Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Taiping

As I mentioned previously we were getting the same Coach back because we got child prices because both of us are “students.” Toni of Fine Art, and myself of Life. I’m joking, il say anything for discount. After the last shenanigans on the bus we expected the same. It was tough leaving Singapore but it had to be done, time to explore the relatively unknown to Toni and Myself; Malaysia. The bus journey was fine, no issues. It’d have been nice for the girl on the coach, luckily a different one, to give us an immigration entry card, so we wouldn’t have to fill it out when we got there but meh, it pretty much went off without a hitch. We travelled straight to KL. We knew we could get lots of information there from where we wanted to go, and what we wanted to do. After a five hour coach we arrived at KL Sentral and made our way to Chinatown, backpacker central because of the cheap food and dorms/accommodation. The good thing about travelling as a couple is that we split room costs so we can get a private double room for the price of two dorm beds in some places. We left our luggage in the room and then ventured round Chinatown. Loads of knock off Billabong, Quicksilver, Gucci, Prada, cheap electronics even Beats by Dre headphones. We decided that we would travel around on the different train lines, quite cheap and we would go to Batu Caves the next day and tour the town the day after. We did move rooms after one night to a nicer place with our own bathroom that wasn’t much more expensive.

Batu Caves was an interesting experience. It’s a series of limestone caves where people have built temples and other religious sites so quite a lot of people come to visit this place. It was only maybe 60p return on trains with free entry so it was worthwhile to visit. Leading up to the cave entrance there is a series of steps, quite steep but nothing like we had experienced in Nepal so it was easy enough and to the right of the Steps is a huge religious statue, I’ll be honest and say I didn’t know who of. The problem with tourist sites, especially religious sites has to be the monkeys. They are like the pigeons in Liverpool, horrible little shits. You basically have to hide anything inside a bag, because if it looks like food they’ll come after you, like the one eating the candy floss from the monkey temple in Nepal.

The Caves were quite good to see, there was a larger set of caves that you could walk through but because they were in a conservation site there was a price. We had seen enough bats in this cave and Singapore Zoo and we didn’t need to see any more so we didn’t bother. We went back to Chinatown. Toni decided that she wanted a Tablet so she could read her Uni work and get a program for it that could annotate PDF files. We had a look at quite a few but she decided that we would go see the Low Yat Plaza the next night to see if there was any better for the price in there. Not too expensive because you cant really take it back to the shops…

The next day we would see the Petronas Towers. This I did know about KL, but the sky bridge was undergoing renovations whilst we were there for about 3 months so we couldn’t go up but they were still amazing to see. As a first time visitor we got the train to the closest station then made our way up to the exit; a shopping centre. Brilliant. My favourite. We went outside and could see all the banking district buildings; but no Petronas Towers. Strange, I’m sure they are around here somewhere. You then step outside, turn around and they are towering above your head. We spent some time taking photos and messing around planking and owling, no batmanning, too dangerous. They really are just amazing structures and pictures just can’t justify how enormous they are.

Afterwards we went back into the Shopping centre to cool off in their air con and got some food. Toni then got a free makeover from quite an expensive make up brand in Malaysia. We then visited the Kuala Lumpur Art Gallery which wasn’t that impressive. The Singapore Art Museum was much better. We decided that we wanted to get out of the city that night so that night Toni bought herself a 7’’ tablet, made by a Malaysian manufacturer after we visited Low Yat Plaza and realised that everywhere was selling the same thing, and although some of the Samsung Galaxy’s and Ipad 2’s were genuine, we would have no come back or rights if it broke so Toni went for the cheaper and less risk model by HKV.

The next day we got up, had breakfast and checked out of our hotel. We planned to go north, to work our way forward to slowly but surely reach Penang/Langkawi, close to the Thailand border where we both had decided we wanted to spend our Christmas and New Year’s. Walking to the bus station we encountered a huge storm and we were literally soaked right through in 5 seconds.
We got the bus to Ipoh, the capital of Perak and spend a few days there. It’s nice knowing that we are not under pressure; we can come and go as we please and just do what we want. With India being pre planned, and working in Nepal, it was nice to be this free again. Ipoh is a much quieter city, with not a lot going on. We stayed in the Shanghai Inn, an old hostel but the hostel owner made it worthwhile and was very helpful in giving us tips and hints. We visited the Lost world of Tambun hot springs. 15rm entry, about £3 and spent maybe 3 or 4 hours bathing in 40C-45C pools. These made the air temperature feel cool for once. Malaysia is really humid and constantly warm. I forget what it feels like to be cold; with Annapurna and the Himalayan River a fond memory. At night all the pools are lit up, there was music playing with different types of pools including Jacuzzi’s, cave steam rooms and nice pools with water features.

