Blogs from Kathmandu, Nepal, Asia

It was a long summer of lots of hiking, stair climbing and general hill practice in preparation for a 10 day trek to Annapurna Base Camp (also known as Annapurna Sanctuary) in the Himalaya - something that has been on my bucket list for years. It was originally planned as a 60th birthday destination for Vera but unfortunately a hip injury derailed her. So the gang of four became myself, 2bob, Angie and Jeff. For me, just getting to Kathmandu was an exhausting adventure in itself which was somewhat due to my decisions. On October 21st I chose I work for the Canadian Federal Elections as a poll clerk which was a long 16 hour day followed by 4 hours sleep then flying to Montreal for 5 days for some volunteer activity with CSCT. Sunday October ... read more

Alles thuis opgeruimd, ingepakt, dus klaar om te vertrekken! We vertrokken goed op tijd (uiteraard, we gingen met de Beyensen 😊) en kwamen dus goed op tijd aan. Nog genoeg tijd voor een drankje en uit te zoeken waar we moesten opstappen. Uiteidelijk gevonden, namen we afscheid van mijn schoonouders (nu kan ik het ECHT zeggen) en gingen we wachten. We waren als eerste aan de incheckbalie en ik speelde er wat op mijn Nintendo Switch en Karen las op haar splinternieuwe e-reader. Verder ging alles hier vlot en was het vooral wachten. Aan de gate speelden we nog enkele spelletjes Clever. We vlogen met Etihad Airways en niet met KLM zoals gedacht. Gelukkig hadden ze even goede films en kon ik detective Pikachu nog zien en nog een comedy. Weliswaar een gecensureerde versie want 'duck' ... read more

We all met for breakfast at 07:00 and Rusha met us. I thought she was going to sort out finances for our trip. We owed money for the bungee jumps but she owed us for the cheaper day tour and for the lunches and dinner at Pokhara. I aked her about it but she said she was going to just leave it. I also figured that it would work out about even so we were happy to leave it as well. Nick’s pick-up was due at 07:00 but was a little late so we had a chance to say goodbye. After breakfast we finished packing and were ready on time fore our 08:30 pick-up. It was also a little late but traffic was fine and we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. ... read more

For the first time since arriving I had a lousy nights sleep. I woke to dogs barking their heads off at 3AM. Followed by a drunk or potentially crazy guy wandering down my street raving about god knows what. (turns out the Nepali have crazy folks too) and then around 5AM the rooster started. Its not so cute now. Apparently, there were more celebrations last night, but I was so tired and sore I retired at a respectable hour which I now regret. I could have been drinking with drunk/crazy guy I didn’t have to check out the hotel to midday so I decided to go for a walk. I hadn’t made it to the wood carving museum so I thought this morning would be a good time to try and find it. Instead I ran ... read more

Even though we arrived in Kathmandu this evening, I am going start with the significance of the boda boda in Uganda. The boda boda is between a 50 and 300 cc motorcycle and is typical means of public transport in Uganda. There are buses, but they only go city to city and taxis and private cars are expensive. There are boda stages on almost every corner or you stand by the road side and one will pull over. Prices are negotiable depending on what you are transporting, how many you are transporting and how far you are going. There is now even a trend of Safe Boda where the driver is vetted by a company, you can contact them using an app and they must provide the passenger a helmet and obey all traffic laws. Sounds ... read more