Continued
Syarbru Besi is a bit of a dead end town, the high street is lined with Guest Houses and shops, there are no specific cultural or scenic features in the town, so after a nice cold shower and a nights sleep I left to walk to the Border area. According to the girl that ran the guesthouse I stayed in, this would take about 1 hr. However, I had looked at the distance on a map and doubted this was the case. The route is via a new road that runs right upto the border, but due to the fact they had not yet finished the bridges connecting this road, there are no buses and it seemed no vehiclles at all. After walking along this valley road for 3hrs I began to wonder how long this trek would really take and the scenery began to loose its appeal. After a relaxing break beside the river I set back out on the road only to be passed by a truck. The driver stopped and offered me a ride on the back of the truck telling me it was a long way from here to the border, which I gladly accepted.
After a relatively short bumpy ride and after passing through a small military camp and road block, we arrived at the border area. On the Nepali side is a ruined fortress, that once defended the border and reputedly dates back to the time Gengis Khan's armies tried to take Nepal. Other than that there is a police post and a couple of houses, on the Chinese side there is a huge pink building that looks like a very nice hotel and a settlement area, which I imagine consists of a barracks and a number of houses, whilst the border was closed at this time there was no sign of any security on the Chinese side, infact there was no sign of any life at all there. After an hour or so of taking photos (not of the Chinese side, due to instructions from the Nepali Police) and relaxing with a drink, the truck driver offered to take me to a nearby village were I could stay for the night.
On the return journey we stopped again at the road block and I was peasantly surprised by the Soldiers' attitude toward me. Unlike the police who has caused problems whenever they found I was travelling alone, the Army seemed impressed by this and one of them even looked through a Nepali-English dictionary just to find how to tell me that they respected me. I left the camp feeling happy with the army, but even more frustrated with the attitude that the police seemed to have.
The village Timure is on the main road that I had followed and looked pretty non-descript from the roadside. However, after getting a room in a guesthouse I walked through the village itself and was pleasantly surprised. The village is full of these strage rock constructions, which I imagine to be funeral piles for Buddhist Priests, they all seem very old as the carvings on them are weather worn and hardly visable, whilst the village itself is tightly built around these with narrow alley ways and stone pathways, it's probably the most visually attractive Nepali village I have ever visited.
Through the afternoon I walked around the hillside, following narrow goat paths to get a better look at the village and the valley and in the evening I met with a Japanese guy who was trekking through the area. The next day as I set off to trek back to Syarbru Besi I was joined by the Japanese traveller and we had a pleasant 4-5 hour walk to the town, arriving just after mid-day. Knowing that buses ran from here it was my intention to have some food and get straight on a bus to Dunche, or Trisuli. Unfortunately I found the only bus leaving here is in the morning so I had to waste the best part of a day in this dire little tourist trap.
Apart from my laptop, the only entertainment I found here was when I noticed a chameleon crawl onto a ledge close to my rooms window. I watched the Chameleon every twenty minutes or so as it changed colour to match the concrete ledge, I have now decided that rather than the old saying 'watching paint dry', 'watching a chameleon change colour' is just as good a way of describing boredom.
The next day I got onto the bus at 9am and travelled all the way to Kathmandu (still having to change busses and trek through the landslide areas). About half way back I was joined by 4 Kathmandu youths who had been to the Langtang reserve for a trek and we chatted most of the way back. They were surprised to find a foreign traveller who was on his own and warned me that it was dangerous and that I should not travel without a guide. I asked why this was and explained the attitude the police had had with me, compared with that of the Army.
Apparently a British traveller had recently disappeared in Nepal whilst he was travelling alone and despite that there is no evidence of what has happened to him, this follows the discovery of a Dutch tourist who was found decapitated in the jungle after she had gone to trek alone. It seems that she was left with her money and camera and the only motive that has been accepted so far is a simple hatred that some villagers may feel toward foreigners who travel into their areas. I find it more likely that these people have done something to inspire such hatred, possibly from just being culturally unaware of the areas they are going into. or perhaps being involved in some crime (like drug dealing / trafficing). I have wondered into many villages and have only been greeted with smiles and offers of tea and food.