Ipoh was another landmark in Toni and I’s relationship. We went to the Cinema for the first time. We have been together 16.5 months approx. and we have never been to the cinema before. We marked the occasion with popcorn and drinks and we seen Happy Feet 2 “I’m bringing Fluffy back.” Pretty decent cartoon, funny in places but I don’t think it was as good as the first one. We also got stuck in the shopping centre during a really heavy storm and decided to go to the cinema again to see Immortals. We both thought it was a really good film. It is similar to 300 and from the same director but 300 is still a benchmark film for that genre.

Unfortunately Toni started to feel a cold coming on, yes in this heat but we decided that we would move on and travel north again after 3 nights to Taiping. A small city, with beautiful lake gardens and that’s pretty much it, but we would stay for 5 nights until Toni felt better in a nicer hotel, Hotel Furama, with a large room and air conditioning.

Taiping is in a nice location, halfway between Ipoh and Georgetown, Penang, so it seemed like the logical step to stay here before the hustle and bustle of Georgetown. To anybody who has been to Malaysia they will see that we have basically missed out on the east coast, with the tropical islands of Tioman et al, but the East coast is currently undergoing its wet season and we have been told by quite a few people that it is taking quite a battering on a daily basis so we decided that we would leave the Beach holiday until Batu Ferringhi, Penang.

When Toni was feeling fit and healthy again we visited the lake gardens and you can see from the pics below that it is in a beautiful setting and worth staying here and relaxing.

Taiping’s location was ideal for a trip to Laketown Bukit Merah. This is where the Orangutan Island is located. This is an Orangutan Reserve that nurtures and sustains the dwindling Orangutan Population. There is also another in Borneo, on the Malaysian Islands. This was on my to-do list of Malaysia and it was well worth the trip. The Photo’s are poor because they used mirrored glass to prevent any flash getting through but you can see some below. As part of our entry we got to visit the Zoo there as well that had Crocodiles, Cobra’s, Vipers, Iguana’s, Squirrel Monkeys and Gibbons to name a few. The snake room was quite an experience. Being surround by tanks with deadly snakes, which no doubt some kid had been provoking just before I went in because the Common Cobra was in attack mode and the spitting cobra tried to spit at me the minute I came in the door which gave me a fright. It just set my heart racing.

Other than these activities Taiping was just a rest stop. After 5 nights we were off to Butterworth to get the Ferry to Georgetown where the is more happening so il leave it there folks. I hope you as usual enjoy reading this and like the photo’s I’ve uploaded. No doubt they’ve taken some time.

Adios Amigos.

Ocean Drive, Sentosa Cove, Sentosa Island, Singapore.

What a beautiful place we were staying in. The Azure complex with its own steam rooms, gym, large swimming pool, underground parking with lots of Maserati’s and Ferrari’s. The apartment we were staying in was beautiful, large living room and three bedrooms with two balconies. To think three months ago we were in Goa India living with bed bugs and now we’re in an apartment worth about 2 million surrounded by houses cost 10 Million plus; with their Lamborghini’s and Bentleys outside. My head and Toni’s head were absolutely pickled. It took us 5 days to get our heads round to things, we couldn’t think straight, the humidity was getting to us, trying to get used to what we were seeing, and staying on a small Island that has its own attractions never mind a Universal Studios…its all a bit much to take in.

We spent Halloween, it was on the Saturday over here in Café Del Mar in the swimming pool at a foam party. Last week I was eating rice and lentils…Get the picture?? Another highlight of the first 5 days was the Fish and Chips from Smith’s restaurant. Real fish and chips, wrapped up in paper with real malt vinegar. Yes I know you can get it anytime you want but I’m 8 hours ahead of you lot. Other than that we just spent some time at the beach and swimming pool, trying to get our heads right.

After the cooling off period, we decided it was about time to starting ticking off some of the things we wanted to do in Singapore. We decided to get the Singapore play pass, which allowed us to do around 13 activities on Sentosa island including Tiger Tower, large viewing tower where you can see 360 view of Sentosa, south China Sea and Singapore mainland; the merlion, Singapore’s symbol a large concrete structure half lion, half merman/mermaid. A 4d cinema showing a film ripping off Pirates of the Caribbean was the main attraction for me, which was brilliant, getting wet, stung by wasps etc and falling off cliffs, right from your cinema chair. There was also a 3d rollercaster which was quite good and a 3d shootout, of which I was nominated Sheriff after getting the high score.

A little ride on a segway makes me want to buy one, and hours bicycle ride which we struggled to fit in at the end. Bike had no lights and it was really dark. It was an action packed day and one we enjoyed very much. There was more planned for the next day; a trip to the newly opened Universal Studios. This was getting built the last time I was here, you could see the beginning of the rollercosters forming.

