Good Morning Nepal 2018

The stopovers continue at an intense rate; every day I am changing locations, hotels, roads, cities, it is a continuous journey, migrating to the East, getting further and further away from home and from my loved ones. From the extreme west of Iran, I reach its far east; I have never travelled so far by land. Before me lays Pakistan. Frightening for many and no less so for me. I have my reservations, perhaps born from the fear of entering this country that has been defined by the media, like Iran, as a “rogue” state par excellence. I spend about a week here, covering the 2000km that separate me from India. It is certainly not a walk in the park, because traveling constantly with protection and an armed escort makes you reflect. However, I meet people who seem “normal” and I make new friends … maybe, it is not all bad here. The heat is remarkable; it never drops below 42 degrees with very high, persistent humidity which does nothing to help with my progress. Sometimes, I find myself thinking about whether I could have done something less difficult, tiring or stressful, instead of being here in the dust and sweating like never before, admiring wonderful landscapes and experiencing unique and extraordinary moments.

By now, I reach the border with Nepal and like a mirage I finally cross the border after 23 days of journeying. I am even more excited, but always on guard because the journey is not over yet, I find a serenity that had previously been lost a little. The temperature has dropped and even the humidity is more bearable. I surround myself with pastoral landscapes: rice fields, lakes, rivers, animals, people who smile and few cars, outside the big city centres at least. The earthquake in 2015 unleashed its wrath here, causing lots of damage and unfortunately thousands of deaths. However, it is still a hospitable country, and its people are accustomed to welcoming travellers, making one feel at ease. There is a lot to see; but life outside the capital really affects me though. Katmandu is a bit too noisy for me, crowded, frenetic, dusty beyond measure, but it is probably my misjudgement. There are thousands of things to see, including national parks, cities, villages, Buddhist temples, Tibetan people, religious shrines on every corner, pagodas, not to mention the highest peaks in the world, but above all, the people with all their colours, the smiles, the children, their relaxed nature, their inner tranquillity, all those things that most of us tend to neglect a little in our everyday lives…