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To Linnahall terminal.
I just came back home from Vladivostok, operating a mineshaft elevator
to get some money for my next trip, which begins now.
Tunna's waiting for me in Nepal and I have about--
48 hours to make it to Kathmandu. Guess I'm in a bit of a hurry.
We're going too slow... Pedal to the metal, driver!
Before the flight I have one more errand to run.
On the road it's guaranteed that I'll get beaten up, some drugged-up junkie knocks my teeth out
and runs off with all of my Earthly possessions - backpack, cameras et cetera.
There's one known antidote for this kind of thing and so we're off to legendary jeweller Tillander
to put a small life insurance up my sleeve. Thank you.
That is such a cute, magnificent stone - I'll take it! -Excellent.
A brilliantly-cut diamond, graded Top Wesselton. Weight 0,75 carats.
Price: net value 5600 USD.
This lovely piece will be inserted in me in just a few moments.
Plastic surgery is mostly known for shaping some romantic ***.
Now we're putting a diamond in there.
The pain...
Tell me if you feel any pain along the way. -Not yet, at least.
Gotta be careful.
Extremely pleasant.
Is our filmer still live and about?
The adventure's bout to begin. Eleven hours to Kathmandu.
This hectic opulence is left behind, and I won't miss it for a bit.
Alright. I'm out of the airport and made it to Durbar Square in Patan.
We've made plans with Tunna to meet here at 12 o' clock.
It's half-past eleven, so I should be seeing him in half an hour.
Although, this place is full of so many similar temple areas that I'm not sure if it's the right one.
Here's to hoping I find the bloke in this city of millions.
He should be hanging round one of these temples, so, let's get searching.
Damn, is that Tunna? It is.
Tunna! ***, it is him.
What, he's playing Ludo with someone.
Tunna!
What'ya doing? Ya playing Ludo?
Here I am! -Get over here! -Yeah yeah!
I've been hanging around in Kathmandu for about a month, it's off-season right now
not too many tourists or backpackers around, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
This is part of town is Patan, this is my hood, haven't seen many Westerners during my stay.
I like to hang around here during the day, drinking saju, huddling by the fire with the dudes.
This is Thamel, a type of backpacker "ghetto" you can find in every Asian capital.
Just like Khao San Road in Bangkok, this place has everything a traveller needs
and then some.
There are so many hustlers, beggars and tourist vultures hovering around here.
So many in fact, that I decided to house up in a less known and quiet area down Freak Street.
Let's head that way.
Welcome to my humble abode. That's Sai Baba.
And I'm spent. Good night!
Namaste! This is Madventures.
For the next eight months, me and Tunna will circle the globe on a shoestring budget
shacking up in rundown hostels and bamboo bungalows while chowing down some rice gruel.
The plan is to head to India after Nepal, then Thailand for some snorkeling, then Cambodia,
from there to Indonesia for some surfing, Australia, New Zealand, on to small islands in Polynesia
on to Peru for a little jungle adventure, then Ecuador, from where we'll fly to USA and do a road trip across the continent
before flying back home from New York - but that is a looong ways from now.
You jelly?
Starring in this show in addition to ourselves will be other young travellers backpacking around the world.
We also want to share information with you, where to go, where not to go and how much things cost around here.
We'll record all of our travels with the two cameras we're carrying along.
Now, here's what you're gonna do:
Go outside into the freezing, slushy darkness, enter the store, buy some beer, head back home,
lay back on the couch, get comfy and watch Madventures every Sunday and Monday.
You might get some sort of idea on how awesome it is to be here.
True that, so I guess we'll just go from here and keep on going.
Madventures! -Watch!
It's either this take or the previous one, that was pretty good!
Stop that snoring! Stop that snoring now!
..again? -You... clown! -Did I snore again?
Enough with the snoring, *** it!
After a well-slept night it's nice to welcome the morning with a cigarette on your own balcony.
This is Freak Street, the OG traveller hub in Kathmandu. Thamel is the go-to place now a stone's throw away,
but we're paying a few bucks a night for the inn, while in Thamel you have to pay double that.
