Storm and rescues in Koh Samui....

New pics for week 9 are now in Picasa!!!


Blue bar!!

Tequila time - no rain!!

She is mental!! Kai!!

Slightly wet roads!!

Lunch in Mercure Hotel!

Lisa and Mills in the rain

6am on the beach

Jennifer Parsonage in the sea off Koh Samui

Haahaa Karen and her Fags

Traditional dancing in Bangkok

After going to bed around 11.30pm I was woke up around 2am when I noticed that there had been a power cut. It was really windy outside too and so I sat there listening to the wind and the rain beating down outside. Suddenly my phone rang and when I answered it, it was Lisa. She had come in from a night out with Bev, Donna and the girls and due to the power cut she couldn’t find her cabin. Being a switched on Mofo, I had had a look around the resort earlier, when we arrived, so went to find her and showed her where she lived! We shared a beer while she told me of her night and I realised that she hadn’t seen the sea yet, so we wandered the short walk down to the beach.

By now the wind was getting really strong and the sea was very very rough, but we had a quick paddle and got bloody soaked by the waves. I got a bit worried as we went in a bit deep and had to keep a tight grip on Lisa as I dint want her to be dragged away into the sea, but she was OK and after a few minutes we wandered back to her cabin, soaking wet but exhilarated by the experience!!

After finishing the beer we had started I left Lisa to get some sleep and walked back to my cabin. By now it was nearly 4am, so I climbed back into bed, having had a really good fun hour! Cheers Lisa!

Shortly after getting back into bed there was another power cut as the wind got stronger and the rain got harder, I managed to get an hours sleep before I was woken again at about 5.30am. I thought I saw someone peering in my window and tapping on the glass, but when I looked outside the window is far too high off the ground for someone to do so. I presume it was just the weather and the palm trees!! As I was up I decided to go down to the beach to see the sunrise. I ran barefoot to the beach but was soaked before I even got halfway. By now it was getting really stormy and it was hard to look out to sea with the rain and spray off the sea in my eyes.

There was no sunrise- just cloud and wind, rain and the magnificent sea, wild and untamed beating against the beach. Fuck the sun, this was brilliant!! I sat for a while in a little beach bar -The Black Rose, right by the sea and watched as it got lighter. There was one lightning bolt but no thunder, although I probably wouldn’t have heard it with the wind being so strong. After 30 minutes or so, I decided to head back to my hut to hang my clothes out to dry and finally get some sleep – So far tonight I have managed about 2 hours, but it has been a great night. Sometimes something just takes your breath away and this place certainly does that.

Its something I’m really glad I did on my own, but would love to share it with everyone, so if anyone on the bus reads this today (Tuesday 2^nd Nov) then get your arses out of bed and get down the beach and join me early tomorrow morning. You will feel tiny and insignificant, but will have a sense of being somewhere special.

Sleep when you are dead.

I got out of bed just before 10am and went to the bar for a continental breakfast. Lisa was up and me her and Mills took a wander down the road to Harry’s place and met up with Bev'o, Donna, and Jaime. It was absolutely pishing down ans so we decided after mellowing out for a while, to go to the only place that seemed to have electricity – The Mercure hotel.

Its a really nice place with individual pools with each hut and we sat in the restaurant and ordered food for lunch with wine, beers and cocktails. The afternoon was great – drinking, messing about, going out in the rain every now and then and more drinking and messing about!! Soon, 4 hours had gone by and we were all a little drunk, but the thunder and lightning woke us all up as suddenly we were in the middle of the storm and we couldn’t hear anything but heavy rain and thunder!!

After we had all had too much to drink and eat we decided to rest, but ended up in the Blue Bar, from where Lisa had come last night. On the way the road that had been a puddle on the way 4 hour previously was now a full blown flood and was at least 2 feet deep! This rain was really really mad and doesn’t look like stopping soon! The owner of the blue bar 'Kai', is very very mad and recognised the girls from last night and invited them in like old friends. The tequila came out as did more beers and more tequila and we spent a couple of hours playing pool and dancing around like loonies. Bev had a kip at one point and soon after was behind the bar with Kai serving drinks!! It was one of those days!! The rain continued to get heavy and so me and Donna decided to head back to Home bay and to have an hour away from drinking and to catch up with everyone else.

Koh samui has been wet, windy and wild, but so have we!! Its been great and we still have 3 more nights here!!

Where are you ay!? Im in Koh Samui!! Jealous? You should be!!

Today is the day we go on Holiday to Koh Samui, so after waking at 4.25am and checking the weather forecast for the beach – (Thunderstorms for the whole week!) we all met downstairs and boarded the bus. A few people had not paid their room bills whilst the hotel was confused about some who had paid their bills too!! After it was all paid and sorted out though, we left Bangkok just before 5.30am. It was still dark and everyone lay down in their reclining seats and had a good couple of hours kip. The morning flew by with a couple of toilet stops for us and the driver until we reached a nice service station for lunch at half 11. There were lots of individual stall selling all sorts of Thai food, from rice, to noodles and curry. Natalie had a green curry which was hotter than she imagined and she couldn’t finish it. Jennifer Parsonage tried a Thai smoothie once she worked out what was in it and it tasted lovely. Most people had a mix of rice, meat and a Thai omelette too. I introduced myself to Stuart, our new bus member. He is a friend of Vicky's and will now be with us to the end of the trip!! Welcome mate!! Our first chat was about why at the Thai service station, the urinals are always outside! We decided it was because of the nice view – But couldn’t decide if we meant the view of us using the urinals, or the view we had whilst using them!? Either way it was funny!!

After lunch it was back on our big red comfy bus and more driving towards the ferry to Koh Samui.

It was a fairly relaxed afternoon on the bus with most people just relaxing, sleeping or biding their time till we reach the port.

We arrived at the ferry port to Koh Samui an hour early and managed to get on the 4pm ferry instead of the 5pm that we originally expected. By now the weather had changed for the worst and it was windy, rainy and cloudy – Not exactly what we had wanted or expected for our time in Koh Samui.

The ferry wasn’t as rough as we had expected with the rough sea though and so safe from being sick we queued to get what I thought was a cake but turned out to be a tuna sandwich, which was really nice. I had a couple of beers with Lisa and Mills and most of us sat outside on deck where it was a little cooler than it was inside. After an hour and a half we saw the Island of Koh Samui leering back at is through the mist and we got ready to disembark.

Once off the ferry it was a quick job to load us all onto 3 minibuses provided by the resort where we are staying and then a short 30 minute journey across the Island to Home Bay Resort.

