Devon Hanna Photography: Nepal

This is the last blog post for the photoseries from my six weeks away! Our final destination was Nepal. Though with that said there are a few photos from our time in Bangkok on the way home here.

Nepal was absolutely beautiful. It was my first time there and it is absolutely one of my new favourite places on the Earth. Unfortunately I can't say that I had a graceful entry into the country. We drove across the border from India, and due to a unexpected case of food poisoning, quite literally as soon as we entered the country I was throwing up. Damn you, Aloo Puri. Damn you.

We were picked up and driven up into the hills of Eastern Nepal. There we stayed some five nights at a friend's tea garden. Just like the previous tea garden we went to in India, it was beautiful (even more so, if I'm being honest).

The workers at the factory wanted to give us gifts (the sweetest!), so we were presented with traditional Nepali topis (hats for men) and khatas (ceremonial scarves from Tibet). Though because we're so much bigger than they are, none of our heads fit the hats.

It was amazing to see the process of tea making from beginning to end. The workers in the factory were both men and women, typically women for all the fine sorting of the tea and the men for the loading of things into the machines etc. Division of labour is pretty evident in Nepal.

There's nothing quite like enjoying local beer in a tea garden. Photo credit to Finn!

We next went to Kathmandu. We were there only briefly for a weekend, seeing friends before driving to Pokhara. Pokhara is absolutely stunning and was the highlight of the trip for me I'd say. If you've been to Queenstown in New Zealand then it's pretty easy to imagine. Except the mountains are only the largest in the world, and a large number of the 'tourists' there look as though they first arrived 30 years ago and have since never left.

Sunsets in Pokhara were like nothing else.

The last time I was in India I was asked a TONNE for photos, which was hilarious because this time, these two were the only to ask me for a frame. They were the cutest!

We were lucky enough to be booked at a hotel called Mike's Restaurant which was situated right on the lake. Eating breakfast there and watching high schoolers kayak across the lake to get to school was always a great start to our days. We also had a very clear view of the Himalayas (albiet when it was a clear day) and I don't think there's anyway to explain how incredible it is to be eating your breakfast or having a mid afternoon beer and be able to just feel the immense presence of the mountains around you.

We got up at 4.30 to make the 5am sunrise over the hills. Unfortunately we went probably a day early, the next day was stunningly clear and so we didn't get the shots we could have, but nonetheless it was beautiful. The sense of depth you get from the lookout was amazing. The sense of depth you get everywhere in Pokhara, actually. To the left is one of the major mountains and also in the centre left there's a triangular peak (looks like a shadow) that was huge. I really liked this day, and it was pretty funny to see ourselves surrounded by tourists after spending the previous week off the beaten track.