Recomendation, Traveller Experience,Travel Story

Hey hey,

So I spose you may of guessed it, well mum and Tess probably think I have been abducted by aliens and my brains eaten like icecream... I am in India! I know, I know, kinda out of the blue I know, but When given the option to take a 20 hour bus ride across Nepal and half of india over night in the second shittiest bus you could ever imagine (I'll explain the first in a minute) for $20 over a US$165 two hour flight - you know which one I opted for...

So this is how the storey goes. We awoke early on the 2nd by Raju saying he needed to tak to me before we left for rafting and chitwan (shitwan). He had found out that because of the strike starting on the 5th of April, my flight, which would usually be a $80 or $90 flight to Varanasi will now be $165 plus taxes! And he ahad a great idea, Chitwan, or as we prefer to referr to it as - Shitwan, was "kind of" on the way to the Indian Boarder, only 3 or so hours and instead of returning to Kathmandu, I could defer the payment of the bus ride to get to the boarder, so in an instant I had to make the decision, which now that I think about it was an obvious one, but at the time, it was so foreign to me. As you learn when travelling, roll with the punches and you will be rewarded (well I wouldn't call a 20 hour bus ride a reward but you now what I mean). It was a great idea of Raju's and I am very thankful of him for thinking of me and not his wallet which would be highly out of character from what we know of him, so it was set then, I grabbed my sh*t and we were off. It should also be mentioned that Raju was kind enough to take some of my stuff and organise sending it home for me! He will get local prices and save me a fortune in the long run - not to mention my back and excess baggage bills on the flight to London - I will be ever grateful for Raju's help and friendship in Nepal.

Sorry, got a little side tracked - to our little "Adventure". We set off for our rafting at 7am excited for what was to come - supposed 3-4 level rappids! 5-6 is like niagra... As usual, what was mant to be a 2-3 hour bus ride became 3-4 ("don't ask questions" is our favourite phrase - there is always a reason why you are waiting or you recieved something different to what you ordered, which seem to be the most common ones, they just don't think it's necessary to tell you...) We got thrown off on the side of the road in the middle of knowhere and hey presto, "hello sir, you for rafting?" Followed by about anothr hour wait and we were off - don't ask questions.... I know, I know, we were late already, how can they still be setting up, what if we were on time? The rappids were wicked! 2 hours of rafting madness, it was like we were rafting in the Brisbane river when the tide is going out or Ivanhoe when there is a storm! In other words, we saw one section that they called a "rappid", the others were just fast flowing water haha. So we had 2 fun filled days of floating and getting an occasional splash of water. It was so calm we jumped out and floated next to the boat for a couple of kilometers ( it was friggin freezing, we regretted it pretty much strait away haha). Besides all this, we laughed and joked with the crew, and the food was amazing we were camping and I'm not going to even start with our luxury tent. It was a little crazy to cross a few buses and trucks that had plummeted off the highway 50m below into th river in the last few weeks - some as little as 2 or so days before. This was the highway we had another ew hours on and sharpy had to return on. Anyway wen we finished the second day we waited again for an hour or so and then our guide asked if we were ready? We nedded and he started hailing anything, from semi trailers (I use this term loosely) to Busses that were chockers with people riding on the top, all are painted like they are going to the ekka in the 70's. We finally get on one dirty grimy locl bus that was jam packed and got constant glares from the locals, the guy mnext to me saw it fit to keep his distance from me by pushing his legs and elbows into me. Anyway what was meant to be a 2 hour journey in a "tourist bus became 5 hours in a local bus in the stinking hot sun. Our guide deserted us in one traffic jam that lasted for an hour, it was so regular that there were hawkers selling cold drinks and food!

So we finally made it to our Chitwan house thingy and Chitwan quickly became Shitwan. To list it off; the elephant trek was 2 hours of absolute pain in a little part of the jungle shared wth excavators and trucks where we saw a peacock and three deer - both of which we could see at lone pine or 10 bucks. The canoe ride was pretty cool though, we had about a 3-4m croc swim right next to our canoe which was about an inch from the water most of the time! Te a visit to the elephant breeding centre which was really fascinating and we were shaking trunk and patting the baby elephants. This section nearly made it back to Chitwan - but still no rhinos... We had our last night & break together and then our time in Nepal was over... :(. But It ended in a typicaly Nepali fashion, in only the way Nepal can, with a miniature hoarse and cart ride for a few k's followed by a k or so walk over rotting bamboo foot bridges and finally to be given our buses. Sharpy got a "tourist" but, the lucky bastard, I got a bus with "tourists" on it! My 2.5 hour ride to the boarder of Saunalee became 5.5hours of painful grimy hell, but shit it was interesting! Stopping every few kilometers to pick up or drop off locals along the way. Just when you thought it was not possible to fit any more on, it was done. To tell you the truth, I gave into it and just started enjoying something that was just soo foreign to me. Only in Nepal (and india) can you sit on the road fo half an hour to wait for a cow to cross - a main highway!

Ok so hours later I arrive in Saunalee and a Nepali guy decided to fill his karma bank a little and help me out, cause by this time I was the only tourist and with the open Indian boarder, it wa like throwing a baby into a pack of wolves, nothing could prepair you for india, and it was 3 km away! This guy was a Indian Army working Nepali and helped me to get to the boarder 3k's away. I could have caught a shuttle for 50Nrs but he said we shold take a jeep there for 8. When the Jeep arrived, it was already packed, with people on the roof! So as you do in India/Nepal, I threw my bags up, found a foot hole and a part of the rack to hang on to and hung off the back of the jeep going abut 70k/pa to the boarder - what an experience. Made it in one piece paid my 8nrs and crossed the boarder fairly easily. And BANG - India! Holy Shit! As they would say in India, I am F*!#!@* Bamboozled! haha. I don't have a clue how to get to Varanassi? Bus, Train, how much? Uh, ohhhhhh. My friend helped me change money, which I am sure I got ripped and there I got a "Tourist" bus ticket to Varanasi - my friend thought this might be tyhe easiest way, otherwise he would hep me get to goraphor (3hours away) to get a train which is the closest train station.

There were other tourists on the bus so I though, why the hell not. The but was Shit! It was a "sleeper" hich means that one side has 2.5 seat bench that you are meant to "sleep" on and the ride is meant to be anywhere from 9-11 hours. I instantly realised that time is not a real thing in india, actually why have a watch. Things happen when they are meant to. The bus I was on wa meant to leave at 8:30am that morning... I was told 3pm and it ended up leaving at about 5:30. The are cheeky little buggers! I not only had to pay for my "sleeper" ticket, but I had to pay for my luggage going in the back and extra to by 2 more seats to have the sleeper bench! This is India.... They are smart little buggers and will rip you at every turn. Nothing in this world can prepair you for the Bamboozling place of India! Sure enough, the amazingly interesting bus ride took 11 hours, but 15 if you count the time I waited on it before it left. Stopping for checkpoints, cows, trains, monkeys, you name it. Even just to pick up extra passengers that tried to sit on my bench - sorry, no way! I am nice, but I paid good money for my bench. We arrived at 4am in the morning an asd usual there were 4 rickshaws waiting for us to take us to their friends hotels. We managed to get them to take us to a guesthouse that ont of the guys on the bus had stayed at before to get some much needed sleep. Holy shit what an experience!

Today had been full on, everyone is your friend and trying to cheat you. The hotel duty manager tried to sell me some "good quality hash". This I expected. Every kid tries to shake your hand and lead you to shops etc... Wow, what a fascinating place. But you know what, I can handle it, and it's going ok. So far....

Mount Everest Experience

Ryan

Hey hey! Were back and yep, we made it! Wow, what an amazing hike! Like everything on my trip so far, words are just not going to do it justice... But I am going to give it a go (as I hear an ahhh - sigh of relief :D). To start with the flight was CRAZY, a little 12 seater, twin engine plane. Im sure lots of you have experienced that - if not, imagine going 600km/hr in a go kart with a metal bdy around you and over a dirt track! Nah, not that bad, but it was kinda scary landing on the side of a mountain on a 1000 foot runway on a 30' pitch - only reason for the angle is so the plane can stop before it craches into the mountain... After we got the massive grins off our face from the first bout of addrenalin we arrived at our first tea house for breaky - hard honey, stinky jam, funny menu like "cram full eggs" etc... We began to realise, this trek wasn't going to be any o'reilleys board walk! We saw our first peak of the himilaya and were gob struck! "Guong de" (5600m) we thought it was massive, but it was a baby compared to what was to come! We walked for a few hours and arrived at our first lode, which was typical of all the lodges to come - Rock walls with ply wood internals and 8mm wooden walls between the rooms - sometimes tin, sometimes slate and sometimes thatch sorta stuff for the roof....oh and a big hole in the floor with a 2m drop for the squatter, nice! (especially at Gorok Shep when its -20'c outside - nice cool breeze where the sun don't shine!).

From here it took us 9 days to reach our last villiage, Gorok Shep. Every day was like a Mt Barney but steep up, steep down, steep up, steep down etc..... Some times 3 hours straight up at about a 40' incline with our packs ( oh and I forgot to mention, we opted not to get a porter - we both had about 8kg day packs and we seperated the rest of our gear into the guides pack. He just got paid a little more and it wasn't that heavy for him). On that note - the porters there are crazy!!! Some of the little buggers carry 130kg, they only weigh 55! And yes we saw it with our own eyes - 120L of kero amongst other things in a basket carried by a strap on their head. The best shoes we saw on them were dunlop volleys and some went bare feet (in the snow!). But to beat that, The tibetan pas has recently been opened 4 days hardcore trekking from Namche, and we met some Tibetand that had walked 4 days over a 5900m pass in the snow with dead goats on their back (head strap) and they don't eat the whole trip! 4 days trekking without food! "There has to be a reason for this Yumti? Did they loose the food, or forget it?" (our guide) "No, they just didn't bring any, its quite normal" !!!!!!

Anyway so we were trekking for 9 days to get to Gorok Shep mostly through 1 foot of snow - the weather was perfect, it was blue skies all day, then at around 3 each day , like clockwork, the clouds would roll in and it would snow all night...Beautiful. Hows this - First time to see snow - China, first time to walk in fresh snow - Great wall of China. First time to see snow falling - Himilayas Nepal! The trekking was pretty tough, but Sharpy and I are quite fit at the moment, so it was easily doable (no not trying to show off - we were buggered every day but it could have been much harder) We both coped with the altitude really well. Besides the loss of apetite, crazy dreams, lack of sleep, solid heavy pillows, -20'c nights, paper thin walls with snorers, very aparant lack of oxygen - crazy irregular breathing patterns, dull headaches etc.... it was fine. Once at Gorok Shep, we went strait up to Base Camp. It was amazing! Our first really good look at Everest, there were 4 Summiting camps set up - one of them we knew from our trek up, we walked on the khumbu glacier for about half an hour, saw a masssssssive avalanche above us on the glacier, coming off the face of Lhotse. Lets just say, Base Camp was amazing, and we had finally made it and all in one piece, and considering, we were feeling really good!

The next day we decided to attempt to summit a himilayan peak of our own - Kala Pattar. It is 5680 odd meters, we left early morning freezing our balls off (sorry but it really was that cold, at least -20C + wind chill) I made it to 200m from the top and the altitude got me, couldn't get enough oxygen in, nearly fainting, dizzy etc. As I promised, no hike is worth my life! So very dissapointed, I left Sharpy and Yumti to reach the summit - and that he did! What an amazing effort. But to give you an idea of how tough it was, it too them over an hour extra to climb the final 200 or so meters to reach the summit! Altitude's a bitch! I am really glad one of us made it though, actually I would have liked to have given it another go.... maybe one day. I am happy with reaching Base Camp though - that was an achievement in itself. Not many actually get there. In fact in our time of trekking ( and very few trekkers on our trek), there were over 20 helicopter rescues of people with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). We saw one girl within minutes from death get saved y an oxygen tank and choppered to hospital. Altitude definately is a killer, which is why we gave these mountains the respect they deserved and acclimatised properly. We actually went to a talk by a volunteer doctor on the way up to increase our knowledge of the subject, you never know, it could have saved our lives. It is really shitty being up so high, you jst feel terrible - your body needs more oxygen that that! Besides all this it was absolutely Fantastic, the people we met were amazing, the towns were amazing, the monasteries were amazing it was just great - Sharpy and I had a ball together.

