Bangladesh: River Sides and Bus Rides

 

The rare Hoolock Gibbon

Bangladesh, often over shadowed by its largest neighbour and, lately at least, in the news for the wrong reasons, is a land criss-crossed by rivers and at times strikingly beautiful is an up and coming tourist destination. We were asked many time why we were heading here, and if we are honest, mainly out of curiosity – curiosity that is reciprocated by the locals. Bangladesh gained independence in 1971 after a bloody war with its erstwhile overlords Pakistan. With a population somewhere around 168m people, it is the most densely populated country on the planet, cramming  in a remarkable 1252 ppl per sq.km! (By way of comparison NZ has just 14 ppl per sq.km). That means we’ve now been to the most densely and most sparsely populated (Mongolia) countries in the world on this trip. 

A Khusi Beanie’s Journey

A Khusi in its infancy

In Kathmandu, wearing Kathmandu gear and visiting a Kathmandu factory, it really was a Kathmandu inception of sorts. After Martina had been working at Kathmandu in Melbourne for the last 3 and a bit years, we were able to liaise with Tsering Sherpa, VP of Retail Operations and Business Development at Sherpa Adventure gear for an opportunity to put a face to the wonderfully warm and stylish Khusi Beanie. 

Langtang-Helambu: A Long Walk Home

Sun setting over Gosainkunda

Nepal’s bustling capital has it all and you can easily have fun squeezing through the hectic streets and enjoying some of the delectable street eats or the plentiful little restaurants, visiting the temples (including the Monkey temple, complete with manic macaques), and, in our case visit a Kathmandu (the outdoor brand) production house. But, after 4 days we were itching to get out and see Nepal for what it’s really known for: its nature, and in particular, the Himalayas. So after getting a few admin items off the list, we’d narrowed it down to the Gokyo Lakes trek that we wanted to walk – only it wasn’t the one we ended up on. 

Lhasa to Nepal: In the Shadow of Giants

 

Sunrise over the Himalayas

After a week in Lhasa it was time to meet up with the tour group that we would be with for the journey through to the Nepalese border. Thankfully, there were no rare units among the 3 Americans, 1 Dutch, 1 Dane and a Pole (Polish, not an inanimate object) and everyone got along. Although one  Indian chap quit the tour after one day as he seemingly was unaware we’d be seeing a number of monasteries , which is odd as it was clearly outlined in the program sent out months beforehand. But the main attraction was always going to be seeing the Himalayas, and Everest, they truly didn’t disappoint.