Obviously an early start was in order if we were only spending one day there and we got 20% discount if we paid our entry by mastercard. Any discount you can get in Singapore you take it with open arms. Money has a way of just disappearing here. It was an epic day. Running around like kids going on rollercoasters and watching live acts like Donkey from Shrek live. Although for kids it was quite funny. The monster rock show was brilliant, stage performance with singers and pyrotechnics but the best was Waterworld live. Live stunts by guys on jetski’s, explosions and fighting scenes depicting a famous scene from the famous flop Waterworld…”dry land is not a myth!!” We got soaked which was the point of sitting in the splash zone. One Indian guy had a problem with the language barrier and got soaked after he spent 10 minutes wiping down his seat before he would sit down. I thought that was hliarious because I sat and watched him do it, thinking “are you serious, or just oblivious to whats going to happen?” Either answer was funny.
Some of the rides were for kids but there were three hairy rollercoasters. One in ancient Egypt, and indoor rollercoaster was quite terrifying the first time, then there was Human vs Ceylon in Sci-fi land. Human was sit-down and Ceylon was suspended. Ceylon was the best of the two and with only 5 minute queues it felt rude not to wait that extra 1.5 minutes to get the front seats. Must have been on these about 10 times, well until Toni started to feel a little green. Fair play to her, she was a trooper and kept going until I was finished. Great day all round and the attention to detail was magnificent and worth the money to get in.

Over the next few days we spent it relaxing and we went to St James Power Station on Harbour front. This was on the mainland and at the end of the bridge to Sentosa. It was Ladies night so Toni got in free and got up to 5 free drink tokens on entry, lucky her, she got 5. There was a long queue for he drinks but it wasn’t surprising considering the price of alcohol. 5 drinks, 15 dollars per drink, 75 dollars, just under £40 free. We spent some time in Powerhouse, which was the club I got tossed out of two years ago for dancing on the stage. I must have set some precedent because your now allowed to dance on the stage. After we took a walk around the other 6 bars that were open in the complex and in a quiet one, Toni played dumb and managed to get another 5 free drinks plus a shot of tequila from the bar man plus a glass of beer for me. Toni got about £80 worth of free drink that night and needless to say, we didn’t do much the next day. It was a good night and it was our first clubbing experience since we left the UK. India and Nepal are not really known for their nightlife.

We also done the main “thing to do,” in Singapore, the Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel in the infamous Long Bar. What a jip. The cocktail is a premade mix with not the best ingredients and it costs a fortune. I got the original and Toni got the Spring Sling. Toni’s was nice, mine was ok, the total price S$ 61.20. That’s over £30 for two not very strong cocktails. The best part of the bar is the fact you get free monkey nuts and its tradition to throw the shells on the floor. The bar is a tip. I think people only come here because it’s cheaper to litter on the ground in here than it is outside, and that’s not saying much. 500-1000 fine for littering outside. Needless to say I threw nut shells everywhere.

A trip to the Botanic Gardens was a nice walk in a really nice area. Nothing really special, just nice to see some grass when you are surrounded by skyscrapers on the mainland.

After all our activities we had some chill out time spending nights in having nice conversations with Christine and a few drinks staying up until sometimes three or 4 just talking. It was a good chance to phone home as well for both of us. Toni sent some stuff home and we decided where we wanted to be for New Years and Xmas because we knew places would start to get booked up. Plenty of time at the pool and in the steam room, just because we could. Sometimes at night there would be some fantastic thunderstorms, sheet and fork lightning lighting up the sky and very frequent; every few seconds on some occasions. I like thunder and lightning but not too close.

Claire and Mark Gannon and their son Liam arrived (Ron’s older sister) the day before Toni’s birthday. We decided that we would do something together before we hit the road again and went to the Night Safari. Singapore has one of the best Zoo’s and a great collection of animals from tiger’s to lions elephants to hyena’s, all well looked after by the staff there. Not like some of the freak show’s you see in Asia. It was a really good night and a great trip then went back to the apartment and had nacho’s and a few drinks. And Toni was pleased with her new stuffed pet tiger which she has named Barry.

The day before Toni’s birthday I need some time on my todd to get things prepared and sorted to make sure she had a good birthday. Needed to get her cake sorted, Jack Daniels and other little part bits and make sure the hotel was sorted for the next night. I booked us into the five star Festive Hotel in Resorts world, which she didn’t know about, so quite a bit of secrecy was needed. We had a party the night before with burgers and snacks, drinks then the next day we would leave Ron and Christine and the beautiful apartment in Sentosa cove and off on the road again, but not without stopping at the big hotel first. Toni was treated to room service, hotel spa and hair treatments all at her request and she told me she had an amazing day. There was an epic thunderstorm this day as well and I caught some of it on my webcam, I hope itll load up on this blog.

