The time has come to leave Nepal and even though I was annoyed that my Indian visa issues kept me from my to yoga course, it still meant I had some extra time to spend in Kathmandu. The icing on the cake was that I got to hang out at the best hostel in Kathmandu - Alobar1000 where I met some really amazing people in the past week. I have stayed there over and over again throughout my time in Kathmandu and have an amazing experience each and very time.

I am sad to leave Kathmandu and all the people there but I know that I will be back again some day to do heaps more trekking and revisit friends. Nepal is somewhere I hold dear to my heart and I love everything it had to offer- the sheer kindness of the people, the absolute beauty of the scenery, the amazing food, the history and of course the feeling you get trekking deep in the Himalayas. It is somewhere I am wondering why I never came before, but now know that I was meant to about at this time in my life. As I was writing this blog, I had just been seen off at the airport by a few of my new friends from Alobar 1000. We grabbed a bunch of beer and packed ourselves into the cab only to arrive at the airport and notice my flight was delayed even more. We spent an hour or so drinking, laughing and having fun outside the airport (we weren't allowed in unless flying) until I finally left and went through security. My friend Om who we had just missed on the Annapurna circuit had given me a special good luck gift before hand and I had spent the night before in the company of some very awesome people, drinking, playing silly games and laughing like I haven't laughed in ages! The sequence of events went down very nicely and it will encourage me to revisit Nepal and Alobar once again, sooner rather than later.

There is no doubt in my mind that I will return to Nepal and continue trekking the worlds highest mountain ranges and I just hope that every traveller out there makes the time (as much time as possible) to visit this wonderful country. It has a special kind of air about it and it is most definitely up there with some of thebestcoingriws iv ever seen. Nepal, Dhanybhad for everything, I will not forget my experience there.

Annapurna- Day 18

Today we did feck all! Literally! It was a funny morning because we slept until about 9:30/10 and the atmosphere of the group blatantly said, nope there's going to be no 1700m ascent today. I kind of knew it, considering how much whiskey we drank the night before and how late we stayed up. There was no chance of us making it all the way up to Poonhill. One by one a few people left for the bus to Pokhara and wth Alex now joining our grow we all decided to spent the first day of the new year in the hot springs, chill out and then tomorrow we would leave for Beni/Pokhara by bus. This meant our trek was over. I was happy with that though considering I was out of relatively clean clothes and more importantly - money!

The morning was spent faffing around the lodge, eating breakfast, using wifi and chatting about plans! We then heard to our favourite local momo house for some variety of momos before we left for the hot springs! We spent a few hours wrinkly in the hot springs and then we headed back for some dinner! It was funny being the only girl with 3 guys now in the group because it always seemed to work or like that wherever id travel! No drama which was great!

I had a great idea to get some goodies in the shop and we would all watch a movie on Alex's IPad! And that we did! With the electricity going on and off, there we were crammed into our triple room watching 'I'm not here' the Bob Dylan movie which none of us understood! We munched on snacks and sat in the dark for a good 90 minutes trying to figure out the movie which we could barely hear anyway! It wasn't long before we have up and retreated to bed. I was knackered and I was looking forward to Pokhara tmro to do some laundry and finally be settled in some way again near civilisation. The next morning called for an early start at 7am to prepare for the bus at 8am to Beni where we would change buses to take us to Pokhara!

Sitting here in my new comfort zone, eating delicious food, drinking delicious coffee and feeling the heat of the sun beaming down on me as I sit on the balcony, I reminisce about the past few days. It's not been that long since we finished the trek- maybe a week or so iv lost count, but so much has happened that have changed things for me. I returned to Kathmandu from Pokhara a few days ago and since then Iv had my ups and downs. The ups have definitely been the vast amount of great conversations and new friends iv made at Alobar 1000 (my favourite home from home) and my downs have included missing my flight to Delhi due to a log processing time for my Indian visa. It's funny though, the problems or worries I have travelling that seem so huge at the time, are in fact very very minor, and I have to remind myself of that.

