New Adventures In Backpacking

On the lead-up to my trip I was constantly told India would be the cheapest place I would ever visit and it turned out to be true! So when I decided to go to Nepal I must admit to not looking forward to the prospect of having to spend some “real money”. I knew a few people who had been there recently and they assured me it was cheap. However, people’s opinion of “cheap” differs so here is a backpacker’s guide to how cheap Nepal is.

At the time of my visit, the exchange rate of 1 GBP equaled 120 NPR. I will put the cost in both.

Accommodation

The price of budget accommodation varied from area to area. It was possible to find a room at anything around 400-600 NPR (3/5gbp). It is hard to find a single room so if you are travelling on your own it is fairly pricey. Splitting the cost with someone makes all the difference. For that price you will get a double bed, private bathroom (hot water not guaranteed) and a fan. In peak tourist season in Nepal air con is not necessary. In fact, neither was a fan as it was freezing!

Food

Like in all countries it is much cheaper to eat the local dishes in Nepal. Unless you have eaten veggie momos while you are here you have not been to Nepal as far as I am concerned. A typical meal of a main curry dish, rice and naan should cost you about 300 NPR (2.5gbp). As in India, Western food is easy enough to get but fairly expensive. A trip to the amazing Pumpernickel German bakery will set you back 150 NPR (1.5 gbp) for just a bagel and coffee, but it is worth it.

Alcohol

Unlike India, alcohol is easy to find and pretty much any type you like is available. Most beers are European and slightly expensive at 200 NPR (1.75 gbp). Cocktails tended to start at 300 NPR (2.5gbp).

Water/Soft drinks

A litre of water will cost a mere 10 NPR (15/20p gbp) and depending on where you are a soft drink with your meal costs anything from 50-70 NPR (0.4-0.6 gbp).

Travel

There are no trains in Nepal so all journeys are made via bus or shuttle taxi. Those who like me are of a scared disposition should always take the shuttle taxi!

The journey from the Indian border to Kathmandu (six hours) cost 560 rupees (4.60gbp). The local bus would have cost 400 rupees (3.3 gbp). However, if you ever see a story in your newspaper about Nepal it will normally contain the words “bus”, “mountain”, and “dead”. They don’t even bother removing the wrecked vehicles from the side of the mountain. It is probably a ploy to try to scare tourists into paying the extra 160 rupees.

A journey between the two major cities in Nepal: Kathmandu to Pohkara, takes seven hours and costs 500 rupees (4.60gbp).

That’s the basic information that you need to know for Nepal. It’s up to you what you wish to spend your money on. From trips to souvenirs there are endless ways to spend your cash in Nepal, the main cost being on trekking in the Himalayas and buying fake North Face gear. Here’s a brief insight on how I spent my money and the costs involved:

- Poon Hill Trek (six days)……………20,475 NPR / 175 GBP

- Thermal clothing for trek…………… 800 NPR / 6.6 GBP

- Flask for trek ………………… 300 NPR/ 3.3 GBP

- Thermal gloves for trek…………………………… 150 NPR/ 1.3 GBP

- Thermal socks for trek ……………………… 200 NPR/ 1.8 GBP

- Cashmere scarves……………………………… 375 NPR / 3.2 GBP

- DVD box set …………………. 500 NPR / 4.2 GBP

- Hour of internet………………… 75 NPR/0.60p

In a whole it’s fair to say that Nepal is the perfect budget backpacker location, probably more perfect that India in a lot of ways. In fact, it’s the perfect holiday location regardless of the budget. If you have it, you could spend a lot of money in Nepal and not just on trekking gear.

Tags: Backpacking Nepal, Kathmandu

Day Five was a short day also. Once again downhill, but with the aid of my ipod and some of my favorite albums of this year it was a little better than the previous day. I was a little disappointed that we did not walk a little further, but understood it once Basu led me to my accommodation for the night. A bunch of log cabins all joined together, each with their own little porch and rocking chair and a small garden with all sorts of veggies and herbs. Teetering on the edge of the cliff I could look up at the blue sky, feel the heat of the daytime sun, and yet see snow covered mountains everywhere whilst looking down into the valleys and watching the river flow. I had to stop myself into breaking into ‘Doe a deer’ every time I looked around. Simply stunning scenery. I was very happy just sitting there reading my book and taking in the surroundings.

