So we left Varanasi for Nepal. A long journey involving a 6 hour train journey (which was 2 hours late), a 3 hour coach to the border, then after customs another 9 hour coach to Pokhara. It didn't go too badly though Hannah felt pretty rough towards the end. We both immiediatly got a good vibe in Nepal, the people are so smily and happy and everything is less busy, much calmer. After arriving we went for food (10pm at this point) and then hit the hay. Hannah had a terrible night with a high fever and all sorts. We think it must have been he fairwell drink in India though I had exactly the same so we don't know. This left her bedridden on our first day and barely holding down water let alone the anti-biotics! I went for a walk up to the World Peace Pagoda which overlooks the town which was a really nice stroll through woodland, unfortunately the view was not great due to the poor visibility this time of year with the pending monsoon. Back to Hannah who was still feeling rough for a quiet night in. The next day was a little more successful, we bought a few items for our trek and even made it out for lunch at a restaurant (of which there are plenty!). The shopping strip by the lake has so much good stuff to buy, fakes North Face trekking gear and sleeping bags everywhere, nepalese hats, socks and gloves as well as loads of bookshops selling amazing coffeee table books of the himalayas...dissapointing however they're a little heavy to post home! Hannah invested in a nice warm hat and socks for the trek and we were set. The evening before we left we had steak (our first meat since leaving!). It was awesome, 2inch thick fillet steak with chips for a couple of quid. We set our eyes on the biggest one (a whole fillet!) for when we'd return.

We only had to pospone our trek by a day in the end which didn't make a difference, we booked our return flight from the end point and got packing...Hannah had her little daysack and I had the bulk of the kit, we thought it might even things out a little!