Day 3: helicopter over Victoria falls

We met our small group of 6 women last night along side our guide, cook and driver. After a briefing of the next few days, we headed off for dinner out and an early night. 

This morning we got up at the crack of dawn to get a helicopter over Victoria falls. It was amazing! So epic to see it from above a get an idea of scale that you just cant comprehend from the ground. It was incredible. 

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and moved into the tent. 

We then headed for a guided tour of the falls, just in case we hadn’t see enough. Our guide was great and we managed not to get as soaked as yesterday. 

Lunch was back in town in this elephant walk shopping place mum can’t get enough off. Sadly we can’t buy too much because of our small backpacks. 

The rest of the afternoon has been spent relaxing by the pool and having massages and drinking g+ts. Tonight is dinner out with the whole group before we head to Botswana tomorrow and chobe National

Park! 

(Backup) Girls on tour: taking the mothership to Africa: day 1 and 2

Following my amazing Africa adventure with Stephen, I was super keen to come back to do the next part of the overland trip, Namibia to Victoria falls. 

I was delighted when the Africa travel company had a 241 offer and managed to persuade/ bully my mother to coming with me. We found a trip in her Easter holidays going from Vic Falls down to Windhoek for 9 days, and after a few gins over Christmas, decided to book.

We flew with virgin to Johannesburg, and after some confusion at the airport managed to transfer to our South African airways flight to Victoria falls. We arrived, managed to navigate the visa system, we’re delighted to see our bags actually arrived, then successfully found the transfer to our hotel. Then we could breath. We arrived around half 2, had a quick dip in the pool and relax in the sun, then got changed for a sunset cruise along the Zambezi.

It was amazing. We boarded and got our first g + ts. As we started cursing up river we were greeted by two hippos flancing about in the shallows. We continued up street to see the beautiful sunset between Zimbabwe and Zambia. 

It was then back to our hotel for dinner and an early night. 

Day 2, we awoke early and had a completely free day. We had breakfast then decided to head on our own to the Victoria falls park a short 15 min walk down the road. 

We thought we were appropriately dressed and kitted our with waterproofs but we still got completely drenched. The falls were stunning. We walked along the opposite cliff, getting covered in spray, but completely in awe of the sheer size and volume of water. It was stunning.

We popped back to the hotel to get changed then headed to the rather fancy Victoria falls hotel, previously frequented by the royal family on multiple occasions. We were early for high tea so had a drink and a wander around the grounds. Tea was delightful and as we finished a stunning rainbow appeared under the Victoria falls bridge. 

We headed back to the hotel for our group briefing for the tour. More on that tomorrow.

Day 17: tadapani to swyauli bazar

It was a rather cold night at tadapani, but we awoke at 6 to another beautiful sunrise over the mountains. From our lodge we had a beautiful view of fish tail mountain and Annapurna 2 and 4.

We started our trek down through the beautiful rhododendron forest, again with glimpses of mountain views through the thick lush jungle. It was almost magical. It was also much more quiet than the previous day, so felt like we were the only people there. 

After a mini run in with a rouge cow, we came out the other side of the forest to the largest down we have been in all trek, ghandruk.

The town seemed huge after days of walking through villages with just a few houses. There were quite large hotels and restaurants here. We stopped for a quick cold lemon drink then continued down for another hour before lunch. 

I was noticeably much hotter today. We were trekking in the heat of the day in direct sunlight. I now have all the freckles.

After lunch we had a steep climb down to our home for the night over looking the river. We arrived early afternoon to WiFi and hot showers. I think it was the best shower I’ve had all trip so far! 

We spent the rest of the afternoon sat in the sun chatting and reading Harry Potter. Dinner was Dahl bat all round before our last night in the mountains. 

Tomorrow we head to porkhara! 

Day 16: poon hill and to tadapani

We awoke at 4am for another headtorch lead steep climb up to poon hill for sunrise. This time there was no coffee first. Because I’m slow (as I keep being reminded of by our guide) we left before everyone else and got up there in under an hour (its suppose to take 90 mins). It was a steep climb up steps, which most trekkers were sick of after the full day of uphill steps yesterday, there was a little snow on some of the trail. 

As we got to the top we wrapped up and waited for sunrise. Within 20 mins hundreds of trekkers joined us. Many people do shorter treks from porkhara just to poon hill, so there were lots of clean people around. 

