29th October:- First day in New Delhi.

After a good nights sleep I was up at 6 o'clock. Down in the lobby I checked out potential plans and got myself in the swing... I would go to Varanasi for a week, come back to Delhi and then go to Goa for a couple of weeks and spend my birthday on the beach... I found some (especially given the distance to Goa) quite reasonable return flights with spice jet. After mentally sorting that out I had a wander to the ATM to get some cash and called in at a few hotels on the way back. If I was going to stay in Delhi fir a few days I wanted something a bit cheaper and with WiFi in the room. I found just the one, I had to haggle a but but got a good price of £12 Inc tax and wifi.
I checked out of the hotel, not before I experienced Indian honesty, I had been looking up some flights in the lobby of the hotel earlier. I had left my wallet there, no idea I had lost it but later, 10 minutes in the room the bell rang and my wallet was presented.

I checked out, got the difference back between what I had paid and what I should have paid and walked up the road to the hotel. I checked in, tried to log onto the WiFi and no signal. When I enquired, I was told they did not have WiFi!!!! for Fucks sake, "could I wait in my room for an hour and the owner would explain". I did point out that one of the main reasons for booking in the hotel was that they had WiFi, If they didn't have it that was an issue. I really couldn't be bothered to wait in my room, I would deal with it later. I love the Indians, it's broken, means it probably doesn't exist. I did however need to find an Internet cafe and book those flights.

While I wandered down the road just getting my bearings I was stopped a couple of times by tuktuk drivers offering to take me to Connaught place for 20 rupees. I don't know why, but my first day in any new city I must walk around with a sticker on my forehead saying, I'm new here, come fuck me for some money. I got in one and guess what, it was the same sort of scam that goes on in Thailand, they take you to a shop and they get petrol vouchers. When I got this (it didn't take long) I went along with it. After the first shop I got out as soon as possible and lo and behold the bloody tuktuk driver stopped me again. I told him I didn't want to be taken anywhere when all he would do was take me to sone place he got commission. I would make my own way, and thank you! I was actually not that far from a metro station so I grabbed myself a ticket to the New Delhi station. It won't happen again!

I needed to get myself familiar with the city, the rough guide is just too big and each time I pick it up I never get to fine what I want. I'd decided this time I'd just take a tour of the city landmarks rather than try and do it myself. While the metro seems very efficient and cheap, it is also very crowded. And the pushing, as soon as the train pulls into the station it's like a scrummage at rugby.

I caught the metro back to Karol Bagh and wander down the the main road. It was quite interesting, loads and loads of shops. I needed some new clothes and here they were cheap. The only shirt I had was decidedly grubby, I'd been wearing it for two days now. And.... They had a McDonalds, I had not had 'fast food' in months so ventured in. Chicken wrap, fries and a coke..

After an afternoon out I got back to the hotel at around 4 o'clock. It was actually only 5 minutes walk from the Market. I enquired about the trips and was surprised that the cost of the trip around the sights by bus was a mere 300 rupees. They also did a trip to Agra for just 700 rupees. That was a good deal... I would do that Monday and Tuesday and then hopefully book the flight to Varanasi for Wednesday. Try as I might I could not find an Internet cafe. Why is it, they are everywhere when you don't need one.

I was knackered, had a brief snooze and watched TV. At least that worked.


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Location:Karol Bagh, New Delhi, India

28th October:- The journey continues. A passage to India.

Today I leave for New Delhi. Roberto is carrying on his house hunting (rather him than me) so I said my goodbyes last night and was ready to pack up and check out. I had made my decision, apart from the fact at I already have a new wardrobe - due to the fact that you never get back what you send to the laundry - to start again. To be fair, most of the stuff I brought was cheap anyway so I ended up leaving most of it in the bin, I do have visions of coming back here and seeing the hotel staff in my clothes....

Once packed, my backpack was about half full and most of the was the books and teaching material I had accumulated over the months. It was hard, but it had to be done, I also finally agreed with myself to leave the Thailand and Nepal lonely planet books here. I'm sure someone will find use for them. So, on leaving the hotel my luggage pretty much consisted of what I was wearing, some books, my iPad, passport and a toothbrush.....

