It’s night-time at Cave Lodge, the lights are surrounded by swarms of incredibly stupid flying bugs and a huge gecko just jumped from the lampshade to the table with a thud like a dropped bag of sugar. So what have we been up to since Loy Krathong? We spent four days in Chiang Mai eventually, » » »
Archive for November, 2010
28 November 2010
Theme of laid-back
Tags: accommodation, caves, food, relaxing, temples
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28 November 2010
Cave-holing
We went on a caving trip and visited three caves. There’s only photos from two, because Waterfall Cave involved crawling on our bellies through foot-deep water – even I wasn’t determined enough to try and take a camera there! Related Images:
25 November 2010
T.G.S.
“Why the f*** aren’t you making babies?!?” This is the comment from Singh (a friendly chap who turns out to be trying to lure us to a bespoke tailor for a commission) when we explain that we have been together for over fifteen years. I’m not sure whether all his swearing is natural, or part » » »
25 November 2010
Festivities
Loy Krathong, the festival celebrating the Thai people’s close connection with water, is said to be celebrated best in Sukhothai and Chiang Mai – we were lucky enough to coincide our travel with the last night of the festival in both places. Related Images:
25 November 2010
Loy Krathong
The unofficial slogan of Loy Krathong (the Thai festival of lights) in Chiang Mai seems to be “Play With Fireworks!” We’re on the main bridge over the river Ping, and people are cheerfully lighting firecrackers and fireworks and flinging them out over the water, up into the air, or if their aim is bad back » » »
22 November 2010
Nepali farewell
My farewell gift from Madagascar was a dodgy stomach, looks like Nepal’s farewell gift is lost luggage. Our flight from Kathmandu was via Hong Kong with DragonAir then onto AirAsia, and the luggage was checked right through. But after 14 hours of transit I was standing wearily at luggage belt 12 in Bangkok airport with » » »
18 November 2010
Nepal nutshell
The main reason to visit Nepal is for trekking in the Himalayas – even then, you need to be the right kind of person to enjoy it. Nepal does have friendly people, it is cheap, there are some great cultural sights, and compared to most of Asia it is hassle-free. But the squalor and chaos » » »
18 November 2010
Temple details
I love all the little details that abound in the strange mix of Hindu and Buddhist temples around Nepal. There’s no captions or commentary attached to these pictures, they’re just for browsing through (who knows, one day I might find time to add some witty quips!). Related Images:
Tags: architecture, temples
17 November 2010
Teahouse trekking in Nepal
Written by Maureen We went on two treks in Nepal. The first was a five day Poon Hill trek in the Annapurna region. The second trek was ten days combining Langtang with Gosaikund lake, although we actually snubbed the holy lake and instead spent a day searching for red panda, musk deer and other wildlife » » »
17 November 2010
Langtang trek
Our trek up the Langtang valley will leave us with lasting impressions. The days of trekking in the majesty of the mountains and the astonishing forests of pine, larch, alder, bamboo, berberis, pieris, azalea and rhododendron couldn’t be better… the nights of endless hands of rummy in freezing cold lodges with the most rudimentary ablutions » » »
5 November 2010
F@!*ing bus
WARNING: this post contains expletives (which I feel are fully justified in the circs) Our bus ride from Bardia to Chitwan was memorable. It included all the cliches: vomiting women, bare-arsed children suckling and roadside wee stops, but those are asides. There were no seats inside, so we began up on the roof which – » » »
5 November 2010
Visiting Bardia
Bardia National Park is a seldom-visited wilderness in the West of Nepal, said to be the best place to see tigers. We were on the lookout for otters however… Related Images:
3 November 2010
Three months in
Written by Maureen Okay, so it doesn’t feel like a holiday anymore. The last few weeks have left me frazzled and desperately comfort-sick. What with dodging motorbikes in Kathmandu, suffering altitude-sickness in Tibet, the physically demanding trek and always worrying if we’re all going to make it, the ultra-basic and often smelly facilities on the » » »
3 November 2010
The Fact of Leeches
It’s the morning after Ann and John have left to return to England, and we’re riding on the back of motorbikes over dirt tracks through bucolic Tharu villages in the early morning light. The ride is fun and the people and rural scenes around us are great. We’re going to another spot on the Karnali » » »
2 November 2010
Poon Hill trek
Photos from our 5-day Poon Hill trek with Ann and John. Related Images:
1 November 2010
Upon Poon Hill
Day One, we start hiking at 10AM through the straggly villages of Nyapul and Birithani. The day soon heats up and it also soon turns out that the heat, climb and pace of the trek are a bit tough on John and Ann. We are sweltering our way up a valley of terraced farmland and » » »
1 November 2010
Bhaktapur
Bhaktapur feels like what Kathmandu may have been 30 years ago. Parts of the city still feel positively mediaeval. We like it. Related Images: