15 April: Pokhara to Kathmandu

MI: We managed to change our flights to Kathmandu to a day earlier so our time around the Annapurnas finished today. A nice departing gesture was that from the top floor of the hotel we did get to see some of the big boy peaks for a last time through the haze. Still cool, looking out at towering snow covered mountains providing a backdrop to the green and brown tree clad hills around Pokhara.

So we spent the morning packing, a quick walk into town for Illy Coffee, cash withdrawals and some last minute purchases. There is a high degree of potential that we will turn up home with gifts miss sized, miss coloured and awkwardly uncool .... But it is of course the thought that counts.

This was the first day anyone has had any real poor-ness. Chris's tummy was out of sorts, so his days food consisted of a banana pancake and a coffee for breakfast, a boiled sweet on the plane, and couple of glasses of soda water and a piece of pizza for dinner. Hard to know what caused it but maybe the spicy Chinese.

We decided to try somewhere different to the Ganesh Himal in Kathmandu to stay and Chris found a place online. We navigated our taxi driver through the narrow streets of Thamel to the place but it was full. John jumped on the back of the owners motorbike with him to check out another place, the Thamel Grand Hotel, where we ended up. Wicked place in the middle of things for $35 per room per night.

They left a key in the door of a room opposite Chris and mine so I took the liberty to have a look. Larger and nicer than ours so I cheekily proposed to management that we shift, with no change to price, which they obliged with. Means the sick boy gets a nice queen size bed.

After a beer and nibble at the Black Olive Cafe thats part of our hotel we Explored Thamel. Ended up at a great little pizza place Rhonda and I had frequented last time in Kathmandu. John was very excited about the brownie and ice cream sizzler which everybody duly helped him scoff.

Got back at the hotel at 8:30 and went to rooms with the initial intention of calling it a day, until I enquired if anyone was keen for a quick beer and doing some planning for the next couple of days. Chris turned in. 2 hours later, and after mojito's, cuba libra's, and long island iced tea's and a cursory game of rummy, our cunning plan for the remainder of our time was hatched. Feel somewhat compelled to have a follow up planning session tomorrow night also!