So here we are in the City of Joy, Kolkata. It's a crazy place and from what others have said, not many people enjoy it. We came expecting the worst, and whilst far from falling in love with the city, we haven't completely hated it. In honour of our anniversary we acted nice and went for a decadent dinner at Peter Cat - a pretty funky little place where the waiters wear turbans and cummerbunds. Corb had the local specialty - Chelo Kebabs - which was goat (we think) sausage, butter rice, and chicken and vegie kebabs... delicious! I had the Afghani Chicken - succulent and rich and everything we'd hoped. We also splashed out for drinks... ice cold beer and a not too shabby barcadi and pineapple.. mmmmmm. The food in Kolkata has generally been ... read more

Another ass crack awakening and hot dusty bus ride and we had arrived in Karkarvitta, on the Indian Border. Luckily this time we got a clean room with a kick ass fan, in a clean hotel that did some pretty damn good cooking considering the location. We feasted on curry, fruit and curd and the best Nepali Thali ... .it was delicious. We also tried masala coke... it was ... well spicy, but I think we'll both stick to regular coke from now on! There wasn't much to see or do for our afternoon in Karkarvitta, so we ate, napped and read.. resting up for our onslaught on India.... read more

These are a few of our favourite things about Nepal: (In no particular order) 1) Elephants!! Especially the cute baby ones at Chitwan 2) Indian Food - curries, naan, chapati, indian sweets and masala tea... it's all great but all the overlanders from India say it will only get better! 3) Cake - the bakeries of Kathmandu pull of pseudo-German quite well and all have discounts after 8pm. Then there's Snowman down in Kathmandu who always has cheap, delicious chocolate cake 4) Mountains - from the tree covered kind to the high Himalayas, they are all really beautiful and we can't get enough. Looking forward to the day we return in order to walk the Annapurna circuit 5) The scent of India - incense, spices, curries a-cooking (and a little of the unsavory stuff you get ... read more

So we have just spent more or less 3 great days at Chitwan National Park in Southern Nepal. It has been absolutely fantastic with limitless food, great weather (though quite hot), friendly people and lots of animals. Our first day we visited the Elephant Breeding Centre which was one of the highlights of the trip so far for me. Not only did we learn lots about the role of elephants in Nepal and the creatures themselves, but we actually got to play with several baby elephants! It was soo neat to be able to pat them and feed them and just hang out, after only a few minutes it was very evident that they each had very different personalities. The funniest was a cheeky little fellow who kept misbehaving, pretending to charge us and never doing ... read more

After arguments with the driver and the hotel staff, and a flat tire in the desert, we finally made it out of Tingri and to the Nepalese Border. The drive out was once again amazing, reaching 5200m+ once again as we drove out onto a vast barren plateau, and looked down on the clouds and the snow covered mountains. Winding down from the hills the vegetation became lush and green, the air smelled of earth and rain and our anticipation increased. The border itself was pretty cool. Both Zhangmu (Tibet) and Kodari (Nepal) are town set into the hillsides, their streets winding and clinging the mountain as colourful trucks rumble up and down and people of all persuasions sell their wares. A raging river rumbles between the two and crossing the bridge really is like crossing ... read more