the times Saturday April 22 2017

28 Travel

may have “two or three children, but notwith family planning”.With this, the priestwinks and asks for 500 rupees (£3.85).We go to see the great white stupa of

Boudhanath in the city’s north, which hashad part of its golden tower repaired sincethe 2015 quake. Shops all round the stupasell knock-off branded shoes and climbingwear — North Face jackets are availablefor £15; “North Fakes”, as they are knownlocally.Monks inmaroon robes jostle past.Local couples circle the stupa for goodluck. About 12 per cent of theNepalese areBuddhist, while 80 per cent are Hindu.So concludes our final afternoon in

Kathmandu, but before heading north-west for the Annapurna trek, we havethree stop-offs planned — each revealingthe state of Nepal’s post-quake recovery.The first is the medieval city of

Bhaktapur, about eight miles south of thecapital. The labyrinthine red-brick centreof this much smaller city, which was thecentre of power in the countryuntil the late15th century, has been preserved over theyears, yet its frailty meant it took a bad hittwo years ago. Now just about everybuilding is propped up by wooden beams,some of which look terribly makeshift.

South Asia

Nepal is back: ancienttemples, mountains —and Bengal tigers tooTourists stayed away after the earthquaketwo years ago, but now adventurousholidaymakers are returning to thisbreathtaking country, says Tom Chesshyre

so that my city guide, Archana, regularlyloses her voice after leading tours. Shehands me a face mask to keep out dust.Despite this, my lungs ache at night after aday’s sightseeing.See the sights we do — what’s left of

them. In Durbar Square, in Kathmandu’smedieval centre, the white walls of the oldroyal palace are cracked and crumbling,with crude support beams and a seclusionzone in case the crippled edifice decides tocall it a day. Beyond, many of the templesare little more than construction sitesbehind corrugated metal walls.“This is the temple of Vishnu,” says

Archana. “At least, it used to be.”Near here I get talking to an Australian

couple from Sydney. “We sat up therewhere the pillars were last time we came,”says Jill, a retired teacher. She’s looking ata picture on a display board. “Now every-thing looks like it was hit by a bomb.”Yet there is a still a huge amount to see

in Kathmandu. The Sydneysiders and Ichat for a while, and they tell me how theywere asked for donations by “very polite”Maoist insurgents when they went trek-king in themountains in the 1990s (Nepa-lese politics has had a rollercoaster ride inrecentyears).Thenwego tosee thebeauti-ful temple of Kumari. This is home to theeponymous “living goddess”, who is nowaged ten and who was selected for herunusual role when aged three. When shemenstruates for the first time, Archanasays, a new goddess will be selected. Nophotos of her may be taken in the temple.Onour visit Kumari happens to come to

thewindowofherbalcony, dressed ina redandgold robeandwearingCleopatra-styleeyeliner. She regards her audience (us)somewhat disdainfully, pouts and returnsto an inner room. The 20 or so tourists inthe courtyard are delighted.Afterwards, we visit “Freak Street”. This

is close by and iswherehippies hungout inthe 1960s, enjoying the Himalayannation’s plentifulmarijuana—now illegal,although thewaft ofweed isnot anunfam-ilar smell in Thamel, Kathmandu’s touristdistrict andverymuchbackpacker central.Then we drive to see the remarkable

cremation temple of Lord Shiva, known asPashupatinath Temple, on the BagmatiRiver. Here a series funeral pyres, ghats,are ablaze by the murky water’s edge.Wood crackles. Thick white smoke swirlsup. Many Indian tourists are takingpictures — this is a key Hindu pilgrimagesite. Cows graze by the river and monkeysskip about on rocks. Palm readers, who areHindu priests in saffron robes, sit cross-legged by a path, patiently waiting forcustomers. On an impulse I havemy palmread by one. He clasps my right hand withhis tumeric-stained hands and says that I“could be very rich”, “will travel a lot” and

