Goats? - I like their ears.

For those who have NO idea what Mary is talking about...

http://www.ultimategoatfansite.com/n...o-nubian-goats

A palanquin carried on the backs of four Nubian Goats was not exactly what I had in mind.

Well, thursday must be coming down from the hills today - or is it tomorrow? I imagine there'll be recriminations... lol.

They might come in handy if the Love Boat runs aground-you could always milk or eat them

I doubt they would give a very good ride for those in need of a palanquin but they are handsome.

Hopefully Thursday will check in soon and stop this silliness.

While the cat's away...

I think Nubian men might be better palanquin bearers, but at this point I'm not fussy.

I'm back in KTM, but only for one night - I'm taking a 7 am bus to Bandipur, likely also short on wifi. Plus Michelle's father just arrived and a celebration dinner is on the schedule for tonight.

There will a full post on Phulbari at the appropriate time....

Meanwhile, to get back to Taiwan (you haven't forgotten Taiwan, have you?)

<b>Oct 26-28 - Loving Taroko Gorge</b>

After a quick stop at the T.I., I followed the young man with the sign to the Bay View's shuttle bus. The photos on the hotel's web site (http://www.hotelbayview.com.tw/english/006.html )had convinced me that I needed some beach time, or at least a beach view, along with my visit to Taroko Gorge. The hotel turned out to be a bit further out of town than I had expected, but was otherwise very comfortable, with helpful staff and the shuttle bus to and from the train station. My ocean view room was as pictured on the web site, but unfortunately the weather, and therefore the view, was not. Instead of placid blue waters, I was seeing - and hearing - an angry grey sea breaking high and white as it hit the beach.

The typhoon had passed, and the English-speaking man running things at the Bay View told me that the ferocious winds whipping the trees out front were just normal winter weather. If so, I would recommend avoiding winter! I took a car and driver south down the coast road (the section to the north had suffered badly in the typhoon), and the views were really too hazy to see, and the winds too strong for taking photographs. Spectacular in the sunshine, I'm sure, but when you have to fight to stay upright, you can't appreciate much besides shelter.

Taroko Gorge, on the other hand, had plenty of shelter and not much wind, and all the magnificent views anyone could want. I spent a whole day there with a car and driver, and most of a second using the (rather unreliable) buses. While I'd say it's good by bus, it's wonderful by taxi, as you can stop when and where you want. Of course, the earlier you start the better, as otherwise you'll find the best viewpoints infested with tour buses. Even my taxi driver (a rare woman driver), who makes her living from tourism, complained about the number of mainland Chinese visiting. (Perhaps they don't take taxis.)

The typhoon had affected some of the trails, others have been closed even longer, and the one I really wanted to try, the "Tunnel of Nine Turns", was off limits. I did hike a few shorter trails, doing the one that was my clear favorite, the first part of Shakadang, the morning of the second day. The Shakadang River shone crystal clear and glacial blue in the sunshine, while the main river, swollen by the typhoon, was burdened with loads of grey silt. The gorge is narrow with high walls, somewhat reminiscent of Zion, and I would certainly recommend a visit if you're thinking of going to Taiwan (do think about it).

I ate lunch twice at Tienhsiang, where the bus turned round, and a few services were located. Not liking the look of the eating places by the bus stop (even Lonely Planet remarked on the "awful food") and not wanting to trek up to the Youth Activity Center on the off-chance they would have food, I ate expensively at the Silks Hotel. Very nice set Asian meal the first day (although I still wonder how you are supposed to eat ribs with chopsticks), so-so pizza the second. Elegant surroundings both days.

Eating dinner was more problematic. The Bay View provided a so-so breakfast, and free coffee or tea all day (and night), but didn't do dinner. The women on the front desk suggested a taxi into town and the night market. Again, I was in no mood for street food. The only place open near the hotel served western food - soup and steak were quite good, if also quite expensive. The other night I insisted that I wanted a Chinese restaurant in town, and eventually they came up with a place for me. Not a word of English on the menu, but a combination of a very helpful waitress with a little English and the no-so-helpful food section of my guidebook worked. I ate egg drop soup with baby shrimp, spring onion pancakes and sweet and sour chicken. With beer.

It's time for us all to send healing thoughts to thursday's bottom.

Eagle eyed readers will have noted this key sentence in her last post; <i>'I'm taking a 7 am bus to Bandipur</i>...

which is an odd place to go. Unless she meant Bharatpur. Either way, thursday's derriere needs a group hug. It's been a long and winding road...

