31st October ’12 Awash to Addis Ababa So driving back to Addis today as returning there is the easiest way to then head north and there is a bit of sightseeing organised in the city for the afternoon but I doubt I will make it as I feel lousy and just need sleep! We drove back through the volcanic landscape, passing lava fields and jagged crater peaks. We stopped at Lake Beseka where there were lots of endemic (new word for the trip) Ethiopian birds whose names I have totally forgotten and great views of the volcanoes. Another stop was at a view point where there were lots of children, with lots of older children carrying babies strapped to their backs and once more they were all smiling, laughing and saying hello to us faranjis. By ... read more

After a brief week back in the UK including a weekend in Glasgow we are off on the road again and this time it’s ETHIOPIA! 26th-27th Oct ’12 Addis Ababa A very early 4am wake up and by 5am we were checked in at Teesside Airport, thanks to the above and beyond call of friendship lift from Abi and John! It felt really strange to be setting off from our local airport and knowing we were going to end up in Ethiopia! It was a short flight to Amsterdam and the plane was mainly full of business people and I had to suppress the urge to say we’re not going to Europe, we are off on an adventure to deepest darkest Africa. We had about 3 hours before our onward flight and I was kind of ... read more

14th Patan and Swayambhunath After a bad night’s sleep we still got up early and once again caught a taxi, this time to the city of Patan which is now almost a suburb of Kathmandu. Patan is known as the City of Beauty and I’m sure it once was, now the jumbled mass of houses and shops which sprawl around the historic areas kind of spoil the image slightly. Unlike Bhaktapur traffic still speeds around all the small streets which makes looking at the various temples and shrines a less comfortable experience – you constantly have one eye over your shoulder! However the Durbar Square was still stunning with it’s elegant pagoda temples and intricately carved stone temples. We ran the same gamut of people offering to be guides but once again just wanted to see ... read more

10th-11th Oct ’12 Bandipur After saying our goodbyes to the staff at the Hotel Orchid we began the 3 hour journey up to Bandipur, which basically retraced the bus journey to Pokhara with a quick stop at a truck stop for Bikram to get some food. He had been up driving since 7am before he picked us up and was starving poor guy. The truck stop was interesting, how he managed to weave his little car in between all these hulking trucks was truly impressive. All the truckers were eating from metal plates with big dollops of various curries and rice all scooped up with their fingers. I didn’t even attempt the loo here! Once we were nearly in Dumre there was a side road which we took winding up the mountain ... read more

2nd - Oct ’12 Pokhara We slept like logs and I didn’t wake up until 10 am. I pulled the curtains open but the views are still hazy, maybe tomorrow. I love just sitting out on the balcony though, just watching life going on around me and I feel so much more relaxed already. So after the wonders of a good night’s sleep we went out to find breakfast and discovered a great little place just down the road that does the most delicious pancakes, so it look like that’s going to become another regular stop for us! We walked along the main road and past the Royal Palace – you can’t see anything but the wall, and into the central area of Lakeside (the tourist part of Pokhara). It’s just one main road lined with ... read more