Up and out again for 7.00. The Marmite that Tom brought out was finished off today and the Heinz ketchup bottle has less than one squeeze left...Ed is very much looking forward to home cooked food and Cas is going to introduce new dishes to expand the repertoire. We took a five minute walk with our guide Bishnu to take a a canoe down river. The canoe was cut from a single, long tree and hollowed out. It was a great piece of carving and it's flat bottom meant that it could float in very little water. It was a bit scary coming face to face with Marsh Mugger crocodiles who hide expertly amongst the lilies and mid-stream weed clumps, eyes ever watchful for a tasty morsel... Bright blue kingfishers whizzed up and down the river ... read more

It was an early start for our bus to Chitwan National Park. We arrived at the Pokhara bus station in time to order teas and coffee and for the lads to buy some panoramic photos of the Annapurnas. The bus journey was 6 1/2 hours and it was by far the bumpiest journey we've done on the trip. There were also a few nail biting moments in a long stretch of gorge road as there were sections with no barriers and a 200ft drop to the river below. Bob got chatting to a 17 year old Nepali and they watched a comedy on his phone. We arrived at the dusty Chitwan bus station and the taxi drivers were out in full force. I walked up and down the line looking for a sign for Green Park ... read more

It rained all night and the mountains were completely hidden at dawn. The room was hot and damp and, with the prospect of Mozzi bites, it was a choice to be bitten or be boiling, so I opted for the latter. Tom was feeling better this morning but wasn't eating much. Bob had a rough night with his tummy and wasn't in any state to do more walking. After a discussion, we asked our guide to call for a jeep so that they could go back to the hotel and rest for the day. As we waited for the jeep driver to have his cup of tea, it's Nepali time after all, we spotted this sign painted on the side of someone's house. After waving them off, we climbed a further 1,600ft to Australia Camp where ... read more

We set off on a two day trek in the Annapurna range of the Himalayas. Our guide and porter met us outside the hotel with a minibus and it took us about 45 mins to reach the start. The trail was a set of stone steps that went up and up for 3000ft, although, we didn't know that at the time. We passed through forests, fields of rice and sweetcorn and clumps of Rhododendrons. There was a mix of sun and cloud, so the conditions were favourable for hill walking. Our destination was the stone housed village of Dhampus, to a tea house that was pure backpacker ie run down, scruffy, someone's home and home cooked food. Tom had a dodgy tummy and he was feeling poorly by the time we got to the top. So, ... read more

It was a dawn start to take a jeep to the Himalayas viewing point at the top of Sarongkot. The clouds were quite thick and we only saw flashes of huge icy peaks. When it's clear, the whole of the Annapurnas are laid out like a picture postcard - just like the image I've pasted from Google. Tom was feeling jaded and he fell asleep bent over on his lap and he indulged in some high altitude snoring. Later Bob and Tom were laid flat out on some concrete steps; it's a hard knock life... Hat's latest aspiration is to be a photo journalist, so she wandered the viewing point snapping away merrily.... read more