The shop has a name!

31/03/11
On the move again, we begin our day with a bus journey from Agra to Jaipur, Rajasthan! I am begining to enjoy the bus journeys alot, i find it relaxing to sit with or without music plaing and just think and today was a day of revelation. My future spice shop has a name...'Typical Spice Shoppy' inspired by this trip to India and my enjoyment every time I see a good sign...'Agra marble shoppy',' Typical restaurant', 'decent guesthouse', 'Ok guesthouse,' 'John is here' (I suspect 'join us here' was intended though john may very well be there' , I believe this name is perfect.

In Agra we discovered our first 'Cafe Coffee Day' which is an Indian coffee chain...who would have thought it takes a trip to India for my to finally succumb to a coffee chain, but the aircon was sooooo good! We got takeaway spinach and sweetcorn sandwiches and some biscuits for our journey. I unfortunately lost half of my sandwich to the bus curtains due to a badly times sneeze...its ok nobody noticed except Alicia. I am now on to a fresh notebook, which means I'm catching up on the blog! The first page is filled with my spice shop ramblings, a little doodle and a declaration of love for the 5rs pen I bought in Nepal, I also state that anything is possible in India and nothing is a surprise after seeing a man showering in the doorway of his bus. Literally the only thing that would shock me would be the discovery that someone is not trying to openly overcharge me!

On the bus today I see a sign..'BEWARE. ALL ROADS LEAD TO HELL'...this is not a happy thought so i hope that this sign is very wrong. There is a man and a little boy on the bus and they are the sweetest thing I have ever seen...I have also never seen eyelashes like theirs!

We arrive in Jaipur and find our way easily to some hotels...they are all claiming to be a rip off. We eventually settle on an ok price for a room and stay at hotel Kalayan. We are elated to find our rooms spotlessly clean, including a television!WOW. Unfortunately we soon come to realise that we would rather have a grubby room and useful friendly staff...this hotel was a bit of mental struggle (more so than usual).

This evening we settled down to relax and watch the 9pm movie...after a few minutes the TV signal went...Alicia nearly broke down. I enjoy India's unpredictability.

Massive love to home xxx

Me 'I like the Taj mahal' Alicia 'I like the toilets...i mean dogs'

Agra. Alicia is ill again...on entering the site the first thing she says 'what if I am sick on the Taj Mahal?', we began walking slowly but due to sitting, then standing, then sitting my trousers split...I search my bag  for some safety pins, no such forward planning.... not wanting to sit anymore, this is when we separated... it means in my most unsympathetic manner I can walk around the Taj in peace...we both admit that this time alone time was great. My irritating superstitious mind is given a boost again when I look down and see on the floor... a safety pin, the Taj is showing me some love :) I can now pin my trouser leg up! Magic.

The Taj is probably the tourist hub of India, we are charged 750rs to see the Taj when locals are charged something like 25rs but in my opinion despite the crowds and the unashamed tourist quota it was worth it. For those who dont know the story it was built in memory of Shah Jahan's most loved wife who died in childbirth, he had it built in her memory to be the most beautiful building in the world and I actually think it is. It is nigh on perfectly symmetrical and has no backdrop but the sky, which makes it dazzling from a distance and as you get closer it honestly gets more impressive. My favorite part was the interior chamber, the stone work was immense and beautiful...literally every part of this building is perfect. My only complaint was the night time illumination, though i suppose if it was illuminated you would not get the brilliant moonlight to the same effect. Magnificent.

As we leave, I meet Alicia from the toilets, we watch some dogs playing. I confessed my love for the monument, Alicia subconsciously confesses her love for the toilets. Back at the hotel India have won their game against Pakistan, Happy Times! We watch some rather disappointing fireworks from our roof, one in particular gained a response from me 'Well that was a fail of a pancake...I mean firework'. Clearly we are both losing our minds, I didn't even eat a pancake that day.

On to Rajasthan, The Land of The Kings. :)

Varanasi is like a dream

Varanasi has taken hold and I am now literally dreaming of the place...the night before we left I had a crazydream about getting completely lost in the galleys...worrying!

This morning we got up early, 5ish, and went for the required Ganges boat ride. Wonderful. The sun over the river that flows from the feet of vishnu, or maybe descends from a hair of shiva (there isnt much concrete evidence defining which story ois most accurate) was beautiful. many people had made the effort and the water was filled with boats. We rowed (not us literally, that would have been a catastrophe of circles) up and down the river for an hour, passing the ghats with people bathing, bodies burning, prayer and birds soaring low. One man dressed in white and meditating by the water looked completely at peace with the world.

The wind is up today so it feels much cooler, which is nice, although I love it her I am eagerly awaiting Rajasthan. Our train to Agra was an overnight one so we spent the day chilling and reading. Although tolkien is great I was distracted frequently by fear of monkey attack. One came close but was more interested in turnign on the tap and having a drink before vainly checking himself out in the mirror...'still got it!'

Our first sleeper train where we intend to sleep...what excitement! I could not believe how cold the carriage was at night thank god for my thick pashmina and hoodie.  We arrived at 7am to get our first glimpse of the impressive Taj Mahal!

Not enough hours in the day to blog. Varanasi continued

It seems Varanasi (Benares) has been the most intriguing place to date, so much so that my notebook for this period consists of very little. Maybe it was just too interesting to describe in words.

notes I made:
- Thought man said 'you are strange' ...he didnt
- There are tonnes of fish basking along the edge of the river, I wonder what they are?
- its peaceful even in the chaos
- They are mating cows on the main ghat...not sure the female is happy as she is tied to a post and the man keeps pulling or hitting the bull.
- tried drinking water from the bottle how indian's do it...raised from the mouth and pour it in...catastrophe...I am now covered in water.
- cutest puppy in the world just got up and sat down in the river.
- i love the flutter of paper kites.
- Man politely offered us some opium and good hash...apparently its good enough for the sadhus, I am not a sadhu.
- Alicia is definitely more angry than me.
- man walked past and said 'you like sun?' 'yes' 'ok happy day'
- people have tried a variety of photo tactics...some just ask...some take a photo of a friend with us in the background. I feel bad for famous folk.
- lots of people bathing.
- I am definitely glad velcro is not silent because i can hear if my bag is being opened.
- Broke indian man named Mowgli's heart apparently, by not going for chai with him...sorry dude.
- I worry waaaay too much.
- Varanasi has a brilliant sunset, kites fill the sky and the city is silhouetted by and orange glow.
- i think mary poppins would like it here.
- Went to evening ceremony, it happens every night at around 630pm. A wonderful show of prayer/puja at the main ghat, the river is filed with candles and boats, people fill the ghat, everywhere is colour and smoke and music.
- alicia's mustache hurts
- evening on the rooftop, people are sat playing music together. we played yahtzee.
- Two more days in Varanasi to go.

'In the city, you dont get no pity' varanasi part 1

Varanasi brought out my creative side, unfortunately there are no recordings of these one-off gems. They include the rap inspired by the relentless black bogies you get from walking round a dusty city all day 'in the city, you dont get no pity' also a hillbilly style song named 'Sittin' on the steps of the ganges' describing all the wonders you can see from just sitting there. Alicia loves my songs.

Puja guesthouse was great thought the waitors were very talkative so there was no chance of a peaceful meal if you ate here. We entertained Sambo, who's name means shiva, with stories of pancake day 'Pancake day hahahah' and easter, where we paint eggs and roll them down a hill 'paint eggs and roll down hill, why? hahahhah' and he was very intrigued by our tales of think black beer (Guinness) 'you only drink small amount yes?' 'No, whole pints, it is very popular' 'hahahaha'. He told us about a recent kite festival...i want to come back for this!

i was told before coming, that 'Varanasi is wonderful', it is. It is crazy but all the better for it, the streets or galleys (a labyrinth of thin, bustling allies leading to the ghats), are full of stalls, colour, fabric, bangles, pilgrims, cows, dogs, and crap (literally). It is impossible to take everything in and also reasonably worrying when you try to find your way home for the first time and you cant find a painted wall with an arrow in the vague direction of your guesthouse! After wondering for a while my mapping skills kicked in and I can plot my way through the streets well enough for us to get from a to b.

We found a little gem of a restaurant on our first day here; Phulwari restarant is fabulous, the best mint and lemon drink I have had so far. Mint and lemon is the most refreshing thing in the world and apart from lassi, and chai has become my drink of choice.

My notes for varanasi and onwards are somewhat sparse and disordered, much like my brain, they will come in less ordered blog form, to be sorted when i arrive home and acquire a need to procrastinate on my laptop again.

On our first day we wondered, taking in the city. We also went and bought ourselves some clothes as we were running low on clean ones...need to do some washing. I would love an orange or yellow sari but have not really got the space to bring it home, or the energy to barter it to a reasonable price and I would most likely be incapable of wearing it with any grace, they are incredibly beautiful though and feel European women failed massively when developing their fashions, all the clothes i see in England are lacking in the vibrancy of fabrics that you see here.

I miss my dog and my little brother now...he would love the camels more than i do.

 Top tip: if you are melting from excessive sunshine the best thing to do is find and ATM. Go inside, pretend to press buttons...the arctic inspired air conditioning will chill you in a couple of minutes, magic. My only question is how do they manage to keep the electrics for these tiny rooms going and have such top noch aircon when nowhere else can manage it?? i would gladly sleep in an ATM room.

P.S. I am getting very bad at blogging, sorry mum. To much chilling is happening and it doesnt help when you get half way through and the internet guy switches of the power...looking at my now blank screen he says very slowly 'Ooooh Wow, had you been writing long?' ...only thing to do is laugh and leave 'No Problem'.

Alicia loses her mind on arrival in varanasi.

Alicia went completely insane when we arrived in Varanasi. With the paranoia of always being ripped off in mind, it is quite easy.


Today the lonely planet was correct, there was a really useful old man in the tourist information box at the station and some guards did rescue us from a pushy man trying to 'help' as we stapped of the train. the Man told us to 'head straight for the pre-paid rickshaw stand and go to godowlia. cycle rickshaw 35rs auto 65rs' he also gave us a map with all the touristy bits circled on. Thanks dude. We headed for the prepaid auto rickshaw stand and a couple of rickshaw drivers made offers of around 70. Alicia had misheard and misread the sign and thought we were meant to get it for 50rs. mayhem. We got in one eventually and said godoulia. The guy laughed and said 'where? it really big?' and we said 'just drop us on the road' and alicia said '50rs' they guy laughed again and said 'no 70rs' then turned to his friend and appeared to be taking and laughing about something to do with us...alicia flipped 'WE WANT TO GO TO GODAULIA FOR 50RS, ARE YOU TAKING US OR NOT' she grabbed her rucksack at his hesitation and looked at me with fire in her eyes (which meant get out of this rickshaw), i complied with her telepathic message and got out. We walked back and approached some cycle rickshaws. They offered us '50rs to godaulia'. alicia convinced she was right and me not wanting to interrupt her flow didnt say anything. 'NO WE WANT AN AUTO RICKSHAW FOR 50RS TO TAKE US TO GODOAULIA' they all looked at her as she stood angry and disheveled, with a rucksack half the size of her on her back,  shouting at them, as if she was a nutcase. I empathised. finally an auto rickshaw came forewards and took us for 50rs. well done alicia.


Heading to town, we bumped into an english guy who was just leaving and pointed us in the direction of a hotel. His blog can be read here http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dgreenberg/1/1301839493/tpod.html . After following an indian guy through the maze of gallies we arrived at a guesthouse which suited our price and purpose'. Puja guesthouse, just down the gally from the golden Temple.

Our evening was spent chatting with a friendly waitor and entertaining him with stories of our festivals such as easter 'we have multi coloured eggs and roll them down a hill' 'Multi coloured eggs, haha, roll down hill, why? hahahahah eggs' or pancake day 'pancakes day hahahahaha' or telling him about Guinness 'black beer, nobody drinks full glass, just small' 'No, people drink pints of it' 'pints, hahahaha' he was very entertained but swapped our useless info with little stories of varanasi and  india. Our rooftop view was wonderful. I think varansai will be one of my favorites :)

Namaste India. please dont rip us off.

24/03/2011
Our arrival in India was somewhat traumatic.

Crossing the border at Sonauli there is very little aid if you are doing it this way around, also we had our biggest boo boo yet by trying to change some money into Indian rupees...do this on the nepalese side if you ever go as the absolute ****heads ripped us off in india by about double the exchange rate without any sort of help from the guards at the tiny stinky un-official looking border crossing office. Sonauli is a mass of traffic and nothing else other than a lot of people shouting things at you. We wanted to get out asap...as you can imagine i was already pretty fuming.

In general i am not a very angrey person EVER, I am more likely to well up with unnecessary tears or have a little bottom-lip-out grump, rarely do I get to the state of ANGER. Here, we were ushered in to a jeep to take us to gorakhpur, we got in they took our bags and then proceeded to do nothing...and nothing...i slowly got more and more frustrated to the point where I could no longer take it. Marching, complete with angry face, out of the jeep I turned to the group of men 'I want my rucksack, we are getting the bus' 'bus takes 4 hours' 'i dont care, give me my rucksack' 'no, no it ok', turning to the luggage man on the roof 'GIVE ME MY RUCKSACK NOW! WE ARE GETTING THE BUS'. thinking back, and after alicia's 'erm, dude are you ok' I may have over reacted as the previous day I had quite happily waited an excessive amount of time for the bus to move, but in the moment I was one unhappy bunny, Alicia tells me they all looked terrified, but at least i got our rucksacks. We ended up taking a different jeep anyway and I have had no further out bursts...alicia on the other hand seems to be getting less and less tolerant as the days go by. the trauma continues in Gorakhpur

continued...the lonely planet lies

24/03/2011
Most tourists to india, especially first timers, will be seen carrying 'The (holy) Lonely Planet Guide to India', obviously we are, and it can be a little ray of light in the darkness. Possibly comparable to the light of Earendil, which galadriel gives to frodo for times of dispair. It also fills you with a little bit of joy when you see another tourist carrying the same one...yey they are also confused and I can have a real conversation with them!
In Gorakhpur it well and truly let us down.

In the jeep I had cooled considerably and we were both prepared to try our luck at the station, hopefully moving us straight on to Varanasi. The lonely planet described gorakhpur station as a place of hope and reasonable ease where there was a very helpful tourist information office and even told us which ticket station we could get our tickets. At about 12pm we walked into the station and at first felt hopeful...nobody was harrassing us...we could take our time and get it right. We strolled past the massive cow sat amongst the passangers, chuckled, glanced at the man in tourist office and began to look for booth 118. I think counter 118 must be similar to platform 9 and 3/4 and, unless you are in fact a wizard (neither of us are, though alicia sometimes says she looks like one) it is impossible to find. Slightly disgruntled at our lonely planet's unhelpful information we decided it best to go to the tourist office. The tourist office was locked. It was 12.30 though so maybe the guard had gone for lunch, waiting here we sat down...lots of people were staring. We changed our mind and got up, I saw a guard hitting a boy with stick. Maybe we should go get some cash whilst we wait...the lonely planet says 'there is a 24hr ATM just outside the station'...the ATM was out of service.We went back to the station, still nobody in the office. 'Maybe we should ask someone' apparently there is only one person in Gorkhpur station who speaks any english (i wish i had tried harder to learn hindi). This is what happened.

Firstly, he approached us as we looked confused and I had just moved alicia away from the boy, who had previously been being hit with a stick, when he came and stood next to her and stared. This english speaking gentleman was tall and wearing a suit.
'Where from?'(thankgod someone who might be able to help)
'England'
'how you like India?'
'Very good'
'What is your qualification?'
'theatre,'
'What is your qualification?'
'erm, Degree?'
'No, no, what is your QUALIFICATION?'
'theatre, degree, university'
'WHAT IS YOUR QUALIFICATION?
'degree, theatre, lights, college, acting, film, cinema, painting?????'
'NO, WHAT IS YOUR QUALIFICATION?!!!'
(at this point we had a reasonable crowd around us, including the stick battered boy)
'sorry'
'YOU DONT UNDERSTAND, WHAT IS YOUR QUALIFICATION!!!!'
I look to alicia for back up. In the most nonchalant way, without looking (though i could feel her anger vibes) alicia says 'No, you dont understand us, we understand perfectly thankyou, lets go'
We walked away and as we did, saw the young boy being chased away by a different guard, this time, hitting him with a slipper. Interesting, entertaining...very unhelpful. We were still stuck at gorakhpur station with no help. More trauma in gorakhpur tomorrow...iv run out of internet time again!

lonely planet fails

24/03/11
We left the station again thinking maybe we can find a hotel...the lonely planet fails again...we went to the only one we could see suggested and it was full. We also looked for an internet cafe within the vicinity and then went back to the tourist office hoping. It was still closed. In our despair we did what any lost and confuse in india people would do...I turned on my phone and prayed that we would finally have a network. O2 is rubbish for roaming in Nepal. THANKYOU GOD. We had one and did the only thing we could think of...phone dad, at some time around 8am english time we called home 'dad, we are stuck in gorakhpur station, we have been ripped of by the indians at the border, no one speaks english and the lonely planet lies, please can you go online and work out what we need to do' Bless our dad he did. Just hearing a voice that wasnt speaking hindi or asking my qualification was really all we needed and when we stepped outside whilst waiting for our dad to call back we saw another lonely planet hotel which had somehow blended into the background before. After two and a half hours we gave up trying to get a train or wait for the tourist man and booked ourselves a night in the hotel. We asked the hotel to get us a train ticket for the next morning. and they had a TV...we joyfully watched the only english film on that night 'Prince of Persia' Jake Gylenhall is hotter than a spicy indian curry. All was well and we got our train to Varanasi at 630am.

The train journey was about 7hours of indian people staring at us and the odd man running down the train shouting 'Chai, Chai, Chai!' but spreading ourselves out on the sleeper wasnt too bad and even in the souring heat we arrived ok.

I love peace pagodas

23/3/11
Lumbini, the supposed birthplace of Buddha. This is a day trip away from Bhairawa and is well worth the visit, it is one of four sites connected with buddha, unfortunately we were too tired to go to either of the other two that were within a day trip of our journey. Next time, when I do the north east!
We set off early catching a public bus...and get us paying the public price of 40rs...we know this because we watched other members of the public paying and just handed our exact amount over...I also saw the conductor trying to get 60rs out of the other tourists. Its a lot easier to haggle when you know what the price is meant to be.

This was probably my favorite bus journey as we were not in a rush and could enjoy the hilarity of the bus moving no more than 1km before stopping and sitting for about 30mins honking the horn continuously until it filled up. We also met a polish film crew who were following a guy who set up and orphanage in Kathmandu...one of them offered us some indian 'white snuff'. We declined as are happy enough with life as it is at the moment.

Lumbini was lovely, temples are dotted around...it is quite spread out. We went to the Maya Devi temple which is where buddha's mother Maya is said to have had a swim in the pool, then grabbed a tree and given birth, althought they are working on the site and gardens it was still very peacful. We spoke to a random monk in an adjacent temple who seemed very excited that we might be scottish. After this we went for a long walk...alicia was hot and therefore grumpy...she is able to make this known quite easily! We only visited a couple more temples before deciding to take a rickshaw. We went out to the peace pagoda.

On the way we saw to my great excitement, two Cranes!!! not the machines but the massive birds!!!! They were awesome. We also noted that alll cows in Lumbini have pet birds.

Peace pagodas are my favorite, they are massive and just really calm and breezy, look spectacular in the sunshine and feel good under your toes. I prefer them to Temples.

This was our last wonderful day in Nepal. I loved it and will come back and climb everest one day. Alicia says 'I'm going to be the first person to climb Mt' Everest AND go to the moon' also 'once you've climbed mount everest everything else looks like a pea'.

My least favorite thing abut Nepal is the rubbish and pollution.
My most favorite are the mountains and the animals and the peace pagodas and the people.
Goodbye Nepal xxxxxx

Alicia sets time...not alarm also gaffa tape does not fix taps.

22/03/2011 
This morning we were woken by alicia's alarm approximately an hour early because for some reason her sleepy head made her change the time last night. Rushing to get breakfast, we wondered why everyone else was still here at 7am when the canoes leave...it was in fact 6am and our bus isnt until 9...thanks Lis.
We are leaving for Bhairawa in order to cross the border in a couple of days. We have found absolutely no difference between 'tourist' and public bus throughout our journey and would easily recommend just getting the public bus for cheapness. I finally read some of The Silmarillion (thats rigfht I chose a non-easy read and I'm regretting it becasue I can never actually be bothered to launch into Tolkien at the end of the day... should have brought a crap book). Didnt get very far as I found it hard to concentrate on the growing evils of Melkor and the creation of Ea in the sweltering heat whilst bumping about trying not to be irritated everytime we stop to cram in more passangers.
We ariived in Bharawa...I would recommend in future to go straight to Lumbini as there are now ample hotels there (our lonely planet is out of date), but everest hotel, Bhairawa did the job. The rickshaw drivers here were on a par with dumre...we wanted to bash them with our rucksacks.
On entering the room I went straight to the bathroom...squat toilet...i actually think these are ok as long as they are reasonably clean...I went to flush..flushed and then...pulled a tap of the wall....half dressed 'LIIIISSSSS, IV BROKEN SOMETHING' water is squirting everytwhere...i put my trousers back on and alicia enters grabs the tap...'lets use gaffa?'...note: gaffa tape does not fix taps...'Ill go and get someone'. I left alicia holding the tap onto the wall stunting the spray a little and went downstairs...the nicely suited up reception man came upstairs...looked panicked and told us we could have the room next door. Cheers dude, Im sorry and I feel bad. Alicia was also annoyed as our first room had a mirror. Sometimes I am a failure.
After dinner we were offered some of the wierd minty (not minty) things that nepalis have to aid digestion...why not? was my thought...after putting a handful into my mouth and thanking the waitor with mouth still full I ran upstairs and spat them out...that is why not. We were tired and then napped xxxx

The early bird catches the...RHINO!

Six am sharp is the time to get up, have pre-ordered breakfast (I was predictably disappointed with my previous evenings choice, consisting of spicy potatoes), and be in our wooden canoe with Ishaw, and the gardener by 7am!

Luxury :)

 Ishaw was a mine of knowledge and I can't think of many things better than bird watching in Nepal. He lent us his extra strong binoculars everytime he spotted something even though we had our own, I absolutely loved it. I have tried to remember a few names...fact retention is not one of my qualities... Pied Wagtail (we have these in England), Siberian Duck (migratory), Peacock (noisy), spotted deer, barking deer, Egret, Black Ibis (pretty cool), swallows, Pied Kingfisher, White-breasted Kingfisher (officially my new favourite bird).

Egret

Swallow homes, comparable to hobbit holes.

Only crashed a few times.

After the bird watching we were lead into the forest for a two hour walk. There were lots of spiders. Curious about the plants and creatures, I was eager to ask questions so I turned to the man following us 'Is this spider poisonous?' I enquired. Silence twinned with a look of fear was his response.  I guessed he may not speak English (either that or he thought the spider was terrifyingly deadly) so, always one for perseverance, I tried an buffoon inspired charade: pointing at a spider, I mimed it looking angry and then biting (is this spider dangerous?), again my well acted question was followed by look of confusion, Alicia did however join in with a laugh. Ishaw returned from his 'toilet' and was able to inform me that no, this spider is fine. The gardener (for that is what he is) almost certainly thinks I'm an idiot.

 Ishaw led the way and the gardener followed at the rear. Mere minutes in to our walk, we were halted, Ishaw darted...like lightening...up a tree.

When he reached the ground again "Rhino's 50 meters away". Thats pretty close, I thought. And as we walked slowly in to the grasses we saw two beauties! Absolutely Amazing!!!! They were casually chomping their breakfast of crunchy grass. I am content.

[a video is meant to go here but it refuses to load]

After watching the rhinos for  some time we followed Ishaw on a crocodile mission. I am eager to see the fascinating Gharial after doing some research in response to my father enquiring "What are those Gary crocodiles? will you see them?" I had no idea what he was talking about, until I saw CBBC's 'Deadly 60', thankfully Steve Backshall does his job well. Unfortunately I was disappointed. We did however see a short nosed crocodile. He was basking on the opposite bank. I am of the opinion that it moved so little, it could quite easily have been a plastic crocodile put there for tourists to gawp at...Alicia thinks I'm silly...it could be true. We also saw some distant hornbills, lots and lots of butterflies, loads of cotton bugs and sloth bear poo.


I held a massive and beautiful cotton bug, Alicia was too scared, reducing Ishaw to laughter. I have now realised my new idol: Michaela Strachan.

Arriving back at our hotel at around 11am, we quickly changed and went down to the river. Here any travellers concern about unclean water left us... we were offered the back or an elephant! Clambering barefoot on to the back of one of earths largest land animals (pipped tot he top by it's African relative), has to be one of the most incredible things in the world. She was beautiful. She lumbered as a gentle giant into the river and then she began the game...squirting us with jet after jet of water, we were soaked instantly. Then as she began to roll playfully they Mahut shouted 'Jump!' and we fell with a crash into the water! In the water the elephant knelt down and kindly let us climb back up, using her knee as a leg up. The game was repeated. Elephants are amazing. Soaked to the bone and no longer sweltering in the heat, grinning, the only word to describe my emotion was pure elation.

After lunch we had an elephant safari...two hours on the back of an epephant is one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever done...bare back is by far easier. We were sat with two other tourist in a box like frame banging about. It was still beyond awesome though. We saw more deer, more butterflies, more monkeys, a mongoose and another rhino. spectacular! My favorite part was when the elephant decided it wanted to stop and play with a twig bashing it around for ages until it got told off.
Other things that were cool today: Ishaw called me little sister, he had told us earlier that didi is big sister and bini is little sister in nepalese, when we were sat having a water break on the walk he said 'lets go little sister' to me, we will both miss Ishaw, he has beent he most knowledgable guide ever. We drank Mountain dew from a class bottle...apparently it is popular here. I love riding in an open top jeep. Dinner at sunset is beautiful.

'No we had Holi yesterday'

On this keyboard I have to press every key with ultimate force to get it to register.

The bus to Chitwan set of bright and early, much like all our transport, at 7am.  After overpaying the taxi driver by 50nrs more than Khem told us to accept, who wants to haggle at 6.30am? We sat on our bus ready for a 7.30 departure. We even sat in the correct seats!

It became clear, all too quickly, that the driver could not count. For once in my life I was early and glad of it. We watch for approximately 1 hour as the mayhem of double the amount of passengers unfolded in front of us; shouting, pointing and many an angry faced person got on and of the bus. I am not sure what happened to the poor souls who were shuffled onto a different bus, I hope they are ok and not lost in the Nepalese wilderness.

On our bus was a friendly lady called Nia, whom we met the other day on our return from Sarangkot point, it is nice to re-meet people! There was also spoke to a man who came to India a few years ago and has not gone home, would anyone notice if I didn't return? He is designing some trousers, unfortunately we never saw the design but heard that they are for men; and with underwear they are just normal really useful, many pocketed trousers, without...they are tantric.

Once we had set off and everyone was settled into bumpy dozing, the journey was interrupted, on walked a group of 'buskers'. I secretly thought they were quite good and played in an almost bluegrass style. Sadly after a few hours of bus travel people were not in the mood to be woken up or have their mp3 player drowned out by youths looking for money and they garnered some irritated stares. Better luck next time guys! Obviously now I want an Indian violin for myself. The rest of the journey was spent dreaming about salad, I am missing having it in large quantities every day. I would give pretty much anything to have a tortilla wrap full of cold mayo, cheese, spinach, pepper, olives and courgette or just a massive bowl of salad. Yum.

We arrived safely in Sauraha, which is the village to be in if you cant afford to stay in Chitwan park itself. We stepped off the bus and to our horrors....in Sauraha they celebrate Holi a day later then Pokhara!!!!!! It had followed us, and the joy of having your face and clothes smeared by multicoloured stuff is significantly less after a five hour bus journey in an average heat of 28 degrees (I am exceptionally pleased with my thermometer/compas keyring and like to get it out every few hours). Our Jeep driver came towards us, hands covered in yellow 'Happy Holi!'
'No, we did this yesterday!' Alicia muttered under her breath whilst stepping away.
I agreed to be covered in yellow once I had removed my pashmina as it is a replacement for the one that got destroyed yesterday.

Next we clamber into our MASSIVE open top Jeep...I bumped my head a millisecond before the driver turned to say 'mind your head', it hurt.  I am making sure to grumbled about the lump it caused at least once every couple of hours for the next few days just to get my pained point accross that I too am suffering (Alicia's skin does not seem to like India one bit). As we pulled away Alicia and I glanced back and saw another group of tourists packed into a tiny jeep like sardines, sometimes life is especially nice.
On arrival, the hotel hotel staff were a bit sparse, Holi's fualt again. Our welcome drink was provided, some sort of lemon soda, and then we were taken to our room. For the first time we had to pick our food in advance. Choosing food before you are ready to eat it has to be one of the most unnecessarily difficult decisions ever. I was never psychic enough to know how I'd be feeling in a few hours and so my enjoyment of food here was significantly decreased.

The next displeasure was that we were given a guide who looked about Alicia's age and spoke very poor English. I was annoyed but he seemed ok. We were ushered outside and offered bikes, I didnt think twice...I love cycling, Alicia on the other hand has comical co-ordination and lacks bicycle skill. She wobbled immensely all the way and we had to keep stopping, I think the guide was a bit worried but I got a good giggle from the journey.

We went to the elephant breeding centre. Nice, but in all honesty there is not much to see other than a few 'little' Elephants. The coolest thing here was when two of the youngsters had a play about five meters in front of us.

Elephant brothers

 Our guide was what some people may call useless "Look Elephant"
"Yes, I see" was the extent of guided conversation.

He then lead us a different way home. I occasionally suffer from serious paranoia and thought he was going to lead us somewhere to kill us all the way. I also thought this hotel was scary when we arrived and thought they might have some conspiracy set up to capture tourists. Alicia didn't get any of this feeling and believes I need to get a grip. It turns out he was taking us through a traditional Tharu Village, which was a bit like walking back in time a few hundred years. It was wonderful to see, but I can't help feeling intrusive when I am being shown around people's homes as if they were part of a museum. Our guide insisted we had a photo though.

The photo we did not want.

At the elephan breeing centre we had been asked for money, I was cross about this because we had already paid as far as I was concerned, then we got back to the hotel and handed our bikes in "you need to pay" says the guide. I was fuming 'NO, we have already paid!' and walked away. In the hotel Alicia and I had a chat and although we had only paid an extra 100rs for the elephant breeding centre I felt it was unjust and wanted to make sure there were no more extre little charges we were going to have to pay, i marched went to see the manager. Apparently there had been some confusion (I dont think we would have found out about 'the confusion' if I hadnt made the effort) and we got our 100rs back! Nobody tried to cheat us in Chitwan again!

At the end of the day we were eating our pre-ordered dinner, amidst a magnificent thunderstorm outside, when another strange man came up and spoke to us. It turned out this was our guide for the rest of our stay here, Ishaw (probably spelt wrong). He took us to see the Tharu traditionl culture dance this evening and it was brilliant...we danced badly again...and went home in good spirits.

The most awesome part of today was riding past an elephant on a bicycle! Elephants are awesome.
 xxxx

In Pokhara you can be freeeeeee!

Dinner with the girls was a wonderful way to come down from the hyperactivity of Holi (it was wonderful to have a prolonged conversation with someone who was neither Alicia or myself). We discussed many lovely things, including an equally awful experience in Dumre...though Polly and Alice actually made it to  Bandipur! Most time was spent deciding desert, I had a Matchapushi (this is obviously spelt wrong and not even sure I remember what it was called) Cake, which consisted of chocolaty biscuit and some sort of cream. It was delish.

could this be 'the fellowship'

 Polly and Alice（I sincerely appologise if this comes out strangely from now on, I have just done something to my keyboard which seems to make odd symbols appear...probably urdu).

Polly and Alice also have a wonderful Asian story to tell check them out http://pollyandalice.wordpress.com/
I also want to big up the Pyramid restaurant on the corner just down from Butterfly lodge, we ate there four whole times :)

I wish to return to Pokhara and go to Devi falls, the bat cave and go on a looooong Trek.
I am sad to say goodby, it has been amazing :)

In Pokhara you can be FREEEEEEEEEE!

I am scared incase we have peaked to early on the good times. We will have to see. On we go! xxx

HAPPY HOLI

I am currently, mostly purple.

Today is Holi, the festival of colour and water. What happens on Holi in Pokhara?

When I still dared to have the camera out

We wake up, a little nervouse as we have seen some quite terrifying videos of Holi in Delhi, and I head into the lovely enclosed garden of Butterfly Lodge, I really can't recommend the services here enough, wonderful staff and hot water every day. I overhear a few of the guests talking about going out, out there? It turns out that the hotel has arranged for a group to go out together and walk up to a band in South Lakeside, a far better arrangement, people to hide behind. We join the group of about 20, some are already prepared with water bottles and coloured powder. Ooops, we are unarmed. Dressed in our best disposable clothes we venture out, instantly we are approached by a group of giggling children. I believe children are more threatening than monkeys when they are preparing to attack, you can't throw rocks at children and get away with is. These were tame children though and they quite gently sprayed us with coloured water. Then reaching the corner of the main street we see a stand where we can get some powder for ourselves, yes, ammunition!

I take turquoise and Alicia takes magenta. Turning around our waiter from the previous night is stood, facing us, hands forewards, full of purple powder (His restaurant is on the corner and is really, really good...the best curry and chipati I have had yet...Maya restaurant do the best Naan), he reaches out, hand smothering our cheeks with colour and says 'Happy Holi my friends'. Like purple faced warriors the fun begins.

Walking to the band

Having a boogie!
(also thanks for the photo butterfly lodge fb)

This is the most common way to be approached...hand full of powder to the cheek, 'happy holi!' other ways to be coloured are: Dust blown into air, thrown aggressively at you, your hair ruffled, water guns, water bombs, a running slap on the back, entire buckets of water thrown accross the street or from a balcony  (in my opinion the balcony people are lame cowards). We danced, we covered everything in colour, it was pretty awesome. I am just glad that I am not a white dog because those guys are the favourite walking target. The nicest thing was that all barriers seemed to be down and everyone is happy and the whole town is really in the festive mood! Literally everyone is laughing and dancing and singing, strange musical instruments are everywhere. I only feel slightly sorry for the unsuspecting animals.  The biggest boo boo made was when, from the corner of my eye I saw a bucket of purple water heading our way...'LIS WATCH OUT!' I turned in the nick of time. I am currently sporting a purple Jakson Pollock style back, Alicia was not so lucky and now shows a remarkable resemblance to Violet Beauregarde. 

Lunch break

Sadly this is our last day in Pokhara. We would plug this place as a lovely, touristy and trekky, place and would definitely come back. We are off to Chitwan National Park tomorrow. Our buses etc. have been arranged for us by Khem at the Butterfly lodge. We are treating ourselves to mid-range accommodation!! Khem is wonderful and has given us his number and says call him if anything is unsatisfactory, he will sort it out...we chose butterfly lodge from the Lonely Planet and it has lived up to its good reputation; hot water, good price, very helpful and friendly staff, lovely garden to chill out in, rooms are clean and nice, as are the toilet and shower, loads of people are staying here and all seem very happy, they also exceeded themselves by arranging the party this morning for Holi.

We are going to have dinner with a group of three English girls we met today, really looking forwards to it.

Pokhara will be missed!
Happy Holi everyone xxxxxx

Drawing inspiration from Phewa Tal

Today is chill out day, we are anticipationg carnage tomorrow for 'Holi', the festival of colour, and have armed ourselves with some badly fitting clothing to get us through the day.

Last night we went to an Italian and had some very delicious vegetable pasta, it does seem wrong to eat Italian when I'm in Nepal but no more so than eating Indian when I'm in England, in fact the best Chinese I can recall eating was consumed in Belgium! Post food we did a bit of pre-chillout day browsing and pricing up, I would like a new pashmina as mine is wearing thin. We found a variety of differnt weighted pashminas for between 400-2000rs (before we try our appauling bartering skills) this still seems a little pricy to me as I can get a thin plain one for approx 300rs on Portobello Lane. Tired, we went to bed.

This morning we have spent our time at the shops, it is much like festival shopping. I have an almost overwhelming urge to buy every tacky things I see so that I can wear it with joy, to my mums disdain, a 'McShit' T-shirt, an 'I Love Nepal T-shirt' or a 'Yak Yak Yak' T-shirt are all considered.

We will spend the afternoon with our sketchpads down by the lake. Going to head back to Fewa restaurant and Bar for a lemon and honey. xxxx

Alicia chillin.

'The shell must break before the bird can fly' Tennyson

The title of this post is a 'thought for the day', which I read about half an hour ago in the Himalyan Times over a nice cup of jasmine tea; I thought it should be shared.

Today started at 4.15am with intentions of going up to Sarangkot point for sunrise. We grabbed a taxi for 600nrs, which according to our out of date Lonely Planet is an ok price, and were dropped off at the start of a trail. It was still pitch black and our trusty Maglites were indispensable! We climbed the steep, steep steps, up the steep, steep mountain... in the dark, a reasonably terrifying experience. This climb bore far more resemblance to Mordor than yesterday. There were a few other early birds at the top ready for the sun to splendidly break over the mountains. Unlucky.

Sunshine

1582m

Today the whole valley is full of mist, not a mountain in sight, this is a shame after the efforts but it will not dampen my spirits, the view was still beautiful. Hopeful that the sky may clear, we went to get some food at a little pathside stop, we sat and had breakfast...Alicia didnt eat much as she is upsettingly a bit poorly today and didnt want to risk it. Here a very sweet Newari girl started singing through her English textbook, 'the dog is sleeping under the table, the cat is sleeping under the table', she was totally endearing and had English to about the level of my GCSE German 'Ich habe ein pony, etc' we found out she was only eight. I am ashamed at my lack of any language skill.

Heading back down the track which the Lonley Planet described as reasonably simple to follow, we met with a fork in the road. On the side of a mountain miles from where you are heading, we did what anyone would do, after all going back to where we were offered a guide or a taxi is a bit of a bore, we asked a non-english speaking local.
'Namaste, Lakeside?'  I said, pushing my Nepalese to the brink.
They pointed us down a track which looked correct, it's a road heading downwards. Unfortunately our maps are both a little bit lacking in detail, showing only the main trekking routes, which is all well and good if you take the correct path but are decidedly unhelpful if you accidentally stray. After a few more 'Namaste, Lakeside?'s just to be sure, we headed on our way until we met another fork and asked an ANCIENT lady...I believe, now, that this is where we made our mistake...we ended up on what appears to have been a long pony trekking path. The road was very dusty and we saw a total of two westerners on ponys, but we did have the pleasure of walking through local roads and seeing the kept village gardens and houses.

Locals in Nepal are varied but mostly really lovely, as soon as you get away from the taxis and buses in town you lose the hassle (except the odd child 'sweets! pen! give me money!'), most people seem eager to utalise their English phrases and say 'hello'.  We also met a man who complemented english cricket; apparently we beat Bangladesh, well done England.

The track came to an abrupt holt. We were faced with what may have once been road but was now, no more than a steep face of rubble and dust.
'Erm, I dont think we can get down there'
'Neither do I'
Perplexed by our sudden loss of road but optimistic I suggested we tried hopping over some steps we had seen a few yards back. We did this. We ended up in someones garden. I was left with no option but to uncertainly shout in my politest, confused fool voice 'Namaste??' no answer, 'errm, Namaste??'
'Namaste' came the response from inside a shed.
'Namaste'. Relief! 'Namaste, Lakeside?' I enquired.
An old lady appeared and pointed us through her garden, laughing as we passed under the hosepipe. Some new steps, thankfully, they led straight to lakeside. We passed another trail in the steps going up and believe this is the route we should have ended up coming out from.

On this journey we had the pleasure of seeing another family of monkeys, this time we were fearless and watched them play in the trees for ages. I now officially like monkeys. It also only took us an hour more than the Lonely Planet said to get down, so we can't have been far off, especially as we spoke to a lot of people and looked at a lot of animals.

We met some British women on the way back into Pokhara and stocked up on some current prices for India and some current do's and don't bothers. I am intriued by a rat temple in Rajasthan...will look it up. Heading home we are trying to secure another night in Pokhara and then book a bus to Chitwan National Park, I can't wait. We are going to chill tomorrow so Alicia can try to feel better, I also want to get some new trousers as mine are a bit torn (Alicia insists on treading on them). As usual I am looking forwards to my dinner.
Much much love to all xxxx

Sarangkot from partway down.

Morning thought: "If a duck gets too fat, will it sink?"...one step closer to enlightenment? Yes, I think I am.

Last night after walking along the edge of the beautiful Phewa Tal we went for dinner and had a Newari Thali. It was scrummy, though I am steadily getting more nervous in anticipation of the shits. A girl we met today said, "I thought I was doing a number one, but it was actually a number two"...lovely. The fact I eat a diet of veggie lentils and noodles at home seems to have fared me well.

I have never really been a follower of sport, though this is changing due to necessary watching as a barmaid in a sports bar for the last four months. I am starting to enjoy it. So tonight I would like to encourage the English cricketers to be better. The waiter at the restaurant asked where we were from, "England" we said in unison.
"Haha, you are not good at cricket" was his response.
"Eerm haha"...come on cricketers I am being insulted on your behalf!

The main road in Lakeside, Pokhara is filled to the brim with restaurants, maybe for trekkers to get a good feed before they leave, or a celebratory feed when they return; either way we are determined to explore all the culinary delights. I believe our eating habits are comparable to hobbits. After dinner part one, we strolled the main street in Lakeside, looking for dinner part two. Within the space of five minutes we hear a stream of remarks,

"You are sisters?"
"Ah, you are sisters!"
"Sisters?"

...we were'nt even wearing our matching shirts! Spending so much time together is doing us no good at all, it appears that we are either begining to look more similar than we thought, or there is a conspiracy going on. Security at the airport even asked if we were twins, you have our passports, how do you not know this?. I hope it does not last.

Bingo, we spent the rest of the evening in the delicious and lovely Fewa Restaurant and Bar. I had an orange whiskey tea (whisky is wonderful), and Alicia had lemon and honey, we both had some apple pie, we were filled with joy.

 Nepalese substitute for my beloved Stag's Breath liqueur

The entertainment at this bar was traditional Newari dance.

The fun did not stop there.

We were casually and unsuspectingly sat drinking when...the smiling dancers walked out into the audience and began to invite people up to dance. In this surprise situation I almost panicked, my brain said 'Oh god, no, I am far too unprepared and unco-ordinated for this.'
"No" Alicia says out loud with a feeble shake of the head.
The dancers enthusiasm did not wane though and I felt that after all, this is a time for adventure, so we did away with our inhibition and alighted the dance floor. When in Rome! Partners in hand, mine being one of the show dancers and Alicia's being the guy we think was choreographer; we proceeded to make complete douchebags of ourselves. Letting my partner attempt to lead my flails, my eye also began to water. In essence I believe I fitted the description of an uncoordinated (Newari dance is not my forte), slightly confused, overly happy (I was geekily grinning because I wanted to laugh quite a lot, especially on glimpsing Alicia's efforts) but also crying, buffoon. Alicia's partner asked her to wait around after the show. I believe he probably wanted her to join the troop as she was so spectacular...sensibly she declined and we went home to bed. All in all a splendid evening!

Bob

This morning, after a visit form a large beetle, and a long discussion based around my life plans to: walk the great wall of China, do a motorbike tour of Asia and/or South America, as well as one day climbing Everest, and desiring a birthday card from a King (I hope William and Kate are planning a boy) on my way to being 113; we set out in search of a boat. We found one and went across the lake with the help of Mia, it was relaxing to the max and the himalayas, in all their grandeur, became clearer as we got closer to the other side. I must find out and remember the name of the biggest mountain visible.

On arrival at the shore "Its like the steps to Mordor" Alicia exclaims. Throughout the trip she has previously pointed out structures that resemble to the tower of Isenguard...Tolkien has had a dramatic affect on her. We walked up the steep trail to Pokhara's World Peace Stupa. It overlooks the whole of the lake and Pokhara on the other side. Taking our shoes off to climb up the steps, walking on the white stone, with the breeze and the view it really did feel like the most peaceful place on earth.

"Up, up, up, up the stairs we go"

Peaks, Pokhara, Peace and Perfection

Next on the itinerary was Devi falls, but having met some people on the way who said it was more like an underwhelming trickle at this time of year, we decided to take a leisurely trail down to the bridge near Damside. This adventure took us through some denser forest. Friends know how excited I get at the hint of new animals and plants...the forest was full to the brim.

We saw more spiders, of varying shapes and sizes, some massive ants, a gecko, butterflies everywhere, trees and vines and flowers that all made me happy and then...
'OMG dude, sssshhhh, what do we do', I pointed. Alicia seemed a little less aware, she always makes me go in front, maybe she thinks because I'm the eldest I should meet with danger first...Alicia, it is your turn next time. There in the middle of the trail were two monkeys (Rhesus Macaques, if u are intersted). We then looked around us and realised there were many more casually sat about their business. My brain 'Oh crap, what do we do?Please get off the trail. Maybe they will ignore us, maybe they are rage infested. Take a photo, they might want your camera, don't take a photo, what if they attack us anyway?' to Alicia 'Dude put everything in ur bag.'
'What do we do?' Alicia says, because after all I am the one who deals with monkey terror on a regular basis?
'I dont know, where's the book?' I ask, we proceeded to check the wildlife book, the only thing it has to say on the matter is that a group of macaques in Japan have taken to stealing sunglasses and only returning them in exchange for food, on a regular basis. We didnt have any food. We were not reassured.
'What have you got to give them? They can have my water and my book.'
'I've got lip balm?'
'Yeah, just give them ur lip balm.'
Plan in tact we edged closer, one of them was watching us from the side of the road...we held hands...the monkeys in a sinister manner (casually) strolled away. They could not have cared less that we were there.

chillin'

Today I have learned: I am not a future bollywood dancer; I can walk a long way; monkeys are not as scary as I thought; I would rather spend my day walking up a steep foresty hill, in the sunshine, looking at butterflys and monkeys and trees and spiders and flowers and birds than doing anything else in the world right now. Bliss.

Perfect words found at the Peace Pagoda

We are now back in lakeside after a day of walking and adventures. We trundled back over a rickety bridge and through Damside (which isnt that nice). On entering the Lakeside area we passed a sign 'Tourist Zone', I love the no nonsense signs best. Tomorrow, we plan to go to Sarangkot point at dawn. I am now ready for my dinner. Love x

Pokhara is lovely.

I am of the opinion that people have been exagerating the bus experience. We got a non-tourist bus from Dumre to Pokhara today and it was fine, neither of us have beein ill on either bus! It was shaky, yes, but no more than when I try to ride my suspensionless bike over farmland in Lincolnshire. I am also getting used to the ways of the road, I conclude that in all cases of driving or crossing the road you simply have to let necessity drive you, leave it to the fates and GO!GO!GO! Everyone copes just fine with this lack of rules and it keeps you on your toes, literally. One of my favourite road anecdotes so far has been the 'Cow in road' scenario.

We watched as our bus driver slowed, but never stopped, and 'nudged' the stationary beast with the bus, slowly, almost as if time had stopped, this holy creature took a reassuring step forwards, cheer!, and after a few more gentle nudges there was a big enough gap for the bus to veer around it, without a fiasco we were on our way again. Simple.
 
Having learned our lesson in Dumre, we arrived in Pokhara and took our time. Getting a taxi to Lakeside, declining a sightseeing tour, we ate lunch at a scrumptious Korean restaurant in south lakeside...yum! They gave us complementary potatos and bamboo stuff, and even a strange drink which Alicia tried before realising it wasnt the lemon tea we had ordered.

Mystery drink and some lemon tea

YUM

We have decided to stay at Butterfly Lodge, http://www.butterfly-lodge.org/ , which is amazing...about 450nrs per night which is around double what our ancient (2003) lonely planet says, so figured its about right and it is lovely. There is big garden and the host, Khem, speaks English well, we are very happy and looking forwards to four days without moving and being in such a lovely place.

Phewa Tal

Much love xxxxxx

Dumre...more like potential DOOOMre

Our last day in Kathmandu was relaxed, after getting our bus ticket in our hands, we ate lunch at the Third Eye restaurant. Very nice...here I would like to inform my Edinburgh buddies that our sacred 'Mountain Dew' has made it to Nepal!

Strolling through Thamel, we are starting to enjoy the torrents shouted at us "Namaste! Namaste!"
"I like your trousers."
"Magic bracelet?"
"Peacock feathers?" etc.

We had dinner in our guesthouse. Its cheaper and seems the most delicious of all the places we've eaten so far. Our rooftop discussions lead us to the topic of our return, according to The Lonely Planet

'The first thing many people do after a visit (to Nepal) is start planning the next one.'

We are clearly some of these 'many people'.
"I have to come back and climb Mt. Everest" I say with optimistic enthusiasm.
"Well it's either Everest or the moon," Alicia responds. "You can only really fit one into a lifetime and I'd rather do mount Everest'.
AGREED.

With these thoughts leaving smiles on our faces we spent the rest of the evening watching Nepalese television with the guesthouse family, it was one of the nicest things we have done so far. Then as we pack our backpacks to leave in the morning I get the sense that now is when the adventure will really start.

On the bus.

We caught the 6.30am bus easily enough, to Dumre, with the intention of heading straight to Bandipur. The bus ride through, what I think is part of the Eastern Terai, was breathtaking; views over the valleys were brilliant and the amount of different plants and trees we saw were of geeky interest to me. Even though I only have a tiny wildlife book (Alicia let me buy one) I was doing my utmost to identify them all. Bird sightings were also in abundance and we saw a close-up Kite, much excitement, and Vultures!! Maybe I could be Steve Backshall's bird and plant friend?

'A Carlsberg bus journey'

That pole is definitely bamboo

Cacti?

River

Due to the resident dog population and the 5.15am start we were rather sleepy...one thing we are definitely learning is that you NEED to sleep before doing anything remotely new. We arrived promptly in Dumre. Unprepared and stressed by the amount of people shouting, "Pokhara?Kathmandu?Bandipur?Pokhara?" at us, we checked in to the first guesthouse that looked vaguely ok. We regretted this almost immediately and spent the night concerned by the lack of tourists and the amount of noise the guesthouse family were making. In hindsight we think they were just having a merry party because they were singing and eating and being jolly but when you are exhausted, in a place where you can't understand a word, a room full of loud men appears pretty threatening. Cinema is my favourite form of escapism and I was glad to have the company of a television. In an over-paranoid state I watched Benjamin Button (a nice concept wasted) and Cold Mountain (yes, like many, this is the film that made me love Renee Zellweger). We fled on the first bus in the morning.

At least Jesus was watching over us

Although we didn't manage to get to Bandipur in the end, we did have a beautiful 2-3 hour walk along the road route to Bandipur.

Road Sign

We couldn't capture the beauty in pictures

Casual

We ate at CoCo highway restaurant they appeared to be newly opened and the two young guys serving us made an uber polite effort. With every 'Thankyou' came a devoted 'WELCOME'. The food was quick and ok. They came and asked us in appauling english but with a smile, where we were from and tried to make conversation, which is more than anyone else in this horrendous place did. It was also on a little ridge meaning there was a good view of the valley. Recommended if you are ever stupid enough to stop in the aptly named Dumre.

Alicia sat at CoCo,
thinking about the night ahead.

The place on the whole was a rubbish roadside bus stop, and the perfect setting for a thriller. Bandipur looked ok, we have heard since that it is well worth the visit, but we didnt have the energy to get there this time.

Elvis appears to be grumpy, he didn't want to fit everything back inside...probably annoyed because I accidentally called him Elton earlier. I also lost my socks this morning.