Checking out the owner was so sweet, he had already knocked off the 'loose change' and as I was trying to sort out getting rid of the plethora of small NPR notes, he thought I didn't have enough money and was quite ready to further discount me. I told him I did have enough money, I just wanted to get rid of my small notes. He then told me I was a very kind guest. I'd given some of the kids that were in the hotel the previous night some money and left all my 5's and 10's to the guy that cooked cleaned and bottle washed..

He did be a further favour by getting me a 'local rate ' taxi to the airport and stood outside and waved me off saying please come back soon... It was quite moving.

If cheapness is commensurate with experience of competence then I got a good deal. In the 20 minutes it took to get to the airport we must have had about 20 'near misses' . I did try to tell the guy I had plenty of time but that went completely over head. We even ran over a dog! ( it was already dead I hasten to add!) .

I will forever remember my impressions of Kathmandu and the noise before spitting as they bring a phlegm up the throat, the incessant (and unnecessary) use of the horn, the mad drivers and the dead dogs. Oh, and I almost forgot the Kathmandu valley dogs chorus which entertained and kept me awake most nights.....

Getting into Tribhuvan airport proved more problematic than anticipated. To get the security the check inn area you need to show your booking details. I didnt have the paperwork, I had written the details in my notebook but that didn't appear to be sufficient. I had not received a confirmation mail from Indigo and as I'd booked it on the IPad, had not been able to print off the details. I did have the forethought to take a snapshot of the web page, a brilliant feature and is saved as a jpeg in the photos. I showed the guard at security and I was enough.

Indigo check-In was a mass of balloons. This was the first flight from India to Nepal for the airliner, we were amusingly held back from check in while a fat cat from indigo cut a ribbon. I think al, the ground staff were new as they didn't appear to have a clue. The check in person took my book with the reference number and that seemed to be sufficient. When he put it into his computer and it brought up the correct numbers you would have thought he had got 6 numbers on the lottery. So excited was he he forgot to give me my little notebook back and that has the details of future flights etc. Bollocks. Clearly, on this occasion, the computer didn't say no! I was given my boarding pass and a little badge and off through passport control. Once in the grubby departure lounge it was utter chaos. In fact, it was just chance, on going to the loo that I spotted that the plane was boarding. The view from the right hand windows of the plane wars nothing short of spectacular as we Rose above the clouds and headed west. The Himalayas were beautiful, stretching for miles. I got to see what was very often hidden above the clouds, this time top side.
As a reward for being on the first flight we were given a metal tin with a little indigo airplane in it, very useful. I just put it in my bag.

The plane arrived on time, I still cannot get over how different New Delhi airport is from the first time I came to India. The new terminal is very modern and now there is a metro express into New Delhi railway station. Cost little more than £1.00 for the 20 minute journey. Like the new terminal, this should have been completed fir the commonwealth games last October but was only completed and opened in April.

As expected. No one was at the airport to meet me. I had booked the first nights accommodation on Booking.com and the place at Karol Bagh offered an airport pick up service. This is often the case. I have yet to experience a situation where this actually materialises into someone being there with a placard with your name on it.

Given the metro express existed I decided to at least get it to ND railway station and then see how easy it was to get to the area I was staying. It was actually easy peasy all the way. I had to get another train to Karol Bagh but it was no problem. The security is very strict as you go into the stations, you are frisked and luggage is searched through xray. Once there, I jumped in a rickshaw who had agreed 50 rupees (70p) to take me to the hotel. It was a bit if an experience as he sets off down a dual carriageway, the wrong way. Fortunately, thus was for a matter of 200 yard before we turned onto the side road and 5 minutes to the hotel.

The hotel was ok. It was budget, albeit a little on the wrong side of my budget but I had only paid for one night. I checked in, again, I didn't have my details other than an email and ref number. I paid cash but mentioned I may be staying a couple more nights. Shown to my room it was OK. The wifi gear was right outside my door so I got a great signal but that's where it ended. It was not connected to the outside world! There was wifi in the lobby though so I wandered down to check out a few things on e-mail and Facebook. At this point I noticed I had been overcharged. I challenged the guy and he told me I had been given a deluxe room (fuck knows what a standard one was like). I explained I didn't want a deluxe room, I wanted the room. At the price I had been quoted. He ummed and aghhed then agreed to move me but saying I could have some food with the 500 rupees he now owed me.
I moved my stuff just across the hall to what i thought was a better room. Still grotty!