The trek - for all of you interested, our trek went... Lukla - Phuk Ding - Namche Bazar (+ one day acclimatising) - Tengboche - Dingboche (+ one day acclimatising) - Lobuche - Gorok Shep and Base camp - Kala Patar (A himilayan peak) - Pheriche - Phortoche - Namche Bazar - Phuk Ding - Lukla.Our guide was a Bloody champion! He made the trip for us. He started out a shy polite litle Nepali and by the end he was like one of us, joking laughing, paying us out etc... He gave us nicknames as we gave him one - I was lompu dai (bigger older brother), Sharpy was Bisku bai ( middle younger brother) and we nicknamed him Pudki Babu dai (little, short, cute, younger brother). We used to joke with him and say "thankyou honey" to which he would reply "your welcome sweety pie" hahaha - we'd all roll on the ground laughing. He also saw it fit to point out all the western girls to us and say "oooh shes a nice one hey?" haha. He was hilarious and knew all the mountains names and heights nd other useless facts that he often spoke to us about. He discussed candedly the political situation here and how life is for a Nepali at this time. He has to be the coolest Nepali around, he caries a comb in his top pocket to fix his hair and sports a fully matching adidas running tracksuit - so totally not suited to trekking, but he said he doesn't have enoug money to buy all the good gear - he spends all his income on his family - he was a lovely guy, like Raju, they are best friends. Sharpy and I put in together and we bought him a Mountain Hardwear waterproof jacket in Namche Bizar as a thankyou. He said "I am soo happy now!" He didn't know what to do haha.

Today we are sporting a pretty heavy hangover, Sharpy, Yumti and I got on the Chang (local brewed Beer) in a big way last night and had a blinder! Mind you we are paying for it now, but it doesn't get much better than getting drunk with a great Nepali guide who became our friend, one of your best friends, a couple of locals and sitting in a little tea house in the Himilayas!

Bloody Great!And I'll leave the political problems and things we came across out of this one, it's costing me too much haha. But there were curfews, tourists kidnapped just 3 hours from where we were, army checkposts etc... An interesting place!

Anyway, that'll give you a pretty good idea of what Sharpy and I just went through...

