Week 16 – Time to say goodbye

Nepal (Bharatpur – Dhulikhel – Kathmandu)

The last documented week of my trip, for now, began in Bharatpur. On Thursday morning the three of us drove to the foot of the Hindu temple Maula Kalika, which towers over Bharatpur. The half-hour hike to the top of the hill was very pleasant, as we walked through the dense, mild jungle to the temple before sunrise.

The temple offers the chance to sleep and eat there for one night for free. My companion's friend explained to me what the red marks are that the priest gives people in the temple. The red mark symbolises a blessing and is meant to bring luck for the day. For a small donation we got this traditional mark too.

On the way to the temple there are small shops or tables selling snacks and drinks. They often offer "short-pot": a simple mix of uncooked instant noodles stirred with the seasoning, tomatoes and onions. The snack costs less than a euro and is quick to make.

Fruit and vegetable snacks are also sold along the way – papaya cubes, sugarcane juice or cucumber with a hot and salty sauce, for example.

Over the following days we met friends and family. Especially in the remote, rural parts of Chitwan, I stood out quite a bit as a white person. Children were often very open and tried to talk to me in English – strange, but not at all unpleasant.

On Tuesday we drove to Kathmandu with two more friends, as my companion was flying back to Germany. His family gave us a warm send-off and gave me a typical Nepali cap. As we said goodbye, friends and family put scarves around our necks. This scarf – the khata – is a symbol of good fortune, goodwill and compassion.

In the capital we met more friends and sorted out a few things, like presents and the obligatory PCR test. Since my travel companion was passing through my home town on the way to the city where he studies, and visiting my family, he took some things I didn't need with him.

On the last evening we drove with four friends to Dhulikhel, where we celebrated my friend's farewell together.

The goodbye before he left for the airport was short and emotional.

Many encounters with different locals were very warm and pleasant. Some even knew who we were, because in December one of the biggest Nepali Facebook pages had reported on our plan to come overland. Our plan was also picked up in a Nepali music podcast.

Up to now it has been a lovely and remarkably stress-free time with this person – considering that we didn't know each other before and then travelled together for more than five months, spending most of that time in a vehicle of 8 m².

It was incredibly good that, through me, he spent several weeks with my family – and that, just as I did through him, we were each able to dive deeper into the other's culture. I'm very grateful for that.

So this is the end of the outward journey. I'll stay on in Nepal and do volunteer work at a technical institution. I'll continue the blog on the drive back home.

After that I'll travel more around the country and go on another long trek. Then I want to go to India and from there back to my bus in Armenia.

If it comes to that, I'd still like to visit beautiful Iran, which was closed to us on the way out. If it's possible then, I want to carry on to Kazakhstan and from there head home again.

Whether all that works out, despite the war in Ukraine and Covid, remains to be seen.

Thank you for reading my blog and for all the positive feedback.