High View Resort Dhulikhel

... decision. Another horrific bus ride back to KTM, just as bad as on the way in. Scared-of-heights-Andrew and myself were almost screaming like girls, our faces must have been a picture cos one Nepali just kept staring. Couldn't work out what all the fuss was about I guess! Had theee best pizza ever last night at Roadhouse Restaurant, which weirdly I'd been to before 3 years ago. A little bit surreal! We then found Sam's Bar on Reggae night, wasn't the most ...

... and two babies and they are getting more babies soon! They are soooo cute!<br>I've also volunteered at the school and taught some classes. More on these things later.<br><br>The other day, I went to Thamel (market) in the city. As I walked around, I acquired a little buddy. A 12 year old boy that kept talking to me and took me around the market. Then he took me to where the artists were ...

... 160 meters above the raging Bhote Kosi River and just walking across the bridge to get to the resort was made my legs go all jelloid. When we got the other side and enquired about jumping we found out two things;<br><br>No tandem jumping.<br><br>At least 6 people needed to jump.<br><br>This meant that if I wanted to jump, I had to do it on my own. It also meant that if I didn't jump, nobody else could jump. I ummed and ahhed, but terrifiedly accepted (much because Chris said ...

... as arduous. Visibility is not as good as earlier in the dry season, but Nepal's wonderful rhododendrons and other flowers are in Technicolor bloom. <br><br>May and early June are not the best times to visit as it is extremely hot and dusty, with temperatures often above 30°C, and the coming monsoon seems to hang over you like a threat ...

... Twelve hours of riding I pull up to hotel and long for rest and a cold shower. <br><br>Three days have passed and it&#8217;s been deja-vu everyday. The roads recently have been a sandpit, and with trucks in front of me it has been a nightmare. It&#8217;s gets so bad I have to keep on stopping the bike because I can&#8217;t even see 1m in front of me. I obviously have to keep my eyes open and now they are caked in dust and very painful. I never want to drive on these roads every ...

... you has not hit Nepal yet. When you go up then you eventually go down, and down we did. This time down tracks where one always needs to be careful of where you put your foot. One ends up zigzagging down the roads to following the most even path. Eventually we hit a reasonable sized town in the Kathmandu valley. Having crossed the mountain range we were now in full sun and having descended many hundreds of metres it became decisively ...

... years running. It had gained this award not only for its beautiful construction and location but also for its minimum impact code of environmental awareness. All cooking was done with kerosene, the preferred fuel of ACAP as it doesn't contribute to the stripping of the rhododendron and oak forests for fuel wood (as most other lodges do). In addition to this, water is solar heated, the vegetables are grown organically in the grounds and the dreaded bottled mineral water is not ...

... bet) arise and depart. I heard the Israeli couple from Jerusalem also depart. Outside in the darkness the sound of dozens of hiking boots stumbling over rocks filtered through my ears. After a while silence returned but, as I lay in bed, far from returning to a state of deep and relaxing sleep, I stewed in my guilt. Here I was in the Himalayas with the chance to see probably one of the most spectacular sunrises of my life and I was too lazy to get out of bed. Michelle had already made it ...

... was empty. I discovered a small bookcase down one end and borrowed a couple of Gerald Durell books which kept me amused throughout the duration of the trek.<br><br>We sat outside for the rest of the day, drinking in the cool and clear mountain air. I pottered around the gardens, which were surrounded by rice paddies, looking for forms of wildlife. There were plenty of large butterflies flying around. Some of them were several inches across and of such bright hues that ...