Nepal

Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Mon 20 Mar 2017 17:35
How time flies when you are having fun!!
We got back to Salisbury from Nepal a couple of days ago, so time to catch up on admin.
We arrived in Kathmandu on the 21st February, where we stayed for 2 nights at the Summit Hotel. We met up with Dennis and Marie, Paddy and Jan at the Dwarika for lunch and the with the extended Anderson family at the Kathmandu Guest House for supper. It was great to catch up with friends from Malawi, Italy, Australia and New Zealand.
On the 23rd we flew to Pokhara, where we stayed at Tiger Mountain Lodge. The festivities for the 200 yrs anniversary of 6 GR started with an excellent dinner at Tiger Mountain, followed by a large get-together at The Grand Hotel the following day. The Durbar, the main event was at the Gurkha Camp. Again a full on day where we met so many people. On Sunday we both played at the Himalayan Golf Club, which we really enjoyed. I got a nice pashmina for playing as the only lady. In the evening we were entertained to an excellent beating of retreat by the Nepalese Armies pipes and drums.
Monday the 27th we flew back to Kathmandu to meet the rest of the trekking team (10 in all); another 2 nights at the Summit Hotel. we did some sight seeing and shopping. March 1st we flew to Nepal Ganj after some delay at the airport. The next day we flew to Jumla, again with a considerable delay, so we ended up camping the night there before setting off on trek the next morning.
It soon became clear that the trek was much more strenuous than we had expected and that we had to re-schedule the program; no rest days as planned if we wanted to get to Rara Lake. The weather was kind the first few days, but after we left Rara Lake and were on our way back, via a different route we experienced very heavy snow. It was cold and wet, but we all coped. We ended up camping in a school; spent one night in a Lodge and were then collected by bus to take us back to Jumla, where we stayed in a hotel. Finally hot showers for most of us... The others had to wait to Nepal Ganj the next day. We arrived back in the Summit Hotel in Kathmandu on Monday 13th; all in good health and good spirit. We had a couple of days relaxing and a great end of trek dinner the last night together.
Then gradually we all started to leave Nepal on various flights in various directions. It certainly was a month to remember.
 
 
Lunch at Dweraka
Supper with the Andersons
Flight to Pokhara
View from Tiger Mountain Lodge
Before the Durbar
During Durbar
With Mrs Lalbahadur
Nepalese dancing
On the Himalayan Golf course
View of the golf course
Beating of retreat
The trekking team at the Summit Hotel
Arrivals at Jumla
The kitchen team
A typical lunch stop
The route
One of our camps
Some spectators
Rara Lake
The team at Rara Lake
Down hill
A fertile valley
Team back at Jumla
With guides and cooks
The guys who looked after us
The plane back to Kathmandu
The last supper
At home with Premser and Busa
Our mules coming over a pass
Snow at camp 6
Morning tea!
Way down in the snow
Mules coming through
Overnight at a school
Supper on our beds in the lodge
Several buses stuck in the mud
A day trip to Baktapur