Dal Bhat vs. Momo
I decided on doing the Poon Hill Trek.
It’s one of the only ones that you can do in 3 days, which is all the time I had! Honestly, I thought it might not be that great because it’s “just Poon Hill”, when an Everest Base Camp trek is available in the area as well. Buuuuut, I was wrong. It was amazing.
First though, a word on food. Dal bhat is something like the national dish of Nepal. Examples below:
dal bhat
dal bhat
The ‘dal’ part is lentil soup (top middle, in the bowl), and the ‘bhat’ part is plain rice, so it always has those two components. The rest of the dal bhat set can differ, but it usually has a vegetable curry (top left) and pickles. In the top picture, I had chicken curry (top right, in the bowl), spinach, and I think the bread is papadum. Anyway, being a fan of lentil soup (the past two years, I indulged in Lentil Sunday as much as someone would make itš), this was a cool dish to get to have any time (it’s everywhere).
All this to say, my friend – and Guide – on my trek, Harry, is obsessed with dal bhat. At our first bus stop, early in the morning, for breakfast, what does he eat? Dal bhat! Later on that same day, for dinner, what does he eat? Dal bhat!
One thing I didn’t know at first, and is perhaps the key to everything: dal bhat is always served with unlimited portions; you can have as many helpings as you want!!! (think of the endless pasta bowl at Olive Garden, only this won’t give you an immediate heart attack). By the second day, it was decided that Harry would add a middle name, and change his full name to Harikrishna Dal Bhat Pokhrel.
The dal bhat thing isn’t unique to Harryā¦ it’s so popular, theseĀ shirts are sold in shops in Nepal:
dal bhat power – 24 hour!
Me though? While I love the dal bhat, my favorite Nepali dish?? MOMOā¦. you don’t even knowknow.Ā This is the best momo I had:
Omg, momo!
This was from a restaurant called Momo Hut in Kathmandu, Thamel neighborhood. Momo = dumplings filled with veggies, or chicken, or potato + cheese, or anything else, either steamed or deep-fried or pan-fried. I’m glad I don’t know how to get this exact same thing in Houston because I would eat this every day and have to change my name to Stephanie Lee Momo Harris. Awkward.
Enough about foodš.
With my trek details worked out by Great Visions Trekking and Harry (the best trekking guide in Nepal) by my side, I took a bus ride outĀ to Pokhara, to spend the night before beginning myĀ Annapurna Conservation AreaĀ journey, amongstĀ the shadows of the Himalayas, to Poon Hill.
close to starting point in Nayapul
Next up: Walking. Mostly up.
Chasing Rhinos in the Dark
My Nepal adventures next took me to Chitwan National Park.
Rivers, mountains in background, jungle, wild animals, beautiful birds, wonderful peopleā¦.. It was really fun. I had a tour booked that included the ~6 hour bus ride from Kathmandu, hotel, food, cultural show, elephant safari (which I planned on not doing), canoe ride and jungle trek. The bus ride was on the side of a mountain most of the way, which was treacherous, but also made for really pretty scenery the whole way!
hillside, on road to Chitwan
road out of Kathmandu
mustard!
on road b/t kathmandu and chitwan
mountain town
Our tour guide was Madan – he was so nice, he knew everything about birds and the other animals in the area, and he helped take care of my legā¤ļø. MadanĀ took me to the town Doctor (in Sauraha), and the doctor fixed me up. It took agonizing pain by his hand, where I almost passed out, and poor Madan was fanning me because I started sweating, and my blood pressure droppedā¦. sheesh! But that doctor was sooo nice. And he was neatly dressed, spoke perfect english, witty, etc. He gave me medicine, fixed me up, met with me the next morning to dress my wound for me again, and with antibiotics, bandages, antibiotic cream, and seeing him twice, it only cost $24. I was so relieved because I don’t have travel insurance. If you are ever in Sauraha, Nepal, and you need a trustworthy doctor, I know who you can go toš.
I stayed at the Hermitage Hotel, and it was really nice, right on the river.
on the hotel grounds
Rapti River, next to hotel
river next to hotel
woodpeckerā¦ and I can’t remember the other oneš
The first night I saw a cultural showā¦ couldn’t get many pictures, but it was fun to see. Also fun to see/hear the local audience react to different things. THERE WAS AN AWESOME PEACOCK GUY! Best costume I’ve ever seen. My pics were all blurryš¢
cultural show dance
peacock man!
I told myself I would never do an elephant ride because I think it hurts the elephants, but I went ahead with it in Chitwan because it was part of the itinerary and what I paid forā¦ Must’ve been karma because halfway through the ride, the elephant got PISSED and was trying to throw us off. Before that, it was great – saw rhinos in the wildš³
crossing the river
rhinos!
peacock!
selfie for Paula
on jungle safari
lots of elephants
before death scare
deers
and deers
eagle
kingfisherš!!!!
fishing i guess?
she is happy the ride is over too
after she calmed down
‘i’m alive and back on solid ground’ celebration
For the trip, I was in a group with three sweet, fun girls who were in Nepal volunteering, two at a hospital and one at an orphanageš. After the elephant craze, we had a canoe ride and a jungle trek.
canoe ride
pretty brown ducks, from Siberia
river
croc
rhesus monkey
floridian + swiss + polish/british + moi
lake on hike
water buffalo
hiking
wild boar
elephant breeding place – 1 month old babeee
bridge
Then, that night (or maybe it was the night before?), our guides found birds for us in the treesš
most adorable owl ever
owl
night owl:)
great(?) hornbill
And thenā¦ā¦ā¦.. Madan, one other girl, and IĀ took a walk down the beachā¦. around 10pmā¦.. and waitedā¦ā¦ hunting for rhinosā¦ā¦.. I thought Madan was just kind of making it up, “Oh, I think I hear a rhino.” “The rhino may be crossing the river, I think I hear him in the water.” -he said. I thought, “Sure, sureā¦” then, after maybe an hour of sitting in the dark on the beach alternating between talking and being quiet – Madan whispered, “Shhh! I think I hear him!” and he pointed to the top of the little sand dune, about 15 feet away. AND THERE HEĀ WAS. A huge rhino, glistening in the full moon light (he was wet because he had just crossed the river). I frozeā¦ THEN tried to take a picture (didn’t turn out), and the rhino looked in our direction, made some loud breathing noises, walked a few feet forward, went # 2, and then walked down the dune on the other side, into the village. I’m kind of glad the photos didn’t work because I’m keeping the memory instead – something I’ll never forget.Ā Coolest thing!!!!!!!
Next up: Best Trek Ever š Nepal
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