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NEPAL The Himalayan kingdom of History The Kingdom of Nepal is one of the few Asian countries that kept its independence and were never colonized. In the case of Nepal it was achieved by complete isolation from the outside world between mid-19th and mid-20th century. First kingdoms existed in the Kathmandu valley around 7th century B.C., however little is known about them (except for their mentioning in Ramayana). During the ages Nepal frequently consisted of large number of small kingdoms that were only sometimes united. Today's dynasty Shah has ruled Nepal since 1768. First attempts to change the country's system from monarchy to constitutional monarchy happened in 1959. General elections where held and a government was elected. However, in 1960 the king decided that this is not the best political system for Nepal, had members of the government arrested and banned all political parties. Next changes happened 30 years later. In 1989, popular uprisings and strong political oppositions were at first suppressed by force, but pressure from foreign aid donors forced the king to back down and in April of 1990 the ban on political parties was lifted and the king accepted constitutional monarchy. Unfortunately, the political scene of Nepal is characterized by fragile coalitions, frequent changes of governments and corruption. Discontent among common people leads to increased support of the communist Maoist movement, which since 1996 leads an armed struggle against the government and operates from its bases located deep in the Himalayan mountains. The political future of Nepal is still very uncertain.
Kathmandu (1.11.-7.11.) On Kathmandu is the capitol of Nepal and has 500 000 inhabitants. We have mixed feelings about the city. On one hand, there are pretty old streets lined with brick houses that are decorated with beautiful wood-carving works and balconies; many temples, whose architecture is unlike anything we have seen outside of Nepal; and also many squares and markets full of people and goods. On the other hand, Kathmandu is just another chaotically growing Asian city with overpopulation and incredible air-pollution problems. One of the We had to stay in Kathmandu for a full week, since Jitka became sick the second day there. She had some sort of food poisoning and we had to visit a clinic. She got IV and antibiotics and within few hours at the clinic started to slowly recover. However, she was week and had to rest for about another week. For her better recovery, we moved to Pokhara, which is much more pleasant city that Kathmandu and most importantly lacks air pollution. Pokhara (8.11.-12.11.) Pokhara is a beautiful oasis for tired tourists. It is located on a shore of a lake surrounded by hills densely covered with tropical vegetation. Behind the foot hills tower snow-covered mountains of the Annapurna range. Local guesthouses are clean and comfortable and many maintain pretty gardens with banana palms, rhododendrons and other tropical vegetation. The air is clean and there are green parrots flying around. Restaurants offer not only Nepalese food, but also western dishes such as spaghetti or Wienerschnitzel with French fries. Small bakeries offer fresh-made apple strudels and other European goodies. There is no rush and the few local touts behave friendly compared to other places - it is enough to say "no, thank you" only twice, for them to get it. Almost paradise. We stayed several days just to relax and recover from our exhaustive travels in Tibet and from Jitka's sickness. We wrote our web-diaries, worked on publications for couple of Czech travel journals and were processed thousands of pictures from Tibet. Annapurna Circuit (13.11.-21.11.) Pokhara is a We started about 1h bus drive from Pokhara in the altitude of 1000m. We crossed one mountain range at Ghorepani (3000m) and then dropped to a valley below at 1500m. From there, we followed a long valley up to a monastery at Muktinath (3800m). Originally, we planned to stop here and return. However, Marek has decided to attempt to reach the 15km distant Thorung-La pass, which at its 5400m is the highest pass of the entire circuit. He ascended those 1600m in 4 hours and after another 2 hours was back in Muktinath announcing that we can continue our descent to the village of Jomsom (another 15km and about 1400m down), from where we wanted to fly back to Pokhara. We reached Jomsom at 7pm. The last hour and half we had to search in dark for a trail that was constantly disappearing in a wide river bed with multiple secondary streams crossing it. We were rather exhausted. That day Marek surpassed several of his personal records. 5400m is the highest elevation that he climbed to. In one day he ascended 1600m and descended 3000m and he hiked about 45km. Even though the trek was difficult it was very interesting and absolutely worth-while. (Not only are there many elevation changes, but the Nepalese built their trails straight up or down, no zigzags. When it gets too steep, they make stairs. That is it.) We passed through many changes of vegetation. Palm trees and other tropical vegetation grew down in the valley where people worked on picturesque terrace fields. In about 2000m, we suddenly entered a rain forest. Not only trees but also rocks were covered with mosses and lichens here. In 2500m, we were in a rhododendron forest, at 3000m there were mostly pine trees and further up, behind the main mountain range we entered a desert. There is Fortunately, Poon Hill was the only place where we met Maoists and the rest of the trek was without any incidents. From Jomsom, we flew back to Pokhara, which saved us about 3 days of walking. We stayed in Pokhara for another day and then set off for India. |
Nepal Population: 25 800 000 Population growth: 2,3 % Literacy rate: 61%
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Nepal
is not only a country of glacier-covered 8000m-high peaks and beautiful
mountains that attract trekkers from all around the world. It is also a
country where Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born in
the 6th century B.C. and where different religions mix without
conflicts. (Elements of Buddhism and Hinduism mix in architecture and
there are monasteries and temples that are shared by both Buddhists and
Hindus.) National parks in the tropical low-lands are a home to many
endangered species, such as Gangetic dolphin or the royal Bengal tiger.
