The Singing Dunes

Before heading out to the Sand Dunes, we visited Bayanzag, which means "rich in sexual shrubs" (dont ask...) but is more commonly known as "flaming cliffs" (penned by American paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews). This area is famous for the number of dinosaur bones and eggs sites, first excavated in 1922 by Roy Chapman Andrews. The rock formation again looked similar to the American southwest. The cliffs are rich in red sand (hence the name "flaming cliffs"). Unfortunately we didn't stay long enough to see the sunset to truly see how the cliffs got its name.












The best part our day (and trip so far) was getting to the Khongoryn Els area, known for some of the largest and amazing sand dunes in Mongolia. The Khongoryn Els sand dunes are also known as the 'Singing Dunes' (the dunes make an eerie sound when the wind blows) and reach up to 300m high, 12km wide and over 100km long. We hiked up to one of the highest dunes to see the sunset - the views of the desert from the top were absolutely spectacular. While we waited for the sunset, we played in the sand like silly kids (see video).

Location:Khongoryn Els, Mongolia

Vulture's Mouth

We passed our morning drive boredom as Demchig raced with a Radiant Sky van, who stayed at the same ger camp with us last night...trust me, the drive gets really boring after few days of driving in the Gobi. Our only stop today was the Yol Valley, known for its meters-thick ice for most of the year. Yes, the Gobi gets snow in the winter and it's maximum daytime can be -15C.



Yolyn Am (Vulture's Mouth) was originally established as a birdlife conservation, but now the valley is more famous for its dramatic and unusual landscape: ice-filled gorge. For most of the year, the gorge is filled with meters-thick ice and snow. In winter, the ice can reach up to 10m high and stretches for 10km; but usually disappears in the summer. We were able to hike along the gorge and saw few remaining ice that'll disappear in weeks, if not in days.








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Location:Yolyn Am, Mongolia

"Only a fool crosses the Gobi"

Our first day in the Gobi Desert...and it's frackin HOT and DRY! Maybe I should have read this part in the Lonely Planet first - "Between the summer heat, winter cold, sandstorms, poor infrastructure and lack of water, this is one of the harshest landscapes on the planet. Mildred Cable, an Englishwoman who passed through in the 1920s noted: 'only a fool crosses the Gobi without misgivings.'" - I guess I'm a crazy fool! Interestingly, the Gobi is quite diverse with various ice-filled canyons, American Southwest-esque rock formations (think John Wayne movies) and fresh water springs...and only 3% of the Gobi has sand dunes.

We're told in the morning that it would be a long drive to Tsagaan Suvarga ("White Stupa Cliffs"), which meant hours of dusty bumpy dirt roads in a hot van.

We made a quick stop to see a Buddhist temple (Gimpil Dajaalan Khiid), one of the few that survived the communist purges. The monastery was built in the late-18th century to commemorate the first ever visit to Mongolia by a Dalai Lama (the name Dalai Lama means 'Sea of Wisdom' in Mongolian and was given by a Altan Khaan in the 16th century). The monastery reopened in 1990 and the current Dalai Lama visited in 1992. The monastery is a small scale version of Tibetan temples, including a statue of Tsongkhapa (founder of the "Yellow Hat" sect of Buddhism), a Stupa and prayer wheels.










Wahoo...my first sightings of two-hump camels! We stopped to check out a group of camels relaxing on the side of the road. The Mongolian camels, unlike to their cousins in Africa, have two-humps and are slightly smaller. Their humps droop when they don't Wahoo...my first sightings of two-hump camels! We stopped to check out a group of camels relaxing on the side of the road. The Mongolian camels, unlike to their cousins in Africa, have two-humps and are slightly smaller. Their humps droop when they don't have enough water.









After few more hours of driving (just miles of arid landscape), we stopped at Tsagaan Suvarga ("white stupa" cliffs) for a break and a short hike. The 30m cliffs are formed by white limestones, hence the name "White Stupa".








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Journey Begins...

Day 1 of my trip with Erica, Tai, Tom, Verity, and Emma (we bumped Marilou since she was the last person to commit). We're told our guide's name is Hogy and our driver's name is Demchig...both seemed very nice and friendly. Hogy had just finished a 20-day tour the day before and now she's doing a 30-day trip (guides have a tough life during the summer peak season).







