You say you want a revolution!

View of Pokhora from the Yoga retreat.



Rice Paddies, Agriculture in Nepal is pretty basic Which isn't helped by the fact that most of Nepal is mountainous. Most food is imported from India.



Lake Pakhara.

Well, the past couple of weeks in Nepal have been very interesting. On Wednesday night I went to bed in the Kingdom of Nepal and woke up the next morning in a Republic! The newly elected Maoist Party voted to abolish the Monarchy during the night and gave the King 15 days to vacate his Royal Palace! Long live the Republic!! I only wish we could be as decisive with our in-bred, spoilt, over indulged Royals. At the moment there is a bit of unrest in Kathmandu, apparently there are thousands of protesters outside the palace chanting "down with the King!" waiting to see if the King abides with the commies wishes. He's got 600-1000 personal bodyguards holed up with him, so I suppose it could get a bit messy. Although if the bodyguards can count I'm sure they'll realise there are more protesters than bullets. Hope it works out OK. Was going to go back to Kathmandu in a couple of days, but might wait in Pokhara and see what happens:)
For the past week I've been at a Yoga retreat in a small place over-looking the Lake just outside Pokhara. The programme involved getting up at 5.30, then 45 minutes meditation at 6, followed by at walk, then a 1 hour Yoga session. After that- breakfast, then a mud/steam bath, 30 meditation, lunch, chanting, Yoga session, dinner, bed. Met some very interesting people, learnt some new and painful Yoga positions and discovered I'm fucking useless at meditating! Your meant to empty you mind of all thoughts, but all I could think of was what was for breakfast. Oh well, practice makes perfect:)


Guru Adams in Lotus position after mud bath.

Various Yoga positions.

Annapurna

Daybreak on the South Face of Annapurna. This massive 3000m high face was famously climbed by the Brits in 1970, led by Chris Bonnington. Annapurna is 8091m high and after K2 is probably the most difficult 8000'er to climb. For every 2 people to summit, 1 person pegs it! While I was at base camp, an number of Russian climbers were getting evacuated with frostbite.



Warm by the fire. Inside one of the lodges, sheltering from the daily rainstorms that tended to hit every afternoon. The Annapurna region is so remote everything has to be carried in on the backs of the small but considerably strong local Ghuregs.



Goat traffic jam on a suspension bridge.



Just press play, dude..........................



.....................another Jimi Hendrix convert.



Dhaulagiri, 8167m and 7th highest mountain in the world. Very pretty mountain.



Me at Annapurna base camp, with S face of Annapurna in the background. Been there, got the T-shirt.


Well, I made it out off the mountains alive!! After 2 weeks of continually walking up and down hillsides, living on dal bhaat (lentils and rice) and getting up at 5 am, I'm now considerably fitter and a few pounds lighter. Which is no bad thing after doing minimal exercise and eating curry everyday for the past 6 months. The adventure started off quite slowly. My legs just weren't use to walking up hills, and my pace dropped even further when a friendly guide gave me a load of locally grown weed. Oh well. After a few days the going got easier as I adapted to getting up early, doing the days hike, getting to a lodge by lunchtime, then watching the storm clouds envelop the mountains from the comfort of my pot filled room:) In common with the rest of the trip, my plans of where a was actually going were quite fluid. The original plan was go and trek up to a town called Jomson, but after talking to a couple of Argentinians, it didn't sound that great. Instead I decided to go up to the Annapurna Sanctuary, where I could get a much closer look at the South Face of Annapurna, and get right into the big mountains. As always, the Lonely & Paranoid guide book turned out to be complete bollocks yet again, describing the route as dangerous and avalanche prone. Turned out to be a pleasant 5 day walk, up beautiful forested valleys, topped with HUGE snow capped mountains. Annapurna base camp is at about 4100m, so in the evening it tended to get a bit chilly, but any physical discomfort was completely overshadowed by being surrounded on all sides by massive Himalayan peaks.

I'm now safely back in Pokora, where I'm happily drinking beer and eating anything but fucking dal bhaat. Immediate plans are to have a shave and a hot shower, then go and do some white-water rafting and then maybe stay at a Yoga Ashram for a few days. With only 3 weeks left, for the first time I'm going to have to be a bit creative with my time management!

P.S Happy birthday, Mum!!

P.P.S Thanks for reminding me, Dad.

Namaste Nepal

Well, that's it. I'm out of India. Probably just in the nick of time, as the temperature in Delhi was over 40deg Celsius. A bit oppressive really, so I was quite thankful to get on the plane and arrive in the mountain Kingdom/Maoist Republic of Nepal where the temperature is more reasonable. The guide book describes Kathmandu as a noisy, hectic polluted city, but to be honest, after 6 months in India it seemed like an oasis of calm to me. The city itself is a bit of a tourist trap, 40 odd years of catering for western travellers, trekkers and mountaineers has created an enclave of shops selling all sorts of crap and restaurants offering pizza and filter coffee. On a more positive note, the beer in Nepal is about 100 times better than the piss water you get served in India. Kathmandu has one place of interest-Durbar Square. A complex of old temples and gompas set around the now redundant Royal Palace. Nepal has a strange mix of Hindu and Buddhist religions. Everyone seems to get along with each other. Even with the Muslims.
After a couple of days in Kathmandu it was time to catch the bus to Pokhara. Why anyone 'backpacks' is beyond me. While I was sweating away on the bus, knees cramped under armpits, looking out at the wonderful landscape of mountains and terraced villages, all I could think of was " Shit, I wish I was on my bike." Anyway, Pokhara is the Nepali version of Chamonix. It's right by the Annapurna range, and pretty much the national centre for trekking, rafting and any other adventure sport you'd care to name. In the next couple of days, weather permitting, I'm gonna head up into the mountains and do some trekking for a couple of weeks. With it getting towards the end of the trekking season, the cloud tends to build up in the afternoon and it starts raining, so unfortunately its going to have to be a low altitude/not very dangerous trek. After 6 months biking around India, best not push it! Don't think theres many internet cafes in the Himalaya, so don't worry if you fail to hear from me for a while!!:)


Temple, Durbar Square, Kathmandu.



Cool lime green Enfield custom, with interesting hemp leaf motif, Pokhara.