Tibet & Nepal : Part 9 - Namaste Nepal!

Namaste Nepal! And after crossing the Friendship Bridge, we are now in Nepal! There was a significant difference between Tibet and Nepal. For starters, the buildings look disheveled. And the roads were not smooth. In Nepal, we are here to begin our 11-day trek to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Annapurna was an alien name to me a year ago. I have only heard of Mount Everest. In this trip, I learnt that Mount Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world. There are 2 famous Base Camps trek in Nepal, I gathered. Everest Base Camp (EBC) and ABC. 

Nepal, a country I never thought I will step on. So foreign was this country to me that I did not realise of its geographical area and the location of Himalayan Range being in this country too. How naive I was. In this trip, I realise that Nepal has one of the beautiful countrysides. 

First stop in Nepal was to go to the Immigration Building. 

After getting our passports stamped (yay, another country stamped!), we walked towards our jeep ride which will bring us to our accommodation in Thamel. It was a 3-hour ride along the bumpy roads of Nepal. I wondered - how can a country filled with so many trekkers every year to EBC and ABC could not smoothen the roads? Along the ride, I saw lots of waterfalls. Yes, Nepal has a lot of waterfalls!

Saw a bridge for bungee jumping and I excitedly went on the bridge to snap a view. It was scary! The bungee jumping was closed that day.

And we stopped for lunch. I had 'chapati'. Chapati is a Malaysian food too. It is made of rice flour. I took that as it is the safest food. My friend had rice, and I did not fancy taking the chicken curry. There were cucumber for everyone. It is free. Surprised. While I placed my order for the 'chapati', I almost spoke to the staff in Malay Language. In Malaysia, when we have 'chapati', it is either in a Malay or an Indian restaurant. Then, I placed an order for one 'chapati' and I said - 'une' which means one in Tamil. Which they do not understand because Nepalis understand Hindi instead.

After lunch, we were back on the road. This is how the city looks like in Kathmandu.

After about 2 hours travelling since we stopped for lunch, we reached our hotel in Thamel at 3.15pm. This is Hotel Marshyangdi, as provided by our trekking package.  In this package we purchased, we either stay in Hotel Marshyangdi (3 Star) or Hotel Shanker (4 Star).

After settling in the hotel, we were on our way to our Nepal agent office to pay our package fees. It's a good thing we stay in Hotel Marshyangdi. It's located in Thamel, and it's near the Nepal's agent office. So we walked to the office. It was just a 10 minutes' walk. And on the way, we saw many shops. Thamel is a shopping haven.

The first time we were brought through Thamel, I felt like we were going through a maize.

Finally, we reached the office. Our agent in Nepal is Himalayan Glacier Trekking. The 10th biggest company in Nepal. There, we met the Head of the Office, Mr Narayan Regmi. How we got this company? We googled and randomly selected this company. It was a good pick, despite a bit pricey at USD1,100. When I came back to Malaysia, I realised we could have gotten a cheaper package from another company. The price aside, it was a good choice because I made new friends and I totally enjoyed too.

We got our duffel bags to put our necessities to bring to the trek. And also a dry-fit top with the company's logo. Everyone is listening to Mr Narayan's stories. And there, we met our guide! Mr Homnath Bhatta. A very jovial person!

After sharing his stories, we were on our way to the company's liaised store to get our sleeping bags and our trekking sticks! The sleeping bags can withstand up to zero degrees! Very good. The guide told us that we need to make sure our jackets are fleece jackets. But anyway, if you can stand cold, you can wear multiple jackets without fleece though. I live in Malaysia. I can't stand this much of cold for 10 nights! 

Of course, I tried their eyewear too. Looks cool!

We had an hour before our welcome dinner organised by the agent. So, we walked around Thamel to check out the shops. The first shop we stopped in, we tried their woolen hats. They have so many types.

For our welcome dinner, our guide met us at the hotel and we walked to Satkar Restaurant to try Nepalese food.

Then, we were served rice wine. From a very high place.

There was a stage in front with a performance during dinner.

For dinner, we were served - first dish on the left clockwise : pickles, pork, vegetables, mixed vegetables, curry chicken, black lentil soup. The food in the middle is papadum (fried and made from flour) and rice. The food was a bit bland. I was surprised it didn't taste spicy.  It was 7.40pm, but it was 9.55pm Tibet time which is similar to Malaysia's time. By now, I have felt really tired, but I didn't want to miss trying out the Nepal dishes. We got yogurt with cherries for dessert. Similar to Indian food. :-)

After the meal, we walked back to the hotel, and packed our bags into the huge duffel bags (which will be carried by the porters). It was exciting waiting for the next morning.