Ring of Kerry - Ireland Roadtrip Part 4

Goodbye County Cork
After leaving Kinsale we made our way to Cork market for breakfast and then to the Old City Gaol. Thus we had soon had our modern, cosy breakfast and our road trip holiday to compare with the living standard of prisoners during famine times in Ireland. We were told sometimes it was better to be in prison; more a reflection on living on the streets in these times than the quality of life in gaol. Some of the stories were really horrific.

A guard at the gaol

Hello Ring of Kerry
From our base in Killarney we did a day trip around the Ring of Kerry, a circular route in County Kerry, Southwestern Ireland . I can see why the route has become so famous and we found it very hard to decide where to stop. It really has it all: churches, monastic settlements  lighthouses, views, cliffs, waterfalls, hikes, beaches and for us: four seasons in a day! We did the route anti-clockwise (at least at the start!) and we weren't on the road long before we made our way down narrow, windy roads to the coast.

First stop on the Ring of Kerry

Place of the craggy rock
Following along the ring, we soon found ourselves at an ancient monastic colony Ballinskelligs (Baile en Scheilg - gaelic for "Place of the craggy rock"). The Irish do have sensible names for places. What seems less sensible, or in fact somewhat crazy, is to have chosen to set up a monastery on an outcrop of rock on the Atlantic Ocean. I suppose at the time, it made sense as a place to find solitude and reflection, but it was hardly a place I would choose to weather a storm! 

Ballinskelligs Priory

Incredibly still standing

Kerry Cliffs at Portmagee
Still in awe of the humans that lived before us, we got back into our heated car and drove towards Portmagee. Paying an entrance fee, we walks to the top of the cliffs and found ourselves 300 metres above the Atlantic. We had fairly clear view of the immediate vicinity and that was certainly spectacular!

Kerry Cliffs at Portmagee

Kerry Cliffs

Enjoying the views!

Captivated by Kerry's cliffs

Go west!
Following on from Portmagee we headed across the bridge to Valentia island. One of the island's big claims to fame is that it was the eastern terminus of the first transatlantic telegraph cable. As the weather started to shift, we drove around to see the lighthouse on the island. We did not go in but where interested to read on the sign outside that the most westerly settled community in Europe is located there.

Cromwell Point Lighthouse: the weather is turning!

With the weather taking a real turn for the worse we braved on to a foggy viewpoint:

Foggy town!

Fog can be beautiful

Staigue Fort 
Our next stop was quite out of the way down a long, windy, crazy road in the rain (I think Mum was driving- thanks Mum!) but I am glad we went. Staigue fort, according to the sign out the front, was build in the early centuries AD before Christianity came to Ireland! It is partially ruined but there is enough left that you can see it must have been an amazing building of its time. It was built entirely without mortar and encloses an areas 30 metres in diameter! It is thought likely that the fort was a chieftan's home and that the area contained by the walls would originally have had houses, out-building and other temporary structures. We all had a go at climbing the steep steps that criss-cross on the interior of the walls. 

The fort wall is up to 6 metres high

After the fort we pushed on through the dreary weather. It was a bit disappointing to have so much fog but the scenery we could see was beautiful. 

Dunloe's Gap
The next day we went out early to Dunloe's Gap, a pass between Killarney and Kenmare. We had been advised to head out early otherwise the horse and cart drivers, who make their bread taking tourists through here, tend to get a bit narky. It was still a bit overcast so we did not see it at its postcard best but I think the clouds made it somewhat majestic. Additionally, we were one of only a few cars on the road due to the early hour. 

Augher Lake at the Gap of Dunloe

Dunloe's Gap friend 

Somewhat obscured view near Dunloe's Gap

Torc Waterfall
We then ventured into Killarney National Park to see Torc Waterfall. It was a short walk to the waterfall and lovely to be amongst so many shades of green. Less pleasant was seeing another tourist leaving a take-away coffee cup in a tree so she could pose for a photo. Lucky she had us to clean up after her. 




Muckross Friary  
Nearby Muckross Friary was fascinating to explore. The friary no longer has a roof and a brilliant large yew tree has grown in and out of the central courtyard. Yew trees are common in old cemeteries and monastic sites in Ireland but I doubt there are many as grand as this one.

Yew tree in the courtyard of Muckross Friary

Muckross Friary

Ross Castle

Ross Castle, a 15th century tower house, within Killarney National Park, was our last stop for the day. We were content to walk around the outside part of the castle rather than take a tour. The castle is located on the edge of a lough and its gardens are fairly nice to walk around. 

Ross Castle from the shelter of a tree

Mongolian Tour: Gobi and Sub-Gobi Desert PART 3

The red cliffs of Bayanzag and a sandstorm hits

Mongolia has been and is a paradise for both archaeologists and palaeontologists. We were almost blown off some startlingly red cliffs (Bayanzag) on a very windy day. Many dinosaur skeletons and eggs were found there but we just tried to stay upright and enjoy the view. 

Bayanzag

Bayanzag

Bayanzag

After returning to the van and continuing on our way, we encountered a lonely outpost in the middle of the desert. The "town hall" is used as a meeting place for locals and sometimes tour guides prepare meals here!

The "town hall" of the area

Not long after spotting the town hall we encountered a sand storm. We already knew Batar was an excellent driver by this point, but any lingering doubts would have been quelled when he got us through the storm in almost zero visibility. 

 THE SANDSTORM HITS

The sandstorm approaches

The sandstorm arrives

Navigating the sandstorm

"Roads" become rivers

When we arrived at our accommodation for the night we were keen to celebrate our survival, not to mention Tasha's birthday. 

Monastry ruins and runaway horses

In the middle Gobi we visited the Ongi monastery ruins. We were introduced to the area by a man whose brother was a lama at the monastery. He told us about how monks were either murdered or forced into labor. Seeing a place that has been devastated by a regime imposing itself on a culture, as it has here, is always heartbreaking. This would have been an even more majestic place in its prime. The scenery in the area was again lovely, the environment in Mongolia does have the tendency to turn you into a broken record in this respect.

View from the Ongi monastery 

Ruins of the Ongi monastery

Some of the most enjoyable lunches were prepared roadside by Bimba. This one occurring without even having to pull off the road!

Roadside lunch

A brief toilet break (Mongolian wild style – use your jacket if you need privacy) gave us the first impression of a change in climate. Horses abounded that day and soon we would reach the ancient capital of Karakorum.

Running horses

Horsies on the loose

Best clouds in the world

The ancient capital

The centre of the Mongolian empire for a long period, Karakorum was founded in 1220 in the Orkhon valley. This ancient city was busy point on the route of the Silk Road. For me, it really drove home the incredible power of the Mongolian empire. 

The Mongolian empire

We visited the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia. There was an archaeology dig at the site and I had previously read that much of the ancient city was yet to be found underground. Pretty exciting!

Erdene Zuu: the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia

Erdene Zuu

Turtle rock formerly at the entrance of the ancient town

River stop along the way

Bimba wants blonde hair!

After the bumpiest day on the road yet, we arrived at the beautiful White Lake where we would spend the next few days. 

Terkhiin Tsagaan (White Lake)

Rob enjoying the view at Terkhiin Tsagaan 

~ TO BE CONTINUED~

Kathmandu

Differences noticed by Rob

Coming back to Kathmandu was a lot like coming home, but to a place where all the chairs have been moved around a little bit.  The first place I could notice a change was at the airport, where we did not have to battle to keep hold of our bags, find an ATM (admittedly the ATM was either out of money or without power - so not much has changed there).  My Nepali language skills were extremely rusty but I managed to convey to our driver that I wasn't a "regular" tourist, I had actually lived here before (I think this was more important to me than to him).

Our ride to our hotel was punctuated by me attesting to Kat "I used to work there", "wait, I have no idea where we are" to "oh, now I know" to "I don't remember there being this much/this little traffic".  Truly, I spent that ride taking in the smells, the sounds and the feeling of being back in Nepal.

Taxis - don't pull the lever

Before long I showed Kat along the road, eager to revisit Lazimpat (my old neighbourhood) and introduce her to my friend Gunga who owns a teashop there, and even hopefully to eat at Katherine (Ensler's) and my old Lazimpatian haunt the "LGC" (Lazimpat Gallery Cafe).  The whole area has changed a great deal and I could not even identify where the LGC used to be.  What used to be a bustling 2 lane main road with a giant hole in place of a sewerage access point is now what appears to be a 4 lane highway through to the northern part of the ring road.  The businesses on either side are shiny and even flashy, with bakeries sporting espresso machines and fancy new signs.  The road down to the Radisson and Katherine's old house is also newly paved.  My old apartment building still seems to exist, but hidden behind a development or two that initially led me to believe it had been knocked down. There was no trace of the old local rubbish tip where garbage was left for up to a week until magically carried away in the dark of night.

The longer we spent there, the faster the Nepali words and inflections came back to me, it is remarkable how much more comfortable I felt in Nepal because I had some of the language skills to navigate the place, as compared with Malaysia or Vietnam.  With Malaysia, there's a tendency to feel pretty comfortable because most things and people behave the way an Australian would probably expect them to and for a large part, you can fall back on English.  In Nepal, even when there is a good smattering of English, having a phrase here or there can really turn things in your favour (with the exception of the bike incident). 

Politically, not a great deal has changed, at least on the surface.  There is no constitution, what was to be the priority of government outlined during my time there.  The people in many regions are still plagues by power outages and a lack of essential infrastructure.  However, change moves slowly, and having had 7 years away, you can see some things here and there that give you hope.  Street kids were not to be seen anywhere we went in Kathmandu - I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, as they had to go somewhere...

Mr Dahal (also known as "Prachanda the Fierce") is still yelling and shouting whenever you turn on the TV.  I have no doubt that his popularity has waned in the years since I left.  Having fought and "won" an insurgency that he started in 1996, he rose to power while abolishing the monarchy with astounding popularity (August 2008) and then gave it up in a tantrum (May 2009), all in the time I lived there.  All my memories of seeing him or hearing about him were of a man with strong conviction but a fierce temper; although he is no longer Prime Minister, it seems both are still with him.

