Manakamana and Gorka

Kumar, our guide for the next few days was waiting for us after we had breakfast and we were off onto the next part of our adventure.  We were heading to Manakamana. Here we had to take a cable car up to visit the temple which sits 1302 metres above see level.  Thankfully we did take the cable car as the walk up hill was going to take at least 3 hours!  The cable car ride covers 2.8 kilometres in just over 10 minutes.  There is a cargo car for taking the animals up to be sacrifice.  This is called Manakamana Darshan.  We visited during the quiet season and the queue was said to be relatively short.  They waited for over 2 hours to get into the temple.  During the busy time they can wait for up to 10 hours.  While we were visiting there we were the object of curiosity and many people were taking our photos with and without permission.  They also wanted us to be in their photos too.

 The temple itself has been here since the 17th century.  Even during this quiet day the temble and area was very busy.

 A number of these guys sit outside the temple and offer the quick alternative to going into the temple.

 This shows just how many white people there were there.

 We went for a short walk along the track past a local school and I was fascinated by the lady putting her hens under the basket.

Fromhere Kumar sowed us where we should have been trekking to get to Gorka.  Up the middle of the photo to the hilltop!

 We had lunch on top of a restaurant which gave us great views.

While waiting for our car to take us to Gorkha I was able to snap this view of the cable car.

We stayed here - Crown Resort - it was a bit like a Fawlty Towers type hotel,  The rooms were clean, and the food was yummy.  We ate most of our meals here and were treated to a glass of raksi each night from the manager.  He was very helpful and couldn't do enough to ensure that we were well looked after.  We ate our meals up on the closed in restaurant where not all windows had glass.  

Chitwan

We were absolutely tired and enjoyed a lazy afternoon at Hotel Parkside.  Meals were good and included as part of our deal.  We ate a lovely lunch and then went and had a shower and freshen up before we walked down to the river to hopefully watch the sunset but there was too much cloud. It was great to have this relaxing time and company.

10th Dec
Breakfast with Bipin and he was surprised that for once I ate more than half of my meal.  No chilli!this is where Bipin left us and we went on an elephant trek, hoping to see a one horse rhino.  Sadly we didn't but we did find a footprint.  It was misty and mysterious and we seemed like we were the only ones in this jungle area.  Chitwan borders on India and there were army posts set up in strategic places.  There is often prising, or poaching happening which has depleted the native animals in this area.  We were on the back of the elephant for about 2 hours and saw many different birds, samba and spotted deer along with mongoose.

The elusive rhino foot print.

After our trek we went back to the hotel for Wayne to get changed into some clothes for washing the elephants.  I decided, wisely, not to do this and was deemed the official photographer.  It was fun to watch and Wayne seemed to enjoy the interaction.  We were amazed at how gentle the elephants were.  He sat on top of the elephant until the elephant was instructed to roll over and he became dunked in the water.  We then went back to the hotel for a delightful non-spicy lunch.

 I think the elephant is giving Wayne a bath!

Cuttng these toenails would be a mammoth task,

It was time for us to be driven down the road to have a ride on the river in a dugout canoe.  They had already decided which canoe to use but changed their mind when they saw us.  Too big for the small dugout the chose.  It was lovely and calm being taken down the river watching the birds and the people working on the banks.  We rounded a corner only to almost come face to face with a crocodile sunning on the bank.  The paddler quickly moved us away but slowed to a stop so that we could take photos.  Along this trip we also saw and heard a barking dear.  Finally we had a short walk across to the hotel when our guide stopped and sniffed.  There was a faint smell of a freshly dead animal.  After looking around we found footprint of a tiger on the ground.

 Our canoe is the biggest and fattes one.  And we were the only passengers!

 A family working along the riverbank.

 The big crocodile sunbathing.

Fishing for the little fish for her dinner.

 One of the many beautiful kingfishers we saw.

We were led to believe this was a tigers footprint.

11th Dec
Lazy start to this day - breakfast at 7, then a drive through the morning mist to the Elephant Breeding Centre.  They have a number or elephants here and a lot of information about them.  Fascinating.  Some baby elephants as well as a pair of twins, which they tell us is very rare.

 Wayne walking across the wooden bridge to the Elephant Breeding Centre.

 The view from our hotel window.

 Hotel Parkside entrance.

 The rare twins.

On our way back I waylaid and found a spider web with dew on it.

This afternoon we were doing a jeep safari at 20000 Lake.  Again we saw many varieties of kingfishers and other birds.We also saw a number of crocodiles.  The reflections in the lake were magnificent.

