We travelled for 6 hours from Pokhara on the Tourist bus to Kathmandu. We hoped to pick up another tourist bus to our final destination Nagarkot. The tourist bus did not terminate at the bus park but landed us in a street who knows where in Kathmandu to cope with about 10 taxi drivers hassling us for a fare. We asked the price to Nagarkot and they seemed to fix it at 2500 Rp (£20). We started walking away with our heavy cases towards the imaginary bus park when the price started to drop. We agreed on 1500 Rps which was a good deal. The drive took an hour and 45 minutes the last 15 kms of which was uphill and partly through unmade roads. The driver asked for directions and we were taken higher and higher. We came to a hotel called Hotel at the end of the universe... we passed this and finally reached Hotel Niva Niwa and Japanes/Nepalese joint venture. It is a mock swiss chalet with amazing views down a steep valley and across to the eastern Himalayas (including a peek at Mt. Everest) but not on our arrival it was cloudy. The hotel caters mainly for Japanese coach tours and the buffet for dinner and breakfast reflected this. Breakfast was cold toast, vegetable soup, watery rice-porridge mix, and some cold stuff! After a cold night under sheet blanket and two duvets we arose to see a disappointing misty cloudy morning. The stunning views of the valleys would have us happy anywhere else but with the Himalayas hiding it was a bit disappointing. We set off for an hour and a half walk uphill to another viewpoint, which is supposed to give you a clear view of Mt Everest. We passed the army base; apparently a drunken soldier went on the rampage in 2005 killing 11 local people and relations have been strained ever since. The viewpoint gave us a good strenuous walk but no views (however we hit a new high of 7200ft see photo). We searched out a good restaurant for lunch and chose Hotel Himalayan Heart where we had a great feast - veg curry and rice and Alu Paratha which is like a naan bread stuffed with spicy mashed potato - great stuff! We came back for dinner and enjoyed the same. Interesting walk back the 1km or so in pitch darkness with our trusty wind-up torch! Thursday was a bit more hopeful the sky was clear at 6:00 and Paul got up to capture the sunrise. The view from our room was great - see Paul's photos. Not sure which one Everest is though?!?! I wanted to do another good walk in the warm blue sky day;Rough Guide recommended a 12km walk to Changu Narayan an ancient temple complex in the Kathmandu valley. We set off at 8:30 - the hotel staff were not that helpful, the first guy said the walk was very difficult and not possible the second guy pointed us down to a nearby town where we should ask for directions. We walked for a bit down the road then asked a villager for directions and they sent us down a dust track through tiny villages with great views of the mountains. Everyone was friendly and directed us towards the temples. We met up with the road on a couple of occasions. Our walk took 3 hours, the last bit was over a hill. The temple complex had some great statues and intricate carvings and metalwork. The Nepalese as you will know from the interesting facts blog love their animal sacrifice and Paul phtographed the headless goat there. We stopped for lunch then chanced the local bus which crawled down to Bhaktapur an ancient town (like a partly pedestrianised Kathmandu). We were supposed to stay here on this day but instead extended our stay in Nagarkot. We passed the brick-making kilns along the way. Once in Bhaktapur we had to find a bus to Nagarkot, again we had been dropped off who knows where. Paul's intuition paid off again and we were on a packed bus after a short walk. I squeezed on the back seat until a woman with several bags decided there was also room for her on that back row, She just sat on me until people moved slightly across. I turned my body sideways to avoid the crush. After 5 minutes I gave up and stood up - hips three inches slimmer. Another seat soon became available... Well that concludes our amazing time in Nepal - what a fast month that was!!! We have well and truly thrashed it! Next stop India, we fly via Delhi to Trivandrum in southern India - Kovalam, Kerala. Join us for more adventures there.