The sun rose to reveal the most amazing mountain view, of the whole of the Annapurna range that we’d spent the past few weeks hiking around. It was absolutely stunning. Lots of trekkers we’d spent time with along the way were also there, so it was a lovely way of bringing us all together towards the end of our hike.

The valley below was a dense forest of rhodedendron trees, with pink flowers in bloom.

After taking all the photos, we decided to head back down to breakfast before continuing our trek for the day. 

At this stage we turned onto the Annapurna sanctuary trek and headed towards tadapani. 

The trail was stunning. A dense forest trail of ferns and rhodedendrons with glimpses of the snow capped mountains through the trees as we walked out of poon hill, a group of wild white horses were also heading up the trail. It felt like something out of lord of the rings. It was the most beautiful trail I’ve even seen. We walked passed waterfalls, rock pools, through the most beautiful tree roots. Just before tadapani we saw black faced monkeys playing in the trees. 

The teahouses on this trail aren’t quite as nice as the ones on the circuit, with lots of added costs like WiFi and hot showers, but we were joined by friends from the trail for an evening of dal baht, rum and heads up (the game). We were also reunited with some friends who didn’t make it over the pass because they got sick in manang, so we’re coming the other way. It was lovely to have a nice big group for the evening and relax together. 

Tomorrow is our last full day of trekking before we head to porkhara on Monday. 

Day 15: tatopani to ghorapani

Last night there was the most tremendous thunder storm over tatopani. The rain was so loud on the corrogated iron roof. The power also decided to switch on around 3 am ( electricity has aims of its own here, and often is non existent ). Needless to say we didn’t have the best night sleep. 

This morning was the daunting task of the biggest climb of the trip up 1750m. We started along the dust road, luckerly not too dusty because of the rain last night, then crossed a rather long suspension bridge (Stephen is not a big fan) then the climb began. And it was relentless. Steps steps steps. And every time we went a little bit down hill we moan because we knew we still had so much to climb. Luckerly the scenery was breathtaking. Lush green rice paddy fields, banana trees, and then the start of the rhododendrons. 

We had lunch at silka, half way up, and sat on a lovely rooftop. Stephen was struggling after no sleep last night. I think the cumulative nature of over two weeks of hiking is catching up with us all. Lots of us are just exhausted now and ready for a break. 

After lunch the steps up continued. It was tough. To be honest I found it a lot easier than previous climbs. I think because I’ve got fitter over the course of the trip.

We took another break for some cold lemon then put my motivational running playlist on for the final slog. Luckerly we were surrounded by rhodedendrons by this point along a beautiful trail. It was simply stunning.

We arrived through the arch that said ‘ghorapany’ only

To find it was at least another 10 mins of up before we came to our tea house. It’s much more build up

Here and a much bigger village. There are lots of people on short treks from porkhara, pushing our group of circuiteers closer together.

Tomorrow we get up to watch sun rise on poon hill with most of the people we’ve met along the way. Very exciting.  For now it’s time for an early night. 

Day 13 and 14: kagbeni to tatopani

After a fantastic night sleep in kagbeni with the most amazing food, we awoke to beautiful mountain views. 

After discussions with our guide we decided to walk to Jomsom today then get a jeep down to tatopani, as the trail was now a dusty dirt road. In exchange, after poon hill we would head into part of the Annapurna sanctuary trek.

We set of to Jomsom in a river valley, surrounded by desert, pine forests and mountains. It was really beautiful. We walked along side the river for a couple of hours before coming to Jomsom. Here we walked through the first slightly bigger village and had lunch whilst our guide found a jeep for the afternoon journey.

Despite our guide’s best efforts, he purposefully god a jeep instead of making us get the public bus because Stephen had had such a rotten time on the bus at the start.

Sadly for stephen the jeep wasn’t much better. He was sat in the back seat with 3 other people, whilst me and 3 others weee squeezed on the seats in the boot. We drove along narrow cliff side roads with a steep drop on one side. Stephen got thrown around quite a lot and really did not enjoy the journey.

On a plus, the road was so dusty, hiking along it for 3 days would have been terrible. The new trail they’ve tried to build along side has a reputation for being dangerous. So it seems despite the pain it was the best option.

We arrived in tatopani. A subtropical oasis, to our tea house with a garden full of orange trees, positioned above the ‘hot springs’. 

