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We reached Nepal!
We left Agra on the sleeper train at 10pm. I was definitely expecting the worst from the journey, considering we were in the lowest class of sleeper and after our previous experience in second class. It turned out to be ok, minimal staring and falling asleep to the chime of the Chai Wallahs (tea sellers) walking up and down the aisles continuously throughout the night, was suprisingly easy! The journey did take over 16 hours altogether though, by which time we were very eager to get off the train! This only brought more hassle, as the three hour bus journey to the Nepal border was very cramped (Ollie, by the aisle, had a woman sitting on him half of the journey!) and super sweaty! We reached the border around 7pm, to find the one and only bank within a 4km radius didn't work, meaning Ollie taking an (expensive) taxi to the nearest town to bring back enough money for visas! Luckily our a/c hotel room was comfortable and we even stretched to room service (a first for me!) of incredibly greasy pizza (rather inedible, though we managed as it was our first meal of the day!).
We left the border town for Pokhara the next day. The 8 hour journey was a long a bumpy one on a local bus, but thankfully Nepalis don't use their horns quite so frequently, and the bus didn't get so cramped. Pokhara feels like home! Ollie almost got into a fight with a taxi driver for trying to cheat us out of a lot of money (we're wiser than that after India!) hot minutes the local people stepped in to help and we found a lovely little hotel set in a pretty little garden :) There's far more restaurant choice, and we ate lasagne and drank beer and were completely content for the evening!
Today we decided on the trek - Annapurna Sanctuary (reaching Annapurna base camp at 4130m) and we leave the day after tomorrow! As it's supposed to be well marked, and even in the low season quite a few people will be walking the same way, we have decided against a guide. I just hope my knees hold out for 10 days of walking! So the plan for today and tomorrow is to relax, get healthy and buy the bits and bobs we need for the cold weather at the top! Getting pretty excited about it all too!
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