Scoubers

After the kayaking we had a day to sort ourselves out in Kathmandu and get ready for the next trek - a two week trip into the Everest (Khumbu) region to climb a peak called Lobuche East. We headed off on the morning of the 3rd to get a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla (you can do a walk to Lukla from a place called Jiri, but it would have taken to long) and what a flight it was. The plane fits maybe 16 people, which isn't the scary bit - its the fact that the runway was obviously built my a lunatic - its about 200m long, and built at a 30-40 degree angle - so when you land it helps to slow you down, and when you take off it helps to speed ... read more

The Apple Pie Circuit Chris and I got back yesterday from a 15 day trek around the Annapurna range of mountains - its thought to be one of the worlds classic treks and I can certainly see why! I've included quite a few photos here, and I took tonnes more - unfortunately (but understandably) this site forces me to reduce the size of the shots so they aren't as good quality as the 'real' pics. Anyway, my pictures don't do the place justice - no-ones could - the views and people and the trekking is absolutely breathtaking - I'd strongly recommend this trip to anyone - particularly as they are building a road up both sides of the valley, so probably best to do the trek soon... Anyway, I'll not go into everyday of the ... read more

We've spent the last two weeks in Nepal and managed to achieve quite a lot already - and we've got another 6 weeks to go - woohoo! So far I love pretty much everything about this country apart from the state of the food/water supplies, which has basically had either me or Sceats with dodgy stomachs at any given point in time (except today - so far anyway...). We arrived here on Sunday 24th Feb and walked around Katmandu, had some food and got used to Thamel - the area in Kathmandu we were staying in. Its basically the tourist centre of Nepal, and its full of shops selling dodgy antiques, carpets, and an amazing amount of fake north face trekking gear. There are also tonnes of touts trying to sell guiding services and quite a ... read more

After 2 days of bus journey from Banlung (I never left my hotel room in Komphon Cham as I was felling too ill, so can't tell you anything about it!) we arrived in Siem Reap. Its a bit of a different experience to the North-East of Cambodia, with more backpackers, more touts, more kids selling postcards/books/pineapples/cans of drinks, more tuk-tuk drivers and definitely more temples. The first afternoon we took a walk around the town, sent some e-mails and arranged what we'd do for the next couple of days. On Monday and Tuesday, we spent our time visiting the temples of Angkor - by bicycle on Monday, and Tuk-Tuk on Tuesday. These were the most impressive temples I've ever seen - and not by any small margin - they are unbelievably impressive. It's impossible for me ... read more

Since arriving in Cambodia 3 days ago, I've had the feeling that this is a bit more like it...particularly now I'm in an absolutely amazing place called Kratie. We flew into Phnom Penh on Thursday 25th Jan and went to our accommodation in the middle of the city. The city itself is pretty big, pretty dirty and pretty smelly. But its got character and life, and an amazing amount of energy. It also has the craziest traffic system I've seen on my travels to date. Its a bit like the film Speed, where the bus can't go under a certain speed limit, otherwise it blows up. Except here, there are several thousand mopeds and cars who have to maintain their speed at all costs - I have no idea how we didn't see any crashes - ... read more