Annapurna Circuit - Nepal, Mar-Apr 2013

Coming to Nepal doesn’t only mean going to the Himalaya, nevertheless trek in Nepal is a must! 

With friends I did the Annapurna Circuit and it definitely is one of the highlights of my trip so far. It took us 13 days from Besishahar (830m) to Pokhara.

Starting point - Besishahar, at 830m

On the fifth day we reached Manang (3500m), where we spent two nights to acclimatize, then on the 9^th day we crossed the pass, Thorong-La, at 5416m, and started to descend. It’s amazing to see how much the landscape, culture, people changes along the way. As the temperature constantly drops during the ascent, the volume of the river also gradually reduces and parts of it are frozen as well as many waterfalls.

After leaving Manang, at 3500m

As that area has a very strong Tibetan influence, people are mostly Buddhists; but depending on the altitude villages develop different activities. And the ones on very high altitudes have not many options of agriculture since, apart from few species, nothing else grows up there. Then the porters and donkeys play an even more important role as they have to bring all the supplies to those villages.

One of the many bridges on the way and the tibetan flags 

The path is well signalized and it's not difficult; there are many checkpoints along the way to keep track of people and keep it safe. Thus no need of guide at all, unless you want to hire a porter to bring your backpack – this is cool since it is a important activity for the local economy. But bear in mind that porters are not machines, what means one of them should be enough to carry stuff for one person, not for the whole group in order to save money.

The water and the food are not a problem; we took water purifier drops and used tap water, no problems! For food, pretty much every guest house has its own restaurant and serve the classic Dal Baht and some other dishes, including few western option. They sort of overprice food a little bit and usually offer accommodation for free if you eat there, depends on the deal you agree with them – what doesn’t happen for all trekking routes in Nepal apparently. The rooms are very basic and it means very cold at night, so thermo clothes and a good sleeping bag can make your nights a bit more comfortable.

Village at around 2000m and its few guest houses

After the 3500m, the trekking demands more and more since the air has less oxygen at that altitude; the three days before crossing the highest point (Thorong-La Pass) the body feels a lot the difference on the air and the altitude itself, what slows the pace. But taking it easy is not a problem since you can enjoy it to take some nice shots.

The landscape keeps changing and the agriculture is the main activity

Near Manang

Many other trekkers doing this it daily

At Thorong-La Pass - Ina, myself and Thiago

Choco-Banana Cake from Rishikesh

Dinah, Dinah!

I heard your request made just after you left India and I apologise for not posting this before! hahaha
I wrote that on my notebook and completely forgot to post it later on.

But better late than never,right?! So here comes the recipe for the chico banana cake!!!

Filling:
1. 18 bananas cut in small pieces
2. Bread crumbs (1/2 kg)
3. vanilla (6mm)
4. Butter (150 g)
5. Chocolate powder (100 g)
6. Cinnamon powder (5 g)
7. Sugar (150 g)

Border and top:
1. White flour (200g)
2. Butter (100g)
3. Sugar (75g)
4. Egg (2)

Toping:
Chocolate and Honey

Bake for 35-40 min at 150C.

Boom! There you have your late chocobanana cake :D

You probably remember how this cake looks like, but it should be something like that:

Kathmandu - Biplov Shop (Krishna's Shop)

As soon as you meet Krishna you will understand the reason why I dedicate this post to him and his shop. Such a charismatic, sympathetic and positive person, his "Namaste" and friendly approach will make you stop by sometime, maybe drink a cup of tea with him and get some supplies.

His shop will probably have what you are looking for and for a honest price, "always same price" as he  would say.
It's also possible to be part of the Krishna project, some work which is being done in his village. I haven't been there but apparently one school has been built and now they will start a guest house. Everyone is invited go visit the village and join them donating money or offering any kind of help.

It's not easy to give the exact directions to his shop since I have no clue about the name of those streets; but I believe it's gonna be easy to recognise it through the picture below. It's in the Thamel area of course, on the same street where the "Hotel Visit Nepal" is.
Tel: 016913019
Ask for Krishna Biplov.

Bye Burma

After almost one month of Burma I can say that the experience in the country was positive. there were few things which disappointed me, which I actually was aware of before arriving, so let's not talk about it!
What's important is that my first contact with the country was amazing, I think I've never experienced so many smiles per minute before in my life! Also, my last experience in Burma couldn't be any better...
Saturday, Mar 17th, I was having a tea with another brazilian I met in Burma, Thiago, and one Buddhist monks joined us for some tea and chatting. At the end I asked him whether I could go and visit his monastery in Yangon on Sunday, he was very welcoming and arranged it for the day after at 10am.

Around that time I was there, asking for him here and there and people said I as at the wrong monastery, until this lady came to me and told me to wait; suddenly comes Mr Kuvera. He invited me to go upstairs, where he's living provisionally until he goes back to his permanent monastery in another state.
We chatted for around one hour, mainly about religion, their routine, etc. After that we went for lunch, walked to a tea house for a classic burmese tea, then we moved towards shwedagon pagoda, where we made some pictures; finally we headed to the area where I was staying. arriving there I went to print out some photos I wanted to give to him and he went to get a book he wanted to buy for me. Later we met again, exchanged presents and said bye!

