Final note from Nepal

Like all capital cities Kathmandu was very busy and has a mixture of good and bad. The biggest thing that strikes you is the litter and dust. Both unfortunate are prevalent nearly everywhere you go evan high in the mountains. Once out of the city and into the mountains the atmosphere changes and the speed of life is slow. Leaving the frenetic city behind is refreshing even after just those first few days. 

The people seem to know little of crime and I can say we have always felt safe  wherever we have been. Yes, some people have been less polite than others but this is true of anywhere in the world. Walking the trail early in the morning you are passed by  kids going to school. They all leave a odd times some early in the morning but I think this is because they have a long walk both to and from there schools. Most villages and settlements don't have a school so as you walk down the trail from about 7:30am through to 10am you pass smartly dressed kids making their way to school. Everyone has said namaste ('good' in Nepalese) many also like to try their English so say good morning and how are you. Lots of the little ones ask for chocolate and one or two asked for a pen. They are all dressed in what we would class as a smart school uniform, trousers or skirt with shirt, tie and jumper. Their parents must sacrifice a good deal to purchase these as you see these smartly dressed kids turn out of homes that we would class as a garden shed. I have looked inside some and all the family share one room which serves as the kitchen, bedroom and an area to live in. 

The scenery is very powerful, the mountains dominate right from the start. In fact looking from Kathmandu or Pokhara you see snow capped mountain ranges in the near distance. Also, impressive and humbling is when you're out walking with you pack fully loaded on your back and coming down the hill towards you is an old lady with a woven reed basket lashed around her forehead and overflowing with wood, on her way home to prepare for winter. In the mountains everyone uses a wood fire for cooking and heating. Some tea shop owners have a gas bottle for a shower, if your lucky! Food is prepared when ordered always freshly made and most often with produce they have grown themselves. Many occasions we have watched the owner or one of the family go and collect food from the garden for our meal. I am sure it's a hard life especially when the winter comes with sub zero temperatures outside all day. Accommodation is basic as you would expect but every tea house takes pride in there building which is there family home. Probably the most basic accommodation we stayed in was after the Thorung La Pass. The outside was made of brick but once through the door everything else was made of mud. A young lady and her mother where the only ones there. The elder lady was not seen much so the younger lady did all the work. The bedroom was mud from floor to ceiling. The mud was just like a dried out riverbed, cracked all over. Plastic was tacked to the wall as a damp-proofer and another plastic sheet on the floor. Beds were simple but functional. The upstairs dining area was much the same. The young lady could be seen sweeping the dust off the front yard and when I'd finished with the bucket of hot water she used this to damp the mud on the yard to further control dust. Dinner and breakfast were served on time and hot and she placed a metal tub of hot coals under our table to keep us all warm while we ate. On this night their was only four of us, Sarah me and a South African couple all huddled around this one table in amongst a mud dinning room. Other times we have passed proud mothers and home owners early in the morning sweeping there frontage no matter how humble there home maybe. One lady early on in the trek took us through her house which they shared with the animals in the stable to view her garden just before she served us lemon team, made with lemons from her garden. 

The climate here has surprised me. It permits all sorts of fruit, vegetables and flowers that I did not expect to see. As we passed through Bhratang the apple picking season had just finished so apples were in abundance and I ate at least three different types of apple pie or pasties. None of them as nice as yours Mum. On the west side of the Annapurna range the oranges are ripe and ready to pick. We have been offered juicy oranges daily. An entrepreneurial child while walking into Tataopani to school tried to sell us a few oranges one morning. We've had bananas, cauliflower, all types of beans and garden veg. I have seen mangoes on trees. Flowers, all manner of beautiful varieties that I don't know the name of but big bushes of poinsettia and orange lilies. Purple and red flowers both small and large. Butterflies in abundance of every type and colour. The nature is truly wonderful. For an inspiring place and people Nepal is right up there. 