I thought that the resort would be a load of quite cheap wooden shacks a mile from the beach but actually it consists of a number of quite nice bungalows situated along the beach itself. Some of them are sea view whilst the furthest are no more than 100metres away from the sea. Inside are really comfortable beds and a nice bathroom. Its all surrounded by palm trees and the sound of nature – Frogs, crickets and whatever other wildlife is living in the woods here. Even though my bungalow is one of the furthest from the sea there is still the indescribable sound of the waves crashing onto the beach. I think we will all be happy here for the next few days. At the moment I am sitting on my balcony/porch in the lovely warm evening and wondering what to do next. The rest if the group appear to be sorting out there stuff and then probably heading off for some food and drinks. I think I will join them. Lets hope for a good evening and some good weather come the morning.

So we had a bit of dinner in the restaurant at the resort. Everyone enjoyed a good meal, Me Awal, Matt, Becky Maartje, Frankie, Jennifer Parsonage, Laura and Janet then had a walk the 23 or 24 metres to the beach!! The sea is really rough and there is a sign saying that we cannot swim and after a bit of paddling we can see why. The rip tide is awesome and very dangerous, so we stood about getting soaked by the breaking waves and just enjoying the thrill of being here. It really is an awesome place and I’m hoping to get up for the sunrise tomorrow to see how it looks. I don’t yet know if I will make it as currently me Jennifer, Awal and Matt are sitting in the bar using the net and I am enjoying the beer!!

We have 3 more nights here and if the weather forecast is right we will not get much sun, but we will have a good relaxing time enjoying one of the most beautiful places on earth.

I have said it before and I will say it again – Go travelling, its cool!!

Time for bed soon, with the sound of waves in the background!! Are you jealous!!? You should be!

Last update from Bangkok...

Well that was a strange night out!!!
Me Kenneth, Isabelle, Jennifer Parsonage, Lisa, Mark and Lana just spent the few hours at Siam Niramit!
This is a spectacular stage show/theatre production all about Thailand. Before the show we had a really nice dinner and then looked around a traditional Thai village built in the centreif the city, there are Elephants to look at and touch which especially pleased Jennifer Parsonage as she hadnt yet arrived when we were with teh eleohants in Chitwan a few weeks ago.
We also saw some traditional dancing before joining the queue to enter the theatre. The queue eventually moved forwards and we all entered the large auditorium. There are seats for up to 2000 people but t0night there were maybe 400-500.
Th show itself was spectacular, with elephants, massive boats and ships sailing across the back of the stage brilliant lighting and sound. There was also a rive that appeared at the front of the stage and we couldnt agree where it ahd come from -I say the floor dropped away, but others disagree! Unfortunately Jennifer Parsonage and I didnt understand what the hell was going on and so dont think we enjoyed it quite as much as we thought we would.
Lisa, Mark and the rest loved it though - I suppose its each to his own. Anyway, it was a good night out overall and Id much prefer to have gone rather than sit in the Hotel or just go to another bar, especially since we are leaving at 5am to head towards Koh Samui!
Its now time for a good shower and finally pack the rest of my stuff so that I can get up as late as possibel in the morning#!!
Bangkok has been great. Its a modern thriving city, but 3 full days isnt enough to see it all. I always said that Thailand would be my 'get out clause;', if Im stuck somewhere with no ideas. So far that holds true because Thailand so far is great!!

Bangkok and Thailand Continued

Here are a few photos from Thailand...there are lots more on the picasa site in the folder marked week 8!!!
The last few days have been brilliant but very hectic, so below is a summary of what we have been up to!!



Lana, Lisa and a real Tiger - Honest!!

Me and a baby tiger

Linda, Me, Kenneth,Lana and Lisa with a cat!

Bridge over the River Kwai

Elephants

Unbelievable carving!!

Floating Market

Train Market

After our shopping expedition we arranged to meet up around 8pm to get some food and have a night out. However, I was on Facebook and Jennifer Parsonage was online and we arranged to go out and get in some shopping. We wandered around the local area, bought some booze and headed back to the Hotel to meet up with everyone who was going out. What we didn't know was that most other people had by now arranged for massages or already gone out, so we sat having a couple of quiet drinks with Chris and Mark in the bar across the road from the Hotel, then the two of us headed back out to get some dinner.
We found a couple of empty plastic chairs in the road by a Thai restaurant and ordered some food. We were really happy as the food was bloody lovely and really filling and it was a great atmosphere in the road, with cars passing by us a few inches away and tourists and locals eating, drinking and enjoying a night out in all the bars, cafes and restaurants on both sides of the street. We decided to head off for another beer, but unfortunately Jennifer Parsonage, wasn't feeling too good, so we headed off home.

In the morning Kenneth, Lana, Lisa, Karen, Maartje, Linda, Amanda, Janet, Mark, Mills and me were all ready and waiting for our day out at 7am.
Our first visit of the day was to 'The Train Market'. This is a food market that for no apparent reason has a train track running right through it. The stalls all side right up to the track, which is actually used a a path between the stalls themselves. 8 times a day a train passes through and on the sound of a siren, all the stall holders move their wares out of the way and pull in their canopies. The full sized train then passes right through the stalls, within centimetres of produce, stalls and people. Then as soon as it is gone, the canopies and stalls are put back where they came from and this weird market continues!!! It was surreal to see and I was expecting a small miniature train to pass down the thin walkway/track and was really surprised to see a normal sized locomotive coming towards us!!!
After the train market it was an hour up the road to the world famous floating market. This is a market on canals, where most of the trade is done between floating boats. It seems that Thai people will put a market anywhere but on a street or road!!
It was fun floating around the market for an hour, but it was very touristy and most of the stuff on sale was tacky souvenirs, like you can get at most holiday resorts. It was a good experience though and on e I would recommend to anyone visiting Bangkok.
The next stop is a Thai arts and crafts market, where the main draw is an open workshop where locals work for months carving elaborate wooden carvings. Some are quite simple like the line of full size elephants we saw, whilst others are incredibly intricate. One was a massive 3d picture carved from one large chunk of wood, which depicts a forest scene complete with monkeys, birds, trees elephants etc.... A sign in front of it explains that it two sculptors, 9 months to complete!!!

