Into Nepal and Kathmandu

Our last stop was to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal at the foot hills of the Himalayas.  The plane ride was the first most interesting part of the trip.  The airport is listed as one of the ten most dangerous in the world, and it appears that travel does not take place to the airport unless there is very good visibility.  Our flight was delayed an hour from leaving India, but upon arrival in the afternoon, the sky was blue with a bright sun.  We found nothing unusual about the trip other than the airport is surrounded by hills.  On the trip in, the Himalayas were very visible and were a beautiful sight to see.

Kathmandu is primarily Hindu although there are many Buddhist shrines.  One of our first stops was Bhaktapur City. 

The Golden Gate
A specimen of repose art, the gate dates to 1754 A.D. and was built by King Ranajit Malla.

Bhaktapur, with a splendid legacy of her fabulous heritage, has retained the status of the cutural capital of Nepal.  Geographically shaped like a conch-shell, the town bears its historical origin dating back to early 7th century AD.  Spread over an area of 6.88 sq. km. at 1400 meters above sea level, Bhaktapur has a population  of over 80,000 people.

The Fifty-Five Windows Palace

The hypnotizing glamour of the Bhaktapurian heritage sites calls the attention of one and all towards the cultural spectacle.

Siddhi Laxmi Temple
This temple is also known as "Loghan Dega" because it is made entirely of stone.  This Shikhara style temple is guarded by man-lion creatures, camels, rhinoceros, and horses, all of which are extremely rare in the valley.

Invasions and natural calamities led to devastation of the most glamorous emblems of human heritage in Bhaktapur.  Yet, the historical city has plenty to be proud of with superb artifacts and subtle culture vividly depicted through the monumental remnants.  Paintings, carvings, masonry, bronze-castings, jewelry, pottery, etc are other traditional enterprises still existing in Bhaktapur.  The Hindus and Buddhists have coexisted in harmony and drawn on inspiration from each other through the ages.

Nyatapola Temple

My wife with two holy men. 

Bhaktapur is a living heritage displaying the vibrant depth of Newari culture.  Beyond the city's rich architectural heritage, every day traditional life spills out.

Nepalese dancers performing before dinner.

In Kathmandu we attended a dinner that was not five star, but ten.  An outstanding meal was served as well as a drink that was so strong  even a sip caused us to feel inebriated.

Baithak Resturant

With free shipping and up to 60% discounts, this is the time to buy for next fall. 

Iowa has a late muzzle loader season.  I have had some very good luck, but I have had to work for results.  Our weather is almost like spring with 40 degree temperatures.  Two weeks ago we had temps in the 50's.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

http://www.outdoorswithhank.com/    Text

Food of India

An authentic Indian curry is an intricate combination of a stir-fried Masala - a mixture of onion, garlic, ginger, and tomatoes; various spices and seasonings with which meat; poultry, vegetables or fish is prepared to produce a stew-type dish, the work Masala also means spice.

A Punjabi meal usuually consists of meat dishes and curries wich include cottage cheese called paneer.  Another Punjabi speciality is khoya, a cream so thick that it can be grated.  In Punjab and much of northern India, home cooking consists of daal (lentils) and vegetables along with roti (bread) and less rice.  There are many varieties of Kebabs, fried, grilled and stuffed with nuts and others with cream so are the quoormas, which is heavily spiced and dry.  A popular Northern dish is tandoori chicken which takes its name from the primitive clay oven with wood fire burning fiercely beneath, in which it is cooked.

Chicken Handi Lazeez

Ingredients

Boneless Chicken thighs                                           3-4                               Ginger Paste                             4 tsp
Cardamoms                                                                     4                                Onions sliced                            1/2 cup
Chicken Stock                                                        2 cups                               Refined Oil                               5 tbs
Cinnamon                                                             1" stick                              Saffron                                      1 Pinch
Cloves                                                                             ten                              Salt to taste
Garlic Paste                                                                4 tsp                              Yellow chilli powder              1/2 tsp
Garlic, chopped                                                         2 tbs

Directions

1. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.  Soak Saffron in a little water in a spoon for 10 minutes.  Crush and keep aside
2. Heat oil in a saucepan and add chopped garlic.  Saute till brown.  Add the onions and saute till light brown.  Add cinnamon, cloves and cardamoms and saute till the onions turn golden brown.
3. Add the ginger, garlic pastes, chicken sale and yellow chilli powder.  Stir for 3-4 minutes.  Add chicken stock and bring to boil.  Cover and simmer till chicken is tender.
4. Remove from fire.  Take out the chicken pieces from the gravy.  Strain the gravy into another pot through a soup strainer.
5. Cook the gravy till reduced to a sauce like consistency.  Add the chicken pieces and cook for one minute.

Preparation time is about 20 minutes.  Cooking time is about 30 minutes.  To Serve, stir in the prepared saffron and serve hot with an Indian bread of your choice.