TIBET LHASA TO KATHMANDU TRAVEL EXPERIENCE BY RYAN LEEE

Well, what can I say? Words cant describe the magical land of Tibet. I have just travelled for 5 days from Lhasa to Kathmandu and the provence of Tibet is just simply AMAZING! After seeing the new years in Lhasa(Tashi Delek) and visiting the Potala Palace, myself and 9 others (in two Land Cruisers) embarked on a jeorney that was to blow my mind. From untouched, isolated monasteries to 5700m glacial passes, to hot springs and most importantly The worlds highest peak's Base Camp! I was dancing in front of my video camera on a little mound at Mt Everest Base Camp "North Face" (Tibet side) 5224m above sea level, in a place where in just under 2 months, will be absolutely
covered in colourful tents from support crew, to medics, to sherpers and finally to the Summiters. I was there less than 24 hours ago. The days before that I was watching halls of chanting monks pray their mantras, circled the worlds tallest silting Buddha Statue (26m of brass and gold) and
overlooking whole cities in a 1200 fortress. The day before that I was playing with a group of 15 or so 4-6 year old tibetan kids on the side of a mountain, drinking Chang (Tibetan home brew out of jerry cans) with their family, patting wooly yaks and meditating 6000m above sea level by an
ancient stupa. The day before that was more amazing monasteries, although a little more commercial - one photo cost about $12 and videoing costed $500AUD. Quite amazing how money craved some of the more touristy places were - including the monks! Though that was a mere missed stitch on a whole woolen jumper. The people were amazing, my company was amazing, the driver was a little quiet, but he was pleasant enough, the food was roar, but tasty - especially the sweet yak butter tea - which I found out, quite after the fact on a number of occasions, I was allergic to... Many cramp filled nights and fears of diharea in a foreign, foreign country later and I tweaked!All I have to say about Tibet is WOW! When will I be there next? Though it is a shame, when the rail line is finished later this year, the place will change for good, and in my opinion for the worst. China is stripping the
Tibetan people of their culture, rights, and livelihood. It can only getmore populated and commercial. Although, next time will be allot easier to enter and surely less expensive. I managed to get right across Tibet though without the really expensive Alien Travel Permits. A risk, but it paid off!
At worst I would have had to bribe the official who called me on it, but I got through without dramas, which is great! And saved a packet to boot!Today I crossed the boarder of China into Nepal and once again was enthralled by the ever changing landscape that was the jeorney from the "Roof of the World" down to Kathmandu. I need to quote the title of the famous Crowded House songs "Four Seasons in one day". We started from the top a snowy icy wonderland, as we decended the snow began to melt, and the green started to show through, further still was a thriving lush green landscape with trees everywhere cut down the middle only by our winding road (which was quite scary - they don't seem to see the purpose for guard rails even though it could well be a 700m drop on one side) and the river formed george rushing by hundreds of meters below. This was quickly followed by
kilometers and kilometers of little hand made farm houses with acres of rice fields surrounding them as we still followed the rushing river. Finally, the dusty, dirty overcroweded streets of Kathmandu were upon - no-one would believe me if they saw all the photos I took if I told them they were all in
one country on the same day!So here I am soaking in everything Nepal has to offer. It is unlike any
other asian country I have ever been to. They seem to be smarter and cheekier with their barganing - always giving you a really intellectual reason for the price. Though I learn't quickly, nothing will be bought for a few days while I sus things out...

INDIA VARANASHI,TRAVEL STORY BY RYAN AUSTRALIA

Farewell Varanassi. On my last day in Varanasi I got up early and took a boat ride along the River Ganges to watch the sun rise over the centuries old city. It was beautiful but the dead goat floating by and stories of dead bodies made ma a little nervous. I don't want to fallin that, I don't care what you say about this holy river!

Besides the quickly bloating dead goat, the city was already alive and buzzing. People taking bathes, swimming and children playing in the holy ganga, many people meditating along its bank. Hare Krishna chants echoed, markets rattled with sprooking and cows, well did what cows do, meandered. It was a great experience and I'm so glad I did it, actually it was free from the guesthouse I was staying in.

The holy ganga. I think thats why they cheat people so readily. Once they cheat, they hurry to wash away their sins/ restor their karma bank imedietly in the Ganga. Neverthe less and intriguing, intriquet, not to be missed city, although 4 days is suffice.

