Nepal Photo Gallery by oksana

Nepal

Well, lets cut strait to the chase – we didn’t go to Tibet. Our travel company screwed up with necessary visas and immigration officers on the Tibetan border wouldn’t let us in. To tell you the truth we were not the only ones there waiting for the wind to change and hoping that our guides could “talk” some sense into those officers. :) Nothing worked, but the officials agreed on taking our passports and letting us in the town for food and rest. Anyway, after spending 26 hours in Zhangmu (which is the border town in Tibet, so technically speaking we’ve been there :)), we turned back and went to Nepal once more. Oh, and on the way to the border we ran into a landslide, so the “ride of shame” turned into the “walk of shame” for about a mile all the way to the Friendship bridge. And you have to see that road – there nothing but hundreds of trucks waiting for the border clearance for days. Pictures show it better than words, I think.

So, here we are, back to Nepal after one day of absence, getting new visas an’all. Nepalese officials had a chat with our guide and offered us to “cancel” our exit visas for only $15 dollars instead of paying $30 for a new Nepal visa. But after short math calculation we decided that better safe than sorry and politely declined their proposition. :) Our travel company sent a car to pick us up and we got to Katmandu late that night totally crashed by the unfortunate turn of events. But in the morning we decided to salvage whatever possible and booked ourselves into 4 days of white water rafting on one of the most technical rivers of Nepal – Bhote Kosi, that has nothing but one 4+ rapid after another for 4-5 hours straight.

Anyway, we spent couple days in Katmandu, waiting for our river trip, visiting temples, drinking beers on the roof restaurants, shopping and having good time. After that we went rafting for 4 days, doing two same trips back to back, but on the different sections of Bhote Kosi. These guys took safety precautions really seriously and made us swim Class 3 rapid. And I mean – swim (!!!). We had to jump from the shore into the white water, swim to the middle of the river, assume “white water position” and after passing the rapid swim to shore. Ouch! :) And as a reword they let us jump into the same rapid from the 5-meter tall rock! :) Everybody did, of course! :)

Camp site was really interesting as well. We slept at the “jungle resort” in a safari tent, wearing long johns and hats, because it was freezing cold at night, took hot showers outside and had dinners and drinks at the grass thatched bungalow with big fire pit in the middle. Very romantic. :) All and all it was really cool and it made up for the complete failure to reach Tibet. :)

After that we spent couple days in Bhaktapur – small town about 30 min away from Katmandu with breath taking views of Himalayas. We got there close to sunset and spend few hours just drinking beer and snapping pictures of pink snowcaps behind red brick towering temples from the roof of the restaurant on the top of our guesthouse. Wow! What a view! I’d advise anybody who’s planning to visit Nepal to spend at least couple of days in Bhaktapur. It’s much quieter, cleaner and prettier than Kathmandu.

And as a grand finale to our trip we had to leave Nepal during national strike that was called by Maoist rebels. :) All motor transport in Kathmandu came to a halt, all shops were closed, streets were empty and quiet (which was very nice, actually :)), number of armed solders and sand bag barricades quadrupled. Government had to arrange buses to pick up tourists from the city and take them to the airport. Another option was to take a velorikshaw, but we just didn’t have 2 hours to spare. :)

Anyway, we made it home safe and sound and full of memories and photos.

Singapore is actually nice after trips like that one. It’s clean, quiet and not overwelming. Nice rest before future travels – we gonna be gone for almost 2 months on a row. First Japan, then Thailand, then US. Should be back home at the end of January.

Ok, I think I’ve said enough. :)

Do not copy or distribute any images without permission. All rights reserved. If you are interested in any of these images, please, contact me by e-mail - oksanaphoto@gmail.com

Roof of the World, Bhaktapur	Monk, Bodhnath	Colors, Patan	Potter, Potters Square, Patan	Hello!
Monk, Bodnath	Prayer, Patan	Prayer Flags, Bodnath	Rice Sifting, Bhaktapur	Girl, Potters Square, Patan
Old Lady, Potters Square, Patan	Market Stall, Patan	Pigeons 1, Durbar Square, Kathmandu	Pigeons 2, Durbar Square, Kathmandu	Pigeons 3, Durbar Square, Kathmandu

comment |

Guest		13-May-2012 17:05
Excellent documentary and composition.

saggy		02-Sep-2008 12:16
thanks oksana for the beautiful gallery of a beautiful country of the world...i hab travelled nepal like 10 time in my life nd still m not satify...i wanna go there again nd again...to the viewers,i wannna aure that if u really wanna see a heaven u ud once go to nepal...i checked all the pictures nd found smt i missin...osana u sud go to some other places like pokhara ,mutang nd namche...it is really aheaven in earth...so plz put some more pic if u hab any.... thanks

Guest		23-Nov-2007 08:38
Memories are back! V

Guest		20-Dec-2005 12:00
super gallery

click on thumbnails for full image

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