Annapurna day 4

Writing these blog posts during the trek can be a tad hard sometimes, particularly when so much has happened in your day and the days are so long with so much change. We started out with a big breakfast this morning at our guest house before we left to go from Tal to Chame which would take us around 7 hours and would take us over 1000m in altitude. We had been following the Annapurna guide book that I had been recommended and had bought in Kathmandu which had some great information on the whole trek itself and the side trails to avoid the road. The only downside was that some of the details weren't exactly explained for substance the fact we would fave climbing hundreds of steps up the side of a mountain etc, which we obviously found out once we were on the trail.

The trek from Tal to Karte (where we stopped so Dave could super glue his rented boot back together) was fine and so were the treks to the next few villages. It wasn't until we came to the never ending steps and a very steep ascent that we realised this wasn't always gonna be the case. We followed the trail for hours and hours before we got to a waterfall which we had to cross and with the rocks being to slippy to hop across, I took my boots and socks off and made my way across through the ice cold Himalayan water. It was painful but in a nice way. We then came to Daneque where we stopped for a very late lunch and with the plans to go to Chame completely blown away (it was another 3/4hrs and it was already late afternoon) we decided to carry on to Temang. The road to Temang was one of the biggest challenges yet, and the ascent of over 300m straight up a steep cliff took us through our first glimpses of snow. I struggled up the hill, taking breaks in between and even managed to slip on a rock and soak my boots and socks, trying to pass a waterfall. I stopped to change them but the boots were soaked through. Neveetheless, we made it to Temang in an hour when it was supposed to be 2hrs. With the amazing mountains right up close to us and views to absolutely die for, we headed up and up until we passed Temang and decided to walk as far as possible until the sun went down (which was a spectacular orange/bright pink show for us over the snow capped mountains). We finally got to Thomchouk, a village with a beautiful mountain view, where we stopped at the first cabin lodge we saw. We once again got a free cabin room and said we would order meals there tonight and the next morning.

Lucky for me I got a double bed and extra blankets and they even had a fire going where I could dry my socks and boots overnight. I hoped that would work! We had an amazing meal while our feet warmed by the coal fire and we discussed tomorrow's plans. Today we had ascended 1000m which I was so bloody proud of! At times I felt so weak and thought I couldn't go on, but with a goal in mind and a few breaks to keep me motivated, I carried on and I made it to 2600m. Tomorrow will be a hard day and we will ascend another 1000m to 3600m where we will start to feel the effects of the altitude change.

Wish me luck and hopefully tomorrow I'll have reached Ghyuru and haven't given up lol.

Peace x (PS- the view from this high up is enough to keep me going, it's spectacular)

Today was Day 3 of the trek and our wait was to get from germ to a small colourful mountain village called Tal. We left our cosy guest house after having a substantial breakfast to keep us going for the day. We had a varied day of up and down cliffs, through very rocky terrain alongside the powerful river below, up uneven rocky steps and across dodgy suspension bridges. We hiked uphill on the main road for about 3 hours before reaching Chamje, another small mountain town with a view of yet another amaIng waterfall! We had met a Scottish man named Nick who we chatted to along the road. He had come down from Manang where there was too much snowfall to cross Thorong La pass (5500m). We had seen a few people turn back and we hopes the snow would be gone by the time we got there next week. Nick offered to pick up my headband which I had dropped along the way, and leave it for me to collect in Pokhara. He also mentioned the great natural marijuana which he had been picking along the way in the wild. In Chamje we took a break for lunch and stocked up on veggie fried noodles and some tea before heading on the last but of the trek to Tal.

