After a fairly smooth tourist bus we arrived in Kathmandu with enough time to visit Swayambhunath a Buddhist stupa on the hill overlooking Kathmandu, as legend goes the an island rose from the middle of a great lake that once engulfed the valley, Swayambhunath was the beginning of the Kathmandu and is revered as such, either way it offers spectacular views of the city and a chance to be entertained by the troops of macaques. Then it was into the town to boo...

From Pokhara we made our way by bus towards Chitwan National Park stopping off for a spot of white water rafting that ended up being one of the highlights of our stay in Nepal. Joined by 7 eager Chinese tourists none of whom could swim, we made our way down the Trishuli river. In between the rapids where we were thrown around like rag dolls we were given every opportunity to jump in and get pulled along by the extreme currents, which in some ways was even better ...

...from Jomsom we made our way to Pokhara the adventure capital of Nepal staying over night in Beni. The all to familiar public bus journey was as interesting as ever. Our driver and conductor were quick to seize the opportunity to steal a spare tyre from an abandoned bus just outside the city, 2 bumpy hours later we were glad they did after our rear tyre blew out on a particularly vicious stone. Queue 20 Nepalese and a dozen tourists huddled around the dri...

It was a 4am start the next morning, with long trousers, hoodies, wolly hats and a head torches firmly attached we headed off into the darkness. 3 hours of steep slopes and a shortness of breath that only high altitude can induce lay ahead. The final hour felt like a week as we drew closer and closer to our goal. The jubilation of earlier rising trekkers could be heard in the very close distance, one last uphill and the pass began to reveal itself. Our smiles gre...

The next few days continued much the same as the first as we climbed ever further towards the ceiling of the world. The landscape gradually changing from acres of rice fields carved like giant staircases in the steep slops of the otherwise heavily jungled Himalayan lowlands, to vast alpine forests that reminded us of the familiar pine forests of Europe, to the epic barren plains above 3000 metres that give the appearance of the surface Mars or some other fa...