Finishing teaching and getting to Sentosa Cove, Singapore

It was a long 8 hour journey back to Kathmandu but we knew that we were moving on within 2 weeks and only 5 real days left at our school actually teaching. The last classes I had were mostly based on what the children wanted to know before I left Nepal. I wanted to know what they liked about my classes and what they didn’t. They liked learning through drama’s and creative ways whereas not a lot of them like the straightforward academic style that I had been used to throughout my life. They loved learning how to write limericks and improv drama classes.
The children hounded me for my Facebook address but it would have taken my number of friends from under 400 to up over 1000.Not a chance. Its hard enough trying to keep in touch with those likely reading this blog to sieve through all their Facebook comments on my homepage. I did however give some of them my blog address.

We spent our last weekend in Thamel. We were going to go white water rafting, but since the monsoon season was over, there wasn’t a lot of rain and it would be more like rafting in a swimming pool. Not the adventure thrill we were looking for. On the Monday and Tuesday we visited the schools to say goodbye to all the children and the teachers and we received some lovely gifts from the teachers and lots of homemade cards from the children. Really nice gestures and ones that made us feel like we had done our job and what we came to do.

Tuesday afternoon we spent time getting our Nepali Rupees changed into Singapore Dollars. We were flying to KL in Malaysia but we were getting the bus straight down to Singapore on the Thursday morning. It was seriously difficult. In the UK, you can go to Tesco and get it done, in Nepal; foreign citizens cannot even change money in Banks even with passports and flight tickets as proof. We had to go to Thamel and rush around checking in every bureau de change place; of which there are hundreds to see if they had any Singapore dollars for sale. Afterwards we had a meal with the principal and the head of the higher grades which was quite nice. It was a thank from the Principal for our work over the three months. We then got a taxi back home and sat and had a few drinks with Sanjay and Deepika.

They had been awesome hosts for us over the three months, and Toni and I have so much respect for them and lots to be thankful and grateful about for them letting us stay with them for three months. Eeshan, I hope, will start reading more, and not waste so much time complaining about doing his homework by in which time he could have it finished.

The Wednesday was our last day in Nepal, which we spent packing, eating and getting things that we knew would be cheaper here in Nepal than in Singapore, which from my experience means everything! This was the first day of Tihar, the festival of lights in Kathmandu and driving from our home in Patan to the Airport was brilliant. It was a bit like Christmas, with all of the houses covered in bright lights and decorations. We knew that if the sky was clear flying over Kathmandu would be really cool. We got to the airport and said our goodbye’s and although we were three hours early, we joined a very large queue to the check in desks. Eventually we checked in and were informed, that the plane was overbooked. I didn’t know what to think. I was getting on that plane, that’s for sure. He assured us everything was fine, it just meant that we might be upgraded to Business Class. I could do with that. Only a 4 hour flight but I’ve never flown Business class and neither had Toni. We went through security, waited around and then arrived in the departure lounge where a man walked up to us and said, Toni Childs? We both nodded wondering what he had wanted but he worked for Nepali Airlines and he was here to upgrade our tickets. How nice of him! I was jumping about like a little kid. A bit like when I got priority tickets for Alton Towers, my pretentious levels increased dramatically. I just wished the rest of the economy passengers had to walk past us like on some airlines, so I could relax with my big armchair of a seat. I got lucky, because the original ticket was putting me in the middle seat…not good for me at all.

The plane ride was pretty cool and the view out the window of the Tihar lights was special. But this was the end of Nepal. That was my second year in a row there and it would be difficult to say that it doesn’t hold anything special to me. I have had some amazing experiences there, not all of them good, but special none the less. I will return to Nepal someday but im not sure how long it will be before im back. Maybe 5 years, maybe 10. I won’t be back next year that’s for sure unless somebody pays for me to go trekking again. Time to experience somewhere new. I feel like ive conquered Nepal.