I am finally in Darjeeling though and what a trip I just had, and not necessarily in a good way. With a 2 day absence of seeing anything other than transport systems & linking hotels. 2 days on trains, auto rickshaws, cyclo rickshaws, Jeeps and lastly a 1km walk up a mountain to my guesthouse. But my jeorney begins in Varanasi - Shanti Guesthouse, the guesthouse for Israli's pot smokers and prisoners and of course me, who probably fits int the last category. After finishing dinner and chatting to the obnoxious and arrogant Frenchman - Jacques, and the lovely Bohemian German Gerhard I sait my goodbyes and checked out knowing my train journey was becoming omenous. I was still sweating profusely I might add. I was given a shoddy wild goose chase of directions on how to get out of the maze that is the ghats and to an auto rickshaw for the 1hour jeorney to the irregular train station that only I seemed to be going to - thats India. I made my way into the night regularly getting asked to buy drugs, scarfs, silk, water, ciggarettes, biscuits, got the point yet? I found a rickshaw, got suitably ripped off and off I went. It was a strange sensation watching the city go by with its hustle and bustle, shit everywhere (literally) and overcrowded streets, carrying all kinds, from cycle and auto rickshaws, to walking markets on wheels, to bikes, both auto and cycle and of course sober and unsober indians, with the very occasional dazed looking tourist. Strangely, amongst all this madness, I began to understand the common notion that you slowly fall in love with India. There is no place in the world like India. After much refusing and in the safety of my crazily driven semiclosed-in speeding vehicle, India was let into my heart. Sadly these feelings of association were only short lived as I arrived to the station Moughal Surrai. The station was disgusting and grimy as expected and I was met with a frenzy of hurrying people and officials, but for what?

Once I worked out how the hell this crazy place worked, and admittedly after befriending a classy looking Indian that argued stubbornly that India was the best country in the world and Satchen was the best cricketer followed by "If you ask any traveller, they would rather go to India then Australia" to which i Cheeckily replied "Which one would they rather live in" :P. He didn't answer, smiled and asked can he take a picture of me with his phone cause I am his friend now and was off. His train station advice that he gave up so readily I will be forever grateful. He also helped me by ringing to confirm my train time that was due in 20mins (on the ticket) at 9:30pm. Now Im in india, I expect half to 2 hours waiting, after all were on Indian time, 2 hours is a long time to wait... My train was due at 2am! 2am, can you believe it?! Thats four and a half hours late. So what was I to do now, it's no central station, fullof beggar kids that are expert pick-pockets and crazy old Sadus and painted people that want my money at any cost too. What the Hell to Do? four and a half hours for gods sake... I can't leave, its night and the town im in is dodgy at the best of times. Finally my pure terrified confusion was noticed by a nearby indian that said "you must wait in waiting room" ooooh thank god! (I became very religious it seems in that few hours) I wonder if they sell Beer there and maybe you can get a foot rub like the Virgin Lounge in Brisbane. Ok so I didn't expect that, though it would have been nice. However, I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was.

Head: Your in India Ryan, what did you expect?

Me: I told you, the Vergin Room...

No, I wasn't shocked, butit looked and smelt like a public urinal with benches. And quite possibly was used that way too. The considerate Indians were laying all over the benches so I dropped my bags and saddled up for the wait with my book. The train arrived at 2:30am, I squished through my carriage, found my bench bed, chained my bags below one bench near me and climbed up on to my bed thingy. With one bag under my head and my shoulder strap wrapped around my arm, I straddled up for my first train experience in India. I would have loved to get some sleep, but fear of my bags getting stolen or rifled through kept me constantly peaking my head out to check on them. This and the fact that I was constantly startled by what seamed to be a screaming cookoo clock at 36 o'clock. With the constant Chai...Chai...Chai...Chai... Vendors selling Chai, coffee and food all night and day. 18 hours later I arrived at my stop where once again I arrived at night in a foreign, fairly dangerous city. This email could go for ever on this jeorney, but to cut it short. I had to get a rickshaw ride to a hotel in Siligori that night, find a hotel, get up to find the buses to Darjeeling were strangely not operatng that day so had to join a local Jeep charter up there where I was on a bench seat in the boot for 4 hours and when I arrived had to trudge up a mountain about a k to get to my guesthouse. And here I am! Darjeeling seems really nice, the people arer friendly and are similar to the tibetans so there is an element of familiarity with them. The tea fields are really picturesque and this morning I woke to a perfect view of Lhotse, Makalu and KatchenDhonga. 3 of the worlds tallest mountains (6th, 4th and 8th highest mountains in the world) what a view and what timing, it was the first clear day for over a month, and the weather here is perfect 15-25'c. So Im a happy camper and busy checking out the city and sights and organising my trip to Sikkim!

Recommendation letter From Germany