Onward to Kathmandu

Fear not, we are alive!

Sorry for the delay in submitting further news since we arrived in the Subcontinent, things have been a bit hectic. We arrived in Delhi safely after a pair of long flights, first to Bahrain and then onward to Delhi. Whilst Tom had a great time on board, I did not enjoy myself for several reasons:

1.) The red wine was chilled. 2.) A child was kicking the back of my seat. 3.) The air hostess was spiteful 4.) MY TV DID NOT WORK! 5.) I received a ‘bread and butter pudding’ that resembled a slice of low grade burger cheese in both its appearance and flavour. 6.) I was sitting next to Tom for 11 hours.

But all this made arriving so much better. Delhi was hectic and confusing but delightfully different from home. Our hotel was cack but dinner was top notch. We had an excellent meal in the Connaught Square area and washed it down with several G&T’s. The roads are insane and the city is not built for pedestrians. We’ve spent a lot of time standing at the side of roads looking at each other and wondering when we might be able to cross, and whther we might be able to do it before lunch. However, much to my delight we found that the best way to cross them is to gather a group of folk together and all cross together in convoy – when you do this vehicles actually drive round you rather than at you!

Today we arrived in Kathmandu after a shocker of a journey from Delhi – our 7am flight was cancelled and we had to wait til 1:40 pm for the next one. First impressions of the city are excellent. We met a really nice Nepali guy who took us under his wing, demanded sandwiches from the airline in compensation for our delay and regaled us with tales of the time he climbed Everest!

Kathmandu seems a lot more relaxed than Delhi and the people are very laid back. The scenery is dramatic (we saw the Himalayas as we prepared to pass through the clouds to land) and the area of the city where we’re staying is very lively. We just got back from a traditional Nepalese meal where we sat cross-legged at low tables whilst waiters brought us course after course of tasty morsles. We were entertained by local musicians and dancers (including a huge emu-style puppet that did its best to empty my wallet of notes!).

Tomorrow we catch the bus to Pokhara, an almighty New Years Eve party and the start of our epic Rickshaw based adventure!

The adventure begins

We are scheduled to leave for the airport at 15:45, and yet I am sitting in the house in Southfields writing this nonsense. Webbo is loading up his bag with all sorts of superfluous nonsense such as military grade bog roll and pre-cooked caseroles. I'm twiddling my thumbs and hoping that nobody tries to blow themselves up on our plane.

 Very excited! But potentially late for the flight :-)