After another hour on the bus our next stop of this marathon day, was The Bridge over the river Kwai. If you don't know what this bridge is all about then spend a few minutes checking it our here.....
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/kwai.htm

It was a great experience to visit the bridge and we sat for a while in a beautiful restaurant right next to it, having a traditional Thai lunch. We then had a chance to walk along the bridge itself and take pictures. It was really strange as their is absolutely no health and safety. The bridge has massive gaps between girders that you could easily fall down and a train to ferry tourists over that travel back and forth and has no signal that it is behind you except when someone shouts at you to get out of the way!!
We also later visited the museum dedicated to the bridge and the story which is really quite moving and helps bring together the terrible tales of what happened here. Its a shame that the market stalls and tourists have spoilt the area a little with music playing and bars etc.. but at least it is there for everyone to visit and remember what happened in world war 2.

Our final stop of the day was to The Tiger Temple. This is a place where tigers are reared and looked after by monks.
Linda, Me, Kenneth, Lana and Lisa were the only ones who went in, so the others waited outside for us. We didn't know what to expect, but were really happy when we arrived in Tiger Canyon to see 15-20 live, full size and baby tigers waiting to see us!! The tigers spend most of the afternoon sleeping and are trained so that they are docile enough to touch and sit with. We all went in as a group for some pictures at first, with Lisa holding the massive tigers head. She looks a bit nervous in the photos, but loved every second of the experience.
We then were led by the hand by there workers and took our turns stroking the tigers and having pictures taken with half a dozen of them. It was a wonderful half an hour and everyone came away with a massive smile and the feeling of having done something really special.
We found our way to a small enclosure where there was a couple of baby tigers being walked and another sitting by a tree, so we took the opportunity to get up close again and get a few more pictures.
On the way back to the bus we also saw buffalo sitting in a lake relaxing and wild boars/warthogs!! They were cool, but the tigers were really special.

We than had a two hour drive back to Bangkok so we all got our heads down on the minibus and had a well deserved sleep!
That evening was Janet's birthday (Happy 21st again!!) so we all met up (Less a couple of people who were still suffering from the bus bug!!) and celebrated with her!
She was presented with a cake in the Hotel bar, which to be honest, didn't go down too well!! It was a mix of gelatin and salty coconut, so not much got eaten! However this was all forgotten when we walked down to The Khosan road and found a great restaurant in which to have dinner. Having had Thai food for every meal since we arrived a few of us opted for tasty pizza or pasta and enjoyed a few drinks and a great meal!! Some of us stayed out a while longer to carry on the celebration, but others like me, were knackered after our long long day and went home to an early night!!

Today is Sunday and myself, Chris, Janet, Mark and Jennifer Parsonage all went back up to the MBK shopping centre. We split up after arriving by taxi and spent the next couple of hours looking around the various shops, stalls and cafes just enjoying a relaxing day off from sight seeing. After we were shopped out, myself and JP had a nice bit of lunch in a lovely Chinese restaurant - The dim sum was great and I will have to try it again sometime!!
It was then a taxi back to the hotel for a lazy afternoon and a massage.
I went to the massage parlour (A real massage parlour, not a good time bar!!) about 100m from the hotel and spent a good hour being twisted, poked and bent into all sorts of shapes by a professional thai masseuse. I havent had a thai massage before but afterwards, especially after she cracked my back , I felt really relaxed and realised how much stiffness I had previously in my shoulders and back from the bus.
It was than back to my room until 5.30 when a small group of us are meeting up for a night at the theatre!!
Tomorrow is also a 5am start as we are setting off early on the bus to drive to Koh Samui, where we are staying in beach huts for the next 4 nights!! It should be a lovely relaxing few days on the beach - We are all hoping for good weather!!

Bangkok day 2

It had been a long days travelling and so I decided not to go down to the Ladyboy show, but to hang around locally and have a quiet one. After dinner downstairs I went back to my room to sort out some stuff and then headed across the road to a little bar where I ran into David, Mark and Isabelle. Isabelle headed off to bed as I arrived so I sat there with the two guys and chatted for a while abou the bus, India and what we thought of Thailand.
The guy who owns the bar started to chat to us about Thailand and then got down a police nightstick that he has haging behind the bar. After unscrewing one end, he then showed us that it was also a secret shotgun!! He then proceeded to grab a couple of shotgun cartridges, but we managed to persuade him not too load it!! David and Mark were still nervous with it pointing towards them though! We had a few more beers until there were none left and were just about to head to bed, when we remembered the 24hr pool bar next door (Pool as in table, not swimming!) So we headed up the stairs. Inside there were pool and snooker tables and a few locals playing games. The beer was cold and the atmnosphere pretty good so we continued to chat for a while, whilst getting a few stares and smile from the local lads and lasses.
It was a really nice mellow night anbd I went to bed happy but tired.
This morning we all had breakfast and about 15 of us headed out for a tour of Bangkok.
We saw big buddhas, reclining buddhas, green jade buddhas and lots of gold and bling covered buildings. This place is steeped in culture and its all really interesting and well looked after. The day was hot though and a few of the group were not feeling too good with the effacts of the food from India taking hold, so not everyne loved every minute of it. But our guide Teya still made it a good day out!
After the culture a few of the group went back to the hotel for some rest and recuperation, whilst a few of us headed into town and the MBK shopping centre...
This is a big, mad shopping centre in the centre of Bangkok, where you can buy absolutely anything!!! Me Linda, Mark, Kenneth and Lana spent a good two hours wandering around looking at all the stalls and shops. It really is a big maze of stuff and very easy to get lost in, which is why we managed to lose Mark somewhere!
After a couple of hours though we were all getting tired and decided to grab a taxi back to the Hotel for a rest. This meant finding the taxi rank and then telling the guy on the rank where we want to go - He then tells a taxi....This stops tourists getting ripped of by dodgy taxi touts!! It was a busy afternoona dn a 20 minute ride home, but we didnt notice the time, but just the clean organised streets of Bangkok, which were lovely after 2 weeks in India!

Piccies

Heres a few pictures from our last few days in Nepal.

The last 3 days has been mainly travel, so there arent many pictures. I will add more over the next few days

Get off the bus!View from a cafe over Kathmandu

Monkey!

Bye bye India Hello Thailand!!!

We arrived at our Hotel in Calcutta at around 4pm. It had been an OK afternoon without any major hassles and everyone’s spirits were high as is was our last night in India and Calcutta looked quite modern and lively. The Hotel managed to spoil this a little however as there was a problem with the rooms – There weren’t enough for everyone, so some people had to get a third mattress on the floor and squeeze 3 people into a two person twin room. Since Barry had left earlier in the week, the fellas had taken it in turns to have a private room. Tonight, I had been told it was my turn, but because of the issue with rooms I had dipped out! I wasn’t very happy at this, but there’s nothing I could do about it and it wasn’t Lana’s fault – even she had to double up for the night!!

