Day 43 Chitwan to Pokhara (Sun 15th Aug) Up early today for an 0700 departure. Its not all that far but apparently there are going to be public transport strikes today and the roads may be difficult. We want to get to Pokhara as smoothly as possible, hence the early start. It was a smooth journey, despite having to stop a couple of times. The drivers of the public transports stopped work at 0900 and blocked off the roads, only allowing tourist coaches through. So we got through okay, we just had to slow down to manoeuvre around the blocks. The scenery today was stunning. We are getting to the higher regions of Nepal and there were mountains, ravines, waterfalls and suchlike all the way. It is just unbelievably beautiful and so very peaceful. We followed ... read more

Day 40 Varanasi to Lumbini (12th Aug) So today was another early start, as we have a border crossing into Nepal. We are all ready for a change now, too. Hoping for a bit of R&R in Nepal. So as we were about to leave Varanasi at 0700, LJ (our tour leader, for those who forgot) jumps onto the coach and in the space of less than 2 minutes, informs us that he has a family emergency and will be leaving us today, we will be met at the Nepal border by our Nepal Guide and have to otherwise manage by ourselves in Nepal, that Ozbus will be in touch with us, nice to meet you and goodbye. It was so sudden that everyone was in shock. We all sort of looked at each other as ... read more

Day 35 Delhi to Agra (Sat 7th Aug) Up and off on time today - we will really miss this hotel too, as it was VERY nice! The trip today was not too long actually and we made it into Agra by 1500. Time to settle into our rooms before heading into town for ‘lunch’. Ali and I somehow managed to get the room without a working air conditioning unit which will be interesting given how hot and humid it is today. At least the power works though, so we do have a ceiling fan. For lunch we used some tuktuk’s to get into town and ate on a rooftop terrace restaurant. For once I can eat something besides bread - so I had banana pancakes... It was a really nice and relaxed meal, and the ... read more

Day 30 Multan to Lahore (Mon 2nd Aug) No point wasting our time in Multan, where we can’t even go for a walk, so we head off early for Lahore. It wasn’t too long a drive and we made it to Lahore in plenty of time. On the way in to our hotel, we went past a pizza hut and Domino’s - so guess where everyone went for dinner? I still wasn’t feeling great (though definitely better) so I skipped that and stuck with digestive biscuits and Berocca. A good nutrition diet. They did have a laundry service here though, so everyone made use of that. It’s good to have 2 nights somewhere, just so we all have clean clothes! Day 31 Lahore Waking up today, I was happy to notice I no longer feel sick ... read more

Day 24 Esfahan to Tehran (Tues 27thJuly) Up early for a 0800 start today. Heading back to Tehran for one night - our last in Iran. Since we have already travelled this leg, there were no real stops this time and the day went by rather quickly, with only 6.5 hours spend on the coach. We made it to the hotel (the same 4 star hotel we stayed in just a few days ago) by 1500. However, despite the fact that we were in so early, we found that by the time we settled and ate, we were just too weary to go out anywhere. Tehran is not the friendliest feeling city in the world though so we weren’t really feeling any great desire to go out anyway. We do know that tomorrow will be a ... read more