Today we hiked from Uleri to Chuile, that’s supposed to take 2 days or 10hrs of hiking, but we did it in one day, 6hrs.

At that rate by 1pm we were totally exhausted, as in almost vomiting, head spins, wheezing etc. We stopped to eat and warm up by a wood fired water heater, then did a couple more hours before it started to rain.

We sheltered under an abandoned guest house’s verandah for a while before an old lady and then an 11 year old girl arrived (carrying what looked like 50kg of firewood on her back!). They told us there was another place to stay 5 mins further down the hill, so here we are.

It’s a tiny guest house with two bedrooms but most importantly a woodfire cook top so it’s cosy and warm.

We started the walk (trek?) yesterday afternoon, walked for 5 hours to get to Tikhedunga.
It’s so quiet in all the villages that they offered free accommodation with dinner and breakfast! Although the food is so expensive that we’re going to run out of money before we get back at this rate, (Sally suggested that we stop drinking beer… Ridiculous).
Today we have a harder day, starting at 1500m altitude, ending at 2500m in Gorepani.
Time to head off!!

I realise that Dean and I have not been the biggest advocates for India but I still can’t say that I don’t like the country or the people…its been an experience that we don’t regret having  and are hopeful that the remaiaing 3 weeks that we have upon exiting Nepal are going to be better. However, its been a big sigh of relief being in Nepal 🙂 We have been able to take big breaths of air without fear of poisoning our lungs and the sky has been blue… its been a long time since we’ve seen this much blue sky and it really does something to your psyche. It makes you smile! The change between India and Nepal happened as soon as we crossed the border. There were vertially no horns, nobody stood and stared at us and there were restaurants where you could have a beer (or a glass of wine!!) with dinner and the wine was actually pretty good!

After a beautiful ride through the mountians from the border we arrived in Pokhara. We have spent the last few nights here whilst we’ve been waiting for Dave to arrive from the US. Pokhara is a touristy little town on a  lake and surrounded by mountians. On a clear day you can see the snow peaks of the Annapurna mountains of the Himalayas, its really beautiful.

Our days have been spent getting a few things organised for the ABC trek which we are about to embark on. Trying to find the best quality fake North Face sleeping bag in town has been a 3 day challange but we feel we got a reasonable deal. The people here are really lovely but its evident that there aren’t as many  tourists as usual and they are all very desperate for our business which does get annoying! Not only has Nepal had the fuel crisis recently but they also have an electricity shortage which means some days they have 16 hours with no electricity, so with all this bad publicity, it’s keeping much needed tourists away.

Dean is currently cooking some pasta to have ready for when Dave arrives. The food so far in Nepal has been simillar to Indian food only a little lighter. We have been living on momos as it feels like the lightest, less Indian option but today Dean finally cracked and ordered a vegie burger which was served with chips and coleslaw…and fresh tomato… it made him so happy… I didn’t know a burger could make a man so happy! We always eat the local food wherever we are but after about 2 months of heavy oily food, we just needed a day out,  so pasta and red wine it is 🙂

Dave has just arrived after a very long journey to get here so its time to crack the wine! We leave for the ABC trek tomorrow which will take between 7-10 days and we will have no internet or service the whole time…I’m not sure if this or the walk will be the biggest challange!

Love to all xxxx

 

We are in Nepal… We are not in India… I love Nepal xxx