In the last few weeks, Nepal has been pretty much cut off from fuel supplies.
Mostly because of the new constitution. In the spirit of strikes so popular in Nepal, when the new constitution was passed two weeks ago (after nine years of negotiation), one of the ethnic groups in southern Nepal started protesting against the new division of the country. By striking, of course - along the southern border, blocking the main road from India. Considering that Nepal depends heavily on supply of fuel and many essential goods from India, this quickly became quite a major issue.
To make matters more interesting, this ethnic groups shares ties with India, and so it's not difficult to guess that India also plays some role in the game - it has been accused of deliberately blockading the flow of essential supplies to Nepal, to push it to revise the constitution. The major border crossings with India are sealed, with tense protests at the border points and practically no vehicle movement between the countries.
The shortage has been ongoing for over two weeks now, and is affecting not just fuel but also goods, medicines, food, or even newspapers - some small local newspapers apparently had to stop printing because of shortage of printing paper. There are lines of several kilometres at petrol stations, private vehicles are not allowed to get fuel at all, international airlines are not able to refuel at Kathmandu airport, and of course getting around becomes quite a challenge. The shortages don't make the recovery after the earthquake any easier. I wonder if this is what it will look like when the world's petroleum reserves will be exhausted...
The shortage has been ongoing for over two weeks now, and is affecting not just fuel but also goods, medicines, food, or even newspapers - some small local newspapers apparently had to stop printing because of shortage of printing paper. There are lines of several kilometres at petrol stations, private vehicles are not allowed to get fuel at all, international airlines are not able to refuel at Kathmandu airport, and of course getting around becomes quite a challenge. The shortages don't make the recovery after the earthquake any easier. I wonder if this is what it will look like when the world's petroleum reserves will be exhausted...
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| Fuel queue... they get up to 3 kilometres long |
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| Riding on the roof is common even without fuel shortage - but I've never seen this road so empty |
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| Though the roofs are definitely more crowded than before |
Incredibly enough, buses still seem to function, and so this weekend we were able to escape from Kathmandu for the weekend to the Shivapuri National Park just north of the capital, with the hope of seeing a bit of the Himalayas.
The hardest part was actually getting to the Kathmandu bus park - after wandering around the empty streets for a good while on early Saturday morning in the attempt to find any transport, we eventually managed to catch a tricycle to the Ratna bus station. Once there, a bus was just leaving to Sundarijal, the entry point to the national park - we even got into the bus early enough to be able to grab a seat, as opposed to having to stand on two toes with multiple elbows and bags crammed into you.
From Sundarijal we headed up to the village of Chisapani. The 5-hour hike takes you through some villages nested on the green slopes and a forest, up some 1000m of elevation gain on about a million of stone-made steps. Though not spectacular, it's pleasant enough (if you don't mind steps).
The hardest part was actually getting to the Kathmandu bus park - after wandering around the empty streets for a good while on early Saturday morning in the attempt to find any transport, we eventually managed to catch a tricycle to the Ratna bus station. Once there, a bus was just leaving to Sundarijal, the entry point to the national park - we even got into the bus early enough to be able to grab a seat, as opposed to having to stand on two toes with multiple elbows and bags crammed into you.
From Sundarijal we headed up to the village of Chisapani. The 5-hour hike takes you through some villages nested on the green slopes and a forest, up some 1000m of elevation gain on about a million of stone-made steps. Though not spectacular, it's pleasant enough (if you don't mind steps).
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| Entrance to Shivapuri national park. The kid followed us the first half an hour. |
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| This way to Chisapani. And to a tooth-brushing site |
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| Steps, steps, steps... |
The village of Chisapani, in the north of the park at some 2200m altitude, seemed to live pretty much from tourism before the earthquake. Now, only two hotels/hostels out of the 9 or 10 original ones are standing straight. From the rest, big part of the demolition is still to be done. Not a very happy sight.
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| First floor gone |
The main reason which might bring you to Chisapani is the view of the Himalayas that you're supposed to have from there. When we arrived the horizon was clouded, as it's usual in the afternoon - the plan was to wake up early the following day, as visibility in the early morning hours is normally good.
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| What else to do while there's no view? |
Accordingly, by 5:30 am on Sunday morning we were up and out, to see... this.
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| Manaslu. Apparently. The rest was clouds. |
A steady layer of clouds just where the peaks are supposed to be. Well. At least we got an early start for the second day...
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| There is a part which isn't a cloud... |
It took us about 6 hours to reach Nagarkot, through a jungle-looking forest (leech-warning), villages but mostly dusty roads.
From Nagarkot it was then two bus rides, through Bhaktapur, back to Kathmandu - and we even got a seat, instead of having to sit on the roof or hang on the bus door from outside.
Not a bad weekend trip to clean the head a bit - though next time a bit better visibility please :-)
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