I woke very early around 0530 and got up to enjoy the spectacular view of Annapurna II from the decking of our guesthouse. The evenings and early mornings are cold now so long trousers and fleece top are necesary. We took a walk up to the Gompa at the very top of Upper Pisang after breakfast. I stuck my head inside but it was rather dark despite a few candles burning. There seemed to be a lump under a red blanket so we didn't want to disturb a monks sleep and made a quick exit after making a small donation. We hit the trail at 9am and the familiar pattern soon emerged with Darren striding ahead, me behind and Hari bringing up the rear with the packs. There are very few trekkers on the trail at ... read more

I slept well last night despite the 0330 wake up call from the Gompa (Buddhist temple) on the hill where the monks carried out a ceremony in the middle of the night involving a tanoy musical broadcast of the Buddhist anthem followed by a horn blowing performance. Bewfore setting off this morning we visited the Gompa where maybe a dozen monks were inside spinning prayer wheels and studying. We also saw the memorial to the British trekker who died in the 1995 landslide at Bagarchap which killed 11 villagers and 9 trekkers. Today we passed through connifer woodland and reached the largest town since Besisahar, Chame after a 530m climb. Overlooking Chame is Annapurna II which looked splendid approaching the town. Late afternoon has brought the usual cloud cover but we should wake up to a ... read more

Today, whilst a shorter hike than yesterday was actually quite difficult. Very undulating and again very hot on the trail. We left Bahundanda just before 8am and descended steeply, weeving our way past rice and millet terraces. We stopped at Ghermu Phant for a drink and then crossed the river again to Syange via footbridge number 5. The trail then takes a steep slope up valley. We passed numerous packs of mules coming in the opposite direction and saw one poorly looking animal with an open wound where his pack had been tied perhaps a little too tightly. Before arriving in Jagat for lunch Hari had us rockclimbing a fairly steep and rocky shortcut which he claims saved us 40 minutes. Haris is 48 but he flew up that wall of rock not only with my ... read more

The transit bus left Kathmandu dead on 7am. Don't be fooled by the 'tourist' bus title, this wasn't a VIP bus with leather seats and onboard chef. Once the young lady in front had reclined her seat cosily into my groin there wasn't a lot of room for maneouvre. No AC either. Never mind, once we had eaked our way out of Kathmandu traffic and into the surrounding hillside the views were very enjoyable. We followed a winding road hugging the banks of the River Trisuli all the way to Dumre. We arrived in Dumre at 1145 and walked into a right old row. After getting off the bus we were rushed onto a mini bus (by a somewhat beligerant young man) bound for Besisahar. I asked Mr beligerant how much the fare was. '650 NR ... read more

Well hello everybody this is Bangkok. It's now 0349 on Sat 07th May and we have had an interesting time here in BKK already. Between 0100-0500 it is only 10 baht an hour in this internet cafe beneath our hotel at Rambutri village, I think darrens backpacker economic philosophy is starting to rub off on me. Today we had a bit of a lie in despite an eraly night last night. We have really not had any early nights since I arrived in Thailand 10 days ago and I think last night things caught up with us both and we were asleep shortly after 10 I think. After breakfast at Lamplu house which is Darrens favourite breakfast establishment it was time to find a replacemnet for my Gulf Of Thailand damaged Canon IXUS. Well that took ... read more