The trek then took up tonnes and tonnes of steps, through rainforest terrain and through more small 'villages' and makeshift huts build into the mountainside and even under giant boulders. I wondered how they could feel safe living under these huge unstable rocks. But hey, it's Nepal. We walked and walked uphill and sweated and sweated as we gathered every ounce of energy from the noodles to get us up the never ending rocky stairs/trail that would eventually lead us up and out to a view of Tal situated below us. When we finally reached the top we then descended down, with our goats in tow (they literally stopped and started with us as we hiked, as if we were herding them). Tal was a cute and colourful town on a flat surface surrounded by huge mountains and a fast flowing river. We got a beautiful room for free yet again, with hot showers and free wifi once we are or meals there. I think she was disappointed when I only ordered an omelette but David are for both of us. After having a hot shower again (im afraid they'll run out along the way), I out on whatever clean clothes I had from my small stash and got cosy for the night. I was excited for yet another great nights sleep- they had blankets :)

Tmro we would head 7hours onwards to Chame. Time to let the feet rest and recover for that.

Peace

Annapurna Day 2-

Waking up from the familiar sound of lashing rain still lingering in my head, I slowly got up and went out to realise it had been lashing all night. Our host Hari told us not to go because of the rain and urged us to stay at his one more night. 'Daughter' he called me! We decided to have our Nepalese breakfast, say goodbye to the family and head to the road to carry on our journey. Today we would trek from Ngadi to Ghermu which would take us 6 hours or so. We walked along the road until we finally came to a high ridge which we took up to small villages surrounding by paddy fields. We walked for an hour or so before arriving at the start of Bahandunda which we thought was the place we were supposed to reward ourselves with a nice cold drink after the hard uphill hike. Turned out it wasn't!

We stopped here for an hour to have some masala chai and after another hours walk we realised we arrived in main Bahundanda. We were checked by the police for our TIMS card (to allow you to trek) and entry permit (for the Annapurna conservation area). It was pretty funny when we were offered a small bunch of natural marijuana (Nepal allows you to possess an ounce) from a local mans garden. He said that it does Infact help with the altitude sickness and seen as we were going to 5500m in the highest mountain range in the world, we said yes! We bought it for 200rs/$2 and it smelled lovely.

When we arrived in main Bahundanda and after registering with the mountain police, we stopped in at a cafe where david and I threw off our hiking boots and took a seat. He had a chicken soup and I had a two snickers and a coke (energy eh?). We paid the lady and got ourselves organised while the rain lashed heavily outside the cafe shack. We had just read about the next part of the hike being steep steps and if they are wet, they're very slippery. Here we were off on our way through this stony area in the heavy rain! My new boots were treating me well and I was scared about doing a trek so big with non broken in boots. I protected my heels and toes with plasters and the more I walked the more the boots got comfortable. We walked passed a hamlet called Lili Bhir which had handrails along the cliff and which my guidebook had told me was about an accident that had happened before. It was very steep and a sheer drop down to the riverside, so the handrails were appreciated. After two hours of beautiful river and mountain views from a height and sometimes in the rain, we arrived in Ghermu. We stopped at the last lodge as we had read that this place had the best views of the waterfall across the road... And it did!

We discussed a deal to eat our meals there and get our room for free and as luck would have it, there was a great leaving, which meant they need the business. It was low season and this seemed like an easy thing to agree to. We got our beautiful curry dinners there, took a hot shower (luxury I thought) and got some warm blankets for my bed. I had froze the night before and was determined to get a good night tonight. After trying out some of the natural mountain marijuana with the sound of the waterfall in the background, I went to bed in my lovely clean clothes and down jacket. The next day would involve a 6hr walk to a beautiful town called Tal.

Annapurna day 1

It was only two days before I was due to set off on the Annapurna Circuit Trek, that I acquired a trekking companion by the name of David. We organised our permits the day before and gathered the last few essentials for our cold hike through the Himalayas.

The morning of the trek we dropped our excess bags to reception for storage and took our other backpacks with us to last us the 17-20 days. My bag was tiny (15L daypack) but I seemed to have the essentials and anything else I needed hung off the back of the pack. It sat comfortably on me and I was happy with having only this to carry on the long trek even if I did have to sacrifice a few things.