No, I did mean Bandipur - I visited Bharatpur on the way to Phulbari. More accurately, a 7:00 am bus to Dumre, where I got a shared "taxi" up to Bandipur. Unfortunately, no views as yet. It was a tourist bus, (a "regular" tourist bus, not the Green Line which is what my taxi driver said "Courtyard people" usually take) so the seats were a reasonable size. It's my lower back that complained, but thanks for the thought. Bus on to Pokhara tomorrow - it's only another couple of hours, I think.

I've pretty much decided to skip Tansen after doing Phulbari and Bandipur, and add time to Pokhara.

Last piece on Taiwan:

<b>Oct 29 - Nov 1- Back to Taipei</b>

I had been unable to get a ticket on an express train back to Taipei, or even a slow train at a reasonable hour, so I left before breakfast to catch the 7:20, sharing my carriage with what appeared to be a school basketball team. This time I stayed at the See You hotel, booked through agoda.com, reasonable limping distance to the train station, and almost within sight of the terminal I'd need for the airport bus. My room was fine, but breakfast was at a KFC down the street. After abandoning the soggy bun and dubious fried chicken the first morning, I picked up energy bars and yogurt and ate in my room the other days. On a better note, immediately opposite, clearly visible from my window, was Rose House, specializing in tea - and roses. The ambiance was very 1950's English, but the jasmine tea and the coffee were fine.

Although I had planned four nights in Taipei because it sounded like there were several worth-while day trips, the weather wasn't good enough for the coast, or, I decided, the tea and wood-carving villages, never mind the National Parks. Instead I mostly visited museums, of which there were plenty. I started with the Museum of World Religions but thought the one in Glasgow was better - although Taipei does have an Egyptian sarcophagus and a piece of the Kiswa - the black cloth that covers the kaaba in Mecca. The Historic Museum was another matter, both for its permanent collection and for the fabulous special exhibition of artifacts from the Famen underground temple on the mainland (near Xi'an). These were from the Tang period, one of my favorites, mostly silver, mostly intricately decorated, with lots of birds rather than dragons. One statue looked remarkably like a Sphinx, and the lion statues reminded me strongly of the Khmer lions in Cambodia. No English labels or audio guide for the special exhibition, but I enjoyed it anyway.

I finished that day at the Discovery Center, with displays on the history of Taipei, and when the next day dawned grey and cloudy I went to the ceramics museum at Yingge. Surprisingly, this remarkable museum was free. Very interesting information on the whole process, starting with techniques for finding and handling clay, included a section on modern uses of ceramics in industry. While I wasn't much impressed with the "art" pieces in the top floor gallery (I think I recognized one arrangement from MAD in New York), the teapot competition in one of the outer buildings included some pieces I admired.

Even better, the museum staff told me about a free "holiday" shuttle back to the train station, and reading the leaflet, I found another shuttle going to Sansia, which had a temple I wanted to see. Unfortunately, the temple was mostly covered with scaffolding. Then I worked my way through the street fair going on around it, packed with people, and decided I had seen enough stalls and enough street food that I didn't need to visit the Shilin night market

My last day began with the 2-28 Peace Park (commemorating a massacre on 2-28-47 at the start of a period of martial law). Good thing I didn't also want to visit the 2-28 museum, as it was blocked off, along with several nearby streets - a demonstration was underway. Although the speeches sounded fiery, the crowd seemed small and unalarming, and plenty of police were on hand. After a brief look at the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall (I'm no fan of Chiang-Kai Shek) I took the metro east in search of a Thai restaurant recommended by a local sitting near me at lunch in Taipei 101 a couple of days earlier. While Home's was fine, I preferred Very Thai.

On the way a massage place with attractive prices caught my eye. So tempting... Initially I resisted, taking the metro to the zoo as I had planned. But the gondola to the tea houses in Maokong didn't run on a Monday, and the zoo was less appealing than I expected, with many animals sensibly sleeping out of sight. I went back and had the massage - 30 minutes feet, 30 minutes upper body. Bliss.

That night I packed, ready for another early airport bus. I'd finish the East Asian leg of the trip with five nights R&R in Hong Kong - rest and resupply.

Well, that'll be even more interesting. I have no idea what's at Bandipur. Tansen can be easily skipped unless you have a yen for goat execution at the temple there.

After Pokhara, are you driving down to the border?

Yes, indeed, (possibly) a good thing to avoid demonstrations that could be political. Is it not the Taiwanese legislature that gets in the news for 15 seconds every 9 weeks because of fistfights breaking out in their legislature?

It's interesting hearing about Taiwan and Nepal simultaneously.

I'm very much looking forward to what you have to say about Phulbari.

OK, am now in Pokhara. My first hotel didn't work out, and I just checked into a second. No views at all - the clouds have been down since my second night in Phulbari. I'm planning three nights here, the bus down the Siddartha Highway, and three nights in Lumbini, but I need to book a hotel there or I'll wind up at one of the monasteries and I feel like a bit of comfort between bus rides.

