It’s been three months on the road and that’s meant our Indian visa has done its dash for now. However, we didn’t feel quite ready yet to leave the subcontinent as we hadn’t yet had a chance to explore the mighty Himalayas. For our mountain fix, we decided to head across to Nepal to experience Himalayan life and the many activities that make this an incredible outdoor playground.
We were lucky that our last days in India coincided with the Indian Holi festivities so left the country with souvenirs of the colours of India smeared throughout our bodies. While the powders and dies wash out over days, the memories of this incredible country will always stay with us.
The sunrise at New Delhi before a morning bike ride – the best time to explore the city on two wheels
Old Delhi was a delight to explore
The wiring there is an electricians nightmare!
We hired a guide, Sanju, who had lived a tough life on the streets of Delhi. He decided when he was seven that his parents were unable to look after him so made the decision to leave home for the streets. He got involved with glue sniffing before being rescued by the Salaam Ballack Trust which provided food, shelter and education.
Here he is telling us why many households have figures on their walls from all of the main Indian religions, which was to stop people peeing on them!
Many trees considered sacred have right of way, meaning walls and buildings are remodelled to accommodate as they grow.
Sanju took us to a backstreet embroidery workshop where the entirely male workforce slaves away for twelve hours a day, six days a week. Their claim to fame is producing an embroidered dress for Michelle Obama.
These guys were quite literally street lawyers
The Main Bazaar in the tourist district of Paharganj was a fascinating backdrop to dinner
Rats were especially lively near the Gandhi museum
The contrasting gardens of the museum were a beautiful setting for a game of cards
In the evening, Holika Dahan pyres lit up the streets of Delhi to symbolise the victory of good over evil.
Holi itself was a perilous day to be out and about. Balloons filled with water and worse were thrown from balconies onto those below, which proved a bit dangerous when having our morning chai masala or riding in a tuk tuk.
Because the kids aren’t at all comfortable in big crowds, we attempted to find a more community focused celebration and lucked out by meeting Baldeep and his lovely family through the Couchsurfing community.
Liam, Sofia and Jazz were well up for a big community water fight!
Yes, that balloon ended up hitting where it looks like it was going to hit!
Things got colourful…
Spending Holi with the Singhs was a fantastically fitting way to wrap up our time in India
And with that, our time there drew to an end… for now. It has been an absolutely fascinating place to spend the first few months of our travels, with only the surface scratched in that time.
Somehow along the way we’ve managed to adapt to the cacophony of noise, pollution, poverty, traffic and general daily craziness. Many of the things that phased the kids at the beginning of our trip, they’ve learned to take in their stride, even if they still don’t like a lot of it.
Trying to describe our feelings about our brief time in India is difficult. We leave the country with mixed thoughts about some aspects of the culture, the often shockingly bad state of the environment, and the endless selfie requests and general daily craziness can sometimes be wearing. At other times, we found the energy of the country exhilarating, the food outstanding, people welcoming, and the diversity, history and ease of travel has made it a place that we know we will return to.
…but for now, we have moved on to Nepal, where we were joined by our mate Emma. We spent a couple of days soaking up the culture in Kathmandu before moving to the mountains near Pokhara via the relaxed vibed town of Bandipur.
Kathmandu had its unique vibe. It is much less manic than many of the Indian cities we have visited with a strong Tibetan and Buddhist flavour.
Thankfully, the kids had already lost interest in statues and carvings at this point, so one less thing to explain…
Sofia, Emma and Iris had a somewhat underwhelming silk weaving experience
On the way west to Bandipur we visited the impressive Swayambhunath Stupa
Bandipur had a feel unlike anything we’d seen on the subcontinent – a distinctly European one…
It had been raining and misty for all of our time in the town…
But as we explored the countryside around the town the next morning, the cloud began to lift
Revealing the spectacular giants of the Himalayas for the first time
After a brief stop in Pokhara, we set out on an ‘easy’ trek around the Annapurna Panorama trail
‘Easy’ is a relative word in Nepalese trekking terms. It is a five day 65km circuit, peaking out at Poon Hill’s 3,190 metres. We trekked on average for six or seven hours a day. Most of the time was either climbing or descending with very little traversing. On the second day we got caught in quite a severe hail storm.
We took shelter under the ponchos to shield ourselves from the hail stones which were approaching the size of golf balls.
The kids celebrate arriving at Ghorepani!
Along the way we stayed at ‘tea houses’. It’s quite amazing to be able to enjoy trekking of this quality with such a level of comfort at the resting points.
The next morning Emma and I headed up to Poon Hill to watch the first rays of light hit the Himalayas.
The rest of the day was a hike through panoramic mountains, lead by our guide Pikas (centre)
Our experience would have been a lot tougher without our amazing porter Malek who made the load lighter for us all…
Rhododendrons were in full bloom
And added colour to the paths…
Our porter proved multi-talented, with this impressive feat of construction
The completely accidental perspective shot with Picas sitting on top of a tree route behind…
Encountering traffic on the way to the hot springs at Janu
…which were a godsend after four days of solid trekking
The kids were singing along to Spotify along some of the trails. Imagine Dragon’s ‘Walking the Wire’ was reserved for this newly constructed swing bridge
And with a final relaxed day strolling down the valley, our first foray into the Himalayas was over.
The kids exceeded all expectations by completing the entire trek without a word of complaint. We didn’t know how a trek like this was going to go down. We were surprised and proud parents!
Your posts are an absolute delight! Am in awe of Sofia and Liam taking so willingly to the Annapurna trek. The Humm children: legends. Their parents: lucky (and legends).
Great posts Dave. It looks to be an awesome trip
Ah… I plan to walk thru those Rhododendron Forests! Beautiful place. You guys are amazing !
I am such a fan of your posts and photos. Thanks for this one especially. It brought back all the memories of my trip there and going up to Poon Hill at Dawn, the Ghorepani Steps – what a climb that is! Memories are flooding back for me. You are doing an amazing thing at just the right age for your kids. No regrets. No What Ifs. Just doing it. Well done Sofia & Liam – that trek is no walk in the park. Looking forward to what you have up your sleeves next …