Kathmandu - life after the Annapurna Circuit
Kathmandu quickly became a place about visiting and making new friends, catching up with old ones virtually and drinking coffee, beer or wine in gorgeously chilled out cafes hidden away down windy little side streets and alleys for me. You may have picked up on the fact I love hidden away little cafes :) And me time ;)
My favourite place to hang out was a small bar/cafe called New Orleans which was open from breakfast to dinner, and was just the most chilled out place ever for me. I would literally go for a late breakfast and then be chilling the morning away with breakfast/lunch and then the day would run away with me. I spent the days either writing postcards, surfing the net, chatting to Facebook friends around the world or contemplating my life. After weeks of trekking it was perfect.
The evenings became about meeting old and new friends for yummy dinners and drinks. We met up with Rhian who we had met in a hot tub around the Annapurna Circuit, and again in Pokhara. She had come to Kathmandu ahead of us so had brought her friends along with her who were just lovely. We went to this fabulous Israeli restaurant with neon signs and amazingly chilled decor. People who have been to Thailand, picture the thai cushions everywhere and short and long tables to sit at and deliciously amazing food options! Died and gone to heaven! Of course our eyes were bigger than our bellies ;) On our last night we ate at an Italian place called Dolce Vita which was delicious. We had long since abandoned our feelings of guilt for not always eating local food after 3 weeks straight of rice, potatoes and dahl every single meal. So good, and red wine :) YUM.
Through Rhian I met the lovely Yuliya who I was lucky enough to do the Mount Everest flight with while in Kathmandu! Awesome experience, and such a positive and friendly girl. Looking forward to seeing her in Sydney one day. We also shared taxi to Kathmandu airport together on our last morning, thankfully as that is one hellish airport to manage on your own. People just stare, and so unhelpful. You find yourself in one large room with a zillion men. It's like woman don't exist and then add to that the fact you are a westerner. Never before have I seen such an expensive cafe in an airport either...a packet of minstrels was over $10!!
I have already mentioned in my previous blog just how many things came up for me in Nepal while trekking, and how much it brought up an immense level of homesickness for me. Or something that resembled homesickness. It made me miss India and the wonderful girls that I had met there, my yoga practice and my routine whilst studying there. It also made me miss Bermuda like crazy - my friends, my Bermuda family, my coach, my training regime, my lifestyle - the beaches, the views, my bedside harbor view, my cats, my world as I had known it for 4.5 years.
I spent a LOT of time thinking about my travels and wondering how it was that of 4 months I had spent only a week or so on a beach and 3 weeks diving! I had imagined that my travels would take me in the direction of beach babe living and I would be this super tanned yogi and dive bum beach babe. LOL it couldn't be further from the truth as I reflected on my journey so far. I have been to India to learn more yoga, and Nepal to trek for 21 days and recover from trekking. Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, were all quick visits with my 'must see as much as I can rather than relax' hat on. Ok so Dubai was luxury but still a sightseeing expedition. Koh Samet was chilled but I wasn't in the right head space to sit still too long then, and Koh Lanta was abruptly cut short because of my India visa. Lembeh - Lembeh was incredible and day after day of incredible diving.
It was days like Lembeh days which got me analysing my journey and thinking about what direction I need to take my journey next. There has to be more diving and more beach time for me to chill. I will stand by what a good friend and mentor of mine -Art - says to me often, "Caroline you are exactly where you are meant to be, now breathe". Wise words and so true. However in the moments in Kathmandu when panic hit my thought process about what am I doing with my life, my trip, my journey - I briefly forgot this line which with hindsight is so, so accurate. He's a wise man that one, and apparently listened in detail to me and what I wanted from life when we shared a liveaboard in the Bahamas in 2011 :)
I spent a lot of time one day talking to some good friends remotely on Facebook. People as far spread as Hong Kong, Saipan, Romania, England, Singapore, New York, Toronto, Bermuda, and more. Each person, without realising helped me to regain some clarity and perspective that day. I learnt a lot about each person from those conversations, and even more about myself at the same time. Everyone told me to go with the flow. My lovely friends guided me through my questions, self doubts, thoughts, worries and excited moments and helped steer me to a place where I know now where I am supposed to be and trust it. It's almost like reading a novel about myself and trying to not read it too quickly, and so many different outcomes available to me but trying not to try to predict the final outcome. Do you remember those books when we were young? With several different endings depending on choices you made throughout the various chapters? How clued in was that author? That is my life. Welcome to my life!