Don't know about fist fights in the Taiwan legislature,but relations with China are, of course, a very touchy subject, as are relations between pre-1945 residents and later ones.

Three nights in Lumbini might be stretching the magic of the place - by about, hmmmm, two and three-quarter days. All you'll see there is concrete replicas of what you've already seen... however, Lord Buddha's birthplace is a buzz.

One night, then leave. Unless you're planning a religious conversion. Tansen is your logical stop en route.

I think, actually, that Nepal is located somewhere in central Australia and all that Himalaya stuff is a lie. As you're learning, those mountains aren't just elusive - in Pokhara, after 6.00 a.m. they are a murky fantasy. Do not get up at 5.30 for the dawn.

The scenery down to Lumbini is great - until you hit the plains. Then you're virtually back in India. You may notice the subtle difference.

Me? I'm off to Abu Dhabi tonight.

With a 7-8 hour bus ride to get there I'm going to need some recovery time, plus I'll have another bus ride to the railhead in India when I leave to rest up for. I was figuring one day for the new monasteries, and one day for a possible trip to Tilaurakot.

I know the mountains are there - I saw them on the mountain flight out of KTM, and at Phulbari, but they're certainly hiding out now. At least Pokhara is a bit more laid back then Thamel - and I've moved down the south end of Lakeside where it's quieter.

Have a good flight & a good trip, though what you're going to do with all that time at sea I can't imagine!

I warn you, the hotels in Lumbini are pretty sterile and grim, catering exclusively for package religious tours, in for a night then out again. You'll be unusual. I stayed in some horrid concrete place almost opposite the main gate. I'm told it was the best of a bad lot.

Look in your astronomocal calender - maybe there's a full moon or something. If there is, book your accom before you leave.

I'm about four hours off leaving. It's 5 p.m. and the dry cleaners have failed to return my clothes. Same day, some day service. lol. Just what I need. There have been words...

As for the 8 days without sighting land bit: well, I have a plan. Famous last Dogster words. I'm glad that Pulbari provided you with mountains.

Good thought, dogster! I'll be there the nights of 19, 20 and 21, and a quick on-line check says the full moon is on the 21st! Full moon in Kyoto, and now full moon in Lumbini - pure serendipity.

Not sure when you were there, but there's been quite a bit of building going on. The backpacker sleep of choice now is at the Korean monastery - room and three meals for the price of a donation - and I had originally planned to join them. But... part way across Nepal I started thinking AC, bathroom, mosquitoes, and began looking for a hotel. I just reserved at the new, Japanese owned Hotel Kasai - with discount for a three night stay. http://www.lumbinihotelkasai.com/

Still no views at Pokhara so I hope to get the Hong Kong piece(s) done today, then I might actually be posting about the country I'm in for a change.

Hi from Abu Dhabi. I'm pretty much crazed with jet-lag.

I spent 5 very dull days in Pokhara two years ago, trapped by a non-flight to Jomson and never once saw the mountains.

I'm happy you have a full moon. Lumbini might be rather good. I'm having Eid. [Is that how you spell it?] The gods are excited. Me? I'm just exhausted. Only your reports on Kathmandu, Courtyard and Phulbari will keep me going.

Still following along Thursday. The hotel in Lumbini at least looks new and reasonably comfortable - not sure about "washies" though and no soap or shampoo apparently unless you take the suite! Have a comfortable rest and looking forward to the rest of your travels.

Dogster get over the jet lag quickly - we will all be waiting for more stories. Happy Eid.

dogster - sounds like you need a good sleep. Have you reached IST yet? If so, I'd add a visit to a hamam - maybe http://www.cemberlitashamami.com.tr/ Of course, you'll have plenty of opportunity for sleep on that boat.

MaryW - nice to know someone's still following along! I read "Washle" as typo for "washlet" as in Japanese toilet. I just restocked shampoo and soap in Pokhara, and am glad to see "hairdryer" - I abandoned mine after JAL got it wet.

Clouds are still down here. But I visited the Peace Pagoda and the Tibetan settlement yesterday instead of writing.

I'm getting that familiar/unfamiliar traveler's disorientation just reading this, hopping from Korea to Nepal to Taiwan to Melbourne to Abu Dhabi. (Eid is spelled right.) I'm jet lagged and I haven't even been anywhere.

Sorry you have not seen the mountains yet.
Hopefully the clouds will clear before you leave the area so you can enjoy the beauty of the Himalayas.

Maybe the sun will come out...and you'll get some good pictures too.

magical - I did see the mountains - flight out of KTM and from Phulbari, just not the last week....