After leaving Luang Prabang, we headed along the very uncomfortable roads towards the Vietnamese border. The roads were paved in some areas and were no more than gravel in others, where rains and flooding had eaten them away. We arrived at Nong Khiaw in the afternoon and stayed in a basic hostel overlooking the river with limestone peaks as a backdrop. It was great to see the kids enjoying the water, using crude bamboo rafts as floats. In the evening, Gen and I h...

The minibus journey from Luang Nam Tha to Luang Phrabang was a bumpy affair, the road punctuated with pot holes and dirt tracks; although the destination was well worth it. As we pulled into the town, it was the scene of total mayhem. Westerners and locals alike were dousing each other from buckets and supersquirters as part of the festival Songkran. This went on for 3 days!!!! Cameras had to be stored in dry bags each day....there was no escape. One saving grac...

After the stresses of Everest and the madness of Thamel, we decided to bus it to the relative calm of lakeside Pokhara. It has changed dramatically over the 14 years since my first trip there. The lakeside has ballooned and there isn't quite the sleepy feel in the evenings as there once was. Nevertheless, a lovely place to unwind. We hired a boat with Max on one day and bumped into some lovely people who had recently returned from a yoga/meditation retreat on the...

An incredible trek to the roof of the world- the Everest Basecamp Trek. We started with a long, windy and hair-raising bus journey from Kathmandu to Shivalaya. We chose to trek into Lukla (where most people start their treks to Everest after a flight). This added a few days onto our trip, helped acclimatization and allowed us to see the villages, farms and wilderness away from the hoardes. It was tough going. We trekked in 4 days, what most do in 6 or 7. By the t...

Flew via Delhi into Kathmandu and then waited for Max to reach us from Mumbai. Great to meet up. After our first hostel didn't honour our booking and failed to fob us off with a grotty guesthouse, we walked over to the lovely Hotel Ganesh Himal in Thamel. The staff were great! The next day we experienced the craziness of Holi. We were well prepared, wearing old clothes, and walked around Thamel getting coated in coloured paint and bombarded with water balloons. ...