That evening we were taken to a Cultural show.  It was fascinating watching and listening to them dance, sing and perform.

A fire stick display.

A small trek up and long one down!

Dec 7th and it was an early start to the day when we were picked up by Bipin at 6 am.

We had been warned the previous day that the first part of the trek was going to be five hours up hill!  Did this put me off? NO but it made me tell them that I am very slow going up hill!  We stopped off at a little cafe on the way to have breakfast and then we met up with Tilok who was to be our porter.  We were lucky to have Bipin with us as he was very encouraging and informative all the way through this trek.  After a meal of Dal Bhat (the serving spoon was given to me to use and it had dished up the very spicy pickle) we were on our way up the hill.  They weren't joking about it being up hill all the way.  Thankfully we walked at my pace and we did the 5 hour up hill in just over 8 hours.  This meant we arrived in the dark.  Torches on and we walked slowly down the clay road to our home-stay.  The views of the valleys on the way were incredible.  The plants and insects were beautiful.  The company was amazing and I couldn't have done it without their support.

 Wayne and Tilok ensuring the sleeping bags are attached.  We left Hugdi to trek to Hattibang.

 Looking down onto one of the valleys.

 The school came out to watch us walk through their grounds.

 Bugs astound and amaze me with tier colours.

We stayed the first night with a lovely family who gave up their bedroom us. dinner was Dal Bhat and again I could only eat a little of it.  The lentil soup was yummy but most of the rest of the meal was too spicy for me and there is only so much rice I can eat!  We bedded down in our warm sleeping bags and nodded off for a well deserved sleep.  Wayne had to sleep diagonally across his and my bed as the bed was rather short!

 Looking down the road that we had walked on.  The building in the front right is the toilet - across the road and housed many big black spiders.

The family waving us on to the next part of our trek.

Dec  8th

We were up in time to see the sunrise over the hills around us.  Wisely we had decided not to make the 2 hour (Nepali time, probably 4 hours my time) up a steep hill to see the sunrise over the valley.  Tilok took us through a a short cut but he neglected to tell me that I had to be a mountain goat and scale a cliff face.  All right it wasn't s sheer face but there wasn't much to hold onto to go up over the rocks.  I was pleased we were going up it and not down it.  We were told it would be a little bit up and a little bit down...they were right but they neglected to say that there were many of these little ups and downs. This is what they call Nepali Flat but we call hills!  Again it was a long day but lots to see along the way.  There were many times to stop and take a breather and take photos.  Night time came and we were still walking and the stars were again out to help the torches shine our way.  Finally we arrived at our home stay only to be told we need to walk another 15 minutes.  It was going to be a bit of wait for dinner so I curled up into my sleeping bag and slept through it.

 Clay houses are the norm and they have an amazing colour.

 Lady birds are startlingly beautiful.

Dew caught on a spider web in a leaf.

Bipin out guide enjoying his snack on the rock.

We left Hattibang to trek to Upardhangadi.

9th Dec - last day of our trek. Upardhangadi to Shakatur

Breakfast was omelette, millet bread, yummy honey and tea along with a tuberous white vegetable that I just couldn't eat.  Our hosts packed a lunch for us and we were off.  Mostly downhill today and it should take us 4 hours...their time!  The path was very steep and shingley in places.  Both Wayne and I kept slipping, the locals didn't. I grazed my knee but unfortunately Wayne did a bit more damage and we were both pleased when we finally reached the bottom and the 'bus' was waiting for us.

 Sun rising behind us at the fort the went to watch the sunrise from.

 Two gorgeous girls posing for their photo.  The smiles on their faces when I showed them their photo was incredible.

 Just started the lasst day of our trek and looking back at our home-stay and on the hill top is the local school.

Millet drying in the sun.

We were very lucky to meet some locals walking up the tack we had come down and they agreed to pose for some photos.

 They were on their way to a wedding and were carrying huge bags of rice.  Here we have an uncle to nephews.

 Bipin is posing with the parents of the groom.  They were also carrying hige bags of food items.

 These young girls were part of the family and were lovely young ladies.  They are beautiful and were carrying various items that they took turns carrying.

One of the items were chickens in this bag.  They just sat their quietly as if knowing what their fate was going to be.

We had on tramping boots and they wore jandels/flip flops/thongs.  The muscles in their legs were incredible.

finally we arrived at the base and the 'bus' was waiting for us so we didn't have to walk along the road to meet up with them.  We were now on our way to Chitwan.