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Published: October 21st 2006
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Cheeky Monkey...
No not you Ian!. Pokhara to Kathmandu
Up early again to get the bus back to Kathmandu. Had a bit of stress getting to the taxi as they were a bit slow with breakfast. No taxi had been ordered in the end but we managed to get one on the street and made it to the bus station in time.
Bex managed to pick up some of the donation from a local cow on her boots, much to the amusement of the bus touts! (quite why the cows were in the bus station is not clear - but this is nepal!). Not what you need before an 8hr journey on a hot bus. Bit of a drama before we set off as there were not enough seats for all the people - but after some re-arrangement we set off....
This driver was braver than the last and we comfortably settled back into flying up the road - overtaking most things on blind bends with copious use of the horn. Stopped for breakfast and lunch in a couple of places - but not the same as the way down, so did not get to pay for the missing momo's in the end. Couple of
cute kids at lunch who were inquisitive and intrigued with us. Rest of the journey was fine with nice scenery and we arrived back in Thamel without detouring down a gorge. Managed to make it back before the rest of the trek who flew so we saved ourselves a good few dollars!. Back into the Tibet Guest House and a slightly better room. It felt really decadent after being in tea houses for the last few weeks.
Opening the locker was a bit of a drama. They had taped it all up with cellotape (burglar proof!). But the master key could not be found or did not fit. After a bit of faff the locksmith appeared. By candle light he then attempted to break into our locker. He tried filing down several keys but after 1/2 an hour without joy he just started battering it with a screwdriver and hammer. About 2 minutes later we were reunited with our passports and belongings. Percussive maintenance - when all else fails it works the world over!. Was really relieved to have it all back. In the last few days all sorts of scenarios had come to mind of what could have
Orchid in Singapore.
Makes ours look a little weedy! happened. All the helpfull comments from the Aussies on the treks were really useful - was very interested to find out the price a nicked passport could fetch on the black market!.
(Thanks to all the people who read the blog and offered to bring out a replacement passport - for now we are fine, but should we need your services in the future an orderly queue will need to be formed!)
Managed to make some calls to the Uk to Pauls Parents but it was very expensive and a bit difficult to get through. Ended the day with a few beers in the hotel with the rest of the trek as it was the last time we'll see most of them.
Kathmandu to Hanoi.
Not much to do today but we wanted to get some shopping before departing from nepal. We burnt some pictures to cd to send back to the uk (top tip from someone else - but a great idea in case the camera gets nicked). Managed to do some emailing and blogging and just kind of caught up. Bought some cute T-shirts for Macie and Georgia - postage back to the uk will
Hello Tiger!.
The ever popular Tiger beer. probably be 10 times the cost of the item but at least we will not have to carry them!. Tried to get to the 'Indian airlines' office to reconfirm our flight back to delhi. Unfortunately the rickshaw driver only understood the word 'Indian' and took us to the embassy all the way out of town instead (no wonder he was a bit confused about the 50Rs we wanted to pay).
After a gesturing conversation we picked up a taxi fella and managed to get the right place!.
We are both really sad to be leaving Nepal its being a great couple of weeks. It's not as intense as India and a little more normal and western. Could see us returning some more in the future (Dont worry Mums we will come home first!).
Taxi to the airport mid afternoon to begin the marathon flight schedule to Hanoi. Flight regulations are really tough now. They did not like the magnetic backgammon game, orange juice carton, contact lense solution or liquid hand wash. Had to change all our money back into $ as you cannot take Nepalese Rupees out of the country. Going to have to get used to a
whole new currency again- Nepal and India both use rupees and the exchange rate is similar so the first transition was not too bad - no such luck this next time as Vietnam uses the dong and there are 30,000 to the pound!.
If we fly out of Kathmandu to Delhi again we will ask to sit on the right of the airplane as there are some great views of the mountains as you pass- but we could only glimpse at them in the opposite window.
It is weird being back in Delhi - it almost feels familiar and comfortable; what a difference a couple of weeks can make!. Lots of soldiers on the move - but we are cut off from world events right now - not too sure if they are shifting for a reason - heard a rumour from Paul's Dad that Vietnam set a bomb off - but it was North Korea instead - luckily its far enough away that we should not run into trouble - for now!.
Flight to Singapore was fine; Singapore airlines must be the most comfortable and best we have flown with. Great food and lots of on
demand movies. Very nice!. Singapore airport is really odd after Nepal and India. Lots of consumer goods and electronics on sale - really odd after the lack of it in India and Nepal. Felt wrong somehow?. They had a good internet café in the airport and we managed to catch up with a few weeks of e-mails.
Arrived in Hanoi after another great flight with Singapore airlines - about 24 hrs after we left Kathmandu but did not feel as knackered as we could have!. We got in about lunchtime but it took an hour to get through immigration. The Anh Do hotel was pre booked and we had a taxi pick up from the airport. Bex started feeling sleepy as soon as we were in it and flaked out. The hotel is fine and with breakfast and internet for $15 a night (8 GBP) per room . The hotel is in a busy, touristy part of the town but its a good location for us as most things look walkable.
We got an hour or so's sleep before wandering out for a bit. The scooters here are crazy!. Not so many cars and no tuk-tuks (boo!). But everyone is on a scooter there are millions of them. The road rules are a bit free form and crossing the road is a fine art. You just have to filter through the traffic looking straight ahead - we did our normal trick of following a local - but it is going to take a little bit of getting used to.
Not too many dogs around and a few more cats - I guess the dogs make a tasty treat. Need to be careful where we eat!. As suspected the currency is proving a little confusing; there are 30,000 dong to the pound - so we got a couple of million out. Cool as you like!.
Had dinner in a chilled out tour café called Handspan; only veggie food (phew!) but it was nice to chill out for a while; sat at a low table with just cushions for chairs. It was a bit expensive at $21 but worth it. Seem to be lots of tour cafes competing for business and we have heard lots of stories of people being ripped off when booking local tours - we need to be a bit careful!.
Early to bed again to try and recover from the flights.
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