Unfortunately, the political situation in the country is not stable and
it is well possible that violence or fighting will close this beautiful
country to tourists in the future.
October
31, we crossed the Tibetan-Nepalese border. Joyful "Wellcome to
Nepal!" from the immigration officer was a pleasant change compared
to the uptight behaviour of the Chinese officials. Less pleasant however
was the news that the road to Kathmandu is closed until the next
morning. We found out that a festival happening in a nearby village was
to be visited by a member of the royal family and fear from Maoist
terrorist attacks forced the government to close the road. 
major
sights in Kathmandu is Durbar square with its old royal
palace and many temples (some over 1000 years old). Nearby Kathmandu is
the city of Bhaktapur, which is even a better place to
visit. It is like a living open-air museum. It looks the same as it did
in the 17th century. We visited it during the harvest time and so we saw
people processing the crop directly on the streets of the town. They
were threshing the crop, separating the seed from the chaff and drying
the seeds directly on the streets among all the buildings and temples.
We have also observed potters at work. Our visit of Bhaktapur was a
pleasant retreat from the hectic Kathmandu.
starting
point for treks into the Annapurna region. (Annapurna I is 8091m high
and the range has several other mountains above 7000m). The most popular
trek, Annapurna Circuit, allows one to go around these giants in about
three weeks, starting from low valleys with lush vegetation and getting
to dessert like country of the Tibetan plateau, crossing one 5400m pass
along the way. We have decided to walk only the western part of the
trek, which we managed in 8 days. It was physically rather difficult
trekking. Especially for Marek, who doubled as a porter and let Jitka
carry only a day pack. Fortunately, we did not have to carry our tent or
any food, since this popular route is lined with restaurants and
guesthouses (there are some every couple of hours). 
beautiful
scenery and some snow-covered peaks to be seen along the entire trek.
However, the best views are arguably from Poon Hill, about
300m above the pass in Ghorepani - a place where everybody climbs before
sunrise. Unfortunately, the almost spiritual experience of witnessing
sun-rise over the Himalayas is ruined these days by Maoists.
Currently they operate in this area and stop tourists (in our case on
our way down from Poon Hill) demanding money. They claim this area to be
under their control, pronounce government trekking permits invalid and
require that everybody purchases their permit. They even give receipts
for it. In our case, they asked for 1000Rs (about $13) per person, but
we met people who were stopped in more remote areas of the mountains and
had to pay $50. We were stopped by two teenagers that we felt should
rather go back to school. Unwilling to sponsor illegal weapon-purchase
programs, we waited for the right moment when more tourists gathered
around the two boys and managed to pass through their gate without being
stopped. Along the trek, we asked many hotel owners about their attitude
towards the Maoists. They said that they frequently come to their place
demanding food and often also requiring "tax" payments from
hotels - they ask up to thousands of dollars from the most successful
businessmen. We were told that refusal to pay leads to violence and
killing. The only good thing that people had to say about the Maoists is
that since their arrival in the area, all the thieves from Kathmandu who
used to prey on tourists disappeared. We asked at several army
check-points further up in the mountains why they do not try to clear
the area, when everybody knows that Maoists operate here. They had no
good answer and we even felt that one of the officers looked upset when
we admitted passing through a Maoist check point without paying our
"permit fee".