We've arrived in Nepal and are in Kathmandu. Tony's bag didn't quite make it beyond Dubai, although mine, checked in at the same time, did. We were told that Kathmandu airport doesn't have a service to forward on missing bags so we headed back to the airport nine hours later hoping it had arrived on the next Dubai flight. Thankfully it turned up although it was an agonising wait as it was one of the last off the conveyor belt.
I'm actually writing this whilst stood in the queue outside the Chinese embassy, hoping to secure our visa for onward travel to China in a months time. We've no idea how this is going to go as the office is only open from 9.45-11.00am and there are lots of people to see so we don't envisage the service being too helpful!
Later today we plan to start exploring. Many of the heritage sites were damaged or completely destroyed in the March earthquake, although from what we've seen of the city so far, there is little evidence that such devastation struck.
We've only been here 24hours and even though the city is chaotic in Thamel, the area we are staying, it still feels relaxed, bizarre as that sounds. It's far more geared up for travellers than anywhere in Africa. There are plenty of bars and restaurants, numerous curios stores, laundry facilities and plenty of shops selling trekking gear. These could have come in quite handy if the bag hadn't arrived! Everywhere we turn there are tourists too, completely different from our Africa travels where very frequently, we were the only tourists.
Our accommodation for £9 a night is ok. It's certainly a downgrade from our amazing South Africa accommodation but after running around the room with wet wipes, it will do. In two days we start our Everest Base Camp trek for 12 nights and I think this room will be far superior to the places we will stay en route so best make the most of it.
We left the hotel at 8am this morning to avoid the queues at the embassy. As soon as we walked out I could smell the incense from the tiny temple at the bottom of the road where Buddhists were praying and making their offerings. Shops were just starting to open, although the bakery's and coffee shops were already doing a roaring trade with men sat outside chain smoking.

11.20am- the time we walked out of the Chinese embassy with our slip of paper advising us to return tomorrow to collect our visa! Yay!
We started queuing at 9am and at 9.45am were allowed through the gates to start queuing at the counters. At 10.45 someone finally turned up to start accepting the applications. The hour wait had given us time to find the visa form we required and fill it out, making it up in places. A French girl we got talking to advised we probably needed a letter inviting us to China and if we couldn't provide this, we would need a detailed itinerary, bank statements and a host of other paperwork. Tony had also seen the list of requirements on the embassy website when he'd researched the visa situation. We decided to feign ignorance and handed over our competed form, a photocopy of our passport and a passport photo.
The very nice lady first off sent us out of the queue to stick our passport photos down. Damn, we hadn't seen the glue next to the forms. After returning she scanned them once again and then sent us scurrying across the road to get print outs of our hotel booking in Kunming and confirmation of our flights. If we returned within ten minutes she would process our applications.
The friendly security guard sent me to a tourist office across the road who allowed me to use their wifi and printed the papers we needed for about 50p. Time was running out and our passports were behind the counter. I made it back though and at 11.15, after requesting the urgent express service for $77 each, we were given our papers and told to return tomorrow. Fingers x all goes smoothly!

We spent the afternoon exploring the old town of Kathmandu where the throngs of tourists died out and we were immersed into everyday city life. Chaos. People coming at you in every direction, motorbikes, bikes and cars vying for the same space, all down narrow potholed streets. There were shrines and temples nearly every 100m, tucked down little courtyards as well as in the streets. Little stalls sold momos for only 60rupees and lassi for 30rupees- far cheaper than Thamal. A lovely man gave us a bright red puffed flour thing that looked like a poppadom but wasn't, for free, as he saw us looking at them inquisitively.
The earthquake damage was more apparent here, with houses missing and a pile of rubble left in its place. Historical buildings were held up by wooden struts and in some of the courtyards tents were erected to house those who are still displaced.
Heavy rain started late afternoon and we took shelter from it in a little cafe overlooking Durbar Sq, which seems to have been badly damaged by the earthquake, before heading back for a traditional Nepalese dinner with dancing with our trekking guide, LB. ( his name is too long to say so his friends call him LB)
The nepalese thali consisting of pork curry, vegetables, spinach, spicy sauce, large plate of rice and a small bowl of yoghurt and honey to finish was delicious. It was also served with a little clay saucer filled with whisky. So much for our 'no alcohol' policy whilst in Nepal!

15th October
And indeed the visa application did go smoothly. We arrived at 9.55am and by 10.30 we were walking out with our passports containing the Chinese visa. We queued at one window to receive our confirmation of visa being granted, queued at a second to pay for the visa and then again at a third to collect our passports. I'm not sure getting around China will be quite so easy!

We spent the majority of the day arranging our onward travel to Pokhara for when re return from base camp, and trying to obtain enough cash from ATMs to pay for our trek as we can't pay the remainder via bank transfer as we hoped. Unfortunately the bank decided to stop both of our cards for security reasons and it ended up costing almost £50 in phone calls to get them unblocked. Thanks Halifax for keeping us on hold!

We managed to find time to walk to Swayambhunath late afternoon; a Buddhist temple and world heritage site which offers views out over the Kathmandu valley about a thirty minute walk out of the centre. It is also known as monkey temple and I can see why. I certainly wasn't going to be able to eat the remains of my falafel wrap in peace! Even with two Nepalese men trying to scare the monkeys away from me, it wasn't happening! On the way there we crossed the river and saw just how polluted and strewn with rubbish it was. There was a dead dog lying in the water too. It didn't look like it had been there too long as it still had all its fur. Sad. Reading our guide book it says the faeces level in the tap water in Kathmandu is ten times the WHO recommended limit. I won't be brushing my teeth with it any longer!!

We hit the hay early after stocking up on aspirin, ibuprofen, muesli bars and peanut cookies ready for the start of our base camp trek tomorrow.

16-27th Trekking to Base Camp

29th October
Happy birthday to me! We're spending it on a bus travelling to Pokhara, although in two hours we've not travelled very far. The fuel crisis is on-going and we're currently queuing for fuel, and have been for the last two hours. We're meant to arrive in Pokhara at 1pm. It's 9.15am now and I can't see us getting there before 5pm, if we get there at all. Several buses in front have given up and left the snaking queue. The queues we've seen for cars in the past few days have been hours long. In the time we were away trekking, the number of cars and motorbikes on the roads has decreased significantly and the number of push bikes has increased. We've read that the government are in talks with China to try and bring oil into the country via Tibet, rather than relying on the Indian government who are refusing to bring it in due to civil unrest on the border.
To cheer me up, Tony has just given me birthday cards. Very reminiscent of presenting me with a one year anniversary card on the bus journey from Phnom Penh to Battambang in 2013 which was also in an effort to cheer me up on another not so great bus journey!
We got up at 5.30am to torrential rain, thunder that rattled the windows and lightening. We'd packed the waterproofs away in a bag to leave in Kathmandu but quickly got them back out. We were still wet when we arrived at the bus. Hopefully if we do get to Pokhara, the weather will be nicer.
Yesterday we visited Boudnath, Asia's largest Buddhist stupa, teaming with Buddhist life all around it. Every day hundreds of Buddhists come here to walk around the vast base chanting their prayers. Unfortunately it had been totally devastated by the earthquake and the entire top section, above the base, was missing. They are currently trying to rebuild it.

We arrived in Pokhara at 6pm, it was still raining. We queued for fuel for four hours in Kathmandu before finally setting off. The evening and birthday got better though as we found an amazing Italian restaurant playing jazz, dishing up a fab veg calzone, had good red wine and sat me next to a roaring log fire :)