Well I can only appologise for the lame last entry I made and my lack of entry since!

We have been busy bees. Due to the whole political situation in Thailand we have abandoned all plans to travel there. We were due to fly out there on the 21st May, but since the day before that they started shooting at their own people, we had a little rethink. As a result we spent about 3 days whilst in Kathmandu going to the immigration office, ringing up our travel agents, sorting out new flights and arranging accomodation.

I think really I had better start my blog entry at the trekking as dont think I gave a proper account of this!! We were trekking with just Charlotte, Ed and myself plus two guides. There were two porters who carried our big packs all the way, but trekked by themselves at their own pace. Lots of people trekking in the himilayas use porters to carry their main luggage whilst trekking. The porters are all very fit and carry the packs with no problems. The people here in Nepal tend to carry things such as big packs from their heads rather than taking the weight on their backs. They strap up the bags we had with rope and then attached an old bag to the ends of the rope (such as a bag used to hold cement or sand bags) and place the old bag end on their forehead to carry the bag on their back! This way they can carry two to three big bags at the same time. Everywhere you see this method to carry heavy loads being used, in particular by the ladies who farm in the crop fields. They fill large basketswith the crops then carry the basket on their backs with the weight being taken on their heads. Have seen a westerner here in Pokhara trying to adopt this method walking down the street, but with just a sleeping bag......not quite the same effect and also looked bit of a muppet!

Day one of the trek was an easy day. We started at a place called Nayapol, slightly higher up in the valleys than Pokhara. Here, having spent the good part of the morning driving round lots of corners and charlotte being travel sick, we had a quick drinks break before walking. Had a slight toilet situation here. Nayapol is a small village made up of lots of little shack houses made out of corregated iron sheets and weaved walls mostly. The cafe/shop we had a drink had a toilet out the back down some very steep steps and a little hill. Down the little hill was a row of little shack buildings some padlocked some not, all belonging to the cafe/shop. Charlotte went off first to the loo and then I went. As she came back up and I was going down she handed me the loo roll and said it was at the bottom of the little hill. So made my way down there, but couldnt find the loo anywhere!The only little shack it could have been in had a padlock on. I was quite desperate so thought my only option would be to go right down to the bottom of the hill and squat and hope no one saw me!! It was a totally embarrassing experience. Got down to the bottom of the hill and squatting doing my number one business, when I realised there were two farmers at the bottom of the hill and in a building at the top of the hill along from the cafe a man hanging out the window watching me! arghh. Made a quick exit back up having finished and told all to Charlotte (ed was totally obivious enjoying his coffee), who then just laughed at me and told me that the shack with the padlock was the loo (ceramic hole in the ground) and that it wasnt locked!Whoops! No repeats of this since though!

At the end of day one trekking we arrived in the village of Tikhedhunga. Each night we stayed in small mountain villages, in little tea houses. All trekkers on these routes unless in base camps tend to stay in these tea houses. They are basic accomoodation. Generally consisting of a small room with walls made from MDF, two basic bed frames with small foam matress, one little window, and a light. This light however, is not in use until after 6pm. Accross most of Nepal they have planned power cuts that last most of the day, ut are planned at different times each day, so we have no idea when the interenet/tv is going to cut out!

In the village accomodation there is usually a shower (sometimes hot) and a toilet (cermic hole in ground with no flush and no loo roll) for all guests to share. Meals are served in communal dining areas and you normally have to write down your own food order on the waitering list. Food for dinner has to be ordered generally before 5pm so if you order something like chicken they can go out and select one of the chickens that are just roaming about their land (they own the chickens...they are not nicked) and do the killing/preping before cooking it. Sometimes you notice a reduced number of chickens allowed out to roam the following day. The chickens are all well kept, look healthy and allowed to roam free for most of the day. Would rather eat the chicken here than what Tesco has to sell.