We took a cab to the Gongobu bus station and took a local bus for the 6hour journey to Besisahar where we would take the optional walk to Bhulebule instead of bussing or taking a jeep like a lot of tourists were now doing. We'r on a trek after all. We walked from Besisahar through rice paddys and small villages filled with smiling faces- typical in Nepal and eventually met a lovely local guest house owner by the name of Hari. He invited us to stay at his guest house 'The Hilton' in Nghadi which was 40 mins walk from Bhulebule and after chatting with him and how i reminded him of his recently deceased daughter we couldn't help but warm to him. We walked along muddy roads, down a long dark tunnel and up a 'steep' hill before arriving at Nghadi where his family welcomed us. We had agreed to eat all our meals at his guest house so our room was free in return (something pretty common on these types of treks and with it being low season it seemed very easy).

We were given a basic but cosy room with two beds and the lovely family which included Hari, his wife and their grandchildren were a joy to be around. We watched some TV and drank homemade rice wine (to help us warm up and sleep well) in the small makeshift lounge while Hari's wife cooked up a storm in the kitchen area even though she wasn't feeling very well (David gave her some medication for her cold & flu). We were then presented with a huge portion of Dal Bhat (Typical Nepalese dish of rice, lentil curry, pickles, potatoes etc) with more and more helpings to keep us full all evening. We enjoyed some more time with the family before heading off to bed to get a good rest for our big trek the next morning. We planned a 5/6hr hike to get to Ghermu which would take us up to 1130 metres above sea level and considering our trek would reach heights of around 5,500 metres we knew this would just be the start of it. Day one was done and dusted and it was such a great day filled with baby goats, chicks and an evening that just fell into place.

On the itinerary I had been given by my resort, my second day was to include some early morning bird watching followed by a free afternoon and then an afternoon elephant ride. I was super excited for the elephant ride but not so much the bird watching! How and ever I obviously went and tried to learn something. My guide took me put and around the jungle, village and river bank where he pointed out many different birds, medicinal plants (super cool) and took me passed the elephant breeding centre. I learned a bit about birds but was captured by the cuteness of one of the elephants and it's 1 month old baby.

My afternoon was spent, having lunch, playing some ukulele (which embarrassingly encouraged a crowd of Chinese tourists to want pics with me) in the courtyard, shopping, strolling down the streets eating icecream and laying in the hammock at my resort. One thing that really amazed me was the standard of the meals here at Chitwan Forest Resort. I had literally not tasted such good food in a long time, not even on the pacific cruise. Breakfasts always had eggs, lunches and dinners were always so creative eg stir fries, chow mein, fried rice, veggie parties, spicy potatoes, curried potatoes and they even surprised me with deep fried bananas covered in honey for dessert! It was delicious and I don't think they knew how good I thought it was no matter how many times I said amazing, amazing and gave them the thumbs up! I just wish they had a recipe book!

From 3pm until 6pm I headed off on yet another motorbike but this time the young boy was going about 100lm down a gravel road that said 20km everywhere! I thought I would blow off the bike before is even reached the elephants. The fear contined when I arrived and saw the mechanism for 'boarding' the elephant which was pretty funny...

But nevertheless I was excited! I was first on the elephant followed by 3 cool Nepalese tourists visiting from Kathmandu, each squishing into a corner. We laughed and moaned as we bumped our way around the jungle on Alisa our elephant! Our 'driver' was a funny old man who would hit me on the leg everytime there was a wild animal so I could take a picture of it on my phone which he was repeatedly fascinated by. He imitated the monkey noises and saved our faces from being tree bitch slapped each time.

Along the ride we saw monkeys, crocodiles, spotted deer, wild boar, funny looking spiders (he nodded when I asked of they were poisonous, but I don't think he knew what I meant) and the highlight was definitely the rare one horned rhino, or two...

It was an amazing evening and I was super excited to have finally done an elephant ride especially through the Nepalese jungle. What else would I be doin on a Friday ;) And I still had a day to go!