The next day we were off to Kuala Lumpur. Our wonderful trip to Singapore had come to an end, in a way I was glad. It was awesome to stay where we did and we couldn’t be more thankful to Ronald and Christine Foster for their hospitality and letting us stay at their home. It was a welcomed break but we were now ready to hit the road again and start living like paupers again, the high life was getting to comfortable and I think one more week there and I would have had to stay for good lol

We decided to wing Malaysia, take it as it comes, nothing pre booked or decided and we would just see what we would get up to. I think il leave it there people and Start Malaysia in a new blog. Thanks for reading. Just surpassed the 20,000 word mark…il have my MA in travel writing pretty soon.

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.

Chitwan, LCD screens and Earthquakes.

September has been much less frustrating I think for both of us than August. We spent August trying to fight through and count down the days until September. The first few weeks of September flew in. I type this blog two days before we leave for Pokhara and the day after we begin our ascent to Annapurna Base camp. This month has been quite interesting. Not so much with school. Its been the same old same old at school. Toni had to learn a traditional dance for Children’s Day here where as I had nothing prepared and had to come up with a short speech in front of grades 8, 9 and 10 on my first day at their section within 1.5 minutes. Nothing like a bit of pressure to start your morning. Toni quite enjoyed her Children’s Day and the dancing where as I was glad to get that day over and done with. As I write this we have less than ten teaching days left, with exactly one month to the date until we fly to Kuala Lumpur.

The reason this month has gone a lot quicker is I think because of our visit to Chitwan National Park. It was only decided a week or so before we went. It is one of the must do things in Nepal according to every guide. It was not disappointing. The problem was getting there. It is a normal 5-6 hour bus journey. It took us 9. A one hour drive out of Kathmandu Valley took us 3 hours. Landslide and a truck broken down on a two lane pass meaning traffic police and the army was called to navigate traffic. It felt like it took forever. Eventually we got moving and after that everything was fine. When we arrived in Chitwan we felt the difference between there and Kathmandu. We knew Nepal was hot and we had felt the Terai region temperatures before. Never had we experienced this type of humidity. It really had that jungle sticky feeling whereas when Kathmandu is hot it is just hot, not lots of humidity. We had pre-booked the trip and had all meals included, which we thought would be Dal Bhatt. To our surprise the food was some of the best we had since we got in Nepal. Quite large meals, not one of them involved rice or roti or a curry of any type. We stayed at Safari Club and I would highly recommend this hotel to anybody that goes to Chitwan.

The next day was when the main activities started. First stop, elephant safari through Chitwan National Park. It was an unbelievable experience. I have no other expression to describe it but both of us were ‘bricking it’ when we first got up on the elephants with two other Nepali men. After 3 minutes of walking we were told we would have to swap seats. This is quite difficult when you are stood on a wooden box on top of an elephant in the middle of the Jungle so the box/ seats were balanced properly. It added to the ‘excitement.’

We trekked through the jungle for about an hour or more and it was a thrilling experience. We saw different types of monkeys, and not the usual temple monkeys, seen large deer’s and lots of different types of wild birds. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any rhino’s or tigers but we understood that it wasn’t the best season because it was too hot. It still didn’t take anything away from the safari.

Elephant Bathing. WOW. This was the best part of the trip I think in both our eyes. Down, into the river and asked to climb up on top of the elephant. The elephant then proceeded to take water in its trunk and spray both of us. It was really good fun. Then we were asked to sit up on the elephant just so the elephant would roll over and throw us into the river. Then it was time to wash the elephant down, basically using the river water give him a little rub. Think the elephant was near 45 years old. It is an experience neither of us will ever forget and made the whole thing worth it.

Canoeing down a river full of crocodiles was a different type of experience. Especially when the canoe was a hollowed out tree or as Toni likes to describe as “floating down a river infested with crocodiles on a stick.” That is what it was like. AT one point we were maybe 1m away from a croc in the river. It was a little frightening when you think that if somebody moved in the boat it started to rock quite precariously. Toni got some really good photos of the crocs and hopefully I’ll get the connection to upload them.

After the boat ride we watched a cultural program with the Tharu community. This community is quite a poor community and they live off the land and drink quite a lot. They are also resistant to malaria, which has been developed over the years. This is one thing that I think comes in quite handy. Hate mosquitoes, horrible little shits, hate waking up with 3 or 4 bites because once just isn’t enough.

With some sunset watching and bird watching, jungle walking the full experience was amazing and something I would recommend to anybody that visits Nepal. The 8 hour bus back wasn’t too bad. Yeh it takes a long time to travel in Nepal but the scenery is quite beautiful which makes up for it all.

After Chitwan we have both been counting down the days to the Dashain Festival. This means we get two weeks holidays on our year out haha. We will get the chance to visit Pokhara which is quite a popular place in Nepal because of its location beside a large lake beside the Annapurna Range. On the second day we will begin our trek to Annapurna Base Camp, something both Toni and I have been working quite hard in the gym for. It will amount to 8 or 9 days walking there and back trekking up to a height of 4130m. That plan nearly went down the shoot a few days back.

