What to do in Kathmandu

I had a pleasant if unexciting few days in Kuala Lumpur. Not a lot to do there other than shopping and eating so I enjoyed the latter and took things easy.

I was then up on the airways again and on to Nepal. My fifth country in as many weeks and arriving in Kathmandu I was, for the first time, feeling a bit travel weary. Too much travel and not enough action so looking forward to changing that with some much anticipated paragliding!

First off though I needed to get my Indian visa for the final leg of my trip and that meant at least a week around Kathmandu. I spent a few days wandering around the city. Durbar square has almost been reduced to an area of empty plinths, save for the piles of bricks on top, but the city itself is predominantly intact. The only obvious disruption to city life seems to be the replacing of flagstones in the streets. 

Where once a temple stood

Road works, plus the endless line of motorbikes that stream through the narrow alleys makes the streets pretty claustrophobic at time and the pollution horrendous [The pollution in Kathmandu is generally horrendous. Narrow streets, old vehicles, little emissions control and lots of traffic leave a gritty toxic atmosphere, hard not to breathe in as you traverse the streets.].

The old city is medieval, hectic and fun. Thamel, the tourist district, is hectic but not as much fun. Every body wants to sell you a tour, hashish or a tibetan singing bowl but it's generally good natured and the touts aren't too persistent.

Looking over Kathmandu from Monkey Temple

Pashupatinath was the most interesting site I visited: Nepals most important Hindu temple. You can't actually visit the temple (unless you're a Hindu) but it's where they burn the bodies of the dead on the river bank. A fascinating place to sit and watch, if a bit macabre prying on other people's funerals. 

There's lots going on. Bodies being bathed in the sacred water of the river before they're toasted, funeral pyres in roaring flames, smouldering ashes being brushed into the river and kids swimming. 

The place is full of sacred animals too: monkeys, goats and cows wandering around and lots of Saddhus sitting about charging tourists for a photo.

Had to pay for it

Evening prayer at Bhoudinath

My first attempt to escape the city was only partially successful. I hired a mountain bike and headed out to the hills north of Kathmandu with a semi-local Nepalese guy, Azul. It thankfully doesn't take long to escape the foul air of the city and we were soon climbing up on small tracks through the rice fields and small-holder farm land of the fertile Kathmandu valley.

I'd planned for a 2 day trip but 2 hours in my chain snapped, so that was that. The ride back down was still fun though and so was weaving through the traffic with a sling shot from Azul.

Kathmandu valley

I didn't stay long in Kathmandu though and went on a 3 day yoga retreat instead. A great choice. After 3 days I was physically supple again and mentally refreshed.

The day starts with a 6.30 cleansing of the sinuses with a nette pot, followed by an hour of praniyam (breathing exercises), an hour of yoga, and then breakfast. It's a tiring start to the day when you're not used to it but we then had the day to ourselves before another yoga session at 5.

The view from the retreat

I went for a few walks, to the local town and Nepals oldest Hindu temple Changu Narayan (still standing) - a beautiful walk through big pine tree forest and with lovely views out across the valley. The nearby town Sankhu was badly damaged by the earthquake and the destruction to people's homes and lives is clearly evident there.

walking to Sankhu

Life goes on in Sankhu

Yan-gone

It was back to Yangon after Mandalay for a final day in the city (a relaxed affair but still got out to see some HUGE Buddha's) and then I was off to Kuala Lumpur.

Big Buddha 

BIGGER Buddha

Back in Mandalay

My return to Mandalay couldn't match the magic of that first visit but I still had another fun bike ride, heading out on a day trip to the royal town of Innwa. I found a lot of distractions on the way so didn't get there till late in the afternoon. 