We're about to head to the mountains, but before that let's take care of some business.
We're at Dakshinkali Temple to sacrifice a rooster to Kali.
We'll do it so we won't get lost off track during these eight months.
This is the place where thousands flock twice a week to sacrifice goats, hens and roosters in honor of Kali.
The blood really flows here, and the Hindu bliss is quite heavy as you can see.
There's a Baba!
May I introduce the third member of our team - Frank.
Frank's a handsome fellow, the toughest fighting *** in all of Kathmandu
hence being selected into our posse, but Frank is having a bad day today -
Frank is gonna die.
How does it feel heading to the sacrificial altar?
No comment.
Frank was the toughest rooster around, but even the tough meet their end.
This is Bagpiper, a local whiskey. Bagpipin'.
We're having some snacks before the main course arrives.
I'm sad to announce that our buddy Frank has met a sharp end between the axe and the stump
and right now Dilendoji's lovely wife is preparing a grand meal of Frank.
With this, Franky boy will grant us both spiritual and physical growth.
(Cheers!)
Franky made such a hefty sacrifice for us, not many could do something of this magnitude.
But now, Franky boy will be a part of the meal for the eight of us.
Let's down some Rockabilly rooster, as this is delicious!
Feeling a bit guilty munching down Frank, but...
I believe that this is what Frankie would've wanted, and he sacrificed himself for a good cause.
Yeah, so Frank appeased Kali and other Hindu gods with his sacrifice, but that's not enough in this country.
So, travellers should also turn to Buddha.
Wow! That monkey just nicked my water! That's pretty hilarious actually.
Yesterday's Franky dinner still has me jittering and these stairs aren't making me any worse for wear.
But climbing these stairs, hundreds of meters long, is a worthy punishment.
You also save some cash, as you don't have to pay the 50 rupee fee if you have it in you to climb up.
Yup, so Swayambunath is the house of Buddha and one of the prettiest sights in the Kathmandu valley.
it's on top of a hill just next to downtown.
You have great view down from here, and up here-- damn I'm out of breath...
--a shitload of monkeys up here, hence it's other name "Monkey temple".
Let's see if we can catch any faithful monkeys here.
Anyway, let's go whirl some wheels to get Buddha's spirit in our travels.
We're here, just a little ways.
My heart's exploding in my chest.
*** monkey stole my water!
Alrighty, hopefully Buddha is appeased now as well.
The Swayambunath monkey temple is good place to witness how engrained religion is in everyday routines in Nepal.
People get their morning exercise with the steps, kids are practicing Taekwondo near the temple,
circle around the temple as many times as it takes, spinning the wheels and heading off to work.
Very proper.
We're good to go on now, let's head back to Thamel, just a short walk from here.
Thamel has everything you need.
Trips to Tibet, visas for Burma, money exchange, massages, copier shops, Swiss pastries, rugs, hats,
knives, incense, guys offering trekking trips, jewellery, food, music, carrier services, everything.
Thamel has it all - what you can't find here, you won't need. It's very easy to get stuck here.
Thamel is a nice place to meet other travellers, but there's hustlers to go around from kids to grandpas.
I did some statistical research while walking down this street for about five minutes.
I was coaxed by 18 different shops to buy gurkha knives, towels, rugs, whatever you can think of.
They tried to push some high quality *** and other drugs to help me get my head messed up.
On top of that, three different hotels, some trips from a jungle safari to some mountaneering, anything.
Yup, I'm slowly starting to feel at home in Nepal. This is Fullmoon, one of our go-to joints in Thamel.
We've had nice little drunken nights here eating good food and listening to good tunes.
Those nights can get expensive, but otherwise it's really cheap, our daily budget is about ten bucks.
Some days fifteen bucks, but you can easily get by under ten dollars.
We're only paying a few bucks a night, a few silly cents for breakfast and good food for a bit extra.
A lot of you are probably interested about beer - a big pint twice the size of Finnish pints is a few bucks,
a pack of smokes is about a dollar, so one can also deal with vices quite cheaply here - we of course have no vices.
So our money stash hasn't run dry yet, no need to dig out the diamond from the bicep yet.