Pokhara, a lakeside town north of Kathmandu, was somewhere I always had on my list of places to go in Nepal, party because it's the only other place is heard of besides Kathmandu and also because I had heard great reviews from fellow travellers. Described as a hub for travellers and a much more relaxed place than Kathmandu, many people opt to start their trekking here considering the Annapurna ranges are super close by. That was my vague plan.

I took a 'Tourist Bus' as they are aptly named here, from Kathmandu to Pokhara for about $7usd and the journey of 200km would take us 7hours. We left at 7am and arrived in the afternoon some time, having stopped for breakfast, lunch and toilet stops along the way. This is what I got for 200rupees ($2usd)... And it was yummy!

When I arrived I took a taxi from the tourist bus park to my hotel, Hotel Lake House which I had paid a bit more for, to have my own room and space. Having promised hot showers and all mod cons, I was disappointed when I stripped off and made a commitment to my shower, only to be greeted by cold water. I took a very quick shower and headed into town where I roamed around the shops and admired the calmness of the place. I spent 2 nights in this hotel and spent my days inquiring about trips and treks in the locals travel agents, walking along the lakeside, picking up free wifi over lovely meals in the yummy restaurants and posting home gifts I had purchased for my family for Christmas. My days weren't busy but I seemed to constantly have something to do, plan or sort out. Being in a private room meant I wasn't meeting people, like I had in Alobar hostel in Kathamndu, I decided to change to a new hostel, a cheaper one and one which had a dorm room. I moved to Hotel Cherrygarden on my third day and planned to stay one night to not conit myself too much. I left my bags and headed out for some breakfast and that was when I decided to go to Chitwan instead of trekking expensively by myself. It turned out that trekking with a porter and guide would be way too expensive for me alone and so I decided to go to the National park for some safari adventures while I decided what to do. I booked a bus/rafting tour which was what I had overheard from a couple staying at my hotel, and it seemed pretty fun! Afterwards, I headed to Maya Bar where I grabbed a juice and took advantage of their wifi. Little did I know what the night would bring. After chatting to an Irish girl at my table, we decided to stay for happy hour, popcorn and sheesha. We chatted about angry high and everything until it got so late that we decided to head across the street to Amsterdam Bar where we drank weird cocktails and listened to a Nepali rock band sing U2 and Adele covers for the best part of an hour. Before we knew it, we had invited a Slovakian guy (living in Canada as far as I remember), to our table, and we chatted for a whole before carrying on to a local nightclub (the only one open to the wee hours)- Ozone bar! We spent a while dancing and mingling with the locals there before we headed back home, until I realised I'd forgotten where my hotel was. We all headed about 20 minutes out of town and when I comprehended that my hotel was definitely nowhere near there, Emily the Irish girl invited me to crash in her twin room.

The following morning my pounding head was interrupted by the sounds of 'Hansons, Mmm Bop' my alarm ring tone. It was 6am and I had to make my way 20 minutes back to my hotel to get picked up for my tour regardless of the fact that I had to repackage my bags, change and pay my hotel. It was hen that I realised I'd ran out of cash. I rushed through the streets with my sunglasses on- a signature hungover look- and hope Id get there on time. I stopped at an ATM which was closed and so I carried on and made it to my hotel in time to see the jeep waiting for me. I told then to wait 5 minutes for me while I ran into my hotel where I was greeted by the owner who in a dad like manner said 'you didn't come home last night', I agreed and off I went to freshen up. The owner wasn't happy when I told him I had no cash and declined my credit card stating hey didn't accept them, so he told me to sort it out with my tour guides. I told them my predicament and they just hurried me into the jeep. Feeling super nauseous, we drove down the bumpy road to the ATM where I grabbed some cash. A few minutes down the street when we stopped for some more people who didn't show up, I hopped out without warning and legged it to the store for some water and on the way back grabbed a freshly baked 50Rupee croissant to line my stomach that hadn't been fed in 24hours. Disgraceful!

