Tag: agriculture
Pokhara, Nepal…Some views are good, and others not so much
March 31, 2017
Road to Pokhara
We had 10 days in Nepal and after 4 days in Kathmandu, we decided to take several people’s advice and go to Pokhara. It’s a city about 200 km to the west. I was told it was pristine and tranquil. There is a big lake and the International Mountain Museum to visit. After the noise, pollution and energy of Kathmandu, it sounded like a perfect trip.
Our hotel, the Tibet Peace Inn, organized it all for us. We decided to book a car and driver so we could see some of the countryside. He would also be available to take us to all the sites once we got there. His hotel costs would be covered by us, but it would be less expensive than flying there. In all it cost us about $300 for the transportation for 3 days.
At home, 200 km would take about 2 hours on a calm, organized highway. In the mountains, it might take 3 hours with traffic. Our trip to Pokhara took 6 hours with a half hour lunch stop! The road travelled down into the valley and then mostly curved along the agricultural land and through small villages. Where mud or rocks slid onto the toad, they were left and traffic just had to go around.
Hundreds of buses and large, brightly decorated trucks all tried to pass each other on every curve. The honking was constant, but along with flashing light signals, everyone seemed to know how to make it through. I was going to say safely, but there were many close calls. I stopped watching. Our driver knew the road and didn’t drive as aggressively as he could have.
Nepalese Villages
The villages obviously did not expect to have that much traffic as they built there homes along old trade routes. Houses were built close to the roads with terraced fields taking up most of the land along the valley floor and up the sides. There were a few suspension bridges that crossed the river to allow access to more homes up on the slopes. There didn’t appear to be any roads on the other side so most people would have to walk up and down steep slopes to get to their homes.
Water standpipes were in front of about every 6th house. Women gathered here to wash clothes and children. Men played games of chance on tables with cards or throwing coins at a target. Families sat in the shade outside small shops. Children kicked tattered soccer balls around. Farmers were already planting rice in the fields using cattle to pull a plow. We saw one mechanical plow in our travels in Nepal.
We went to Pokhara on a Thursday and saw many children waiting with their parents for the school bus to pick them up. Their traditional British uniforms seemed so out of place in these tiny, dusty villages. Most of the women here dress in pants and Indian tunics in beautiful colours. They really contrasted against the mostly blues and greys of the children’s clothing. These bright sweaters were unusual.
school uniforms
Pokhara
Our arrival in Pokhara was quite disappointing. It was cloudy and smoggy. It is a large city (250 000) but the tourist area of Lakeside was admittedly tranquil, but certainly not pristine. We checked into the Family Home Hotel which had been booked by our hotel in Kathmandu. The room was large and even had a balcony to sit on and watch the goings-on of the community. The hotels in Nepal advertise 24 hour hot water and we would agree that this shower had the best heat and pressure of any in Asia. At breakfast the manager told us to ask for anything we wanted because we were to feel like we were at home. From our experience, they “get” customer service here.
We walked by the lake. I had my second surprise to see a scrum of photographers on the shore snapping pics of a woman standing in one of the boats, dressed in a lovely saree. There was a fog machine nearby trying to create a misty scene. I don’t know the story, but I took a picture too. While Peter was waiting, he met a family from India who were visiting. After a short conversation, they wanted to take our picture with their little girl. As India is close to Nepal, there were mostly Indians and Caucasians in Pokhara. We didn’t see many Asian visitors.
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- Woman and fog machine
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- Photographer scrum
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- View of the lake
Sunrise
Our driver picked us up at 5 am and drove us to the top of a sunrise lookout. People were waiting to be hired to show us the best place to stand. We declined. As I was the first there, I had to choose the best place to set up my tripod. The spot was great, but was difficult to protect once all the tour vans and buses began to arrive. We did meet a very nice man from South Korea who was well-travelled and showed us some of his incredible mountain pictures.
The hills were still shrouded in mist and a few clouds had formed. The sunrise looked nice and you could see several terraced fields. Suddenly the top of a mountain appeared, way above the surrounding hills. It had snow on the top and was barely pink in the sunrise. This was Annapurna. This is why people come to Pokhara. It is the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit, a trek up the mountain. Now I knew what all the excitement was about. The tip of Fishtail Mountain also appeared for a few moments. The smog and clouds soon covered all the spectacular views and left us with just hills.
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- Annapurna
Pokhara Sites
We spent the rest of the day touring the area. We saw the White Pagoda on another viewpoint. It was built by a Japanese Buddhist who wanted there to be 100 of these built around the world to honor the birth of Buddha in Nepal. It was begun in 1974, but when it reached 35 feet high it was torn down by the government of the time but was finally completed in 1998. The 4 Buddhas face the cardinal directions and were donated by countries like Thailand and Sri Lanka. If you are not sure the expectations at a temple, look for signs. They will usually tell you. There was a great little coffee shop with views on the way down.