Ruby-red rhododendron treeswith trunks adorned withdelicate white orchids linethepath to the remotevillageof Panchase Bhanjyang.Below, the mountainsideplunges to crop terraces and

clearings with water buffaloes. Smoke risesfrom far-off dwellings. Luminous cloudsscuttle across the valley, cooling us as wepause after our five-hour hike.We are on the edge of the Annapurna

region of mountains in central Nepal.Somewhere to the north is Fishtailmountain (Nepalese name: Machapu-chare, 6,993m, or 22,942ft), which resem-blesahalf-submerged fishdescended fromthe heavens. Somewhere to the southeastis Everest (8,848m), the granddaddy of theHimalayas. All around, snow-cappedpeaks lurk behind clouds.This is a mystical, soul-lifting place.We continue upwards, tackling a steep

rocky section. My guide, Su, pauses toexamine leopard droppings. “About amonth old,” he says. Only once has Suspotted a leopard here, when the creaturedisappeared in a flash after encountering agroup of British backpackers in fleeces.“Very shy,” he says, striding onwards.All is quiet. Since the morning we have

passed a mere handful of hikers — Frenchwalkers with porters heading to Pokhara.And when we arrive at PanchaseBhanjyang, having covered eight miles, weare the only guests. Maya, one of the threesisters who own the Happy Heart Hotel,ushersustoaplank-likeperchinfrontof thewood fire in her smoky kitchen so we canwarm up with tin cups of lemon ginger tea.As she tends the rudimentary stove she

tells us about April 25, 2015, when anearthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richterscale struck Nepal, bringing the loss ofalmost 9,000 lives, destroying tens ofthousands of homes, turning centuries-oldtemples to rubble—and in a few terrifyingminutes ruining the tourism on which somany parts of the nation depend. “It wasbig shaking,” she says. “Big, big shaking.Our main house collapse.”The costly rebuilding of this property

took a dozen workers three months, butthe hotel itself escaped serious damage.Yet since then guest numbers have halved

at its tenwell-appointed, but simple rooms— £4 a night, with electricity, clean toiletsin sheds and pictures of the Hinduelephant god Ganesh on the bedroomwalls (he is said to bring luck). “Peopleare too scared to come because of theearthquake,” says Maya, who has aremarkably laid-back take on the disaster.Nepal has been through a lot in the past

two years, not least a pair of powerfulaftershocks soon after the initial quake,which brought down many more build-ings. Now, however, with reconstructionof some (but far from all) temples and theimmediacy of the trauma fading, touristslike me are beginning to trickle back. Ihave signedup toa ten-day tour, beginningin Kathmandu, with visits to sights in theKathmandu Valley, Chitwan NationalPark (to the west), and culminating in ourmagnificent Annapurna hike.The country is still a long way from

normal—and the effects of April 2015 areobviousonthedrive fromtheairport to thecentre of Kathmandu. Buildings withprecarious-looking support beams, greatpiles of rubble and roads with teamsdigging up cracked pipes (authorities aremodernising the water system) create animpression of barely suppressed chaos.This is heightened by the awful traffic

jams. The earthquake came as the capitalwas struggling with a population influxfrom the countryside. In recent yearsmany youngsters from rural areas havesought more glamorous lifestylesglimpsed on the internet, turning theirbacks on the hard grind of working thepaddy fields. The result is thatKathmanduis very busy, and the pollution from vehi-cles and building sites is dreadful. Somuch

AnnapurnaConservation

Area

NEPAL

50 miles

Pokhara

Machapuchare(Fishtailmountain)

NagarkotBhaktapur

PanchaseBhanjyang

CHINA

INDIA

MountEverest

Kathmandu

ChitwanNationalPark

Orange andpeach lightrises forminga fiery blazeabove theicy peaks

Main picture: temples inthe centre of Bhaktapur

the times Saturday April 22 2017

Travel 29

It’s worth adding here thatwhen I arrivethere is justoneotherhotel guest. Sahodar,thehotelmanager, tellsme that business isdown about 70 per cent since 2015. In 2014127,000 foreigners visited ChitwanNational Park. Last year this figure was56,000. It’s anexcellent time togo toNepalif you want to avoid tourist crowds.This is true on the trekking trails too. At

the Happy Heart Hotel, after our eight-mile hike, I get to know the handful ofSpanish, American andGerman guests—trekking is very sociable — and in themorningweallheadoffourownwaysaftera dawn visit to Hindu and Buddhist tem-ples on a peak. Su and I tramp for 18 milesthrough beautiful rhododendron forestsand villages growing garlic, cabbages andspinach, all thewaydown toPokhara,withits backpacker hostels and bars.We are exhausted and, to celebrate, we

go for Everest beers and chicken curries ata bar in the middle of the strip — whichwas, luckily, unaffected by the quake.Hardly anyone is around. Rolling Stonesand Beatles songs play out across emptybar stools as we raise our beers to ouradventures. Nepal is back . . . even thoughthe mountains never went away.