Next stop, Kuala Lumpur, for a few hours then Singapore. We had decided that we would just go to Singapore straight away. Downstairs in the airport, we got a bus to the bus station, took about an hour and the seats reminded me of business class then from their we got an executive coach by a company called Nice. We got discount because we are both *cough* students. Ha. Child Prices in fact. Downstairs in that depot we got a small bus to the company’s depot then few minutes later we were on this luxury coach. Reclining chairs with footrests, the size of armchairs again. I could get used to living like this, and I would have to, because we were staying with Friends family in Singapore in the exclusive Sentosa Cove resort for the next few weeks, up until Toni’s birthday then we would go back to Malaysia.

Everything was going fine until we had to cross the border. The girl working on the bus was useless. She woke us up to tell us to cross the border, half asleep and gave us no information. Told us to get off the bus and take our bags in. We thought she meant just bag and backpack but we didn’t think we would have to change bus. So we left some water, pens, glasses on the bus. We got through Malaysian customs with relative ease and we came out and there wasn’t a bus there. We had crossed the border but Toni needed to run back and get some stuff off the other bus. It was frustrating not knowing and that bus was about to leave with Toni’s glasses. Not cool. Whilst running, her sandal nipped and that was the end of that. Part of me wanted to run back and punch the girl in the chops. Caused so much panicking and frustration for something that should have been easy. We got on the other bus, on the Singapore side and we spent the time from there to our destination trying to calm down.

We had been in Nepal, then Malaysia and now Singapore. A Hindu country, a Muslim country and now and ex-pat country. Singapore has probably somebody from every country in the world staying in it. Our first stop, Little India. Bollox. Not again. Spent so such time trying to get clear that month from my memory. We got down into the MRT and we knew we were going to harbour front, so we could then cross the water to Sentosa island then make our way to Ocean Drive on Singapore, which I now call Millionaires drive. We were shattered though. Flying at night, getting two hours sleep max and travelling all day, we just needed to find our resting spot to try and get used to the cultural differences between Nepal and Singapore. It hits you right up the face. Two extremes. We crossed on the monorail only to find out Sentosa Cove was a resident’s only area. We needed cards to get on the bus…we brass necked it, just jumped on and that was it. Who else was going to go to Sentosa Cove with all that luggage if they weren’t planning on staying there?? We got off at Sentosa cove and knew we had to get on another shuttle bus to North Cove and get off at the Azure, the place where we would be staying. We arrived there, got to the apartment, nobody in.

Aghhh. It was about 7 o clock by this stage and we just sat outside and waited. Tired and cranky. Nothing we could do but wait. Big Ron was in a meeting but luckily he called the hotel reception and told them to let us into the apartment. We quickly figured out which bedroom we would be staying in and that was it. Night night.

I heard Ron come in and went out to say hello and talk to him for a while but I was shattered as you can imagine and just needed sleep.

Next blog I will try to explain what we did in Singapore including Singapore Slings, Universal Studios, 4d cinema’s, lightning storms and Toni’s 24th Birthday!!

Later folks.

Annapurna Base Camp

Ok, I apolgise, I know I said I would have this up before I left Nepal, but when we came back from Annapurna it was a hectic last few days, and im now 2 weeks into Singapore and ive been on holiday, spending time thinking about the next few months and just relaxing after the four months Ive had in India and Nepal. I think I deserved the break, anybody that would like to argue that point, send me a PM…
So we stayed in Thamel the night before heading off to Pokhara. Same hotel as usual, because although every hotel had increased its prices for high season, because we were quite loyal to this one hotel, we got the same price as we did when we first arrived, £3.60/night for a double bedroom with inside bathroom. Hotel Downtown, bang on in the centre of Thamel; 2 minutes’ walk from the bars. Pretty standard accommodation but for that price, as long as it was clean it was awesome. The restaurant did really good breakfasts for £1.50 as well, which we needed before we went on our 8 hour journey to Pokhara. The bus ride went relatively smoothly. Excitement about the journey ahead and a bit of mental prep for ascent to Annapurna Base Camp 4120m made the journey go quite quickly for me.
We arrived in Pokhara and as usual, surrounded by touts offing hotels and the usual taxi ride into town. After 8 hours, we didn’t care; we just wanted somewhere to put our bags then go out and have a wander around the area; the area we would spend a few days recovering in, if we made it back alive.