The rooms were quite modern though and for the first time in ages we had a decent internet connection (even though for some reason the receptionist had to come to the rooms to connect everyone, which didn’t always work – although I was fine.

A few of us decided to head into town and 4 or 5 taxis eventually headed that way towards an area called Park Street where we had been told there were a few restaurants and cafés The receptionist at the Hotel told us it was a 15 to 30 minute walk, so when me Laura, Natalie and Jennifer Parsonage climbed into our taxi we expected a 5 minute ride. 45 minutes later and after sitting most of the time in a taxi with the engine turned off because of the traffic, we arrived outside a really posh restaurant......It had a red sign with a big golden 'M' on it and we headed inside to taste the delights of fillet o fish and chicken mcnuggets!!

Inside everyone else had similar tales of dodgy taxis and a nightmare journey!

After dinner Becky, Frankie Laura and Natalie went next door to grab a coffee and a cake from another café whilst me David, Helen and Jennifer Parsonage headed the opposite direction to buy a few beers and go back to the Hotel. We got our beers and then showed the Hotel card to the taxi driver, who then wandered up and down the street asking complete strangers how to get there. Eventually he got directions after David bartered a price of 60 rupees, we got in and started our trip. The taxi driver didn’t have a clue where he was going and at one point had a shouting match with a traffic policeman who didn’t want us to go straight ahead down a straight road! The taxi driver won the argument however and even managed to get directions from a passing motorcycle rider before eventually getting us back to our hotel. We paid him 100 rupees in the end as even though he had been next to useless, he had risked the wrath of the Calcutta Traffic police.

It was then a case of sitting down with a drink and vegging on the internet for a couple of hours, whilst watching highlights of the recent Man United game on TV.

In the morning everyone was up early and ready to leave on time. It was a nice sight to see everyone happy at leaving India and going to Thailand.

We took the short drive to the Airport and then after going through the process of queuing to get back out to where we had gone in (It was too early to check in.) we sat down and relaxed waiting for our check in to open. We are all looking forward to a good flight and 8 days fun!!

Finally after a lot of waiting around and messing about, we got aboard our flight and took off from India. The plane was a good surprise with video screen and games, but unfortunately my massive brain power, whilst playing who wants to be a millionaire, broke mine and it didn’t work again during the flight. As we left the flight I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of flight blankets missing – I wonder where they could have gone!!

After clearing customs and eventually finding everyone's bags, we managed to get all together and found our way through to the outside world and Thailand. We said goodbye to the group who were flying direct to Koh Samui. Michele, Liv, Donna, Helen and Bev are all missing out Bangkok and meeting us in 4 days after they have spent their time boozing and having fun on the beaches.

We all headed out to our new super duper bus and the clean, clear roads around Bangkok. After the stress and dirt of India it is a lovely modern city with big tower-blocks everywhere and a nice atmosphere.

It was only a 30 minute drive to the Hotel and during the trip our new guide told us about the tours available and taught us a little bit of the Thai language.

On arrival at the Hotel everyone went into mongue mode as usual and vegged out awaiting orders from Queen Lana, who was sorting out the rooms and allocations. I finally got given my single room (I’m sure I am the last person on the bus to get one on my own!!) so I was happy and went upstairs for a shower and to get myself sorted for the night.

We then met up in the restaurant for dinner – The only disappointment is that the restaurant and hotel is alcohol free!! FFS!! I WILL FIND BEER SOMEWHERE!!

Some of the girls (and Chris) are off out tonight to see a Lady-boy show in town, but I’m not sure if its the place I want to go!! We shall see!!

Update from the last fewdays

Its been 3 or 4 nights since we had had anything like decent Internet, so heres a long update from our last night in Kathmandu up to today. Sorry that it is so large, but a lot has happened!!!

Enjoy!!!!!

Day 49 Continued........
We all met up for the evening out just after half 7 and headed to the rooftop restaurant that had been booked. The newbies seemed to be getting on well with the group and I had a good chance to chat with Jennifer Anne Parsonage as we walked and then sat together for dinner. It was a really good night. Barry was presented with a t-shirt with all his abuse that he has given out to hawkers over the weeks – 'No I don’t want a fookin carpet' , 'No rupees' and 'No I don’t want to buy........etc. etc.'.

It was a really sad occasion because we will all really miss Barry. He may be a grumpy old man sometimes, but he does his grumpiness with a glint in his eye and a wry smile. He has some of the best stories I have heard and I hope that when I get to be a grown up, I can be like him!! Barry, if you are reading this, you are a legend mate!!

The new girls were also formally welcomed to the group and Lana was presented with a really nice birthday cake and T-shirt, emblazoned with 'Leader', signed by all of us. Plus a new Pashmina from Yadu.

After the cake, (which me and Jennifer Anne Parsonage had to eat with our bare hands!!), we headed off to a bar where we sat around on the raised floor for a couple of hours, drinking the night away and generally having fun. It closed at midnight though, so we headed back to the hotel and one final drink before bed.

Day 50 – Kathmandu to Hetauda

At breakfast in the morning, there were a few thick heads from the night before, but everyone made it up and were ready to head the short walk to the bus just after 9am. Today’s journey isn’t very far, but the roads were expected to be a nightmare.

The first hour or so was OK as we headed out of town. I spent most of it watching a movie with Lisa, but about mid morning we headed up into the hills and out of Kathmandu. The road seemed to keep going up and up and getting thinner and thinner, till it was just a dirt track through the clouds.

After a short stop for pictures of the mountains and a massive coloured spider spotted by Lana, we continued upwards into the hills. The drops off the road were spectacular – sometimes you could see the next bit of road a hundred feet below, sometimes you could see it a mile below and know it would take half an hour to get there.

Lunch today was atop a hill and we were handed a packed lunch of cheese sandwich, boiled egg, fruit and 4 chips. Yes, that's right, 4 chips, wrapped in foil!! It was made even weirder by the fact that we sat on top of a roof of a concrete hut with our legs dangling over the cliffs below.

Yadu managed to get one of the locals who live here to let the girls use the toilet and then we were on our way again, continuing through the hills, up and down, hairpin turns and steep drops all afternoon. It really was a hair-raising ride and I feel for those on the bus that don’t like heights. Personally I loved it, even when we had to back up the hill, to let a bus full of locals past. There were little communities of 3 or 4 families perched on hills in the middle of nowhere and everyone who saw the bus go past gave us a wave. Finally after a long days travelling we reached the valley bottom and drove the short distance to our Hotel for the night -Motel Avocado in Hetuada.

