NEPAL 2010

I spent four weeks in Nepal in 2010 on a Habitat for Humanity “Everest Build” at the Municipal area of Leknath outside Pokhara in north western Nepal.

During the Habitat build we stayed at The Begnas Lake Resort & Villas. The resort is accessible by boat or via a not to good road and 240 step stairway though the jungle – down on arrival and up when leaving. Photos of Begnas Lake

Pokhara is a tourist area but the Municipal area of Leknath where we were working is not and we saw very few foreigners while we were there. We had a wonderful time mixing with the locals both at the work site and during other onsite activities.

Immediately following the build we went to Chitwan National Park for a few days. We stayed at the Hotel Parkland in Sauraha which is a town just outside of Chitwan National Park. We did a number of tours including an elephant ride through Baghmara Community Forest which is a buffer zone to the park, a Tharu cultural village and an elephant breeding center. Chitwan National Park is a world heritage site in south central Nepal and is over 900 km². Wildlife includes the Bengal Tiger, leopards, Indian Rhino, elephants, crocodiles, monkeys, deer and many types of birds.

After Chitwan we went to Kathmandu where we spent several days along with an overnight visit to Bhaktapur and Nagarkot.

We spent our first day in Nepal and several days at the end of the trip in Kathmandu. We stayed at the Hotel Vaishali which was nowhere near as good as its webpage says. It’s in the center of the Thamel district of Kathmandu so it was a good location for shopping and eating.  Kathmandu is the capital and largest city in Nepal. It is in a valley and has nearly a million people, so is very crowded and the traffic is usually chaotic

Bhaktapur, which is about 13km east of Kathmandu, is one of many world heritage sites in Nepal. It is a 17^th Century artisans village and there are lots of artists there still – selling pottery, wood carvings, paintings and all sorts of souvenirs. It also has a lot of temples, palaces and other old buildings.

Nagarkot is a short drive from Bhaktapur and is a small village on a ridge with a good view of the Himalayas if the weather is cooperative. Photos of Bhaktapur and Nagarkot

In addition to great people watching throughout Nepal I was fascinated by the many and various forms of (unusual) transportation, both for moving people and goods.