October 16th Up reasonably early today as we'd decided to head out on the train for the 45 minute journey to Jurong East to go to their local water park. I'd found this place whilst researching - we could have gone to Wet 'n' Wild for about $20 each, or Jurong East Swimming Complex for about $1.80 for me and 80 cents for Mia! They didn't have the extreme rides like their counterpart, but they still had massive water slides and the lazy river etc - enough for us! It was raining when we set out but we weren't too concerned as we'd be getting wet anyway and it was so hot! We arrived around 1pm (ok, so we hadn't got up that early) and as we walked the 10 minutes or so to the water ... read more

13th October - Kathmandu to Singapore Mia and I left Kathmandu for the airport in the morning for our 1pm flight. It took us much longer than expected due to the horrible weather - the rain was pelting down which was very unusual for Kathmandu at this time of year. Our flight arrived in Singapore around 8.30pm and we had a quick exit through customs and grabbed a cab for the 20 or so min journey to our home for the next 5 nights - 'Betel Box Backpackers' in Joo Chiat. I'd picked here to stay for numerous reasons. First being that as we were staying in Singapore for so long, we couldn't afford to stay in hotels the whole time! Plus I thought it'd be good for Mia to experience the backpacker way of travelling ... read more

October 9th - Trek Ghandruk to Syauli Bazaar - Tata bus to Nayapul - Jeep to Pokhara We sadly said our goodbyes to Stuart and the boys and then packed for our final day of trekking :-( We had decided to trek about 2 hours to the tiny village of Syauli Bazaar where we would then decide whether to continue walking back to Nayapul or grab transport to take us back. It would depend upon what the path was like after Syauli. I must say that for our last day of trekking the views were outstanding! Behind us we'd get our last glimpses of the gorgeous peaks and in front we had the most green, beautiful, terraced rice paddies leading down to the edge of the valley. The steps wound down through the paddies with a ... read more

Tuesday 7th October - Ghorepani (2875m ) to Poon Hill (3200m ) back via Mid Ghorepani (2800m) to Deurali Pass (3090m) to Tadopani (2630m) In summary - altitude gain of 335m, descent of 400m, ascent 290m, descent 460m - all in one day!!! What a day! Up at 4.30am to make the pre sunrise trek to Poon Hill - 3200m with an amazing sunrise view over the Annapurnas - Annapurna South, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and Hinchuli - the top peak being 8000m (Kosciusko is 2200m). Luckily we woke to clear skies; otherwise it wouldn't have been worth the trek. Trudging up the steps in the dark, head torches lighting the way, we marched up more relentless steps, slowly like a line of ants - with the mass of other trekkers making the same early morning journe... read more

Sunday 5th October - Nayapul (1070m) to Ulleri (1930m) - Height gain 860m - 7 hours We were up early today to meet up with Dende, Mia's porter, and our jeep driver to head off for the 90 minute scenic trip to Nayapul - the beginning of our trek. As we left Pokhara it was quite cloudy with no views, however, within about 15 minutes the skies cleared and the fabulous Annapurnas were ours to enjoy once again! The journey to Nayapul is gorgeous but quite scary. As we began to climb in altitude the winding, bumpy roads through local villages had steep drop offs into the valleys way below. Pretty, but what my nightmares are made of (I seriously have nightmares of being in cars that go over the edge of roads like these...) At ... read more