Following day had a good breakfast (breakfasts here are good-usually have Eggs, bread, sometimes porridge, hot lemon to drink, and fried potato things) before starting one of our most toughest days of trekking. We had to ascend up about 1500m in Altitude. This was mostly via steps (about 5000 steps) with a couple of steep hills inbetween. Some of this was going up through the villages, some through fiels and some through woods with waterfalls and rivers flowing through. Was very hot as well (around 30C in the mountains each day) and by the end of the day we were kapooppled. We arrived that afternoon in Ghorepani. This village had great views of the mountains in the morning when the skies were clear. It was a also a slightly bigger village than Tikhedhunga, and had a bar with pool table. Had a few games of pool, lost my bet of the kitkat bar (a precious luxury in the moutains) to the guides, and sampled the local beer...Everest Beer! tis quite nice but strong. Got an early night as we got up the following morning at 0345 to go up to Poon Hill. This is a hill just up from Ghorepani, from which you can go and watch the sunrise over the Annapurna moutain region (the region we were trekking in) with out any obstructions and sits at around 3200m above sea level. It aparently takes 45 mins or 1 hour to get up, but Ed and I did it in our record time for our guides of just 25 mins! Charlotte didnt come up Poon Hill with us as she felt bit dodgy in the stomach/bowel region! This hill was a hard one for me going up, as those who know me well know I do not function without breakfast very well! We were not going to get breakfast until we got back down into Ghorepani at 0730....a long wait for the likes of me!

Once at the top we had a little bit of a wait for the sun rise as we got to the top of Poon hill at 0455. Sunrise was at 0535. We had great views of all the mountains and you could see the sunrays comming over the moutain before the sun was up. It was quite cold once at the top so we were all wrapped up in our Winter wollies!

After sunrise we headed back down the hill and had breakfast. Then we started another challenging day of hiking, more uphill until the later morning when we started a descent into another small village for drinks break. This part of the trekking was lovely as we made good progress walking through forestland with the national flower-the rhodedendron. We then further descended into a little village by the river side. By this time we had starting forming blisters as constant descending puts a lot of pressure on the tops/front of feet, so got out our rather extensive first aid kits (being nurses we account for all possibilities) to find that I didnt even pack tape! This is no reflection on my skills/practice as a nurse! Anyway it was not much further from our lunchstop until we reached the village of Chuile, a lovely spot, but not before we made another steep ascent before entering the village. We spent the evening chatting to a canadian and dutch trekking pair and then playing cards with the guides in the evening.

The following day we spent trekking for just half a day so we could spend the other half at the natural hot spring in Jhinu Danda, where we stayed in a tea house. The hot spring was lovely. It was down in the valley, so another 1/2 walk down and back up, but worth it. IT was right next to the river, and the guys (Ed and the guides) felt they had to prove themselves and get into the freezing cold river (I tried to get in but managed only up to my waist) and then jumping back into the hot spring. The next tw days of trekking we descended until we reached Phedi, our last stop where we got carted back into Pokhara. Really enjoyed the trekking and the views. It makes you go back to a simple way of living....living off the basics and just walking all day. Comming back into Pokhara took about a day to get used to all the people around and traffic and general goings on. I cant imagine what it must be like for some of the trekkers who do the Annapurna circuit which takes 22 days. They must find it really weird.

From Pokhara the following day we drove to Chitwan National Park. Here we spent three days cramming in as much as possible. Chitwan National Park is very close to the Indian border, so was much hotter than Pokhara or Kathmandu. The first afternoon after arriving we got in a safari jeep and went on a village walk and into the forest. We also went to see the elephant breeding centre which I was not sure about as the elephants were chained by their feet to a post. They seeemed quite distressed as well,w ith some odd rocking behaviours. We asked if that was how they were kept all day, but the ranger explained that they are allowed out to roam in the forest from 9am -2pm. Later in the evening we had a talk from one of the other rangers at the resort we stayed in, with a side show. The talk was brilliant but for all the wrong reasons. I have absolutely no idea what they ranger was talking about and learnt nothing about the wildlife, simple because Charlotte Ed and I were in histerics for the whole 45 mins of the presentation. When the southern Nepalise try to speak English they pronounce everything with a super uber gay tone and with a twangy welshy twist. We coudl not take anything seriously. Also did not help that the ranger looked like the slim version of the nutty professor wearing harry potter glasses! Very surprised we didnt get chuked out of the room as there were only 7 other in the presentation. The ranger though was really nice and waved at us everyday in the morning. That evening we met a Lady Heshie from, yes you guessed it America, who joined us as she was travelling along. She was about 40-50 years old and absolutly batty!Spent the whole time telling us about her amazing company and how wonderful her fiance, who was currently doing base camp everst and proposed to her there previosuly and wants to get married to her on Mount killamanjaro. The following day at Chitwan was awesome. The morning was an early start to go conoeing on the river at 0700. We didnt have to do the rowing though as they was a guy who stood on the end of the canoe and pushed it along with a big stick! Along the way in the canoe we got really close (2meters) of a crocodile. We werent so keen on being so close, but they just kept pushing us closer into it until we were literally looking it in the eye!After canoeing we got off further down the river and had to make our way back to the resort with our ranger through the jungle. The mae us be super quite and gave Ed a stick to beat off wildlife such as tigers and bears, shoul they attack us. Personally I didnt fancy our chances with a big stick in that kinda situation, but it never arose. the closest we got to the tigers and bears were their paw prints and poos! After getting back to the resort we headed back to the river where we bathed with the elephants. This involved us getting in the water, climbing onto the elephants back, and then the elephants fill their trunk with water and spray it all over you! Then they roll with you on their back into the water!! Once the elephant has rolled we massaged their backs, which they loved! was awesome! The afternoon we spent riding out in the jungle on elephant back. We spent 2 hours trundling around the jungle, which for most of the time our elephant spent her time eating the greenery and pulling over tress ( and I dont mean little tress! some she properly uprooted!). we were also subjected to elephant fart.....not something we could get away with blaming on Ed. there was no mistaking who did it! We also got really close to a Rhino and its baby in the wild. They Rhinos didnt see us and didnt bat an eyelid at the elephant. That evenign we spent at a culture show in one of the nearby villages where they did a show of Nepalise dance and music. The presenter of this again had us in Fits of laughter when he talked!

