Exploring the beauty of Nepal; calm lakes, raging rivers and tranquil forests

OHHH thank god, finally a hot shower!!! After days of trekking in the Himalaya, we booked into a nice hotel by the lake, the Fewa Holiday Inn, and we took the longest, hottest shower.. bliss!

Next we gave up our trekking clothes to the laundry lady. While hiking, we’d worked up quite an appetite and we were looking forward to sampling more of the Nepalese food. We found an awesome little local shop with amazing and cheap momo’s and thukpa, a traditional noodle soup with a thick broth and veggies and sometimes meat in it. We made nearly a daily pilgrimage to see this guy for our lunch or an afternoon snack. For dinner that night, we also found a lovely little waterfront restaurant. They serve all kinds of delicious curries, tandoori and lots of western favorites like pizza and pasta as well. We enjoyed a delicious meal of Tandoori chicken with spicy peanut sauce, carbonara pasta, and a few beers. We got a little tipsy and decided to go on a mini pub crawl, enjoying the happy hour beer deals.. all why not eh we deserved it!!

Before long, the days of hiking caught up to us though, and it was time to head back to the hotel and have a nice, long sleep!

In the morning, we found a restaurant down the street that does Tibetan bread served with a veg curry for breakfast.. It was so delicious, it immediately became our breakfast plan for every morning in Fewa Lake!

One of our days we walked part-way around the lake enjoying the view of the rolling hills and mountains in every direction. All along the lake there are little shops, street stalls, and restaurants. We found it all so beautiful, we stopped at one of the bars along the way for happy hour beers, some great buffalo momos, and just taking in the view.

The lake was so calm and peaceful, we decided to take some kayaks out.

After another glorious sleep-in, we grabbed some kayaks and paddles and hit the lake, ready for an afternoon on the water. It was a perfect day with clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight, and a view of the snow capped mountains with at least 30 paragliders floating in the sky. We decided to paddle all around the lake taking in the beauty of the jungle and rolling hills around the side opposite town. When we went closer to the shore we could see cows grazing and relaxing in the shade. We paddled around the little island in the middle of the lake where there is a small temple. We decided to stay on the water and enjoy the view from there, while some of the other tourists and locals waved and called greetings to us from the land or boats. We were surprised to see that we were the only ones kayaking.

That night back in town, we enjoyed a huge meal of falafel and hummus at a really cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant just down the street from our hotel. Super delicious!!

On our last day we decided to walk the lake in the opposite direction and we found a lovely lakeside restaurant with a great happy hour. We stopped to enjoy the cocktails, but what we discovered was an amazing paneer butter masala curry. Paneer is a Nepalese/Indian cottage cheese, its very similar to tofu in some ways, or maybe the greek cheese, Haloumi. They fry it a bit and put it in a creamy, buttery tomato curry sauce.. similar to butter chicken, its stunning!

After drinking and wandering til our hearts content, and all rested up, it was time hit the road again. We took a local bus a few hours back towards Kathmandu, to a small village hiding between two hills on a plateau, it’s called Bandipur.

We stayed in a lovely guesthouse, the Samira Homestay. We had a small room in their family home, there was a little restaurant upstairs and an incredible view of the mountains.

We wanted to visit the caves while we were there, so the first afternoon we just wandered around town, exploring the little lanes and watching the village children playing in the streets.

The next day we grabbed some samosas for snacks and hiked down the mountain into the damp jungle.

Walking above the clouds with a clear view of the snow-capped peaks in the distance was mesmerizing!!

The hike was so peaceful, we were the only people on the path. It was so beautiful going from hilltop to jungle forest. The way the sunshine filtered through the leaves and branches made a gorgeous sight. We even came across a family of monkeys collecting their morning meal in the bushes and leaves on the forest floor.

It took us about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to get to the caves. We arrived at the entrance, paid the small fee for entry and the mandatory guide. Then, flashlights ready, in we went, headed to the center of the earth it seemed!

We walked carefully, it’s a little slippery on the rocks. Inside we saw some really cool rock formations and even some bats. Down a steep and sketchy ladder, you can explore a huge cavern in the cave with little cubby rooms and other strange formations inside the cave.

Eventually we made our way back to the light, enjoyed our lunch of tasty samosas and made our way back up the mountain to Bandipur.

On the map, Bandipur and Kathmandu are not very far apart. It still took us 8 full hours to make the trip though! There is only one road in and out of Kathmandu, and the traffic is a shit show!!! We arrived at the hotel, Discovery Inn, in Thamel, completely exhausted and decided to spoil ourselves with a massive dinner at their restaurant.. the food is so good there!!

The next day it was finally time to meet up with the Canadian crew!! Our buddy Jason and two of his mates, Jeff and Brett, had been trekking and white-water rafting for the past few days with Ranjit, our awesome guide. They happened to be arriving back in Kathmandu on Nicole’s birthday so we bought a bunch of whisky, lots of beers, a little hash and partied like animals!!!

Over the next couple weeks, we planned to explore more of Kathmandu and make a trip to the south of Nepal to the jungle of Chitwan National park!! There we went on a foot Safari in the homeland of rare Bengal tigers, one-horned rhinos and wild elephants, to name a few of the rare and dangerous wildlife found in and on the fringes of the park!! We can’t wait to show you which animals we saw there!!!.. and also what shenanigans the Canadian crew got up to for that matter!