Nepal - Pokhara and Kathmandu

Alas my time in Nepal has come to an end. After Chitwan, Dale, Denise and Elron (who we met on the trek) went to Pokhara, in the west and another major trekking area. The mountain range is called the Anapurnas and they are stunning.

The one morning we had there, we went for a mini hike up a mountain to a stupa (temple, pagoda). We started on a trail. Halfway up we got attacked by leeches. Elron was wearing sandals and had them all over his feet. Dale had blood all over his ankles and Denise had leeches trying to get through the mesh of her running shoes. After fighting them off for a while, we continued on the trail, but then lost it and were in the middle of the forest. We could see the stupa through the trees above us, so decided to keep going and bushwacked our way towards it. We got attacked by leeches again, on more than our feet because we were in the thick bush. Denise fell and slid on her ass down some mud. We FINALLY made it back to the trail. Leeches were everywhere! Elron got out his lighter and burned them off Denise's ankles then used his Leatherman pliers to pull a bunch out of her runners. I escaped relatively unharmed, with one leech bite on my ankle.

This all happened before 11am. We headed back to the town and got lunch. Then we lounged around our guesthouse for the afternoon. It was hot and it was the first day that really felt like vacation. I read my book in a hammock. Our guesthouse had a pomegranate tree. Never seen one before.

We spent 2 nights there and then got the bus back to Kathmandu. Elron was flying back to Vancouver and Dale, Denise and I were on our way to Bangkok. The 2 days in Kathmandu involved a lot more lounging and eating. We met up with Christofer from Sweden, aka Swedish Meatball or Swedish Sensation, from our trek. We visited the Monkey Temple, which was spectacular. Lounged around more and ate more.

We flew to Bangkok with Royal Nepal Airlines. Our flight was schduled for 8am. I went to their offices the day before to confirm our flights. Not on the phone or online, but in person. It had been delayed 3 hours. Their printer was not working so we did not get new tickets. RNA doesn't issue e-tickets either. On the day of our flight, we arrived at the airport on time, to learn that our flight had been delayed another hour and a half. Once we got checked in and to the gate, the plane didn't leave until another 45 minutes after it was supposed to. For us, it didn't matter because we had no connection in Bangkok. But I can't imagine how the delays might have screwed up other peoples' days.

Now we are in Bangkok. Leesa and Romi are flying in from Seoul in a few days. Our other friends Beth and Mike, who also taught English in Seoul are here too. After a few days here, we'll go to Cambodia.