I'm still very much alive and having a great time.

OK, I know I haven't posted anything since arriving in Nepal, it's just been so busy and I've had such limited internet access since leaving Kathmandu, I had a great time in Kathmandu and Pokhara and am now enjoying life in Sikles.

So, to go from the beginning:



Kathmandu:

Sadly because of the changed flight times because of a delay in my first flight meaning I missed the second, Hum was not at the airport to collect me, but, no problem, I got a taxi to Thamel and checked into the Kathmandu Guest House, then sent Hum an e-mail to let him know I had arrived safely. Needless to say, next morning, he phoned the guest house, arranged to meet me and we met up. He took me to the BCN (Bird Conservation Nepal) office where he works and introduced me to all the staff. He also asked me to join BCN, which is a fair thing to do in return for letting me stay at his house.

And so I met Menuka, the membership lady of BCN and had a good chat with her and added each other on Facebook.

That night I was on Facebook and had a good long chat with Menuka, whilst looking for a way to enjoy Kathmandu in a less touristy way, so I agreed to go to the Bagmati river festival with her on the Saturday and then to go Ten Pin Bowling on the Sunday as she had never been before.

Friday I moved into Hum's AMAZING house in the suburbs of Kathmandu, the house is beautiful and huge. I also met his lovely wife Purna and their current Siklesi lodger Nawaraj.

Saturday, the Bagmati river festival, it is an annual festival on the banks of the Bagmati river, Kathmandu's most sacred and most polluted river. The aim of the festival is to raise awareness of the polluted state of the river and attempt to convince politics to make a difference. It featured a number of stalls from different environmental groups (including BCN) and sets from what I'm told are some of the biggest bands in Nepal (judging by the reactions of the crowd they did seem popular). All in all it was a great day, although we left early because poor Menuka was being pestered by a creepy old guy and a creepy teenager. Poor Menuka.

Sunday was time to take Menuka 10 Pin Bowling, so we went bowling in the local shopping centre which boasted an alley with 4 isles. Obviously I won, naturally (although, embarrassingly, not by much).

Monday was spent doing some tourist visiting to Baktapur with Nawaraj, a beautiful old Newari town just outside Kathmandu, sadly I did not have enough money or luggage space to buy any of the fantastic Newari artworks on sale, maybe before I leave Nepal.

Tuesday saw us with some miserable weather and so a lazy day in the house was called for, I spent much time talking with Nawaraj and marking the most of Hum's free WiFi (a luxury I haven't had anywhere else in Nepal, on hindsight, I should have made a blog post then, but hindsight is a wonderful thing).


Wednesday we did some more tourist sight-seeing, went to Swambunath (known as the Monkey Temple amongst tourists), Thamel for lunch and then to Bodah.

Pokhara:

Pokhara is a very different city to Kathmandu, it's much much smaller, far less densely populated and generally very peaceful.

First night I checked into the Butterfly Lodge, a charity run guest house in the north of Lakeside (Pokhara's tourist area). There I was greeted by a fantastic bunch of tourists, travellers and a medic on elective. It felt like every guest knew each other already, it was fantastic, so, after a brief meeting with Tanka, Mohan and Dhujen from Sikles, we all went for food and a drink in the Moondance, where Dorje treated us all to a cocktail each on the house because I was there, thank you Dorje, you're awesome.

Friday I went for a day out with Tanka, we went for a ride on the motorbike and had a really good chat, then, that night went for a night out in the Buzzy Bee, Lakeside, with Mohan, Kasi and Jyoti, this started my experience of meeting Tanka's many beautiful female friends. It also involved some singing and beer consumption. A very good night.

Saturday I moved out of the Butterfly lodge and into Tanka's house in Pokhara where he lives with Belman.

That night we went for another night out, this time in Mahendrepool, Pokhara's city centre, at a restaurant/club called the Open House, with Belan, Mohan, Paul (at least I think that's his name), and the three beautiful ladies Nirmala, Tirthe and Chuni. A completely different experience leaving the tourist area, instead of hearing a Nepali band covering Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Oasis and other western songs, this time was a Nepali band playing Nepali songs. A fantastic night out, lots of singing, dancing, great foods, (both Asian and Western, including Momo, Rice based foods, Pizza, Chips) and generally having a great laugh. I won't forget this night out for a long time.

Finally, Sunday, my last day and night in Pokhara, Tanka was pretty busy so I had a relaxed day of visiting local temples and monasteries with Belman before an early night ready for the next day's hike.

Sikles:

So much to say, it's 5 weeks worth of life I'm trying to cram into one blog post now. Not an easy challenge. I'm short of time at the moment, so I'll type something longer tonight and upload it over the next couple of days.

But in short, I'm having an amazing time, I've made some great friends, had some incredible experiences, I'm enjoying school a lot although there's loads to be done there, I'm learning so much about Sikles, Gurung life, Nepali language, bits of Gurung language and I have lost a lot of weight and am well on the way to being very healthy.

I'll tell you all there is to know in the next post, I promise! Sorry this one has to be so short.