JM1975

Having flown from Kathmandu, arriving in Delhi (with Lawrence) was a bit confusing; we were told on the plane that it was 45 degrees celcius, yet it didn't feel too hot (a dry, non-humid climate makes all the difference). We were told that arriving in India can be a shocking and overwhelming experience, but the airport was huge, pristine, air-conditioned, efficient and easy (with the exception of Lawrence scrawling his arrival info onto his Indian passport-visa, rather than his landing card, which created some consternation for the immigration staff!!!). Even the journey into the City Centre (Paharganj, where we had decided to stay) was impressive, with well-moving traffic, some beautiful colonnial architecture, clean and tidy roads... the shock that I had expected from India was completely eluding me! But then you get to Paherganj, a run-down, ... read more

It’s been quite a bit of time since my last entry, but the trek into the Himalayas with "Himalayan Encounters" (via Intrepid) was absolutely fabulous but also, in some ways, the worst 2 weeks of my life! There is really no way I can go into any detail about the whole trip here, but on Saturday, 2nd April, met up with the group of 11 other trekkers, comprising 3 Australians, 2 Americans, 2 Irish, and 5 English (9 girls, 3 guys). I’d been concerned about how the group would work, but as soon as we all went for dinner that night, it was obvious, I think, that pretty much everybody was very like-minded and would get on well. The following morning, we had an extremely early start for a flight to Lukla, renowned as being the ... read more

Today I join the group for the Kala Patthar and Everest Basecamp Trek. Very much looking forward to meeting some new people. The last two days have been very good, recovered from my various previous ailments and I'm now ready for the hills. On Thursday, I met up with Ram again, and we took a local bus from Kathmandu to Bhaktapur - another UNESCO World Heritage site. The contrasts between here and Kathmandu are extreme - it is a quiet, almost rural, and architecturally extremely beautiful city, 15km further south of KTM. Getting there was a drag - the Japanese are funding the construction of a new road between the two cities, but it would appear (from my brief experience of building roads) that it's being built in a very piecemeal, inefficient and laborious manner, not ... read more

So, page 394 of the Lonely Planet Guide to Nepal says "Even veteran travelers to South Asia come down with the trots in Nepal"... they don't call them the world's best travel guides for nothing! Have kept a low profile in Kathmandu since Sunday, half out of choice and half out of necessity! Sunday was a very relaxed, quite, and sleepy day for me here... got out of bed just in time for a late lunch in the (I think - amongst ex-pats - infamous) Himalayan Java Cafe, with friends of friends, a Kathmanduian girl and her Scandanavian husband. Again, so lovely to meet people who know people you do while you're away, and they were so interesting (and interested) that we spent about 2 hours chatting, me gleaning as much local knowledge as I could, ... read more

Well, after 3 full days here, I've succumbed to a cough/cold that's been getting worse since I got here, not helped by the pollution around this area of the City, and decided to take a day off! I'm chilling in the hotel, about to head to the roof garden for lunch, read my book, and listen to some music. At home, I wouldn't dream of not going to work if I felt like this, but that's the beauty of travelling on your own...! Ram and I got out of the City yesterday for the first time since I arrived, to a village about 10km south of Kathmandu, called Dakshinkali. The reason we went there was because on Saturday, which is the Hindu holy day, they have a festival there where people gather at the temple, buy ... read more

...well the journey continues. I've spent two extraordinary days here now and I still think this is a pretty special place. Yesterday started off with no plan, really... just wandered through the area I'm staying in and then down towards Durbar (Palace) Square, the main tourist area of Kathmandu. The square is full of buddhist and hindu temples, but quite honestly, I hadn't a clue what was going on and was sitting there looking a bit lost, when approached by a guide, who offered to give me a tour of the square. This is supposedly common here, and you're generally warned that it probably isn't the best way to spend your money, but having talked to the guy for ten minutes (more about trekking and Nepali politics than guided tours), I figured it would be worth ... read more

Well, I've made it far enough to type my first entry... getting here was all straightforward, flights and everything worked out fine. Didn't get too much sleep, but the noise-cancellation headphones that Jewels bought me are THE JOB! Kathmandu is pretty much everything I expected it to be... first impressions at the airport were of complete chaos, police, un-uniformed staff, tourists, and thousands of taxi drivers, porters, and randomers touting for any business they could get. It was a complete chaotic scrum of people with names, letter, and other scribbles scrawled on bits of paper, shouting at every westerner that emerged from the arrivals lobby. Even when I found my lift (which consisted of, oddly enough, five people all scrambling to carry my bags), they all seemed to be trying to outdo each other, bending over ... read more