A good friend of mine recently said something a little like this 'Maybe missing your flight and the start of your yoga course because of this visa situation is an act of practicing yoga in itself'. It made sense. The fact that id not given myself enough time to process my long, tedious Indian tourist visa application meant that I would miss the flight I had booked, my airport pick up and the first few days of my yoga teacher training but yet maybe this was supposed to happen. I had to tell myself, the worst that can happen is that I have to change my flight, arrive a but late to the yoga school and at the end if it all I'm in Kathmandu, it could be worse.

It's a few days later since this happened and I have sorted it out, having paid to change my flight, informed my school of my late arrival and extended my Nepalese tourist visa (for a fee of $30 grr). I have met some lovely people at my hostel and spent most evenings chilling in the huge common area reading, drinking tea and chatting about everything with fellow travellers. It's so refreshing to meet someone and have a great conversation, a great meal or even a great few days with them and know that even though we will go or seperate ways, this is the art of travelling and it is so special.

The past few days I have become friends with new people from all over the world, met up with old friends and spent time by myself enjoying my new novel- something I never really do to be honest. (And I am obsessed with mountain adventure stories right now). Iv spent time laughing so hard, planning my future, relaxing and have even been overwhelmed by the news that my Canadian work visa has finally been accepted after months of processing. My life is falling into place- it always does but yet I let little things get me down. Everything will work out and everything does work out if the universe wants it to, but until then you can't intervene and be mad about change of plans.. Just accept them!

It's a beautiful sunny day in Kathmandu and I am sitting opposite a total stranger on the balcony of this atmospheric coffee house and we are both enjoying this time we have doing or own thing. It's a beautiful world and I wish everyone could experience this.

Annapurna- Day 17

It's day 17 and you know what that means, two things- yes I'm wearing the same clothes for 17 days now and also it's New Year's Eve! Our aim was to leave Ghasa and walk 4hrs to Tatopani (meaning hot water in Nepali) where we would spend New Year's Eve with friends in the local hot springs we couldn't wait for. It was day 2 trekking in my sandals and it proved rather tricky as the rocky trail went up, down and around the cliffs. Still, I managed to pass the group who left an hour before us, which was nice! We passed by a few villages and by early afternoon I was the first to reach Tatopani. We got a triple room in Dhaulagiri Lodge which was recommended to us and after a cold shower (didn't cafe at this stage, water was water), I got ready for the hot springs! We met a few there Trekkers there and after having some yummy cheap veggie momos nearby, we had a beer at the local Bob Marley restaraunt for their happy hour.

It wasn't long before we necked our beers and free popcorn before heading to grab our towels and spend the evening in the hot springs. It was 100rps ($1) to enter the hot springs and we spent a good few hours there chatting to all the other Trekkers and drinking local beer! It was so relaxing! We bumped into familiar faces from days passed and we planned to party the night away for New Year's Eve!

After the hot springs we went back to the guests house, drank some whiskey and a bunch of us decided to gab or flashlights and break out of our locked guest house through the fence in order to find a party. And sure enough we did- A camp fire party with our trekker friends from earlier! The porters danced around the hot fire, while we all sang and passed a bottle of whiskey around. When it struck midnight we all drunkingly wished each other a Happy New Year! It was so random but so incredibly nice to be spending New Years in the Himalayas with these bunch of awesome characters from around the world! We laughed and had fun for a wee while after that until we one by one retreated to bed! I wondered how our plan to hike 1700m up the mountain tmro would go... Or would it!

Happy 2015 wonderful Worldtravellerz, thank you for everything!

Annapurna -Day 16

This morning we had breakfast with the two men before we all headed off on our journeys. Dave and I left just after the two guys and Rik followed later on. After a while, Willy the shaggy dog from the guest house, had stopped following the two guys and instead followed us all the way to Larjung where he met his girlfriend (we think Willy was a boy) and left us while we ate lunch. The wind wasn't so bad today and the trail was quite steady and flat that I was fine wearing my socks and sandals today (to give my Achilles a rest). We had an amazing array of scenery today passing by some incredible views that reminded me of Canada with the pine trees dotted under the snow capped mountains. The scenery kept changing and we saw the biggest glacier fixed in between the mountains. It was amazing! We took some short cuts through the wide and stoney river bed and hopped stone to stone when we came to the flowing river parts. At one point it was too awkward to get across so I had to take my sandals and socks off and walk through the chilly water. Refreshing and not as cold as up in the mountains last time I did it.