rushed as quickly as he could to his villageto check that his wife and son were OK.This tookninehours, including a 15-mile

hike. His wife and son were — thankfully—fine,but theirhousewasbadlydamaged.He bought a tarpaulin to act as a tent intheir garden. A month later he wasallocated a tin emergency shelter, inwhichthey still live. “I need $25,000 to buy ahouse,” he says. “Everyone in my village isin the same boat. We are all in it together.”It is a seven-hourdrive fromNagarkot to

ChitwanNational Park. Here, we check into the Jungle Villa Resort overlooking theRapti River. As we do, staff at the hotelwave us over to a deck. A single-hornedrhino — of which there are about 500 inthe park — is wallowing in the shallows.So begins a marvellous two days,

witnessing rare sloth bears, more rhinos,gharial and mugger crocodiles, and finally—bestof all—aBengal tiger.Thecreatureis pacing through shrubland and, when itseesus, turnsanddisappearsalmost imme-diately. Yet for a few seconds we havewitnessed the elusive beast, of which thereare about 120 in the park.Apparently thereis a one in 20 chance of such a sighting(even the guides are thrilled).

Tom Chesshyre was aguest of Explore (01252884723, explore.co.uk),which offers a 15-dayDiscover Nepal trip from£1,945pp, includingflights, hotels withbreakfast, some othermeals, transport and theservices of a tour leader,guides and a driver.

Need toknow

along the steep single-track road carryingrifles andheavypacks (nowonder their fit-ness levels are renowned). We check in atdusk to the Sunshine Hotel, get an earlynight after a power cut (Nepal’s electricitysupply is still in a parlous state), then wakeat the crack of dawn to do what everyonedoes at Nagarkot — watch the sun rise.At 5.45am we are on the hotel roof with

binoculars gazing across a hotel that is stillbeing rebuilt after the earthquake to seethe sun slowly appear beyond the jaggedridge of theHimalayas. Orange and peachlight rises inheavenly shafts, soon forminga fiery blaze above the icy peaks. The tip ofEverest can be seen in the distance by aband of cloud. We look on in awe beforehaving breakfast, where Subbha, the wait-er, tells us how his grandfather died in acollapsed building on this hillside in 2015.Almost everyone has an earthquake

story. Su isnoexception.When thegroundbegan to move he was in a street inKathmandu, and he imagined hewas sim-ply experiencing a dizzy spell. Then, whenmoped riders began to topple in the street,he realised something significant wasafoot. Phones were not working, telecom-munications towers had comedown, so he

Many of the central temples are still beingpainstakingly rebuilt. And parts of therecently reopened National Art Museumare off-limits because of cracks in thewalls.Thismuseum is home to fantasticmedi-

eval paintings of Hindu gods, as well asportraits of Nepalese kings, beginningwith the founder of the Kingdom of Nepalin 1768, the much-loved Prithvi NarayanShah, and ending with the last king in2008, when the monarchy was brought toan end. This decision came after the worldheadline-grabbing royalmassacre of 2001,when Crown Prince Dipendra went on ashooting spree,murdering his father, KingBirendra, and killing himself. The finalportraits have a spine-chilling quality.Tin “earthquake victim shelters” are still

in Bhaktapur, as are faded blue tentssupplied by China. Some families are livingin buildings that are not considered safe.“They are taking a risk,” says Su, who isaccompanyingmefromheretoAnnapurna.Onwards we go, driving up a mountain

overlooking Bhaktapur that rises to1,950m, and the to hill town of Nagarkot.Along the way we pass army bases whereGurkhas who later join the British Armyare trained — they can be seen running

Top right: Machapuchare(Fishtail mountain);middle, a Bengal tigerin Nepal; bottom,Boudhanath stupain Kathmandu

GÜNTER GRÄFENHAIN/4CORNERS; GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY