Pokhara Paragliding

Our first day in Pokhara we had to get permits before we could fly (and, yes, they do check them) so after applying, we went to the Sunrise LZ to get our gear sorted out and do a little ground handling. We haven’t flown since the Owens Valley in October so it was good to warm up. There were kids practicing with old gliders. They play for endless hours, so they are totally natural at it, forward kiting without even holding the brakes, just reaching up occasionally to pluck a line, as if they were playing some giant string instrument. One of my them, about 10 years old, offered to give me lessons. “I can help you, brother” he told me. There were usually kids at the landings who would pack your glider for you (for .50 or $1). I wanted to give them the business, but they packed hurriedly, and not the way I like to do it.

Once our permits were ready we headed up to fly. The main Sarangkot launches are incredibly busy with hundreds (literally) of tourists taking tandem flights. There were a ton of Chinese tourists since it was their New Years. So we went to the Toripani launch, a little further down the ridge and less crowded (although still busy). It also has a huge open field for landing, whereas the other landing areas are smaller and busier. (But you still need to watch out for the water buffalo!)





It was hazy, so conditions weren’t at their best, but after a bit of searching I managed to get a decent climb and get high enough to cruise along the ridge to Sarangkot. I wasn't excited about the big gaggle in the house thermal so I hunted around the edges and still got a decent climb that let me make it back to Toripani where I climbed back up above the ridge.

Strangely, I suddenly started to feel extremely nauseous and on the verge of throwing up. I've gotten queasy from paragliding before, but not recently, and not suddenly and severely like this. I had been ready to keep flying for a while, but I felt so awful I turned my glider directly towards the landing. Thankfully the air was smooth. But my mouth was filling with saliva and I was really struggling not to vomit. I was trying to figure out the best way to do it without spattering myself and my harness. Under my arm? Over  my shoulder? To the outside of a turn? I had a feeling it wouldn't be pretty. Thankfully I managed to control it, and it passed almost as quickly as it came. I didn't feel too bad for the landing and soon felt almost normal again. It was a strange ending to a great flight.



Day 2 was even cloudier and there wasn't much thermal activity. But even a sled ride was 15 minutes, and with the shorter flights we got in three runs. By the last flight the sun was trying to come out and I found a few light thermals to stretch my flight out to 50 minutes.



It rained in the night which helped clear the overcast and day 3 we got in a couple of good flights. In the morning I missed the upper thermals and ended up scratching down low for a long time (50 minute flight). Meanwhile, Shelley was way up high above the ridge. By the time I finally managed to climb up, it was time to head down. Our next flight we flew over to Sarangkot, climbed up again, and then continued down the ridge towards town, eventually landing at Sunrise LZ.



Day 4 started out clear and sunny. We went up a bit later to miss the initial rush of tandem flights. Although you could squeeze in between them and launch, it was easier just to wait till they were gone. I managed to snag a thermal and get up right away. Claudio suggested I could just stay up and wait in the air for them to come back for their second flight but that would have been a long flight (assuming I could have stayed up). So I made a quick transition to Sarangkot and then headed down to meet the rest of the group. We headed back up although the cumulous clouds were getting tall and dark. Shelley and I launched between a few drops of rain. There was lots of lift, but it was a little rough and strong. And the rain kept sprinkling. So we headed down. In hindsight I would have been better staying up on the first flight.

Kathmandu Monkey Temple

Another favorite spot in Kathmandu is Swoyambhunath Stupa or the easier to remember and spell "monkey temple". We usually walk from Thamel. It's a couple of kilometers and can be a little tricky to navigate the winding narrow streets, but it's always interesting to get out of the tourist area. This time we passed by several vacant lots covered in drying sheets and other laundry. Obviously some kind of laundry service. The first time we walked here (1997) we passed open fields and farming. Now it's all developed and covered in buildings. This is my seventh visit to Kathmandu over the last 20 some years. In some ways it's changed a lot (cell phones!), but in other ways it's very much the same dirty, crazy, chaotic place.



The monkeys themselves seemed quite mellow this visit. Sometimes they can be a little scary when they fight amongst themselves or try to steal food or shiny objects from the tourists. We were told there is a bigger risk of rabies from monkey bites than from dog bites.







Of course, the young ones are still fun to watch as they climb and jump and play.



The temple is much the same as always - stupas, prayer flags and prayer wheels, monkeys, pigeons.







We found a rooftop cafe to relax and observe the goings on around the stupa. The local raptors flew by regularly and I spent a bunch of time trying to photograph them. Needless to say, mostly unsuccessful, but I took enough (and I've had enough practice) that a few of them came out reasonably well. I haven't figured out what they were. At the time I thought maybe vulture but the photos don't look like that. Maybe some kind of kite? (good detail if you click to view larger)







These are cropped substantially, but I'm still impressed with the Tamron 18-400. Most lenses that would handle this would be twice the size and weight.

