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.
