Category Archives: Nepal

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Why Nepal will need the travel community

It is with heavy hearts and great sadness we have watched the tragedy of the Nepal earthquake unfold. All too often natural disasters strike countries that lack the infrastructure, equipment and resources to deal with them.

The earthquake has killed thousands and destroyed the majority of historic UNESCO listed buildings not to mention the numerous people unaccounted for at the foot of Everest. Over the next few weeks news crews from around the world will be flying into Nepal, there will be blanket news coverage, but then what? All too quickly the world will forget about Nepal as the next disaster strikes, or the latest cash crisis hits the EU.

Much of Patan Durbar Square now lays in ruins...

Much of Patan Durbar Square now lays in ruins…

Over the years Natalie and I have witnessed first hand the devastating flow on effect these disaster can have on local communities. I had been in Bali six weeks before the bombings in 2002 and when I returned two years later I found the streets deserted, people who had so heavily relied upon tourism struggling to make ends meet. Natalie was in Koh Pi Pi shortly after the tsunami of 2005, and last year we spent time on the Filipino Island of Malapascua only months after Typhoon Haiyan had ripped through the community (in fact our dive centre had only regained electricity the week before we arrived). For those who follow our blog you will also be aware of our push for people to return to Egypt now the country has settled down.

Ask anyone who has visited Nepal and they will tell you what an amazing place it is. The stunning Himalayan Mountain range towering over the bustling and vibrant Kathmandu Valley. Filled with amazing architecture and incredibly friendly and fascinating people. So what, as the travel community, can we do?

Happier times, Natalie and one of the locals in Bhaktapur

Happier times, Natalie and one of the locals in Bhaktapur

Already there have been some amazing initiatives. Intrepid Travel have set up a Nepal Earthquake Appeal through their Intrepid Foundation as have a number of tour operators who specialise in the area. Most importantly, the travel community cannot forget about Nepal. In the months and years to follow, the country and the people will need us more than ever. The country relies heavily upon tourism, and more than any tin rattle, or petition signing, by encouraging visitors to continue to visit is one of the best ways to help Nepal overcome this tragedy. The country will need tourists more than ever and by not cancelling your travel plans or for those of us who have visited, continuing to promote Nepal to our friends, the travel community can have a positive impact in rebuilding Nepal.

Sadly however, in the meantime we can only hope and pray for the families of the missing and the lost…

– Dean

Click here to see the comparison of just how much of Nepal’s historic buildings have been destroyed.

 

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Come Fly With Me……

Over the years the two of us have done some pretty crazy things. Sky dived, Bungy jumped (some could say Natalie was addicted for a while!), rafted some of the worlds best rivers, mountain biked the worlds most dangerous road, swam with whale sharks, scuba dived, hand glided (we could go on but you get the picture!) but there was still one extreme box to tick for Natalie and an activity for us to do together – Paragliding.

I had done it before in Austria with work but Natalie never had. Researching Pokhara we discovered it was one of the best places in Nepal (and indeed the World) to do it. We mulled it over but it wasn’t until we caught up the Queensland crew for dinner in Kathmandu (we had met them all in Bhaktapur) that the decision was made. So Micky you guys can take all the credit!

We had hardly had time to find a guest house upon our arrival in a Pokhara before we were checking out every company in town. Finally we settled on Sunrise Paragliding, one of the best and longest running. The gear looked good the instructors ok, but critically I was happy with their Go Pro equipment!

The following day, jump day, was probably one of the most amazing weather days we have had all journey. It started with a 5am drive up to Sarangkot to watch the sunrise over the Annapurna mountains, it was also the mountain we would be jumping off later. Not a cloud in the sky, the adrenaline was already starting to flow.

Good Morning!

Good Morning!

Just after lunch (T-30 minutes to launch) we piled into the back of a pick up with our pilots, two locals and a French guy and drove up to the launch pad.

Drinks with lunch - Red Bull gives you wings!

Drinks with lunch – Red Bull gives you wings!

