Day 2. Soti Khola – Machha Khola Up early, packed and breakfast at about 7.00 then ready to go. Himal not ready, still eating his breaky so told him we’d go ahead. Today’s walk was mainly on the newly built road and along the riverbed. The first hour or so was relentlessly uphill then it flattened for a bit before we stopped for lemon tea in Khanibesi. Just before stopping a dog (sort of short legged German shepherd with a smattering of corgi) took a fancy to us and followed for quite some distance. It barked and growled at any goats, cows or ponies which in Nepal would seem to be a very limiting trait for a dog. After our first of what will be many lemon teas on the trek we headed off with renewed ... read more

Another pretty broken nights sleep, but we’re all starting to feel better adjusted to the time difference. Woke to the news that the Aussies had tampered with the ball in South Africa. This formed the basis of most of our conversation for the day, alternating between horror that they could be that dumb and disgust at the brazen disregard for good sportsmanship. I may have omitted to mention being half Aussie. Had breakfast then got a taxi (again a very small Suzuki despite the guys assurance that he had a “big” car) to the temples and cremation area at Pashupatinath. While it should macabre this is a fascinating insight into the rituals and beliefs of Nepalese Hindus. This is the Nepal’s most important Hindu temple on the banks of the Bagmati River. Along the river bank ... read more

Well after many weeks of training, a few injury issues (including Dave’s knees which meant he unfortunately could not join us ) and with due trepidation we’re finally on our way. Left Hamilton at 5.00am intending to beat the Auckland traffic but no such luck. In what may prove to be an omen for the trip took the first “shortcut” with Graeme/Arch changing into the inside lane which was moving faster only for it to promptly slow down and all the cars originally behind us go past. Those who followed the blog from the last Nepal adventure will recall our endless quest for shortcuts, some of which delivered and others that were more aptly called “long-cuts”! Despite the slow traffic were amongst the first to the check in. No problems here until the last bag (Gordon’s) ... read more

As the Sri Lankan adventure slowly moves towards finishing so to has my timeliness with this blog. I am now two days behind and writing this on the morning of our final day. There is an unspoken rule amongst us blog writers that all blogs must be completed prior to disembarking in your home country. Hence the two days covered here and what will probably be two days in the next posting. After our trip to Galle we decided upon a quieter day so a trip to the beach followed by a cooking class and dinner in the guest house. Tuk tuks to Polhena beach which was about 6km from Marissa so 15minutes by tuk. The staff at guest house said this was a beach favoured by local folk not so much by tourists but was ... read more

Staying in a lovely guest house (The Spice House) here in Marissa. We would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is coming here, probably about six or eight rooms and a lovely pool with quiet gardens all around. A nice respite from the hustle and bustle outside. This is a beach part of the holiday so a fair bit of r&r and so not so much activity to report on. Hence bi-daily blogs. We did on the first morning suffer the inevitable navigational issue, this time,however, with Marie and Donna in tow. Decided to walk down to the fishing harbour and after getting there hot and tired decided to get tuk tuks to take us back to the beach. The tuk tuks dropped us of on a corner and we headed off up a road that ... read more