Blogs from Nepal, Asia - page 9

Woke up today still feeling pretty sick. Raj gave me three options: stay put for a day and hope I feel better tomorrow, take the public bus back to the city (2 hours on rock filled roads, with potholes large enough to put a person in, and lots of jostles/turns), or hike out. Since staying in the room felt like a cell and not having control of when to get off the bus both felt like death, hike out was all that remained. We packed up and were on the trail by 8:30. The majority of today was downhil again which did numbers on my belly. The meds helped, but after 45 minutes, I really felt the lack of food in my system and my pace slowed way down as Raj sprang down the hill and ... read more

We discovered that Raj had ESP. One of the main attractions of this hike is to make it to the top of Poon Hill at sunrise. This requires hikers to leave their guesthouse at 4:30 AM hike at one of the coldest parts of day to make it to the top by sunrise. Raj said he thinks we’d much prefer sunset if it is clear tonight because the colors are better in his opinion, we do not have to get up early and we will be more warm. ALL THREE are spot on especially not wanting to get up early. Mind you, each day we will be up by 7 AM hiking by 8, but those extra 2 and a half hours are vital. All day we hiked with the hope of clear skies and getting ... read more

After a 7 hour bus ride, including 2 stops for food and 2 stops for a toilet break, we arrived in Pokhara. From here, the hiking adventure will begin. Pokhara had a different feel to it than Kathmandu. It is right by a lake and has one main road near us that runs along side it. The shore line stores almost follow a pattern of tourist shops: hiking gear/clothing, art, jewelry, tours, trinkets, hiking gear/clothing, insert random restaurant and coffee cafe...repeat. There is a park with a soccer field constantly in action and traffic is not so crazy that a random cow or two can‘t meander down the street looking for a snack. Our night consisted of roaming the back roads which really led more to the center of town (apparently the tourist stretch is on ... read more

Even though we arrived in Kathmandu this evening, I am going start with the significance of the boda boda in Uganda. The boda boda is between a 50 and 300 cc motorcycle and is typical means of public transport in Uganda. There are buses, but they only go city to city and taxis and private cars are expensive. There are boda stages on almost every corner or you stand by the road side and one will pull over. Prices are negotiable depending on what you are transporting, how many you are transporting and how far you are going. There is now even a trend of Safe Boda where the driver is vetted by a company, you can contact them using an app and they must provide the passenger a helmet and obey all traffic laws. Sounds ... read more

Thamel and Chandragiri Hills. I had no problem when I get back to the hotel. Just tired a bit, and after a shower decided to take a lie down and rest which was a mistake. I fell asleep and. When I got up after a couple of hours had to struggle even to get out of bed. Just severe aches mainly on the calf muscles. It was evident that I am paying for lack of training. In a way I was lucky that the pain was setting in only now. Had it hit earlier it would have been necessary to carry me down. Realizing the condition I decided to walk it off, starting very slowly. Within 15 minutes it eased a fair bit band I was able to manage to move more freely. I met Pat ... read more