Delhi! Don't think I will be here long enough to aquire the belly famous from these parts, but the town is crazy, but not as mad as Kathmandu I don't think. I arrived a few hours ago and am on the way to London - run outta cash and is best to go earn some more and then I can come back.

Nepal is amazing, loved it, loved the people and plan to go trekking as soon as I can. Nepal they say is 'Never Ending Love And Peace' And it's damn well true. Really enjoyed worshiping Shiva too - that dude's got some good shit goin' on!
India however I have been told is a matter of "I'll Never Do It Again" Still I'm not going to be here long enough to decide such things...

Everything has happened a bit quick and I'm still a little flustered from the flight from Kathmandu and running about trying to get the dates of my ticket to London changed for less than $200... What a fuckin sham huh?

My rafting was wicked, but I think I blogged that already... Met a girl from Holland on the bus back from Pokhara who'd spent 6 days trekking around near the Annapurna ranges (what I'm gonna do when I return, but for about 8 to 10 days, I reckon I can hack it, and I have found someone to guide me that I trust) Anyway, she ran into Maoists when she was on her 3rd day and they 'asked' her to make a donation to their cause at gun point. Being a crazy holland-ish chick she said no, she didn't want to get involved in their political situation and that they should leave the tourists alone. Her guide was sat there shitting himself. Anyway, they gestured at her again with the gun, so she gave in. But you're not going to believe this, after giving them the amount they demanded, they gave her a receipt!!! Said something on it like 'voluntary donation of x amount made to the Maoist cause' I said she should try to make a tax claim on in when she gets home... Bit bloody bizzare though dontcha think??

Aside from that little story there isn't so much else to say. Pokhara is a beautiful town. I walked up to the peace pagoda on the Sunday and checked out the Shiva cave and Devi falls on the way back down. The view from the Pagoda is gorgeous though (it's an hour walk up the 'mountain from Pokhara city) and the falls are amazing. The shive cave is basically a wet cave where someone has built a Shiva shrine. The depiction of the deity looks rather like a huge cock with a hand over it.... Hmmm. Still makes sense in a weird sorta way, as well as being the god for destruction Shiva is also the god of fertility. The best way to pay homage to this god is to smoke some good hash with mates, better than dressing in your Sunday best to go listen to some boring sermons I think. Hindi is a pretty interesting religion, and I learnt a whole heap about the different deities, although not all of them as there are about 40,000 and i won't bore you with the details of the ones I did get to know.

On the Monday before I caught my bus I went to the top of Sanrangkot Mountain (on a motorbike, walking before 6am isn't my idea of fun) for a view of fishtale mountain. Unfortunately there was too much cloud to see the mountain, but the views of the valley were priceless, and I'm still glad I braved the early hours. By the time I got to the buss stop the cloud had cleared a little and I got a glimps of the peak.... beautiful. Enough to make me wanna go there, or close by anyway.

Well my pretties, I am off to grab some food and try to sleep as I have to be up early to sort out this flight bullshit... Ahh it goes on but I expect it's character building.

Ahh Pokhara! Only arrived about an hour ago but have had a peek about town and it looks pretty peaceful and nice. The lake is huge and really pretty surrounded by huge mountains and forest... mmmm nice!