Its a bit of a mix between an old posh hotel and the hotel from 'The Shining.' Although we are currently describing it as a 'Mental Institute'. Its not bad overall though. It has beds and electricity, sometimes.

After getting changed quickly, I had a run into town. It was my first run in a few weeks and I did quite well. Hetuada is a strange little town with lots of people everywhere but not a lot going on. After 25 minutes or so, it started to get really dark, so I headed back into the Motel. I was rooming with Chris for the night and as I got back he went outside for a quick ciggie. A minute later I heard a loud crash and the sound of smashing glass, so I looked outside through the window. I couldn’t see anything, but later found out that Mills had knocked a bottle off her balcony and it had nearly killed Chris!! (It wasn’t actually that close, but it does make this blog sound exciting doesn’t it!!? The motel itself is OK, but the internet wasn’t very good, the TV's didn’t work in the rooms and the showers were cold, so after having a quick cold shower we headed down to the restaurant for dinner.

A few of us sat around talking whilst we had a bit of scoff. I went for the healthy option of Chips and beer. We then noticed that we were in the quiet part of the restaurant and that the rest of the group were in another building across the garden, so after paying our bills we went across and joined everyone else whilst they ate their dinner. After eating we just sat around chatting and after a while we moved into the Hotel reception ans spent a while trying to get onto the non existent internet, which was being hogged by a local who obviously had some kind of special link into it, the bugar! I tried to log onto the router to cut him off. I could get to the log on page, but the administrator passwords I used didn’t work!! He finally knobbed off just after 10pm and so me and Jennifer Anne Parsonage stayed behind and tried once again to contact the outside world!

We weren’t very successful however and so after watching a bit of the best and worst movie ever – 'Taarzan, The Wonder Car', which is like a spaced out Asian relative of Knight Rider (Less any driver). This souped up purple sports car, that basically fights other cars and baddies and when gets damaged can repair itself to look like new. It had really really poor but funny special effects and I am going to have to try to get a copy of it somewhere.

It was then time for bed, so I said goodnight to Jennifer Anne Parsonage and got my head down.

Day 51 – Hetauda, Nepal to Siliguri, India

In the morning I woke up early, but stayed in bed until I could bothered to get up. After a quick hot shower, (Yes, there was hot water.) I got my kit packed, chucked my stuff on the bus and went in for breakfast. It was a pretty good spread of scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast, jam and little sausage things. Everyone was sat in a darkened room eating, so I took my plate outside and stood in the sunshine eating. Lana came around with a birthday card to sign. Its Helens turn today -Happy birthday Helen. (I will have to break out the retirement watch again tonight!!) We all signed it and climbed onto the bus, which left just after 8am.

The first leg today was pretty short as we needed to refuel the bus. However, I did have to point out to one of the smokers that even though we aren’t in the UK, you still shouldn’t smoke next to a working petrol pump. I wont tell you her name though, but lets just say that she was wearing purple and should know better!!

It was then all back aboard the fun bus and off towards the Indian border.

The journey was a lot faster than yesterday when we averaged about 5km an hour. Today our average was at least 25km an hour! Which for us us really fast. We even managed to get some air at one point, when the driver must have missed a bump or hole in the road. The front of the bus all laughed as us at the back were all thrown out of our seats. There were a few squeals from Becky, Frankie and Laura who bore the brunt of it on the back seat, but it was all good fun and nobody was hurt.

The rest of the journey was quiet. Most people found time for a sleep and a chat and in between the odd toilet stop all was quiet. Around 1pm, we were all ready for another break, when we started to cross a long modern bridge, with a river flowing underneath it. Becky looked out of the window and saw a head bobbing around in the water. It looked a lot like a dolphin and she spotted a few more as we crossed the bridge. It was then one more stop in a small but busy Nepalese village where we got a cold drink and mellowed out in the shade of the bus, whilst the girls used the local toilet.

Apart from when we cross the border later today, this is due to be our last stop here in Nepal.

We all agree though, that it has been a fantastic week. Most of this has been our fantastic Nepalese guide – Yadu. He has taken us to his home and given us lunch, he got his father to bless us during a Nepalese festival. Everyday he turns up with a smile on his face and seems to love what he is doing for us. He has spent time chatting to everyone in the group and enjoyed Lana’s birthday night out with us. Ever since he met up with us on the border last week, he has been there to help every step of the way. Him and Lana have worked brilliantly as a team and that has allowed everyone to relax and enjoy this brilliant country. Last week when we left India, we were tired of it and needed something different. Nepal has given us exactly what we needed and we are all now refreshed enough to head back to India for 3 days on our way to Kolkata and the plane to Bangkok later this week. Everyday has been good from the Crocodiles and elephants, through to Mount Everest and the monkey temple.

Nepal has made a few new friends in the last few days and we don’t really want to leave. But we know that we will be back one day.

We arrived at the border at about 6pm and started the procedure to get into India. First we had to get our departure stamps from Nepal, which was pretty easy. After queueing a few minutes and filling out a simple form, we were back to the Nepal bus, picked up our things and put on our backpacks and we wandered intro no-mans land between the two countries. We were really happy when we saw our new bus. It is very spacious with more seats than the old one and has loads of legroom. We al piled on board and set off into India.......but stopped after no more than 20 feet. There is a bridge between the two borders and it was controlled by the Indian police who checked every vehicle as it passed through. It took ages to get over and at one point we even had to reverse back towards Nepal to let someone through.

Once over the bridge we had the challenge of getting into India. You think that having all got new visas in Kathmandu, it would be easy, but there were more forms to fill in and two Indian border officers who would do anything to make it take longer. There was also a weird Indian soldier who wanted everyone to take photos of him and he kept playing with Becky’s earrings for no reason. While I was waiting there just happened to be highlights of premiership football on a TV in the office, so I waited till the end of the queue and saw Arsenal beating Man City. The two officers were still being funny and questioned Jennifer Anne Parsonage about why she had glasses on in her passport photo and not now!! I wondered if they would ask why I was wearing different clothes than in my pic. Finally though, we were al through and we got back onto our new luxury bus and drove the hour or so to Siliguri and Hotel Heritage.

The Hotel was quite nice from outside and the rooms were pretty good, with hot water too~!!

We had all had a long day and as it was getting on for 9pm, we headed down to the restaurant for some dinner. Everyone spotted Fish and chips on the menu and after a bit of confusion with the waiter we managed to get our orders in. I had another healthy option - Carlsberg -for my dinner and sat waiting with Chris, Mark, Linda and Michele for their food. They couldn’t believe trier luck that they were to get proper fish and chips for dinner!!