One of the guys offered to get me sone food. I said I would like a beer,
' that will be extra sir, we have to go out and get it'
'But you owe me 500rupees, take it out of that Rip off'
'better you give me cash sir'

By this point exasperation had gotten the better of me and I waked how much it was.
'130 rupees sir'
I gave him 300 and told him to get me two.
He arrived 15 minutes later with two cans of tiger, and no change......
I ordered dinner of chicken masala, rice and nan and went to bed early. I would try and find something better. In the morning. I slept very well........



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Location:Karol Bagh, New Delhi, India

25th October:- A reunion.

My friend from Chiangmai, Roberto had been threatening to leave Italy and come and get a job in Kathmandu for few week, he had even got to the stage of booking flights twice but discussions with his german girlfriend had cased him to cancel them. In the middle of Tuesday night I got a Skype message to say he was in the Qatar business lounge in Italy and would be arriving in KTM at 9:00am the following morning and would I sort out a room for him at the premium. This I did. It would be great to see him. We had a good month doing the TEFL course in Thailand and I have to admit i was missing a friendly face here.

True to his word, I was having my breakfast on the roof of the hotel and I heard his Italian accent behind me. We chatted for a couple of hours and the arranged go meet later for dinner and a few beers. This was the first day of Divali and the town was dressed up with pretty lights and all the trimmings. The first day of the festival ( it does go on for several days ) was supposed to be the biggest.

Spend the afternoon in the garden of dreams, dreaming. It was a lovely afternoon. Who would have imagined this could have been in the centre of KTM, quiet and really pretty. Only 160 NRP too. I stayed there a few hours till the sun went in and it got cold, hatching a plan.

I finally decided on my plan. It was getting cold at night and you could tell winter was drawing in. I lay on a mat on the grass and decided that I would head to India but not as my original plan which was to head east and cross the land border into Sikkim,. It was going to be even colder there as it was further north and much closer to the mountains. Another factor that influenced me was the fact that the travel agents couldn't seem to sort out a flight, I was really reluctant to book a 17 hour bus journey as at least one went over the cliffs each month. In addition, I had seen the mountains, the choice of getting there was one of the worlds most dangerous roads or one of the words least safe airlines. It was a bit of a no brainer really....

I had looked on the sky scanner app in the mooning and noticed it was the inaugural flight from Delhi to KTM of an airline called Indigo. The price was ridiculously cheap. When I got back I booked it. I would leave on the Friday afternoon.

Met Roberto as agreed at 7:30 and we headed out for something to eat and a couple of beers. As we were walking towards Thamel an extremely loud fire cracker went off about 5 feet from my foot, I nearly had a bloody heart attack. Once recovered my composure, I defiantly needed a beer. We found a nice local restaurant and managed to quaff a nice local meal and a couple of beers. Momo and chicken chilly with a couple of beers. Happy days.

It seems somehow sacrilege to have been in Kathmandu for so long, almost three months and still not have visited that Icon of the city, nay country, Bouda. Roberto and I walked onto the to grows and jumped into a microbus for the 30 minute trip. It was a fine day, quite hot in fact.

The place is quite stunning, it is supposed to be the biggest stupa in Asia. I'm not sure that is quite true, from what I remember the Swedagon pagoda is bigger. Nevertheless it is certainly impressive. Some years ago Roberto had a girlfriend in Nepal who lived actually next to the Stupa. When he was seeing her they had both rescued a dog they found nearly dead in a field close by to Kathmandu. As we were there, we decided to visit the family. Without doubt the dog had a good memory, when it saw Roberto it went absolutely berserk. We had a cup of coffee with the family, the ex girlfriend was not there but it was really interesting to meet her mum, dad and sister. The house was a typical Nepali although the family were Tibetan. The father was a retired doctor and ex Tibetan monk. He was well into his 70s but was still working, making herbal remedies in his house. It was fascinating.

In the afternoon Roberto had a meeting arranged with an "estate agent", I use the expression loosely because he was absolutely useless. We took a micro to Boudankanta which is a village, well off the beaten tourist track but a really nice little village right on the edge of the Kathmandu valley. After much confusion (the estate agent had run out of credit on his mobile) we managed to catch up with him. The first place we looked at was not furnished (despite the fact that furnished was a pre-requisite) the second was on a 1 year lease (despite the fact that short term lease was a pre-requisite) and the third was 50,000 NRP (despite the fact that 30,000NPR was a pre-requisite) it was actually getting to be quite funny. Roberto had not quite got into the Nepali mindset and you could see was looking a little bit stressed. He once again pointed out the requirement, making it very clear that this was non negotiable and if he turned up again as unprepared then we might as well just sit and drink tea. A very entertaining afternoon.

