After our day in Agra, we stopped at Fahtepur Sikri on our way back to Delhi. I'd heard bad things about the vendors/wannabe tour guides, and they were a bit of a pain. But we managed to find an honest guide and had a look around. It was a really great complex and as we'd found the day before, there were not many tourists. The palaces for the three different queens of Akbar - a Christian, Muslim and Hindu to support his multifaith ideas - were really beautiful and all very varied from each other. After looking around the palaces, we [View Full Entry]

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We had a complete nightmare getting out of Kathmandu. There had been a lot of minor striking whilst we were in Nepal but of course they picked the day we were due to fly out to have the mother of all strikes. I'd intended to buy my brothers' girlfriends presents in the morning. No can do - all shops were shut. Our hotel also informed us that we may not be able to get to the airport - no taxis, cars or motorbikes are running due to the strike. Any car found on the road is being burnt. Oh goody! The [View Full Entry]

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We headed to Boudhanath hot on the tails of Bhaktapur, which plays host to many, many Tibetan exiles who left Tibet during the Chinese involvement. That means that there are seemingly hundreds of maroon clad monks perambulating the stupa, the largest in Nepal I believe, as well as lots of colourful monasteries in the surrounding area. We had already visited Swambunath stupa, and I possibly thought that the Boudha stupa paled in comparison. True it is bigger than its counterpart, but it also enjoys a much less idyllic location, on ground level flanked by tourist shops and hemmed in by roofto [View Full Entry]

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After rainy Patan, the weather fortuitously cleared up and so we headed to Bhaktapur. We spent a small fortune on the metered taxi to get there (I'm sure something was suspect as it went up every 8 seconds if we were moving, which seems a bit much!), and were therefore cross to notice the NR750 fee to get in to Bhaktapur (it is only NR50 for citizens of countries like India and other SAARC countries - we felt that the degree of uplift was a bit unreasonable, and it was also a lot more expensive than the other Durbar Squares to [View Full Entry]

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25.05.09 - We got a taxi early from Kathmandu to Patan and checked into Cafe de Patan, well placed about ten seconds from Durbar Square. Unfortunately we arrived in some pretty persistent rain, which we thought in the usual Nepalese style would settle down after a while. It didn't. Therefore after going to our room (and killing a cockroach, which I swear are following us - we killed three in Bandipur!), we headed out to the square in the rain. Sans raincoats or umbrellas. Pretty soon we were harassed by a "student" who didn't want to be a guide but only [View Full Entry]

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After Bandipur, we headed for Gorkha. This involved changing at Dumre, where we were jerked around by the supposedly helpful guys at the bus station who clearly let about five Gorkha bound buses go by before putting us on the worst one of them all! Sorry if I sound grouchy. We've had a few bad buses and I'm under the grip of a dodgy stomach so the last thing you want is to be crammed in to a local bus, where people spit on the bus, vomit on the bus, all the while as you are thrown from pillar to post [View Full Entry]

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We took a bus from Pokhara to Dumre, where we caught a jeep up the hill to Bandipur. It was pretty cool making the effort to Bandipur. Although there are tourists there, it is hardly a touristy place. The main street in town is pedestrianised, and the Newari style architecture has been beautifully preserved. As its high up in the hills, there are views aplenty. If it were clearer we would have had stunning views of the Himalayas; the weather being what it was they were cloud obstructed, but still there in the distance. We spent the day seeing the few [View Full Entry]

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We decided to do a three day, two night trip in Chitwan and this followed on immediately from our trek - no rest for the wicked! The first day involved catching a 7.30 bus to Bharatpur Heights, from where Island Jungle Resort would give us transport onwards into the park. The bus was an experience as it was a proper 'local' bus, with wet seats from the rain, no leg space and the bus constantly stopping so the 'conductor' figure could try and drum up new business and get more butts on seats. This was pretty annoying and it was also [View Full Entry]

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11.05.09 - We had decided to do a five day trek to Poon Hill on the basis that the weather isn't that great at the moment (very changeable) and that would leave us with more time to sightsee elsewhere in Nepal. First day started bright and early with a transfer to Nayapul. We were soon walking - something I haven't done outside of a city concept in a while. We stopped for breakfast in Birepani - a really gorgeous town, all cobbled streets and stone houses. During breakfast our porter stopped to consult a yogi - on his way to the [View Full Entry]

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05.05.09 - Oh what bliss is this! I am finally up to date. An unprecedented thing in the last 8 months, in your face to all naysayers (that means you, Aled!) Anyway, we arrived at Pokhara after our mammoth journey and checked in to the lovely Butterfly Lodge, well placed in Lakeside to be near all the restaurants etc. Since we've been here we've spent a bit of time pottering, especially me as Elliott had a three day meditation course that I did not go on. Instead I spent too much time on the net and read many, many books including [View Full Entry]

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