On the way here from Kathmandu I stopped for two days of rafting on the Trisuli river. What an adrenalin pumping ride!! Sooo much fun. The first day I was with a group made up of 3 Israiles and 3 Japanese. We all got along reasonably well, and the rapids were excellent!! Lots of high tides and water splashing into our raft. Great fun, and I have a few calouses now to prove how hard I am - Ha hahaha. The photos should be good too. When we stopped for lunch we were surrounded by about 4 little Nepali boys all playing in the river in various stages of undress. I got the camera out and what posers they all turned out to be!! Should be some good shots though - if my camera decided to work (it's been acting a bit strange..) They were happy with a 'Dunyabad' (Thank you) and no hands were put out expecting to be filled with rupees....
The second day was the same part of the river but a different group. I spent last night camping by the road out the front of the rafting place. Initially I was told we would be rafting in two places along the same river, but due to landslides we weren't able to. Ahh well today was also good. This time it was with 2 older Indian men - one who kept saying that he was very exciting for the rafting (but I managed not to laugh about that), a Spanish guy and his Irish girlfriend. Again all really nice people. The Indian guy who was very exciting was soo funny to watch. He absolutely loved the time and every swell that came over the raft he would squeal with pleasure. He had found his adventure.
We all shared the bus together to Pokhara, and I got talking to the exciting Indian (sorry I can't remember his name!) Somehow we ended up talking about books, and he was soo suprised that I didn't know his favorite author, James Vos Fapy (or something like that) I apologized and asked what books he had written, he said that he didn't as he was now dead... OK? So I asked what books he had written before he died, I don't think he understood the question second time around either, because he answered that this author wrote in Hindi! No bloody wonder I hadn't heard of him!

I went to the Pashupati temple a few days ago in Kathmandu. Everyone here wants to be paid for everything. I wandered around, saw a body burning by the river and a few others being preparded for cremation. A whole lotta hermits and holy men live there. Apparently they spend their days smoking grass and meditating which means that when they pass from this life they automatically reach Nirvana... Maybe I'm half way there with all the grass I've smoked??! Ha ha There was this one holy man - or Sadu - with dreds that more than reached the ground, they dragged along behind him when he walked. He asked if I wanted to take his photograph, which seemed like a good idea, but luckily I negotiated the price first - 2 photos for 20 rupees. This place is bloody insane, but I like it!

The bus trip today to Pokhara was on a local bus - my first in this country. The scenery was beautiful, and the bus an experience all it's own. The isle was stacked with our packs, tomatoes, other vegies and some chicks in a cardboard box - so sweet with their cheep cheep cheeping for half of the journey. Every 15 kms or so the bus would stop, and half the passengers would get off and walk about 10 metres up the road. While they were doing this a soldier would get on and check bags and things. Then the bus would start up again, drive 10 metres and pick up the people who'd gotten off and we'd continue on our way.

Oh I should fill you in on the dinner with the Nepali people. It turned out pretty well and I have made a friend! Dinner was delicious and going to a Nepali/Indian home was a whole new experience too. They had a 'boy' who does all the cooking and cleaning. They would yell from the living room what they wanted and he would appear a few moments later with whatever it was. I couldn't help saying dunyabad everytime he appeared, I hate being waited upon, and felt a bit like they were taking the piss. But they soon told me to stop thanking him, it was his job and I was embarassing him.... When dinner came around I asked if he was going to join us, but they said no he slept and ate in the kitchen. Apparently his family has worked for theirs for generations now, so I guess it must work. A whole new different world it truly is! I went around there again for dinner the next night as well as it was my last night in Kathmandu and they invited me again, saying I had to come or they would be offended. Again dinner was delicious and the company of Ronnie and his brother Dave is a good laugh. I go back to Kathmandu on Monday and they have promised to watch their favorite Bollywood movie with me on their wide screen tv... It's all a bit strange seeing people live like this when outside the fence the streets are so dirty and dusty, and the beggars and street sellers look so poor.

Nepal - Kathmandu, dusty, dirty, crazy and somehow at the same time reasonably calm... A strange concoction really and a heaving mass of people everywhere. I have no idea how they get trucks down the streets here, you can't really call them streets, little - tiny even - alley ways, that are sometimes too narrow for two lines of people. Still things seem to get done, and people get around, somehow!!

I went to the 'Monkey temple' the other day which was pretty cool, offering great views of the Kathmandu valley. I went with two of the Nepali guys from the guesthouse where I am staying. Pretty nice people, but the language barrier is sometimes a bit of a problem. One of them was coming onto me so hard and only in the first few hours that I had met him. Try explaining to someone in sign language and pidgin English that you like them as a friend but aren't going to be having sex with 'em. Not the easiest of tasks, but I though I had managed to make sense, until later that evening....

