Pix. Just outside the Kathmandu Valley on the way to Manakamana.

Bill Martino

Bill Martino

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Top pix -- There is a high ridge to the west of Kathmandu that forms the western edge of the Kathmandu Valley. Once you cross that ridge going west this is one of the first views you'll get. The difference between what you see here and the Kathmandu Valley is night and day. This is Nepal. The Kathmandu Valley is something else.

Bottom pix -- Small village where truckers and buses stop for R&R. I can't remember the name of this little place but along this major road from Kathmandu to Pokhara there are numerous reasonably good spots to get a bottle of beer, tea, and snacks.

This is the road that will take us to the shrine of the goddess, Manakamana. Stay tuned.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
 
The last time I traveled that road it was unpaved and covered with potholes. The bus ride was grueling. Beautiful scenery though, if you don't mind seeing it from a bus driving too fast over a narrow, rough, mountain dirt road.

Is the experience more comfortable these days? Safer?
 
I've made that bus ride on the old road several times, Howard. 8 hours to travel the 210 kilometers from Kathmandu to Pokhara or return and that's if everything went well! If you got a seat atop the bus the views were outstanding. If you made the journey by air it took 20 minutes but you missed the scenery along the way.

Today the road is paved all the way and the major problem seemed to be hijackings by Maoists. Buses and trucks travelled in caravans of a half dozen or more relying on the safety in numbers theory.

More comfortable? Yes, I'd say so.

Safer? I think not.

------------------
Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ

[This message has been edited by Bill Martino (edited 07-22-2000).]
 
The village in the bottom pic remind me of parts of West Virginia where my father is from!
 
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