Annapurna trek - is that a rat in the ceiling???!!!

We caught a 30 min flight from Kathmandu to the lakeside village of Pokhara on Yeti airways (yes that's right - YETI! - much like a small Aurigny). Pokhara was beautiful, warm and laid back. A welcome rest after the chaos of Kathmandu. We set off for our trek the next morning with our Nepalese guide and porter to carry our bag. The day began with stunning weather; clear and warm. After a 90 min drive to the base village we set off at a leisurely pace. Although we couldn't have done much else due to the heat and continuous uphill walking. Even after much preparation in Jersey, this didn't quite prepare us for trekking in this heat with a heavy rucksack on. (It probably wasn't that heavy to be honest - but seemed to get heavier with each step uphill!). 
We trekked uphill for 3 hours with a stop for lunch. The weather was clear and hot for most of the way but the heavens opened for the last half an hour with a torrential downpour soaking us to the skin. To make matters worse it was all steps (for those of you who know it was like the climb out of Bonne Nuit for 3 hours!). Needless to say John had a head like a boiled turnip at the end of it :-)
The accommodation was a teahouse lodge in the hills and ours was a plush one by all accounts!  Our room was one of the best and actually had a shower with lukewarm water and a toilet that flushed. We showered, put on dry clothes and rested but John's back was feeling the effects of the relentless steps.
After a simple but delicious dinner of Dal Bhat and a beer we went to bed early as the locals do to prepare for our early start the next morning. We spent the night mostly awake listening to scratching and scrabbling in the room above, then the rat trying to gnaw its way into our room through the ceiling which we both enjoyed!
The next morning John's back had not improved and we made the decision to shorten the track from 5 to 2 days by trekking back down the hill. We thought that this might happen but needed to try and it was an amazing experience anyway but not worth risking the enjoyment of the next few months to continue.
We spent the next couple of days admiring the views of the Annapurna mountain range, sightseeing around Pokhara and took some great photos which will follow as it's difficult to connect our camera to the PC at the moment. Unsurprisingly, during this time John was sick too!
Next installment - Varanasi
K & J

The view from our tea house in the hills and below our tea house with the rat in the ceiling!

Downhill at last!

The Peace Pagoda

John rowing our boat across Pokhara lake

The view of Pokhara and the Annapurna mountain range in the background from the Peace pagoda

Kathmandu; creatures and cremations

Kathmandu, where we stayed was in the tourist area....not the ideal location for us in all honesty. Place we were staying is basic but comfortable, the surrounding streets are like an Indiana Jones set crossed with shops selling hiking gear. Constant traffic and people, we have been warned not to go out after 11pm as the area is notorious for "things"...lets just leave it at that. It seems the traffic is similar to India in that you can overtake at high speed on a blind corner or crest whilst talking on a mobile phone as long as you honk your horn enough!
There was a small gecko/lizard type thing in our room, I assured Karen that they are more interested in catching bugs than interacting with us. She wasn't convinced.
I drifted off to sleep and 30 minutes later woke up with the lizard on my face.
After jumping around and brushing it off we spent 20 minutes catching it and releasing it outside to it's friends.
Over breakfast we discussed the days sight seeing. No one else seemed to mind the ant infested sugar and table, I decided today was a good day to start my diet and refrained from having sugar in my coffee!!
We went to a few temples and palaces etc, interesting architecture and history of Hinduism and Buddhism, one of the temples was called the Monkey Temple and yes it had plenty of Monkeys, none attacked us though.
The final place is where bodies are cremated on the side of the river, we paid to get in and strolled along chatting to our guide. We didn't imagine we would actually see much but as we got to the first burning pile of wood on the platform we noticed two feet sticking out of the end of it. The next platforms had charred skulls and bones and were still smoking. Our guide talked us through what happened saying the fire is started in the corpses mouth and then the rest is burnt. We walked to where a large crowd was gathered and climbed higher to see what was going on. It was a different area where VIPs were burnt, a body was being prepared and it was obviously military as a Gurka unit played the last post as the fire was lit in the corpses mouth.
Pretty strange watching this as the family sits around the corpse, it would have made for an evocative photo but we were not prepared to invade the privacy of the family. That did not seem to worry others though who were videoing. It felt invasive being there and I don't really think it should be a public thing, or perhaps not a tourist thing at least.
Next is our flight to Pokhara from Kathmandu and our trek.

J&K

Delhi...continued

Well what can we say, Delhi was chaotic, polluted and noisy but also interesting and fun! We saw Hamayun's tomb and the Red Fort. We also spent last night at the Commonwealth games and enjoyed watching the England team win the men's and women's 4 x 100m relay. The Indian's were going mad for their star triple jumper!
We are also beginning to realise that India is full of bureaucracy - books need to be filled in in triplicate, everything needs to be stamped at least four times and if it can be any more complicated it will be - just because they can!
Now it's onto the next chapter - Nepal. We've just arrived in Kathmandu and will be here for the next 10 days trekking. Don't expect to hear from us for a while as I don't think they'll have internet in the mountain tea houses!! Karen's phone doesn't work here and John has got rid of his number so we are going off the radar well and truly!

Delhi......

Well after having to get Karen a  new bag at heathrow (Anything we buy breaks)...trying to sort it with Trek Plus and Craghopper, we finally got to Delhi.
Hot and dusty and a wee bit smelly but what a place. The hassling would put Bruce to shame (come here Bruce and learn from the masters!!) but very funny. The Hotel is nice but in a lets say "under developed" area of the city.
We went out this afternoon and got hassled non stop whilst we walked around in the 41 degree heat. In the end we got a Tuk Tuk and regrouped at the hotel. It was easier!
This evening much of the same but we were getting used to it, went to a Veggie Thali place in the city which was really different, interesting and delicious. Fast food Indian style, full of locals and no cutlery. First thing we had to do was wash our hands, then we got stuck in to an array of dishes which we had no idea on what they were. Walked around the area after and got an ice cream whilst people watching, stray dog watching and getting hassled.

Our Hotel Le Roi is pictured below....classy area!