At night I found my friends staying in a guesthouse not too far from me and went up to visit them. On the way up I stopped to watch the young porters performing a dance round the bonfire. It was their tour party’s last night, which was made up of entirely elderly Japanese people, so they were keen to leave something in their memory. It was tip day the next day. To watch these teenagers bouncing all over the place showing such energy and laughter after the hard day’s work they put it in really was hard to believe, but made me smile.

Up next was the Japanese who were less sprightly, but put the effort in all the same. Easily the best Japanese version of ‘If your happy and you know it’ I’ve ever heard. I mock a little but if I am 60+ and still dancing round the fire on the last night of a Himalayan trek, I’ll be very happy.

Somehow or other I found myself dragged into it all, with all my friends there too, dancing round the fire, with Japanese grandmothers, teenage porters and drunken guides. It was the type of random evening that money could not buy.

Day six was a lovely walk down the mountain. It took a mere three hours, and could have been quicker, but I was in no rush for this trip to finish. No words or pictures I take express the beauty I saw on the walk back. One of things I struggle with is to enjoy what I have now. I’m always looking forward to the next thing, but on this occasion I wanted to soak up every last little bit of the trek. A wonderful experience that has filled me with nothing but love for Nepal and it’s breathtaking landscape.

It has also given me a taste for trekking. I really got into this trek in a big way. So hopefully there will be more of the same in New Zealand and when I return home to Scotland one day. But it will all be in preparation for my new goal that I would like to achieve in the next ten years. It would seem a little silly a few weeks ago, but my guide assures me I have the fitness for the 13 days it would take, and now that I have done this, I am determined to return to Nepal to trek up to Mount Everest.

Who’s with me?

Tags: Backpacking Nepal, Poon Hill Trek

As I was leaving Ghorepani the sun was now fully out and there was not a cloud in the very very blue sky. With several snow topped mountains all round me, I simply couldn’t walk thirty seconds without turning round to take it all in and smiling. Then another thirty seconds turning round quickly just to make sure it was all still there. It never failed to fill me with joy every time I looked. It was roughly at this point that I decided that this trek was the best experience I have had on the road.

This was also the day that I discovered that I am much better at going uphill than down. I have terrible balance and took every step with a little trepidation. Such was my lack of pace, that people who were only seeing me as a spec in their horizon on the way up were now making me eat dust on the way back down. I was even overtaken by a bunch of Japanese tourists! The shame. My guide informed me that Japanese tourists are any guide’s dream. ‘Weak in the heart, strong in the wallet.’ Made me chuckle.

Day four got off to a bad start. Not only an awful 4:30am start, (I didn’t even know there was a 4.30am) but I had gotten too hot during the night, slipped off my thermal trousers, then left half of my left leg out of my sleeping bag and woke up to the sensation that my upper knee was missing. It remained like that for a good two hours.

The sole purpose of getting up at that God-awful hour was to be able to watch the sunrise at the top of Poon Hill Mountain. To say the walk uphill for thirty minutes in the pitch dark was rough for me was an understatement. I’m a fit person and had breezed up the highest climb the previous day. But anyone who knows me will understand that I do not like even talking first thing in the morning till about 10am, so you can imagine how awful I felt to be climbing to 3210 meters at 5am. Several times I had to stop in fear of vomiting, and when I got to the top I lay on the ground on my stomach like a snake. I felt better when a couple, who the week previous had gone to Everest base camp, came up and were both weasing and gasping for air just as much as me.

After I finally got my breath back and assured the previous night’s noodle soup was not going to revisit me, I started to take in my surroundings. The entire Annapurna mountain range was surrounding me in perfect panorama vision. Then slowly but surely the mountains crept out of the darkness, providing me with a view that will live with me forever. I will never pretend to be a good writer and I simply could not do this sight justice in this blog. You will just have to check out my pictures but here’s a little example of how good it was.

We spent a good two hours up there taking it all in, then posing for pictures and generally having some fun whilst staring at the 10th, 8th, and 6th highest mountains in the world. I decided to start taking some of my clothes off to test how cold I was. Not an experience I would wish on my worst enemy.

