This is an account of a 4 week trip to Nepal as the first part of a 6 month trip including India and New Zealand. This was our first visit to Nepal (and definitely won't be our last) with the main aim of trekking to Annapurna Base Camp (about 17 days). You can do it in considerably less than this if you are short of time.We also had a few extra days in Kathmandu (well worth it) and also a 3 day visit to the Royal Chitwan National Park(hopefully to see some tigers, but without any luck). It is pointless duplicating lots of general info here about Nepal and Trekking itself as there lots of sites that you can visit, try these 2 for starters....www.info-Nepal.com & www.trekinfo.com

We travelled to Kathmandu via Delhi as part of our RTW ticket. The big disadvantage with this is that you subject to the querkiness of Royal Nepal Airplanes. Be warned...flight delays are common, sudden flight cancellations can occur and flight communication at the airport is practically non-existant. Just have some patience! and above all make sure that you re-confirm your return flight from Kathmandu or you could be left behind. If you are only going to visit Nepal from the UK then there are direct flights to Kathmandu.

Trekking:

We booked our trip via a UK agency acting on behalf of a Kathmandu company, mainly because it was our first time and we wanted the reassurance that something was booked before we left. We had a guide(spoke good english) and a porter(spoke a little english). This is a good arrangement as they organise all your lodge accommodation, meals etc on the route, and above all else carry your heavy packs and our two were great company as well. We carried a day pack and just followed them ....no problems at all, just enjoyed the fantastic scenery. The cheapest option is to trek on your own and carry your own pack(definitely not recommended unless you enjoy pain, saw a few younger fit people doing this). Probably the most economical is to use just a porter which you could either arrange via a trekking agency at Kathmandu (need a couple of days to sort that out) or do it over the internet beforehand. Fully inclusive Camping Treks are the most expensive, we would recommend using the lodges, certainly around the Annapurna and Everest regions, they are everywhere and very cheap with a wide choice of food, so you don't have to eat the national Dal Baht dish everyday but you should try it at least once. Take some 5 and 10 US dollar notes, very useful around Kathmandu, locals prefer them and you can get them changed easily into Nepalese cash.. Trekking equipment is very cheap, though check the quality first.

Nepal...a summary:

The not so good bits...............

Waiting all day in Delhi airport for our 20:15hrs so we spent the time sleeping and watching Indian Movies and Teletubies on TV in the lounge with a brief saunter out into the heat and dust. The flight eventually left after 22:00hrs. Jo was sick on the flight, arrived 00:30hrs, no car (as was arranged) waiting for us so we got into a beat-up old van and bumped our way down dark streets, including the wrong way up a narrow one way street to arrive at the hotel where they had no record of our reservation. Luckily they had a room..all sorted out in the morning. 4 days into the trek we both had the Kathmandu quickstep...not very pleasant, but it only lasted 12hours. 2 days later Jo's camera broke so she does not have any pictures of the best scenery. 2 days later her tooth broke, luckily the filling is still intact. Any remedial work will wait until NZ. Lots of coughing, due to the excess exhaust fumes in Kathmandu and the dry air in the mountains, some sneezes and splutterings catching germs from all the other coughing trekkers...Jo was the worst. Seems she is having all the bad luck.When we returned to the Kathmandu hotel after the trek they had overbooked and we finished up in the managers office, which besides a huge office desk happened to have 2 beds. We got a proper room the next day.

The good bits......

Basically everything else. Even the chaotic traffic in Kathmandu had a certain noisy charm. Narrow streets with bikes, rickshaws, motorbikes, cars, tut-tuts(motorised rickshaws) all trying to get past each other and all the pedestrians as well, as there are no footpaths. The amazing thing is everybody is so polite even the hawkers and touts. Every building just about is a shop plus you have street sellers and guys walking around trying to sell you something. Very cheap prices for goods and services. Pokhara where we started the trek from (125miles away on a 6hr interesting bus journey to say the least) is a much more peaceful place by a lake with the snowy mountains in the distance.

On the road...crazy drivers everyway, overturned buses, lorries, broken down lorries. No recovery services so they just get left or if it can be fixed they do it there and then, even in the middle of the road with traffic sqeezing past either side. some real rough surfaces in places as well. Forget getting a MOT for your car, you would not believe the state of some of them.

On the trek...up at 06:00, off by 07:00 and finishing around lunchtime then lazing the afternoon away. Staying in lodges with your own bedroom and a good variety of food especially considering everything has to be carried in. Some lodges with electric but higher up with kerosene lamps and candles. Some with solar powered hot showers, if you are early or if not then a bucket of hot water for 50rps or if not then just don't bother. Where it gets cold the huge dining table has a pit underneath( where they put the kerosene heater) and a blanket fastened around the edge which you pull over your lap, result...lovely warm legs...and a cold back. All sorts of humanity and animals on the trail, trekkers of all nationalities, porters with the goods for the lodges, donkey trains, bullocks and goats being driven. Kids going to school, the better off taking their kids on a 2 day or more walk down to the road for a bus back to boarding school after the festivals.

Some interesting bits.........

Hashish plants in the lodge garden, giant bamboo swings that the kids play on all day. Goats being roasted. A chap staring into a bullock's eyes with a large sledge hammer poised over his head ready to kill it with one blow when the bullock is very still..we moved swiftly on. Some very steep stone stepped trails, one had over 2,300 steps, our guide counted them. Difficulty breathing at high altitude(over 3,500 metres), weird when trying to sleep (scary the first few times). You take 4 or 5 breaths then suddenly gasp for air thinking you are going to choke.

How about this for a mad-cap day...

Woken at 05:30hrs at the jungle lodge for cup of tea then a 2hour jungle walk trying to see some animals. Breakfast at 08:00hrs. Leave on jeep at 08:45hrs to go to river for a short canoe crossing and then a lorry to get us to the road end at 09:45hrs. Our car is expected at 11:00hrs but does not arrive until 13:00hrs(they had had a puncture). We spent the time in the shade playing cards, much to the local interest. A 5hr drive to Katmandu, with a short meal break. Avoided 3-4 head on crashes, numerous buses and lorries trying to force us off the road(they are the kings of the road..nothing gets in their way), avoiding cows, goats, children, bikes and other non-motorised traffic that gets in your way to arrive in Kathmandu just as it is getting dark. Half the cars don't turn their lights on until it is pitch dark, plus you have all the bikes without lights and people everywhere. Arrive at hotel at 18:00hrs - overbooked, eventually get the managers office at 19:30hrs, quick shower then out for a meal and buy some presents as there is a 2 day strike planned for the day after, to protest against high petrol prices. As it turned out the strike was only partially effective..less traffic on the roads.

Thats Nepal for you...a truly amazing place, full of contrasts and with absolutely fabulous mountain scenery.

TRAVELOGUE