Now for the amusing side at least for us westerners. Toilet facilities are very very different from what we are used to and take for granted. Now in Kathmandu we had a flush toilet like home, a little basic yes but you'd recognise it. However, once out on the trail it's a whole new surprise. If you imagine a teardrop shape sliced in half vertically then laid flat on the floor with two foot marks either side of it, to line yourself up with so you don't miss, then that's you on the money, literally. These are shared with everyone or if you are lucky maybe a tea house has an ensuite room for a little extra! Theirs no flush it just slides down the poo shoot. Paper has to sit in a bin left on the side. The only rinsing is via a tap nearby with a bucket, just pour down a good deal of water. Only thing is early in the morning or late at night the water has frozen over so Oh Dear! We had a western style toilet one night near the end, great we thought luxury, until you sat on it and it wasn't fastened down to the waste pipe so one wrong move and wow you don't want to go there. Theirs a regular nightly chorus and I do mean all through the night usually of the local dogs barking. After a while you get used to it. In the morning two treats wake you up the customary cock crowing from around 5am and the local population who make a grinding sound in there mouths and then spit. Where ever you are this sound prevails and it's the one thing Sarah says she will not miss. I have to say I agree but each morning around 5 'ish I'd smile as the first person up would start. On the first morning I thought I had the whole local village taking it in turns urinating outside my window until I opened the window to find the village tap was opposite and they were just collecting their water for breakfast. 

Sarah has been attracting dogs like never before. You all know she really is not keen on mans best friend. Well over the past week to 10 days we have been accompanied by a dog or two each day. The longest serving chap was about 7 days ago. He joined us for nearly an entire day's walking. Mid morning while walking past a village he appeared we don't know where from and he must have been tagging along until about 3:30pm or so. We recon he did about 15 to 18 km with us. I have a picture of him with Sarah curled up while we had lunch. I took that one especially for Sam and Leanne. He got into about 5 fights with other dogs as we passed through villages but always managed to win through. The dogs here are extremely territorial. I would not like to cross one at night. 

Busses are an eye opener here. We have caught four in total and all were an experience. The second to last one to Pokhara was astonishingly uncomfortable. The 50km trip cost us both 75p, yes just 75p I am very tall compared with the Nepalese so having to stand all the way for 2 hours was not good, neck bent double. The bus fits around 20 people on seated but standard overloading accommodates 40 or more. Then you have baggage. Now that can include but is not limited to bags of rice half my size, ruck sacks of course and general luggage but then you can bring on bookcases, chairs, chickens, very large containers of kerosene (two of these stunk the whole bus out on one occasion) etc etc. Your in such close proximity that I literally had my armpit on top of a blokes head for two hours. He just smiled and put up with it! 

Our last two days have been spent in Pokhara, Nepal's second city and in our view a far prettier one. It sits by the side of a lake and has a good view of the mountains and it's not busy now the trekking season has ended.  We made a rather large mistake on arrival. After getting off the bus from Naya-Pul (the 50km ride for 75p each). We hopped into a taxi and asked to be taken to The Fishtail hotel. On arrival we were rowed across the lake to a island, all looks fantastic we thought. Now we knew this hotel was supposed to be a step up from all we had previously been staying at so wow, great this is quite special. The receptionist apologises as there booking computer is down, the usual power sharing /cuts that all Nepal puts up with daily. We say we have arrived early so can we have an extra two nights? Yes no problem. That will be an additional $400 dollars but I will apply the discount you got through booking online. At this point I start thinking something's not right here. Our original booking was about £23 for one night there's no way he can discount it that much. They served us free cocktails, we drank them while he did his calculations. Then he made a phone call and I opened up the hotel details on the iPad to check the rate. O-Oh! This place is called The Fishtail Lodge and we are staying at The Fishtail Villa. How embarrassing, lots of apologies and another 5 mins rope pull back in the boat across the lake we have 2 porters caring our bags a security guard who comes on the boat and the guy pulling the ferry rope to move us across the lake all muttering Fishtail Villa but none of them laughing, as yet. Made a quick exit off the jetty followed by our two bag men. Into a taxi after tipping the blokes and off to the correct hotel. This time it's the right one and they turned out to be very nice and helpful but a step down in quality as you would expect for the price. We chilled out for the two days before making our bus ride back to Kathmandu, another 8 hours but this time with a seat and in comfort. 

See below our final photo from Nepal. 

Anyway that's got to do for now. We've been very fortunate to be able to do this and the experiences will stay with us for the rest of our lives. I'll drop in some more photos for you to look at should you wish. At the moment we're in Kathmandu airport and preparing to fly back to Dubai and then onto Australia. 

Namaste 

Sarah and Dave

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