Nepal Holiday Trip

After spending 10 days in Nepal with my parents for holidays, I arrived back in Singapore on the 19th of July. Instead of writing my travel experience in the usual journal format, I decided to spilt this post into different sections - cityscape, scenery, transportation system, food, culture, people and others.

Cityscape:

 

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is a historical city. At around 1400m above sea level, Kathmandu is filled with endless rows of 2-3 stories shophouses, some of them more than 100 years old, unlike the jungle of towering skyscrapers that we are see so often in Singapore or other metropolitan cities, In fact I haven't seen any building taller than 10 stories apart from a tower, which according our tour guide is the tallest structure in Kathmandu. The cityscape probably resembles Singapore in the 1960s. Crooked windows and huge prominent cracks in some of these surviving old buildings are scars of the destruction of a devastating earthquake about 70 years ago (if I remember what my guide said correctly). Peering out from her exquisitely carved wooden window which seemed on the verge of giving way, an old lady watched us strolling through the streets of the city, seemingly nonchalant about the danger of living in such a dilapidated building. It was definitely to my surprise that such buildings were still inhabited. The people continue to do so because they simply cannot afford a better place.

 

 

(Above: Patan Dubar Square)

Transportation System:

I think the road conditions in Nepal are rather similar to that in India. You can see cows walking and sitting in the middle of roads and vehicles are expected to give way to them as they are considered sacred in the Hindu religion, which comprises around 80% of the population. The drivers in Nepal seem to have a penchant of sounding the horn, as frequent as every 5 seconds, and their horns even have melodies, like the sound of trumpets. Given the chaotic traffic conditions where motorists weave in and out of lanes ever so frequently even in narrow 2-way lanes, coupled with the fact that animals and people also walk on the roads, such incessant horning is understandable. Nevertheless sometimes I wonder perhaps the sounding of the horn is a form of greeting by cheeky drivers. Traveling on the roads by vehicle can be quite a bumpy ride as not all the roads are tarred or properly maintained, with potholes and rocks all over the roads, especially the mountain roads.

Strikes are also very common in Nepal and I was 'lucky' enough to experience the transportation strikes first-hand. Our tour van was caught in a massive traffic jam about 3km long and after waiting for around 3 hours, we decided to haul our luggage and walk on foot. At the site of the blockade by the protesters, the cameraman of a television crew filmed us dragging our luggage amid stares by onlookers, protesters and the police. Not long after we passed the blockade by foot, the strike ended, leading me to wonder if the sight of tourists being affected by the strike caused the protestors to relent. For those who do not know, the tourism industry is one of the largest economic sector in Nepal. Thus, it is of utmost importance for the Nepalese to ensure a quality experience for the tourists during their stay.

(Above: The crowd of protesters marching off)

(Above: Me dragging my luggage)

Scenery:

(Above: Hilly slopes and rice fields in Nagarkot)

We took the Yeti Airlines Everest Flight on 13/07/08. The view of the Himalayan mountain ranges is breath-taking.

(Above: Takeoff from Kathmandu Airport for the Everest Flight on board Yeti Air)

(Above: Picturesque view of the Himalayan ranges)

(Below: A slide show of the pictures taken from the window and cockpit of the plane. The mountains in the pictures are actually larger than they seem as some parts of the mountains are covered by cloud, so you can only see the peaks clearly, much like icebergs.)

Food:

The traditional Nepalese food is shown in the first picture. Luckily, we also had other types of food in Nepal apart from the usual dahl and chapati which is not really suited for my taste buds.

Culture:

There are more than 70 different ethnic groups in Nepal, each with its own culture and traditions. My family and I were lucky to witness and participate in a Nepali wedding ceremony in one of the villages en route to one of our destinations.

(Above: The wedding ceremony site)

People:

Most of the Nepalese people that I encountered are friendly and would greet tourists with 'Namaste'. We were lucky to have a very friendly, helpful and experienced tour guide, Mr Jeevan.

Others:

Below is a video clip of an ayurvedic 'singing' bowl, so called because it resonates after being hit or rubbed with a wooden stick wrapped with leather (shown in the video). In the video, you can see the water spraying about at four sides along the circumference in the bowl and rotates with the encircling motion of the stick. My guess is that the phenomenon is caused by standing waves in the water created due to the vibrations in the bowl. The four sides from which the water spray originate would correspond to the anti-nodes, and the calm regions are the nodes. The person explaining the use of the ayurvedic bowl is my tour guide, Mr Jeevan.