Toni and I were sitting at Kathmandu International Centre, the gym we use whilst we are here, checking emails on the internet. Toni had my netbook at the time so as I was sitting twiddling my thumbs I felt the chair shaking. I thought Toni had here feet on the table and started rocking it and it started to get on my nerves. I told her to stop it…I think she protest too much (Hamlet)…it wasn’t her. The ground was shaking, the walls were shaking and everything was shaking. It lasted for one or two minutes. I turned to Toni and said “Toni, don’t panic, but we’re in an earthquake.” Obviously she reacted quite well and started to get a little hyped, to which I said. Shut up, sit there and don’t move, it will pass. Luckily the walls didn’t start falling in around us, like other places in the Laplitipur area, unlike the British Embassy, where 3 people were killed. We sat through a 6.9 earthquake. Obviously we were not at the epicenter but it was still very powerful where we were. It gave me quite a headache, feeling like I had been bounced about in a rollercoaster for too long. It was over, and hopefully for good, I can now scratch earthquakes off my list of things to do/enjoy haha I just hoped that it wouldn’t cause any landslides in the surrounding area or knock down any of the bridges we would have to pass on our way to ABC.

Yesterday, some time after the earthquake (25/09/2011) a small mountain flight plane came down and killed 19 people just outside Kathmandu, including 10 Indians, 2 Americans 6 Nepali’s and a Japanese man. It’s such a shame, they were returning into Kathmandu from a flight over Mt. Everest. Nepal is not known for its good reputation when it comes to small airplanes which frequently crash on mountain flights. It’s been a bad period for Nepal but hopefully it will see some brighter times in the Festival period.

The reason It has taken me a long time to upload blogs etc is because of my LCD screen on my netbook. In August, I was in Thamel one night, woke up the next morning, turned on my netbook and the screen colours got inverted. Blue turned red, white turned black and it was too much pain to look at it. Pain in the arse. One should never take anything they deem valuable with them when travelling, if you do, be prepared for it to break or go wrong. I could replace the screen for maybe 37 pound in the UK, but although the cost of living in Nepal is very low and a hotel room costs maybe 3.50/night, the cost of electronics is sky high. Cost me over twice the price to replace my screen. Part of me wanted to just DHL or Fed ex it home but that was costing near the price of replacing the screen when I started looking at prices to work out the best options. If this screen fails, I will return and punch the guy in the face.

I have had a brilliant weekend in Thamel this past week sorting out my Visa extension, my ACAP (for Annapurna conservation fee) and my TIMS card, for trekking information. These were all musts for us and took a large chunk out of our school wages but because we are not using a guide for our trek we will save 20 US$ per day. The next two weeks will probably be the most challenging thing I have done in life too date, yes even tougher than travelling through India and I am relishing the prospect. I am at the fittest ive ever been and at the lowest weight ive been since I was 16 or 17. Hopefully it will go ahead without any problems and hopefully AMS will not set in when we reach the higher altitudes. Toni’s friend Adrian has arrived in Nepal and has decided to join us on the trek. We helped him get the job at the same school as us. If anybody reading this wants to do anything like this in Nepal they can get in touch with me Via facebook or email and I will point them in the right direction.

My next blog will be posted a few days after I return from Pokhara and it may follow a different pattern to my last blogs and hopefully I will take the time to upload some of the photos we have gathered over our time in Nepal. Feel free to send me any comments or if you have any questions just give me a shout.

Toni says hello to all readers 

“One good thing about music, is when it hits, you feel no pain.” Marley, Bob

Teaching and Returning to Sirutar

So, teaching…(frustrating, rewarding, annoying, funny, confusing, awkward, intense, dal-bhaat, strctured and unstructured, winged and non…-winged?!) I personally feel there is no other job on the planet that can give you this many feelings (believe me I could have put more) all in the space of a simple english class lasting 45 minutes. Each one is a rollercoaster and what will work for class 4a, will not work for 4b…even though you think you can make some improvements in the next lesson and it ends up in a sham with you searching for back-up plans, as 30+ students and perhaps 2-3 teachers sit on, watching you struggle…bit like car crash tv.

I know im a nervous public speaker. Some people said it didn’t show on Tommy and Nicola’s Wedding day, some people did. I think there were two reason’s for the different opinions:
1) Its an Irish Wedding…flooded with alcohol…and
2) The jokes were shocking enough fooling those who thinks it takes a brave and confident man to say such things in front of 200 people.

