Our flight to Nepal was through Hong Kong where we had about 10 hours to spare. I made great plan to see Victoria peak with the great view of Hong Kong. Unfortunately it was raining and it was no point going over there. Jeanne and I spent the time walking around Hong Kong and Kowloon islands and eating Chinese food.
The first three days of our holiday we spent in Kathmandu, capital city of Nepal. I tried twice to take mountain flight to see Mt. Everest, but the weather was bad and we didn't see anything. With Jeanne we walked around Thamel, the old and tourist part of Kathmandu, visited Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple), Pashupatinath, Bodhnath (Boudha) and met with Jeanne's students from India.
PHOTOS
Nas let do Nepalu byl pres Hong Kong, kde jsem meli asi 10 hodin volna. Ja jsem naplanovala, ze se podivame na Victoria peak, odkud mel byt nadherny vyhled na Hong Kong. Bohuzel ale prselo a tak nemelo vubec cenu se timto smerem vydavat. Jeanne a ja jsem stravily dany cas prochazenim se po ostrovech Hong Kong and Kowloon a pojidanim cinskeho jidla.
Prvni tri dny nasi dovolene jsme stravily v Kathmandu, hlavnim meste Nepalu. Ja jsem zkousela letet dvakrat k Mt. Everest, ale pocasi bylo spatne a tak jsme nic nevideli. S Jeanne jsme prosly Thamel, stare a turisticke jadro Kathmandu, navstivily jsme Swayambhunath (Opici chram), Pashupatinath, Bodhnath (Boudha) a potkaly se se studenty Jeanne z Indie.
FOTKY
Pokhara - Upper Mustang 21.6. - 2.7.2011
The second part of our trip was trekking in Upper Mustang region. We flew to Pokhara where we had two days for our permits to be issued. Upper Mustang was closed for tourism till 1992, then the number of visitors used to be limited, these days it less strict, but there is fee $50 per day and for a minimum 10 days. The agency didn't tell us about the minimum 10 days until we got to Nepal and since we planned only 7 days in the area and we couldn't do anything about it anymore, we weren't happy that we have to pay for 3 extra days! Upper Mustang is area south of Tibet, which used to be part of Tibet and the culture and buildings show that. Summer is monsoon season in Nepal, but Upper Mustang should be one of few places not affected by it. Even though it was true for most of days, the surrounding mountains were under clouds. We were hiking in elevation between 3000 - 4000 meters, sleeping in simple "hotels" - tea houses. We had one guide with us and one assistant/porter who was carrying big bag for Jeanne. I decided to carry my backpack myself since I realized that for this trek I don't need too many things. To prove that Czech people are almost everywhere, we met one guy from Prague.
PHOTOS
Druha cast naseho vyletu bylo prochazeni oblasti Upper Mustang. Odletely jsme do Pokhary,kde jsme mely dva dny na to aby nam vyridili povoleni. Upper Mustang byl uzavren pro turisty do roku 1992, pak pocet turistu bylo limitovano a v teto dobe uz to neni tak striktni, ale poplatek za vstup je $50 na den a na minimum 10 dni. Agentura nam rekla o 10ti dennim minimu az kdyz jsme priletely do Nepalu a jelikoz nas plan byl jen na 7 dni a my uz jsme s tim nic delat nemohly, na nalade nam nepridalo, ze jsme musely platit za 3 dny navic. Upper Mustang je oblast jizne od Tibetu, drive to byla cast Tibetu a tak se to projevuje v kulture i budovach. V lete je monsunove obdobi v Nepalu, ale Upper Mustang je jednou s mala oblasti, ktera by nemela byt zasazena destil. Toto sice bylo po vetsinu dni pravda, ale okolni hory byly zahaleny v mracich. Pohybovali jsme se ve vysce 3000 - 4000 metru nad morem, spaly v skromnych "hotelech" - tea houses. Mely jsme sebou jednoho pruvodce a jednu asistentku/nosice ktera nesla Jeannin velky batoh. Ja jsem se rozhodla, ze si svuj velky batoh ponesu sama, kdyz jsem zjistila, ze na tento vylet toho moc nepotrebuji. Abych dokazala, ze Cesi jsou temer vsude, tak jsem se tam take potkala s jednim Cechem z Prahy.
FOTKY
Kathmandu - Bhutan 3.7. - 16.7.2011
Last part of our holiday was in Bhutan, but first we stopped for one day in Kathmandu. I took mountain flight for the third time, but this time I saw finally Mt. Everest. Even though only the top was out of the clouds, it was memorable experience! Another amazing experience was our flight to Paro, Bhutan. For the royal Bhutanese airline fly two Czech pilots and since it is relatively small plane with a few people I was invited to the cockpit and also I could stay for landing. At the airport we were picked up by Jeanne's student father and his employee and since then they took care of us. We slept in nice hotels, drove around the country in nice car and learned a lot about Bhutan. It is nice happy kingdom with their own amazing architecture. We took trip to the center of Bhutan and since Bhutan has mainly big mountains, the 270 km trip took us about 9 hours! The roads are not that great, they are steep, winding and narrow. We were lucky to see one festival with traditional dances, for this occasion we dressed up in traditional clothes too.
The month went so fast and after our 10 days in Bhutan we flew back to Nepal and the second day back to San Francisco through Hong Kong.
PHOTOS
Posledni cast nasi dovolene jsme stravily v Bhutanu, ale nejdrive jsme se zastavily na den v Kathmandu. Uz potreti jsem vyletela se podivat na velehory, tentokrat uspesne. Konecne byl videt Mt. Everest, sice jen spicka vykukovala z mraku, ale i tak to byl uzasny zazitek. Dalsi neuveritelny zazitek byl let do Para v Butanu. Pro Butanske kralovskou spolecnost litaji dva cesti piloti a jelikoz jsme leteli v relativne malem letadle s malym poctem lidi na palube, byla jsem pozvana do kabiny a mohla jsem zustat i na pristani! Na letisti jsme byly vyzvednute otcem studentky Jeanne a jeho zamestnanci a ti se o nam po celou dobu starali. Prespavaly jsme v hezkych hotelich, vozili se po okoli v peknem aute a dozvedely se mnoho o Butanu. Je to skutecne stastne kralovstvi s jejich vlastni typickou architekturou. Jeli jsme i do stredu zeme, ale jelikoz Butan je tvoren hlavne velehory, 270 km cesta nam zabrala asi 9 hodin. Silnice nejsou az tak uzasne, jsou strme, hodne se tocici a uzke. Mely jsme taky to stesti se podivat na jeden z mistnich festivalu s tradicnimi tancemi, na tuto prilezitost jsme se take oblekly do tradicnich satu.
Mesic ubehl rychle a po 10 dnech v Butanu jsme letely zpet do Nepalu a pak druhy den zpet do San Franciska pres Hong Kong.
FOTKY
