Tansen, Lumbini, Sauraha, Daman

I finished my trail along the 4 most important highways and just arrived back in Kathmandu.
Before leaving Pokhara I got up at 5.30 in the morning and nearly froze to death while searching a special view point to see the peaks in the first light of sunrise. After 20mins of searching I gave up and headed to the World Peace Pagoda for a 2nd time since the view is probably the same. You have the daylight pics of the peaks so I won't bore you with the orange ones.
After another 2hrs of sleep I took my bike and followed the highway south until Tansen, called 'the city of the white lake'. There is no lake nearby, but from the city you have excellent views down into the valley and in the morning the fog and the clouds down there look like a white lake (I got up at 6.00 again to see the sunrise). At my hotel I met a psychologist from Melbourne who is doing Kathmandu to Delhi by bicycle, which is quite a hard tour with all the mountains, the pollution, etc. Anyway Tansen is mainly untouched by tourism which is great for the atmosphere and for seeing some of the culture. It's easier to talk to people and someone around (mostly the kids) knows a few words of English and they are all very keen on being photographed and seeing their pictures. Parents carry their babies out so I can take a picture of them etc.

Tansen


Boys I met in the streets


When Hinduism (Swastika) and Maoists come together it can be confusing for Westerners


Kids in the street


more


The white lake


Me and my bike


I went down the Siddhartha Hwy on to Lumbini, 80kms that didn't really pay off. The birthplace of Buddha was probably the most unspectacular thing I ever saw in terms off religious stuff.
There you go: it's a stone like the one in the top left corner under glass with a sign. And in buddhist tradition they charged me 125Rps for it.



I rode on east the Tribhuvan Hwy trying to reach Sauraha at the border of the famous Chitwan National Park. I didn't manage to come near Sauraha until after dark and in good Nepali tradition there are no street lights and no signs to be found anywhere. Luckily I stumbled over the Sapana Village Lodge, some small houses with a really beautiful park around it, directly at the border to the Park, so far probably the best hotel I stayed at and the room was only 1500Rps.

Restaurant area in the morning mist


They serve amazing food by the way and offer amazing programs inside the park and outside with the local Tharu people.

Elephant in the garden


The next morning I drove off back to Kathmandu an reached Daman (2300m) around noon. I spontaneously decided to stay the night there. It is said that you have the best view of all Nepal in Daman and it probably is true. There were too many white peaks in the distance to count them. I stayed in a small family lodge and ate dhal baat (rice with verg. curry, pickles and dhal of course) with them and drank loads of chai (and Tuborg). Over lunch I got to know Yatri, the chief of the news department of radio Pratidhwani broadcasting over 2/3rd of Nepal from the hut next door. It literally is a hut. About 6-7 people working there. Since Daman is one a high position it's perfect for a radio. Still it's little more than 5 huts.


View




So I ended up discussing the US election and Nepali politics with him, until he looks on his watch an screams out: "Damn', I have to go, do the news!" Of course he invited me over to come see the studio and everything.

Studio live on air


Nepal really is a strange country. To get from Hetauda (about 300m) to Kathmandu (1300m) you need to pass Daman (2300m) and go down the valley again (250m) and finally back up to Kathmandu. That's a lot of serpentines and u-turns. To give you an impression this is what the highway looks like in Daman. And you're confronted with buses and trucks of this size all the time. As you can see they consume about 70% of the width of the street and they are speeding like crazy.



I'm thinking of going to Dhunche. The highway is about 2900 meters up there. But I'll have to get closed shoes.

So far, have fun!