Today is yet another festival day in the never ending Diwali, I am actually getting confused about it all. It's actually Nepali new year as well, the years in Nepal are different. It's now 2067.......
Anyway, as it's new year quite a lot of the local places to eat (the ones in Thamel that are reasonably priced) were closed. We did fine a place and as we sat down inside, (it's defiantly quite chilly at night now) I asked if it was OK to smoke. The response was that it was fine and an ashtray was brought. The chicken curry was great, the everest was great and the ciggie after the meal was great. As we were eating a group of people had come in the restaurant. They were westerners and obviously a tour group with tour leader. One of the women was looking at me, almost as if she wanted to say something, and giving me a sort of snarl. Next thing she got up, went to the bar and said something. A couple of minutes later the owner came up and asked if we could put out our cigarettes as one of the group had objected. I perfectly understand this but we did ask. it is actually not allowed to smoke inside restaurants in Nepal but they just ignore it. Anyway, we went and sat on the patio before heading back to the hotel and grabbing a couple of bottles of beers and some nuts to spend my final night in Nepal chatting and looking over the Diwali festooned Kathmandu. A nice end to a perfect trip.....

Tomorrow I leave.....



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Location:Kathmandu, Nepal

23rd October :- Pokhara, and so it continues

So my 12 days in Pokhara is coming to an end. Despite the fact that the most energetic thing I've done is a leisurely walk in the park I've chilled and had a good time.

I'm probably the only person here who hasn't been (or intend to go trekking). I have spent my time reading, gentle walking and unashamedly stuffing my face 10 steak dinners and 11 American breakfasts later I'm feeling much 'fatter' my face has filled out quite a bit and I've lost that 'jowly' look.
I've been particularly unadventurous food wise, sticking to the same restaurant and the same meal. My objective was to get some weight on. I now know how those film stars do it, it's quite easy!!!

Pokhara is so unlike anywhere else in Nepal. It is unashamedly touristic. It doesn't pretend to be anything else. Thamel in Kathmandu is very touristic but pretends to be a bit 'bohemian' and 'mysterious' Pokhara on the other hand is not pretending, it's got nothing to hide. A brilliant location. When the clouds are up the view is wonderful. There is plenty to keep you busy if you like walking. I'm sure there are much more spectacular views to be had if I could have taken the trouble. For once I was holidaymaker, not traveller or explorer.

So tomorrow it's back to Kathmandu. 8 hours on the rickety bus. I'm not particularly looking forward to that aspect of it although I do look forward not having to force feed myself with that American breakfast at Once Upon a Time........


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Location:Pokhara, Nepal

23rd October:- The last few days in Nepal

The bus journey back from Pokhara was quite painless... In fact it went much faster than the journey there, despite the fact it took exactly the same amount of time. Perhaps the most amazing part was the view of the mountains from the bus park. It was outstanding. I had arranged the bus ticket with the hotel, for some reason it was 800NRP rather than the 600 outbound but to be fair, the people that owned it had been so nice I didn't bother mentioning it to them. When I came to pay the bill it was a little less than expected and they didn't charge me for my laundry...



I got back into KTM at around three o'clock and the bus dropped me just around the corner from the hotel. There was the usual melee at the dropping off point with taxi drivers wanting a fare and getting in the way. It really pissed me off. After a relaxing 12 days of doing absolutely nothing, hear we were again in KTM getting stressed by the incessant noise and pollution.

