So I eventually left Kathmandu, where the staff in the Shree Tibet guesthouse thought I had taken up residence and headed for Bhaktapur, which as another former kingdom of Nepal is again famous for its Durbar Square. It would bloody need to be impressive as an entry permit costs $25, but it was worth it, the temples are spectacular and the small town has a really nice feel to it. It's a real day tripper place so during the day the main squares are swarming with...

So even though I'm not the biggest fan of Kathmandu, I'd decided to stick around longer than planned as I wanted to be in the capital for a big upcoming festival - Holi! What can I say? What an awesome festival! It is quite literally a riot of colour and water! And it seems tourists get particular attention. Holi is a Hindu religious festival to celebrate the coming of spring, which is symbolised by random strangers rubbing bright spring coloured dust in your...

After two and a half hours in immigration queues I finally entered Nepal! On the short, bumpy and very dusty taxi ride into the tourist area of Thamel, I quickly realised that Kathmandu is like a little slice of Delhi. It's a maze of tiny streets that were definitely not designed for two way traffic and herds of tourists. There is a constant tooting of horns, vendors trying to get you in their shops and taxi drivers or rickshaw drivers trying to get you into ...