Off we go (in a cramped Russian van)! As we got to know each other better in the morning, we were treated to a wonderful photo opportunity of horses drinking water with a beautiful grassland in the background. This is how I pictured Mongolia would be like!






After lunch, we stopped at a rock formation, called Baga Gazariin Chuluu, to rest and explore the area. The natural rock formation is a sacred site and was used by Mongols as a place of worship until the Communists destroyed most of the temple during the Cultural Revolution. It has been restored but not to the original state.






My first night in a Ger...basically it's a very large circular tent covered with felt and a stove in the middle.















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Location:Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Emma...Marilou?

Today is the day where Tai, Erica, Emma and I had to make a decision - go with just four of us or wait to find one or two more people. Tom and Verity met us at the Khongor Guesthouse in the morning and was willing to do the full 30-day trip if they could get their visa extended - we now have six. Oh crap, Marilou also showed up...now we have too many people! Do we bump Emma off since she could only go for 3 weeks, not 4 weeks, or bump Marilou since she was the last person to commit?


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Location:Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Naadam

Mat, Erica and I decided to check out the horse race outside of UB since today was the last day of Naadam. Tai wanted to stay back and find more people to join us...maybe even find Marilou, the mysterious Dutch girl who's planning to be in Mongolia for 2 months.




Naadam is an interesting holiday/festival - just about all of Mongolia shuts down and everyone attends the festival. The biggest Naadam is the one in Ulaan Baatar, where the wrestling and archery events are held in the city but the horse racing is outside of the city, some 20km away. I didn't get to see any of the wrestling or archery events in the stadiums since I wasn't able to get tickets, but the horse racing events are free. The horse racing ground is one gigantic field where spectators and riders set up tents/gers for the event. Others just come for a day and have a picnic and watch race or two (most of the riders are under 16 years old)...or maybe even a fashion photo shoot. Since each race is 20km long (world's longest horse race), there's not much to do for couple of hours but hang out and socialize.








Back in UB, Tai was able to connect with two Aussies (Tom and Verity) who may join us for the full trip and Emma who could travel with us for 3 weeks, but still no word from the Dutch girl. Three of us decided to look for the Dutch girl since Tai remembered where Marilou was staying and we couldn't reach her by phone. We found her guesthouse but no one answered...another dead-end. We started to wonder if this girl even exist. We agreed to give one more try after dinner - this time a woman who runs the guesthouse was there but no Marilou. We left a message for Marilou, unsure if she'll get the note.


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Location:Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Mongolian Barbecue

After an interesting night of sleeping with 7 strangers, I was looking forward to start my tour of Mongolia. The guy who was on my flight to UB, was looking to do a 14-day trip to Central and Northern Mongolia and I was about to sign up with him when I met Erica (English) and Tai (American). They had met at their guesthouse (Golden Gobi) and were looking for 3 - 4 more people to do a 30-day trip around Mongolia. I was intrigued since I had my heart set on traveling down to the Gobi Desert, Khovsgol Lake area and possibly out west to the Altai Mountains region. Could I really spend a month in Mongolia...in a Russian jeep (or van), driving on rough dirt roads (remember what I said about dirt roads in Tibet), with complete strangers? Shit, why not...traveling with strangers throughout Mongolia for a month should be an adventure by itself!

I met another traveler, Mat (American), this morning when I met Erica and Tai, who just arrived in UB and was looking for a short tour down to the Gobi. All of us quickly clicked (maybe because we all spoke English?) and explored UB together. Erica joined Mat and me to check out the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History, then Mat and I went to the National Museum where we saw the special exhibition on Chinngis Khan (which was fantastic).

Given we're in Mongolia and it's famous for 'Mongolian barbecue', Erica and I convinced Tai and Mat we should try BD Mongolian Restaurant (first american chain restaurant in UB) for some Mongolian barbecue...which turned out to be an all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurant (yippee!). The place was a complete tourist trap and the food was average, but we all had fun dining there and everyone watching me gorge.



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Location:Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Welcome to Mongolia

Getting up at 5am for a flight to Ulaan Baatar sucked...but I'm off to Mongolia!



