|
| |
|
Highlights |
| |
|
|
| |
Given the country's primitive transport network, most travellers
stick to a well-worn circuit, with the result that certain sights and
trekking routes have become rather commercialized. Don't be put off. The
beaten track is remarkably thin and easy to escape in Nepal - and this
guide is intended, first and foremost, to give you the confidence to do
just that. It's the out-of-the-way places, the ones not written up in
any book, that you'll remember most fondly on your return.
Everyone touches down in Kathmandu at some point, but for all its exotic
bustle, the capital is rather rough going these days - logistically it
makes a good base, but you won't want to spend lots of time there. Hindu
temples, Buddhist stupas, rolling countryside and huddled brick villages
provide incentives for touring the prosperous Kathmandu Valley , as do
the historically independent city-states of Patan and Bhaktapur . The
surrounding central hills are surprisingly undeveloped, apart from a
couple of mountain view points, yet a few lesser routes, such as the
road to the Tibet border and especially the Tribhuwan Rajpath , make for
adventurous travel - especially by mountain bike or motorcycle.
The views get more dramatic, or at least more accessible, in the western
hills . Pokhara , set beside a lake under a looming wall of peaks, is
the closest thing you'll find to a resort in Nepal. Other hill towns -
notably Gorkha and its impressive fortress, Manakamana with its
wish-fulfilling temple, and laid-back Tansen - offer scenery with
history or culture to boot.
It's in the teeming jungle and ethnic villages of the Tarai that Nepal's
diversity really becomes apparent. Most travellers venture no further
than Chitwan National Park , where endangered Asian one-horned rhinos
are easily viewable, but Bardia National Park and two other rarely
visited wildlife reserves are out there for the more adventurous.
Lumbini , Buddha's birthplace in the western Tarai, is a world-class
pilgrimage site, as is Janakpur , a Hindu holy city in the east. Rolling
tea plantations, weekly markets and a rich cultural mix figure
prominently in the spectacular and little-visited eastern hills , most
easily reached from the Tarai.
And of course Nepal is probably the most famous destination in the world
for a growing range of outdoor activities. Trekking from village to
village through the hills and up into high Himalayan valleys is an
experience not to be missed. The scenery varies from cultivated terraces
to lush rhododendron forests to glacier-capped peaks, but the cultural
interactions are often, in retrospect, the most rewarding part of a
trek. Nepal's rivers, meanwhile, are the liquid counterparts to its
mountains, and rafting offers not only adventure but also a different
perspective on the countryside and wildlife. Yet another alternative
means of locomotion, mountain-biking , brings you in contact with the
land and its people at your own pace.
|
| |
|
