Look out low flying leeches about!

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Sorry for the delay folks just been having a rare old time here! I do have photos to put on but I can't get the technology to work here! We depart to Calcutta tomorrow so perhaps I will have more luck there, I will keep trying!

With the luxury of time on our side we have been quite lazy and not rushed around. We visited the Garden of Dreams on the edge of Thamel and this was really a delightful treat in such a busy area. The garden has many water features and is full of plants and trees. It is an oasis of calm and well worth the visit to get away from Thamel. We enjoyed a few hours here wandering around and diving for cover from the rain.

We have visited the stupas of Swayanbanath and Bodhnath. Both have witewashed domes with square gold block tops with the eyes of buddha painted on. Surrounding the stupas are prayers wheels - many prayer wheels, which are constantly being spun by pilgrims. Shrines are dotted all around and active worship takes place irrespective of the intrusion of the modern tourist. Prayer flags flutter everywhere and monkeys (at swayanbanath) play in them. Bodhnath Stupa is one of the worlds largest and is the religious heart for Nepals Tibetan exiles. Tibetan culture lives on here as it should unsurpressed and free and the atmosphere is magical and all encompassing - a real delight to watch and be part of. En route to this temple we have seen the craziest motorbike contigent yet. To date we have seen five people on a little moped but today we saw ... two adults and ...... two full size goats!!! Amazing! We did manage to get a photo albeit not a good one!

Bhakatpur was next on the list and we took a local bus to get there. Boy it was hot, long and uncomfortable. Bhakatpur isn't that far away but with the many (many!) stops we took, it seemed to take forever to get there. One has to pay an awful lot of money to visit the heart of Bhakatpur and in the big scheme of things it isn't really worth it. But that said it is a fine medieval village. It is virtually traffic free which is a huge bonus. We wandered along the main road, which used to be the main trading road through to Tibet. Many narrow streets tumble away from this road, and little houses are packed in tight along the cobbled streets. Children play, old folk sit and watch the world go by and men play chess. The streets took us onto Toumachi Tole and onwards to Durbar Square. Toumachi Tole has the highest temple in the valley. The temple has five levels and each is guarded by huge stone sculputures comprising of the Rajput wrestlers of Jayamer and Phattu, then two elephants, two lions, two griffins and then two goddesses. The wooden architecture is ornate and fascinating. Little bells ring in the breeze (a sign that there was a storm rolling in so we headed off for a drink!). Durbar Square here is a far more relaxing experience compared to that of Kathamandus. You can wander around freely without worrying about being run over! Again the carvings are intricate and fascinating.

Having prolonged our stay here we decided to have a four day excursion over to Pokhara. Two days are spent travelling there and back! It takes about seven hours to get there but on both our trips the bus ended up firstly having a puncture then a drawn out stop on the way back whilst many men (with heads in engine parts) tried to get the air con to start working. Suffice to say it didn't matter how many of them scratched their heads and gave advice it still didn't work!

Pokhara is west of Kathmandu and the main base for the Annapurna circuit. This time the mountains were well shrouded by clouds and we only once saw a little bit of snow on Machapuchare. We were met off the bus by many porters once more vying for our attention. Thankfully we had our hotel booked which they were most dissapointed about! Unlucky boys!! However it was here we met Pavel who joined us in our hotel and for our stay. Pavel comes from the Czech Republic and is a great guy! We have both very much enjoyed his company and have had many great conversations!

Pokhara has a wonderful lake that reflects the green mountains surrounding it. We walked a little way around it and enjoyed the serentiy of the area. I kept diving in and out of the hedgerows spotting orchids, polka dot plants and gooseberries. The whole area is lush green and full of rice fields. We discovered that the waters from the fields run positively hot, as David thought he might try and cool his feet off under some of the water that was running off. There are huge and beautiful coloured butterflies everywhere. We wandered into the old town in the afternoon, where I managed to acquire some Albion coloured bangles for the upcoming season! Oopps sorry I digress! It is still possible to see some fine old buildings here. The bigger ones have wooden balcolnies which are akin to the ones I have seen in the Lake District. The houses here on the main street are small, narrow and go back along way. Further on away from the commercial area we found some tiny old back streets. Here the houses are typical Newari. The are literally one up and one down. The down containing either goats, cattle or both. Chicken and ducks wander the streets and occasinally a goat pokes his head out from the glassless windows. Children and adults sit and play and greet us warmly. Fantastic!

Our next day saw us getting up at 4.30am!! Oh my Oh my!!! We all agreed to watch sunrise over the Himalayas and then go for a little walk! We were driven up towards Sarankot and then we hopped out to start our walk. We were met with steps and an awful lot of them there was too!! Lots of the trails in the Himalays are stepped and in true Sherpa style they go straight up and down! We spent the first part of our little walk climbing the never ending steps before reaching the top and admiring the sunrise and view! It was a pity it was so cloudy but then it is monsoon season! It was still however incredibly spectacular. We spent quite a while there trying to take it all in and looking at the valley far far below. It was here I had a encounter of the leech kind! I thought I felt a stone inbetween my toes and after walking around and a little toe wiggling I dislodged it. However, when I finally looked down to see blood oozing from my toes I thought Oh! Well that was the best description I could come up with! I concluded it was the lesser spotted leech of the open toed trekking sandal variety, which was confirmed by our guide! All I can say is thank goodness I never saw it!! And the poor thing is probably suffering from a headache after my stomping and toe wiggling!

After a cuppa we started off on our walk or should that be trek. We followed the ridge line of these peaks along a well worn path/small road. We walked through many little hamlets with again typical newari houses. Children off all ages passed us on the way to school. Many stopped us begging and asking if we spoke English. I stopped where one little girl showed me her school books. She then got one out for me in English. In it I found the game on One Potato, Two Potato - you know the one. I tried quickly to play it with her but she was quite shy, and despite encouragement from her Mum she carried on looking at me with huge brown eyes full of wonder. The scenery was amazing and at times quite european, bracken and decidious trees growing amongst the maize and rice! The path was undulating and quite easy walking. We stopped for a drink and had a little of something to eat, whilst goats and water buffalo grazed beneath us! The aroma was enchanting! We walked for some three if not four hours and covered our guide told us, thirteen odd kilometres. I don't know about David or Pavel but I wasn't quite expecting that! But absolutley thoroughly enjoyable!

The afternoon saw us relaxing and the evening saw more of the same! We walked along the main street and availed ourselves of a restaraunt. We spent the evening there and the heavens opened. My goodness did they open. We tried sitting it out but it just carried on and on and on!! In the end the bar closed and we had to make a move. We had about a ten minute walk back to the hotel which saw us at times ankle deep in water. It was quite funny. The little road leading upto the hotel was a river, which proved great amusement for all of us.

So now we are back in Kathmandu. We all met up last night and went once more to Rum Doodle bar. We have our own little Yeti footrpint on the wall, testament to our hike! It's at the top of the stairs on the right handside folks! We are relying on Pavel to come back to check it is still there next year! Apparently they never come down - we will see!!

Next stop Calcutta for five days before departing for Bangkok! Promise I will try and get more photos on! And as for our thoughts on Nepal - brilliant - an absolutely fantastic country!

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