Right now, I am enjoying yoga, running, diving, traveling and writing my blog! So these are the things I have decided to focus on while I travel, and see which ones picks up the most and follow that direction. Feel so much calmer after these conversations. Each and every person I spoke to that particular day influenced me in more ways than they will ever realize :) Thank you wonderful friends.
The yoga piece has been tough for me since leaving India. And it worries me that everything that I learnt in that intense 6 week period is at risk of leaving me! A beautiful friend Amanda wrote me the most wonderful email while I was trekking which helped me realise that what I learnt in Rishikesh will never leave me. Darius told me the same thing today too and told me how he his keeping India alive in his European existence and how I can do the same while I am traveling. It's been tough while I was in Nepal trekking, but now I am on the road again and I have heaps of energy so watch this space :)
Nepal was a special country with a beautiful landscape, and beautiful people. I learnt a lot about how little we really need to be happy through these people. Such basic ways of living, living on so much less than us in the West yet always smiling, always focusing on the positive and enjoying their lives. There is a lesson in there for a lot of people... A fantastic opportunity and a great experience, would love to come back and attempt to trek Mount Everest Base Camp next time!
Namaste xox
It was hard to leave behind the sleepy town of Pokhara to
return to Kathmandu, the hustling and bustling little town from which our
Annapurna Ciruit adventure began all those weeks ago. Pokhara had a mellow chilled out relaxed vibe
about it, and Kathmandu (which had once upon a time felt super relaxed to me
post India lol) had a more happening and go getting vibe about it. Every man
for himself kind of feeling and an energy which is hard to describe. Typically I found wonderful places to
hibernate in and hide from the world which I will tell you about shortly :)
The drive was Pokhara to Kathmandu took 8 hours, and wow was
I glad to get off that bus. The roads are so rocky and bumpy through Kathmandu,
and what starts off as quite amusing very quickly becomes unbearable after a
short while. Both Kate and I sighed a huge sigh of relief when we pulled into
Kathmandu, even though we knew we were about to be bombarded by pushy taxi men
trying to charge us ridiculous prices for a ridiculously short journey (one
that was too twisty and windy for us to remember from before lol). We were excited that the entire Annapurna mountain range had decided to make an appearance for us at the bus station that morning. Something we had waited days for to happen!! Very lucky :) You can see it in the handstand pic above!
Once we had reclaimed our belongings from the hotel we
departed from, Kate helped me to find a new hostel for the next few days. I think I scared the poor boy at the hotel
that I picked, as he showed me two rooms and I picked the more expensive of the
two. Probably the only backpacker who has ever done that judging by his shocked
expression lol! The first room was fine, but the second had more space and an
awesome bathroom and just felt liberating and free.
I got the most amazing sunsets from behind my hotel too. Every evening when the sun went down you would find me hanging out of my window at a funny angle and steering my camera towards the mountains! Beautiful colours! I was so grateful that despite being back in the bustling city I could see and feel the mountains and gorgeous sunsets!! I learn every single day on my travels the things in life that make me happy and have to (read HAVE to lol!) feature in my life moving forward, my new exciting yet to be seen or properly defined life! :)
Next step was organizing clean laundry! I am sure it will sound insane to you just how excited I was at the prospect of a washing machine
actually being used to clean my clothes!! It was out of this world exciting in
that moment. I had been away from home for 4 months and had become a champion at hand washing my clothes every week.
However after the dust and disgusting amounts of dirt that we endured
trekking through the Annapurna Circuit, there was every possibility that my backpack
may just reject my clothes! I handed the
entire contents of my backpack to the laundry shop next door to my hotel, to
his delight, and he told me it would cost me $2.50 and would be ready for
collection the next day. Honestly, at that point he could have charged me $50
and I would have paid it for that clean, freshly laundered smell!! I was so deliriously
happy to collect my parcel of clothes, that I sat on my bed smelling each piece and smiling. I even took a photo :) Nothing beats fresh laundry. Nothing. Maybe fresh coffee. Just maybe though. Or the smell of new books. Someone once asked me what my five favourite smells are - I must give some thought to that. Noises too....
OK so that is a really long paragraph on laundry but I think
I made my point ;)
Kathmandu quickly became a place about visiting and making new friends, catching up with old ones virtually and drinking coffee, beer or wine in gorgeously chilled out cafes hidden away down windy little side streets and alleys for me. You may have picked up on the fact I love hidden away little cafes :) And me time ;)
My favourite place to hang out was a small bar/cafe called New Orleans which was open from breakfast to dinner, and was just the most chilled out place ever for me. I would literally go for a late breakfast and then be chilling the morning away with breakfast/lunch and then the day would run away with me. I spent the days either writing postcards, surfing the net, chatting to Facebook friends around the world or contemplating my life. After weeks of trekking it was perfect.
