Blogs from Thamal, Kathmandu, Nepal, Asia - page 5

Day 44 cont Well after I left you the others came back from their horse ride (including cheryl despite losing the saddle!) and we headed off for lunch folowed by hiring the biggest pedalo i've ever seen! Us 6 girls peddalled out to the middle of the lake and swam and chilled for a few hours which was so good to do after so much driving and sightseeing etc. The lake and the annapurna range round it was amazing as was the weather (the nepalese tourists taking photos and weird polish men however were not so good!) so really enjoyed that. We had a free meal at the hotel that night which was a local dish od Dhal Baat (rice, potatoes, spinach, lentils and salad) not the nicest but free so not too many complaints! Early ... read more

Day 46 Pokhara to Kathmandu (Wed 18th Aug) Wow - it’s the half way mark of our trip today! We have successfully survived in each others company for 46 days, with 46 days to go. I’m pretty sure we will make it :) I doesn’t really seem like we have been travelling all that long, and yet at the same time, it feels like months since we were in Europe. Very strange, but we are all far too busy in the present to contemplate the strange nuances of the passage of time... This morning half the group left early (around 0600) to go white water rafting on the way to Kathmandu. The other half of us (who sensibly decided to sleep in...) departed the resort in Pokhara at 1000. The little coach seemed strangely empty with ... read more

I finally arrived in Kathmandu Nepal smelly, tired and covered in bug bites after three flights, four countries and a combined 35 hours of flight time and layovers. It’s my third night here in Kathmandu, Nepal and I’m having a blast. Kathmandu is hot, loud, aggressive and everything is covered with a layer of dirt. Traffic is insane as people dodge cars, bikes, motorcycles and buses. There are stray dogs roaming the streets for scraps of food, rooster’s cocka-doodle-dooing and random cows causing further traffic chaos. Although Kathmandu is dirty, loud, and chaotic, it’s also a colourful and beautiful place kind of like how daylight breaks through a grey sky. There is a warmth that can be felt through the smiles of the Nepali people. The culture here is so rich and deep which just further ... read more

22/5/10: Today we went shopping for thermals and a warm down coat. After the cold wind and temperatures of ABC we weren’t trekking Everest without warm gear. We found exactly what we needed and saved a lot of money by shopping around. We were mainly worried about the weight of our packs as they started to get ridiculously heavy, mine must be over the 25kg mark not including the day pack that is around 7-9kg. I also had to find another camera battery for the Everest trek as the two batteries I had were not going to last the 18 days. My attempts had to extend into the next day. 23/5/10: Another bad sleep due to the partying outside our hotel late that night. We packed up, checkout and headed for Pilgrims Guest house as they ... read more

8/5/10: We woke up early so we could get an agreed cycle rickshaw at 7:00am. We waited for our travel agent, he would meet us in front of our hotel. The 6 day strike had ended this morning and everything started to open up. I walked to the bank so I could get some money out but it was not working due to bad internet connection and constant power failures. I came back just before 7:00am and waited and waited, we then tried to call our travel agent without luck. I went for a 500m walk to see if his office was open. By the time I got there it was 7:45 and he was open. I asked him what was happening? He said come to this office at 9:00am. I was pissed off because he ... read more