Patrick is currently high in the sky between Delhi and London and it's now my second night solo- the longest time we've spent apart since January. And with night 4 at the Mountain Guest House, it's also the most consecutive nights I've spent in the same bed since January. Well, I'm not completely alone- a large spider was scuttling around the room last night and I woke up to find a cockroach in its death throes next to the bed this morning. Energetic and potentially murderous spiders don't bother me, but one twitching roach had me in near hysterics and the most bravery I could manage was pulling on trousers before leaping from bed to door and flagging down the first cleaning lady I saw. She whisked it straight up with a bit of tissue as she is clearly made of stronger stuff than I.
Hubby's last post has mostly summed up Kathmandu - several nights at Tom & Jerry's playing pool and shooting the shit with Pradip and Saurav, eating some fabulous varied cuisines (from Vietnamese phone to Mexican quesadillas), wandering the streets of Thamel and beyond, and making drawn out goodbyes to the Dragomen, with people leaving in ones and twos since the 14th- Dutchie and I are the last holdouts!
If Kathmandu was my entry point to the subcontinent, I probably would have made the effort to do and see far more. I am somewhat ashamed at how little I've seen of this undoubtedly amazingly cultural and historical city beyond the tourist trap of Thamel, but after months of amazing culture and history and temples and ruins- girl needs a break. Today - my last full day in the city - I did very little besides spend a couple hours with Ram, who runs the trekking company I'm using and organise my packing (that which is coming around the Himalaya, and that which is spending some more time behind the deal at Mountain Peace). However I did take the time to go to a Vinyasa flow yoga class to properly stretch out before the trek. Remind me never to do yoga alongside 4 young and beautiful Nepali yoga teacher trainees again. Seriously.
Tomorrow morning at 7.30am I fly to Lakla, and begin 10 days of trekking, including (hopefully) reaching Everest Base Camp. Even the highest point on this trek is about 200m lower than Kilimanjaro was, and I'm starting on the diamox tonight, so fingers crossed I don't encounter any problems with altitude. I have my own guide and porter, as the alternative to the private trek was tag along with a family of 4, including teenagers. NOPE. I met my guide Tanjee this morning and went out to lunch with Ram, the manager of Nepal Spirit Adventure, the company I found in November. He's really lovely and supremely organised and helpful. I compared many trekking companies and am so far happy with the decision- a Nepalese-owned company was a priority (so all the money stays local), as was one that takes the welfare of guides and Sherpas seriously.
With the cold out of my system and a week of healthy Nepali food (so much better than all the oil and sugar in India!) in me, I am really excited to start this next chapter of the trip. And it will keep my mind off missing Patrick and being jealous he gets to see our kitties and drink real ale at the pub and see our friends... I finally get clean air in the mountains (Kathmandu is apparently the third most polluted city in the world and my lungs agree)!
Back to Kathmandu on the 29th, so see you then, loyal readers.
Hubby's last post has mostly summed up Kathmandu - several nights at Tom & Jerry's playing pool and shooting the shit with Pradip and Saurav, eating some fabulous varied cuisines (from Vietnamese phone to Mexican quesadillas), wandering the streets of Thamel and beyond, and making drawn out goodbyes to the Dragomen, with people leaving in ones and twos since the 14th- Dutchie and I are the last holdouts!
If Kathmandu was my entry point to the subcontinent, I probably would have made the effort to do and see far more. I am somewhat ashamed at how little I've seen of this undoubtedly amazingly cultural and historical city beyond the tourist trap of Thamel, but after months of amazing culture and history and temples and ruins- girl needs a break. Today - my last full day in the city - I did very little besides spend a couple hours with Ram, who runs the trekking company I'm using and organise my packing (that which is coming around the Himalaya, and that which is spending some more time behind the deal at Mountain Peace). However I did take the time to go to a Vinyasa flow yoga class to properly stretch out before the trek. Remind me never to do yoga alongside 4 young and beautiful Nepali yoga teacher trainees again. Seriously.
Tomorrow morning at 7.30am I fly to Lakla, and begin 10 days of trekking, including (hopefully) reaching Everest Base Camp. Even the highest point on this trek is about 200m lower than Kilimanjaro was, and I'm starting on the diamox tonight, so fingers crossed I don't encounter any problems with altitude. I have my own guide and porter, as the alternative to the private trek was tag along with a family of 4, including teenagers. NOPE. I met my guide Tanjee this morning and went out to lunch with Ram, the manager of Nepal Spirit Adventure, the company I found in November. He's really lovely and supremely organised and helpful. I compared many trekking companies and am so far happy with the decision- a Nepalese-owned company was a priority (so all the money stays local), as was one that takes the welfare of guides and Sherpas seriously.
With the cold out of my system and a week of healthy Nepali food (so much better than all the oil and sugar in India!) in me, I am really excited to start this next chapter of the trip. And it will keep my mind off missing Patrick and being jealous he gets to see our kitties and drink real ale at the pub and see our friends... I finally get clean air in the mountains (Kathmandu is apparently the third most polluted city in the world and my lungs agree)!
Back to Kathmandu on the 29th, so see you then, loyal readers.
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