Fast forward to T-5 minutes to launch, we had arrived at the take off point and were assigned our pilots. I was certain the swaggering French pilot would take Natalie (having spent the journey to the launch pad ‘oh-la-la-ing’ her!) however we were both given locals. Natalie had Bimed and I had Man!

As I was being strapped into my harness I turned to see Natalie running towards the edge and all of a sudden she was lifted up into the air and was gone.

Natalie when I Iast looked - then she was gone!

Natalie when I Iast looked – then she was gone!

Natalie flying high

Natalie flying high

My turn. We now had to wait for a wind gust to fill the chute but nothing was coming. All of a sudden Man said “here it comes look at the trees blowing as the wind heads up the mountain”. Sure enough within seconds our chute rose and we ran towards the edge of the runway.

Before I knew it the ground dropped away and we began circling over the take off point slowly trying to catch the thermals following the path of the hawks soaring in the sky. The scenery was amazing, a cloudless sky and a full view of the Annapurna mountains around us. The sky was filled with reds, greens and oranges of the tens of paragliders airborne today but finally Man and I rose to our highest point, this time following an eagle up the thermals and for a short period of time there was nothing above us just empty sky, wow!

Flying!

Flying!

Even time to film on the Go Pro

Even time to film on the Go Pro

Paragliding was a totally different feeling for us, unlike skydiving where you are gently descending to the ground, paragliding is all about trying to stay up, catch a thermal, the wind would drop, and so would you, then catch the next one. In fact it almost feels like being on a boat, up and down, up and down. To be totally honest I had a few moments where I thought I was going to be sick!

Coming in over the Lake

Coming in over the Lake

There was only one problem with having such an amazing weather day and that was a lack of thermals. As we flew along a ridge Man let out an “oh oh”. What?! Certainly not what you want your pilot to utter 1000 m above the ground! It was ok he informed me,the winds were dropping and he couldn’t catch a thermal to propel us up any higher. With that we started our descent. I’d loved every minute and so wasn’t disappointed – we’d had a good ride.

Flying together

Flying together

We landed in the drop zone and sat around for a while watching others land, the young boys scurrying around packing up the kits and enjoying the beautiful views over the lake. What a rush, just another perfect day in amazing Nepal.

– Dean

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Chapter Six: The Mighty Himalayas, Nepal and the Soap Opera of Nepali Buses

As we descended down the Friendship Highway, our journey into Nepal was about to begin.  We said our goodbyes to Tashi and Dorje, before crossing over the Friendship Bridge and completing the almost too easy process of buying our Nepal visa and being stamped in.  We were here – a major tick for us both as Nepal is a country we had both wanted to visit for a while.

First waterfalls in Nepal

First waterfalls in Nepal

We set off and a few hours later ended up in Bhaktapur – an old medieval city that these days almost sits on the outskirts of Kathmandu.  It is widely accepted as the best preserved example of a medieval city in Nepal and we could see why.  We checked into our hotel and had an amazing view over one of the City’s main town squares.  All of a sudden we were not alone – tourists swarmed over the sights by day, as many came on day trips from the Capital.  Come nightfall, it was much quieter.  We were up early and had a good look around.  Dean’s camera was on overdrive as he snapped everything and anything.  The architecture was totally different to all we had seen already and with the Himalayas in the background it was perfect.

One of the many temples in Bhaktapur

One of the many temples in Bhaktapur

We left our rooftop room behind and made the short journey to Kathmandu – our base for the next five days.  Firstly we had visa matters to deal with.  We headed out by crazy taxi ride to the Myanmar embassy and lodged our application.  We were then without our passports for three days.  A strange feeling really as even though they were in safe hands (and the embassy was so amazingly helpful) our passports were our lifeline to the whole trip and home.  We then set about heading out to see many of the sights.  Durbar Square was our first stop.  We happened to be there for the first time late afternoon, and we went into see the Living Goddess – a small girl who is selected to live and serve her Country until approximately puberty.  She appeared for all of about 10 seconds to look down and see all these tourists staring up at her.  Whilst there are many trappings that come with this role, as she nervously fiddled with her Red Cardigan, one couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

As photographing the Goddess is banned, a picture of a picture will have to do!!