I went out with another guy from the guesthouse - a Hungarian/English guy who has spent the last 11 years traveling. He was a tour guide with intrepid for a few of those years and then decided he was over it and wanted to just be a traveler on his own - if only hey?? We got talking about the trek I had booked and where it was etc etc. As it turned out he reckoned I was getting ripped by at least $200 (USD) and advised that I cancel the expedition. Also apparently Chitwin National park is known as 'Shitwin' by the people who've been there. (Sounds a bit like the whole Kakadu thing - Kaka-don't) So I decided to go with his advice and talk with the travel agency in the morning.

After numerous beers we went back to the guest house, rang the door bell - which makes a sound somewhere between a scream and a whistle, quite strange really - and headed off to our separate rooms. Was pretty early really, just around midnight, but things in Kathmandu seem to shut up early, something to do with the self imposed curfew because of the maoist problems. There is a slightly fearful undercurrent here. Anyway, I got back to my room snibbed the door and fell into bed and asleep almost immediately. Next thing I know I am sat bolt upright in bed and screaming, my door was open and silhouetted there was one of the Nepali guys I had been to the monkey temple with that day. He said that he was 'only checking I was home safe, and would I like to smoke some hash with him'. Ahh yeah, right, at 2am when I have been woken up, scared shitless by someone coming into my room unannounced and half dressed.... What else would I be wanting to do then smoke hash with that very same person????

After explaining that he had scared me and I was trying to sleep and could he place go away several times, he did finally leave and I went back to sleep to nightmare about little Nepali men breaking into my room and other strange things... Not the best of experiences, but then it could've been worse huh?

Anyway next morning I cancelled my trekking and Chitwin, but am still doing the white water rafting. Then I'm heading onto Pokhara for some sightseeing and a few walks around the area on my own. Am kinda looking forward to getting away from the guesthouse I am in and Kathmandu in general, although it was only one bad experience, and there are many other beautiful things about this place.
I have done a bit of shopping and tomorrow intend to go and see the temple where they burn bodies, a little morbid but apparently a 'must see' if you are in Kathmandu.

Today I met a nice Indian/Nepali man in the street and sat and drank tea (seems to be a national pastime here) with him for a few hours while exchanging stories. I'm having dinner with him this evening at his place and trusting my instincts everything should be ok. I guess that sounds a bit bloody strange of me especially after reading the above story, but I think it will be ok. In any case he wasn't giving me any weird feelings, looks or comments.

The mountains still have their charm, even though I see them everyday I wake, they're massive and wild, a certain strength and peace about them as well which reminds me of the Nepali people themselves. The streets although dusty and dirty are filled with colour and action. Not really that smelly (generally) and you could spend hours (and I have) just sitting and watching the world pass by you in all its colour, bustling sounds and splendor. It really is a lovely place, and I wish I could spend more time here. Still all things come to an end and Nepal ain't going anywhere so I will be back again one day to try that elusive trek that I have decided not to do this time around.

Well that's about it for now, next time I blog I'll be in Pokhara! Supposed to be a beautiful place and quite different from here. The town sits beside a lake and is surrounded by the Annapurna mountain ranges, and some others that I don't know the names of. Sounds really peaceful and some have even described it as magical. I shall let you know!!

Well here I am in the lofty peaks of Nepal, well actually in the Kathmandu Valley, but still it's about 2500 feet or metres (dunno which) above sea level, so still pretty damn high...

I arrived only yesterday and here is a complete change from SE Asia.. From the people to the streets, the food and just the general feel of the place.

Kathmandu is a knot of narrow streets and alley ways, all looking pretty much the same and without street names. Makes it hard to navigate your way around, and you almost need a guide just to get to the internet store! I have been lost twice already, but have managed to make it back to my guesthouse unscathed!!