Eating from a thali, a round tray has not changed over the centuries.  Sometimes the thali is placed on a low table and one sits cross-legged on the ground in front of it.  In the south, both the thali and flat shining green banna leaf take the place of the western plate.  Around the inside rim of the thali are arranged small bowls, each filled with a different sort of spiced, vegetarian food.  One bowl holds a thin curry sauce, another thick curd, yeat another a sweet concoction.  In the centre of the thali is placed a heap of rice, a number of Indian pickles and chutneys, often a banana and some dried chillies.

Kadhai Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken                                                                                2 Birds                Green Chillies, slit                                            4
Coriander leaves                                                                2 tbs                     Kasoori methi                                                    1 tsp
Coriander Seeds, pounded                                               1 tsp                     Oil                                                                        1/3 cup
Garam masala                                                                    2 tsp                      Red Chillies, whole, pounded                       8
Garlic paste                                                                         4 tsp                      Salt to taste
Ginger, chopped                                                                 3 tbs                      Tomatoes, chopped                                         1-2

Directions

1. Cut chicken into 8 pieces for each bird
2. Heat oil in a kadhai.  Saute garlic paste till brown.  Add the pounded red chillies and the freshly pounded coriander seeds and stir for a few seconds.  Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Add half the coriander leaves and all the giniger, slit green chillies and salt.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and simmer, stirring occasionally till the gravy thickens and the chicken is tender.
4. Once the fat surfaces, stir in the garam masala and the kasoori methi.  Cook for 2 minutes.

Preparation time is about 40 minutes and cooking time is 30 minutes.  Garnish with coriander and serve with naan or roti.

Bengali food is basically comprised of fish dishes. Hilsa is a very popular dish, fish delicately spiced and wrapped in pumpkin leaves for cooking.

In South Indian Food, almost every dish contains something from the coconut palm.  The food is cooked in coconut oil  A South Indian mostly uses coconut grated chunks, drinks vast quanities of neera or coconut water and considers no religious ceremony complete without a piece of fresh coconut as an offering.  Cooking in the south is almost entirely vegetarian, with a meal starting and ending with rice.  In Mumbai (Bombay) prawn curry is something to remember, so is their pomfret.

Bisi Bele Huliyana

Ingredients

Basmati rice                                                                        1 1/4 cup            Fenugreek (methi) seeds                            1 tsp
Lentils (toor daal)                                                              2/3 cup               Green Peas                                                    1/4 cup
Asfoetida (beeng)                                                               1/2 cup               Groundnut oil to deep fry
Cardamoms                                                                         5                          Groundnut oil for tempering                       2 tbs
Cashew nuts, split                                                              4 tsp                     Lentils husked & split                         2 tbs
Cauliflower, small florets                                                1/4 cup                Mustard   seeds                                               1/2 tsp
Bengal Gram, husked & split                                 1/4 cup               Red Chilli powder                                          1/2 tsp
Cinnamon                                                                           2 sticks                Red Chillies whole                                         2
Cloves                                                                                  5                           Salt to taste
Cumin Seeds                                                                       1 tsp                     Tamarind extract                                           3 tbs
Curry leaves                                                                       10                          Tomatoes, chopped                                       1 2/3 cup
Turmeric powder                                                              1 tsp

Directions

\

1. Wash rice and toor daal and soak seperately for 30 minutes
2. To make the masala, boil the gram and urad daal separately on a griddle till light brown
3. Broil the cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, cumin seeds and fenugreek, seeds separately on the griddle for 30 seconds each.  Grind together with the broiled ural daal and gram in a blender.
4. Deep fry the cashew nuts till gtolden brown, Keep aside.
5. Put toor daal in a handi, add 10 cups water and bring to a boil.  Let simmer until almost cooked.
6. Drain rice and add to the daal with peas and cauliflower and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally.
7. Stir in the tomatoes, tamarind and the asafoetida.
8. add red chilli powder, turmeric and salt.  Stir in the blended masala.
9. Cover and simmer till lentils and rice are mashed and achieve a porridge like consistency.
10. Sprinkle curry leaves and let simmer.
11. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoonfuls oil in a kadhai and crackle mustard seeds in it.  Add whole red chillies and stir for 15 seconds.
12. Pour the tempering over the lentil-rice mixture.  Stir for 2 minutes. 

Preparation time is 40 minutes and cooking time is 40 minutes.  To serve garnish with cashew nuts and serve with mango pickle and poppadams.

Most of the spices used in Indian cooking were chosen originally for their medicinal qualities rather than any thought for flavor.  Many spices such as cloves and cardamons are very antiseptic, others like ginger, are carminative and good for the digestion.  Tumeric is splendid against skin diseases, bruises and leach bites; neem leaves, are used to guart against smallpox, while singers chew tamarind leaves to sweeten their voices.