In the town itself is Devi’s Falls. It is the dry season, and you have to pay to get in to see the falls. There are fences and walkways all around this area that is a little bigger than our back yard. However, there is only on spot you can actually see the falls so it was a little underwhelming.
Devi’s Falls
Across the street is Gupteshwor Mahadev cave. These were much better. The river from the falls flows under the street and runs through a cave. You enter through a newly (as in the cement was still being shaped) renovated entrance, past a shrine, and down many steps to see a waterfall entering the cave. There is an opening in the rock behind the water so it was quite beautiful.
International Mountain Museum
After lunch we visited the International Mountain Museum. It is a large, modern building. We saw photographs and statistics on all the important mountains and when they had been climbed, including quotes from those who were the first to ascend to the peak. There were profiles on some of the most prolific climbers and samples of some of the gear used in the past. Descriptions of the culture of the tribes of the mountains were displayed. Pictures comparing the glaciers in the mountains from 50 years ago to know show that the climate is changing.
Toni Hagen
There was also a display of photographs taken by Toni Hagen in the 1950’s. He was a Swiss geologist who came to Nepal with the United Nations to survey and map the area. His pictures show Pokhara and the mountains at a time when there were no roads to this area. Supplies were delivered by a DC-3 plane in those days. There is an interesting documentary about his time in Nepal that would be easier to watch with English subtitles, but the pictures and views are still worth seeing.
Neighborhood Happenings
After breakfast, we watched the neighbors across the street remove a tin addition to their small house and begin digging the dirt out from that area. When we returned in the afternoon, the dirt had all been bagged and replaced with large stones and smaller rocks and bricks as a foundation. A load of large cement blocks had been delivered and was waiting on the street.
The workers were resting, but 2 men on bicycles arrived. They bagged up all the metal pieces and loaded them onto the bikes. Even the tin walls and roof were balanced onto the bike using good knowledge of levers and balance. They pushed the loaded bikes away from the site.
Sunrise #2
After being led astray by Google Maps to the wrong, but okay restaurant we planned on an early night. A big lightning storm passed north of town for a couple of hours. The sound of the thunder echoing around the peaks was more evidence that big mountains really do exist in this area. We hoped some rain might clear the skies for another try at sunrise, although I worried for some friends who were trekking on the mountain at the time.
At 5 am the stars and moon were bright overhead so we were optimistic. While the sunrise was quite lovely, and the tall peaks did appear in their entirety, the smog quickly swallowed them up so there was not much left for us to than return to Kathmandu. Our friends who were on the mountain in the storm had arrived at their guest house early in the afternoon and got to watch the storm. They arrived in Pokhara 3 days after we left and thought it was the beautiful place. Click the link to see what they saw. Pokhara Images.
Samoeng loop- Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens
January 21, 2017
What week in Chiang Mai would be complete without a road trip out to the jungle and an opportunity to sing to honor the Late King of Thailand. We travelled around the Samoeng Loop with a wonderful stop at the Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens. We finished the week singing at a “We Love the King” event that I will share in another post.
Samoeng loop
The Samoeng loop is a 100 km road trip that starts in Chiang Mai, then heads north towards the little town of Mae Sa. The loop turns to the west into the mountains and loops through the Samoeng forest which is also fertile agricultural land. At the town of Samoeng it turns back to the east and ends up back in Chiang Mai. It’s the things to see and do along the way that turned a “short” drive into a full day. We rented a car for the day and upgraded to a mid size Suzuki to easily take 3 of us for the trip. Our new friend Jeanne (Leaving Eastern North Carolina) had taken a quick trip through this area and wanted to come along to see the Botanical Garden
Mae Sa Waterfall
We headed about 7:30 on a Monday morning and left Chiang Mai easily as most of the traffic was heading into the city. We turned off the highway at Mae Sa and arrived at the waterfall around 8:15 am. The man at the ticket booth didn’t have enough change for our entrance fee so he said just pay when we came out. He had no change because we were the only people in the whole park! There are 10 waterfalls along the Sa, (Mae is the word for river) that drains the mountain area and eventually flows into Mae Ping that flows through Chiang Mai. If it had been later in the day and hot, we could have swum at level 5. It was a large pool and had a nice sandy bottom. Thank you to Theblondtravels.com for the parking suggestion.