Today I went to check out the Buddhist temple - or what is locally known as the 'monkey temple'. Not because they worship monkeys there (although they are protected when on temples grounds) but because there are loads of monkey families hanging out there. Ready to steal food straight from your hand or entertain you with their crazy antics. The place really smelt, but aside from that was pretty cool. I got my first 'tikka' which is a red, gold, silver, and yellow dot at the top and centre of my forehead. The red is made up of dye and rice so it stands out like a big zit, and is then decorated with dots of the other colours.

I have also booked a trek and a few other things that will keep me occupied for the 2 & 1/2 weeks that I am here. White water rafting, trekking, and elephant safari and a few other things shall keep me busy and away from the souvenir shops - hopefully!!

Speaking of shopping though, I did have to (and still do) get a few things for my trek. A coat and boots. Got the coat today which is an amazingly beautiful Nepali number, the embroidery details is wicked, but is reasonably plain in the colours so that I can still feel comfortable wearing it at home. Long warm and made of pure wool!

Boots are tomorrows purchase, and probably one of those wall hangings I keep seeing everywhere. Then it's enough spending until after my trek at least!!

It's almost the end of my travels, which although is kinda sad, I am also looking forward to getting back to life kinda as I know it. Will be good to catch up with friends in the UK that I haven't seen in years, and to be speaking the native language again!!

All good things must come to an end, but I wanna know why that has to be!!

I am back in Bangkok after 9 days of BLISS on Ko Lanta. The beach there is amazing (think I said that though) the National Park was excellent, saw heaps of Monkeys (in Thai - LING! I learnt something new!) and a huge lizard or two. Butterflies were flitting all around the jungle where we walked. It was a really good day that one, walking around there. And we were lucky enough to get in for free... Had I mentioned that already too?

Marks brother Lee turned up with his girlfriend Jemma a few days before we had to leave, which was really nice. I got to meet some of Marks family and it was good to have some others around. A deserted beach is all well and good until you want to talk to someone...! Ha ha. We went snorkeling with them on our last day there. Took a long tail boat out to a few of the islands around there (well we didn't, but the boat person did) they stopped at some good spots and we just jumped over the side into underwater wonderland. Amazing deep water snorkel action! Saw a huge jelly fish, lotsa colorful fish - some angel fish and heaps of others that I don't know the names of. But again the fish, and the colors were endless. I had a bong with the guys on the boat after our first stop. Good Thai weed! But then when we got to the next stop for some more coral and fish action I had the munchies.... Coral and live raw fish have never looked so tasty! There was this yellow soft coral that looked just like buttered popcorn, and made my stomach grumble, right after which a fish with all the gelati colors swam right by me.... Mmmmm gelati and popcorn. I was starting to think like Homer. The way back in the boat was pretty flat and calm. The driver(?) started talking about when it was wavy though and how some of the tourists start to cry when it gets a little rough. He was laughing so much about it, and mimicking '....They say mama, papa, and cry, cry, but no mama or papa for them - ha hahahahaha....'

Had a massage while I was there too. Out on the decking looking at the waves roll in while I was greased up with coconut oil and rubbed all over until all my muscles felt like jelly. Soo good, and then a few beers, plates of mussels, prawns and fish for dinner. The food there was tooo good - even I enjoyed seafood which normally I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. But I'm a convert now, which is probably worse than a non-believer.

We came back to Bangkok on the Thursday. I so didn't want to leave. The place was pure magic. Still Mark had to catch his plane (this morning) and I have to catch mine tomorrow morning. The bus back was the usual hell ride, uncomfortable seats (especially after 20 hours), a crap movie, and a driver that can't drive.... All the usual fare really and nothing to complain about. Pretty good in fact compared to Cambodia or even Vietnam.