On the way back down to Ghorepani, I walked down with a girl, Jen, from Edinburgh. It’s extremely rare to meet other Scottish people backpacking, for reasons I will never understand, as Ireland has a similar population yet they get everywhere. Feeling all healthy and full of life with my love of the great outdoors restored, we started talking about Scottish treks and outdoor activities. It really hit home to me that I have done literally nothing in Scotland and made me quite ashamed. Whilst I have spent the majority of the past few years not living there, I did spend an entire year there last year and still never went up to the highlands and islands. Of course you are always keen to explore more foreign shores, but I don’t have an excuse as I spent most of my weekends loitering around Edinburgh doing the same things, in the same bars, with the same people. I did not see a return to Scotland anytime soon, but after this trek I feel a deep desire to go home and see why everyone raves about what my own neck of the woods has to offer.

I returned back to the guesthouse for a nice warm cup of tea and a huddle round the fire with the rest of my group. I got chatting to a middle aged Australian women who I’d spotted up at the Poon Hill peak with her very young daughter and made a mental note to talk to her when I got the chance. It turned out her daughter was only eleven. What a wonderfully cool thing for a girl of that age to do, but even more so, well done to her mum for bringing her along. A lot of people use their kids as an excuse for not going on more adventurous holidays or locations, but it’s nonsense. It just means they won’t go out of their way to entertain them more. It’s much easier in Spain or Greece to send them to the beach or the kids’ club. Not only that, but what an experience for the child. Plus, she’s surrounded by travellers and locals, giving her a taste of adventure, as well as opening her eyes to the rest of the world. When you’re eleven, no one exists outside you and your family, so seeing how children in Nepal and India the same age as her have to live she could not have failed to grow as a person.

The mum actually impressed me even more once I got my gushing praise out of the way. She told me that her school had kicked up fuss about the mum taking her out of school for six weeks and threatened to report her to the local education authorities. This is the only time of the year the mother could get off and told the school that she will learn and remember more from her six weeks in India and Nepal than anything they will ever teach her at school. As she was telling this her daughter was sitting on the other side of the room with a bunch of local guides and a few groups of many different nationalities, all gushing over her and telling her how cool she was for getting to the top of the mountain. I wanted to hug her mum. She’s my new hero.

We were supposed to set off at nine but I knew we had a shorter day ahead of us and did not see the point of leaving so early. Especially since we got up at 4am! I told a slight white lie to my guide about having a stomach bug and returned two hours later fresh and ready to go.

Tags: Backpacking Nepal, Ghorepani, Poon Hill Trek

Day three of my trek started with an intense uphill climb towards Ghorepani. A lot of other groups had continued past my guesthouse and did this the previous day, which given my dislike of everything first thing in the morning, I wish we had done the same thing. Day three was the big day when it came to walking. I covered 13km, rising up to 2855m in seven hours. It was hard going at times, but with the aid of a specially selected ‘mountain climbing play list’ on my ipod and a lot of carbs at lunch I really powered through it and felt very good for it too. Maybe too good as I started singing out loud much to the annoyance of my guide.

This being the longest day, I also met the most people. It’s interesting the different age ranges that you see on this trip, from young fit healthy whippersnappers like me in 1990’s clothing to elderly Japanese tour groups. To be honest whilst this was hard work I think anyone with a decent amount of fitness could easily do it as I was finishing most days with 4/5-daylight hours to spare. It is also amusing to see the different trekking gear worn by some of the people. It seems quite a few people thought they had signed up for climbing Everest with ski visors, expensive trekking shoes, pick axes and walking sticks. The same people who wanted to look like experienced hard working trekkers were employing young local porters to carry their bags for them. The porters are quite something though. It’s their job to get the equipment and food of the tour group to the guesthouses before the group arrives, and they would literally be running past you with large amounts equipment on their backs laughing, joking, and occasionally dancing, they make it look so easy. For those interested I did this trek in no more than basic running shoe’s, jeans, a few t-shirts and a jacket. No more is needed. Whilst there was no disco to attend, this wasn’t climbing Everest either. I also met my first ever Iranian on my travels on the way up to Ghorepani. We exchanged a few pleasantries and told each other where we are from. A few seconds past before he told me ‘I ask you where you are from, but I already know. We are all from God.’ I think that’s it for Iran and me.

