When we first got to our guesthouse in Bahundanda, we immediately noticed the beds. Comfortable mattresses are a rarity in Nepal and one of our goals upon entering any town where we planned to spend the night was to find the guesthouse with the softest beds. In many villages, the thickest mattress you could find was about as wide as a finger and Bahundanda turned out to be one … [Read more...]
Dead Pig Floating in Kathmandu River
This dead pig, along with tons of garbage, was floating near a bridge over the river that separates Kathmandu from Patan in Nepal. … [Read more...]
Conquering the Annapurna Circuit’s First Hill
After our pathetic first two days on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, we were fully expecting to see some of the people from our bus ride again, as they lapped us on their second go around 230 kilometer loop. To avoid that, we set the town of Ghermu as our goal for the day. It was only 9 kilometers down the trail, but that was 7 kilometers more than we covered on either of our … [Read more...]
World’s Smallest Wal Mart in Kathmandu
Yes, my "world's smallest" statistic is about as official as this Wal Mart branch itself, located in the Thamel district of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. I never saw anyone shopping here, so it seems even a fake Wal Mart sign can't get you customers when you're selling the exact same products as several thousand other stores in Thamel. And in case you're wondering, the website … [Read more...]
Who Says Trekking in Nepal Has to Involve Lots of Walking?
In the first part of this series I covered our record-setting start on the Annapurna Circuit Trek in Nepal, in which we became the first non-wheelchair-bound people ever to stop for the night in Khudi, after setting out from Besisahar about 2 kilometers up the road. On our second day, we proceed to set the bar even lower. We got up early, before 7am, because that's what one … [Read more...]