Welcome to Mongolia. I can't believe I'm in Mongolia! Now what? I had no clue since I didn't arrange any tours or trips, I figured I could join a group tour once I got to the Khongor Guest House in Ulaan Baatar, the capital city of Mongolia.

Ulaan Baatar (UB) is an enormous city that stretches out for miles from the main business district to millions of ger tents expanding out to the countryside. It has all the positive and negative aspects of a major city - flourishing commerce, heavy traffic, nightlife scene, and construction everywhere. The city is built in typical Soviet style - lots of ugly concrete apartment blocks (most guesthouses are in these apartment blocks), large brightly colored (now faded) theaters and gigantic government buildings. Today, the city is booming with new buildings built on any available patch of land but their infrastructure needs a massive upgrade (paved roads are only in and around major cities/towns).









What? No tickets to the Naadam? After all the trouble I went through, I found out that tickets are sold out but there may be a group of people going to see the horse race tomorrow. This blows...









I had no clue where to go for lunch, Khongor folks just said go outside and walk around as there are plenty of restaurants along Peace Avenue. I couldn't find any restaurants open since today was Mongolia's Independence Day...the only spot that looked open was a Korean restaurant. It seems there's a huge Korean business community in UB and lots of Korean tourists too! So lunch was at a Korean restaurant (Sangi) across from the Khongor Guest House...ironic that I traveled all the way to Mongolia and my first meal was Korean.

I'm in a dorm-style room with 8 beds and I have a top bunk. I haven't slept on a (top) bunk bed since I was a child!




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Location:Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

Chengban Canting

Would you believe my legs were still sore from hiking up & down The Great Wall! I decided to take it easy today and just head over to the Silk Market. The Silk Market is the well-known shopping area for fake brands - from designer clothes to electronics and watches - but the government is trying to crack down on counterfeits and encouraging vendors to sell "legitimate" items. Given my bags were pushing the baggage limit (plus I had absolutely no room in the 'black hole'), I decided not to buy any trinkets. So where did I go immediately when I got to the market...the food court, of course! It was more like a cafeteria than a food court, but there were several different food options and everything looked cheap.

After consuming a heap of pork dumplings, it was time to check out all five floors of the market that ranged from clothing to jewelry to fabrics to electronics and watches. My plan was to go all the way to the top and work down...sounded like a great plan to explore and compare prices since everything had to be negotiated hard. Oh crap, the floors were organized by category...5th floor - jewelry; 4th floor - electronics, watches, more jewelry; 3rd floor - silk, suits; 2nd floor - sportswear, designer clothing; 1st floor - bags, shoes. Let's just say I spent the most time on the 4th floor...





Timeout Beijing featured 'Best Sichuan Restaurants' on their website and one of the restaurants (Chengban Canting) was not far from the hotel. The direction to the restaurant was - 'in the Chengdu Municipal Office in the back of the Shu Du Hotel' - huh?. This would be easy if buildings and restaurants had English translation of their names. I was able to find the street (that was easy), but I couldn't figure which restaurant was Chengben Canting. The first hotel I walked into wasn't it and the front desk clerk didn't know the restaurant but she was able to ask a co-worker who told me to go left and then left again. I walked left and noticed another hotel (looked exactly like the first hotel), so I walked into the hotel and then to the back as directed by Timeout Beijing (the restaurant's name was in Chinese)...I believe I ordered Kung Pao Chicken - actually, it was damn good. On my way out, I took a picture of the restaurant sign and showed it to my hotel's front desk clerk and he said - Chengben Canting. I guess it was the right place and Timeout Beijing was correct about being one of the best Sichuan restaurants (and the direction too).
Next stop...Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia.

Sanlitun Street

Wow, my legs were sore and stiff today! After cycling for almost a month in Tibet I should have been fine "walking" up & down The Great Wall, but I guess not.

Today was a city day in Beijing where I'm just chilled and explored the city. I had all the best interest to check out both the Silk Market and Sanlitun Street, but I had a late start. It was just nice to relax in the morning and not have any planned itinerary.

