back in pokhara

paragliding was nice, its a great feeling to be there up in the sky! and quite funny, my pilot was a guy from bulgaria who was in the same plane to kathmandu with us some weeks ago!!

in the air

view down the valley

for the worst case i got a bicycle helmet for my security!!

children dancing and singing because of festival

one had too small, one too big

on monday in the morning flo left to india, and i went to phedi to do the annapurna base camp trek (ABC), also known as annapurna sanctuary trek. actually i didnt want to go there because it is said to be crowded, but the other trekking areas are quite expensive to enter. and since i want to go to india soon i had to do something not too long. it was really beautiful, but once again: pictures can by far not represent how it really is!! but they might help to understand (and are more interesting then the text, i know...)

i started down there in the valley

 typical village

machhapuchhare, 6.997 m.

annapurna, 8.091 m

the annapurna base camp, my destination, was more or less in between these two mountains (annapurna in the west of the other one).

rice fields are everywhere

children in the village, giving flowers and hoping for "chocolate" (any kind of sweet welcomed!)

besides early morning it was mostly cloudy

one bridge...

...and another

a huge moth (nachtfalter), the lighter is normal size!

a fight in the streets

more clouds on the second day

horses, donkeys and humans are used for transportation

jungle

on the 3rd day i left deorali at 5 in the morning (with head lamp, it was completely dark, but with plenty and plenty of stars) and went in 3 hours to ABC, where i could enjoy the phantastic view for another 3 hours before the clouds came again...

before sunrise, at machhapuchhare base camp

sunrises on annapurna 8.091

finally arrived at ABC

view in the north

annapurna

view direction east

glacier

annapurna on the left

machhapuchhare on the right

glacier and where it used to be

annapurna and myself

 

"only" 4 months visa for india

we got our visa for india, both only for 4 months though. its a long time, but it started already, i have to be out of india latest by the 28th of february 2011. so every day i stay more in nepal is a day less in india... and india is huge!!

last saturday we left kathmandu early to go to sauraha, which is located north of chitwan national park. it was a good busride, about 5 hours and the road was good (at least now i consider it a good road, at home it would be a sh...road! but whats the sence of travelling if you expect things to be like at home?!). we stayed outside the park in this small village just next to the river - the boarder to the national park. unfortunately you cant swim in the river because of crocodiles and rhinos. we were happy to be out of busy kathmandu and just relaxed at the riverside. sometimes i had the feeling this could also be somewhere in africa...

chitwan national park is on the other side

sunset

women duing their laundry in the river

the bar next door!

same same

elephant in the wilds

elephant in the streets

on the first evening in sauraha i eat for the first time since maybe 24 years rice with my hands - like most nepalis eat every day. in the beginning its really strange if you do so, and in can be pretty hot on the fingers! but its nice, really nice! if you dont try it you will not understand, its different way of enjoying the food... again a thing thats nice and normal here, but at home would look a bit strange!

me eating dal bhat

dal bath is a typical nepalese dish, rice, different vegetables, curd, sauces. if you are still hungry after this huge dish you get more for free. many, many nepalis eat dal bhat twice a day, and probably all of them eat it with their hands.

all these boats are made our of one piece of wood

water buffalo in a small village

2 days ago we arrived in pokhara, about 200 km west of kathmandu. its a nice city with a lake, behind you have the himalayan mountains... huge and impressive!

outside the bus to pokhara...

...and inside: toothbrush and toothhpaste for first aid!!

lake pokhara with the himalayan in the very back

golf down there, and once again mountains

today we played golf, the first time in life. it was nice but probably the last time as well!

hopefully tomorrow there will be no clouds since we will go paragliding...im looking forward to that