Kicking Back in Kathmandu

The last week (or two/three) - yeah I realise it's been THAT long - should be nicknamed Indulgence Week, as thanks to the crazily cheap pricing and amazing, freshly baked goodness that is the food in Nepal, I've been stuffing my now fat face with food and drink.

Nepal has turned out to be completely different to India: full of friendly, welcoming people (the majority speak good English and most are extremely polite and humble, verging on awkward at times), nice Buddhist related shrines and stupas (pyramid shaped shrines basically - enough so that you feel like you are getting your sight-seeing fill) and a very well developed, untacky tourist area. The latter includes nice and cheap guesthouses - one of the those that I stayed at even included a bathtub (this is a BIG deal!) - as well as steak houses that serve 16oz steaks for 2 pounds a pop, bakeries that don't stop churning out the tastiest of danish pastries, croissants and cakes plus bars that serve local and imported beer (why Carlsberg though, why??).

Nepal also is a country which seems to have it all, minus the beaches. It took me roughly 12 days to storm the Annapurna Circuit - though I'm sorry I rushed it at times, without trying to sound too cheesy I feel privileged to have undertaken the most exciting journey of my life. The circuit covered just about every kind of climate and scenery one can imagine. I started the journey at around 50m above sea-level, taking in rich, green rice paddy fields, that gradually began to appear on shelves cut into the sides of hills as the landscape began to undulate more. Passing through forests, walking along muddy, thin walking tracks (sometimes no more than a few inches of anything that provided grip below your feet), I carried on up and up, always walking parallel to an amazing powerful river, verging at times on white water rapids. The whole beginning of the trek verged on tropical: plants and trees were dripping wet and lushious, waterfalls were aplenty and everything was just so green.

Over the days as I inclined, this turned more mountainous: the temperature slowly began to drop, the height of the hills turned to that of mountains, snow capped peaks could be seen in the distance. I staying in valleys full of volcanic sand (think the setting of Cold Mountain) with only fir trees for vegetation. I walked through desolate, remote and dry stone places, with only rocks and craggy cliff faces to be seen from miles around. As I got even higher, I took in steep, finger like crags and glaciers. Getting nearer the top, walking and even breathing became harder. I slowed it down from 6-8 hours of walking a day to about 2-3 max. At night it was freezing - thank god for the thermal sleeping bag and Nepalese style (like a tea cosy) hat that I bought. By the day we climbed up to the top of the pass, we hit 5500m (19000 feet or so) and snow was everywhere. I must have walked through 3-feet of it at one point.

Coming down was just as dramatic: in 4 days I went from snow to desert (think Arizona style, Marlboro country) to pine tree forests to tropical jungle again (with a wonderful set of bakeries - best of the circuit - and hot springs at 20p for a whole day's session). Bliss!

I'm setting off to Bangkok from Kathmandu now, in about 10 minutes actually. Need to run. I'm staying with a friend in Ko Samui - hopefully will be there by the weekend - so will use the opportunity to upload some photos. Then finally you guys will get to see what the hell I'm raving about.

J :)