On Thursday, we will be catching the 10 hour bus from Pokhara to Burtibang before beginning the 3 hour trek up the valley to Bobang.  Thus comes to an end a glorious 3 weeks of holiday.  If ever there was a reason to volunteer in Nepal (other than the delights of teaching... obviously), it’s the holidays and we’ve certainly made the most of it.

Having said that, things didn’t start hugely positively.  After marking and invigilating exams, we practically ran the 10 miles to Burtibang to catch the bus.  We missed it.  Luckily there was one the next day, we would get that and be in Kathmandu for a pancake breakfast the following morning, easy.  Sadly this is Nepal, and when a bus conductor says “about 20 hours”, you would be advised not to believe him. 

Sure enough, 4 hours in, the tyre burst.  An hour later we were off, 3 hours later the engine gave out.  5 hours later (we sat by the road for 5 hours), we were off again.  2 hours later (now past midnight), we broke down half way up a mountain and all had to push the bus, cue another 2 hour delay.  Another 2 hour break as the other tyre burst the following morning completed the list of bus related annoyances.  This would have been bearable if it weren’t for a sudden attack of ‘Nepali stomach’, leaving me begging the bus driver to stop in the middle of the night and spending every break locked in the loo (which aren’t the best in Nepali service stations it must be said).

After a thirty hour journey we finally arrived in the capital.  Life very quickly improved at this point as we spent 3 days eating, sleeping and spending the money that we hadn’t touched for 2 months previously (we actually spent more on one pizza meal than in our whole time in Bobang, and it wasn’t even expensive pizza).  During the days we accompanied Shanta, our all powerful Nepali rep from one government office to another sorting out visa issues.  The highlight was a tacked on trip (at my request) to the DFID offices where we met the acting head and discussed the work they are doing throughout Nepal- helping to break down a dangerous caste system while promoting controlled and sustainable development through infrastructure and hydroelectric programs amongst many others.  Let’s hope UKIP don’t get a chance to cut their budget...

In a bid to escape the exhaust fumes of the city, we headed north to Langtang National Park for a week’s trekking in the Himalayas.  7 days of walking with limited oxygen initially didn’t appeal as much as it could have done but I genuinely can’t recommend trekking in Nepal enough.  Our path left the road at Syrabubesi and headed up a deep wooded valley filled with monkeys (and tourists).  In 2 and a half days we made it to the final village before the snowy uninhabited valleys of the high Himalayas- Kyajin Gumpa.  Our first excursion from there was to some fairly dramatic glaciers at the foot of the towering peak of Langtang Lirung and the following day to the top of Kyajin Ri (4700m).  Unimpressed by the relative ease of these two (Chris managed them in flip flops despite the deep snow), we decided to finish our trip by attempting the slightly more serious peak of Tsergo Ri.  Lacking any gear whatsoever, we set off at 6 am, hitting the snowline at 8.  What followed was two hours of laborious scrambling up worryingly steep slopes of sheet ice.  The views from the top however (5000m) made it worth the 4 hour struggle getting up.  Around us in a complete circle were around 10 6-7 thousand meter peaks all covered in snow.  Exhausted but delighted, we charged back down the valley in a single day before getting the return jeep to Kathmandu.

The next item on the agenda was Nepali New Year on the 13^th April.  To celebrate the end of 2071 we headed to the ancient city of Bhaktapur where we had heard some odd but entertaining ritual would be occurring (the fact that at least one person tends to perish in the festivities every year was only a little worrying).  The festival involved a 20 ft high wooden temple on huge 6 foot high wheels weighing several tonnes being pushed from the top square of the city down a hill to the bottom square.  What made it dangerous was that it rolled at about 20 mph down a narrow street packed with tens of thousands of onlookers.  It was a bizarre, vaguely traumatic but fantastic evening and the best news is that oddly, this year, nobody died...

From Bhaktapur we took a bus to The Last Resort for a day’s white water rafting, followed by a bungee jump the following day.  At 160m it is supposed to be the highest in Asia- I’d definitely recommend it.  From there it was on to Chitwan National Park.  This vast expanse of jungle and grasslands in the lowlands in the south of Nepal is home to one of the world’s largest populations of tigers as well as around 700 rhinos, plenty of wild elephants, crocodiles, snakes, bears, boar and, sadly, leeches.  We immediately signed up for an hour canoe ride followed by a 10 hour, 25km trek through the jungle.  We saw huge crocodiles at dangerously close proximity, a sleeping rhino about 10 metres from where we stood as well as 4 not sleeping rhinos fortunately slightly further away.  The real highlight was a close encounter with a rare and apparently highly dangerous wild Asian elephant- luckily it chose to ignore us.  For the following 2 days we enjoyed the heat, explored the outside of the park and had a short but exciting elephant ride.

We have now arrived in Pokhara, our final stop on this busy holiday.  This lakeside town is chock full of tourists and is proving the perfect place to get a few days rest and recuperation.  While Chris opted out, I spent the last few pennies of my crippled budget on an hour’s paragliding- totally worth it, though I think some fiscal caution will now be needed over the next few months...

All in all it has been an utterly fantastic holiday.  If you are considering a trip to Asia, you have to come to Nepal!  It’s cheap while being completely reliant and geared towards tourism.  You’ll find good food, stunning views, the best rafting, biking and trekking in the world and hundreds of like-minded travellers (arguably not a positive, it depends on your outlook...).  Really, it’s fantastic.

Now it’s back to the valley for another 2 and a half’s months teaching.  This may therefore be my last post for a while.