Nepal

Katmandu - Pokhara - Chitwan park - Katmandu

When we first arrived in Katmandu we were mightily impressed at how much nicer the streets were in comparison to the dirty streets of India. That being said we'd had enough of cities, and so took a taxi straight to Pokhara. We probably got conned on the price but were so tired we didn't care! The journey there was brilliant, stunning scenery and fresh mountain air, a welcome change for our lungs!

We found a great place to stay called the Peace eye lodge. Very friendly, relaxed atmosphere nice rooms and cheap prices! Nepal was even cheaper than India and the people are much nicer in general, and bar the taxi drivers, they're not constantly trying to rip you off.

We had a few relaxing days in Pokhara despite there being absolutely loads to do, every second shop is a tour agency! We took a boat out on the lake that the town is built around, had a big steak (which we had been craving, living practically as vegetarians in India) and watched the local Nepalese band do ACDC covers.

Eventually we go a bit more adventurous and took a hike up to the big Buddha on the hill, and Lou who hadn't been feeling so good for a while, was sick on a frog, poor frog!!

The Nepalese were also celebrating new years while we were there for the year 2068 (which got a bit confusing, as its hard enough trying to keep track of what day it is in general!). We drunkenly agreed to do a 2km run the next morning in celebration!! Can't say it was easy getting up but getting up a hung over Al was even harder. He refused to run of course but still got a letter of appreciation for his efforts.

On our final morning in Pokhara we finally got a crystal clear view of the mountains surrounding the town. Half of them we didn't even realise that existed as the air was usually so hazy. It was a breath taking view.

Now back into adventure mode after our rest, Al and I took a rafting tour down the lower seti river. I'd say white water, but it wasn't really aggressive enough for that! More of a leisure cruise with helmets and paddles that were used pretty rarely. Nobody even fell out, so we had to push them, the poor teenage lad didn't know what hit him when he was wrestled out the boat, and then was being threatened that his brain was going to be eaten in the night (an african ritual to make the rest of us brighter)!

The camp fire in the evening was good fun, the Pakistani cardiologist who spoke about 5 languages was singing us Bollywood hits along with the Nepalese tour raft guides. All we could offer for Britain was a good old rugby song of Alouette, in which lots of hand signals had to be used to translate different body parts for a wide range of different nationalities.

After a second day of slightly more challenging waters, we had to travel 'on a bus' because there was no room 'in the bus' to the Chitwan park. It was about an hours ride, the bits where we didn't think we were going to die were quite enjoyable, and probably a whole lot more pleasant then being in the bus! The Chitwan park was nice enough but didn't quite stand up to the game reserves of Africa. The accommodation was cheap although everywhere is trying to sell the same package tour which they make a fortune from... that getting ripped off feeling again!

On the first evening we took a tour of the Elephant reproduction centre, it was quite sad as the elephants were clearly distressed from being chained up most of their lives. The following day we took a canoe down the river that had some very sharp toothed logs in! This was followed by a 5hr trek through the jungle. A bit disappointing we didn't see much apart from a rhino at fairly close range but it bolted before I could take a picture. Fortunately in the other direction! By the end of the day we were exhausted a dehydrated, but rescued by a great meal at restaurant 36, I'd recommend the Vegetarian Thali.

From there we took a bus to Katmandu and had the worst ever flight with Dragon air to Hong kong. On board I was sat next to an old refugee woman and her husband who had clearly never been on a flight before, they couldn't even work the seatbelts! On top of that the woman then elbowed me repetitively for 3 hours, and the useless trolley dolleys kept waking up the child sitting in front of us who cried like demon. I hardly noticed the turbulence!

All in all Nepal (pronounced nipple by the way, hee hee hee) was brilliant, I'd certainly recommend anyone going to India, fly straight past it and go to Nepal! My only regret is that we didn't give ourselves more time there.