Spending time and money in Nepal :)

The great thing about Nepal is that you are really able to make the country just whatever you would like it to be; from the thrills and spills of the white water rafting and paragliding through to a place to relax by a lake with a drink and get away from it all for a while.

The thing that you maybe don’t realise when you go on “holiday” for so long, is just how much it takes out of you (physically and mentally) not staying in the same place all of the time. It’s in that sense that travelling can start to feel like an occupation when you have been on the road for 14 weeks.

Vicky: "You are listening to me and not watching the football are you Dan?"

Dan: "....erm yeah...I thought he was offside too..."

That’s why in Pokhara we decided it was time that we explored the easier side of life for a while, before returning to Kathmandu to continue our wonderful journey into the unknown. Having already stayed in Pokhara (as you can read in the last entry), we knew that this was the ideal opportunity to get that little bit extra time to finish enjoying the city we had adored previously. Making our way to the hotel district, we found ourselves an ideal candidate in The Hotel Boardwalk (having viewed several places that appealed to our eyes, but not our budget!) and booked ourselves in for 5 nights.

I was great not feeling the pressure to get anything “done” , and we enjoyed several lazy breakfasts in the room with items bought from the local bakers. The weather was often far from brilliant, but that’s what you sign up for when you come in monsoon season. In fact the weather I enjoyed watching most were the full scale monsoon storms with some fairly impressive thunder and lightning! One night the road running past the restaurant in which we were eating was just like a 3-4 inch deep rapids section, within only half an hour of the rain starting!

Taking a relaxing stroll by the lake

Vicky enjoyed a massage at one of the local “Seeing Hands” clinics, which are a brilliant opportunity for young blind people to learn skills in the physiotherapy industry, as well as providing them with employment prospects in a world in which they would otherwise be neglected by society. In Nepal 3 in every 100 people are born or become blind due to disease and malnutrition, and so it is excellent that a charity like this is doing such excellent work here. Their website can be found at http://www.seeinghandsnepal.org/

We spent several lazy evenings having dinner and drinks in local restaurants, if possible overlooking the lake. The food is pretty reasonable in price although a little more expensive than in Kathmandu where it is very cheap (in the right places).

On the final day in Pokhara we finally were given our first chance to glimpse the Anna Purna mountain range, which had up until now been hidden by the dense monsoon clouds that hang in the sky during this season. They were a pretty spectacular sight, and the clouds that did remain only served to further highlight the snow-capped peaks against the crisp blue sky.

Finally the mountains appear from behind the clouds for a second time as evening sets in

Our time done in Pokhara for a second time, we booked our seats on a tourist bus to Kathmandu and made our 8 hour journey back to the capital. It did not take us long to remember why we had been so quick to take a dislike to Kathmandu previously, but I have to say that it did grow on me slightly during our second stint.

There is one main thing that Kathmandu is good for and that is shopping, and a good dose of retail therapy was in order for us before we left. Gifts for both ourselves and others were on the menu, and having sent all of our camping equipment to Australia to “save weight” in our bags, we promptly filled all of that space with shopping. Err….maybe time for another parcel to be sent home!

Vicky gets some Henna work done on the streets of Kathmandu

Various members of the group were starting to return from their various destinations during the two week break, and a lot of thought was starting to go into our impending journey into China.

During this point special mention should go to our pub quiz team “Quiz-akka-bussi” made up of Vicky, myself, a Scot named Douglass and an Irish girl named Nieve (who we had met in the bar beforehand) who achieved 3^rd place out of 8 in the quiz. Thank god there were so many questions on football!

One of the local tea shops in the city

In a turn for the worse however, the day before we were due to leave Nepal I again came down with a severe stomach bug much akin to the one I suffered with in India. The day before the flight I was completely bed (and toilet) ridden, but with a good deal of Imodium and anti-nausea tablets ingested I was able to board the bus and make my way to the airport along with the rest of the group.

I’ll leave this entry at the point that I was sat on the floor in the line for security checks with my head in a sick bag, and you’ll have to read on into the China entry to find out how things went!