Who knew Wangfujing Street was so close to my hotel...this street was like New York's Fifth Avenue! It seemed like all the high-end stores - Rolex - Hermes - Cartier - Nike (and McDonald's?) - were here. You would not think you're in a communist country based on all these upscale stores.

Sanlitun Village is a new shopping complex that's geared to the younger, trend-oriented shoppers...sort of like the SoHo area in New York. It's anchored by stores like Adidas, Nike and of course the Apple Store. I had read a review of The Tree as having the best pizza in Beijing and I was craving for non-Chinese food - pizza and beer sounded perfect. Now I just needed to find the spot (the guidebook said The Tree was hard to find as it's behind the shopping complex on a side street...ugh!). Of course, I got lost and I kept walking around in circles since I didn't have a detailed map of this area. Then I realized - the Apple Store! Once I got connected to the Internet (thank you Apple!), I was able to find The Tree (so easy...behind the Police Station, around the corner, inside a hostel's courtyard, just past the trees)! Well the pizza was good, definitely not as good as any NYC pizzeria, but it hit the spot.

The Great Wall

I signed up for a "guided" tour of the Jinshanling Great Wall offered at my hotel, but it was more like an expensive bus ride to the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall with Europeans and Americans (yep, I was the only English-speaking Asian). The bus ride took almost 4-hours in a small cramped tour bus with absolutely no leg room - thank goodness I have short legs but the big Danish guy was in pain! When we got the Great Wall, all the vendors at the park had this funny look on their faces as they were not expecting to see an Asian tourist with bunch of Westerners. Our guide was essentially useless, other than giving us a brief history of the Great Wall, buying us entrance tickets, showing us where to hike and then telling us where to meet for lunch.

We had the option to walk up to the Great Wall or take the cable car...I decided to walk since I hadn't done any form of exercise since Tibet. On a hot humid day, it was probably not the smartest idea to walk up but I had the whole section to myself - who would have thought The Great Wall would be this empty! Once I got up to the Great Wall, the hike along the Wall was absolutely beautiful with steep steps going up and down. There were sections where it hadn't been restored and they were far more interesting and authentic. I decided to walk back instead of taking the cable car since I had enough time (and figured I could use more exercise). By the time I got to the trail leading back to the park entrance, my legs hurt more than when I pedaled up a 5000m mountain pass climb!

Whew, made it back just in time for the buffet lunch! Who doesn't love a good buffet meal...but not today. Boiled potatoes in soy sauce, mixed vegetables in tomato-esque sauce, sliced cucumbers in vinegar sauce, cold rice, and overcooked noodles in brown sauce - they all tasted awful. I would have loved a simple bowl of noodles...damn I miss those Tibetan noodles now!

Our drive back to Beijing was no better, except now we're all smelly, tired and cramped in the small bus. To make matters worse, we're stuck in an evening traffic...then was told to get off the bus and take the subway our hotels as it would be faster. WTF!

Hangzhou Dumplings

Since I'll be in Beijing longer than I expected, I have the luxury of not rushing to see all the key tourist attractions in one day. Today's itinerary was to walk over the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, and then to Forbidden City. I read about a good dumplings spot near the Bell and Drum Towers area that didn't look too far from the hotel, so dumplings for breakfast - local style. The location of the dumplings spot (Hangzhou Dumplings) was "Baochao Hutong, off Goulou Dongdajie" according to my iPhone app, but that meant nothing to me as I didn't have a clue where Baochao Hutong was and the locator on the map had the restaurant pointed few blocks away. I spent at least an hour walking around in the wrong area looking for Baochao alley. When I ran out of alleys to search, I asked a storeowner and she pointed down the street and then right (but I had no clue which street I'm suppose to turn right). After several alleyways I thought about turning right, and then finally I saw Goulou Street (yeah!). Within minutes, I came to Baochao Hutong! By the time time I got to the dumplings spot, they were sold-out of vegetable dumplings (frack! Yeah...I decided to go vegetarian in China and Mongolia). Now me trying to tell the woman "I would like to have vegetable dumplings" and her telling me they only have pork dumplings left was just comical! She was making pig noises and faces and I was showing her a translation of "vegetables" on my iPhone. In the end, the dumplings were quite good, pork not vegetables, and cheap! Just like the review said - 4.5 yuan for 10 dumplings (that's less than a buck!).