As photographing the Goddess is banned, a picture of a picture will have to do!!

We then went out to both Boudhanath Temple and Swayambhunath Temple (the Monkey Temple).  Both were very grand Buddhist temples, quite different from each other, but what they had in common was the numerous prayer flags blowing in the breeze, offerings by pilgrims and the now familiar Nepali ‘eyes’ looking at us from the stupa.  In particular we loved Boudhanath.  As we were there around full moon, there were huge celebrations going on and monks everywhere.  One young monk kept waving and smiling at me.  I asked if I could take his picture and he loved it.  He then hunted us down to wave goodbye on the way out!  As the formalities ended, we followed the kora around in circles a couple more times, marveling in the beauty of the sight.  It really was so impressive and was a photographers dream.

My new friend

My new friend

Boudhanath Temple

Boudhanath Temple

Swayambhunath Temple

Swayambhunath Temple

I have already written about ‘birthdays on the Road’ but this blog would not be complete without mentioning it again!  Whilst some trekking does take place over the winter months, many of the popular tracks are closed or offer unpredictable weather conditions and so we made the decision not to do any serious trekking, but instead to focus on travelling around.  The Himalayas are such a highlight of Nepal; we couldn’t not get as close to them and Everest as possible.  This involved a Mountain flight conveniently timed for my Birthday.  I was treated like Royalty the whole way through, from the cabin steward pointing out mountains to me, to being up in the cockpit as we got as close as possible to Everest (not to mention cake on the way back).  I loved every minute of it.  Such a thrill.  The mountains just looked like meringue peaks and really were such a sight.

Birthday cake by Everest

Birthday cake by Everest

Mt Everest. This doesn't do it justice as pictures don't capture how blue the sky was!

Mt Everest. This doesn’t do it justice as pictures don’t capture how blue the sky was!

Throughout this trip we have been eating a lot of momos or dumpings.  We prefer them steamed so they are soft packages of goodness!  We decided to spend a morning learning how to make them.  Initially we went to the markets to buy the ingredients, and then we set to.  Not as easy as it looked but the end result was pretty tasty!

Master chefs!

Master chefs!

It was time to move on again and we took our first of the Nepali buses.  This time we were heading out to Chitwan National Park down south.  With 125 tigers we were hopeful to see one, although if the truth be known they are so hard to spot our guide had only seen them six times last year and waking tours are so popular in the park that our changes were slim.   The lodge itself was a little haven by the water, and no sooner had we arrived but we heard calls of ‘Rhino, Rhino’.  Our first sighting only thirty minutes after arriving!  We spent the next couple of days trekking on foot, elephant and in a jeep.  We saw several rhino, species of bird, monkey, crocodiles, deer and wild boar but the elusive tiger evaded us.  There was a small part of me that was quite pleased about this as I didn’t fancy meeting him when I was eye-high to him!  Now I should add here that I did something on this trip that I’m not proud of, was against my principles and still doesn’t sit well.  Back in 2005 having volunteered at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand and seen the damage riding elephants can do to these magnificent creatures I vowed never to ride one again.  In Chitwan elephant safaris are the norm and it just what you do, so reluctantly I went along with it as ultimately the revenue from riding them goes towards their food, but no sooner had we got on Sara our amazing lady, I felt bad.  By then it was too late.  There has been lots of work to improve the conditions for the great creatures in the park, but it still felt wrong and I wanted to get off as quickly as I could.  When we had the choice to do it again later in the afternoon we declined and took the jeep instead.  It was noisy and totally unsuitable for wildlife spotting (although ironically we saw much more despite breaking down twice!) it wasn’t harming anyone.  Lesson learnt, never forget your principles.

Rhino!

Rhino!