Anyway, Marks gone, I'm on my own again, will shortly be on the road again too. Looking forward to a change of scenery - mountains and more mountains. Don't have much idea at this stage where I will go or what I will do. Shall figure that one out on the plane and today after reading up on the place. Plenty of time for all that! But for now it's goodbye to Thailand - parting is such sweet sorrow, and I will definitely return again one day. The love affair has only just begun!

Can't believe I found an internet place on this largely untouched beach. The beer ain't as cheap, but the weather is... Interesting, and there's plenty of other compensations!

Tomorrow I'm planning on getting into town and then to the other side of this island to see if I can find these sea gypsies I've read about... Maybe they're myths? Tomorrow my mission is to find out, and bring back photographic evidence of their existence.

If not then a day in the sun never goes unenjoyed, and I am sure there will be something about to entertain me... Ha ha sounds like a shakespears sister track... Bit sad me admitting that maybe? Who cares..?!

Went for a walk to the national park yesterday, saw monkeys, snakes a huge lizard. Was pretty damn good, but would've seen more if we hadn't've invited the dog from the bungalows along. Was luck enough to go in the park free of charge though, so who's complaining? These Thai have to get used to the Aussies taking advantage of an unmanned ticket booth.

Thursday it's back to Bangkok though, arrive on Friday, then Mark is off back to the UK, and then Geneva, while I continue - ever onwards (thanks St Pauls) - to Nepal and further adventures, which I am sure will include further blisters. But I'm up for it. Want to get back on the road again... Cheers Slim....

Another beautiful island with a near deserted beach, this place is absolutely gorgeous!! Ko Lanta, just south of Phi Phi, a true paradise.

The surf is great for a little body surfing (thinking of doing that tomorrow), there's a small beach just around the corner from us that is supposed to be great for snorkeling, a national park is less than a 1/2 hour walk away.... Ahh, the food is heavenly, and the people are lovely.
We've only been here for about 2 days, but I don't want to leave! Even though I may be spending a little more than I should and be having to cut back my time in Nepal and India, which is a bit of a bummer. Still life at the moment is too good, and I don't want to think too much about possible money problems... Maybe my tax will be done soon, and that should give me a little influx of funds.

I'm thinking of doing a cooking class here as, like I said, the food is delicious. The only problem with the class would be deciding what I want to learn to cook! I'm actually eating seafood, which I normally don't like, but the fish, prawns, muscles and other delights are too good to pass by. Mmm, it's making me hungry just thinking about it and I've only just had breakfast.

This afternoon, after here, we're off for a walk through the national forest... Looks beautiful, lots of big trees, there's supposed to be a waterfall around somewhere too, just a matter of finding it. So much to do if your happy doing the nature thing. There's a heap of different lizards, birds and - OH!!! I saw fireflies for the first time ever at the beach and forest here. Lovely little critters - Nay, one of the guys at the bungalows caught on for me last night and gave it to me, so I also got to check 'em out up close. Little crabs on the beaches, aaaahhhh it's paradise.

Was also thinking I may do an elephant trek here, through the national park, and hopefully to the sea gypsy village... Still all depends on time and cash - as always! The elephants seems to be pretty happy and I haven't seen any big spikes used for discipline or anything, so that's ok. Will have to see how it goes. There's plenty of other things to do to keep yourself occupied - kayaking (again) there's a Viking cave around here somewhere that has paintings from ages ago. Although that may be on Phi Phi, can't remember exactly.

Aside from that though, there's not too much to say - I'll definitely be having a massage before I leave. Limber me up for the mountainous trekking through Nepal!! The weather has been fabulous, the company ain't that bad either. Mark's brother is coming out to Bangkok in a few days and may be meeting us down here. Depends on if he gets here in time though as my time (and Marks) in Thailand, is almost up -for this year at least. Still you never know what's just around the corner do you??

It's definitely good to be away from everything, including computers (had to drive for about 15 minutes to get to this one), and the general hustle bustle of cities and such. Maybe I will stay.... Find a job and settle here...? Probably not though.