So here we are, back in kathmandu! I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in Nepal even though this thamel area of kathmandu city, where we are staying, is a cross between a humble cultural nepal and butlins at bognor. Still its very nice here and pretty easy going, which is why we fit right in.

We arrived back yesterday after a 7hour busride (if you can call it that) from Pokhara. When we arrived in Pokhara, like everywhere weve been it seemed a whole world better than the last place. So after chilling with the locals for a couple of days, and having done some much needed exercise having a kickabout with some of the lads, we prepared ourselves for our Trek.

First day was a bit ambiguous andi didn't really know what to expect.First the taxi was going the wrong way, or so we thought, it was actually just a different bus station.Then we travelled by bus for a couple of hours to Naya-Pul. Were very fortunate that the locals are friendly and keen to chat to us, because otherwise the two huts on the side fo the road 2hours down the line would not of convinced us to get off. We had a chai with a lone scouser and his guide, and with one big bag, and one little bag each with their own englishman we headed off down a steep stone staircase into nay-pul. We walked past what looked like the same shop many times and then headed off in the right direction to the first stop Tickedhungga. The climb up was reasonably straight forward and not too challenging, and the fact there were locals all along the way were as good as having sign posts or a map. We stopped about 20minutes short of the planned stop and stayed in a dirt cheap place with some dutch girls and a japanese girl.

That night, after some Dal bhat(the only local nepali dish, and the food they eat day in day out breakfast lunch dinner) shay got down to some chess with the familiar man who was our company for the evening. I believe he was some sort of relation to the owner. Anyway, we asked if we coul roll a some hashish, at which ofcourse he said yes, seeing as its legal here in Nepal. We then got involved in a pretty heated conversation about his thoughts on smoking, and in my eyes they were screwed up. He was blaming western hippies on introducing it to his country in the 60s, and that it leads to one becomeing a heroin addict and cocaine dealing and that it will be the death of his country and finally that smoking ciggarettes was better for you!! anyway, hes perfectly entitled to his own opinion and soon we were back playing chess, or rather shay thrashing him. This guy was clueless.(he thought pawns moved diagonally..)and before long he was asking for my aid, which i thoguht that i was entitled to give. Shay made a passing comment that smoking helps him concentrate in some ways,and thats its obviously good for some things and worse for others. In reply this guy snapped to roll another! an opportunity we wouldnt have missed for all the Tea in China.

The next day it was my turn to carry the large bag, and off we set on what was to be the toughest stretch of our trek, climbing around 2000m!we were told it was to be around a 7/8hour trek, but we climbed the 3000stone steps and the rest in just under 5 i think. Day 3 we rose before light, bagless but compensating with copious amounts of clothes and doubling up on socks and scarfs, and raced to Poon Hill for Sunrise. Unfortunatly when we got there it was pretty light, and the fact theres around 300 other trekkers up there doesnt do much for the atmosphere. However the clouds made up for it, it created such an eerie landscape. With a sea of mist only 100mbelow us, and iced giants at eye-level all around, it was more like a shot out of a cult Japanese movie. We ran back down after re-taking our breathe from the views, and made our way to breakfast. That day it was all down hill to our highlight destination Tatopani. however, shay was in pain after we stopped halfway and we decide to make camp. Soon it was my turn again to carry the bag and i now know what shay was on about, my god the pain! that evening we arrived at Tatopani (Tato-Hot/Pani-Spring)and wasted no time on getting our trunks on and leaping right in. That evening i got really ill, which was a shame because we still had around the same distance to trek, back to Beni. Very strange, probably the illest i have every felt yet i was right as rain after no more than 2 days. Still we had to push on, and after only 2hours i couldnt go any further. I had a good 12hours kip and then i was ready for the big bag again, and the last 4hour trek to Beni the finish point.

What an accomplishment i feel proud we didnt cheat and get a cheap like everyone else, and we both finished heads high, and our feet dragging with lethargy.

When we arrived back in Pokhara, i got the sense i was home sweet home, what a nice feeling. almost immediatly, we met 'michael jackson, 24hour power, no toilet no shower' (the crazed 19year old hashish pusher or was actually a wannabe mc... hah) and further down the road we met our ol pal Arjin! such a warming guy, so gentle but so powerful!(iv noticed here, the people are very healthy, and the men are powerful people.Unlike in india where the men are weak and thin, and many look lifeless) Arjin, invited us to another footie match against the lads from the nepalese army early the next morning. With no consideration to our bodies, we obliged and rose early for a morning kickabout.

Wow these guys were tough! they were fitter than us, older and seriously strong men. i got more than kncoked about and shay ufnortunatly got pretty much what i had on the trek. Except he was bed-ridden for a whole day.

The next day, we had some tasty breakfast and made sure shay had some energy, and set off to view the sights of Pokhara. These consisted of Devi Falls, which was pretty w*** and took only 10minutes to walk around, and still not worth the 14p we paid each to get in. We visited a cave, which was damp and once again very short, most deifnatly not worth the 1.50 we paid to get in. Then we headed off on an hours climb to the Buddha Stuppa on top of the Hill, which ofcourse your not allowed in, so we swiftly made ourway down the other side of the mountain and hired a canoe to row home.