Thursday 17 December

When we leave to meet the others for breakfast we are pretty much ready to leave. We have breakfast at a little organic vegetarian cafe. It's good food. We discuss morning options and decide to take the boat across the lake to the path up the mountain to the peace pagoda. Is a lovely morning. The walk is nice. I'm terrible at hills, but eventually we get there within time! It's lovely and peaceful at the top with potential good views. Apparently this time of year is always foggy. We make it down in great time and we have to wait for the boats to return to collect us. Back at the hotel we get our stuff and check our. Now for our 6 hour trip. We stop for lunch along the way. I don't offer anything. My stomach is in an uproar due to the petrol smell and awful roads. Thankfully we get the petrol can loaded on the top of the van for the next bit. But there isn't much to be done for the roads. I'm still feeling pretty queasy when we get to our next brief break for chai and a toilet. Now for the climb into Kathmandu. The traffic and roads are crazy. And a little bit scary.
The condition of Kathmandu is quite different from what I was expecting. Whole portions of road are just gravel. The traffic moves slowly too. But despite this the horns are hardly used. Making it quite peaceful. We check in to the hotel and I'm delighted to find electric blanket! Malcolm has a shower then we go out for dinner. I have traditional Nepalese which is mostly good but a bit spicy. The fuel issues are really bad here and you can order hardly anything on the menu. We walk around the streets and then head back to the hotel. I'm glad there is hot water!