Our train from Varanasi pulled into Gorakhpur station at around midday on Saturday 8 September. We had met two German guys on the train so the four of us just stuck together and weaved our way past all the rickshaw drivers up the road to the "bus station." There we tossed our bags on the roof and got comfy for the 3 hour trip up to the border town of Sunuali. We somehow managed to keep our patience with the Nepali border police (barely) and soon enough we were in Nepal. This was when we found out that the "day busses" up to Kathmandu had all left by now and we would need to wait around to catch one of the infamous "night busses" - the very ones we had tried so hard to avoid :-/ The other option of spending the night in this aweful border town seemed even worse, so once we had prayed and composed ourselves, we went off to find out what the whole deal was. We found some tickets, bought some water & snacks and buckled in (haha just kidding! - there are no seatbelts. psshh) for the ride of our lives. Soon we set off, and the blaring Hindi(?) dance music faded into the background as our driver leant forward onto the hooter - a position he would maintain for most of the trip :-/ The five hours that we expected the trip to take turned into eleven-and-a-half, on some of the worst roads we have ever seen.

Exhausted and frazzled, we arrived at the main bus station in a rainy Kathmandu at around 4am on Sunday 9 September, where we still needed to wait until 05:30 when the local busses started running. We hopped on the first one we saw which dropped us on the edge of Thamel, the main tourist area of the city. There is no concept of "addresses" in Nepal (everything is 'near X, opposite Y building, etc.) so we were so grateful that we found our guesthouse pretty easily and didn't have to trudge too far along the muddy streets. The family who runs it was amazing and made us feel so welcome - just what we needed. We dropped our bags and walked a short way down the road to an open cafe for a quick breakfast, before heading back to the room for a shower and a much needed sleep! A few hours later we awoke feeling loads better and decided to wander around town a bit. We came accross a cool looking restaurant where we had a delicious steak lunch - a welcome treat after living the vegetraion life in India for so long. Afterwards we returned to our guesthouse where we just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday we were up early-ish to do some sight seeing. We took a walk accross town and up a whole bunch of stairs to visit the Monkey Temple, named for all the monkeys that live there. There is a pretty big stupa there as well as some other temples and shrines, so the whole complex is pretty busy. You can also get a great 360 degree view over the city. We walked back to Thamel to have lunch at the same place as yesterday, and then set off on a walking tour of the city. The city has been around for quite a while and there are some fascinating old buildings and relics to see. On the way home we browsed along one of the many market streets, where you can buy some really cool handmade products. Once again we had dinner at the same restaurant (boring I know, but the steaks are so good!) before returning to our room at the guesthouse. By now the intermittant power cuts (every single day, up to 16 hours - and this is a capital city?!) were starting to get quite annoying, and once again we restlessly fell asleep in the heat as the fan stood idle.

Tuesday Kevin was feeling a bit flu-ish, so decided to take it easy. Our guesthouse was fully booked for tonight, but fortunately we were able to find another nearby. That afternoon we bought a few clothes and some jackets for our time in Europe. Monique continued with the shopping while Kevin returned to the room to rest. That evening we caught an auto-rickshaw to the main/biggest stupa in Kathmandu, where we saw everyone doing the ritual walk-around-3-times-in-a-clockwise-direction deal. All of a sudden it began to pour with rain, so we took shelter in a nearby coffee shop until the rain had died down a bit. We caught a taxi back to our guesthouse where we ate our last delicious steak meal, and then went back to the room to pack.

Wednesday we were up at 05:00 for the walk down to the bus station. We got a coffee and some snacks from a tiny roadside stand, before boarding a bus and settling in for the long, bumpy ride to Pokhara.