Syarbru Besi is a bit of a dead end town, the high street is lined with Guest Houses and shops, there are no specific cultural or scenic features in the town, so after a nice cold shower and a nights sleep I left to walk to the Border area. According to the girl that ran the guesthouse I stayed in, this would take about 1 hr. However, I had looked at the distance on a map and doubted this was the case. The route is via a new road that runs right upto the border, but due to the fact they had not yet finished the bridges connecting this road, there are no buses and it seemed no vehiclles at all. After walking along this valley road for 3hrs I began to wonder how long this trek would really take and the scenery began to loose its appeal. After a relaxing break beside the river I set back out on the road only to be passed by a truck. The driver stopped and offered me a ride on the back of the truck telling me it was a long way from here to the border, which I gladly accepted.
After a relatively short bumpy ride and after passing through a small military camp and road block, we arrived at the border area. On the Nepali side is a ruined fortress, that once defended the border and reputedly dates back to the time Gengis Khan's armies tried to take Nepal. Other than that there is a police post and a couple of houses, on the Chinese side there is a huge pink building that looks like a very nice hotel and a settlement area, which I imagine consists of a barracks and a number of houses, whilst the border was closed at this time there was no sign of any security on the Chinese side, infact there was no sign of any life at all there. After an hour or so of taking photos (not of the Chinese side, due to instructions from the Nepali Police) and relaxing with a drink, the truck driver offered to take me to a nearby village were I could stay for the night.
On the return journey we stopped again at the road block and I was peasantly surprised by the Soldiers' attitude toward me. Unlike the police who has caused problems whenever they found I was travelling alone, the Army seemed impressed by this and one of them even looked through a Nepali-English dictionary just to find how to tell me that they respected me. I left the camp feeling happy with the army, but even more frustrated with the attitude that the police seemed to have.
The village Timure is on the main road that I had followed and looked pretty non-descript from the roadside. However, after getting a room in a guesthouse I walked through the village itself and was pleasantly surprised. The village is full of these strage rock constructions, which I imagine to be funeral piles for Buddhist Priests, they all seem very old as the carvings on them are weather worn and hardly visable, whilst the village itself is tightly built around these with narrow alley ways and stone pathways, it's probably the most visually attractive Nepali village I have ever visited.
Through the afternoon I walked around the hillside, following narrow goat paths to get a better look at the village and the valley and in the evening I met with a Japanese guy who was trekking through the area. The next day as I set off to trek back to Syarbru Besi I was joined by the Japanese traveller and we had a pleasant 4-5 hour walk to the town, arriving just after mid-day. Knowing that buses ran from here it was my intention to have some food and get straight on a bus to Dunche, or Trisuli. Unfortunately I found the only bus leaving here is in the morning so I had to waste the best part of a day in this dire little tourist trap.
Apart from my laptop, the only entertainment I found here was when I noticed a chameleon crawl onto a ledge close to my rooms window. I watched the Chameleon every twenty minutes or so as it changed colour to match the concrete ledge, I have now decided that rather than the old saying 'watching paint dry', 'watching a chameleon change colour' is just as good a way of describing boredom.
The next day I got onto the bus at 9am and travelled all the way to Kathmandu (still having to change busses and trek through the landslide areas). About half way back I was joined by 4 Kathmandu youths who had been to the Langtang reserve for a trek and we chatted most of the way back. They were surprised to find a foreign traveller who was on his own and warned me that it was dangerous and that I should not travel without a guide. I asked why this was and explained the attitude the police had had with me, compared with that of the Army.
Apparently a British traveller had recently disappeared in Nepal whilst he was travelling alone and despite that there is no evidence of what has happened to him, this follows the discovery of a Dutch tourist who was found decapitated in the jungle after she had gone to trek alone. It seems that she was left with her money and camera and the only motive that has been accepted so far is a simple hatred that some villagers may feel toward foreigners who travel into their areas. I find it more likely that these people have done something to inspire such hatred, possibly from just being culturally unaware of the areas they are going into. or perhaps being involved in some crime (like drug dealing / trafficing). I have wondered into many villages and have only been greeted with smiles and offers of tea and food.
Dear Roddy
ReplyDeleteMy name is Joe Pinzone and I'm casting an international travel show about expats moving abroad. We'd love to film in Panama and wanted to know if you could help us find expats who have moved there within the last 15 months or have been there for 3-4 years, but recently moved into a new home. The show documents their move to a new country and will place the country in fabulous light. The contributors on the show would also receive monetary compensation if they are filmed. If you'd like more information, please give me a call at 212-231-7716 or skype me at joefromnyc. You can also email me at joepinzone@leopardusa.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Joe Pinzone
Casting Producer
P: 212-231-7716
Skype: Joefromnyc