We let one of the guys help us in the taxi and we arrived at a guesthouse type hotel. There was a family in the front garden working their usual Nepali magic over some soya beans and chili’s. We got the room, one double bed and a single bed in the room. The unique selling point was that they would give us free trekking information which I later quite happily accepted. We wandered around Pokhara relaxing by the lakeside looking at the first sight of the mountain range. It was Machhapuchhre and it was absolutely beautiful. I got goosebumps and little butterflies in my stomach knowing in a few days I would actually be at the other side of that exact mountain between some of the world’s tallest mountains.

After walking around lakeside we decided we would go have our last meal before we would be eating cereal bars, nuts and the likes so it was off to get pizza. Pokhara is a little more expensive than Thamel because it is more like a holiday resort than anything else catering for the Dashain vacationers and expeically for trekkers. It is the starting point for three major treks: Annapurna, Manaslu and Dhaulagiri, all of which are over 8000m high in comparison, Mt. Everest is 8848m high.
With a 5.00am start, we negotiated for a taxi to collect us the next morning and then it was off to get some sleep in before the begin of the trek the next day.

Nayapul to Tikhedunga…no…Ulleri…no Ghorepani.

Stimpy you IDIOT!!
Ok, so as most of you know this is a budget trip so we had no guide and no porter and we all thought this was a good decision. We are all capable enough to carry our own backpacks and we were told the path was well walked so we wouldn’t need a guide. One problem, nobody to tell us when to stop, actually make us stop.
The first day, everybody was full of energy and excitement and once we got our ACAP and TIM’s card checked at the checkpoint we were off. It supposedly takes two days to get to Ghorepani, from where you make the early ascent to Poon Hill at 3200 to see Dhaulagiri. We started walking along the river and it was beautiful. You pass a recent landslide and hundreds of goats making it look easy whilst trekkers find it a little precarious although this is something that you get used to after a bit.

The path is brilliant up until tikhedunga, more like a dusty road than a trekkers path. You get to Tikhedunga, supposedly the first stop. We were having none of it, it was only midday and the sun doesn’t set until 6-6:30 here. We crossed two sets of amazing suspension bridges, quite nervously at first but then you realise thousands have crossed it. The biggest was over this huge gorge with a himal river rushing underneath your feet. We decided we would push on to Ulleri which was the most difficult part of the first day…or which we thought. Thousands and thousands of steps, I cant describe how many steps we climbed this day, we climbed over 1.5km high, on steps alone, each step between 15cm-55cm high. Yes over a half a metre per step in some cases. Ridiculously hard on the muscles and nothing in the gym can prepare you for it. We passed one large french man who was struggling quite a bit, so much that the porter/guide he had hired was getting quite annoyed with him, but still he encouraged us and told us that we could make Ghorephani if we wanted to. That would be fitting two days trekking into one. If we made Ghorepani, we would have cut a 10 day trek into a 9 day trek on our first day.
We stopped and had lunch at Ulleri, some pringles and chow mein I think was the order. Stodgey trekking food, exactly what was needed. We discussed staying at Ulleri because hitting those steps hard took quite a lot of energy but we all felt good enough to go on…IDIOTS.

We didn’t realise how much those steps took out of us. Even after the rest, we couldn’t get going properly again. Just too much out of us, but we thought we would have enough time before darkness set in, and the animals came out. There are Snow leopards in this area. I don’t fancy my chances in daytime nevermind during the night. We kept pushing and pushing and time was running out fast. We kept asking is it much further and the answer was always “not far.” When you ask somebody for directions/ estimations, its always how long it would take them, not you, tired, exhausted, with a backpack on…which it makes a hell of a lot of difference.
Twilight started to set in, and we were walking through a jungle area, not much light and starting to get worried. Eventually, after one final push up, towards 2900m, we saw lights ahead. We knew it was Ghorepani and we weren’t far. Luckily as well, it was dark and the only reason we could see it was because a few of the cabins were lit up. THANK FOOK

We got in, got washed up and got some much needed food in us. We needed it to recover. The rooms were 50 rupees each per night which is about 45pence in UK terms. Three of us, Toni and I in one, Adrian had a room to himself. Beds were comfy and although you could feel the cold, the room didn’t take long to heat up with people inside. I'm guessing you weren’t allowed to burn candles due to the oxygen supply in the room. CO (Carbon Monoxide) poisoning is not a good look.

