Coming Home (2)

We spent a few days in Kathmandu, during which we hired bicycles and pedalled our way out of town and to the famous Monkey Temple where the giant all-seeing eyes of the Buddha gaze out over the rolling hills of the Kathmandu valley.

The Monkey Temple

Next I obtained a Trekking Permit and took the bus to Pokhara, the starting place of one of the most well known trails. Our route took us up past the great Annapurna mountain range with its huge glacier and on to the tiny township of Jomosom, close to the borders of Tibet.

Dookie thought he was standing up straight. A local lad looks on bemused. (Annapurna in the distance)

One of the many highlights of the trek was a morning spent at Ghorapani,  a place that was no more than a few huts situated about 9,300 ft above sea level. We rose early in the morning to witness the sun rise from the top of Poon Hill, another 1000 ft above us. There was almost an 180 degree arc of the Himalayan mountains around us and we watched in awe as that "lucky old sun" brought the dawn. 

A selection of photos of the trek, the last with some trekking mates

In all the trek took 15 days and covered well over 120 miles. Eventually leaving the yaks, donkey caravans and Buddhist prayer wheels behind us, it was back to Kathmandu to catch the bus into India. 

Kathmandu

The route through India was via Raxaul, Patna and onto Benares ( now Varanasi ) the Holy City of the Hindus. Here we took a river trip down the Ganges in what was the largest boat manned by one oarsman I have ever seen. 

Benares ( now Varanasi)

The trip was fascinating, almost surreal, with Holy men washing their sins away in one place while further down river the local women were busy with their washing. In one or two places cremations were taking place , the smoke from the fires drifting up and over the skyline. 

Dookie in Khajuraho, trying not to blush at the carvings (see below)

Then it was on to Khajuraho, a town noted for its many temples covered all over with highly erotic carvings. Strangely enough my main memory of Khajuraho is not of the carvings, but of the incident of the "Great Chapati Snatch". Our group had negotiated with the owner of a local hotel to provide us with a meal at 3 rupees a head. The deal included "as many chapatis as you can eat". Provisions are very hard to come by in India and you could often travel for hours without finding anywhere to buy food, so when the first plateful of chapatis arrived we took our opportunity. Once the waiter turned his back we dived in. Chapatis disappeared up skirts, trouser legs and jumpers and in no time at all the plate was empty. Another plate load followed before the owner became suspicious and the supply dried up. Nevertheless, we all ate well for the next day or two.

NOT the hotel owner seeking to recover his chapatis

Our stomachs full of chapati, we carried on to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, then Fatehpur Sikri, Jaiper (the Pink City) then New Delhi. At New Delhi I visited the memorial gardens created in honour of the great Hindu saint Mahatma Gandhi. From New Delhi it was on up to Amritzar, site of the Golden Mosque, then into Pakistan to the city of Lahore. Across Pakistan by third class railway sitting in the corridor with my rucksack as a pillow, arriving battered and very weary at Peshawer early in the morning.

A day here was followed by a bus ride through the Kyber Pass into Afghanistan, arriving in Kabul in the late afternoon. I remember being surprised by the sight of snow capped mountains on the horizon - I had just imagined sand dunes for as far as the eye could see.

Tourist shop in Kabul

Passed quickly through Afghanistan via Kandahar and Herat. A feature of bus travel in Afghanistan was the frequent halts at Islamic prayer times. Without notice the bus would stop in the middle of nowhere and everyone would tumble off, the pious to one side to kneel towards Mecca to pray, while on the other side of the bus the possibly poor in spirit would stand (or squat) relieving themselves.

Kandahar 

Kandahar again

Another feature was the lack of tachometers on board. Five hours after the completion of our 16 hour virtual non-stop journey from Kabul to Herat we spotted the very same driver back in his seat facing the opposite direction for the drive back.

Isfahan, Iran

Then it was across the border into Iran and on to the capital Tehran. We travelled down to Isfahan, a famous town of many mosques and bridges. Then back up to Tehran and into Turkey, past Mt Ararat ( scene of Noah's great escape in his ark) and through central Turkey down to the Mediterranean coast. At one point our coach slid into a ditch and, unbidden, a group of locals appeared with tractor and ropes and salvaged the situation. 

A helping hand

We followed the coast line up to the capital, Istanbul, where my money and strength gave out.

I booked a fare on the "Orient Express" to Paris and London and flaked out in the seedy looking carriage, together with another Englishman, a Turkish guy and 5 people from Bangladesh. Found out to my horror that there was no buffet car - rather strange for a journey lasting over two days. What little food we had was shared around and a tea trolley did appear at one point, but it was a hungry trip.

At Belgrade, Robert (the Englishman) and myself leapt off the train, ran to the Bureau de Change, turned our pounds into the local currency, then rushed to the nearest Burger Bar to buy as many hot dogs as possible with our money. As we turned away from the food stall we saw our train pulling away! I can see Robert in my minds eye now, leaping down the platform, a hot dog in each hand, gesticulating furiously like a demented orangutan, crying out "Paree! ? Paree! ?" to any local unfortunate enough to be within earshot. Luckily our train was merely being shunted between platforms and we were soon reunited with our rucksacks.

Without further mishap, after almost 5 months of travel, I arrived back on English soil, drawing strange looks from some in my coat of many colours from Kathmandu and floral trousers from Bali. The last entry in my little diary was:- "Never realised just how beautiful England was until now."