Our next big event of the Buddha to Bollywood trip involved crossing the border between Nepal and India by road. A short drive, this time in two small jeeps (further on there was a bridge that could only take smaller vehicles), took us to a VERY busy border crossing point. Lorries were backed up waiting to get into India (apparently they can only cross between certain times). We had to walk to the Nepal exit office to fill out our departure forms and get our passports stamped then we walked through the huge archway into no-man's land - about a 200m strip. Who had duristiction here we didn't know so we imagined people luring victims here to commit unpunishable crimes! And so we stepped over the dotted line. Then it was through the huge welcome to ... read more

Having said my farewells to my Nepal Panorama trip friends I arrived at my meeting point hotel, the Kathmandu Prince, to meet my new travel companions. For the first part of the tour until Delhi there are just 8 of us plus our tour leader Manu. I'm sharing with an Aussie girl called Sammy - one of the first things I found out about her is how much she loves Kathmandu - I find this fascinating as I can't wait to leave the place and head off for India. People are so different. There are 2 more Aussies in the group, honey-moon couple Janine and Carl (good job they didn't do the trekking in the Tea Houses with paper thin walls!). Incidentally we met another honey-moon couple on the Everest flight who said they had only ... read more

With 2 full free days in Pokhara we set off early to peruse the shops, buy presents, postcards, posters etc. Then me and Linda went down to the lake and hired a wooden rowing boat and man to paddle us and spent a blissful, relaxing, peaceful hour out on the water enjoying the view and taking more photos. We saw paragliders up in the skies with the snow capped mountains as a back drop. They were sooo high up (more of this later!). Then it was back to the hotel to christen the pool, laze about sun bathing, drinking beers, listening to music, reading, having another swim, drinking more beer. Heaven! A little Nepalese boy came called Shankar came over and we got chatting. He was such a clever one. He could read and write English ... read more

Day 6 - Poon Hill and Ghorepani to Banthanti I was awake early for the start of our VERY EARLY hike up Poon Hill to watch the sunrise. A bleary eyed, head torch wearing group set off in the dark. What a strange sight it was. We discovered that Ghorepani must have a hell of a lot of accomodation as there were what seemed like hundreds of people all processing up the steep stone steps in single file. The steps were huge and it was hard going as there was a pretty important deadline to hit - SUNRISE. So everyone was pushing themselves really hard to make it up in time. Falsh summit after false summit but eventually after a tough 50 minute climb the watch tower came into sight and we all gathered in a ... read more

Day 4 - Ghandruk to Tadapani (2,590m) We set of from our Tea House for a much shorter trek this morning heading for Tadapani. This trekking was very different from the previous day as we entered lush sub-tropical forests of mainly rhodedendrons dripping with moss and ferns. Having spent many a day hacking down and burning the smaller, invasive varieties that are taking over our British countryside it was nice to see them growing where they are meant to be! There were loads in blossom in a deep pinking red colour. We also saw tiny mauve primula, mahonia, ferns and mosses and daphne growing beneath the canopy of trees. Daphne used by the mountain people for either making paper or for use as rope. The outside of the stems are peeled back then the inside peeled ... read more