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Hello from Hong Kong,
Last time i wrote i was on me way to meet the group i would be walking to everest base camp with, and i got lucky with a fairly good bunch of people. We had 3 brothers from Tennesse(the Webbs) who were the nicest 3 people you'd ever meet with the coolest accents who called everyone sir or mam!, 2 good time girls from Melbourne who were always laughing and joking, a couple of travel agents from manchester who were very much in love, a canadian girl who had worked everywhere and was now of to Harvard so obviously had everthing going for her and a man, who i shared rooms with, in his late 50's who was a bit moroccon, a bit french and a bit Aussie. We did all the intros, etc before having a bit of freetiem to shop for essentials for the trek. I bought a coat, "geniune" north face for 4 quid and a couple of water bottles, not bad. I was looking rather rugged so i decided to go to the barbers and get a cut throat shave and wow weren't it good! The barber lathered me with the cream before shaving me in about 5 minutes, which for the thickness of my beard at that time was amzing. He also threw in a face and head massage and put about ten different skin oinments on me face so i came away feeling pretty good and looking dapper for the group.
Didn't last long tho, the room we were staying in in Kathmandu that night was infested with Mosquitos and after a night of flapping em away i woke up at 5am with a few awkward bites. 1 on me little finger so it was twice its normal size, one on me lip so i looked like ricky hatton and one on me eyelid so i could only open my left eye halfway, what an impression tp make on the group!!, luckily it was quite early and we didn't really know each other yet so no one commented.
We got a taxi to the airport and caught flight number x from Kathmandu to Lukla and it was an incredible flight over the himalayas. The weather weren't amazing which led to a bit of turbolence and spooky views over the mountains before landing 45 minutes later on a runway sloping up the side of the hill not at all that long, as soon as we landed we had to bank right so as not to run into the village!!
The first couple of days wer quite easy walking along the river valley gradually rising uphill crossing the river on various occassions via Indiana Jones style rope bridges not for the faint hearted. We then had to acclimatise a bit to the altitude meaning staying at the same level for a day doing a short walk uphill before descending to sleep. This was on the largest village on the route and gave us the first chance to see Mount Everest as it was a clear day, which was a wow moment, making me hairs stand up all over my body just looking at it, i had to look away to stop the tingling!!
It got a bit harder after this day with longer days trekking and thinner air meaning it got a bit harder to breathe. After about a week of walking we reached Mount Everest base camp! Everyone was feeling the effects of the altitude today, me having a banging headache and feeling sick as a dog. Big Jeff(one of the brothers) was feeling it slightly worse than the rest and bearing in mind he was a 6 foot 3 man weighing prob about 18stone, he had to be carried down the mountain by one of our guides who was smaller than me, which was quite a funny sight, tho a little worryng at the time!! Anyway we had made it to base camp, and altho it is just a collection of tents in the middle of the mountains it was a pretty amzing feeling to be standing there with people climbing to the highest point on the planet (fricking idiots).
The next morning 4 of us did our own mount everest in climbing Kalapatur, to a height of 5, 545 metres, over 18,000 feet. The purpose of this was for the best views of everest and the surrounding peaks of the himalayas. However about halfway up it started pissing down with snow, and i mean proper snowing. From when we started when there was no snow on the floor until the end of the day some 10 hours later i reckon a good 3-4 inches must have fallen. Well, we didn't get the views we had hoped for but to stand on a peak over five and a half thousand metres high, not sure i'll ever be that high again on earth.
The walk back down to Lukla only took half as long and included a drunken night celebrating, with the aid of a bottle of whiskey and many beers, in Namche Bazaar but offered great views and the weather was pretty damn good most of the time apart from the day when everything got wet after 10 hours of rain which only relented on arrival.
I'll remember the amazing scenery of the walk and the feeling on reaching base camp, as well as the associated effects of altitude sickness but probably most of all i will remember the guides and porters who all did an amazing job helping us up the mountaind and the porters carried so much stuff it was unbelievable. Also i will remember Dhal Bhat, veg curry and rice. This was the meal i had most nights mainly because it is all you can eat with the wiaters keep coming back offering you more rice, curry and soup which tastes fantastic.
