Tashi Delek to all (that's hello in Tibetan/Sherpa)! Writing this after enjoying our first non-walking day for two weeks. Good to get back to Kathmandu's tourist ghetto (despite the noise, pollution and traffic!) and all its creature comforts - hot showers, beer and decent steak - after a fantastic but pretty tough trek in the Khumbu region; hom...

Shiva - the creator, the destroyer, is probably the most popular god in Nepal. Shiva is worshipped throughout the year, particularly at Pashnupatinath, one of the most sacred Hindu temples, and is associated with a spectrum of events in a Hindu's life from conception to death. The phallic lingam - a round, long stone, or variations, like the roc...

RRN celebrated the new building they've just had moved to, organised a lovely Good Bye for me and a warm Welcome for Andrea and Anja from the DKA. I got a beautiful red pashmina, which is incredibly warm!! Thanks and I miss you all, Angelika

# of bottles of purell used: 2 (last trek we had soap and water!) # of dal bhaat consumed: no more than 10!! astonishing low cheapest Momo's: 20 rupees for 10 in a fabulous hole in the wall in thamel (tourist area of Kathmandu) # of times I used a phone the last 7 weeks: 4 (3 for ma and pa check-ins- 1 of those from a mountain village for thanks...

Well I've made it safe and sound to Kathmandu though it really feels like I've been on the road for about 17 days already!!! Headed off grand on Tuesday though of course in fantastically tearful style as I do. For the Dell people, the last 2 people I saw that I know in Ireland before I left were Ken and Charlie who were both up in the lounge too...

Woke up and had the first shower in weeks! After our **** breakfast we went to stand in line with the hundreds of other tourists for chinese customs... Was a right mess, everyone pushing in cramming each other, then trucks and jeeps started moving out in procession to our left. We stood there for over an hour! After passing customs we continued ...

We didn't stay in India for long, we'll spend a bit more time there later but for now we're in Nepal which I'm pretty happy about. We wanted to come here 3 years ago when we were in India but it was the wrong time of year and I was in the wrong kind of shape for trekking! But we're here now and we love it. We've spent nearly 2 weeks in Kathmandu...

Namaste! Ich liebe Kathmandu! Wenn der Rest des Landes haelt, was die Hauptstadt verspricht, koennte Nepal mein neues Lieblingsland werden. Dieses kleine hinduistische Koenigreich, eingezwaengt zwischen den beiden Giganten Asiens, versinkt schon seit Jahren in einem politischen Chaos aus unfaehigen Regierungen, debilen Monarchen, die gerne mal (...

This blog entry is dedicated to those many former colleagues of mine who last week received news similar to that which myself and others received a few months ago. If any of you are reading, guys, you have my most sincere sympathy. I can heartily recommend a period of world travel for gaining a new perspective on it all (although I guess with no...

Hmm, I have some major catching up to do, now that I am back in civilization. Its going to be hard to put the past few days into words - there are no words to describe the highs that i have felt.....well, lets give it a try... April 15th, 2007 At 8:30am we left for Sakya. This was a much needed acclimatization stop at an altitude of about 4000 m...