Our spring break holiday is in April during Thai New Years, known as Songkran. April is the hottest month of the year, which is why Thailand has a massive water festival as a new years celebration. People line the streets dressed in floral Hawaiian shirts all carrying water guns. Refilling their guns in the massive buckets of water spread throughout the streets. One giant water fight! We had a celebration at school with the kiddos on Friday—pool party!

But for Songkran holiday…We decided to go to Nepal!

We set off mid morning on Saturday. Got an Uber and drove around the city to pick everyone up at their apartments. There were 5 of us going; Lisa, Ashley, Sarah, Mel, and myself. Our travel outfits were our custom made matching t-shirts. Ah, we are so dorky!

The front of the shirts said: SAY YES TO ADVENTURE, drawn by yours truly. The back had Ashley’s logo: BIG ASH TRIPS DOES NEPAL, with a motorcycle icon. Ashley had done a big chunk of the trip planning…. making us an itinerary and Google docs with all the travel details of the trip. She was also going to be driving a motorcycle for part of the trip…hence why a motorcycle was part of her logo. The girl even had a bazillion stickers made of her logo and brought them along on the trip to stick in random places we visited. The shirts did make for a good story though, people in Nepal thought we were part of an actual biker gang that was having an annual ride through Nepal.

We absolutely went along with that story.

Our first flight gave us a layover in Kuala Lumpar. Score! Ashley and I had been there in February and found the best smoothie place of any airport: Boost Smoothie. So obviously we talked about its deliciousness non stop until we arrived. Along our stroll through the airport I saw a chocolate stand with a bag of mini Reese’s Cups and thought it would be a nice snack to share with the gals. It was 60 ringgit—thinking that 10 ringgit was about a dollar I went ahead and bought them. Afterwards I put it in my converter app and realized that I had just spent $15 on a stupid bag of chocolate. Savored every single piece.

Made it to Kathmandu, Nepal around 11pm, got our visas, made it through immigration and headed for our luggage.

OH.MY. GOSH

Talk about luggage nightmare. There were 2 differently belts that your luggage could come out on, but no order of how anything worked. There were bags everywhere, people everywhere, we are lucky that we made it out with all of our bags in a short 45 minutes!

Our hotel had sent a van to pick us up; we had made it, we were in Kathmandu! We headed to bed pretty soon after arriving at the hotel, it had been a long day of traveling.

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and decided to check out some of the temples. We went to three different temples and had some incredible views of the city. Saw some holy men and a guide told us about the cremation process, which we then realized was happening right in front of us.

There was still a lot of noticeable earthquake damage. Fallen bricks were everywhere and wooden beams were supporting a lot of buildings. It had been less than a year since the earthquake.

After we relaxed and freshened up we headed for dinner and then out for some drinks. Took us 4 tries to find a bar with more people than the five of us. We stumbled across a really great place, Purple Haze. There were a lot of people and a live band playing some really great music. We stayed out quite late, waking up the hotel workers who were sleeping on the couches in the front lobby when we got home.

Monday we had breakfast and did some morning shopping. So much cool stuff! We walked back to the hotel and our driver and motorcycle were there waiting for us! Our road trip begins!

Our first destination was Nagarkot, a city with amazing views of the Himalayas. We headed out of Kathmandu the traffic was ridiculous, worse than Bangkok because there was nothing logical happening. There was however the cutest kid trying to direct traffic. We were stuck at his intersection for a solid 5 minutes so we were able to watch, he was so happy and loving his job! We first stopped at Durbar Square in Bhaktapur, a city about 35 minutes outside Kathmandu. We waited for Ashley to get there on her bike and went into a local diner—Durbar Restaurant. Such a sketchy place, all the walls painted orange and big pleather couches.

But… this was the place that we all fell in love with momos, a local dish. There are veggie momos, chicken momos, pork momos. SO MANY MOMOS, SO DELICIOUS.

We walked around the square for a bit, bought some random stuff, and headed back to the car. Needed to make it to Nagarkot before sunset.

So many mountains. Such a terrifying drive.

No way you can nap for more than a few minutes. Car horns, slamming on breaks, and sharp curves that could lead to a tumble off a cliff. The road was only paved in some places and there was no guardrail preventing your car from sliding off the side. We were all on the edge of our seats. The people sitting on top of the busses seemed so much more calm than us. Oh boy.

We made it to our hotel just before sundown. Unfortunately the weather was quite cloudy and we weren’t able to see any mountains except for the one directly in front of our hotel. We spent the evening in our “warm clothes” playing cards on the patio. It was so great to sit outside and be chilly instead of sweating.