It was Sunday and just coming up to yet another festival, this time Divali, the festival of light. Thankfully the Premium Hotel was not full and I got a room, albeit on the third floor which has crap WiFi access. That evening I had dinner and a few beers with Michael, the dutch volunteer who had just come back from yet another trekking trip. He did tell me a story which made me smile. He had done the EBC (Everest Base Camp) trip earlier in the month. I had told him the story of Julia. She had booked a 14 day Annapurna trek, decided after 2 days that she didn't want to do it and returned to Pokhara. She'd then proceeded to hole herself up in town, not telling anyone that she wasn't actually doing the trek. The fact that she didn't like it may be something to do with the fact that she had decided not to have a porter and was intending carrying about 12k on her back for the whole 14 days.
Michael's story was just as funny, he'd done the EBC, on the day before reaching base camp one of the porters had got sick with altitude sickness and had to go to a lower altitude. The guide had decided to go with him as he was coughing up blood. One of the other porters took them for the last day. They arrived at the old base camp (apparently it is about 3 hours from the existing base camp and there is nothing there) photographs were dutifully taken. They only stayed there 20 min and then were off down the trek again. On meeting up with the guide, Michiel showed him the photos, the guide said, "that isn't Everest" fuck knows where they and been.
Another friend had done the trek three times and seen the famous mountain for a total of 10 seconds. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea nit to spend the 1000 USD and do it!

It was getting close to the time I had to leave KTM and I had still a few 'must do's on my list. I had still, despite living opposite the glossy place for 2 months, nit visited the Monkey temple at Swoyanbhu , I had also not visited the stupa at Bodanauth. Both needed to be done.

I got a phone call from one of the girls on Saturday saying that the VIN office would be holding a party on Monday afternoon to celebrate the festival of light. I wasn't that keen as most of the people I knew had gone back but decided to go anyway. I would do my sight seeing on Tuesday.
The party was in the afternoon on Monday and the only person from the VIN office that I had any time for, Sumapd, was actually going to be away. For only tube second time I had been in Nepal I got TIKA'd and went through the Hindu ceremony of Laxmi. As expected, the party was a bit dull, in the main, with a few exceptions i find volunteers are a bit cliquy and dull. Non of the new volunteers were interested in talking. Bhupi, the executive director was off in Dubai and Ela, my so called co-ordinator was as rude as usual.
She had pissed me off after I finished by just forwarding an exit form to me,no explanation at all so I was being difficult. When she sends it to me personally I will fill it out. She wanted me to do it there and then but I said I couldn't. We arranged that I would go into the office on Sunday and do it. The party was a bit a dull and I left after a couple of hours.

On Tuesday I had planned to go and see the guys at the Swoyanbhu cafe, call in at the monastery and then visit the temple. It was quite a nice day. After breakfast at the cafe I went over to the temple. Ram, the guy I was coaching for the IELTS had gone home to the village for a few days but as soon as I walked through the gates I was met by loads of the little monks who wanted a high five." when are you coming back sir" was the questions from quite a few of them. They didn't seem to want to acknowledge that I wouldn't be going back.

I finished the day with my favourite, a couple of beers and a chicken curry at the premium. I still had to organise what I was doing next. That was my task for tomorrow.


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Location:Kathmandu, Nepal.

11th October :- Pokhara

Having finished my teaching I had decided to get out of Kathmandu and head up to get some mountain air in Pokhara. On the Monday I had popped into the monastery to see Lodehayer and went for breakfast with him. I also popped into the Swoyanbhu cafe to say hi to Ladpat, they had been closed for several days and this was the first day back. Unfortunately none of the staff had returned....

I had organised a bus ticket with the Premium and need to be at the Kandipath for the 8 hour bus journey. Having already done the 5 hour Chitwan journey I had somehow got it into my head that it took 5 hours, consequently was a bit surprised when we stopped off for a second break at 5:00 hours. I thought we should have been there. Obviously others were having issues with the long journey. I think I have worked out why the buses have sliding windows, a woman at the front of the bus puked through the window. Unfortunately the man in front of me had his window open too and the vomit sprayed him on the way back in the bus.

Yesterday afternoon in KTM the cloud lifted for the first real time and gave a spectacular view of the mountains. If I was impressed with that, I was going to be impressed today. There were some amazing views of the Annapurna range as we drove towards Pokhara. I wax picked up at the bus station by the hotel owner. ( maybe it's an Indian and Nepali thing but when a hotel offers a 'pick up' service, you are expected to pay. Maybe it's something to get around the numerous touts that always hang around the bus station and lie that the hotel you want to go too has closed or burnt down...
Kier, one of other volunteers had arranged my accommodation. It was a place that she had used the last time and was a real good deal at $10 per night. It was very comfortable, clean and run by lovely people.

