Today's mission was to get our Indian visa application form submitted. After a lovely breakfast where we're staying, we went in search of a) an ATM and b) the embassy. Getting cash was interesting as you can only take out a limited amount each time, so had to keep putting the card back in…this worked a few times and then just stopped so we had to go and find some more…annoying that these ones seem to charge for taking cash out - but when needs must. We had picked up a map so knew roughly where we needed to go for the embassy, and after a few wrong turns, asking for directions and avoiding a street full of broken electrical cables (Mum - I think they could do with some health and safety advice!) we made it. Only, I'd filled in the form wrong….I forgot that the visa was from issue not arrival in India, so infact we need a 3 month one rather than 2.

Unable to just amend the form, we were directed next door to get it fixed. All visa applications need to be done on an online form and printed and a handy little shop next door basically do everything for you (photos, form and copies of passport/Nepal visa - we were missing the last 2 as well), we totted up how much we thought we'd have to spend on getting this all sorted while we waited (around 700NPR). 20 minutes later, we've got the correct visa duration and all relevant paperwork and the nice lady behind the counter only charged us 120 NPR (to be fair, all they'd had to do was copy over all of our information into a new form)…which we couldn't pay her as we didn't have any small change. She was quite understanding and told us to come back after we'd paid next door for the visa. Unfortunately, we also couldn't help translate the issue the rather irate Chinese man next to us was having - something to do with his visa photos and them being damaged? He'd translated as best he could from Chinese to English from his dictionary; "I need damaged, wiful picture injury" - hmm…..sorry - can't help!

So, managed to submit our visa applications and count out what seemed like an extortionate amount of money (we're working on about 160NPR to the £ at the moment though!), in return we were given our passports and a ticket telling us to come back on the 23rd (6 days time).

It was hot and sticky so we headed back to our room for a bit of a rest after all of the excitement of getting lost! Although it was around lunchtime, we weren't particularly hungry (I know - even James who is usually happy to eat all day!) so decided just to relax and work out what we were going to do for the next week. We had initially booked 7 nights in this place - as we didn't really know what to expect from Kathmandu or how long our visas would take, we thought this was a safe option…

Now that we have our passports and are free to roam and also don't have to be back until next week, we're thinking of escaping the pollution for a few nights and head down to Chitwan National Park (about a 6 hour bus journey) so we're waiting to speak to the Man and see if we can amend our booking. If we can, we'll be looking to head down there day after tomorrow for 3 nights and maybe do a trek through the jungle (with guide) and definitely go and see the elephants at the breeding centre, then we'll head back up here for a few more nights to get our visas actually put in our passports. Fingers crossed we catch him later!

We've just been out for Momo (traditional Nepalese dumplings) - we opted for veg ones…they were yummy! Think this will be our staple lunch while we are here…at about £1 for a plate of about 10 and 2 drinks this will be one way to make sure we don't go over budget!!! We are back now and sitting on our roof terrace looking at the mountains chilling before we meet up with Hugo to venture out into Thamel for dinner. Tomorrow we're going to walk up to the monkey temple and maybe do a bit of shopping in Thamel … I've already got a list of what I want to get!!

Lots of love xxx