I found out quite quickly what it was like to be a part of a group trek. Coming out of the bathroom, I heard two english girls say: “just don’t say anything, just ignore it, it’ll make the trip more difficult, hopefully he’ll keep his mouth shut,” referring to one of the guys in their group. I can see the benefits of having a group to help you through the difficult times and such but I think we made the right decision. It was off to bed for a much needed 6 hours sleep because we were due to at 4.30 to walk up to Poon Hill.

Ghorepani – Poon Hill – Ghorepani – Tadapani…no wait Chuile.
Woke up on time and it was downstairs to have some black tea to warm us up, then we were off, this time without the backpacks as we would be coming back down to get them then go the opposite direction. Everybody had the same idea, up to poon hill for sunrise over the mountain ranges. Poon Hill is called a hill because Nepali people laugh at the things we call mountains. They do have 8 peaks over 8000m so you can see why. It was only a 350m climb to Poon Hill for Ghorepani but it was very steep and we were feeling the effects of the 10 hours hiking yesterday. We arrived up there just before sunrise and you could definitely feel the thin air having its effects. There were quite a lot of people up there as this was the place where you can see the Dhaulagiri chain of mountains, the Manaslu and the Annapurna Range all seem to link together. It was beautiful. We didn’t have to come here, this was an extension of the ABC trail but it was well worth the visit.
At 3200m this was the highest any of us had ever been and this little trip up and the rest of the day would definitely help us with our acclimatization over the next few days and our ascent to 4150m. The recommend you only climb 500m per day after 2500m and that’s what we would do.

After taking lots of photographs we climbed back down to Ghorepani and had some breakfast. It was oats and honey for me, perfect for a long days walking. We got packed up and we were off, one hour behind the aforementioned group. They have to move when their guide tells them to otherwise they get left behind. We move at our own pace.

The trail started all back uphill through a creepy forest, a bit like the one at the other side of Ghorepani from 2800 – 3200 to Dhaulagiri pass. The one time we didn’t know whether to turn left or right in the full trip, there was a bunch of porters behind us with a group of Chinese behind them. They told us the direction to go and offered to let us walk with them. Our pace was slower than the day before, but that was no surprise, we were shattered and our muscles ached. Not enough protein that’s for sure. After the pass we reached Ban Thanti on the Ghorepani to Ghandruk trail. We were not making our way to Ghorepani we would reach Tadapani and then stop supposedly. We arrived there after a very steep climb that even the porters found difficult, at around 3pm. We knew Chuile was one hour away. All the rest of the groups had arrived there and stopped, they would stay there for the night. We had a discussion and decided it would be nice to get a head of a group that started a day before us after day 2. Competitiveness. That’s it. We descended down another 400m to Chuile, down through a muddy forest that made our muscles ache with every slope or step down.

We crossed what appeared to be somebodies front garden and climbed a few gates then passed a few cows and finally we reached our stopping point for the night. Chuile (2309m) was much better than Tadapani. There was only one lodge here and it was set on a mountain ledge looking over a great valley where two or three rivers culminated before turning into the Kimrong Khola, (Khola means River in Nepali.) One again the same routine, food, washed up then bed time because we were shattered. It’s a common theme when you’re trekking. You rarely have a lot of energy and we had made a descent of 1.5km from Poon Hill and the Pass. It’s annoying knowing you climbed all the way up, to come back down only to go back up again to ABC.

Chuile – Sinuwa (2360)
We would walk for between 6-8 hours this day and at our resting point we would be 51m higher than when we started but the trail was far from flat. We continued down to Gurnung, a very small village and we met two Israeli trekkers who informed us this was the last place we could buy bottled water, we would have to get purification drops and fill our bottles with boiled and filtered water. Little annoying because our water from now on would taste a little like swimming pool water, that is after we found some drops because we didn’t bring any. We were told we could buy them in Chhomrong. Our next stop was Taulung. Another 200m down then 300m back up. By this stage I had decided that downhill was worse than uphill, it puts a lot of pressure on your muscles and joints. It was then another climb to Chhomrong, the last permanently inhabited village on the trek and one of the largest. It was a full mountain face filled with maybe 20 lodges and different restaurants and had a wholesale shop at the bottom which im sure made an absolute fortune.

