Tansen to the Eastern Terai, Nepal
Photo,
Pictures of, Images, Picture
(May 2011) |
Just after a rainstorm in the small mountain town of Tansen.
Once a week Tim gets an old fashioned shave with a straight
razor. The whole process is about 30 min and costs less than US$1.
The Nepalese barber even bangs shockingly hard on your head (he calls it a
massage). To finish you off, he gives your neck a good crack. There are several lotions and
creams applied and at the end a bunch of smelly cologne that lasts all day.
The Octogon at the center of Tansen. It's all rather rundown now, but the red
hotel behind it looks like it must have been pretty ritzy in its day.
The view from the roof of our hotel.
We were glad to be leaving Tansen, a town where Gretchen was attacked by
bedbugs.
There are lots of tiny local schools with interesting names around Nepal.
Everyone loves looking at maps.
Gretchen buying bananas. After a few disappointments with chalky bananas, we
learned that the trick is to buy the green ones with plenty of brown spots.
Just an example of some of the colorful buildings in a small town we passed
through in Nepal.
Sometime while traveling in developing countries the cheap (US$2.50) hotel rooms
are so dirty that we pitch the tent on the bed to keep the bugs and filth out.
During the frequent strikes in Nepal, the villagers will put up roadblocks to
stop all motorized traffic. The purpose is to draw attention to fact that the
interim government still has not written a constitution and the Nepalis are
tired of being told to wait yet another year. They were extremely friendly to
us, always let us pass and told us that tourists were always welcome in Nepal.
Strike day is often a big joyful street party of pedestrians and bicycles.
A long line of stranded trucks waiting for the strike to let up.
Villagers gathered under a shady tree to sing protest songs.
Gretchen getting mobbed by a bunch of curious kids.
Some local boys took us to this Hanuman temple. Hanuman is the monkey god and
here he is holding a mountain. As the boys told us, he is "very strong monkey!"
Boys checking out our bicycles. We are now just a couple days from the
India border.
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