16 to 19 April: Kathmandu, Kathmandu Valley, home MI: the last few days have been filled with shopping and showing Harm around Kathmandu and the valley, since Chris, John and I have all been here and around the sights before. We allocated a morning to shopping on Wednesday (16th) but this became part of the daily routine, in and out of shops! Kathmandu is a lively city, dusty, noisy and really good fun. Nothing shocks the boys so everything is taken in our s...

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 qu...

14 April: Pokhara shop till you drop MI: Today was a disgrace really, so no blog really. How do you write about shopping, eating and drinking ...... Something like .... Shopped; John and Chris met Harry's daughter at Nirvana; Shopped; Newari Restaurant next to the chilly one for lunch and beers; Crowds celebrating Nepalese New Year covered with green , yellow and red powder; Cow eating flowers on front porch of shops; Shopping; Marijuana plants in garden...

13 April: Tatopani to Pokhara MI: a transportation day getting off the Annapurna circuit and back to Pokhara. Said farewell to our various international trekking friends over breakfast then found we had to wake up Himal and Dipesh who had over slept. Raced down to the bus station (dirt/gravel yard) found our bus and got on. Unfortunately it was pretty full so we got the back seats, meaning a bumpy journey would be guaranteed. The positive was that Harm could si...

12 April: Kalopani (2550m) to Tatopani (1190m) MI: today is the last of our trekking days with a short couple of hours walking mainly on the Nat trails (red and whites). We move below to magic height of 2500m (above which altitude sickness can occur) for the first time since 27 March. Unfortunately it had started to rain not long after we arrived last night so we didn't get views of any significance. When we woke up the views were also short lived but we did g...