YouTube channel and a few stats of interest

For the past couple of days I have been working hard on setting up a YouTube channel for our adventures, and with the slow internet connections out here it has taken a very long time (8 hours to upload one 5min26secs video!)


However the work of uploading some of our video clips from our journey so far is now complete, so here are the links to whatever you want to watch:

Click here to see the view from our balloon over Gorreme

Click here to see Jay and I buried in the sand at Selcuk

For a short, sweet and sideways view of me playing a local drum at the Amber Fort in Jaipur, Click here

Or here to see Vicky, Gabriel and Jay get an elephant shower

On board action from rafting on the Seti is available here

Or click here for us rafting from another perspective

Finally click here for us riding on the bus roof to Chitwan

We have been amazed by how many people have been keeping up to date with our adventures, and the site has now racked up over 2,500 hits to date! The highest number of hits in one day is 57, and this was recorded on both 11th and 26th June. 


The blog has been viewed from loads of different countries. In the last month we have been viewed from: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Nepal, India, Iceland, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Austria, Russia, Romania and Saudi Arabia!


In fact with 58 hits since the creation of the website, Russia is the country that has viewed us most with the exception of the UK and USA!


Views from iPhones account for 6% of our traffic total, while iPads rank in at 2%.


Finally, although it is close more people come to the blog through google ahead of facebook.


See you all soon for the second half of our Nepal adventure!

Nepal to the rescue!

For neighbouring countries that share a land border, it is surprising just how quickly you see the difference between India and Nepal. At most of the land borders we have crossed so far on this trip, it may take an hour or 2 to notice any real difference, but in Nepal it took us all of 50 yards to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

On the India side of the border are the open sewers, the copious litter in the streets and the only game in sight being played is cricket. Once the border is crossed however there is an immediate difference. The number of people in the streets is significantly reduced, there is less litter, little or no foul smelling sewers and not a cricket bat to be seen.

Rather quickly after entering the country though, we were given the opportunity to experience a proper Nepali monsoon storm. Making our way in the general direction of Chitwan we were subjected to a 90 minute downpour of rain so strong that it was almost impossible at times to see out from the truck. A lot of the locals are naturally very glad for the monsoon to arrive, as it is the main rain of the year that allows their crops to grow. A lot of the hillsides in both India and Nepal are terraced for planting crops, so that the water does not run away too quickly.

That night we found a small clearing in the woods not too far from the main road, which was ideal for what would turn out to be our last camping session until we get to Australia (if this sentence does not make sense then please see the post before last regarding the Tibet situation). Around 3am that night we were treated to a second instalment of the monsoon, which lasted round until breakfast at around 6.30am. By this time our lovely campsite had turned into somewhat of a quagmire, and by the time we left many people and their tents were covered in the mud!

The view from our campsite in the forest

The next morning we headed on into Chitwan where we were staying at the wonderful Hotel Monalisa. As far as the hotels on our trip have gone, neither of us can remember staying in a hotel we enjoyed more. The rooms are clean and modern, while outside you are hardly any distance away from the boundary of Chitwan National Park. Also on site is an organic restaurant, situated amongst the vegetable gardens where they grow all of their own produce. The area is very quiet, and the ideal place to relax while listening to the birdsong in the very colourful garden. It was here that my Birthday adventures would also take place, which you can read about a few entries ago.

After the enjoyment of our time in Chitwan, we made the journey up to Pokhara which is a touristy but yet enjoyable city in the centre of the country. The area of the city in which we stayed was located next to a huge lake, and the streets are lined with a mixture of wonderful restaurants, outdoor equipment and activity shops as well as shops offering all of the local crafts and trades. For the amount of tourists there are here, it is still surprisingly easy to find an area to relax and enjoy your surroundings. The other major surprise is the level of respect that you are given by the locals in comparison to the hell of India. Most people here just like to say hello and chat to you, and those that do try to sell you something that you do not want or need are nearly always appeased by a single “no”. Most of the will even then wish you a good day afterwards!