The next day we flew from Chitwan to Kathmandu. The experience at the airport in Chitwan was interesting!When we got there you had to be very quiet in the waiting room, there was one check in desk and 2 rooms (one for ladies and one for men) for security check, which lead through another waiting room. Once at the airport we couldnt check in because the police hadnt arrived yet to do our security check. When they did arrive one of them had their child with them and very breifly looked inside our bags, stamped our tickets and that was it! The areoplane was a little 18 seater and had no door between the cockpit and the main cabin, so we could see the runway fast approaching as we came into land. Slightly more scary in a little plane as to descend, little planes just dip their noses so it looks like you going to crash land!

In Kathmadu we stayed for 5 days. We stayed in the Themal district, a tourst district central to all the temples and main city. Kathmandu in the centre is more like India in a way. There are lots more people milling around, more people living on the streets, dirty and dusty and more people pestering you. It was not on the same scale as India though. The Nepalise people are not like the Indians and are very peaceful and respectful people. They are currently working on changing their culture surrounding marriage and the treatment of ladies. There are a number of centres that are getting ladies involved in crafts and tourism, and with regards to the marriage side they are moving away from arranged marriages. One of our guides, called Soman, who is 21, explained that his parents and their generation were all married by arranged marriage and didnt meet each other until their marriage day. Now, he said his parents wont be arranging his marriage, but more along the lines of arranged first dates. If they dont get on or there is not spark on the first date, they can just say and the parents will arrange another first date with another girl. We also learnt a lot about marriages in Chitwan where the villages have their own marriage system. They are more traditional and still used arranged marriages. They also have other options such as the exchange marriage, where if there are two married brothers in the family they can exchange wives, or there is the one which I cant remebr the name of, but if a married brother of the family should die, then the wive of the deceased becomes the wife of the deceased brother. Then there is the Flying marriage option. This is where two people who are in love get married and fly the nest! There were other marriages too but I cant remeber them.

The Nepalise themselves dont like the Indians. there are quite a few Indians in Kathmandu as it is easy for them to Migrate to and favourable to them. Nepal is cheaper than India, the weather cooler and they dont require a visa to travel into Nepal. Many of the people who do pester you in Kathmadnu are Indian. The Nepalise occassionally do, such as taxi drivers, but once you say no they generally leave you alone. Indians dont understand no! As aI said before we didnt do that much in Kathmandu as we spent most of it rearranging our travel plans. We did however get up early one morning to do a mountain flight over everest, which was cool! Also visited a couple of the temples and squares in Kathmandu, one of which had a lot of visous monkeys hanging around

Well We are now back in Pokhara after a very bouncy and long 7 hour bus journey here, where we have decided to stay for about 10 days, as we extended our visas. Ed is currentnly doing a second trek to annapurna base camp for 8 days. Woudl like to have gone too but Charlotte doesnt enjoy trekkign as much as Ed and I do, so us girlies are staying in Pokhara and muckuing about. So far we have been boating on the lake, yesterday kayaking, been chilling out and playing pool with other tourists in the evening and had a massage (ayrevedic therapy). This massage is never to be done again. I cannot move today and the hour that the massage took was painful.I felt like I was being beaten up! The massge lady got onto the massage table and with all her weight was trying to massage my back....it really hurts. They also did this weird flicky thing with your toes and fingers which feels like they are being cracked, oh and then they hit you over the head. I stil have a headache!

I think your sufficiently updated on our adventures and misadventures! Will add more when I have had a few more adventures!