We carried on for a while until we came to the sign for Titi Lake which was a side trip up the too of the mountain. Rik had carried on so we couldn't tell him our plan to go up and see the lake. We hoped we would catch him in Ghasa. We took the side trail up the steep hill for an hour until we came to the lake surrounded by marshlands. It was pretty cool and with the backdrop of the snowy mountains and desert scene, it made a perfect picture. We carried on through the pine forest which was really nice and had some amazing views, before heading back down through some small villages until we saw a sign for Ghasa which said 1.5hrs. We took the trail which led us across two bridges, more bamboo forests and eventually a main road which we knew meant we were close. It got dark and with our flashlights out, we headed towards what looked like Ghasa, before being greeted by a bright headlamp coming towards us which was Rik. What a coincidence! We headed to the guest house he had chosen and are some dinner. There we met a mixed country group including one irish girl which was random, all of whom were on what seemed to be a tour of the circuit. It was quite cringey to sit there and listen to them ask their guide every little thing as if being in school. One guy asked exactly how hot will the hot springs be and another girl asked for an itinerary for their time off in pokhara on a few days. Rik, Dave and I retreated to our room and bitched about then for a little bit, saying that we were glad to be individual Trekkers and to have the freedom to do what you want. The way then acted made me really glad I wasn't on a package trip, nor would I chose to go on one in the future if I had a choice. Here we were, three individuals all trekking together and having a great time but with the freedom to do or own thing too! Tomorrow we would walk to Tatopani -which means Hot water in Nepali, where we would spend the day in the natural hot springs! We couldn't wait! And weather the group decided to walk or take their jeep was another story.

Annapurna -Day 15

So today, after a nice breakfast at our guest house New Asia Trekkers, we headed on our way towards Marpha which was a nice quaint village just passed Jomsom. Rik had left just before us and we said we would meet him along the trail. We had read about the crazy winds that come in between the valley here in the mid morning time and it was this that we ended up being caught in. We walked for about 3 hours though ever changing scenery until we reached Jomsom, which we had heard a lot about! Jomsom wad the 'big smoke' where they had a bank/ATM, army barracks, guesthouses, travel agents and even an airport. A lot of tourists, if they are short on time, jeep back to Pokhara from here or even fly if they want to fork out $90 for the flight. When we showed up, we made our way to the end of the town to find the bank (I needed an ATM because Id ran out of money) but unfortunately the ATM didn't work and I had flashbacks of a similar situation on a trek in Peru a few years prior. As luck would have it, Rik appeared from the bank and told me that he would lend me some US dollars until we got back to pokhara. I was so thankful! I exchanged the dollars in the bank and was relieved that I had enough money for the next few days.

With hungry bellies we went to the closest eatery and ordered momos (stuffed dumplings) which took forever to come out. But they were delicious! After we ate, we got up and headed an hour South to Marpha through the wind once again. We had our hoods up to protect us from the desert dust blowing into our faces. At this point I felt my left Achilles' tendon acting up and I knew that I could feel swelling. My Achilles' tendon had been hurting since the beginning but on the right foot and now that it was ok, the left one was causing me pain. I hoped we would arrived quickly. When we got there, with a cute doggy we named Barry in toe, we walked through this beautiful cobbled village and chose our hotel carefully (the one with chocolate apple pie in the window). Dave went on one of his little expeditions up the mountain while Rik and I took the opportunity to browse in some of the local shops. We then headed back and together with an Austrian and a Chinese guy (and a cute doggy named Willy) we sat around the table and ate dinner. We chatted about everything from Buddhism to Chinese way of life and eventually we all headed off to bed. That evening I had a really great sleep and even had to take a layer off which was a first since coming down from the pass! It was nice not to be freezing cold and shivering all night. Tomorrow we would head further South towards Ghasa or however close we could get.