I was going to take Pokhara as the opportunity to feed myself up. It was going to be three meals per day. I started as soon as I got there at a lovely restaurant called 'Once Upon A Time' . The staff were really friendly and I ended up eating there every breakfast and every dinner time. Full American breakfast with.... Bacon and a fuck off steak, veg and chips in the evening.
Three meals a day!
After a beer and some lunch on that first day Kier tracked me down and we had a nice chat. She had some shopping so declined an drink and we arranged to meet in the evening with Julia and have dinner and drinks in the bamboo bar which is on the lakeside. ! It was a fun night. A couple of happy hour cocktails and bed.

On the way to Pokhara the weather was wonderful, lovely views of the mountains. Now, it's shrouded in mist and low cloud. Bugger!
Still, I'm in no rush to get back. Kathmandu and particularly Thamel is not beckoning just yet!
Pokhara is just like a holiday resort. Very nice, pricy by Nepali standards, disco's restaurants, lots of souvenir shops and western travellers. Many of the travellers, wisely bypass KTM and either fly up here or take the bus.

Despite it's obvious commercialism there is a sense of the serene here. So much quieter traffic wise, the occasional honking horn but none of the driving on the footpath and incessant noise of the capital.
The bars are just like the strips of Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam. Local cover bands playing western rock music, often badly although there are the occasional good ones.
After a couple of days with Kier and Julia, a couple of Aussie girls who had been working with VIN and had travelled up independently , they have left, Julia to Bandipur and Kier back to KTM before she heads back to OZ and Adelaide. They were good company. Kier had been travelling for three months on her own in Asia. Julia, came to teach in the monastery, mad as a box of frogs.. Only 19 and I wonder how she survives. She had me in fits when she relayed the story of her trek. I had heard while back in KTM that she had headed to Pokhara to do a 2 week trek and obviously when I caught up with here here, asked about it. She looked suitably embarrassed. It turns out she'd only done 3 days, on her own with a guide but fir some unknown reason, no porter AND a 13kg backpack. Not surprisingly, after 3 days of 22 hr day trekking, she was struggling. Not so much with the trek, more to do with the luggage...
I asked why she'd taken all her luggage, "I didn't." was the reponsr, most if it was at the monastery in KTM. " I just brought the stuff I thought I needed".
Even funnier was the fact that she didn't want to tell her friends she had given up on the trek and was holed up in Pokhara till it was safe to cone out. She was concocting her trek story from snippets from other travellers . Priceless....

On the afternoon of the second day i was having a bite to eat and kier caught up with me. She asked me if i was doing anything in the afternoo . Julia had a new 'friend' and he had a boat. We spent a lazy afternoon on the lake with Guy, an Israeli guy and his two mates. His boat wasn't actually big enough for the five of us so Kier, Julia and I hired a pedlo type affair. Guy had his guitar and spent a couple of hours singing and playing. I also got a bit of welcome exercise on the pedlo.
It turns out I was becoming bit of a local legend as the Nomad who had been travelling Asia for 18 months. A number of people had heard of me. Later that evening we had big night out at the bamboo bar and then to busy bees. I must have acquired a low tolerance of alcohol as after a couple of cocktails and a beer i was pissed. I got chatting to Liverpudlian with Nepali accent! He had a business in Nepal and was married to a Nepali woman. It was certainly an odd accent.


One of the things that really gets my goat is getting ripped off. I like to think after all this time I'm very much more savvy than I was when I first arrived . It appears not!
I had been having a shave at a local Swoyanbhu barbers every couple of days when I was in KTM. The cost, 30 NPR, about 20p . I thought I would do the same here. On the way back from dinner the barbers shop across the road from my guest house shouted 'shave sir' I told him 'tomorrow' so I tipped up before breakfast. 'How much'
'150' was the reply, a bit steep but I agreed. After a very nice shave he asked I'd I wanted a massage, I agreed. It was average, no more than 15 minutes. How much????
1200 NPR. For fucks sake. That is over 10 quid. I cursed myself for being so stupid. Told the bloke, that was ridiculous. I gave him 600, still way too much but told him he would have got money from me every day if he hadn't been so greedy. Now, I will go elsewhere. Robbing bastard!

So today, low clouds, warm and fresh I have had a lazy day. A nice breakfast, a snooze and some reading. It's Friday night. I may yet go out. For the time being, it's an everest beer by the lakeside. I hope the cloud lifts soon. I would really like to do the sunrise 2 day trek to watch the sun come up over the mountains.

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Location:Pokhara, Nepal

7th October:- There are some things money can't buy......