Either way, I do believe that after 4 weeks of teaching, I am much more confident speaking in front of people and even better fooling them into thinking I know what I’m talking about. Toni and I have been in the same class for 4 weeks, and we have different teaching methods. Toni likes the children to have fun, act, draw and as I see it ‘make noise’ etc where as I like the children to be quiet, don’t shout out and if I see one of them tear a text book page I feel like throwing them through the window. I know it’s the exact same in the UK with children and books, but children in the UK have a Government that will pay for the books, schools here get their funding from enrolment fee’s. Fact remains, the school we are teaching in now is quite an expensive school to enrol a child and it annoys me when a spoilt child tears a text book that doesn’t belong to them. Personally I think if a child rips a text book they can keep it and replace it with a new one. In this country I think it would stop even the spoilt kids tearing one. Another thing that gets on my goat (English colloquialism for “that really frustrates me) is when im teaching a class and I see somebody write on a desk. That’s another classic case of “Man throws child for 3rd floor window.”

I think il just rant in this blog. I think the season is changing here, monsoon is ending, ive had food poisoning this week and I do not feel good at the minute so I think I deserve to rant.

Rant 1 – difficulty with non-native toungue teachers. Example word: Shepherd.
Nearly everybody in the UK can say this word (barring those that cant) and we all know it is pronounced shep herd. Easy.

Or not. If you follow the phonetics way of teaching, and merely teaching grade 1 students this word, then you will not know it is an exception to the ph rule. (Photo, Philosophy, Phucking Phonetics) and I witnessed a teacher teach her class this word (Topic my village) as Shef ferd.
We were only there to watch the class, get a feel for the teaching style, but Inside I had a Whoopi Goldberg moment “WAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT aaaaa MINUTE.”
I had to jump in, that is something that needed to be straightened out there and then otherwise
!) it would have bugged the hell outa me if I didn’t
2) Mistakes at the basic level will cause a lot of difficulty in the future.

It was difficult explaining to seven year olds and the teachers but it got through and the teacher was rather helpful we explained it, after all…how was she suppose to know?

Rant 2 – American English
I know there are many different versions of the english language but If a school is to teach in English then they should at least pick a version and stick to it. Too many times have I seen kids spelling favourite; favorite and colour; color whilst other children spell it English (UK) and both are marked correctly. There’s no consistency, they should have picked a version of the language and stuck to it. Instead, Toni and I come along and decide we will implement it. English UK. Spent a class with every grade explaining the differences and told them if they spelled either of these words in the American way they would have to write it out 100 times with the correct spelling. It started a chain of gasps but maybe the shock/fear factor would work. After 4 weeks I havent seen it spelt incorrectly yet, maybe it worked.

I could rant for weeks about the number of things that are difficult about teaching the english language in a school such as this, but teaching does have its plus points. Holidays, more so in any culture or country, Nepali’s like their holidays. We taught 18 days in August due to the number of holidays that occurred and at the end of september they have their biggest festival Dashain, which is a full 2 weeks holidays for the school meaning we have 2 weeks to do whatever we please.
We have decided that we will trek to Annapurna Basecamp. At 4130m high it will be a challenge and to get to it, it will take maybe 5 days, walking 6+hours per day then maybe 4 hours to get back down because of the valleys. You have to go up to go down, to go up…and repeat numerous times. We will also spend a few days in Pokhara. This is a small town that is very touristy, because of its scenery of that Annapurna Range from Phewa Tal (Large peaceful lake where boatrides and watersports are the attraction,) and its proximity to the mountain ranges for trekking, hiking, mountain climbing and other mountain sports like paragliding. I for one cannot wait until the vacation begins.

Nepal has still issues with Strikes. There has been two bus strikes since we have arrived here, meaning that children are unable to get to school, leading to the school closure and a day off on holiday. We don’t normally find out about any of these things until the morning, just as you are getting ready for school.

Other than teaching we have been spending our time at Kathmandu International Centre. Both of us are working on our fitness to be able to climb to ABC. Its difficult and I actually look forward to going to the gym whilst im here. It will also help when we are spending our time on the beaches of thailand in the coming months.
We visited our old families and Sirutar that we spent 10 weeks in last year. Not a lot has changed there to be honest. The school is still not finished because the funding ran out and the community is not pulling together to finish it off which is rather disappointing. The blood sweat and tears that went into to building the school over the three years that Platform2 and DFID funded the project has seemed to gone to waste and I got rather pissed off at it all. The problem was I didn’t know who to be angry at, nobody to vent to or argue about with it because Toni felt the same way. Its just a shame.|

We did get to spend some time with the families that were so kind to us (cough dal bhatt, 2 x 70 days) and let them know what we were doing, and it was good spending time in a community that we had lived with for so long. Visiting Sirutar we also go practicing trekking or hiking. Managed a 7 hour hike which we both felt quite good about and this gave us the confidence to plan the trip to ABC. The reason we chose ABC over Everest Base Camp is because we do not have to take a flight, it will be cheaper, and we have been told that EBC is the highest dumpsite in the world and that the ABC trek is beautiful and you eventually arrive in an Amphitheatre, surrounded by mountains.