We called it a night and headed back to our rooms. Mel, Ash, and I were sharing a room. We were washing our faces and getting ready for bed and this MASSIVE SPIDER came out of nowhere. No joke, it was literally the size of my hand. Freak out, total freak out. We called Lisa in to help us get rid of the thing. I began to pack up my bag and zip all my zippers because god forbid one of those things crawl in my suitcase. As I was finishing up another one came out from behind the curtains. That’s it! All beds moved to the middle of the room, we broke the lamp in the process, but killed the spider. Cocoon sleeping all night.

The next morning we headed out around 8am. This was our long day of driving. We drove 4 hours and met Ashley for lunch. Along the way we hit many, many traffic jams. Traffic jams at a dead stop for 20 minutes. Big trucks would break down on the hill, not be able to move, and only one lane of traffic could move at a time. We decided the locals love traffic jams because they would get plates of fruits and vegetables and walk down the line of cars selling them to drivers.

“I bet the locals love traffic jams, ‘Quick cut the cucumbers!’” –Mel

Another 4 hour drive and we made it to the resting place for the night– Bandipur, Nepal. Cutest town of the trip award. It was lovely!

Cars can’t get back to the main strip of the tiny town, so our driver dropped us and we walked a bit to the hotel. There were people setting up a stage out front of the hotel, we asked if there was some kind of concert but found out it was New Years in Nepal! What!

That will make 4 New Years celebrations… Thai New Year, Chinese New Year, Nepalese New Year, and the regular New Years. So many celebrations!

We went for dinner and drinks and played another round of cards.  Walked around to some of the little shops. When I say walk around I mean it takes maybe 5 minutes to walk from one side of town to the other; such a lovely place. We ended up at the Himalayan Café and had some dessert while we listened to the shows on stage. Mel, Ash and I ended up staying and meeting some locals on our way to the bathroom. Hung out with them for a bit, they taught us some interesting things about Bandipur. A couple of them showed us a temple at the top of a massive hill, in which we climbed in the dark, in dresses, and in sandals. Maybe not the best choice but we could see so much from the top!

This woman didn’t like that Mel had on a dress. She made her cover up with a scarf.

We headed out the next morning for out final stop– Pokhara, Nepal. Our road trip had come to an end. Thankfully we all made it in one piece, without falling off any cliffs. Our driver was a rock star. Kudos to the four of us riding in the car, we didn’t have to stop once for a bathroom break!

We headed out late afternoon to look around Pokhara. The town was a lot bigger than we had expected. I would say it was a bit more developed than Kathmandu, and not near at dusty. We found a cool place to have some afternoon snacks, drinks, and another round of our favorite card game.

“Guys why aren’t you wearing your fanny packs?” -Ash

Thursday morning we went to a morning yoga session. Ashley convinced us all to go, telling us it was a beginner class. The class begins and the instructor told everyone that we would be working on backbends and headstands. Oh the glares Ashley got. Thankfully nobody in the class was advanced enough for that, so we kept it much more simple.

Enjoying some views before yoga

We grabbed some lunch and then found a place to rent some motorbikes. We had the bikes till the next morning, so we scooted around town for most of the day. We did do a hike up to the top of a mountain to see the Peace Pagoda. We tried to ride our bikes up the mountain, but my bike couldn’t make it. Anytime there was a slight incline, my bike wouldn’t go above 20km/h. The hike was about an hour. Lots and lots and lots of stairs. Phew. Good thing there were momos and beer at the top!

On the way down we took a taxi. More like a clown car. The car was maybe the size of a smart car and all 5 of us squeezed in. It was the bumpiest road I had ever been on, along with hairpin turns and cliff drop-offs.

After the hiking we grabbed some afternoon snacks then the other 4 went for massages while I did some shopping. Poor Lisa and Ash, they tried to get a third eye massage and ended up with their faces, hair, and eyeballs lathered in oil. Definitely glad I stuck with shopping.

We went back to the hotel washed up and went for dinner at Busy Bee Café. Live music, busy place, and of course cards. In which, I won for the first time! Best day!

Pokhara isn’t a late night town. Meaning everything is dunzo by midnight. We had some people tell us about this “late night” bar that everyone apparently goes to after 12. Club Ozone. Oh boy, we should have known by the name it was going to be a disaster. They wouldn’t let us go in and check it out without first paying a cover, they took Mel’s candy bar, and were just total jerks before we even got inside. But, since it was the only thing open we tried it.

Worst idea. It was terrible and creepy, and NOT everyone goes there. There were maybe 20 people in the entire place. We got out of there real quick. Bedtime.

