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| Rice padis in the Nepalese countryside |
NEPAL
Day 1. Mon 26 May
KATHMANDU – POKHARA
DEPARTURE TIME 8AM TACH. READING: 131,499 DISTANCE RUN 200kms
Today's drive is a little over 200kms but because of the condition of the
road, will take us around 6 hours. Shortly after leaving Kathmandu city we
come to the stretch of road that is known as the Tribhuvan Raj Path
(commonly called just the Raj Path - Tribhuvan being the name of the present king’s grandfather who deposed
the powerful Rana family and restored the monarchy to Nepal in 1951). At
the summit of the Raj Path, it is interesting to compare the height of the
Kathmandu Valley with the lands beyond. Now begins a descent along a road
that at present is under construction. This is the worst road of the entire Overland.
It is also something I feel that every road construction worker in the Western world should see.
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| Locals on the Tribhuvan Rajpath out of Kathmandu |
The entire operation, even down to the breaking up of the stones, is done
by hand. The only heavy equipment you see here, are a few road rollers.
This stretch, from the top of the Raj Path to the Pokhara turn-off at
Naubise will take us about ¾hour to negotiate the 15kms or so. The rest of
the run to Pokhara is through pleasant hill country with villages and
spectacularly terraced rice fields. We follow several river valleys that
drain the land and are tributaries of the Ganges. You often see Hindu
cremations on the banks of these rivers. Pokhara, like Kathmandu, is
situated in a valley and from here, especially in the early morning, you
get good views of the Annapurna Range and Mt. Machhupuchhre (Fish-tail
Pk). Pokhara is also the most important trekking centre in Nepal. We stay
tonight and tomorrow at the Hotel Annapurna, by Pokhara Airport.
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| Roadworkers breaking rocks in the village of Mugling on the road to Pokhara |
Day 2 Tues 27 May POKHARA
Free time in Pokhara. Pokhara lies in a valley 2,900 ft above sea level at
the foot of the Annapurna Range, which is some 18 miles away. Despite of the
area’s nearness to these 26,000ft peaks, the valley is tropical, never
seeing snow at any time during the year. Near Pokhara is Lake Phewa, a small
but rather attractive lake on which canoes are readily available for hire.
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| Canoes on Lake Phewa, Pokhara |
One popular walk in the area is that up a neighbouring hill called Sarankot
which overlooks the lake. Also in the area is a Tibetan refugee camp and
Mahendra Caves, some 7 miles distance. The best times to view the mountains
is normally at sunrise from the roof of the hotel.
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| Annapurna & Machhupuchhre (Fishtail) from the Hotel Annapurna, Pokhara |
From left to right the peaks are: Dhaulagiri (8167m) in the distance, South
Peak (7273m), Hiunchuli (6333m), Annapurna I (8091m), Mardi Himal (5555m)
Machhupuchhre, or Fishtail Peak (6997m), Gangapurna (7454m), Annapurna III
(7555m), Annapurna IV (7525m), Annapurna II (7937m) and Lamjung Himal
(6986m).
The snowline is normally at 5366 metres.
This evening I have arranged a Tibetan meal at the Hotel followed by a
Tibetan cultural show, put on by the children from the refugee camp. Tibetan
beer – chhang – will be served! Chhang is a local rice beer, cloudy white in appearance with an interesting, but not (at least to me) unpleasant taste.
Comment from on of the group: I liked the beer! (even though it tasted like fermented
cod liver oil)
Day 3 Wed 28
May
POKHARA – BHAIRAHAWA
DEPARTURE Time 8am TACH READING 13,699 DISTANCE RUN 184kms
Today’s drive is still through the Himalayan foothills, passing many of the
small villages we have already become familiar with. Will stop for a break
at the village of Tansen. Just before we leave the foothills we will be
stopping for a swim in a mountain pool just off the roadside (Bhoot Khola).
Shortly afterwards we reach the area of the Indo-Gangetic Plain known as the
Terai. This is the only flat area of Nepal and until 20 years ago, was
virtually  |
| A dip in Bhoot Khola |
uninhabitable due to the prevalence of the malaria-carrying
mosquito. After the success of the malaria eradication programme, much of
this fertile flat land has been brought into agriculture. As with the
highlands, rice is the predominant crop. Our night stop in the border town
of Bhairahawa (now called Siddharthanagar), is in a hotel that would be the
worst that we will stay in in this part of the world. This is the Hotel
Lumbini. There will be a chicken curry for dinner tonight. Do not be surprised in you are in the bar and hear the squawking of a chicken cut off abruptly. It will just be the first stage in the preparation of dinner! In the morning you will notice many locals heading into the fields around the hotel, and squatting down with little brass bowls. They are not weeding their petunia patch, but are performing the far more practical business and increasing the fertility of their fields! According to the French Jesuit missionary, Abbé DuBois in Hindu Manners, Customs & Ceremonies, there were 22 rules of defecation for a Brahmin beginning with
"Taking in his hand a big chembu (brass vessel) he will proceed to the
place set apart for this purpose, which should be at least a bowshot from his
domicile.” and ending with: "He will think three times on Vishnu
and will swallow a little water three times in doing so."
Buddhism
Near Bhairahawa – about 25 kms away is Lumbini which is regarded as being
the birthplace of Gautama, the Buddha in the 6th century BC.
Siddhartha Gautama was originally a prince of this area and, becoming
concerned by the problem of human suffering, he left his palace, wife and
child to become an ascetic. After 6 years of studying the beliefs of Brahmin
hermits and self-torturing recluses without success, he one day sat down
under a tree (the Bo-tree at Bodhgaya in India) and finally came to
understand the cause and cure of suffering. The basis of the Buddhist
religion are thus enshrined in the ‘Four Noble Truths’ which are:
i)
That existence is unhappiness
ii)
That unhappiness is caused by selfish desire or craving
iii)
That desire can be destroyed
iv)
That it can be destroyed by following the ‘noble eightfold path’. |
| The golden Buddha at Lumbini |
Whose steps are: right views; right desires; right speech, plain and
truthful; right conduct including abstinence not only from immorality but
also from taking life, human or animal; right livelihood, harming no one;
right effort, always pressing on; right awareness of the past, the present
and the future; and lastly, right contemplation or meditation. The more man
acquires merit by following these rules in his chain of lives, (A Buddhist
believes in the Hindu doctrine of a cycle of lives), the sooner is Nirvana
attained; he loses his individuality, not by annihilation, but “as the dewdrop slips into the shining sea,” by merging with the universal life.
Buddhism teaches the way pf liberation through ethics and discipline and a
universal god plays no part in this religion.
There are now various sects of Buddhism. Mahayana, or the Greater Vehicle,
is practised in Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand and Hinayana, or the Lesser
Vehicle, in Sri Lanka. The Tibetan form in called Lamaism and gods from the
ancient Tibetan Bön religion often feature in ceremonies. The Dalai Lama is
the spiritual head of Lamaism. In Japan, Shintoism is a form of Buddhism, as
is Zen.
At Lumbini, nowadays, are a couple of monasteries, a temple with a golden
Buddha, ruins and an Ashoka Pillar, built by King Ashoka, the great Buddhist
king of India in the 3rd century BC, which proclaims the site as
being the birthplace of Gautama.
Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins
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