So we're doing well in that field as well.
Aaand welcome to Madventures' cooking show, to a journey of tastes into the most pukey kitchens of the world.
Today we'll be making a traditional dish of the Newari tribe, from the noggin and asstail of a buffalo.
After purchasing these ingredients cheaply enough, we'll head to a local gourmet restaurant to eat some head.
We're in the holiest of holies, in the kitchen of a Newari restaurant. As you can see, that's some sheep lung broilin' there, very Newari.
But we're here for the buffalo head, and it's getting done right over here.
The head's chopped, beaten with a mallet, grab the brains, rip off the face, slice and dice the face,
grab the asophagus, slice and dice as well, brains are out, gouge out the eyes and wrap them in the surrounding muscles.
Tying them with a piece of string before boiling. There's the brain fuming back there.
And here we have a nice curry coming on from the face, eyes and the asophagus.
You only add salt, curry powders, ginger, garlic and- let me just check the list - chili paste.
So that's the curry, and here's some onions being cooked for our meal.
The brain's sizzling, cooked in salt water with a pinch of curry.
Here as you can see, some buffalo ear and eardrums, some tongue, "The snitch's tongue has been sliced off".
These are cooked a little later and then added to that delicious curry paste.
I eagerly await how delicious this meal will be.
Alright, the brain pieces are arriving, looking oh so delish.
The eyes!
"From amidst the hills, from the dirts of the land, a cold eye stares on."
Let's face these faces!
Here are the brains, eyes, tongue, ears, here's the so-called facial curry.
So this is a curry made from a cow's face. -Buffalo face curry.
And the loser, we're having a competition on who eats the brains, eyes and all this shiet.
The one who loses in rock-paper-scissors will have to munch down all these.. things.
The thing is that I've been a vegetarian for seven years. I've eaten some chicken, like Franky boy as you saw.
But it's very rare for me to eat meat.
So, umm... this is a pretty *** tough spot for me!
If I lose I'll have to eat eyes, brains, BSE stuff - I'm gonna die from this! But we'll see!
I'm waiting for Tunna to lose because.. -Let's start the match already!
..I don't wanna eat brains alá Creutzfeldt–Jakob's disease!
Wait, wait, wait, countdown first! -One, two, three!
I won, like always!
This is a tough spot, a really tough spot! -Eyes first, eyes first!
Gotta smoke up first. I also have a puke bag as an accessory.
The weasel is already lurking in my throat, let's hope I make it.
There it is, ogling at me. To think that this morning this was just a buffalo careening in the fields.
The guerrilla company in the army taught me that reindeer eyes are full of protein, let's hope it's the same here.
Some *** pressure in that eye! Jesus Christ! Oh boy, I'm so ***.
***, this is so... Look at all those damn veins.
*** nerd, eat the damn eye! -*** it...
Eat it!
Some napkins, ***...
Some eye nerves, no, pieces of eye veins that are crunchy in the most unpleasant way.
Oh hell, it's in the back of cheeks now, that's it, no more. -Next up, the brains!
There's dem brains, here goes Riku with the brains. -Alá Creutzfeldt–Jakob's.
You like brains? -It tastes a bit like... liver patties.
The tongue. Tongue of a snitch, ripped away, cooked away, the snitch's tongue!
Don't snitch or Riku will get yo' tongue.
This is good, really good! -Go on, ***. -Next up, buffalo ear.
Oh ***, it's bone! Some ear bone, maybe the stirrup.
Are you ready to eat some face? -I just wanna drink some beer and raksi.
Ladies and gentlemen, our viewers, and clowns. Here is the mug a.k.a. the face.
*** me...
A bit like stroganoff.
Maybe it's the cheek? -I don't know...
Potatoes! Want some? You can't have any, I can!
You're no longer a nerd, just a ***. -Give me those *** cigarettes.
That's it, I'm not eating more!
Was it a hefty meal?
Crossing the street in Asia can get pretty hectic and *** bothersome.
You never know who comes from which direction and who will evade you, who comes, who goes.
Here are a few tips - follow behind some local dude and see what he does when crossing while looking to both sides.