This weekend we will be going to Chitwan National Park, on an elephant safari, canoeing and jeep safari. It will be the most different thing we have done in Nepal and at this point we are sick of going to Thamel and getting hassled by the same people over and over again who want to extort us from our hard earned rupee’s.

I apologise that this has taken me so long to upload. Ive had computer difficulties that have still not be resolved. The next blog should be after Annapurna Base Camp.

Until then folks, happy reading!!

Varanasi to Kathmandu

Another rickshaw ride, this would be the last of India to the Station. Our train was around 1 o clock but it did not come to about 2, and we were there two hours before the train was due to take off so it felt like we were waiting for a very long time, especially since we took the morning boat ride. The train station was full of orange men. We just sat around singing different songs, from Irish songs to Bon Jovi, we covered it all. Once on the train we got ready and got to sleep pretty much straight away (for me I have Counting Crows to thank). Eventually at about 8 in the morning we arrived in Gorakhpur. Out of the train station, across the road and there was a bus to the border. Get in one guy said. “All your friends are there.” All our friends meaning all the other white people that decided to cross the border in this way. There were quite a lot of them to be honest although I don’t think any of them were from the UK. We hadn’t met many people from the UK in our travels through India. The bus was the usual cramped bumpy ride and after about 3 hours we arrived at Sunnauli, the border village between Nepal and India. It’s just a street. No other way to describe it. Either side lined with the usual drink shops, currency exchange points and the shops selling the same stuff as every other shop in India. When we jumped off the bus we were surrounded by rickshaw drivers, all telling us different distances to the border.
One guy tells me, your bag is too heavy, it is too hot to walk the 2 miles to the border. My response, its just up the street; and it was.

Up to the border and you’re told to go into this little open room. This was passport control, the guy’s that stamped you out of the country. It was nothing special at all, just a dark little room that used sunlight as its light source but spent most of the time in the shade. Fill in a little form, give them your passport and that’s it. Done stamp, you are now free to leave India. Thank F**K. Glad that was easy, it was probably the easiest thing we had done in India. Out of the room, got some money changed into Nepali Rupee’s. The exchange rate has been fixed at 1.6 for 15 maybe more years. India has had a stranglehold for a long time and Nepal doesn’t have a choice. Nepal is a poor country with no ports. Its either get your resources from China or India. Suppose for Nepal, India is the best of that bad bunch and it has not got the stability to stand on its own, with maybe 50-100 political parties.

We crossed the border and the difference was noticeable straight away. Smiling faces, less hassle, everybody saying Namaste, it already seemed better. The people are much friendlier to foreigners, in Nepal than India. There was certainly less of an attitude. Getting our visa stamps was simple, the passport control on the Nepal side were very helpful, happy cheery men having a laugh with the tourists that had crossed the border. Most people that come to Nepal get a 15 day or one month visa. Toni and I had different plans. We were staying for 3 months and we had prearranged with our friend from last year Khem to teach in a school here and stay with a host family. We had their names, but not their situation. For example my situation and Toni’s situation were very different last year. Like the UK some families are richer than others, therefore it would be nice to stay in a comfortable home after travelling in such difficult conditions in India.

The first night we stayed in Bhairawa in Nepal, just 4km from the border. We decided against going straight to Kathmandu because we were shattered. We stayed in Hotel Glasgow, a nice-ish hotel that was approximately five pound each per night. We had food, and rested. That’s all. We had an early start the next morning, a 9 hour bus to travel 250km to Kathmandu. It would be tough, but we had been use to these types of journeys. The next morning we got up and travelled to Kathmandu.

We had never seen this side of Nepal. It was beautiful. Once you passed the area of Lumbini (birth place of Buddha) it was a road, along a river in the hills. This river stretched for over 100km and it was beautiful. It didn’t get boring and I enjoyed travelling along it, knowing that eventually we would have to go quite high to get into Kathmandu Valley. I’m a little tall for these buses so it was quite difficult to sit for 9 hours with your legs jammed against the seat in front, but this was it. We had nearly finished the long travels to our destination. At one stage I had Toni sleeping on one shoulder and another man on the other. He was quite embarrassed when he woke, but it was quite funny for me.