My next mode of transport was the tourist bus to the starting point of my rafting tour which I had no idea where. I was squeezed up in the bus drivers cockpit behind the drivers seat with another 6 people all clinging on for dear life on these bumpy roads. I made some drunken small talk with some Japanese girls before I conked out. When we made our second stop for break, I began to get a familiar feeling, a negative one. I felt anxious and stressed, I could feel a panic attack coming on. The thing with panic attacks are that they make you panic even more so the key is to relax yourself, which definitely isn't as easy as it sounds. I pictured myself having to hop across all these people and get off the bus but after a lot of concentration and a quick shut eye, I calmed myself and hoped to make it to my destination in one piece.

As If the day couldn't get any more stressful, during the white water rafting tour following the bus ride, I let go of the side of the boat, too busy paddling that I got completely thrown from the boat during one of the biggest rapids on the river. I ha rafted many times before but had never been thrown out like this and I will never forget how scary it was. The current dragged me and a young Chinese girl under over and over again, making us gasp for breath while trying to shout for help. All of a sudden she disappeared and the boat, which had tried to grab me and my paddle, got further and further away from me. With no way of swimming against the current to the side of the river, I just kept being dragged under by the rapids and eventually after a lot of struggle and a lot of mantras to myself, I made it to a rock which I clinched on to and made my way up onto it. The boat eventually came back for me but it didn't give me any trust in them during the rest if the journey. My worst nightmare is to drown and I'll never forget thinking to myself that this was it, this was how I was going to go. My heart raced and my life flashed before my eyes. I just about wet myself with fear, until it luckily found a way out. Grade 3 rapids my ass!!

My next mode of transport was the tourist bus to the starting point of my rafting tour which I had no idea where. I was squeezed up in the bus drivers cockpit behind the drivers seat with another 6 people all clinging on for dear life on these bumpy roads. I made some drunken small talk with some Japanese girls before I conked out. When we made our second stop for break, I began to get a familiar feeling, a negative one. I felt anxious and stressed, I could feel a panic attack coming on. The thing with panic attacks are that they make you panic even more so the key is to relax yourself, which definitely isn't as easy as it sounds. I pictured myself having to hop across all these people and get off the bus but after a lot of concentration and a quick shut eye, I calmed myself and hoped to make it to my destination in one piece.

As If the day couldn't get any more stressful, during the white water rafting tour following the bus ride, I let go of the side of the boat, too busy paddling that I got completely thrown from the boat during one of the biggest rapids on the river. I ha rafted many times before but had never been thrown out like this and I will never forget how scary it was. The current dragged me and a young Chinese girl under over and over again, making us gasp for breath while trying to shout for help. All of a sudden she disappeared and the boat, which had tried to grab me and my paddle, got further and further away from me. With no way of swimming against the current to the side of the river, I just kept being dragged under by the rapids and eventually after a lot of struggle and a lot of mantras to myself, I made it to a rock which I clinched on to and made my way up onto it. The boat eventually came back for me but it didn't give me any trust in them during the rest if the journey. My worst nightmare is to drown and I'll never forget thinking to myself that this was it, this was how I was going to go. My heart raced and my life flashed before my eyes. I just about wet myself with fear, until it luckily found a way out. Grade 3 rapids my ass!!

Tulasi River-1 Jade-0

As if it wasn't bad enough, we had another hour or so to go, and heaps more rapids before we reached the end. I decided to block out what had happened and not let the fear take over. Each rapid had me quivering but hoping bit would've be strong enough to capsize us like last time and they weren't. I made it till the end, soaked to the skin, freezing and with a newfound fear of uncontrollable deep water.