Those are the experiences which make my travels worthier! Getting to know locals, walk around with them, learn about their culture, religion, their point of view about the world, my country and their own country.

The area where he lives permanently is close for foreigners at the moment, but hopefully it will be open soon. So he told me to give his contact to whoever goes to visit Burma, it's his hobby meeting and helping people, especially if one is interested in buddhism I would say. So here it goes:

Mr. Kuvera
Sittasukha Monastery
Pridawtha Quarter
Akyab (Sittwe)
Arakan (Rakhine) State
Burma

That's it for now!

Trekking Kalaw to Inle Lake

Trying to avoid the organized tourist packages we gathered 7 people, who were not worried of maybe getting a bit lost on the way, and some information from internet to begin our trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake.

The first day we started early and made it to the village where we had planned to sleep in less time than planned. Thus one of the local families – Da Nu people - hosted and cooked some amazing food for us.

 

           Our first house - Ywa Pu Village; Da Nu people

The morning after we were quite confident and started trekking after having breakfast and chill for a while, it was already 11am. And considering that along the way two of our friends started feeling sick, we ended up making only half of the way; then the adventure became more exciting when we needed to try any kind of communication with local – from the tribal villages known as Pa O people – to arrange accommodation for one night and some food. Due to the communication problem between our group and the locals it was hard to know whether they enjoyed our company, but they were quite helpful letting us sleep over in their bamboo house!

                                                                                      Second host - Paw Kia Village; Pa O people

The third and last day was a bit more demanding as we needed to walk around 10 hours till we reached the final destination, Inle Lake.

                                                                                                  Third day

It was a quite good decision getting on the road without a guide; asking people here and there we were able to always find the way to the villages we wanted to pass through. It also allowed us some more interaction with the locals.

We arranged with a tourist agency in Kalaw to send our luggage directly to Inle, all worked out well!

             

Burma

Before arriving to Burma I have to admit that I had some expectation based on what I read and heard from other people about the country. Now I have to say that after few hours here the country proved being over my expectation, and the people specially make of this place a must in Southeast Asia. It’s a country where the constant changes don’t make anyone’s life easy when it comes to preparing a trip a bit in advance.

Well, this taste for the unknown is actually quite exciting, and mixed with a dose of respect for the country and local culture should be enough to avoid any big mistake. Not being sure about the money situation here at the moment forced myself to exchange all I had into US dollars as few cash machines have just been installed but are not reliable. And indeed US dollars is still the best option here at the moment; guest houses and some other services are quoted in this currency while smaller amounts, such as food, tea and other daily spends, can be paid with the local Kyats (1 USD = 857Kyats).

From the airport I chose not taking the a taxi to get to the center of the city, thus the option was walking to the bus station near the airport (10 miles station) and from there a local bus ride of maybe 30 min to the Sula (center), which costs 200kyats and offer an amazing first contact with locals since I was the only western on the bus.

A walking around the city is a constant smiling in every direction one looks at; such a friendly, happy and welcoming people work as a medicine to our westerner’s hearts. I don’t believe anyone can experience it without being touched by their warmth.

After finding a guest house, what was very easy, I wanted to eat something and ended up with some noodles with chicken, accompanied by a sort of soup, some onion’s pickle and, of course, a lot of dark tea! Everything very tasty! Next step was moving towards a tea stall and taste the classic Burmese tea, prepared with tons of condensed milk. This time I met a Burmese lady who was simply lovely; she told a bit about the country, her family and before leaving didn’t even allowed me to pay for my tea, when I actually wanted to invite her for the tea as a reciprocal gesture. 

Thanks Burma!

Diving in Similan Islands, West Coast of Thai

Going on a liveaboard trip of 4 days and 4 nights was one of the best decisions I took so far in my trip. The itinerary was mainly Similan Islands, Koh Bon and Richileu Rock; the first three days we did 4 dives a day and on the last one 2 dives. The instructors and crew onboard were awesome, the food was equally amazing and the boat itself very comfortable.

The first dives we did in Similan Islands and I had never seen such a perfect visibility as that. The nature there and the coral reefs are still well preserved and the variety of sea life, especially “small things”, is huge. After that we moved north towards Koh Bon and did a night dive, which was also amazing – well, these are my favourite! 

Koh Bon was one of the sites where we would be able to spot the manta rays and whale shark, but they didn’t show up that day. L That’s ok; it didn’t make the dives any worse to be honest.

After that we kept moving north and our next dives were in Richelieu Rock, site discovered and named by Jack Cousteau when a fisherman took him there. The dives we did there were the best I believe; once again not due to any huge creature spotted, but for the diversity of sea life, all so colorful and working in perfect harmony.

Well, better than my words I will leave some pics, which will speak by themselves. The photos taken underwater were made by another diver and one of the instructors onboard.