He explained quite a bit about Nepal’s situation and told me how difficult it was for him to get Visa’s for other countries because of the number of people that flea Nepal and do not return within the time period. I was thinking it must be so difficult for somebody from here to do what I was doing. We passed Chitwan National park, which we planned to visit, seen the Gorkha region and passed lots or area’s that you could go rafting. Eventually we were getting close to Kathmandu. We started climbing this winding road and got higher and higher. I think we must have been up maybe 2500m high at least, definitely the highest I have ever been without being in a plane. Then we began the descent into Kathmandu Valley. We thought it would be easy to get to where we wanted, but at the final stop we realised we were nowhere we had been before. We were at the long distance bus stop; someway from where we had wanted to be. When we got off the bus there were a few taxi drivers waiting, but nowhere near as many as there would be in India. We wanted to go to Thamel, a tourist district in Kathmandu that we were familiar with from our last visit. One guy said he had a cheap hotel there, maybe 300-400 rupees per night and we could get a taxi for 150 because it was a few km away. The hotel he took us was on the outskirts of Thamel but it wasn’t too bad; certainly worth the money. It wasn’t where we wanted to be so we left and asked directions to some nearby bars popular with tourists like Sheesha Terrace, Buddha Bar or Reggae Reggae bar, from which, we would know where to go. After walking for maybe 15 minutes we were in the centre of Thamel and it felt good. A sense of familiarity that we hadn’t experienced on the trip before certainly cheered us up after a 9 hour bus journey. We decided to stay in Hotel Downtown that night; we got one of the better rooms for 400 rupees after some bargaining. The manager did forewarn us that the hot water didn’t work, what he didn’t explain was how cold the cold water would be. There were ice cubes coming from the shower. After getting dressed we went to one of our favourite places from the year before Sheesha Terrace. Time to get some food, chill out sitting on cushions on the floor, listening to a decent cover band. We didn’t stay out long, we were shattered. The next day it was off to meet our good friend Khyam; one of the Platform 2 leaders from our last trip. He organised our placement and our host family here in Nepal and we needed to know where we were staying and the final details about our arrangement.

It was over a year since we had seen him so it was good to catch up, discuss what we had done in India and just see a friendly face that we knew; another thing we hadn't seen in a while. He ‘explained the things’ (private platform2 joke) and told us we were free to do whatever we wanted and he would arrange to take us to the monkey temple the next morning. Once again we spent another night out in Thamel, this time in Reggae Reggae bar, just enjoying the atmosphere and talking about India, about Nepal and about our future plans. Besides Nepal, we had decided that we wouldn’t allow ourselves to be confined to dates (besides visa requirements) that we would move freely, so that we wouldn’t be stuck in a place for longer than we expected. That’s what annoyed us most about India, the lack of freedom to move, although we did agree that we had travelled to long and too far, uncomfortably in sleeper class in 28 days. It was tough going but we did pull through and I think personally it has prepared us for the worst, travelling in any other of the countries we would be visiting.

The next morning, we went to get Nepali sim cards then walked with a friend of Khyams to the Monkey Temple. This is one of the largest temples in Kathmandu Valley and although we had been here before it was still a nice walk. I’m sure some of you have seen me planking below the three golden ‘gods,’ that was at the monkey temple. I did see a monkey, hit a young boy then steal his food. Harsh, but quite funny all the same. We walked back as well; it was about 45-60 minute’s walk from our hotel, and got lunch. It was time to go meet our host family and our new home for 3 months. Im not sure what was going through Toni’s mind, but the walk around checking out everybody elses home in Sirutar last year was going through mine. Thinking to myself: ‘I could live here’ or ‘please don’t stop the car, DRIVE, DRIVE, DRIVE,’ were two common thoughts. Eventually we pulled up outside this very large house, with a big blue gate that a car could fit through and I thought Yippee. The chance of a western style toilet and warm water were the only things I had hoped for and it looked like I got lucky. I did hear a dog bark though, and I was praying to whomever that it wasn’t in this house.

Western Style Toilet – Yes
Warm Water – Yes
Dog – Yes, but inside a cage.

It could have gone a lot worse, especially after my last experience in Nepal, with squat toilet in an outhouse, water from a well to shower from and a dog that smelled horrible, not to mention my night visitors of huntsmen spiders, gecko’s and that little rat that ran round my room at night. This was a much higher standard of living that my last trip here. No mosquito net needed either. Very few mosquitoes live in Patan or Kathmandu city in general so after a few weeks we could stop taking our doxycycline (anti malaria pills).

The family consists of, Mum Depeeka, Dad Sanjaya, Eeshan little boy and grandmother. We were welcomed with juice, which was a good sign. Boy the mum and dad were at work but we were told that the mum would be arriving back very soon. Eventually the full family was together and everybody was very happy and interested to know what we were doing and what we had experienced.

It was the time I had been waiting for. Dinner time, was I about to start having rice come out my ears for three months, or would they mix it up a little?? I was panicking a little inside, not wanting to go through the same thing as last time. There it was. ROTI, a bit like tortilla bread. Thank you, thank you. I was saved from the rice. I don’t think I could have endured three months of the same food over again, too difficult and it was never good for my health. We had had a long day, and it was definitely time to sleep. Double bed. Woop Woop, still as hard as a snooker table but we could both cope with that.

I will leave it there. We’ve been flat out in school for a few weeks now and other things since we got here and not really had lots of free time so I will try to update it more when I can.

Namaste!