The next step of my mad day would be catching a local government bus to Chitwan which I hadn't realised was the plan until just then. After some yummy Dal Bhat (typical Nepali food) and a change of clothes, my guide took my bag and walked me down the street to catch the local bus. When it came, he uttered some words to the driver, wished me well and off I went. I had no idea where I was going or when to get off. After an hour or two of listening to heavy Hindi dance music blaring through the buses speakers, I was called to get off and was pointed towards a small blue mini van which would apparently take me to Sauraha, Chitwan. I hopped out, grabbed my dirty backpack from the roof and followed some random lady in red to the van. She put my bag on yet another roof and after squishing to the back of the mini van, we headed off own the dirt road. I was ordered to pay 25rupees for the ride which made no sense to me but I did anyways and hoped to be at my hotel sooner rather than later. I was in transit for almost 12 hours and with the day I'd had, if one more thing went wrong I didnt know what I'd do. Luckily with the help of some fancy suited young man who told them where I needed to go, I arrived in the warm aired national park of Chitwan, a shadow of the person I was the day before and ready for some replenishing.

So my plans to go to Chitwan didn't come from seeing some big jungle safari sign at one of the many tourist offices scattered in Pokhara, nor did it come from a recommendation I heard from a fellow traveller. My plans came about just like a lot of my previous 'plans', spontaneously. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do after Kathmandu- spend a few days in Pokhara, meet some people and join a trek somewhere around the Himalayas but things changed when it proved rather difficult to meet people there to share trekking costs with. I had overheard a couple in the last hotel I stayed at, telling the owner that they would go white water rafting to Chitwan instead of bussing the whole way and so I thought that was a pretty cool idea. I went and booked it and within a few minutes I had my bus ticket, my white water rafting trip included and I had booked two nights at Chitwan Forest resort in a dorm for $3 (surely id meet people there to go trekking with right?).

As previously mentioned in my Pokhara blog, the ride there was far from easy and i just so happened to arrive in Sauraha, Chitwan flustered, exhausted and stressed. I wasn't expecting much from my hotel considering the price and the fact that it was a dorm room but when I arrived I was very pleasantly surprised. It was like walking into the Garden of Eden and I was instantly greeted by a nice man who showed me through the jungle resorts courtyard to my very cosy dorm room which I would've sharing with a Chinese family. I had began to think that this was the afterlife and that I had intact died in the Tulasi river.

As if life couldn't have picked up even more, I was welcomed by a steaming hot shower before bed, which was the first id had since coming to Nepal a week ago- Not that I hadn't showered of course but just this time I could enjoy it and not cringe at the thoughts of it- After availing of this luxury, I headed to reception where I was kindly informed of the activities going on in Chitwan. I decided to purchase a 3 night/4 day package to included all my activities, meals and a bus ticket to my onward destination afterwards. It worked out to be around €90 which was well worth it considering I would be out and about doin activities from 7am until the evening time. Day 1 was to include breakfast/canoe ride/jungle trek and end with a jeep safari. I was super excited.

The morning started with a lovely breakfast of eggs and toast not forgetting the soup beforehand (they love their soup), before we headed off down to the river to begin our boat ride. The group of us (including the Chinese family from my room) carefully got into the wooden carved boat trying not to rock it too much and placed the wooden seats under us. Like something from a movie, we slowly made our way down the crocodile infested river through the mist of dawn. We laughed, spotted wild animals, enjoyed times of silence with just the wild animals to hear and then we laughed even more (or maybe just me), particularly when the Chinese dad stood up all of a sudden and wanted to take pictures of us, only to lose his balance and topple over into the water, camera and phone in hand. It was pretty funny because the guides had both repeatedly said 'sit down' to him, yet he didn't listen and to be honest it was the highlight of my day.