Sara

Sara

Our next journey took us down to stunning Pokhara.  The backdrop here is the Annapurna range, and we could not have been blessed with better weather.  The ‘Fishtail Mountain’ was in clear view the whole time we were there.  It is a holy mountain, and as such cannot be climbed.  I had read about two museums that I fancied.  Neither of us are museum people, but going out to these two proved an excellent decision.  The first was the Mountain Museum.  Whilst the exhibits themselves were very good, the jewel in the crown was the view over the Annapurna range.  Stunning and not a cloud in the sky.  The next was the Gurkha museum.  Every year thousands and thousands of Nepalese queue up for the grueling selection process to join the Gurkhas.  Perhaps the most interesting exhibits were the profiles of those Gurkhas who had been awarded the Victoria Cross and the various photographer displays tracing the history of the regiments.

The Annapurna range from the Mountain Museum

The Annapurna range from the Mountain Museum

Pokhara is set along Phewa Lake – the second largest lake in Nepal and makes for an amazing backdrop.  We took a rowing boat out (with mixed success!) and a journey over to the World Peace Pagoda, but one of the key things to do in Pokhara is to ‘fly’ near the mountains as well as landing over and alongside the Lake.  How could we turn down this opportunity to Paraglide?  Dean will tell you more about it separately, but needless to say it was great fun.  You could feel yourself flying like a bird with the hawks soaring nearby and the views were amazing.

As our journey through Nepal drew closer to the end, we took our penultimate bus journey.  We wanted to get form Pokhara to Lumbini, via Bhairawa.  The first leg of this journey should have taken five hours. We selected a journey over a scenic mountain pass and made an early start at 6.30am.  Now at this point I’d like to introduce the characters in this soap opera.  Firstly there was the driver.  He liked to go incognito, wore a hoodie all day and either had a VERY heavy right foot (thank goodness for breaks) or was on a go slow.  He systematically made half the bus sick.  Then there was Mr. Suave.  Mr. Suave only broke a smile once during the day.  It was his job to collect money… oh and above all look cool.  Finally there was bag boy.  He was up and down on the roof like a yoyo storing luggage, as well as hanging out the door trying to muster up more passengers.  He gave the shouts to the driver – one bang on the door to go and two bangs for him to screech to a halt for new passengers….  Now with our knees under our chin and a metal bar between our legs we set off on the five hour journey … or so we thought.  This was supposed to be a long haul bus… instead we stopped (at bag boy’s request) every ten minutes to collect / drop off more passengers.  At times our driver was racing round corners quicker than the best GP driver.  All this resulted in was making several of the passengers’ ill… thankfully I was not one of them.  Eventually we rolled into Bhairawa at 3pm….  Simple maths will tell you that this five hour journey had taken eight and a half hours.  Worst still we weren’t even at our end destination!  We had to catch another journey to Lumbini!  We made it and it was worth the long haul.  The sight where Buddha was born was a little underwhelming, but well worth going to.  The temple complex there (where different nations have their own Buddhist monasteries) was fascinating as each was a reflection on the host country.  We especially like the Myanmar one.  After going to so many Buddhist temples it felt important to go to this sight.

The driver

The driver

Mr Suave

Mr Suave

Bag / stop and go boy - the man who really earn't his money

Bag / stop and go boy – the man who really earn’t his money

A packed ride!

A packed ride!

So our journey through Nepal came to an end.  The mountain scenery here was stunning and whilst we haven’t had the chance to trek this time, we vowed to come back and trek on another occasion.  We have unfinished business at Everest Base Camp so see you sooner rather than later Nepal!

– Natalie

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The Sweeney Todd of Kathmandu

Sweeney Todd of Kathmandu I love not shaving. I associate being clean shaven with work so when we travel I tend to ‘forget’ the razor. Sadly in recent times the beard has developed a rather nasty grey streak, to which I like to blame on Natalie and she likes to blame on Trafalgar! The beard was also a major fascination for many locals through China and Tibet. People would stop and stare or point at it and smile. For some reasons many Chinese assumed I was from Spain because of the beard and I was constantly greeted with “Hola Amigo!”. The highlight came when we visited the Summer Palace in Lhasa Tibet, where one little boy was in awe of the mighty testosterone fuelled shaggy beard. We let him touch it and he screwed up his face and ran off!

Do I like it....

Do I like it….