We stopped off for lunch and waited until the rain passed. The group from Tadapani would stop here, we would push on to Sinuwa which would take every bit of energy out of us. We were told it would take 15mins to walk from the top of Chhomrong village to the bottom, it took us one hour. 3300 steps, the same steps that I had talked about going up to Ulleri, except this time with a lot more fatigue and pain. The bitch of it all, we got down and crossed the suspension bridge to come back up again to climb to Sinuwa which was up the top of another mountain. Killer. Too many steps. Felt like it took us forever but as we had been used to doing since we started we dug in, found the energy and kept going.

We reached the first Sinuwa, yes there was two. They tell you you’ve arrived there when really you haven't because they want you to stop for the night. Luckily we had some information which told us the real Sinuwa was 45minutes further on. We pushed on and got there eventually. There were two lodges here, the first one we arrived said she had space but the other lodge further on was full. We had already been told she was a lying fuck and not to stay there by two trekkers and good thing to, she was lying, we went further on and got a four bed room for the same price as a three, with a free hot shower. Some places charged you for this knowing that people just wouldn’t care, because the alternative was freezing cold Himalayan mountain water.
Next, you guessed it, Food, shower, Bed.

Sinuwa – Deurali.
Sinuwa was at 2360m, Deurali at 3200m. We had already been to this altitude two days ago so we could climb it without any problems, other than fatigue, muscle ache, blisters, wet socks, the usual. Sinuwa was on the trail to MBC and ABC. We would follow the path and there would be no turn offs and the only way you can divert is to turn back. We walked for about two hours until we reached Bamboo, aptly named because of its location in a bamboo forest. Descent of about 50m then it was all uphill to Dobhan at 2520m. We decided that because of our crappy we were all feeling we would take it one village at a time to see where we would stop. It was Dobhan then Himalaya then Hinku Cave then Deurali. We just kept pushing passing new and fresh avalanches and at all times the Modi Khola to our right. This River comes directly from Machhapuchhre Mountain. We had to cross a really step ravines, horrible looking wooden bridges and the steps were no longer steps, no you were climbing over large rocks and boulders and it was extremely difficult. We knew if we made it to Deurali we would have a much shorter day the next day and that’s what we did. We were now back at 3200m and acclimatizing again.
Food, Shower, Bed.

Deurali (3200m) – MBC (3700m)

There’s not a lot between Deurali and MBC apart from the risk of AMS and an Avalanche or two. We could climb 500m today and we should be alright, and that’s what we did. We knew we had to stop at MBC so we could take it as easy as we wanted. Other groups would push on to ABC we weren’t risking it to have to come back down. It took us three very long and hard hours but we made it. Everybody was pooped. It was nice to watch the clouds rushing up the mountain. Toni got into bed and napped whereas myself and Adrian went and relaxed playing cards and eating after I woke him up lying in the dining room of the lodge.
Eventually everybody was awake, relaxing in bed, keeping warm and just recovering. We were 2 hours away from ABC and it felt good. It was another 450 metres higher but the train wasn’t difficult, slow and steady climb. Everybody sat around at night just talking to other trekkers about their journey, what brought them to Nepal and how they were feeling. The clouds had cleared and we saw Annapurna South just lit up in the sky. Bright white mountain and a black backdrop behind. It only last 20 minutes before the clouds set in again but it was awesome. Already had food and shower so it was just time to set the alarm and get to bed. We were to be up at 4.30 to get to see the sunrise.