If you visit Beijing, one must check out restaurants on Hutong alleys, that's where the locals go (forget about English menus let alone anyone speaking English).

Now that I've been indoctrinated to Beijing's Hutong alleyways, I felt comfortable tackling the rest of the city! Off to the Bell and Drum Towers...ok, it's only few hundred meters from Hangzhou Dumplings spot.

Bell Tower:
Along with the drums in the Drum Tower, the bells in the Bell Tower were used as Beijing's official time keepers throughout the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and on until 1924. The Bell Tower was built during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, in 1272, and was rebuilt in the 1440s after being destroyed in a fire. This current structure was built in 1745.

Drum Tower:
Along with the older-looking Bell Tower, the Drum Tower used to be the city's official timekeeper, with drums and bells beaten and rung to mark the times of the day - think the Big Ben of Beijing.

Originally built in 1272, the Drum Tower was once the heart of the Mongol capital of Dadu, as Beijing was then known. That structure was destroyed in a fire before a replacement was built, slightly to the east of the original location, in 1420. The current structure is a later Ming-dynasty version of that 1420 tower.

For 20 yuan (both towers), you get to climb the incredibly steep inner staircase for views of Beijing and the surrounding hutong alleys, and to watch drumming performances on reproductions of the 25 Ming-dynasty watch drums which used to sound out across the city. The best view of the Drum Tower is from the top of the Bell Tower. Annoyingly, you can't see the Bell Tower from the Drum Tower because visitors aren't allowed to walk round to the north side of the Tower's viewing balcony.

Forbidden City:
Home to 24 emperors, spanning two dynasties, the Forbidden City is the largest palace in the world. The Forbidden City used to be at the centre of a much larger, walled Imperial City, 10 times the size of the Forbidden City and contained no less than 28 major temples, many of which no longer exist. In turn, the Imperial City was at the centre of the walled Inner City, which was to the north of the Outer City, also walled.

Hotel Kapok

If I check in after midnight, does it count as checking in "early" on July 6? According to Hotel Kapok, the answer was no. Maybe I should have slept at the airport for few hours and then checked in at the hotel...oh well. Hotel Kapok seemed nice at 2am, it has all the comfort features I'm looking for in a boutique hotel - bed with fluffy pillows and blanket, clean functional bathroom (rain shower head!), and flat-panel TV (with HBO, CNN, ESPN). I felt guilty paying so much money for a room since I may be in Beijing for 6 nights...but then again I'll be staying in a guest house and sleeping in a dorm room when I'm in Ulaan Baatar for less than $10 per day.

I didn't get to explore Beijing today since I spent most of the day searching for a flight to UB. At first, the hotel's travel agent was unable to find any flights or train tickets to UB until July 12; but after searching online, I was able to find a flight (ironically via Seoul) on July 11. When I showed her the flight info, she made a call to the main office and miraculously they were able to find "the last seat" on a direct flight to UB on July 11. I'm going to Ulaan Baatar!

A Very Long Layover in Beijing

Who checks in 3 hours before departure time? Well. I'm not going to argue with the travel agent and maybe that's how they do it in Kathmandu. Off to the airport for a morning flight to Kunming, with a 5 hour layover, then to Beijing. This day is completely wasted on travel (total flight time is just 6 hours...got to love China's system). Next stop...Beijing.

Side Note - China Eastern (and probably all Chinese airlines) only start checking-in ticketed passengers 2 hours before departure time. They will not check you in until it's within 2 hours of departure time. Now things got interesting since I had 5 hours until my connecting flight to Beijing...I was able to convince the agent to at least assign me a seat and print out a boarding pass so I didn't have to get back in queue again. I then went to the Supervisor's counter to bitch about not being able to check my bag since I'm transferring to another flight and having to pay to store my bag until check in time, after few words, the Supervisor checked my bag. Fingers crossed my bag is on my flight.

Mongolia...maybe, may not

Happy 4th of July, America (actually United States - South Americans are not too keen on U.S. folks calling themselves "Americans").