... I'm not sure!

… I’m not sure!

I don’t know exactly when I mentioned it, whether it was after a few vodkas on the Trans Siberian or when I was suffering from a chilli induced brain meltdown somewhere in China but I had promised Natalie I would shave it off for her birthday, and she never let me forget that promise!

Fast forward to Kathmandu and as we walked down one of the Thamel district streets we saw numerous hole in the wall barber shops. As we approached the third or fourth one Natalie suggested that if I was going to shave, now could be the opportunity, and we decided if anything else it would be an experience. This is where we met the Kathmandu Sweeney Todd.

Should have heeded the warning signs

Should have heeded the warning signs

Wearing a blue balaclava ( this should have set off warning signs immediately) he left his client sitting in a chair with a half finished “do” as we discussed, haggled and agreed fora haircut and shave for the equivalent of about three British pounds. Lets be honest I don’t exactly have the fullest head of hair and anything more than that would have been a little excessive. We waited for him to finish with his current client with both of them telling us, “one minute, one I minute” and then I was subjected to one of the weirdest, most uncomfortable and probably most unhygienic experiences of my life. I had already put my body on the line for The Smart Way Round with the ear cleaning incident but this was a whole new level.

Let’s set the scene, the barbershop, if we can call it that, was little more than about two meters wide, the walls were covered in a mixture of mildew, mould, dirt and car exhaust fumes, in fact it reminded me of the setting of the horror movie “Hostel”! Sweeney Todd then grabbed a pair of clippers that still had hair from his last victim on them and proceeded to do a fairly decent job of shaving my head. My biggest concern was the smell of his hands, let’s just say I’m not really sure when he may have last washed them, I think you get the picture!

The head shave was followed by a shave of the beard, a rather traumatic experience for me and one probably met with some joy by Natalie. So after about ten minutes that felt like a lifetime I thought my ordeal was over, but then he started massaging my head! Headlocks, twists, earlobe pulls some random clicking thing started to make me more and more uncomfortable, he then started on my neck and shoulders.

This was followed by twisting my arms in a manor where I thought I was being arrested and my shoulder was about to pop out its socket before Sweeney then yanked and cracked every finger, even the one I broke just over a year ago that has never healed properly!

This was supposed to be a haircut....

This was supposed to be a haircut….

Before Natalie knew what was going on she was also subject to a massage by Sweeney’s mad assistant. Natalie had hurt her neck somehow in Tibet and all I could think was I hope she was ok. As it turned out the impromptu massage actually fixed her neck!

Thankfully the ordeal came to an end and all of a sudden Sweeney Todd could no longer speak English, all he could do was give a sinister evil laugh ( I may be exaggerating here) and write down that we now owed him three times the agreed amount! Sweeney and the mad assistant just looked at us and laughed pointing to the figure. We said no, threw them slightly more than we agreed upon and left feeling slightly violated a little dirty, but sporting a fresh daper new look and a fixed neck for Natalie. We made a B-line for the hotel and once safely in our room Natalie (my normal hairdresser) grabbed some scissors and took care of all the bits Sweeney Todd missed.

Me, Sweeney Todd and the mad assistant

Me, Sweeney Todd and the mad assistant

Finishing off 'the do'

Finishing off ‘the do’

While it does feel great to be cleaned up a bit I do miss the beard, but as we are still only half way to Australia it should be back in all it’s grey flowing form by the 1st of March. If I learnt anything from this experience it is next time, Natalie can put her body on the line for TheSmart Way Round!

– (the new look) Dean

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Riding in taxis with boys

My Mother once said I had lots of qualities of my Grandparents…. And the older I get the more this is true. Gramps (my Grandfather on Dad’s side who is sadly no longer with us) was a keen motorist (and incidentally ballroom dancer). He liked to be behind the wheel though and was not the best passenger! There was a joke in the Cole family that whenever anyone else was driving Gramps’ right foot would be on ‘his’ brake pedal in the well’ol (foot well) making a hole in the carpet. The older I get the more I seem to be trying to perfect this same skill – co-piloting from the passenger seat by braking for the driver!