We had a quiet evening of good food and showers.

The next morning we awoke late for a rest day. We had a delicious breakfast then headed to the hot springs to relax. It was an interesting experience. During the course of the day lots of people we’ve met along great the way rocked up in tatopani too so by mid afternoon we were all back in the hot springs. We even had a sneaky gin and tonic.

It was great to wash clothes and relax ahead of a big hike up 1750m tomorrow. Character building.

Day 12: muktinath to kagbeni

After a less than great night sleep, despite stephen kindly lending me his super duppa sleeping bag, we started the day with an explore of Muktinath.

We were both achey and tired, with sore knees and I was up wheezing all night, thankfully Stephen had an inhaler with him. 

We hiked up to the temple of muktinath, a sight of pigrimage for both Hindu and Buddhist from around the world. Particularly bordering India and Bhutan. Our guide dependra broughta basket for the offering with us. We walked through thebeautiful grounds, and visited the main temple for a blessing from muktinath, god of nature. There were 108 fountains people when cleansing themselves under and two freezing pools in front of the temple.

We then went inside and gave our offering to muktinath, this involved dependra smashing a coconut over a rock and lighting insense. We then each received a thread necklace and a mark on our forehead. 

We then visited a second temple with a natural flame, which is suppose to burn eternally. It was a nice change for a morning. After a very late breakfast we hiked down for 2.5 hours to kagbeni. There was a new tarmac road built in the last two months we ended up walking along. Despite the road, the views were amazing. This area is know as the desert of Nepal. The surrounding area was desert and canyons with snow caped mountains in every direction. The further down we ascended the more mountains came into view. 

We then turned a corner to a beautiful green oasis below us which was the old town of kagbeni. We arrived at our lovely guest house to WiFi and warm showers, and a beautiful view down the valley. The food was also amazing. A much needed relaxed day after yesterday. 

Day 11: thorung la pass

I think this day was one of the most physically, emotionally and psychologically draining days of my life.

We awoke at 3am for a few chipatis and a coffee before starting our hike in the dark just before 4. We used head torches to climb steeply up from thorung Phedi to high base camp. This took about an hour. This  was a welcome break from the cold and dark. We had hot coffee and tried to defrost. 

It then got super tough. We began our climb up, it was absolutely freezing. Despite my north face ski gloves I just could not get my hands warm. The hike continued up in thick snow, I slipped and almost fell down the mountain, only saved by my sticks, but this really shook me up. 

I little way on I could not feel my hands at all, our guide took my gloves off to reveal the first stages of frost bite, then tried to warm them up by rubbing them with one of those hand warmers. After several attempts like this, stephen kindly let me his ski gloves and kept his inners on.

We continued upwards and I started to feel quite breathless and coughing. The higher we went the worse I felt. I felt like I was drowning. I could stop coughing and If was pink and frothy. Not far from the top I realised this could be high altitude pulmonary oedema. I explained to Stephen what I thought was going on. Luckerly we came across someone who had all the drugs for altitude sickness. I downed them, we quickly got to the top, one photo then headed straight down the mountain. My cough started to improve but I was then hit with exhaustion. It was snowy and there was tons of black ice we just kept slipping on the way down. It took forever. 

After hours we made it to the tea house for lunch, around 2:45. By this point we were both really dehydrated. We downed a bottle of water and then just got back down. 

We arrived at muktinath around 4pm. The concrete jungle was a bit of a shock. We then arrived at the hotel for the night. It was ‘character building’.  We’ll show you the photos later. We collapsed. Are a quick dinner then slept.

It was all in all the toughest day I’ve ever had a push me to every limit. 

Day 10: yak Kharka to thorung phedi

Today I woke up around 4am but that was after 8.5 hours sleep. I would kill for that most days back home... we had breakfast of Tibetan bread (Samira) and porridge (stephen). It tends to be the coldest in the morning.

I was feeling tons better after the headaches of last night and was full of beans. The trek today was steady up along quite a narrow trail. We’ve been above the tree like for a few days now so the landscape of fairly barren. 

We passed lots of yaks grazing today.

After a short but steep climb we had second coffee and biscuits with a view of the mountains. We then headed along a part of the trail notorious for landslides. The path was really narrow and a little precarious but our guide dependra helped us every step along the way. We arrived at Thorung Phedi before lunch. 

