14 October 2019 Today we have a leisurely start before heading out of Kathmandu headed to Bhaktapur, one of the 3 major ancient kingdoms that existed in the Kathmandu valley. We really notice the difference in the traffic now that all the locals that had left the city to go home to visit their families for the Dashain festival (estimated 2m of them) have now come back. We have about an hour and a half’s drive to our first stop and Kishor tells us about some of the political … [Read more...]

13 October 2019 It is an early start today: meeting at 5.30am but nobody minds as this is the highlight of the trip that we have all been looking forward to - a flight to see Mt Everest. We have the full group complement (minus 2 that have pulled out due to sickness) including a couple who have only had 2 hours sleep due to flight delays - there was no way they were going to miss this! In the group we have: Jenny and Dennis from Brisbane Anne from Sydney Jan and Les from … [Read more...]

12 October 2019   Today is officially the first day of my tour but we start with a group meeting at 6.00pm. So I am privileged to go on a brand new Urban Adventures day tour that has only been operating for one month. I discover Kirtipur, a quaint town that is off the beaten track of tourism and enjoy a traditional Newari lunch with a local host. I am up early this morning because my body clock hasn’t yet adjusted and was surprised that I needed my jacket for … [Read more...]

11 October 2019   Today I have time for exploring Kathmandu and get to know Nepal a bit. I have leisurely start with my first (unsuccessful) challenge being to try to wash the oil from my massage out of my hair. Deciding that the ‘wet look’ would be fashionable today, I head out to the cafe for breakfast - it is delightfully cool sitting out on the veranda and I sit there quite a while writing my diary and enjoying the Nepalese black tea. When I ask what it is, the waiter … [Read more...]