NEPAL BLOG 1: Airplanes, Hong Kong and Kathmandu

I got back from my world trip the 15th of august… A week later I left for France to do a bit of surf coaching and surfing for 10 days. I got back in the Netherlands the 31st of august and started my job the first of September. Here I am, less than 4 months later, in Kathmandu, Nepal. It was really nice to be back in The Netherlands after nearly a year of travelling, but it is also very nice to be in Nepal right now. I couldn't really get used to the cold and the snow after 1.5 years of summer, not to mention surfing in wintertime: freezing! The coming two months there won't be any surf for me, but I'll get some exercise anyway ;) The 2nd of January I'll start a yoga teachers training that will take about 200 hours of practice/ study and 5 weeks to finish. After that we'll (I invited my mum to come with me) do the Johmson Track in the Himalaya's and that will take us approximately 2 weeks. In between and afterwards we'll have a couple of days to visit Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara and to do some sightseeing, but the main thing we're here for is to learn as much as we can about yoga and to relax. The relaxing part didn't really go so well the first two days, especially for my mum…

It's always a bit exciting to leave home for a certain amount of time. There are lots of things you have to consider before you leave and even during your travels you have to be on top of everything. If you're not, the end of the following story could be yours ;)

The plain was going to leave the 29th of December, 13.15 hrs. We had an hour delay, which was okay, since we were going to arrive in Hong Kong very early in the morning anyway. All together it took us about 12 hrs to get to China, where it was 7 hrs later, so we kind of skipped the night. During the flight we watched some movies (500 days of summer - not worth it, Julie and Julia - actually nice and funny men - most boring movie ever) and I slept for about 2 hrs, so I was/ we were pretty tired on arrival in Hong Kong and we had a long day and more travelling ahead of us.

After putting some stuff in a locker, we headed for Lantau Island, the biggest island in Hong Kong. We planned on visiting the Tian Tan Buddha (or 'Giant Buddha'). This bronze statue is the world's largest Buddha statue: it's 34 metres (85foot) tall and weighs 250 tonnes. To get to the statue, we took the Chrystal Ngong Ping Cable Car, which means that the cable car had a see-through bottom (not too good if you're afraid of heights, but luckily I'm not). It takes about 25 minutes (5.7 km) to get to the terminal and from there about 10 minutes to get to the Buddha. The weather wasn't amazing: about 16 degrees and we had a bit of rain. It wasn't a very clear day, but because of that we took some very nice pictures. After visiting the Buddha and it's exhibition hall (you have to purchase a vegetarian coupon for entry into the 3 levels exhibition hall), we checked out the Pro Lin Monastery. This Monastery was initially a small temple constructed by three Buddhists in 1924. Over the years, more structures have been added, such as the big temple and the world's largest Big Buddha. After lunch, which was all right, but not amazing), we went back downhill by bus and did some shopping in a huge outlet mall. I ran into some super cheap and really good hiking shoes (50 euro's!) and couldn't resist, since mine are 10 years old and not as reliable anymore. Back to the airport and flying out at 17.35 hrs. After about 7 hours (a short stop in Bangladesh, dinner en some sleep) we arrived in Nepal.

I knew that I had to bring a picture for my visa, but I totally forgot.. Luckily it was possible to have one taken there. But then… we didn't bring a lot of cash and the only way to pay for the visa was by paper money… We went outside to find an ATM and there were two, but the one we needed (mastercard) was closed. As we went back in, a Dutch/ American lady offered us to lend us the money, which was really nice, since the amount was 200 US dollars (for max. 3 months stay). Next, we picked up our luggage and went outside (again). There was a man to pick us up and there should have been someone to pick up some luggage I brought with me for a project over there, but that person wasn't there. So we put everything in the car and drove up to the Himalayan Yoga Centre, North West of Kathmandu, about 3.5 km away from the touristic area Thamel. As we arrived, we met our yoga teacher dr. Subodh and his wife. We had some tea and we talked a bit before going to bed. As I started unpacking, my mum stressed out: she took the wrong bag with her! Hers was either still at the airport, or someone else had taken it. After contacting the airport, we found out that it was indeed someone else that had taken the bag and we could exchange the bags the next day. In Nepal it was pouring! The first day of rain in 4 months.. good timing ;) The rain brought the cold as well. It's not as cold as in the Netherlands, but the heater here is not as good as our CV over there, so we were a bit cold. Luckily the blankets are warm, so, exhausted as we were, we fell asleep quite soon. The next day we had to get up early unfortunately, because we had to be at the airport around 10 am. The bag exchange went well and we headed for the city afterwards to pay for the yoga course and to leave some money for Marianne, who paid for our visa's the night before.

After lunch, we went back to bed and slept for a couple of hours. Before dinner we had a chat with dr. Subodh about the yoga course, that will start the day after tomorrow. We've got a pretty tight schedule:

7:00- 7:30wake up/ tea

7:30- 9:00yoga practice

9:00- 10:00breakfast

10:00 -13.00class (theory and practice)

13:00 - 14:00lunch

14:00 - 17:00walking/ study/ therapy/ free/ voluntary teaching (English) @ school

17:00 - 17:30tea

17.30 - 19:00yoga/ meditation

19:00 - 20:00dinner

20:00light off/ bed time

After a really nice dinner :) we had lots of tea and a chat on skype with the family. It's nearly eleven here now and time to go to bed, but the jetlag is still there.. We are 4 hours and 45 minutes ahead, so it feels like 6 pm now. No New Years eve party for us, but definitely an amazing start of 2010.