Land of Nature and Culture Realm

My vision to visit Nepal with my girlfriend, thanks you guys who managed our trip very quickly. Most people go to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, for some tough trekking, climbing or expedition but we were content to shop at Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu, Nepal.

We visited the Swayambhunath temple, but rather than climb to the summit, I sat on a bench at the foothill. The day was hazy but it was really nice “mountain and monkey”. At Durbar Square, the Living Goddess made a brief manifestation at a window of her abode, drawing applause from the audience who paid homage by bringing their palms together above their heads. We then visited Patan, an ancient equipped town which is known for its beautifully carved wooden structures. Patan is a World Heritage Site too, and a craftsman’ realm. At the temples, it was refreshing to see all the female devotees clad in red saris and fashionable red or green blouses, with several strands of bead necklaces. Red is the favorite’s colour of the Hindu goddess.

Our second place to visit is Chitwan, we took the four-hour trip by car to Chitwan National Park. The winding road cut through valleys and mountain passes. We could not take our eyes off the picturesque scenery. In Chitwan, we watched elephants with their gaily bedecked faces walking leisurely through the center of town alongside cars, motorcycles and horse carts, while we had our dinner. During the elephant safari, there were four of us, besides the tobacco-chewing trainer. The elephant walked, swaying harmoniously into the virgin jungle. The elephant stopped abruptly above a slope, as if wondering how it could clamber down to the river. The next day, limping, I got into a canoe for a ride through the forest. The day before, I had viewed the jungle from above the ground. This time around, we were almost at water level. I was more overwhelmed with the colourful kingfishers than the dead-looking crocodiles. Chitwan is noted for its tall grass which grows to a height of two meters. “Elephants pick up their food with their trunks, and hit the grass on their heads to get rid of the sand,” a notice at the elephant breeding centre informed. But the four-month-old elephant hit the grass on its head, then rubbed it against the soil, then hit it again, wondering why the grass was never good enough to eat! It was both comical and a sorry sight. The three-week-old baby, on the other hand, was sleeping with its legs sprawled, under its standing mother’s body. We felt grateful that the entry fees we paid would defray the expenses incurred by the 40 elephants at the centre, which protected them from poachers.
Our next stop was Pokhara which is famous for its lakes and mountains. The climb up the Sarangkot (for a magnificent view of the Annapurna mountain range), International Mountain Museum and two Hindu temples was enough to bring on the aches.

After a day’s rest, we flew back to the capital and return to our own way journey.

By Inigo Bados