Kathmandu

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Typing from a wee internet cafe above the dusty, noisy, dirty streets of Kathmandu. This is an impressively mixed place - opulence next to real poverty. Dusty calves sorting their way through rubbish at the side of the bustling streets and expensive jewellery shops on every other corner.

Flights out were bearable though I did get a touch of food poisoning from the chicken on the first Jet Airways flight to Delhi which was not pleasant but gladly passed swiftly enough. Arriving in Nepal reminds me of Cyprus as it used to be when I was a child but with a Buddhist and Hindu touch instead of the Greek orthodox. Shaleish, our guide, took us out for a very good Nepalese meal last night where the dancing was a bit overdone but the food was good.

Long trek briefing this morning has both my trekking companions (IV - Hungarian from London, MS - English) slightly worried I think but only made me itch to be up in the mountains. I hope they survive the experience better than they think they're going to. Having said that, there are at least half a dozen days that will stretch all of my body and mind, including the 12-hr day over Kongma La and the 10-hr day to base camp (and they come back-to-back).

If all goes well, we'll be on an early flight to Lukla tomorrow and then I'll feel like this might actually be real. Unlikely to deliver another one of these before we reach Namche Bazar the day after or perhaps the day after that but even then I may not manage it as the days are pretty full of trekking targets already.

At the moment, in the middle of the offensive city, this does not (yet) feel like a mountain adventure.

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