This way it'll go nicely and you don't have to look around by yourself too much.
But these fumes and this smog are a bit much, so it's high time to get some fresh air now.
We decided to leave to Chitwan National Park to get some jungle action while waiting for our trek.
Let's go buy some bus tickets.
We finally made it inside the perimeter of Chitwan National Park.
It's one of the coolest parks in Asia due to its fauna, as just a ***'s swing away we got some Bengal tigers.
Then we got wild elephants hanging around, wild boars, very aggressive creatures, wild chickens and all sorts.
I think we'll go stalk them tomorrow. -That's the idea.
The nights are pretty cold here, although it's on a plateau next to the Indian border.
But what of it? Sitting on the balcony under a shaal, sipping on some Indian whiskey. Not bad.
Tomorrow we'll go look at some rhinos and sauruses.
Okay, it's 7AM, with me, two phanties, two native riders. We're going through the woods to get Jeeps, let's see what happens.
Looks like our big friend was also up until the wee hours of the morning. As thirsty as I am.
Fresh air cures all hangovers, there's something magical here. Maybe it's some kind of herb.
I think I know which herb.
A rhino, this one not as much of a *** pain as its African two-horned brethren.
He won't bother us with our elephant, but without one it would be a stickier situation.
There's the boar, digging away. Pretty funny, when we came to this stream he was getting all bossy.
Mean-mugging us and all, trying to start up something, but he wasn't man enough. We just came to have a few sips.
Let's head to the Jeeps, we're starting to be in a hurry.
The majestic Bengal tiger. Fresh tracks, less than two hours old. Crossed the river due North.
Jeep's stuck in *** mud. The tiger is after me.
On top of that there's three meter high elephant grass all around, you never know if a rhino swings by. It's a tough spot.
Guess I gotta go push it out myself.
We're getting *** nowhere. We have at tops fifteen minutes here.
Can't trust 'em, I have to get outta here.
We're sitting on the roof of the bus, nice when it's so hot, got your bags handy plus you can see all the views much better..
Watch out, Riku!
Only thing to watch out for are those power lines, one of which Riku and I almost got twerked on.
Other than that, tree branches and other stuff.
If I were you, Riku, I'd keep my head down, those power lines are looking damn bad.
There are lots of these little barber shacks here, full of posters of Indian actors and guys at work.
You get a haircut and a shave for a few bucks with clean blades guaranteed.
I'm getting a haircut so they won't think I'm a hippie, but next up we're going trekking in the mountains.
Our plan was to do the classic Everest base camp trek, but it's just our luck that the other day
rebels blew up the Lukla air control tower to *** smithereens. So we have no business flying to Lukla, hence no means to Everest.
But that's fine, there are many beautiful peaks and parks here, so we'll head to Annapurna to hunt the Yeti.
Wake up tomorrow at 6AM and jump on the bus on the trip towards Annapurna and see where the Yeti lies.
No need to read through gossip mags like in Finland, damn good looking broads everywhere, no need for mags.
This is over the top, every minute there's more and more, amazing. IF there's no other reason to come to Nepal, this is one.
And one good reason for me to come back.
Cracking and pulling all the joints in place. What next, some chick comes and goes under the table and...
Made it here just before sundown, and on the way stopped in the neighbouring village to get some muscly sherpas for our trek.
We're leaving in the morning towards Annapurna base camp, the altitude there being somewhere in the 4000s.
This expedition defies death and leaves toward that spot - Annapurna South. Can't go over nor under, we go around.
I'm so *** tired.
We we're meant to go on from here, but the expedition stopped at this bamboo lodge as it began raining.
But I doubt that's gonna be an issue throughout the night.
It's snowing quite a bit up top, let's hope there's no avalanchin' going on.
Six days of trekking behind and we're here at Annapurna base camp. All I can say is "Look at this view!"
Still can't believe I'm here. During this trek I've cursed every single smoke and shot I've chugged down last year.
Still can't believe I'm up here, it took a lot out of me. I feel like I'm in a movie or a TV show, not in real life.
Oh yeah, I guess we are in a TV show...