The park was quite well-developed. There were lots of picnic tables and cement paths. A wooden bridge allowed you to cross over the water to explore both sides with a large gazebo along waterfall 6. It was not what you would call accessible though because there were many large steps that would not accommodate strollers or wheelchairs, or even walkers. We heard lots of birds and found a couple of large spiders in their webs.
The quietness after the energy of the city was a much appreciated change of pace. It was cool and shady with just the sound of the water pouring over the falls. We only saw the first 6 waterfalls as we wanted to stop at a few other places along the route. There was another car entering the park as we left but we were able to put together our 330 baht fee ($13.00 for 3 of us) so we didn’t need change.
Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden
We carried on down the twisty roads past several elephant camps and tourist resorts, snake farms, insect displays and an orchid farm. The road itself was pretty quiet but the most tour vans were at the zip line place. I have ridden a zip line once as part of a tour in Mexico, but I wouldn’t spend a day in Thailand doing that when there is so many other things to explore. Each traveller has their own goals though.
Our destination was the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden where it cost another 300 baht for the 3 of us as farangs, which was well worth it. Jeanne is over 60 so she was free. It was an unexpected treasure as it is a very large park with several sections to visit. The Botanical Garden opened in 1992 to protect and preserve natural Thai plants and named after Her Majesty the Queen Sirikit in 1994. I copied from the website the purpose of the Gardens.
The aim of QSBG and its satellite gardens are:
- to gather fundamental knowledge of Thai plants
- to conserve their genetic diversity, and
- to strengthen studies and research on Thai flora.
Canopy Walk and Greenhouses
We spent about 2 hours there but could easily have taken all day if I had been able to read every plant label as well as visit the Natural History Museum. We did spend time on the Canopy Walk. It is a walkway that’s built above the top of the trees for about 400 m through the forest and is an opportunity to look down on the trees and butterflies from above to get a sense of the canopy ecosystem. There were a few sections with glass floors and walls and the rest was metal mesh. It also provided for wonderful views of the mountains in the distance.
Our next stop were the greenhouses where I was very impressed by my restraint in not spending all day photographing every interesting plant. I really enjoyed the carnivorous plants building where there were so many pitcher plants. The orchid building had such vivid colors and the jungle plants were impressive. Many had labels to help identify those we actually see growing here. There were also buildings of arid plants and medicinal herbs with all the displays so tastefully done. It surprises me when we find such world-class facilities in a developing country.
Finding Lunch
It was about 11:30 when we left. Instead of continuing on the main loop, we decided to extend our trip by heading north after the gardens. The road was slightly narrower but paved and in good condition. There were less resorts and more agriculture. We saw coffee and tea growing as well a hydroponic lettuce growing without a greenhouse. Terraced fields were on every hillside filled with a large variety of vegetables and some corn. We didn’t see much rice growing as we moved higher up into the hills.
The first place we tried for lunch had a killer view, but was not open. It had tables and hot sauce bottles but when we found someone who knew a little English, it seemed there was no coffee or food.
It was located next to a campground. We saw several other places with small dome tents set up on a flat space as well as small raised platforms and small camping cabins. The trouble with car trips is the difficulty in snapping everything that captures your attention like you can when you are walking.
Lunch with a View
We drove on about 5 more minutes and found more views in a little eating place on the side of the road. The food was delicious, the people were kind and the menu descriptions were in English and Thai. They served the soup from the kitchen where we were, but the other meals were prepared in a bigger building about 200 m away and carried over to us.
Jeanne had pork and noodle soup where you had a choice of 6 different kinds of noodles. I had pork and shittake mushrooms with thai basil served with rice. Peter had fried rice with chicken. We shared spring rolls and 2 large beer (620 ml). Everything was delicious and we paid 300 baht which is less than $12.
Most Thai restaurants have a container of condiments on the table. There is sugar for sweet, chili infused vinegar for sour, fish sauce for salty and chili powder or flakes for spicy. This place had chili that was almost like a chipotle with a nice smokiness to it. You are given a fork and spoon but almost never a knife. You use the fork to push the food onto the spoon so I spill so much less on myself here. Chopsticks are only used for noodle dishes like Khao Soi, noodle soup, or Pad Thai.
Views on the way home
It was a direct ride home back through Sareong. The amount of food grown here in small-scale farming is impressive especially as farmers do most of the work by hand without machinery. Farm houses are small and on stilts for the rainy season. We saw some small pickups for hauling produce but the roads were very quiet on this day.
We took advantage of the rental car to pick up a few groceries on our way home. Since our comfy plastic lawn chair needed replacing, it was much easier to bring it back in a car than a songtaew.
The sing for the king event was an amazing honour and will be the topic of a post of its own.