Ever since Dean returned from Oz he has been on my car insurance although driving me around in my own car can be quite a stressful experience for him. It’s often met with back-seat driver comments and needless to say he enjoys driving my car, when I’m asleep in the passenger seat!

The reason I explain this is because we have been catching a few Nepali taxis to sort out our Myanmar visa and get to some out of town sites. Taxis in Kathmandu are small white ‘Maruti’ cars – some kind of Suzuki. So to say they are a car is probably bigging them up a bit. I’m just hoping we never have to catch one with our luggage as I doubt it will fit!

A Maruti

A Maruti

Well the other day we had stayed out at Bodhnath Stupa until sunset then walked a bit so it was well and truly dark before we started the process of getting a taxi. It is one of the few times we have struggled, but our driver saw us, swerved across three lanes and skidded to a halt at our feet. This sight of foreigners make their eyes twinkle in the hope of an inflated fare! We negotiated, agreed and jumped in before us and the Maruti were flattened by the passing traffic.

For the first time I jumped in the front and the ride was better / worse than the most scary roller coaster at DisneyLand! Now every taxi driver in Kathmandu has so far made it their mission to get you from a to b as quick as possible, almost as if your life depended on it. This driver was no different – in fact he probably wins the prize for doing that the best…. In the most unsafe way!

We wheel-spun out of the blocks, turned at right angles and cut across six lanes to make it down the first track we wanted. Once I’d opened my eyes we were doing the mandatory ‘duck ‘n dive’ between pedestrians, push bikes and motorbikes. All this was taking place with no street lights. It was at this point that I began to seriously worry about the health of the driver (and consequently us!). He began driving with his head out the window (no eyes on the road and we were now at an intersection with trucks and all of the above) making such noises that I could only conclude he was in a very bad way. This went on and on. In between his phone rang, he tried to answer to no avail so he rang them back (partial halt to the head out window at this point). Now I’m not sure if it was his wife reminding him in his condition to keep warm, or just his mistress arranging a date, but something made him decide his bobble hat was essential and it had to be clean. Next thing I know (we’ve still revving the guts out the car in 3rd gear and flying along) the glove box comes crashing down onto my knees. I managed to dodge his hand on my knee (I’m sure it was an accident as he was doing too many things at once for anything else) whilst he forridged around for his hat. He found it. Phew – slam of glove box. Somehow in the pitch black he knew it was dirty, so he began banging it on the outside of the car through the window to get the dust out. When satisfied it was clean enough, both hands came off the wheel in order to put said hat on. I meanwhile was applying my brake peddle more times the David Coulthard in his entire racing career only to result in a hole in the floor…. Oh no sorry that was already there and tends to be ‘standard issue rust bother’ on the taxis. Every taxi we have been in has had at least one hole in the car somewhere! Finally I knew where we were and with a couple of sharp intakes of breath we made it.

So from now on we have concluded that I barter, agree the price and climb in the back. Here I delve into my pockets and get out the correct money whilst we are flying through the streets. Dean meanwhile sits in the front and films on his Go Pro. I can still see the chaos… But after we have had a narrow escape and not before! Taxi journeys are part of the fun of travel, but show one of the many differences to life at home. I forgot to say that if you find one of the two necessary seatbelt straps you are doing well. You have more chance of spotting one of Chitwan National Park’s 125 wild tigers than finding both the necessary parts working!

The best place for me - in the back!

The best place for me – in the back!

I took this little day-time video to set the scene….two seconds and you’ll get the gist! It was taken driving the following day. The driver in this video was cool, fair and speedy. We loved how he worked the wheel!

With the cool taxi driver as he took a break from turning the wheel!

With the cool taxi driver as he took a break from turning the wheel!

May all your journeys be fast, furious and importantly safe!