The first distraction was the Mahamuni Buddha Temple in southwest Mandalay. I got to wear a longyi for the first time to cover up my legs and was given a short tour around the big golden Buddha by one of the monks. He couldn't speak much english but all he really wanted to emphasis that this was a MAHAMUNI Buddhist temple. Lots of people praying and queuing up to lay gold leaf on the Buddha (men only) for good luck.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple

Laying gold leave on to the Buddha

 

Making Buddha's in Mandalay

When I eventually made it to Innwa I had just enough time to see the sights and another gorgeous sunset: more pagodas, temples and monasteries; a mini Bagan.

Slight earthquake damage

Tourist wagons

Leaning tower of Innwa

On my way to Mandalay

Burmese trains have a bit of a reputation. My train from Bagan to Mandalay was slow but pretty smooth so I was intrigued to see how bad it really was when I made the much longer journey from Myitkyina to Mandalay.

There's a constant roll to the carriages but the train is generally going so slowly you don't really notice the motion - you just see it where the carriages are coupled. There is however the occasional violent shudder that ripples through the carriages and on the odd occasion that the train picks up speed, the carriages really do start to bounce. But it never lasts long and a temporary crawl seems to follow every bout of speed. The train really comes alive in these slow, meandering moments. Every joint, bolt, hinge... whatever, creaking and groaning over the laid back click clack of the wheels on the rails.

There is a constant stream of activity up and down the alleyway with sellers touting their food, drinks, snacks and alms. Each zone seems to have its speciality, so if you something takes your fancy you'd best get it then 'cos the 5 sellers now won't be on the next leg.

I'm sat in the open doorway with a beer and a cigarette. The sun has set and the skies cleared for the stars to shine through the florescent glow from the strip light in the carriage. Fireflies sporadically light up amongst the dark green of the passing trees. We've been crawling along for some time, a beautiful opportunity to enjoy this moment of transitory bliss, but the speed is picking up now and the infamous bounce and roll starting to build...

The scheduled arrival time in Mandalay is, I think, around 04:30 (we left at 07:45 so it should be about 20 hrs). Are we on time? No idea.

First class

Yes... I was slightly disappointed to find! We rolled into Mandalay on time at the ungodly hour of 4.30 am.

Myitkyina

Myitkyina was on Dhe's hit list of places to visit so we met up again on Friday to see what Kachin culture was all about. Not many tourists make it into the north and I'm pretty sure we were the only ones there that weekend. It definitely felt more raw and communicating was a lot more of a challenge!

Kachin cuisine (as dry as it looks) and specially wrapped plates for the tourists

The city is quite new so there are no historical sights as such. The place had a nice atmosphere though and the Ayeyarwady river in all its glory snakes past. 

Tourist attraction #1? The bridge across the river.

Nothing too spectacular as bridges go but you get a commanding view up and down the river. It's a popular sunset spot too. Just park your bike on the bridge and admire the view!

We had a lot of fun running around the area on a scooter. The big (/only?) tourist attraction here is a trip up the valley to see the confluence of the rivers so we headed up there on Sat. A lovely route through villages, trees and up into the hills before you pop out where the rivers meet. We set off a bit late and arrived just as the sun disappeared behind the hill. 

Always a Pagoda 

We enjoyed the changing light, pretty pink clouds and rising mist over the river and then thought we'd best set off to cover some ground before it got really dark.

That's where the adventure began...

I'd actually had the foresight to check the lights before we left. As the night set in however we quickly discovered that although our headlight did work, it didn't work at casting any useful light out in front of us.

Not an uncommon problem in Myanmar it seems though and we managed to cover some good ground in convoy following another light-less bike that was being led home by his fully functional friend.

Luckily I also had my head torch and we eventually nosed our way home safely, only taking a bit longer than the journey out. It was a challenge, but a lot of fun scooting along, peering into the dark with the stars above and fire flies blinking to the side. As less than 50% of the bikes here seem to have lights there wasn't much traffic to worry about at that time. Just had to stay on the road...

Dhe had to head home again and I had a nice afternoon wandering around the town where there was a relaxed Sunday vibe and a colourful street market. Found some tasty walnuts and some fruit, in preparation for the 20 odd hour train ride back to Mandalay I was going to take in the morning.