The evenings became about meeting old and new friends for yummy dinners and drinks. We met up with Rhian who we had met in a hot tub around the Annapurna Circuit, and again in Pokhara. She had come to Kathmandu ahead of us so had brought her friends along with her who were just lovely. We went to this fabulous Israeli restaurant with neon signs and amazingly chilled decor. People who have been to Thailand, picture the thai cushions everywhere and short and long tables to sit at and deliciously amazing food options! Died and gone to heaven! Of course our eyes were bigger than our bellies ;) On our last night we ate at an Italian place called Dolce Vita which was delicious. We had long since abandoned our feelings of guilt for not always eating local food after 3 weeks straight of rice, potatoes and dahl every single meal. So good, and red wine :) YUM.
Through Rhian I met the lovely Yuliya who I was lucky enough to do the Mount Everest flight with while in Kathmandu! Awesome experience, and such a positive and friendly girl. Looking forward to seeing her in Sydney one day. We also shared taxi to Kathmandu airport together on our last morning, thankfully as that is one hellish airport to manage on your own. People just stare, and so unhelpful. You find yourself in one large room with a zillion men. It's like woman don't exist and then add to that the fact you are a westerner. Never before have I seen such an expensive cafe in an airport either...a packet of minstrels was over $10!!
I spent a LOT of time thinking about my travels and wondering how it was that of 4 months I had spent only a week or so on a beach and 3 weeks diving! I had imagined that my travels would take me in the direction of beach babe living and I would be this super tanned yogi and dive bum beach babe. LOL it couldn't be further from the truth as I reflected on my journey so far. I have been to India to learn more yoga, and Nepal to trek for 21 days and recover from trekking. Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, were all quick visits with my 'must see as much as I can rather than relax' hat on. Ok so Dubai was luxury but still a sightseeing expedition. Koh Samet was chilled but I wasn't in the right head space to sit still too long then, and Koh Lanta was abruptly cut short because of my India visa. Lembeh - Lembeh was incredible and day after day of incredible diving.
It was days like Lembeh days which got me analysing my journey and thinking about what direction I need to take my journey next. There has to be more diving and more beach time for me to chill. I will stand by what a good friend and mentor of mine -Art - says to me often, "Caroline you are exactly where you are meant to be, now breathe". Wise words and so true. However in the moments in Kathmandu when panic hit my thought process about what am I doing with my life, my trip, my journey - I briefly forgot this line which with hindsight is so, so accurate. He's a wise man that one, and apparently listened in detail to me and what I wanted from life when we shared a liveaboard in the Bahamas in 2011 :)
I spent a lot of time one day talking to some good friends remotely on Facebook. People as far spread as Hong Kong, Saipan, Romania, England, Singapore, New York, Toronto, Bermuda, and more. Each person, without realising helped me to regain some clarity and perspective that day. I learnt a lot about each person from those conversations, and even more about myself at the same time. Everyone told me to go with the flow. My lovely friends guided me through my questions, self doubts, thoughts, worries and excited moments and helped steer me to a place where I know now where I am supposed to be and trust it. It's almost like reading a novel about myself and trying to not read it too quickly, and so many different outcomes available to me but trying not to try to predict the final outcome. Do you remember those books when we were young? With several different endings depending on choices you made throughout the various chapters? How clued in was that author? That is my life. Welcome to my life!
Right now, I am enjoying yoga, running, diving, traveling and writing my blog! So these are the things I have decided to focus on while I travel, and see which ones picks up the most and follow that direction. Feel so much calmer after these conversations. Each and every person I spoke to that particular day influenced me in more ways than they will ever realize :) Thank you wonderful friends.
The yoga piece has been tough for me since leaving India. And it worries me that everything that I learnt in that intense 6 week period is at risk of leaving me! A beautiful friend Amanda wrote me the most wonderful email while I was trekking which helped me realise that what I learnt in Rishikesh will never leave me. Darius told me the same thing today too and told me how he his keeping India alive in his European existence and how I can do the same while I am traveling. It's been tough while I was in Nepal trekking, but now I am on the road again and I have heaps of energy so watch this space :)
Nepal was a special country with a beautiful landscape, and beautiful people. I learnt a lot about how little we really need to be happy through these people. Such basic ways of living, living on so much less than us in the West yet always smiling, always focusing on the positive and enjoying their lives. There is a lesson in there for a lot of people... A fantastic opportunity and a great experience, would love to come back and attempt to trek Mount Everest Base Camp next time!
Namaste xox
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