In Indian cuisine, food is categorized into six tastes - sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter and astringent.  A well-balanced Indian meal contains all six tastes, not always can this be accomplished.  This principle explains the use of numberous spice combinations and depth of flavour in Indian recipes.  Side dishes and condiments like chutneys, curries, daals and Indian pickles contribute to and add to the overall flavour and texture of a meal and provide balance needed.

Bon Appetiti, Hank

http://www.outdoorswithhank.com/



Great sales at each of these fine outdoor suppliers taking place right now.

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Varanasi and the Holy Ganges

On the 16th day of our trip to India we arrived in Varanasi.  This is one of the oldest cities on earth and dates back to 5,000 BC.  Here is a location where the Ganges River flows and for people of Hindu faith this is like going to Israel for Christians and Jews.    This is the ultimate pilgrimage for Hindus, who believe that to die in the city is to attain salvation.  It is believed by many that bathing in the Ganges results in the remission of sins, and that dying in the holy city circumvents rebirth.

Varanasi has been a cultural center, especially in the field of music, learning, and the craft of slik weaving.  Some of most renowned exponents of music have drawn their inspiration from Varanasi. 

The city has a unique culture, quite different from other places in the region.  This culture has developed through thousands of year.  The whole of Varanasi culture revolves around the Ganges river, which is the heart and soul of the city.  It even has its own dialect, which is quite different from other dialects of the region.

In this ancient city of pilgrimage, the bathing ghats are the main attraction. People flock here in large numbers ery to bathe and worship in the temples built beside the river bank.

The river flows from north to south and the city forms a circular shape from the Asi Ghat in the south up to the confluence of the Varuna River with the Ganges.

An important part of our visit was a visit to Sarnath.  Built in 200 to 30 BC it is a major Buddhist center.  It was here that Buddha preached his message of the "middle way" to nirvana after achieving enlightenment.  Several Buddhist structures were built here in addition to a very large monument called a Stupa. 

The following pictures are from Varanasi and the Ganges.








Looking toward the temples, places of prayer, and hotels along the Ganges

On the river

A cremation along the Ganges

On the Ganges.  The lights in the distant are actually fires.  It is here where cremations are taking place.  People come here to die, and within 10 hours of death, they must be cremated.  The ashes are then disposed  in the river.  We were not allowed to take pictures of the cremations.

Holy Man praying along the Ganges

Bathers in the Ganges




The sales are on at each of these fine retailers.  They want to get rid of their hunting season equipment and start stocking up for fishing.  Now is the time to buy for next year.  This is the time of the year I buy my hunting equipment.

Good huning, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank.

http://www.outdoorswithhank.com/

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The Taj Mahal

The visit to the Taj Mahal was one of the highlights of the trip.  The architecture alone has inspired reams of rapture over the years, but what really makes this marble monument so endearing is it's haunting tale of love and loss.  Arjuman Banu, the niece of Jahngir's wife Nur Jahan, supposedly captured the heart of the young Shah Jahan the minute he saw her.  In 1612, at the age of 21, she married him and became his favorite wife, his Mumtaz Mahal (the Exalted of the Palace).

The Taj Mahal from Agra Fort.  The emperor's youngest son wanted to become the ruler so he killed his older brothers and imprisoned his father in his own palace.   This is the view the emperor had from his prison window.  It was not much of a prison as the quarters were all made from marble and inlaid with precious stones.  A black monument was to be built across the river for the emperor upon his death, but he died and is buried in the Taj Mahal with his wife.  

This woman must have have had extraordinary beauty, charm and grace as Shah Jahan had 3,000 wives.  Numerous stories recall this woman's generosity and wisdom, both as a household manager and as an adviser to her beloved husband.  She bore 14 children, and it was in childbirth that she died in 1620 while accompanying Shah Jahan on a military campaign.

On her deathbed, it is said, she begged the king to build a monument so beautiful that the world would never forget their love.  Shattered by her death, legend claims, Shah Jahan locked himself in his private chambers for a month.  When he finally emerged, his hair was white. 

The above photographs are professionally done.  The next ones are the ones I shot.

Five months later, a huge procession brought Mumtaz Mahal's body to Agra, where Shah Jahan began the process of honoring her request.

The Shah's chief architect, Ustad Ahmad Lahori, oversaw the construction, which began in 1632.  Shah Jahan put an army of 20,000 laborers to work, even building a village to house the workers as they spent 17 years creating a vast tomb of white marble on the banks of the Yamuna River.  Visible from Agra Fort, the Taj Mahal was completed on the exact anniversary of Mumtaz Mahal's death.  The great emperor spent his last years locked in one of his own creations, gazing according to the popular story, across the Yamuna at his wife's final resting place. 

This picture is on the monument itself and the entrance into the chamber housing the tomb of the emperor and his wife are through the central entryway.  Shoes were not allowed in the Taj Mahal.

The artistry over one of the many windows and entry ways on the structure.  The artwork is done with inlaid precious stones.

My wife and I in front of the monument.  As it became more light the haze was burned off.



Good hunting, good fishing and good luck.  Hank.

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