Saturday morning we returned our bikes, grabbed some breakfast, and headed for the lake. Rented a huge paddle boat and set sail for the other side of the lake to have lunch. Momos!

There was a hang gliding landing area close to where we had lunch. We hung out there for a while and watched all the people come in. That’s when I decided that I had to try it. I’m terrified of heights, but it looked so stinking cool.

Back to the boat. Unfortunately the part of the boat that steers underwater had fallen off. We didn’t realize this till we had pushed off shore. We were stuck, just floating in the middle of the lake. Ash tried to fix it, then Lisa climbed down to help. Sarah, Mel, and myself were the hype team. Oh the look on all the faces of the locals sitting along she bank, priceless. By the end of the 20 minute ordeal Lisa had managed to fall in the water, but we had a functioning boat! Hype team got some good pictures and lots and lots of belly laughs watching the two of them try and fix the boat!

Finally made it back to the other side of the lake, back to our hotel, packed up and headed to our last hotel. We wanted to stay in a nice place our last night—treat yo self.

The Pavilions Hotel was about 20 minutes outside of Pohkara, down a long gravel road, in the middle of nowhere, and absolutely beautiful! Mel and I had our own villa, which was about twice the size of my apartment.

The views were remarkable, the food delicious, so relaxing, a perfect way to spend our last night in Nepal!

Ash and I asked the front desk if they could arrange for us to go paragliding in the morning before our flight back to Kathmandu. We didn’t know if we would have enough time, but they assured us we would be able to make the flight. We booked it! Mildly freaking out, we had some dinner and began our final game of cards!

Saturday morning we woke up, had some breakfast and the paragliding company came to pick up Ash and I. Oh boy, no turning back now.

I swear nothing in Asia happens on time, nothing. I started to panic that we were going to miss our flight because we kept having to wait for things before we could head up the mountain. The guys driving kept telling us we would make it and to stop worrying.

On the drive up the mountain, Ash and I were the only girls in the car. There were a bunch of pilots and one other guy that was going to paraglide. There was one pilot that was an absolute maniac. He was making jokes, yelling, and being all crazy in the car. I looked at Ashley and said… no way am I flying with that guy, absolutely not.

We made it to the top and had to walk up a really really steep hill to get to the take off area. Ashley meets her pilot and then they send me over to meet mine. Guess who is was… crazy guy from the car, Sangram.

I told him that I was terrified and that I didn’t want to do any of the crazy spins and such in the air. Sangram ended up being crazy nice and was really helpful when I was freaking out. HA!

He gave me some instructions before take off, most importantly… to walk walk, run run, and do not sit down.

Oops.

I got the walk walk run down, but then panicked on the second run and well, I sat down. Completely busted it.

Got up, had to walk back up and try again. Ashley took off, while screaming…. “Look Karen I’m running!” Ugh.

Second times a charm. Made it off the cliff, while death gripping the handles and screaming oh my gosh oh my gosh over and over. Sangram was laughing at me and kept telling me to relax. He even tried to pull my hands off the handles a few times!

SO MUCH FUN! Oh my goodness, it was so great. We wanted to go back up the mountain and do it again, but we had a flight to catch.

Made it to the airport and met back up with the rest of the gals. Checked our bags, got some snacks, and waited to board. About 30 minutes later a guy came to tell us that our flight had been delayed due to visibility. Uh-Oh. We had a flight to catch in Katmandu at 11pm that night. We met some other travelers in the airport that told us last time they were in Nepal their flight got delayed, and ended up getting cancelled.

Quick decision to get a driver and drive the 8 hours back to Kathmandu. The flights were booked separately so if we missed our flight that evening we would have missed the rest of our connecting flights. They tried to get us to all squeeze in a tiny clown car for the trip. No way. We got a by van and all had plenty of room for our final hoorah.

8 hours, people. 8 hours in a non-air conditioned car, last day of the trip, none of us had pulled out cash, traffic jams, crazy driving, and the list goes on. We were definitely saying yes to adventure. I think we all became dehydrated. We had 2 bottles of water that were gone within the first hour of the drive. Ash and I hoarded some M&Ms while we watched movies on her iPad, such bad friends for not sharing. We had about 2 hours to go and we were dying for water. We pulled just enough cash together to get a couple bottles of water for the remaining 2 hours. So very thirsty. Oh man, such a funny mis-happening that makes for a good laugh now.

We indeed made it back to the Kathmandu airport in time to make our flight. 5 hour flight, and a 6 hour layover in the Kuala Lumpar airport… thank goodness for Boost smoothie and benches for napping! Final flight, and over 20 hours of traveling, we made it back to Bangkok Sunday afternoon.

Nepal was absolutely brilliant.