This morning was all about finding (and hopefully booking) my flight to Mongolia. Well, no such luck as my departure date is too close to the Naadam Festival and it seems every Chinese is also going to Ulaan Baatar next week! I spent few more hours at the travel agency (BTW, Wayfarers in Thamel was fabulous for booking flights) after my futile attempt on expedia.com. They were able to get me a flight to Beijing, but not to UB but I needed to leave tomorrow morning. I decided to book the flight and see if I can find a "cheap" flight or train to UB from Beijing, hopefully leaving before July 10th. I guess my visit to Beijing will happen now instead of post Mongolia...5 days in Beijing should be plenty of time to see the city and visit the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Unless I can get a train ticket or flight to UB, departing Wednesday or Thursday.

There was so much I wanted to see and visit around Kathmandu and now I have just an afternoon to do anything. I don't have time to check out Boudha or Patan, so it's either the Durbar Square or Swayambhunath (also known as "The Monkey Temple"). They're both within walking distance from the hotel. I settled on Swayambhunath since I was more curious on seeing monkeys in Kathmandu...heard so much about these
monkeys.

The walk to Swayambhunath took about 30 minutes heading west of the city, away from Thamel, and I was the only foreigner walking on these streets. It was nice to be away from the craziness of Thamel and really see how the locals live. The Swayambhunath Temple is on top of a hill, overlooking Kathmandu and the surrounding valley. To get to the top, one has to walk up a steep set of steps where few monkeys hang out to greet people (or more likely to steal their food). The top is a popular place for locals (and monkeys) to relax and watch the sunset. There are more monkeys around the temple where they roam free, always looking for food. They're so used to people and dogs, they basically walk around without any fear...they definitely rule the place.

Steep steps...365!

View of Kathmandu

The stupa has Buddha's eyes and eyebrows painted on.

One of the monkeys waiting for food from a stranger

Monks...monkeys...dogs...all live in "unity"

By the time I got back to Kathmandu, it was getting dark so I skipped Durbar Square. I'll have to visit the square and Old Kathmandu next time.

I still haven't made a hotel reservation so that was on my next 'to do' list, but the hotel's Internet connection was down...back to Thamel to search for a restaurant with free wi-fi. Given it's my last night in Nepal, I decided to splurge on a nice meal at Third Eye Restaurant (I think it's the same owners as the one in Lhasa and Shigatse). The best part of the evening, the free wi-fi from the Mercantile Bank was very fast (though I did have to constantly click on the annoying free trial link)! After much consideration, I decide to go high brow and book a room at Hotel Kapok, a small boutique hotel just outside of the Forbidden City. Hotel Kapok opened in 2006 and is considered to be the first designer boutique hotel in Beijing. Dinner done. Hotel reservation done. Flight to UB from Beijing NOT done (will have to deal with it in Beijing). Update my blog NOT done...ok, let's power through the update and post my biking through Tibet journal! Oh crap, the restaurant is closing soon and I'm nowhere near done...back to the hotel and hope the Internet connection is up.

Good Morning Kathmandu!

There's not much to say about Rosebud....other than, I went to sleep
with a big roach (I think it was a roach) and woke up with a rat (on
the curtain rod). We both scared each other when I opened the
curtain in the morning, the rat ran straight down the window and
across the room and I jumped straight up onto the bed. Good morning
Kathmandu!

I literally ran over to Hotel Ganesh Himal to confirm they had a room
for me (no way I was staying at Rosebud another night), and what a
difference - Hotel Ganesh was like a 5-star hotel compared to Rosebud.
Nice bright reception area, dining room, free wi-fi, free filtered water and
foreigners too! I ended up having breakfast at the hotel since I was
too lazy to find a cheap breakfast spot in Thamel. The price wasn't
too bad - less than 200 Rupees (that's about 3 bucks) for coffee, eggs
and toast. The best part of my breakfast was meeting and talking to
Christy (from Orlando) for couple of hours. She had been working in
China as a teacher for about a year and was heading back home
tomorrow. We talked about the Chinese people, the Chinese government, and
Tibet (she didn't get the Permit to enter Tibet and was very
disappointed about it).