This afternoon I enjoyed an old copy of Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets that I found at our lodge and Stephen played cards. At 3pm we went for another acclimatisation hike up another few hundred metres on the path for tomorrow. We saw musk deer. 

We then had an early dinner before a cold and early night. We leave at 3:30am to climb up to the high pass in the morning. Stephen is really looking forward to it. I’m excited to get down the other side. 

Altitude : 4540m

Hiking distance: 9km 

Day 9: Manang to Yak Kharka

We were allowed a little lie in till 7:30 this morning and had a breakfast of porridge and proper coffee before we left the comfort of manang and steadily started the hike up up up. 

We had wall to wall blue skies as we headed up to the chorten above the village, giving us a beautiful view back towards the glacial lake, gangapurna glacier and manang, down in the valley. 

It was a slow steady incline up, which was a little tough as we were ascending up to over 4000m. We arrived at our tea break, at the village of Ghusang where we sat on the roof eating our coconut biscuits and drinking ice lemon. By this stage we’ve met lots of people along the way, mostly on the same schedule as us, although some going a little slower. It’s been nice stopping and chatting on the road and at the tea stops. 

After tea break was a relatively tough walk up to yak Kharka just in time for lunch. The lodge was actually lovely with a sort of sun lounge to sit in which was so much warmer than outside. Despite the sunny weather, as we climb up it’s getting colder and colder. There’s no running water at night now because it just freezes. 

We had lunch of dal baht and Stephen had macaroni cheese. I got chatting to a lovely surf girl from Sydney called grace. And we whittled the afternoon away. 

Dinner was egg veg noodles and we went to bed by about 8pm. It was probably the coldest night so far. I had a bit of a headache and was feeling quite rough in the evening so took rehydrated salts, paracetamol and antisickness And luckerly started to improve. 

We’ve met quite a few people along the way who have had to turn back because of altitude sickness. You have to be so careful up here. Luckerly I think the two headaches I’ve had have been dehydration as you need to drink 4-5 litres up here which has been difficult. 

Tomorrow we go up further to thorung Phedi before the high pass.

Today we sleep at 4050m 

We only walked 11km because we were limited by the altitude. 

Day 8: acclimatisation in manang

Stephen got up at 6 am to hike to the ice lake with arm and the guide. I decided to actually have a rest(ish) day and explore menang.

I watched sunrise over the valley from the warmth of my sleeping bag the had a delicious breakfast of real coffee and baked beans with chapati.

I then went for a wander up through ‘town’. Sadly the Himalayan mountain rescue haven’t arrived yet, and many shops were still shut because its only the start of the season. I spotted a bakery and sat outside in the sun for second coffee ( which was proper filter coffee) and a freshly baked crossiant, still hot. I got chatting to another trekker who was keen to climb up to the monestry at 4000m above manang.

We set off for 1 hour basically straight up. It was tough but the views were amazing. There were 2 other monuments on the way up we kept thinking must have been the right place but it was still up up up.

We arrived and found a female monk in a cave like temple carved into the mountain. Apparently we were the first visitors that day. She gave each of us a blessing for safe passage across the high pass, and made us black tea. We stayed and chatted for a while. She had lived there 35 years. After almost an hour, other trekkers started to appear, so we decided to head back down. Much more tricky. 

I eventually got back to the hotel by midday And had a delicious tomato soup for lunch and a cold shower.

In the afternoon, myself and 3 other trekkers headed up to see the gangapurna glacier and lake at the bottom. Another high hike with an amazing view. Climbing high sleeping low helps you acclimatise. 

By the time I got back stephen and the rest of our group were back. Having had a nice day at the ice lake. 

Dinner was potato based before struggling to get to sleep because of a generator outside the room.

Tomorrow we start to go proper high. I’m feeling a bit scared but feel well acclimatised now. Fingers crossed there’s no snow. 

Day 7: upper pisang to manang

It was a cold and windy but sunny morning in upper pisang. I had Tibetan bread for breakfast along side one of my coffee tea bags. Stephen had porridge. 

The hike started gently, again through the pine forests. We saw golden eagles above us. 

Then began the up. Stephen went ahead chasing army (the nickname for the other guy in our group), meaning me and the guide just kept going passed all the other hikers taking water breaks. 

It was a tough climb. 

I tried to take it slow but it was tough without breaks. 

