Well, I returned from the wonderful land of Nepal on the 18th of December.
We were meant to return on the 17th but stupid Rex Airlines cancelled our friggin' flight! So we stayed in Melbourne for an extra night. We were planning on setting up a fort in front of the rex counter but very big thanks to holly's mum; she booked us into the formula 1 hotel down the road. It sucked cos we were in airports all day, and we were really ready to go home and see our families. Holly and I tried to get on a flight with another airline but they were all booked out which just added to the frustration!
SO! Aside from annoying airports, the trip was fan-friggin-tastic! We started out flying from Burnie to Melbourne, then Melbourne to Bangkok, then Bangkok to Kathmandu. it was quite confronting at first because the locals were so in your face and taking advantage of our naivety (one young man tried to assist me in leading my trolley to the bus and no matter how much resistance I put up he wouldn't leave me alone. then once I was in the bus he proceeded to ask for tips when I had no money!). The road rules were nonexistent! The only rule that seemed to be in play was that size had right of way which was good for us seeing as though we had quite a big bus on the way into the centre of Kathmandu. 2 days later, we set off on our big long bus ride to begin our walk. That was quite interesting (4WDing in a 24 seater bus...)
We started our walk in Khudi (I think) and then walked for many days through places like Chame and Manang on the way to the Thorong La pass. The pass is 5416m high and it was quite difficult going over because it was very tiring and hard to breathe. Along the way we had great campsites and we would wake up to beautiful views of the Annapurna with the sun shining on them. Some of the views were hard to look at because it was so vast that my eyes played tricks on me.
Unfortunately, most people got sick at least once and that was only because of the altitude. Mine was timed badly cos it was when we went over the pass. The Nepalese guides were awesome. They were all so friendly and were really encouraging and supportive. It was very sad when we flew from Jomsom to Pokhara because we knew we would most likely never see these people ever again.
we had a few rest days and a few nights in hotels because we either didn't make it to camp due to detours here were little stalls on the walk, but we didn't spend up too big along the way because we had to carry it and there is a pretty good chance if you could get it on the walk you could get it back in Kathmandu.
When we returned to Kathmandu after spending a night in beautiful pokhara, we were now used to the locals and it was fun to bargain with them. In the last two days in Kathmandu we did lots of shopping and sightseeing. We got lost one day and we had a clinger which was fun. To get rid of him we had to catch a taxi to Durbar Square. That was a definite experience. It was at midday and the traffic was quite congested in one spot. It was so busy that our driver would drive a metre forward and turn the engine off while we waited for the next move.
It was sad to come back home, but I think most were looking forward to returning to their own beds and seeing families again. We definitely weren't looking forward to the 13 hours of flying it would take to get home.
It’s great to be home now but it was such an experience. The Nepalese guides were amazing and the group of 20 Tassie's were fantastic! We all got along famously.
I would definitely recommend a trekking trip in Nepal to anyone!!!