29th Feb, Burning Yak shit to keep warm!

HELLO!!! I'm back from my trip to Everest Base camp and IT WAS ACE! I don't really know where to start so I'm going to start with the plane journey to Lukla from Kathmandu, it was horrific! It was one of those tiny 15 people planes and the runway at lukla, are you ready for this, was only 300m long and on a uphill slope, I've never looked so green in my entire life. From lukla it was 9 days hard walking till basecamp, it was fairly cold, as in thermals and big fleeces. At the coldest point it was -16!! To save firewood they burnt dried yak shit, this kept me endlessly amused and smelly as there was no showers for the full 14days!!!! I STUNK by the time I got back to Kathmandu but so did everyone else so it was okay. Actual basecamp was nothing like I expected, it was a pile of loose boulders and rocks on top of a glacier, there was no sign, no hut, no nothing to distinguish it from any other bit of mountain we walked over, a good job Ashuk (our group leader) said 'this is it!' At base camp there was a lot of pictures and a bottle of rum and then we walked back down to the nearest tea house. One other bit I've so got to mention was sliding around on the frozen rivers/glaciers up there, you could just take a running leap and you'd slide for ages and half way down the hill which meant less walking! I just looked like bambi on ice, I couldn't stay stood up at all! When we were coming down from Base camp it was PARTY TIME, as we had not been allowed to drink on the way up as it could have made altitude sickness worse, so our first big party night was in a town called namche bazaar,we went a bit overboard there was a lot of rum, alot of beer and alot of puke from several people!! All good though. So a couple more days partying and walking and we were back in lukla!! The plane ride home was even worse, because all they do is let it run down the runway as its on a steep slope and you gotta hope it takes off by the end!! Back in kathmandu it was serious shower time as 14days without was hard. Luckily for me one of the girls on the trip has a place on a tour going from Kathmandu to Delhi, seeing the taj mahal and stuff and she doesnt want it so shes trying to give it to me aslong as the tour company agrees, which would be totally mint, so there could be a change of plans if not I'm off to the chitwan national park to do some rafting and see some rhinos!!!! Anyways must go as I have 12kg of washing to pick up!!!!!!
love ya
xx

16th Feb, Your not scottish??

Well today hasn't been quite as exciting as yesterday but still quite good. I met up with my group that I'm going to trek to base camp with. Theres 12 of us but more than half are from Oz, they all think I'm scottish because of the yorkshire accent LMAO, they really have no idea. I'm also the youngest by far they're all like 23-25. Apart from meeting the group, haven't really done much today, had a bit of a wander round Thamel and went for a meal tonight with my group. So not much to blog really, but for all my avid readers (not lol) I won't be putting anything new up till the 1st of march when I'm back in civilisation from my trek up everest, I'm sure I will have alot to say!!!
xxx

7.35pm 15th Feb

Well today has been jam packed! i got up at 8 and enjoyed a suprisingly warm shower, I was expecting a cold one. I had no idea what I wanted to do today so I just packed a bag and headed out the door! I was acosted straight away with various people saying do my tour, do this book that but in the end I settled for a tour in a rickshaw. Now the driving on the roads here is a little hairy at the best of times but in a rickshaw it was a tad terrifying. First stop on my tour was a hindu temple and a weird sunken lake (well he called it a lake it was just a sunken square hole to me) Anyway next stop was Hanuman-dhoka Durbar Square, this was again various shrines and places of worship all together, its quite hard to explain so I'll show you all the pics when I get back. Then it was on to the 'monkey temple', its name is fairly self explainatary, its a 3000 year old temple with monkeys living in ti and on its grounds. Its at the top of a hill so 500 steep steps later I was at the top. It was amazing I could see all of Kathmandu even despite the hazy smog. The temple itself was farily cool but I definatly like the monkeys and the tibeten prayer flags the best. The tibeten prayer flags were everywhere, they're multicoloured flag which are strug up a bit like bunting. They have prayers written on them and they're supposed to bring good luck and health. Finally the last place I visited was Sundhara-dharahara, this was a huge white tower in the middle of the city, 299 NR later and I was at the top of it. The veiw was again impressive but not quite as good as the one at the monkey temple. After my tour I went back to Thamel (the more tourist district of Kathmandu), and wandered round for a bit. By this point I was starving as it was nearly 1pm and I hadn't eaten yet so been the lazy bugger that I'am, I sourced a tube of pringles in a shop and kept on wandering. By 3 I was knackered so I headed back to the guesthouse to sit outside in the bar and read all the leaflets I had picked up on stuff to do in Kathmandu. I then had a small nap (yes I'am that lazy) and headed out at 6 to find more food. I settled on pizza (not very nepalise but very nice). It was a bit un-nerving sitting by myself in a restaurant but there was quite a few other people on their tod so it wasn't that bad lol. So I'm now writing this whilst considering an early night could be in order as I'm giving Tibeten yoga a go tommorow morning at like 7 and I'm meeting my trekking group to do base camp with, so au revoir xx

DAY UNO (14th Feb)

Well this is going to be a real quick one as my time on the internet has almost run out!!! Flights were ace, till I got to Delhi where I found out they cancelled my flight to Kathmandu *cue huge panic* I had to buy another ticket, which on top of that the only ones left were in business class, so basically I spent a small fortune before I even got here!! Nepal is nothing like I imagined, it really busy and nosy and the nightlife is ace, tonight I've been to see some local bands however I knew the songs better than the locals coz the were all english songs!! I've made a few mates too, travellers tend to stick together lol, A guy from oz and a girl from korea whos name I really can't pronounce!! I even had nepalise food for tea, it was just like chinese if you ask me but heyho lol. Anyway I have one minute remaining so must dash!! Tommorow I'm off for a wonder in the city to the palace etc and maybe even some yoga with some tibeten dude.
loves you all
xxx

The first one!!

Right so this is my first post on my blog, I decided I should start the day before I go just to see that I've actually set it up right coz I'm a bit thick like that lol. Well anyways I'm so excited about going tommorow I'm actually bouncing off the walls!! And as for packing well it just doesn't all seem to fit in my bag, I've sat on it, jumped on it and it's still not going in, so its currently all in a heap on the floor and the bag is empty. Anyway I think thats enough ranting on, so hopefully when I do my next post I will be in Nepal!! Andf you all better read my blog since I bothered to make one!!
xx