Kat's first impressions
It was great to see some of the places Rob had told me so much about. (Even if everywhere we walked was either half or double as long as Rob remembered!) I enjoyed seeing him excited at being back and was enthusiastic about putting a picture to the stories I had heard.  I saw where his regular hole-in-the-wall store was that he bought eggs and some of his old hang-outs. Apart from this my first impression of Nepal was not wholly positive. Kathmandu airport is a strange, old place and the Nepali customs man was not altogether welcoming. Then out on the street, the dust and air pollution really irritated my nose at first. Maybe I cannot remember but I did not feel like that in New Delhi, India, despite the fact I think they are comparable in this regard. 

What I did like was mo mo's (actually having them in Nepal!) and one of our first walks through Kathmandu valley to Swayambunath temple. Although the view from the temple was hazy, it was a beautiful structure and nice to watch people doing their morning rituals up there, whether it be prayer, exercises, tea or singing. People were, as always, feeding the monkeys and the puppies also seemed to be 'looked after' in Nepal. Overall it was a good first couple of days before we headed off the mountains, probably my preferred habitat! 

Swayambunath

Dogs dreaming of biscuits at Swayambunath (just wait until they wake up!)

Catching up with/meeting Rob's friends

Shivaratri, Durbar Square and Pashupatinath 

We visited Kathmandu's famous Durbar Square on Maha Shivaratri (Hindu festival celebrating Shiva and the day he married). Krishna had explained that it is a day Nepali Hindu's wish for a good husband or wife (or that they remain good). It was an excellent day to visit Durbar Square because it was alive with people and colour. We sat there for a fair while watching as people queued for the temples, prayed and made offerings. A marching band, an army brigade, matching outfits (not just couples), children playing and the distinctive architecture captured our attention for quite some time. 

We visited the Royal Palace and saw endless exhibits about the last King of Nepal. Some of it was really interesting (parts that showed what was happening in Nepal at the time) and some of it weird (a fake aquarium that looked like a primary school diorama and was apparently owned by King). In the end it got very repetitive as it contained every picture taken of the King, his coin collection, his book collection, etc, etc. This mostly shows how important a figure he is in Nepal, but for us a small portion of the museum was enough. It was great climbing up the tower and looking down at views of Kathmandu. 

Later that evening we attempted to visit Pashupatinath, one of the most sacred temples in Nepal. We barely made it within cooee of the temple. The best we could hope for is to join the masses walking near the temple and watching others in a ginormous queue. (One of the most formal queues ever to grace the city!) Oh and we also paid an absurd price for fairy floss due to the tourist tax (The first guy tried to sell the tiniest fairy floss to us for 300 rupees! That is around AUD$4. We still paid probably 3 times the locals at about AUD$1, which of course was absolutely fine and completely worth every cent!) Even though we did not get to see the temple, it was nice being amongst the festivity. 

One of the day's many colourful queues

Shivaratri at Durbar Square

For sale - outside the temple

Nescafe lady: Why limit such things to sporting events?

Kala Bhairab - god of destruction at Durbar Square 

He stood here for ages

Army marching through Durbar Square

Marching band

Garden of Dreams
A well-known retreat from the dusty streets of Kathmandu is the Garden of Dreams, a walled European style garden with fountains, pavilions and flower beds. Once owned privately, the garden was restored by the Austrian government from the beginning of this millennium. Having paid the entry of Rs. 200 per person (for Non-Nepali), you can visit the cafe or enjoy the atmosphere from the benches or pillows on the grass. We enjoyed a morning and lunch here and it was a nice change of pace.

A retreat from the city: Garden of Dreams

Boudhanath
A highlight of our time in Kathmandu was visiting Boudhanath, one of the largest stupas in the world. Rob has visited a few times previously but was keen to go back. We both enjoyed the sensation of walking around the stupa clockwise with a mass of people. (If you walk anti-clockwise you do not gain any merit and also generate negative karma.) The rhythm and movement of the uniform walking and the spinning of prayer wheels made it quite peaceful. It almost became hard to stop walking around. Eventually we stopped for a rooftop tea break and attempted to catch a sunset. (We didn't have must luck on this front whilst in Nepal unfortunately.) 

Boudhanath

Sea of people moving with the current

Hostel we liked: Sister's Guesthouse
We stayed in a few hostels in Kathmandu over the month. Our last one was easily the best because the owner, Biman-Didi, was friendly, welcoming and helpful, the food was great, the wifi and hot water were fairly good and the rooftop was good place to hang out or do yoga. It was right in the thick of Thamel so expect some noise, but if you can handle this, it was a winner. It is also one place you can get the tongba (warm Tibetan beer). One of the only beers I have ever enjoyed. When we left, Biman-Didi presented us with a khata (traditional Tibetan Buddhist scarves) that give you good luck for travelling. 

Dinner with Krishna
Our trekking guide, Krishna, had kindly invited us to dinner with his family towards the end of our stay in Nepal. He lives with his brother, sister-in-law, sister and baby niece. It was great to meet them all and we felt lucky to be invited into their home. His sister-in-law and sister cooked us a delicious dahl baht but did not eat with us and we were already home by 7:30pm!