I realised today that I’m in a bit of a pickle, I’m not as quick as Stephen and army, but the normal speed trekkers are a similar speed to me but taking lots more breaks, both because of the altitude and the incline, this has meant I’ve spend quite a bit of time hiking on my own and pushing myself to try to keep up with the boys just exhausting myself. 

Given we’re now going much much higher I’m going to try to hike with another group and take breaks with them rather than playing catch up and just getting exhausted. I want to enjoy it at the end of the day.

At the top of the climb this morning was a pretty view point of Annapurna 2 and 3. And a lovely lady selling coffee and apple pie. It was dreamy. However a local crow stole our guides packet of biscuits.

We continued up more gradually reaching a highest point of the day of 3900m before continuing on for lunch of dal baht at Ngawal. Some of our hiking companions stayed at this stop for the night to acclimatise. 

We continued on to braga where a lot of our other buddies stopped and we carried on for manang for the next two nights. The weather started to close in at this point, getting more cloudy and cold. Just after we arrived in manang it started snowing. Looks beautiful but doesn’t bode well for us getting over the high pass. 

If there is snow it’s basically inpassable.

To be honest it doesn’t really bother me if we don’t make the pass, I do trips like this for the journey rather than the adrenaline of doing high altitude stuff. But I think the boys will be disappointed. Plan be will be to get a jeep back to porkara and then head up to Annapurna base Camp instead. Still sounds like a good adventure to me! 

Today we hiked 20km and now at an altitude of 3570m

Day 7: upper pisang to manang

It was a cold and windy but sunny morning in upper pisang. I had Tibetan bread for breakfast along side one of my coffee tea bags. Stephen had porridge. 

The hike started gently, again through the pine forests. We saw golden eagles above us. 

Then began the up. Stephen went ahead chasing army (the nickname for the other guy in our group), meaning me and the guide just kept going passed all the other hikers taking water breaks. 

It was a tough climb. 

I tried to take it slow but it was tough without breaks. 

I realised today that I’m in a bit of a pickle, I’m not as quick as Stephen and army, but the normal speed trekkers are a similar speed to me but taking lots more breaks, both because of the altitude and the incline, this has meant I’ve spend quite a bit of time hiking on my own and pushing myself to try to keep up with the boys just exhausting myself. 

Given we’re now going much much higher I’m going to try to hike with another group and take breaks with them rather than playing catch up and just getting exhausted. I want to enjoy it at the end of the day.

At the top of the climb this morning was a pretty view point of Annapurna 2 and 3. And a lovely lady selling coffee and apple pie. It was dreamy. However a local crow stole our guides packet of biscuits.

We continued up more gradually reaching a highest point of the day of 3900m before continuing on for lunch of dal baht at Ngawal. Some of our hiking companions stayed at this stop for the night to acclimatise. 

We continued on to braga where a lot of our other buddies stopped and we carried on for manang for the next two nights. The weather started to close in at this point, getting more cloudy and cold. Just after we arrived in manang it started snowing. Looks beautiful but doesn’t bode well for us getting over the high pass. 

If there is snow it’s basically inpassable.

To be honest it doesn’t really bother me if we don’t make the pass, I do trips like this for the journey rather than the adrenaline of doing high altitude stuff. But I think the boys will be disappointed. Plan be will be to get a jeep back to porkara and then head up to Annapurna base Camp instead. Still sounds like a good adventure to me! 

Today we hiked 20km and now at an altitude of 3570m

Day 6: Stephens birthday and Chame to upper posing

After arriving in Chame our guide kindly organised a birthday cake for Stephen and we did cake, cards and rum before supper. 

After another restful night (again on my part) we hiked through an amazing pine forest, up and down, and then back up again. The smell of pine was just amazing. It reminded me of childhood holidays camping in the south of france, thinking of these memories got me up a hideous climb to the tea break... where the tea shop was shut. We continued on above 3000 meters and came to lunch in a small village with rooftop restaurants and a view of Annapurna 2 and 4. W

It was a lovely spot in the sun. 

After lunch was another few easier hours hike to upper Pisang where we spent the night. We arrived a little earlier than normal, around 2:30. Stephen went for a walk up to the monestery with dependra the guide. I started to get a bit of a headache, hopefully sunstroke not altitude, but decided to take some paracetamol

And rest up. Dinner was garlic noodle soup (apparently garlic is good for altitude) and then off to bed super early. 

Total hike : 19km 

Altitude: 3300m

Day 5: Dharapani to Chame

After another night of rain, we awoke to wall to wall blue skies in the beautiful valley of dharapani. It had snowed higher up overnight so the mountains looked stunning, and the pine Forrest lining the sides.

The trail started flat for anound half and hour before a short trail down then up up up steps for some time. It felt a little easier than yesterday, and today there were lots of other hikers on the trail the same speed as me. And some slower. That kinda helped after the low of yesterday. 

We stopped for tea and biscuits with the most stunning mountain views. Lunch was only half an hour later on the rooftop of a tea house with 360 degree views of mountains.

After lunch the trail headed down then up (always) through a line Forest which smelt divine. We saw the peaks of Annapurna 2 and 4 in the distance. 

We continued along the road eventually ending up at Chame for the night, a slightly bigger village at 2670 meters. 

Tonight will be birthday celebrations for Stephen!

Total distance : 16km 

Day 4: Ngadi to jagat

After a good nights sleep (on my part, stephen didn’t sleep a wink) we awoke to fresh coffee and omelettes And began our hike around 7:30am. We headed along the valley and past a huge dam built by the Chinese for hydro electric power. At this point we had two options, a scrambling steep up and down walk, or the shortcut. 

We all agreed to take the more difficult but much more scenic route. 

We followed the path up past waterfalls, over suspension bridges decorated with pray flags, through villages and areas of beautiful flowers in bloom. It got rather hot once the sun came over the mountains. Factor 50 all round. It was a little challenging in parts. And rather steep. But good to feel the heart racing. We stopped for iced tea in a beautiful village at the top of steep climb up. And it even had a flushing toilet. How exciting.

We continued on to lunch last a beautiful waterfall which must have been over a kilometre high, called syange falls, before descending back down and over another, slight more precarious looking suspension bridge before lunch of egg fried potato. 

Whilst Stephen had a short nap, and the others used the WiFi. As the slowest in the group (given I’m with Stephen and someone trying out for the paratroopers) I set off a little earlier on the next up hill. I met two lovely Swedish medical students along the way and another group from the uk. 

The others caught up just outside of the village of jagat where we would stay for the night in the most beautiful tea house, again with an ensuite And even a hot shower. 

Dinner was veg curry before another early night with a thunderstorm in the background. 

Today I think we did a total of 18km with a gain from 930m to 1300m. 

Day 3: the start of the trek

Nepalese public buses are not my friend. After a devastating early start this morning, we were picked up by dapendra our guide, along with a English guy called Harry to head to the bus station to start our trek. We caught a public bus to Bhubhule, in the Annapurna region. The journey took 8 hours and was one of the toughest I’ve had. Stephen and I were crammed in the bad row with 3 other people and bags. Going along a narrow cliff side dirt road. With oloigatory Nepalese music on repeat. Character building. We tried to nap with cramp in every limb, and our heads hitting the roof with every bump.

Luckerly we had a few stops to stretch the legs. Grab some fruit from the road side stalls. And use the local facilities. 

We arrived mid afternoon, and our guide asked if we wanted to trek a little as we still had time that day. We jumped at the chance. Despite only trekking for an hour and alongside the dust road which has been build along part of the circuit. 

It is so much warmer than Everest region in January. Shorts sleeves and factor 50 at this low altitude. 

We arrived at our tea lodge, simple with with our own toilet (I mean hole in the ground) and showers (albeit cold). After setting up, we had a little stroll and read our books ( I’m being a proper cliche and reading Annapurna by Maurice herzog)then I did a quick yoga set before dinner to try to stretch out after the journey. 

Dinner was dal baht for me and some egg fried macaroni for stephen, before an early night ahead of our first full day trekking tomorrow.

Day 2: exploring Kathmandu

I’m going to caveat this blog post by letting you know the internet is way to slow to upload pictures at the moment. So I will try but I may be you need to wait till our return.

After a good nights sleep on Stephens part, and myself tortured by jet lag we awoke around 8 to breakfast at the hotel, omelettes to order and proper coffee. Big tick. 

I then rang my colleague and friend Kulesh, medical director of the Nepalese ambulance service, to organise when we would meet him today for the work aspect of the trip. 

He popped by to say hello and would pick us up at 12:30 to head to the Ambulance based here in Kathmandu. This is a charity I have got involved with through some work collegues. It is the first charity ambulance service in Nepal. 

