My first trip into Nepal

Young lady spinning wool who eventually warmed up for a photo shoot in the village

Its kinda bizarre that after living in India for a couple of years I never made it to Nepal,  after all I was literally only a few hours away. So more than 20 years later, now that I live thousands of miles away, I finally made my first trip to this amazing place of mystery and muse. We flew in from Bangkok via Delhi on Air India which brought back memories from my very first flight into India on the mother airline when I was a whopping 16 years old. I must say that was one of the most brilliant things that happened to me to be fortunate enough to take a few weeks off of high school (special arrangement with bewildered teachers) and jump on Air india to discover Bombay (Mumbai) at the impressionable age of 16. So blessed with an early experience of India I had to wait till I was almost 50 before landing in this Himalayan adventure capitol. Speaking of landing, that was not without drama either! After hitting the ground and discovering that our hotel didn’t take us serious on the airport transfer request we grabbed a taxi and headed to the Gokarna Forest Resort as we wanted to be out on the edge of the city for the purpose of slowing down for three days. Whilst on the way I asked the taxi driver a question about the relocation of a slum that I had been reading about and to my surprise he answered by telling me about the plane crash that had just happened a couple hours before we landed. Obviously he misunderstood my question but in the process shocked us with the revelation that a crash had occurred just before we arrived taking the lives and dreams of all passengers. Over the next several days we would learn of two more emergency landings at least one of which included yet another avian ingestion involving a kite bird striking the plane. We had four regional flights ahead of us and shall I say its been awhile since I was quite so nervous on an airplane, maybe even as far back as that first 747 Air India flight. After the dramatic arrival we settled in and the next morning starting capturing some images. I will continue to drop the Nepal adventures in a little at a time with photos. Thanks for reading my first post.

Gokarna Forest Resort - open green space

http://matadornetwork.com/community/paulmhansenphotography/my-first-trip-into-nepal/gokarna-forest-resort/

A fantastic open yard right next to the bar and restaurant makes a great place to relax, read or surf the net through the free wireless from the bar. You can also enjoy your breakfast here as well.

Gokarna forest walk 3

http://matadornetwork.com/community/paulmhansenphotography/my-first-trip-into-nepal/gokarna-forest-walk3/

We went for a wonderful walk through fields, forests and villages right next to the Gokarna.

Gokarna forest walk 2

http://matadornetwork.com/community/paulmhansenphotography/my-first-trip-into-nepal/gokarna-forest-walk2/

We went for a wonderful walk through fields, forests and villages right next to the Gokarna.

Gokarna forest walk 1

http://matadornetwork.com/community/paulmhansenphotography/my-first-trip-into-nepal/gokarna-forest-walk1/

We went for a wonderful walk through fields, forests and villages right next to the Gokarna. I very much appreciate the willingness of these folks to let us capture their setting and culture.

Paul on Flight to Pokora

http://matadornetwork.com/community/paulmhansenphotography/my-first-trip-into-nepal/paul-on-flight-to-pokora/

Flying with a little anxiousness three days after the Katmandu crash