus and then across India to Nepal back in the seventies. He describes Pokhara and it sounds like a very different place back then. I also read that you that you could get local boys to row you about on the lake for a few rupees. It is sad how things change. Now there are a lot of activities on offer for tourists such as bungy jumping, zipwires and paragliding and a few of the group opt for a paragliding experience.
A 5am start this morning takes us up to the viewpoint to see the sunrise over the Annapurna Mountain range. It did not disappoint and we stood drinking cups of chai watching the sun begin to creep over the mountain range, tipping the peaks with silver and then turning into amazing shades of orange and red. There is a bit of cloud cover but this does not detract from the experience, maybe even adds to it. I have seen some sunrises on this trip but I think this one tops all of them.
Our next step is a short bus ride and a walk, others opting to do a slightly longer one and we arrive on a hilltop at a place called ‘Sharing Seeds’, based in the Sarangkot-Pandeli village, another venture supported by G Adventures. Again, this is a women-led non-profit making social enterprise which supports organic coffee growing and bee keeping This enables women to gain economic independence and we hear their stories after they have served us with breakfast and a lot of tea and coffee. We are able to walk around the small village and see the crops which are growing and the bees and some of the group buy honey and coffee. We thank the women and say our goodbyes, walking to take the bus down into the town. Everyone decides what they will do for the day. I am feeling tired and my cough is annoying so Sonja and I decide to go for some reflexology and some gentle shopping. The relaxation of this session does me the power of good and I feel as if it was the right decision. We enjoy a rooftop meal with the group and head to bed, ready to prepare for yet another early start to fly to Kathmandu in the morning. We all elect to fly rather than take a nine-hour trip in a bus.
Arriving at the airport at 6am there is an amazing view of the mountains with the sun just coming up. If we are lucky enough to sit near the window, we will have excellent views of the mountains on the short flight to Kathmandu. After the flight, a few of us who are suffering with illness and swollen ankles opt to visit the Swayambhunath Monkey Palace and then return to the hotel and explore the city. Others opt to visit Durbar Square and Boudhanath and then the Monkey Palace.
Kathmandu is an enormous sprawling city which stands at an elevation of 1,324 metres. Visiting the Monkey Palace, one of the most ancient of the holy shrines in Kathmandu Valley, gives an opportunity to see the city from above. Fortunately, we don’t need to climb up the 365 steps that lead up to the hill as we arrive at a different entrance. We climb up some steps to reach the top and I buy a large bottle of very expensive water on the way up. CP had warned us about the monkeys and not to tussle with them if they take anything from you, unless you want to be bitten and have to endure rabies shots! I put my bottle of water on the ground to take a photo of the city below and in a second, two monkeys have snatched the water, unscrewed the lid and are drinking it. It is hot up here so I need to buy another.
There are a lot of tourists and stalls selling trinkets but it is also an active place of worship. We walk clockwise around the path of the prayer wheels which is the custom at Buddhist monuments and is believed to bring good karma. The enormous stupa has the all-seeing eyes of Buddha painted on it, symbolizing enlightenment and awareness
Returning to the city we take a taxi to Himalayan Java Coffee, which serves amazing breakfasts. It is on the outskirts of the Thamel area, which used to be the hippie hub. It is now full of shops selling trekking gear and cashmere scarves. It is a bit overwhelming, trying to dodge the motorbikes, people and decorated rickshaws. I don’t want to buy anything and feel hassled. I wonder what this area would have looked like in the seventies as Kathmandu was the ultimate destination for those on the hippie trail. It is now one of the most polluted cities globally wit air quality, frequently entering the hazardous range. I feel as if I am choking. I am glad to head back to the hotel.
The last meal for the group is to take place on the rooftop of the hotel and we going to celebrate a couple of birthdays of group members. CP has bought cake. The city is gearing up for Diwali and there are coloured lights everywhere and some fireworks in the early evening as we head up to the rooftop. A stunning finale to our trip!
But there is one last thing left to experience. An early morning plane ride to see Everest. Another early start and soon I am sitting on the lefthand side of the plane waiting with bated breath for it to turn around for my first glimpse of Everest, a snowy pyramid standing higher that the rest around it . We have a map which names all of the other mountains which form a jagged skyline, but it is Everest I fix my gaze on, the highest mountain in the world. What an experience to end the trip with. We are presented with a certificate as a memento of the experience and return to the hotel for breakfast. I say my goodbyes, although members of the group had been leaving at different times and we are now a depleted number. Then begins the long wait to be collected to go to the airport and fly home via Doha airport, one of the swankiest I have experienced with the exception of Singapore, Back to chilly rainy England holding in my head the memory of a fantastic trip with so many diverse experiences. No two days were ever the same! As CP promised, cows, curry and colour were in abundance and a lot more besides. Thank you to CP for being such a brilliant font of knowledge and entertainer and to my fellow travellers from different points across the world with whom I have shared this experience. Namaste!