– Natalie

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Birthdays on the road

For me, celebrating a birthday on the road is always exciting.  It gives you the opportunity to celebrate with old friends and new as well as doing something different.  In 2006 I went out to dive the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand followed by celebrations at my hostel.  Then in 2010 I was lucky enough to celebrate by bungee jumping off the bridge in Victoria Falls (some would definitely say it was lucky given reports in subsequent years of what happened to one unfortunate jumper who thankfully survived), followed by dinner at a restaurant serving all sorts of different game meat.  Definitely not something I would have done in London!

Jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge

Jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge

For my 30th we spent the day driving down the Florida Keys in a convertible Mustang, so I have been lucky to have done some memorable things to celebrate.

Me and our wheels on my 30th

Me and our wheels on my 30th

January Birthdays in the UK are often met with little enthusiasm.  It’s just after Christmas, its cold, dark (and at the moment very wet) so outdoor parties are a no no.  I personally love having a birthday in January.  For me it’s the best month of the year!  Growing up I had some great swimming, bowling, ice skating, you name it parties so it’s always been a fun day for me and a day I look forward to.  Dean laughs, as for me it is a three day event.  Much like Christmas there is Birthday Eve, actual Birthday and then Birthday Boxing Day.  So this is being posted on Birthday Boxing Day – at the tail end of the celebrations.  The only problem with this Birthday malarkey is the rising age number, but there is not much I can do about that!

Dean feels a little left out, as his Birthday always falls during one of his busiest months of work, so he is often away.  I remind him though that I have tended to come out to see him so it’s not all that bad!!  Arguably his Birthdays are maybe more fun for me than him!

On January 14th 2014 we were in Kathmandu.  It doesn’t take much to work out that this is near Mt Everest.  Even though we had seen the mighty mountain on our drive along the Friendship Highway, we hadn’t flown over it.  The idea of a Mountain Flight had hatched as we drove to the station in London to leave home.  It was an idea that had stuck.  Mum and Dad had said they would treat me as a Birthday pressie so we booked the flight and eagerly awaited it.

We had a bit of a nervous wait as on the morning of the 14th Kathmandu was shrouded in fog…. However at 10.30 we got the nod and we led out onto the tarmac.  From that moment on I was treated like Royalty.  The small 16 seater plane took off with all its passengers having full view into the cockpit – a treat in itself.  Knowing it was my Birthday the cabin attendant spent extra time pointing out mountains to me, and the Captain wished me happy birthday over the speaker system three times!  We took it in turns to go into the cockpit to take pictures.  My turn came just as we approached Everest and made a U-turn.  She was there in full view and was amazing!  After this I tucked into the cake that had been made especially for me.  The Himalayan Mountain range was just incredible.

Mt Everest. This doesn't do it justice as pictures don't capture how blue the sky was!

Mt Everest. This doesn’t do it justice as pictures don’t capture how blue the sky was!

This one is for you Mum - me and el Capitan!

This one is for you Mum – me and el Capitan!

Birthday cake by Everest

Birthday cake by Everest

Cake really was the theme of the day as we came back to our room to find yet another one there!  Yum!  The rest of the day was spent catching up with friends and family (including a FaceTime chat with my friend and her new new baby), a bit of exploration and a special dinner with my husband.

First steak of the trip. I'm hoping the next one will be in Oz as my Mother-in-Law cooks the best Filet steaks!

First steak of the trip. I’m hoping the next one will be in Oz as my Mother-in-Law cooks a great steak!

It was an amazing day and one I will never forget.  Dean spoilt me with several pressies during the week all in the name of my Birthday.  A coffee table (don’t ask!), trousers, top, CD, prayer wheel, buff, bag to name but a few!

As for Birthday Boxing Day…. we learnt how to make ‘Momo’.  A kind of dumping made all over this part of the World.  It was an excellent cooking course and something a bit different!

Highlights of our cookery course

Highlights of our cookery course

Smart cooking

Smart cooking

Then we headed out to do some more sight-seeing, including seeing the biggest Stupa in the region.  Quite fitting really as it was where all the traders used to stop and pray before making the arduous journey to Lhasa through Tibet.

I really don’t think I can find a way to stretch my Birthday over four days… if anyone has any ideas then let me know!  Thank you to all of you for your messages and comments.

–          Natalie