Once I arrived at my guesthouse in Ghorepani, I was instantly taken aback at to how nice the accommodation was. The large room was like something from a Swiss ski resort, with a blazing fire to keep everyone warm and long benches similar to those you see at a German beer festival. Once again the food was good, although, as like all the other places if you wanted tea or a coke you had to pay through the nose for it. I did not take much money with me not expecting to have to pay for anything other than the odd overpriced coke, but up in Ghorepani there was the largest apple pie you will ever see, as well as a whole range of desserts. After a hard day of trekking you want a reward, but I could not afford to spend all my money for fear of not having any to pay for bottled water and toilet paper (yes, you pay way over the odds for that too) by day four.

All the rooms were named after international sport stars. I stayed in the Tiger Woods’ suite, which I thought was much better than the David Beckham or Michael Jordan suite. It now seems Tiger has got himself into a little bit of trouble while I was in the Himalayas and being the good, family-orientated country that Nepal is think I may have been the last person to stay in the Tiger room. I think that room may have been ‘retired’ and replaced by something like the Lewis Hamilton suite, or someone of a similar blandness.

What sticks out the most for me about my stay in Ghorepani was something I would have never imagined. I played volleyball at 2855 meters. Even more amazing is that I actually had the energy to play with the porters after a seven-hour uphill trek. What on earth is a volleyball court doing up there? I was absolutely awful,l but it did not matter as it was such good fun. They also had a basketball court, and much to my amusement I found a pool hall when I went for a wander at night. I would not have liked to been the porter or even the donkey who had to carry that up the mountain.

At night I made a large group of friends who I stayed with for the rest of the trek. All drinking hot tea, playing cards, listening to cheesy 90’s music, mocking Germans, and talking about what a wonderful trek it was. What else could I have asked for?

Like the majority of people who visit Nepal, the purpose of my visit was to do a trek in the Himalayas. Nepal offers some of the hardest treks, such as the famous Everest base camp trek, to simple two or three day strolls. Unsure of how good a trekker I am and having not exercised since I left home I decided to take up the challenge of a five day trek to Poon Hill, which my tour operator assured me would be moderate to easy. Sounds like me after a few beers.

Day one of the trek, which starts in Kathmandu, didn’t involve any walking and is an early morning bus journey to Pohkara, which takes roughly six hours up and down some of the scariest roads known to man. Pohkara offers instant gratification with a beautiful lake in the centre of town with the mountains towering over it. It also offers non-stop tourist offices and hiking shops as well as an abundance of swanky looking restaurants that were way out of my price range. In fact, Pohkara is not the friendliest of places cost wise to backpackers as even the low cost places were double the price of Kathmandu; this was explained by the amount of elderly Japanese tourists walking about. My hotel was actually the nicest place I have stayed at so far on this trip and was thankfully part of the cost of the trek. I enjoyed my first bath in weeks and catching up with some BBC world news. Despite that fact I know it’s on 15-minute loops I find myself watching it for hours on end.

Day two kicks off way too early for my liking, but this is a taste of things to come. The drive from the hotel to the starting point is breathtaking with snow topped mountains all round. Really got me in the mood. My guide is Basu, who seemed a little depressed and not that talkative. It seemed a shame since quite a few of the other guides seemed a good laugh, but I was relived to see that despite there being several different tour operators offering this trip, pretty much everyone stays in the same place and everyone mingles together, apart from my guide. We begin our ascent and walk around 10 km all up hill and reach 1577 meters in less than six hours.

What makes this trek slightly different from any other I have done is the standard of guesthouses. From previous experience, I have slept on wooden floors, in tin huts and hammocks and tents, but such is the volume of tourists and the different ranges of people doing the trek that there are guesthouses all the way up the Himalayas, ranging from fairly basic to extremely posh! No matter if it was even the most basic they all had double beds, common rooms and the occasional hot shower. Even more impressive was the food on offer. I came expecting to eat rice and fried veggies for six days, but had a continental breakfast most days, a range of rice noodles and spring rolls most days for lunch, and a soup and my favourite veggie momos for dinner most nights. The trek was hard work so carbing up was always a good idea. I would have killed for a fresh green salad by the end.