We flew back to Katmandu on Yeti airlines flight number one this time taking around 30 minutes with great weather this time so great views over the mountains. I had another few days in Kathmandu until my flight to Hong Kong, a time in which i relaxed and recovered from the rigours of the walk and ate a lot of meat including some of the best steaks i have ever had in the world. On return to Kathmandu i had a message on me phone informing that i was going to be an uncle!! At first i thought my brother and or his friend had got drunk and thought it would be a funny message but after checking it out with repeat messages and seeing the pictures on FB it was true!! So that was quite an emotional day, i'm pretty chuffed tho feel like it aged me 5 years in one day.
Getting from Kathmadu to Hong Kong was always going to be a mission, the route being Kathmandu to Delhi, Delhi to Mumbai and Mumbai to Hong Kong. Well the day started a bit strangely waking up to go for breakfast and to order a taxi to the airport only to find that a strike had been called meaning all business were shut for the day in Nepal and no vehicles were allowed on the roads. So no breakfast and no transport i decided to walk to the airport, luckily it wasn;t a ryanair airport so was only about 3-4 miles form the centre of town, but in the heat and with a big backpack it was a bit of an effort, especially having just finisjhed a 2 week trek in the mountains. I was walking down the middle of these highways with hundreds of other people with police and army on every corner incase it kicked of, wpndering what the protest was about, then i bumped into an angry mob of about 200 youngish men with sticks and rocks and flags. I don't know what they wanted but they took great pleasure in banging every building they went past with their bats and thropwing rockas at anything they thought might break!! I stood to one side and they didn't seem to mind the white tourist watching on. I flew jet airways, an indian airline who i have to say are one of the best i have flown with, great food, in flight entertainment, and my flight from Delhi to Mumbai was delayed and we circled a while on landing in Mumbai meaning i had about 10 minutes to get from one plane to the other to make my connection and i had a member of staff run me to the terminal transfer bus, someone picked me up at the other end, led me thru immigration hurriedly and put me on the flight which they had delayed for me, so a big thank you to them for that. Was a bit of a scare tho, can't believe i made it, when i landed an announcement on my the flight captain said for a mr S Thomas to report to groundstaff, and relising that must be me i thought they were going to say you've missed your flight but they were so good.
And then on to Hong Kong, a place i came on my last world trip that was so good that i decided to come here again. It really is a place that has everything (shops, architecture, statues, mountains, hills, jungles, beaches, amazing food, beautiful and ugly people form all corners of the globe and even a disneyland!). I have been here 6 days and filled every single day and there is still more i want to see, but that will have to be for my next trip!!
I've spent time wandering around people watching and admiring the skyscrapers as well as hiking thru the mountains and to peaks for some amazing views over Hong Kong. I went on the longest cable car in Asia which goes for over 3.5 miles to the largest seated Buddha in the world before walking back down to the metro and back into town on the first day. Went to see night at the museum 2 as well that evening, which is another Stiller/Wilson classic.
Went to Disneyland the next day and got to meet all my heroes in Mickey mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Winnie the Pooh, was a little disappointed not to find Donald Duck, don't know where he was hiding. Quite similar to the disneyland in Florida tho being a weekday and less well known there were hardly anyone there meaning i didn't have to queue for a single ride all day. I particularly liked the Lion king show which is prob me favourite disney film anyway.
The last few days i have been hiking around the mountains, something you prob wouldn;t expect in Hong Kong, but it has excellent walking. I did a walk called the Dragons back which was once voted the best walk in Asia, now i havebn't done all the walks in Asia so i can't comment but it was damn good and the views over the coastline were absolutely amazing.
Today i went to supposedly the best beach in Hong Kong which was so remote that it took me a half hour metro ride, followed by a 45 minute bus ride, followed by a 2 hour hike to get to the beach. However once there i was rewarded with one of the best beaches i have ever been to on my travels. I swam in the south china sea this morning with its warm waters washing of the sweat that the journey had made me build up! A perfect way to end my time in Hong Kong.
I had the best chinese curry the other night so i am now off to have another one, before leaving tomorrow morning to win a bit of money in the casinos of "The last Vegas of the East" Macau and then going onto mainland China in a few days.
Wish me luck
Expectant Uncle Tommy
PS Congrats to me brother and Kerrie on there news and congrats to Matt and Jo on tying the knot
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