However, when it arrived it was a big surprise. The two 'fish', were about the size of a small goldfish and were very very thin and crispy, it did have chips though....4 chips!! Haahaa! It should have read – 'Skinny goldfish and chip'. It wasn’t bad though and after Lana managed to get a big plate of chips to share, we were all happy! In the room next door a few of the group had their dinner and after a while a cake , made of rice was brought out to celebrate Helens birthday.

After everyone had eaten some drifted off to bed whilst some of us sat around for a while chatting and enjoying another drink.

Day 52 Siliguri to Murshidabad. HELL DAY!!

The next morning we had a strange breakfast session. The food was OK – toast and jam , with a dodgy banana and boiled egg. But the seats were arranged in a circle, like you would expect to see at an alcoholics anonymous meeting! It had good coffee though, so we all enjoyed it. It was then outside for a quick walk to get some water and then onto the bus for the day.

It is going to be a long day today, not only because we are doing about 280km, but as we are back in India we are expecting a return to really bad roads.

The day didn’t start too badly – The roads were OK and everyone was enjoying chatting, watching movies and generally having a good time on a nice bus. But it all started to go downhill early in the afternoon.

We had stopped for a toilet break about lunchtime and after the breakfast this morning, we were all getting hungry, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to get food except for street food, which only a few wanted. So it was back to the oz-bus diet of crisps, biscuits and pop and then back onto the bus. There are 3 bus dudes – one the driver, one seems to be a guide and the other we think is a guard. The guide told me that it was going to be a long afternoon and when we stopped 2 hours later for another toilet stop in the middle of nowhere he told me there were still 3-4 hours left. By now the open road of this morning has been left long behind and replaced by the bumpy, unmaintained, dirt tracks that we had feared. The bus seldom got above 15kmh and when it did, it was only for very short periods. We crossed a number of bridges where we had to wait for traffic coming the other way and then through more and more towns full of people, vehicles and police road blocks. The journey seemed to be going on forever, but about 7pm, we pulled over and thought we had arrived – but it was just a fuel stop. People trudged off the bus and you could see that they were tired, hungry and getting more and more stressed with the day. We were then told it would be at least another hour!! Back on the bus and the slow driving and bad roads continued. It took over an hour to reach the town of Murshidabad, where we were to stay the night. We saw some nice Hotels as we drove through the town -Hotel White House looked really nice and there were many others, all lit up and looking really comfortable and modern. What we really needed after such a long day and no decent food was a nice modern hotel, with comfortable beds and a bar with cold beer. Donna was starting to get a bit of cabin fever and along with most of us just wanted off this goddam bus. So when we did finally pull over at Hotel Sangam, we were all happy.......For about 2 minutes. It wasn’t the worst hotel we have had (It would take a lot to beat Hotel Alpine in Agra) but it wasn’t what we needed. I was sharing with Chris and although the room was cool from the air-con, it had more things living in it than Chester Zoo. I don’t even know what some of the bugs were, but they obviously liked the Hotel more than we did. We eventually found our bathroom, which was hidden behind a curtain and saw even more thingys living in there.

We went down to the 'restaurant', to get some food and I was even more annoyed to find there was no cold beer!!! Aaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!! Luckily, Lisa grabbed me and took me out to the back garden where she had seen a local dude drinking beer. It turns out that there was another restaurant on the other side of the Hotel that did serve beer, so she ordered a couple of bottles and I calmed down a bit!!

Dinner was OK – Me, Jennifer Anne Parsonage, Chris and Mark sat drinking beers and ordered some cheap food, which was acceptable. We chatted about the day and the opinion of us all is that the journey from Kathmandu to Calcutta (Kolkata) has been a waste of time. I don’t know of the plans of Oz bus in the future, but after the highs of India the first time around and then Nepal, it is a real let down to just spend 3 long days on a bus. We know the idea is to go from London to Sydney on the bus, but we need a good break after two really tiring days travelling. Maybe for future bus's the Itinerary can be changed to break up these days, or even just fly from Nepal to Bangkok direct. I don’t know if this is possible but anything is better than the journey we have just done.

After eating then we paid up and went to bed – It was after 11pm and we had achieved absolutely nothing all day.

Footnote:- I know we are on this journey as an adventure and I always wanted things to go wrong. Experiences like we had today are good for you and remind us how lucky we are to be doing this kind of trip. But at the time it was just a nightmare. Looking back now, it is something that I don’t want to do again. It was a long uncomfortable and stressful day, but things can only get better.

Day 53 – Murshitabad (Yes, I did mean to type Murshitabad, not Murshidabad) to Kolkata.

I was really happy this morning. Even though the shower was cold, I was on a mission – to get out of this Hotel and onto the bus. Nothing could be as bad or as long as yesterdays journey and we were at least heading out of India and to Thailand in a couple of days. I grabbed some toast for breakfast and decided to get some fresh air outside. In the garden of the Hotel there is actually a swimming pool, but like the rest of the place it was disappointing. I didn’t want a swim, but even so, the pool was a mess. The water was full of algae and had 'things unknown' living in it. I think I know where my creepy-crawly friends from the hotel bathroom go for their daily workout!! I stood watching the wildlife do a couple of lengths of the pool for a while, accompanied by the sound of a local man being sick at the side of the garden. This place just oozes class!!! Then for no apparent reason, everyone managed to get onto the bus early and we were off on our way. Less than 2 minutes and 100metres later we stopped again for no apparent reason and sat there for 5-10 minutes by the side of the road. I still don’t know why we stopped as nobody seemed to get off or on the bus , but it seemed to me that someone just didn’t want us to leave.

Finally we started moving again and headed slowly but surely down the road towards Kolkata. We stopped for a fruit break at a local market and as we got off the bus were surrounded by hundreds of locals. We are used to being stared at and almost feel like animals in the zoo sometimes, but this time there were so many people around the bus it was unreal. A few of the group ended up right in the centre of loads of smiling locals and loved the experience. A few photos were taken and then it was back on the bus again, armed with bananas. Today is already an improvement on yesterday!!

The first stop today was a bit unusual – Firstly the blokes toilets consisted of 7 or 8 urinals (with a low one for short arses like me) against a brick wall, over looking a lovely field full of workers bringing in the 'harvest'. We all lined up and used them while the girls were upstairs overlooking. Lana took some photos which will surely appear on facebook soon. Then there was a shout from Amanda upstairs in the queue – 'Photo Opportunity!!' she shouted and pointed behind the bus. We all ran around to see what was happening and saw a 3 wheeled motorbike laden with sheets of metal, which was so overloaded the front wheel of the bike was now 10 feet in the air. There were 3 men trying their hardest to get the wheel down by jumping up and down on the bike. We felt a bit bad and after taking a few photos some of the lads went over to help out and got there just as the metal all fell off into the road and the bikes wheel lowered back down. The blokes with the bike seemed more amused that we were taking photos than being bothered about what had happened to them.

Back on the bus we were having a better day than yesterday. Everyone knows that India is now nearly over and in a couple of days we will be in Thailand, so we were all happy. However, there was a bang heard from under the bus and we pulled over at a garage, where the driver and his mate discovered that the rear inside wheel had blown. They proceeded to spend a while changing the wheel and we had the opportunity to sit in the sun and have a chat. I had a good talk with Natalie, who only arrived the other day and has spent 5 weeks travelling around India. She even had some grapes to offer me which was nice! Once the wheel was fixed we climbed aboard the bus again towards Kolkata. We are hoping that this is the last leg of the day!!

pics

Theres loads more new pics on picasa!!

Monkey temple

Barry is leaving us! Good luck mate!

Lanas birthday new arrivals and Byebye Barry

Today is Saturday and it has been a really nice mellow day.

There were no plans at all so everyone did breakfast at their own time and between us a few of is decided to take the short walk down to another square in town that was one of the supposed must see places in Kathmandu.

It was a really nice square, but a little like the one we saw yesterday, but me, Lisa, Donna, Vicky, Helen and David all enjoyed a nice wander around before climbing the most stairs ever, to reach a nice rooftop café where we all enjoyed a coffee or coke.

Then we split up and a few of us decided to return to the Hotel to post some items home, whilst the others continued to wander around.

Me and Lisa were the ones who needed the post – She was getting rid of stuff that she hasn’t used and I wanted to send all the postcards and tickets that I had collected, home to my parents.

We used GAC cargo services which also does the bast laundry here. Its just outside the hotel and has a sign saying 2 hour laundry service, so anyone else coming on oz-bus – that’s the place to go!! Right enough of the advertising!!!

After sending the post, me Lisa and Jaime had a good wander around the shops looking for nothing in particular. It was a nice afternoon and after a while we ran into Frankie and Becky doing much the same thing. Than after chatting with them we also ran into David and Helen who showed us a lovely place to have a warp for lunch.

It was getting on for 3pm by now and the day had flown by, so we decided to go back to the hotel and watch a couple of episodes of the in-betweeners on the net-book. We ran into Lana and Lisa was very relieved that Lana still had her passport from the Indian embassy, as Lisa thought she had lost it!!

So after watching the in-betweeners for a while Lisa went downstairs to see Lana again and do her nails for her – Tonight is Lana’s birthday celebration as well as a goodbye to Barry who is leaving us tomorrow. It will be a real shame to see him go as he has been great fun all trip.

The third reason to celebrate tonight is that four new girls are joining us for the remainder of the trip to Sydney!! Ill let you know how the night went tomorrow!!

Kathmandu, strangling monkeys and a bad cold!"!

After the couple of beers I had last night and some anti cold tablets for the bug going round the bus that I have caught, I woke up with a thick head!

We were all off out today to see some sights of the city of Kathmandu. So after a good breakfast upstairs we all gathered together and squeezed into the smallest 26 seater minibus you have ever seen! It has 3 seats on a row with an aisle between, but in the aisle are folding seats that then make each row 4 seats and it becomes impossible to get out!!

First stop was the Children’s temple – Commonly known as The Monkey Temple due to all the monkeys that reside there. Some of the group took the easy back entrance way up to the temple, while the hard ones (Including me) took the front entrance, which consists of a massive hill and steps all the way up. It took a good 10-12 minutes to climb and at the stop was almost vertical.

Everyone who attempted it did make it up though and were rewarded with some fantastic views over the city. The temple itself was very interesting, with prayer drums on every wall and people milling about turning the drums whilst chanting and music played in the background. It seemed a very peaceful place except for the scruffy dogs and monkeys that hung around. The monkeys would watch as people went by with back or cameras and every now and then would make a quick dash and try to grab them, but while we were there nobody lost anything.

After we had had a good look around we took the easy route down to where the miniminiminibus was waiting. On the way we all spotted a baby monkey that had been caught around the neck with some string. We told our guide who got some sticks and some help and went to try to free it, but all the other monkeys gathered around to protect the infant. We were getting worried as the monkeys pulled the infant and appeared to be strangling it, but suddenly it managed to free it self and run away.

We headed back through the city to the second temple of the day which was a larger version of the building at the monkey temple. It was quite spectacular, but due to the illness around the bus and a lot of tiredness we were a little under-awed.

Th third visit of the day was to the ancient square of patan. It is a beautiful place with indescribable buildings, almost looking ancient Chinese. By now I was really knackered and wanted to rest out of the sun so after a few minutes I headed back to the bus and got some well earned sleep on the back seat! When everyone else came back though they told stories of a buffalo being sacrificed to celebrate the end of a Nepalese festival. They went into details of how its innards were removed and cut up – I was glad I had come back for some sleep!!

This afternoon most people vegged out with a bit of shopping or a siesta in the hotel. We are all getting quite tired after a few early starts and also long bus days and late nights. The bug going through the bus is also not helping at the moment – But everyone is sticking together and having a good time, knowing that next week we will be heading off to Thailand.

We are now just over halfway on the journey, which is mad!! In one way it seems like yesterday we left London and in other ways it seems like years ago. Some of the group left early and one new girl has arrived, while tomorrow we get another 4 new friends to join us! We are all beginning to know each other quite closely which is good and nobody seems to be left out of anything. Overall it has been a fantastic few weeks together and we all hope that with a bit of luck, a lot of Tiger balm (Nearly everyone on the bus now has a po of it!!) and a few quiet drinks of a night-time that it will continue to be a great trip.

Tiger balm rules

On the island - picture in a mirror!

Sunrise

Lana on a boat -posing~!

Paragliding

Lisa landing

Kenneth jumping into the lake

Team before the rafting

Team after the rafting- a great day!

Excitement before everest

There it is!!

Its been a long few days with a lack of sleep and a bit of illness, so tonight Im off to bed early!! Dont forget to cjeck out all the pics on Picasa!!
Tiger balm is great, by the way!! I can breath for the first time in a day!¬!

Some recent photos

I appear to be having issues uploading pictures to the blog at the moment.....
Take a look at the picasa images page here....