While in Pokhara we decided to rent a couple of kayaks and a boat to head out onto the lake with. Vicky opted for a kayak, while I opted to help row the heavy wooden boat that contained myself, Jay, Laura and Janet (wow that was hard work!). We spent around an hour and a quarter rowing across to a cove on the far side of the lake, before resting and making the return journey (against the waves being pushed in by the wind!).

Vicky gets paddling in the kayak

I think we were both a little sad to be leaving Pokhara after our 3 days there, but it was time for our final truck journey before we were forced to part from it for good. 6 hours later we arrived in the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu (or dog-woman-don’t as Derrick likes to call it). Unsurprisingly Kathmandu suffers from the same problems as most capital cities; it is noisier, busier and more polluted than any of the other places we have visited in Nepal so far. That said, I have still enjoyed it more than a lot of India!

From this point in the trip we are scheduled to have a 2 week break to allow everybody, and especially Polly doing all of the organising and Adam the driving, a break. During these 2 weeks we are free to go wherever and do whatever we like, and so we decided to start the break in style with a 2 day white water rafting journey down the River Setti. Fast flowing deep water is not a great love of mine, and so I was feeling pretty damn scared to see some of the waves in the river as our bus wound it’s way through the hills to the drop off point. As a precaution I decided on my maroon coloured underwear for the actual rafting itself!

Within 10 minutes of boarding the raft though pretty much all of the fear and reservations were gone as our bouncy and wave soaked journey down the river really got going. In fact at one point I was even heard saying that the “calm bits were overrated and that we need more of the rougher stuff”! Who would have thought?

Toby and I with a few beers by the guides makeshift canopy

The scenery from the boat was incredible, and was a completely different perspective from the roads that we had travelled on. For the most part the river was not next to a road, and so you got the feeling of it just being you, the river and the hills. We moored up in a delightful little spot where there was a small beach area along with a shelter for the guides to cook under and pitch the tents around. We were spoilt by the guide’s hospitality as they wouldn’t let us lift a finger, as they brought us tea / coffee with popcorn, and prepared some lovely cooked food for us also. We had a great view of the hills, and it was mesmerising to watch the sky as a storm rolled in over the top of them.

Storm clouds rolling in over the hills towards our camp

The next morning we continued our journey down the river, with the rapids getting even more active than the day before. As it is monsoon season here, the water levels are higher than normal and therefore the speed of our trip was faster than it would normally be. When the monsoon is really set in the river will be higher still, and the difficulty grading will be raised accordingly. When we reached the ending point of the journey our guides very kindly cooked us some more very tasty lunch, before they packed us onto a bus in whichever direction we chose to go. Vicky, Jay and I all decided on Chitwan as our destination, while Toby decided to head back to Kathmandu. When the bus to Chitwan arrived however there was a problem….it was completely full! After a brief discussion there was only one course of action that could be taken…we would have to ride on the roof J Although the metal roof rack is not going to win any prizes for comfort, it did add a new dynamic of fun to the journey, as well as being an amusing tale to tell our friends at the same time.

Riding on the roof of the bus

Safely back in Chitwan we decided that another visit to Hotel Monalisa was in order, and the owner was there to meet us with open arms. He is an incredibly kind man, and does a lot to promote improvement in the local community through education. In fact Laura, Jay, Emily and Steph have all gone to volunteer with him for a week and do their bit for the community. One thing that the owner did let us do during our second stay was to take a short ride around the block on his camels (yes they were actually camels this time thank you!). It was a very interesting experience, especially as mine was determined to eat every bit of vegetation in sight and nearly turfing me off in the process!

View from my camel as we head down the road

If there is one thing that stands out for me about Nepal in comparison to India, it is that Nepal seems much more of a “doing” place while India is all about the “seeing” and the “not being robbed blind by touts”. Already in these first 10 days we have done so many things, and actually felt like we have physically engaged with the country. I think this has been a large percentage of the reason that we have enjoyed the country that much more.