We got cheated by a group of snake charmers in the streets of Pokhara when we took photos and a video of them, unaware of the fact that we have to pay them $4 for just a few seconds of video. Luckily our tour guide stepped in to handle the situation so we ended up paying $1.

Back from Taiwan

Just came back from my holiday with my parents in Taiwan yesterday. It was quite an eventful trip. Our flight to Taiwan was diverted to Hong Kong halfway into the journey due to typhoon Krosa. Too bad we didn't have much time to explore Hong Kong as we reached the hotel in the evening and stayed for a night there.

After wasting a day in Hong Kong, we finally arrived in Taiwan on 7th Oct in the afternoon. On our bus journey to the hotel I spotted electric windmills along the sea coast, and that's something you can't find back in Singapore.

Our main purpose in visiting Taiwan was sight-seeing and it was much to my chagrin when we realized that we were unable to visit Hualien and Taroko Gorge as the roads there were destroyed by the typhoon. The tour guide told us that the best scenery in Taiwan could only be found there but well, unforeseen circumstances do happen and we just have to change our plans. In the end we spent most of our time in Taiwan travelling on the tour bus, visting night markets and temples. The night markets there are similar to the Pasa Malams in Singapore except that they are permanent and sell different stuff. The stuff there are not as cheap as I expected so I didn't buy much. Food was aplenty but I had difficulty finding food in the night market that suited my taste as they mainly sell pig's organ soup and dried squid which I don't eat. I am not so adventurous in trying out exotic food. The melange of smells in the night markets proved to be quite overwhelming to me, especially that of the smelly beancurd or known as "Chou Tou Fu" and the exhaust fumes from the numerous scooters. The crowded night markets and endless jostling of people was a nuisance to me for I dislike crowds. Walking along the streets in Taiwan can be quite dangerous and irritating as scooters and motorcycles zip pass you every few seconds haphazardly. The motorcyclists in Taiwan do not seem to make any distinction between pavements meant for pedestrians and roads. You have to be constantly on the lookout least you get knocked down. I noticed that the percentage of scooters in Taiwan is much higher than that in Singapore, probably because it is more convenient to use a scooter than a car in negotiating narrow alleys and crowded streets illegally.

Our tour bus broke down on the fourth day on the highway en route from Taichung to Taipei. Seated near the back of the bus I detected acrid fumes that smelled burning rubber and the engine made loud rattling noises. Initially I thought the tyres were on fire but it was actually the engine that was emitting those noxious and suffocating fumes. The bus driver continued driving for a few minutes before the engine died and we were left stranded along the shoulder of the highway. The driver should have stopped the bus and opened the doors immediately instead of continuing driving. After trying in vain to start the engine for more than an hour, the driver gave up and another tour bus was sent to pick us up.

We visited Jiu Fen and Yeliu the next day. Yeliu was nice. It was almost surrealistic standing amidst the peculiar natural stone formations caused by weathering and sea erosion over millions of years. When viewed from certain angles, some of those rocklike protrusions bore an uncanny resemblance to the head of a queen wearing a crown or even the head of the alien E.T. in Steven Spielberg's film.

(That's me squatting on an egg-like stone in a ring-like rock outcropping)

(And that's me hugging E.T. the rock)

The second last day of our tour was free-and-easy. Strolling around aimlessly in the streets, we decided to take a MRT train to Taipei 101. However just as we were about to do so, the train service got disrupted due to an earthquake. So we went to Wulai mountain instead and was treated with the sight of a beautiful waterfall. We also got to see the aborginal dance of the Atayal tribe.

Thought not as fun as I expected, my trip to Taiwan was quite an interesting and refreshing experience away from the rigours of army life.

What is one value or belief which you hold on to in life?

I believe that fifty percent of what happens in life is determined by fate and the other fifty percent by our actions. As a Buddhist, I believe in Kharma, that is what you do now will affect you in the future, including your next life. A person who has done numerous bad deeds in his past life will suffer in his next life.

However, not everything is entirely decided by fate alone. We have to make numerous decisions every day, including small and insignificant ones such as whether or not to eat or got to the toilet. In almost every decision that we make, we have a choice. Thus, we can control our lives to a certain extent. One may argue that whatever decisions one make had already been decided by fate and whatever that happens is predestined. But if this true, then there is no purpose in life.

Since everything that we do will eventually affect us, we have to be cautious about what we do and do what is right. We should help others around us and have compassion towards all sentinent beings. If we want to achieve our goals, we have to work hard and not just wait and let fate decide everything.As the saying goes, "You reap what you sow."