I've had great two month teaching in Karma Samten Ling Monastery. Sadly yesterday was my last day. I have been made so welcome and have really got close to quite a few of the boys. The monks are just like any other young boys. Energetic, fun, happy..... They also show the "normal" traits of fighting, cheating at the games we play and tying to convince me they haven't. You'll have to get up earlier boys!!

As a leaving gift I went to the local shop to buy 80 "ChocoPies" they are like wagon wheels, but bigger. Now I had to come up with a plan with class one on how I could get away with giving them one each. One of the previous volunteers had given me a box of small sticky stars. I knew I had about 36 boys in the class so I wrote numbers 1-40 on the little stars. At class I handed them out. Guess what, I ran out, little hands stretched out, "me sir, me sir" the older monk in the class looked at me, very clever he said. I'd still been foxes though, quite a few had more than one star.

"Simon says, hold up your star" gotcha, I was right , four of the little buggers had got two stars. I recovered these and the. Shouted out numbers 1-38 and handed out the "ChocoPies" class two and three would be easier. I did notice that Tenzing D from class 2 had been sitting at the back of class one though. In class two's lesson, he thought he had got away with it.
"Tenzing D"
"Yes Sir- no chocolate"
Honesty prevailed!

As it was the last day, I gave the kids the opportunity to decide what they wanted to do. Games, video or lesson. Class one had chosen games and video, class two surprised me, they wanted me to play music and dance. Now this was funny. Monks doing break dancing to Waka Waka.....

Dishain is one of the main Hindu festivals in Nepal, it goes on for some days. On one of these days in the first week there is a mass sacrifice of animals at various places in the city. It is said that the river runs red with blood. In the days running up to the festival it was amazing to see the literally thousands of animals being brought into town from the villages. There were goats, chickens, ducks. Obviously not cows but pretty much everything else. I had intended, more out of morbid curiosity to go and watch. In the end I stayed at the monastery and went to Puja with the monks to pray for the souls of the animals.

The day of my leaving was a big puja, the 'fire' puja. It was held in the open air and preparation were made during the morning. It was fascinating. Together with most of the youngsters. ( the monks don't actually start going to Puja till they are in class 4). The whole ceremony tool around two hours and involved putting about 20 different foods onto a fire so the gods could smell them. It was done twice and throughout this the monks were chanting, blowing horns and beating drums. They also wore the colourful headdress that is supposed to symbolise the woman. One of the monks was making me laugh as he put the tassels that were supposed to symbolise hair in front of his eyes and grinning. Even in something as serious as Puja sone of the monks still play about. They were 'observed' by a couple of the older monks and some were 'caught out' by being in the wrong place in their prayer books.

My last night should have been spent going for dinner with Lodehayer and Ram. Unfortunately because of the festival pretty much everything was closed. Ram was meeting me at 7:00. When he didn't turn up I just thought "Nepali Time". It happens a lot. He was actually looking around to find somewhere to eat. When he couldn't he turned up at my room with a tray of chicken MoMo and sauce, explaining that there was nowhere open. We agreed to meet for breakfast the next morning.

My last morning I headed out with Ram for breakfast. There had been a bit of a drama the night before. Fighting is not exclusive to the youngsters. A couple of the older monks had an altercation and one ended up with a huge gash on his head and concussion. Lodehayer is the nominated 'first aider' and had the responsibility to take the injured party to hospital. He made his apologies and we agreed to meet after the weekend. He presented me with a Kama Samten Ling pen as a thank you gift.

Again, due to the festival we were limited where we could go to eat. I took Ram to the place I used to go to on a Sunday when the Swoyanbhu cafe was closed. Coffee and Masala omelette for me and tea and omelette for Ram. There is something odd eating in a restaurant with a monk, I don't know why....
On the way back up the lane to the we stopped many many times, it had been raining the previous night. Ram picked up pretty much every work that was on the lane and put them back in the grass. There was something so nice about that. He is a lovely bloke, even after two months of 2 hours of lessons a day he still insisted calling me sir. As I collected my stuff he gave me a hug, even though we would catch up on Monday. I called in to see the principle who gave me a silk scarf and we said our goodbyes.
Leaving was incredibly sad. I had a tear in my eye as I headed down the lane with my back pack back to Thamel.

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Location:Paknajol Rd,Kathmandu,Nepal