We have today taken a bus back up to Pokhara, where we intend to spend another 4-5 days. Who knows what we will get up to while we are back there? Come back soon to find out!

Vicky's shopping blog

I thought I should finally write a blog entry now we have been on the road for 3 months. As many of you know and saw I might have done a little bit a research and shopping for this trip. Just a little mind you J

I decided that I better tell you all what my good, bad and couldn’t do without items have turned out to be.

#1 most useful security item – Leg holster for the passports/money. This has been invaluable as most pickpockets are looking for neck and waist wallets. It also helps because it can’t been seen beneath your clothes and doesn’t make me feel fat or overheated. 

Runner up – TSA combination lock (plus chain from the local bazaar). This has been really useful as it enables us to lock our bags and our hotel rooms. Most hotels in India give you a key padlock so carrying your own enables you to better secure the room or lock you bag to something. However its best not to, and Chris did, try and take a very heavy duty chain through airport security in Iran in his hand luggage.

Most useless item – none yet.

#1 most useful clothing item –Rohan superlight Silver Knickers. Expensive but worth every penny. This was true impulse buy on a bad day which has made day to day life much easier. I had read about these knickers but couldn’t really justify the cost. They are as nice as travel knickers can be, are great for exercise, super comfortable (even in the heat), durable and dry so fast you can wash them the night before and they are dry by morning. And yes, even dan has been introduced to the world of hand washing, its turns out hes very good at it.

Runner up – Thermals. Both my wonderful top from Iceland (thanks Siobhan and Fi) and Dan’s Tog24 top were essential items in the freezing temperature.

*Cheating I know but there is also a second most useful item that I didn’t buy. My turquoise pashmina, which has made many an appearances in the Iran photos. This has been super useful as stand in towel, skirt, scarf, head covering, sheet, shade, top and more.

Most useless item – The dress I made. Sadly its only seen the light of day once. It was too cold, too hot, too revealing, never quite right so had been confined to the bottom of the bag.

#1 most useful electronic item – A tie between the netbook (HP dm1) and the big camera (Fujifilm finepix HSX20). We are loving the photos we are getting but the computer is very useful for backup, wifi and skype.

Runner up – Kindle. I’m a total convert to the electronic book (though I still love real books). It is so nice to be able to read on the truck and to carry around all the guidebooks in one place. The kindle also has the advantage of being able to be read one handed, useful when in hospital.

Most useless item – Filters for the camera. However, I think that when we get home we will use them more.

#1 most useful random item – Cheap Inflatable pillow. Useful in many circumstances.  

*Another cheat. Also not and item we brought but extremely useful – The humble jar lid. We use it to stand the central pole of the tent in to protect the floor of the tent and to allow us to stand it off centre without it slipping and collapsing the tent on us.

Runner up – Tiger balm. Essential for making the bites bearable.

Most useless item -  Shewee. Bought as a just in case but too much hassle. Nowadays (after laughing over this) an umbrella is much more useful. Nowhere in India seems to be rural so the minute we stop there tends to be a bit of a crowd and not much place to hide. Deserts are also much harder to go for a private pee in than you would think.

#1 Most useful camping item – Our tent (Shangri La 5 by go lite). We love it and it has earned the nickname on the truck of “the palace”.

Runner up – Pretzel head torches. So useful, even in hotels when they have frequent power cuts. I would suggest an upgrade to one with a red setting as these attract less bugs when camping.

Most useless item – Cheap tent pegs. Totally useless, we upgraded to 12inch metal nails in Turkey and haven’t looked back. Fingers crossed no more getting out in a storm to repeg and pray it doesn’t fly away.

Other so far useless items - Folding sink (have been able to use the trucks buckets for hand washing) , pocket shower (we are too lazy and we are all just being smelly together).

Other very useful items – Penknife, double silk liner, notebook, photos (printed ones of family and friends).

Biggest wish – We wished we had brought more GBP’s out with us as exchange rates are very good. Oh and maybe another pair of those Rohan knickers.

No one would guess that I like shopping :P