If you come up the main front steps of the stupa, it's worth going past the stupa and down the far side where there are more stupas and monkeys (and prayer flags!).



On previous trips to Nepal it used to be difficult to find good coffee. At best they'd dredge up an ancient jar of instant coffee. Now, you can get espresso coffee everywhere, and some of it is actually pretty good. There were four coffee shops within a block of our hotel. Mike's Breakfast has moved and doesn't get good ratings any more, but other old faithfuls like Fire and Ice (pizza) are still going strong.

Next stop Pokhara and paragliding! (the original instigation for this trip)

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Kathmandu Garden of Dreams

One of the spots we like to visit in Kathmandu is the Garden of Dreams. It's a quiet green oasis in the middle of the chaos surrounding it. There's even a restaurant and a bar inside. Unless you noticed the small sign, you'd have no idea what was on the other side of the wall beside the busy street.



The flowers weren't at their best this time of the year, but there were still some to take photos of.



There are lots of these "chipmunks" in the garden.



And a few birds around. Anyone know what this one is? The red underneath the tail and the dark head should be identifiable.



There are lots of these Indian Crows around. They're originally from Asia, but have now spread to many parts of the world. Large beaks relative to the size of their head.



The fountains are also a nice contrast to the dry dusty streets outside.







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Nan Lian Garden

The next day, for a change of pace, we headed to Kowloon to the Nan Lian Garden run by the Chi Lin Nunnery. We went here the last time we were in Hong Kong and really enjoyed the peace and quiet - such a contrast from the crowds outside. And it has a nice (vegetarian) restaurant for lunch.



One of the themes for my photography at the gardens was abstracts. There was a pottery display and they had closeups of some of the glazes which prompted me to capture some of them myself. (click to view larger)

   

   



The garden has a large collection of attractive stones, something you don't see much in our "western" culture. I took more abstract closeups of some of them.

   

   

Another abstract of koi swimming through the reflections of bougainvillea flowers.



Leading to more water abstracts.

   

   

Another theme was the contrast between the peaceful garden and the hectic traffic and malls right outside the walls.







Of course, I had to try to catch any local wildlife, from a sparrow to a spotted dove to a red-whiskered bulbul.







Although spring hasn't really arrived yet, there were still a few flowers around, including bougainvillea and water lilies.





If you like gardens, it's definitely worth a visit. And if you don't mind crowds, the subway goes right there (with one change, coming from central)



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Macau

We hadn’t been to Macau before so we decided to take a day trip to check it out. We weren’t too excited by the casinos, but Macau has an interesting history. Hong Kong was a British outpost, while Macau was Portuguese. And like Hong Kong, it was returned to the Chinese, ending European colonialism in Asia. However, as a Special Administrative Region (like Hong Kong) it maintains its own government, immigration, and currency. A waitress told us it was extremely hard to immigrate to Macau. Much easier to get into Canada, she said. Although the population is almost all Chinese, there are still signs in Portuguese.

The first battle was to get away from the ferry terminal on foot. Hong Kong is quite pedestrian oriented but the Macau terminal was surrounded by freeways. In hindsight we would have been better off to take a casino shuttle and walk from there but we didn’t know that at the time. We managed to find a pedestrian overpass and then a couple of pedestrian elevators (!) to get us into the older part of town. We encountered some lovely patterned cobbled streets and buildings with ornate metal railings reminiscent of New Orleans.

With a population of 650,000 in 12 square miles, Macau (aka Macao) is the most densely populated place in the world. But it wasn’t busy until we go to the tourist areas around the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral and Senado Square. We had seen photos of the square with the old Portuguese buildings around it, but the reality was a flood of humanity, Chinese New Years decorations obscuring the buildings, and high end shopping (e.g. Rolex).

By this time we were getting hungry for lunch but had no idea where to go. My downloaded Google map had a single restaurant marked - Margaret's Café e Nata. We had no idea what was significant about it, but it seemed worth a try. We  circled it via iPhone GPS until we finally found the right back alley. The tiny takeout cafe had a big crowd around it. We queued up, still not knowing what we were getting into. The specialty turned out to be Portuguese egg tarts. I was expecting something savoury but they were actually sweet. I'm still not sure what the big attraction was!

We figured we'd better at least check out some of the casinos. In 2007 Macau surpassed Las Vegas for gambling revenue. But apart from fancy buildings, we didn't find much to get excited about. We managed to find a quiet spot for (expensive) coffee in the Wynn, where we also got a free shuttle back to the ferry. I took a few photos of the shiny buildings.



And the never ending window cleaning work.



And a few more building reflection shots from back in Hong Kong.