After our canoe ride, we took to the jungle for a 3hr hike, where I picked up a few blisters from my new hiking boots (at least they're broken in for trekking now) and spotted all minds of wild animals. We finished the trek down by the river where we got up close with the elephants during their bath time and i couldn't believe the cuteness of them rolling around in the water just loving every minute of it. We had an amazing lunch of rice, boiled veg, a delicious veggie patty and some stir fry and before I knew it I was rushed off on the back of a motorbike to the river once again. My guide passed me on to another guide and off I went back on this dodgy canoe across the river. I made a Norweigian couple and a guy from Singapore laugh when telling them about the mishaps of the Chinese dad that morning which set the mood for the test of the safari. We laughed most of the way along the trip and made jokes about there not being any wild animals and that it was all a trick on us etc. having gone over many small bridges we joked that we were just going round in circles and laughed evey time we saw another bridge. During that while day I saw two types of monkeys, crocodiles, eagles, kingfishers, peacocks, storks and elephants but not tigers nor rhinos were to be seen. Maybe next time.

My first day was great and I was super happy with my accommodation, the food provided, the activities and the attitude of all the people looking after me and definitely this resort as a whole. Here's to 3 more great days in Chitwan national park, Nepals first ever national park.

Having left Brisbane early Thursday morning, I arrived around 17 hours later to Kathmandu and stopped over in Guangzhou (again), China. The flight was pretty good apart from a cranky bitch on my second flight who yelled at me and dobbed me in for having my phone on. I was due to stay at Alobar 1000, a hippy hangout for travellers which id pre booked online and I really couldn't wait to check in. It was midnight when I arrived and I worried that the hostel may not be open this late but following a quick prepaid taxi ride, it was. I had met a girl from my flight in Guangzhou and after having a coffee together, we arranged to meet up around Kathmandu or Pokhara which was pretty cool!

My hostel was bright yellow and green and had a real rasta feel with it's cosy rugs laid out on the rooftop floor. There was a restaraunt with pretty cheap food and beer and there were many tourists hanging around chatting and planning adventures in the cosy booths. The next morning I picked a cute rooftop restaurant to have some food and chai while planning my day. I spent some time wandering the streets and getting information about Tibet/Bhutan tours in the many travel agents scattered around. I had initially deciding to go to Swayambhunath aka Monkey Temple (can you guess why?) but instead was guided towards Durbar Square where I was encouraged to see first. After declining one guide, I eventually said yes to the second young boy who was very knowledgeable and funny. We spent a couple of hours visiting many of the temples in the square including visiting the god of alcohol, the hippy temple (60s rockerstars used to hang here and smoke weed back in the day) and gazing at all the different architecture.

After a lot of laughs and a cup of Nepali tea, we finished the tour and I headed off back towards my hostel, stopping at the various shops along the way and even got two random dreadlocks at tattoo parlour I spotted along the way!. Back at the hostel I met two girls Katherine and Siobhán from England and we decided to take the free Naplese language class on the rooftop. After learning a few words we then took ourselves and our hungry bellies to the rooftop restaraunt where we had some Everest beers and food with Adam from Australia. We chatted about travels for ages and I loved being in the surrounding once again.

The next day I spent walking through the city to another part of town to visit Swayambhunath the monkey temple. I roamed passed very poor parts of town but still the people smiled and seemed content. I was welcomed by everyone along the way and had various chats with people, one man outside the temple gates even told me his dream of going to live in Holland and riding around on his bike over there, he was planning to leave in march and I wished him luck. He was a tour guide and even though I declined his services, like many before, he had no problem with that and wished me a good stay in Nepal. This was the sheer difference between Nepal and India that I had come to realise. Bartering only got you so far because they won't push you, people won't stare at you in the strests and if you decline a service it's not a big deal at all, nobody will chase you down the street. I liked this!

I took photos, did some Xmas shopping at the stalls at the top of the many many steps and even had another great chat with a shop owner who gave me a Nepali tea while I browsed. We chatted for a while and I was on my way with a bunch of gifts for family and friends. That evening the girls and I had some dinner and had a beer on the rooftop while laughing historically at Adams travel stories and our own political arguments. I retreated to bed having booked a bus to Pokhara the next morning which I would be up super early for. Luckily the bus stop was the street over from the hostel. Kathmandu was a pretty cool city and I was amazed by it's chilled out vibe, just like id read about before.

Next stop- 7hrs to Pokhara