I spent most of the afternoon at Helena's Restaurant eating too much
food and trying to connect to the Internet (connection speed is a
major drawback in Nepal). After couple of hours of trying, I gave up
and walked around Thamel. Thamel district is a
trekker/adventurer/souvenir-collector mecca - every adventure/trekking equipment
store has amazing fake copies of The North Face, Mountain Hardware,
Columbia and Marmot clothing, bags and accessories. It appears The
North Face waterproof duffel bag is the most popular item since every
adventure store carries them - I almost got one until I realized I
already have the Patagonia Black Hole and don't need to buy another
bag (I still have too much stuff!). There are also stores that sell
everything from statues of Buddha and old masks to various 'antiques'
that probably were made last week. And of course, just about every
other store sells pashmina scarves and cashmere sweaters.

I finally decided to stick to my original plan to head over to
Mongolia...I could go south and east to Burma - Thailand - Malaysia -
Indonesia region but I decided I could do that on my way to Australia.
Now I just need to find a cheap flight to Ulaan Baatar.

Good Bye The Last Resort...Hopefully this won't be the 'last' time!

Feels weird not having any crazy activities scheduled today but at
same time I'm glad to do nothing, enjoy a cup of coffee, and watch the
mobs of people bungy jump. Saturday's bungy is definitely more
crowded than Wednesday (glad I was able to jump on Wednesday and not
today), and seems like every twenty-something year old in Kathmandu
have come to the Resort to bungy or swing! I felt like the 'old man'
who's been at the Resort too long and is now the guest expert on bungy
jumping.

Time to leave...but I don't want to! I had an amazing time at The
Last Resort and hope I'll be back soon. The resort was so relaxing,
the staff was absolutely wonderful and all the great activities was
very addicting. Next stop...Kathmandu.

The 3+ hour bus ride to Kathmandu was an adventure onto itself. The
bus had to drive over several muddy areas and landslides (thankfully
all were cleared), navigate twisting roads with little to no barriers on steep
drops, and contend with on-coming trucks and buses with barely enough
room to pass...and then rain which made the road very slippery. We
almost flipped over when our bus tried to pass another bus on a
hairpin turn in the rain...at the top of the mountain with a steep
drop-off! At this point I just closed my eyes, crossed my fingers and
told myself that bungy jump was far more scary.

After surviving the bus ride, I arrived in Kathmandu (not a pretty
city) to find out there's no available bed at Hotel Ganesh Himal.
They recommended I stay at Hotel Rosebud, around the corner, for the
night as they'll have a room for me starting tomorrow. Now I've
stayed in few questionable places so far but Rosebud may take the top
honor...but hey, they had Internet access and western-style toilet.

The Last Resort - Rafting

Today is my last day of adventure activities at The Resort, rafting down Bhote Kosi. I didn't think I would get a chance to raft in Nepal since it needs at least 6 people to raft, but we had 11 people rafting today! 6 Indian friends from Bangalore, 2 friends from Delhi and a South African couple from UAE...and me. This morning started out iffy with a light rain so I ended up not doing the high ropes (which was fine by me), but rest of the day turned out perfect with even some blue skies in the afternoon.

Rafting was a thrill where we started with mix of high rapids and easy rollers before lunch. After a short lunch break on the bank, it's back to the raft and more rowing (I was glad to give up my front position and sit in the back as my back was now killing me...getting too old for all this crazy adventure thrills!). The river was much calmer in the second half of the trip where we were able to have some fun in the water by flipping the raft, swimming downriver and taking a dip if we felt like it - I was not too keen on going into the river, since the water was very cold and I was enjoying the warm sun. As we were starting to gel as a group, we had arrived at our end point (some 20km from our launch point) and it was time to head back to the Resort.



In my raft, I got to become friendly with Cora and Gabriel, a South African couple currently working in UAE, where we started chatting about travel and the places we've been to and places we want to visit. We dined together and continued our travel stories, and ended the evening after several drinks. It seems South Africans like to drink...what a fun couple!

Oh after telling everyone how it's been raining every afternoon into evening the past few days (or at least since I've been here), it doesn't rain at all this afternoon and evening! It's still damp, but no rain...there's goes the whole monsoon excuse. It's nice to get a break from all the rain and have a dry night. I'll definitely sleep well tonight.