After breakfast we decided to head down to Durban Square, mum you’ve probably seen it in Michael palins Himalaya. The main square full of holy temples was hit hard by the earthquake in 2015, with many of the important temples partly destroyed. We walked around the sight for about an hour with thompson tours, (aka Stephen trying to work out where we were on the map), visiting the temple of the Alive goddess Kumari, who sadly we didn’t see. 

Following this we wandered back to the hotel, via some outdoor shops, where we bought rain jackets, hiking poles etc, getting back in time to meet Kulesh.

We jumped in his car, greeting by him and his friend Peter, an English man who has been in nepal since the 70s who founded the British Nepali medical society. We then headed to the Nepalese ambulance service headquarters. We arrived greeted by some of the paramedics and the amazing team. They treated us to a lovely lunch of momos (Nepal’s version of dumplings) and chatted about how the ambulance was getting on and the training the paramedics undergo. We also talked about some of the difficulties they have had setting up the service, with the limited understanding the public have of what an ambulance is and what it can add. They are currently running education programmes in schools to try to help raise awareness.  This was followed by a tour of the ambulances themselves and some photos.

Kulesh was then kind enough to drive us back to town and take us for a walk around his hospital, the emergency room, operating theatre and clinics.

It was so lovely and such a privilege to meet these wonderful people and here about the great things they’re doing. 

On the way back we stopped at forest plate, a rooftop healthy cafe for smoothies before coming back and meeting Sadhana, head of our trekking company, and then being taken out for dinner by our guide Depandra. Treated to a Nepalese feast of more momos, dal baht and rice and curry. 

Tomorrow we leave Kathmandu at 6am. I’m not sure when we’ll next have WiFi but keep checking back!

The long journey: nepal day 1

We left London this morning in rather snowy circumstances. No trains, very few underground, blocked roads. It took several hours to mission it to Heathrow but we finally got there and settled in for a quick bite before our flight. 

We flew with Qatar via Doha. At Heathrow we were a little delayed because they needed to de ice the plane (as you do). The first leg was about 6 and a half hours.

We arrived to Doha, Stephen rather bleary eyed. 

Then sought out a much needed smoothie and fruit salad for breakfast. On top of all the healthiness I spotted one of these! 

I’m sure mum and Dad remember by addiction to pink lemonade as a small child.

After a 4 hour break we queued up to board our flight, only to be told we’d been upgraded to business class! What a surprise!! It may have been because of the medical assistance I had to do on m my last Qatar airways flight. But who knows??!!

We settled in to row 1 with champagne and a la Carter food. Godiva chocolates (yes mum!) and impeccable service. Such a treat. 

Arriving in nepal we were first of the plane, in to the confusing New visa system then through in about 20 mins. We spotted our bags! Then the sign with our names on and we were off to Thamel, the tourist centre of Kathmandu. Last time I was here was just after the earthquake and the city was is disrepair. Today, we arrived on Holi festival. The city was alive with colour with tourists and locals covered in brightly coloured paint from today’s festivities. 

We checked in to our hotel, a stones throw from where I stayed last time, then headed off for a wander, an Everest beer and some chipatis, finding an outdoor restaurant with some live Nepali music. Perfection. 

Now for a good nights sleep before so more exploring tomorrow.

The next adventure : nepal mark 2.0

My trip to nepal two years ago was monumental. After several years of junior doctoring and working myself into the ground, and a particularly tough Christmas and new year, where I worked the entire time, much to the surprise of my friends and family I booked a last minute trip to hike Everest base camp. At the time I was overweight, unfit and physically and emotionally broken from work. 

The trip was transformative. I redound my love for life and adventure, for fitness and challenges and it gave me such confidence in my ability to take on new challenges. 

Two years later, much fitter, more adventurous, and with my partner in crime, I’m returning to the country that changed my mindset, nepal, to take on the challenge of Annapurna circuit, a 19 day hike, often described as the most beautiful hiking trail in the world. 

I’m so excited to be with someone who is just excited as me about this crazy adventure, and who will be turn 30 while we’re there. 

I hope you enjoy my daily ponderings on this trip. As my nepal trip before, I won’t filter the highs and lows of high altitude trekking. I’m under no illusion how tough this is, but as tough as it is, it’s worth every headache, nausea and insomnia for the views and experience it brings.