MBC (3700m) -ABC (4130)
This was what we wanted, the day we had trekked to get to and I for one was excited. Woke up, got dressed with about four layers and walked outside the room. Sky was clear and literally there were thousands of stars in the sky. No ambient lights around, just darkness, the mountains and the stars. It was epic!! We got our stuff ready and off we went in the darkness with our torches. Nice and easy start to the day and probably the easiest part of the full trek was the last climb. We were tired but we didn’t have to push ourselves all that much stopping to take photos and videos in amazement looking at the mountains get brighter as the sun started to rise over them. I don’t have the words to describe the feeling when we made it up there or the photos to show just how beautiful it was and how eerie it was at the same time. Pictures just don’t do it justice.

We walked round for quite a while taking pictures, a few of me acting a clown as usual, planking, half naked on top of rocks, the usual. We wouldn't stay here tonight, we would descend and try to make it as far down as possible. We had achieved what we came to do and it felt brilliant. We would now try to get back to Pokhara in three days so we could spend the rest of our vacation relaxing down there.

ABC – MBC – Bamboo.
We got back to MBC, got our stuff packed, paid our bill then we were off descending. Walking down was easy at first because we had walked uphill for quite some time but it started to get more and more difficult but we knew the path and knew what to expected and we wanted to stay somewhere different so we stopped at Bamboo. We had some awesome food, like pizza, rosti and eggs to celebrate. Another long day walking. UP since half 4, reached Bamboo at about 6pm. We were relentless.

Bamboo – Jhinudanda.

This was an all downhill affair, apart from going back up those damned to hell steps at Chhomrong. The lure of hot springs made us stop at this place and it was quite a nice village. The angriest I had been on this trip was today. Scores of Chinese and Japanese trekking groups would pass us on their way up to ABC with one porter between maybe 5 or 6 of them. One porter carrying so much luggage up all those steps and in flip flops?? WTF. I had difficulty with my one backpack never mind 5 or 6 backpacks all roped up and using their forehead to help carry. I just hoped they conned those fuckers outa some of their money. They deserve it. There goes my hero carrying a Fridge Freezer up…fucking shocking.

We arrived at Jhinu at around 2 after leaving at about 7 that morning and we went straight for the hot springs after leaving our stuff in the lodge. We descended down to the Modi Khola, the freezing river and right beside it was this nice hot spring pool manned by an old man charging admission. We didn’t bring anything but a towel. Money + Water = bad times. We explained to the old man and he said he would come collect the money at our hotel. He must have forgot haha.
Anyways into the pool and it felt awesome. Muscles loved it. Sat talking to other trekkers, some on their way up, some on their way down. We spoke to an english man who told us he had been in the river. The Ice river as I called it. We followed him down and he went in. I thought its got to be done. Toni said she wouldn’t, Adrian said he would. We went in. Baltic, absolutely freezing cold, especially coming out of really hot water. We couldn’t go in too deep because it was a ferocious river that would have swept us away but up to chest level then ducking under. Back into the hot pool. Well worth it. It became addictive. Toni eventually done it and loved it. After maybe 5 times backwards and forwards our skin had pruned up and it was time to go.
Yup Food, Shower, Bed.

Jhinudanda – Nayapul – Pokhara
This was the last day and we knew we could make it. Feeling refreshed after the hot springs and the rest we went for it. Who decided to stick its big yellow head in our path, the SUN. It was extremely hot and we did not have enough water. Killer last day, lots of sunburn and dehydration. We needed the remainder of our money for a taxi back to Pokhara. Today was Tika, the biggest day of the Dashain festival, where they slaughter the goats. It was a really tough day but when we got in the taxi we knew it was over. We had completed a 10 day trek in 8 days and it felt really good to say that. We had experienece amazing highs and some really difficult times but we knew that, we expected that out of a challenge like this. The taxi fare was double what we paid coming but we didn’t care. We just wanted to relax and that’s what we did in Pokhara. The most strenious thing we done was hire Pedal boats for 2 hours, and most of the time we just drifted.

Before we started trekking I had guessed that this would be my most difficult challenge to date, harder than anything I would have done before, and it was. The problem is the slightly masochistic side of me, I really enjoyed it. My body held up well, my shoes not so much. It shows what you can do, on a tight budget, without lots of equipment and the stuff you did have purchased in a knockoff North Face shop. I spent most of my time in my Nike fit top, light and warm. Im sorry there was a delay in putting this up, I was having a holiday in Singapore for two weeks.