Trek Update

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I just read through some of my last speedily-written post and must apologise for the bits that made little sense and the array of mistakes. Got to rush through things when I'm relying on a rattling little generator! Luckily am able to use the hotel computer for free tonight to give a little update.

Kathmandu is a wonderful city and feels further away from the chaos of India than it is. The people here are (generally) more friendly, though possibly because the ones we encounter are making a killing out of naive tourists who pay 5 times the local price for every service, and can therefore afford to have a laugh with us. We have spent one whole day roaming the streets of the tourist district of Thamel, the other, today, spent sightseeing and sorting out our trek.

Thamel is as brilliant as it is slightly sad - the vibrant and interesting city that surrounds it has been totally Westernised here. The last remnants of the hippy past still remain, although I've been pleased to see more bald climbers than dreadlocked bleary-eyed hippies. The last few Bob Marley products don't seem to be selling, and though we are offered drugs dozens of times a day, we have seen little evidence of it in our hotel or on the streets at night. The upside of this is that all the services we need are usefully gathered within a 2km radius - laundry, bus tickets, trek gear, souveneirs, internet cafes and restaurants.

I have thouroughly fallen for the Himalayan art and am slightly ashamed to have already spent more than I spent in our whole time in India (though I bought a couple of things that I am sure to have and love forever - quality over price). I splashed out on an intricate Thangker painting which I've had my eyes on for days. We sat and had chai with the shop-owner while we hammered out the price, which eventually came to half his initial asking price, and left him in not such a good mood as he'd been in when he issued us with chai. I also bought some gifts that I'll attempt to mail home soon. Look forward to that! Bargians of the day were probably a Gurkha knife for 300NR (2 quid 50) and a magnetic travel chess set nicely carved, for the same price.

Today, after the previous lazy day shopping and eating the delicious Nepali food (momos are a cheap and cheerful meal) we wanted to take in Kathmandu's sites. We have now pretty much recoverd from the days of no sleep, though we both have filthy colds to show for it and have invested in Tiger Balm and some dubious-looking pills to remedy the worrying amount of snot we've been producing. Worth mentioning that neither of us have been sick or shown any sign of food poisoning. The closest we've come was today when, despite my strong warnings not to, Aneirin ordered a Tibetan butter tea which left him wretching in the toilet while I ate both of our meals greedily. If anyone reading this has the pleasure of visiting the Himalayan region, I implore you not to take a big gulp of butter tea - it's lethaly disgusting.

We managed to see a fair bit of the city today. We went to the fantastic array of temples and stupas that constitute the famous Durbar Square. The traditional Nepali roof is uniquely stunning and the woodwork throughout is extremely ornate - many many photos to show you all! We managed to sneak in free while the guard consulted his newspaper, becuase the 750NR entrance fee seemed very excessive even if the site is a UNESCO world heritage site. We also visited 2 magnificent stupas - one impressive due to its size while the other is situated 4km from Thamel on a hillock that overlooks the city of Kathmandu, and gave us some great views. We visited the latter at sundown. It's nickname - 'the monkey temple' - was very quickly justified; Aneirin came close to becoming the victim of monkey rage when he stuck out his finger to one in an E.T.-like gesture of inter-special understanding. Bloody monkeys! We did a lap of the stupa, spinning every single prayer wheel (probably around 100) for good luck in the upcoming days of trekking.

And that is where I bring you all totally up to date! We decided in a moment of impromptu excitement to book our bus to Pokhara (start of our trek) for tomorrow morning at 7am. Therefore we have stocked up on capital and bought all our gear. We have been such cheapskates, buying all the oldest stock for as little as possible. This has resulted in a retina-burning array of out-dated colours which belong 3 decades ago. Hopefully they'll keep us warm enough.

Our plan is to trek to Poon Hill and maybe try and reach a base camp of one of the Annapurna mountains (around 4500m probably). I'm sure when we return and I update this blog in 8 days' time, we'll have done something totally different and will have several crazy stories to narrate.

Best wishes to all at home and wish us luck in 'the roof of the world'!

p.s. have since heard that the 2013 Mela occurs once every 144 years (12 year cycle, squared) so we really did do something once-in-a-lifetime. This also explains the crowds and total insufficiency of the trains and buses in evacuating those desperate to leave!

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Comments

[Taymour]

haham poon hill :p sounds amazing tho man, stay safe