Jo & G Travels: Last week in Nepal

We've had 1 final week in Nepal and off to Iiiiiiiiiiiindia again tomorrow for the final chapter :-(

We have loved Nepal as there is soooooooo much to see and do. Although I think the lack of oxgyen at high altitude did some damage to our brains... as we accidentally signed up for a 160m bungee jump. We need to remind ourselves that we are 30 (or 34) and NOT 18 again!! It was cool though - thanks Marcus for the resort recommendation (Mark has done the bungee so I haaaaad to!! and Sarah, I was always annoyed with myself that I didn't do the Pipeline with you!). It was right by the Tibetan boarder and massively relaxing (well, apart from the bungee and whitewater rafting....).

G on the bridge - 160m is a looooooooong way down!!

Meeeeeeeee and the 160m drop - nice!

Jump Geeeeeeee jump!!!!!!(his screams could be heard in China)

And then a spot of whitewater rafting - 2 days on the steepest river in Nepal, scary mary. We went with Kiki from the trek and was a lora fun....

Ok... enough of acting like gap year students. We hired a motorbike and took off on a mini road trip for some culture. The gnarly bikers....

We drove 4 hours to Gourkha district (home of the British soldiers). Amazing scenery but 4 hours on a bike = soooooooooooooore bottoms for us. Loads of political rallying along the way as the election is on the 10th - mainly from the Maoist party, who have been bullying people into voting for them and campaigners from other parties have mysteriously disappeared.... But we haven't seen any trouble and 2000 temporary police have been recruited to keep the peace (each with a massive wooden stick).

G with Anapurna mountain range in the background (it may look like cloud to the untrained eye)....

We stayed in Gourkha for one night and then went to an olde worlde town called Bandipur (on the old trade route from India to Tibet).

We went to a Hindu temple which was super high on a hill via cable car (the only cable car in Nepal, thanks to the Swiss... we were glad it was Swiss made!). It is a temple where they make wishes and make a sacrifice or offering to god - new couples often wish for a boy or childless couples for a child. GOAT LOVERS AND VEGETARIANS DO NOT READ ON........ sadly goats, chickens and pigeons are sacrificed (luckily for buffalo's they can't fit in the cable car) and it was so bizarre to see people queueing with their offering. People who couldn't afford a live sacrifice would offer a coconut instead!

The cable car price list - second from the bottom is the price of taking a goat up to the temple. They only get a one-way ticket :-(

G in the cable car (no, the chap next to him doesn't work in McDonalds it is a traditional Nepali hat).
Literally hundreds were queuing, many with animals. The poor goats queued so patiently (see below). The god likes black goats or if not they have to have some black on them....
G in front of the queuing pilgrims (the chap to the left has a chicken under his arm - not black though, so not sure whether his wish will come true).
The sacrifices were made inside the temple so we didn't actually see them, luckily. I felt really sad for the animals who were in the queue - but it is such a different culture it is hard to judge and at least they eat the animals afterwards so I guess it is not massively different from being a meat eater (I haven't eaten meat since though!).

Anyways, back to Kathmandu and spent a night in Patan (one of the old Kingdoms of Nepal). The 300+ year old buildings are amazing in Nepal and the main squares in Kathmandu and Patan are full of temples and crumbling old buildings (yep, sounding more like a 30 year old now and less like an 18 year old!).

The main square in Patan (Durbar square) and the old dudes putting the world to rights....
Went to another Hindu temple this morning with yet more sacrifices :-( This time we saw the animals post-sacrifice. A buffalo, goat, duck, chicken and sheep were all offered to the gods and their headless carcasses were outside the temple. NO MORE MEAT EVER AGAIN!!! (G wanted me to put the piccies here but they are not pleasant!)
There were other safe "holy animals" wandering around the temple but they seemed to know that something was up. Check out the lucky holy sheep peeping round the corner to see what the commotion is....
And thats us! We are off to India tomorrow so last night in Kathmanduuuuu tonight. Can't believe we are home in less than 3 weeks - time has floooooooooown.

Anyways, more from India. Love me n G xxx