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/rickdavey1/Week7

Theres loads of pics from Pokhara, White water rafting and Kathmandu/Mount Everest.

Or try the link that is on e the left hand of the page....

Let me know if you cannot see any pictures!!

Wow

Well today has been pretty good.
I didn't get much sleep last night as I have caught the bug that has been going around the bus. Sore throat, stuffed up nose and not being able to breathe properly doesn't exactly aid good sleep and there's a few of us on the trip who have had it so far.
Anyway after an early rise (0530) again 14 of us met down in the hotel reception and boarded a little minibus and left for Kathmandu airport. On arrival we were given our tickets and after a couple of security checks we were air side and waiting to board our flight. Today was no ordinary flight however as the destination was the same as the departure airport - However the flight itself is extra special, as we were going to fly over the Himalayas and see Mount Everest - weather permitting.
We were all pretty excited as we boarded the small plane. It has one seat on one side on the isle and 2 on the other, but only the window seats are sold, so everyone can get a good view.
We took off just after 7am and climbed up into the sky as the Himalayas rose up on our left hand side. It began to get cloudy and we worried that we wouldn't see anything, but the pilot assured us over the intercom that we would climb above the clouds.
We kept going higher and then the clouds cleared and we could see the tips of the Himalaya mountain range to our side. It was amazing to see and everyone shut up for a while to take in the views and take some photos.
One by one we were invited up to the cockpit to see out of the front of the plane. Chris and Donna were before me. When it was my turn I went up and looked out of the left hand window and there it was - Mount Everest. It was unbelievably beautiful, with clean white snow on the peak and a bit of mist rolling down one side. It does literally take your breath away. Th pilot explained a little about it and the rest of the flight and then after just a minute or so my cockpit tour was over.
On return to my seat the rest of the Ozbussers went up one by one - Bev was after me followed by Becky, Frankie, Isabelle, Debbie, Kenneth and Liv. As we turned for home the mountain appeared on my side and I just stared at it for a while. I don't mind admitting that it was quite emotional for me seeing the highest peak on earth and I didn't want to leave it behind. I took a few more pictures and then it was gone out of the window and all I could see were the smaller peaks at around 7500m - 8000m above sea level.

After the flight we were all on a high and agreed that it was a great experience. My personal feeling is that it was the best thing we have seen on the whole trip and even eclipses the Golden Temple and Taj Mahal.
Back to the hotel and a good breakfast before the whole group met after half 9. We were due to go to the Indian embassy to get our second visas for the return trip to Calcutta - but first we had a bit of a laugh as there appeared to be only one small minibus for us all - so a few of us climbed onto the roof of the bus, like the locals do to travel the country and sat there until told to come down by Lana and Yadu, quoting some bullshit health and safety rule! Bloody spoilsports. A second minibus was parked around the corner so we piled onto it and drove to the embassy.
We had to fill out some forms and then handed in our passports and fees, before waiting for our turn in the numbered queuing system. It took ages, but Barry, who is leaving us soon and had to sort out his visa separately, got called before us and so Lana squeezed our 24 applications in with his!! It saved a lot of time even though we had to fill out another form and pay and extra fee that was forgotten about. We finally left the embassy After about 3 hours sitting around and walked back to the Hotel for some rest, Lana will be returning later in the day to collect our passports when the visas have been done.

I ended up going down with Lana to get the passports as I am full of a cold and if I had gone to bed I would be out of it till tomorrow.
On the way we saw a load of massive bats hanging upside down from a tree right next to a busy road and also a crow caught up in some cables, which was quite sad.
The passports and visas were all sorted and after a wait we got them back and went back to the hotel
. Lana had ordered herself a new vest top with the Ozbus logo and went to collect it. But when she tried it on the logo was far too low - on her belly, so the owner of BaBA embroidery next to Hotel Tradition got his mate to put it onto a tank top instead, which took less than an hour and cost nothing.
We then met up with half of the bus in the Celtic bar where we had a few drinks and chatted.
I'm now off to bed - the combination of the cold relief tablets I got locally and the 2 beers I have drunk have sent my eyes massive and my head all over the place. I hope I get to sleep tonight!!

Kathmandu

Today has been a good but knackering day. 13 of us got up early at around 5.30am and after breakfast and dropping all our bags off on our bus, we headed off in a minibus to do a days white water-rafting.
It was a bit of a nightmare journey, crammed into a hot bus over really shitty roads. After 2 and a half hours we were all ready to get off and were glad to arrive at the riverside.
We were given a briefing and all our equipment by the Nepalese rafting dude and headed down to the riverbank to board our rafts.
By now it was a boiling hot day, so those of us who had brought waterproof jackets dropped them off and we boarded our two boats.
The day was a blast, starting with how to take orders off the geezer =- practising paddling forwards and backwards as a team, then heading off down river and towards the first set of rapids.
Most of the guys had never done ww rafting before and didn't know what to expect, but everybody had a great time. The water was cool and the waves were big, so we were all thrown about every time we hit white water. In between we were able to throw ourselves into the river, messing about and pulling each other in, before getting back into the boats for the next and bigger rapids.
There were a few scary hairy moments when we nearly hit the cliffs or came close to tipping the rafts, but it was all good fun.
We stopped for half an hour and walked along the bank to where a Nepalese lunch was waiting for us and we all dug in to the good food. Then it was back to the rafts and another hours worth of soaking good fun in the cool water.
All too soon it was over and as we climbed onto the bank we were all exhausted and slightly sun burnt from the scorching sun.
A bus was laid on to take us back to the start and where we met up with our Nepalese Ozbus and the rest of the group. We told them all stories about our day and flopped back onto the bus for the 4 hour journey to Kathmandu.
Once again the roads were terrible, but even worse for some were the steep drops hundreds of feet into the valley below as we drove over the hills. It was pretty scary stuff and sometimes we seemed really close to the edge. However, we made it to Kathmandu just after 6pm and after a quick 10 minute walk through the streets we arrived at the Hotel Tradition.
The Internet had not made the hotel look too good, but we were all pleasantly surprised with the rooms and the location and even the fact that it has decent wifi Internet - even though we are now sat in the 5th floor stairs to use it!! Wifi rules!!

It has been a long day and so Lana had organised a meal for everyone through the local agent at a restaurant around the corner. The food was really good and made a great end to a good day. After dinner we made our way back and another early night. Its not because we are all getting boring in our old age, but because at 6am in the morning we are up for a little trip to see something pretty special. We have a flight around Mount Everest. It should be a good one! Night night!!