In some ways, Nepal is like India – but it is also different. If you travel from India to Nepal, you can immediately feel a sense of relieve. It is less chaotic, the people are not so obtrusive, and the traffic is not as bad. We could really feel the change right at the border.

And Nepal is a country with beautiful landscape – but it is also a very chaotic, dirty and poor country. To comprehend the culture and the people there by the means of logic is just as impossible as in India.

In many areas, Nepal is influenced by tourism in a very negative way. Foreigners are mainly seen as a source for more Dollars. The friendliness of the locals is therefore often not real – and sometimes they are actually quite bad actors. Their smiles are not honest, and you can see the Dollar signs in their eyes, when they talk to you, trying to find out how much money they can get out of this stupid foreign tourist.

You can also see a lot of children and adults begging on the streets, even though in many cases it is rather obvious that they don’t really need to. Apparently, there are too many tourists that give them money or sweets, which encourages this behavior. Most probably, many tourists don’t know that the begging is often organized by criminal gangs, which force those kids into this role. You can easily picture what kind of future the kids will have when they are grown up…..

But of course, this is just one side of the people and the country. We met a lot of completely different people, which were friendly, very open, helpful, and honestly interested in us, not only in our money. A good example is the Penguin Guesthouse in Pokhara, where we experienced a great hospitality and a warm welcome.

You can observe that the fast development of the modern times is too much for Nepal. The people are catapulted from the medieval times right into the future. Of course, this cannot work. There is no organized rubbish collection, the waste is thrown into the rivers or it is burned, and therefore there is always a pungent smell in the air. Most people have no money – but everybody needs a smartphone. Some people are rich, very rich – but most are poor, extremely poor. And if they get some money, they immediately spend it again – unfortunately, quite often for alcohol. The government is very corrupt, and a lot of the money disappears in private pockets – health service, school education, and infrastructure are not developed.

But Nepal is really also a beautiful country, with landscapes ranging from tropic jungle in the plains, to the roof of the world, the Himalaya, with its snow-covered peaks including Mt. Everest, the highest mountain of the world. Bananas growing in front of the mighty 8000-metre-high peaks are an everyday sight. Furthermore, there is a rich cultural heritage to discover, with old temples, and fascinating medieval cities. And nowhere else you find such a broad spectrum of activities like white-water rafting, canyoning, bungee-jumping, trekking, etc. at such a low price.

From the touristic point of view it is definitely a very attractive country. However, it is difficult to discover Nepal by motorcycle, since many areas are not connected by roads. You can either fly there or walk, like most of Nepali people still do.

We enjoyed the time in Nepal. But like in most other countries that we have visited so far, we had enough of it after some time. After 2 months in Nepal we were happy to move on again….