Written by Maureen, Financial Director of M&M Ltd Our goal in Asia was to enjoy ourselves while spending less, and save up for Indonesia where we plan to meet up with friends and family. So how did we do? Hong Kong Hong Kong is easy to summarise. A cosy room in a budget guesthouse was » » »
Archive for category ‘Nepal’
Budget Update Asia
Budget updates, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Thailand, Tibet
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 » » »
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:
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 » » »
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 » » »
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 – » » »
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:
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 » » »
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 » » »
Poon Hill trek
Photos from our 5-day Poon Hill trek with Ann and John. Related Images:
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 » » »
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:
Festival time!
It’s festival time in Bhaktapur! The festival is Dashain, biggest festival in the Nepali calendar, and this morning we sat on the steps of a temple and watched them chop the heads off of goats and a bullock with a huge kukri knife. One blow – CHOP! Then they drag the body (still twitching, ewww) » » »
Kathmandu in pics
So here are the pictures hard-won from the streets of Kathmandu. Despite the hard work, it is a city full of arresting sights. Related Images:
Kathmandu goes BEEP
Sight-seeing in Kathmandu is an endurance sport. The whole city is clogged with motorbikes, pedestrians, tiny Suzuki taxis and other random obstacles, which might be okay if the roads weren’t barely one lane wide with shops and street pedlars spilling out onto them. Crossing a road is like walking across the dodgems ride at a » » »