I told my guide of my surprise at the quality of lodging and food and he informed me that the local people make a lot of money from owning these guesthouses and can make so much money they own guesthouses in Kathmandu and Pohkara. It makes a nice change to see people from the countryside not having to go to the big city to make money. Mind you, a can of coke, Pringles, or a Mars bar costs the same as a nights accommodation at the guesthouses so it’s easy to see where they were making their money.

Day two is also where I found out just how cold it can be at night in the Himalayas. I know there’s quite a female following out there who would like to imagine me in bed (or alternatively I am deluding myself about this and its just the altitude going to my head!). Well this trip involves me in a hat, mittens, thermal socks, long johns, a long sleeved t-shirt a very fashionable puffy style jacket last seen worn by the Spice Girls circa 1995. Sexy or what?

Tags: Backpacking Kathmandu, Backpacking Pohkara, Poon Hill Trek

As much as I had enjoyed my Indian experience so far, it seems that no destination gears itself up for tourists to have anything more than a whistle-stop tour. Pushkar was maybe the exception, but the cyclone ensured that I did not stick around more than four days. As I approached a month away from home I was starting to get a little tired of being constantly on the move, so it was a very good thing that my next destination was Kathmandu, Nepal.

One long 20-hour trip ensured by the time of my arrival I was more than prepared to get ready to veg. It was extra tiring due to the fact I spent the last six hours in a bus ride fearing for my life. I was involved in a very nasty bus accident a few years back in Asia, and since then have a nagging and not unreasonable fear of dying in a traffic accident abroad. So as my shuttle bus hurtled round the mountains, overtaking two cars on a narrow bend every few minutes, I prayed! My driver seemed to be on some sort of personal speed mission, taking every hold-up or slow moving vehicle as an insult. It didn’t help that we passed several wrecked cars, which had been retrieved after they had fallen down the mountain and then had just been left at the side of the road to scare tourists like me. It was fair to say I was more than happy to finally arrive in Kathmandu, not only because I arrived in one piece but also because almost instantly I knew I had found the spot that I had been looking for forever since leaving Delhi.

The main tourist area in Kathmandu is Thamel. Here you will find a little slice of backpacker heaven. Cool bars, coffee shops, bakeries, shops selling wonderful local products such as cashmere scarves for a fraction of the price you would pay at home, an abundance of shops selling cheap hiking clothing and bars blasting western music along the lines of backpacker crap like Jack Johnson, which at night is replaced by the sound of local cover bands playing ‘classics’ like Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” and “No Matter What” by Boyzone. By my art rock snob terms this was noise pollution to the extreme however it was a welcome alternative to the honking horns of India. That being said, if I hear Pink Floyd’s “Wish you were here” one more time, I will die.

Kathmandu just screams ‘chill.’ By day, the weather is like a brisk Scottish autumn morning. Crisp breath catching cold with the sun, but not a cloud in the sky. At night it’s cold, and hats, gloves and scarves are required. I even had to pick up a nice pair of thermal underwear. Pics to follow. All of this can be done whilst walking down the wonderfully named Freak Street. An apt name for a very strange part of town.

At night, the bars are full, though I never saw one drunk person the entire six nights I spent there. Every type of food is catered for here but I became addicted to the local delicacy ‘momos,’ which are a cross between a veggie Vietnamese spring roll and a Chinese dumpling. Delicious. Actually being in Kathmandu actually reminded me of being back in China on my first big trip five years ago. Despite the obvious Chinese and Indian influences there are reminders of Europe on the streets with endless German bakeries, Italian coffees, Guinness in every bar, and most importantly Swedish hard bread in all the supermarkets.

Although they share a border with India, they really are as different as night and day. Take away the obvious Western references, the people look happy in Kathmandu, the streets are clean, and I’d say in a whole just a lot more relaxed and friendlier than their Indian counterparts.

I loved my Kathmandu. I would recommend that anyone visit here, be it as a budget backpacker or on a two-week vacation. Hiker or hippy, it has something for everyone on every level. But really, no-one should die having never eaten a veggie momo.

Mmmmm Momo’s