Dreaming while lying on rooftops

It's festival time over here so the buses are full & there's lots of activity! Large swings made out of huge bamboo trunks have been erected all over the place for the local kids to enjoy - we began seeing these pop up towards the end of our trek in each of the villages. These are only erected at festival time. The local kids kindly let me have a swing which was fun ;) It's the biggest festival of the year for Nepal - similar to our xmas back home (as the majority of the population are Buddhist or Hindu so don't celebrate xmas).
Kylie, Rita (our Estonian friend) & I were travelling back to Kathmandu yesterday & due to the buses being so full we spent the second leg of our journey on the roof. We weren't the only ones up there though...there were plenty of sheep travelling on the top of the bus which was hilarious. The first 3 hours were spent either chatting away to each other or lying down starring up at the clouds contemplating life. However, as the sun began to set & the night became cool we started to want the warmth of the inside. As we got within an hour of Kathmandu the traffic slowed right down & at the next stand still we hopped off the roof & squeezed in between all the locals inside. It took 8 hours to travel 185km!!!!! Luckily we got creative & decided to break the 8 hours of road travel with a 3 hour rafting trip in the middle of the day. Such fun! We were so glad to have a shower last night at the end of our 12 hour day, as we had eaten our fare share of dust.

There's so much colour in Nepal. It is so common to see ladies working hard in the field or carrying large baskets of potatoes & the like wearing gorgeous colourful outfits that we would only consider wearing if we were heading into the city for the day or somewhere special. It adds so much colour to the environment. The turquoise & red colour combination is my favourite - it looks gorgeous against their mocha coloured skin.

While we were staying in Pokhara a group of us from the Buddhist meditation course climbed up to Sarangkot which is situated just near Pokhara at an altitude of 1592m. A 'cruisey' 2hour walk straight up allowed us to enjoy views of Macchaputre (fish tail) & many other mountains at sunset. We also saw a beautiful beaming ray of sunshine peaking out from behind a cloud as it set behind the mountain & the horizon moved through the pastel colours. Pokhara is positioned on a large lake so this also added to the panorama. My calves are really noticing all of these mountains that just go straight up!

The Buddhist meditation course was fantastic over the weekend. Some new thoughts to contemplate surrounded by lovely people & a peaceful setting. The monk who taught the course was very well travelled & incredibly wise. We all thought it was too short though. We were required to keep silence from 8pm, after our last meditation till 7am each morning. Hard for some of the chatty characters!

I learnt the other day that if you're unlucky enough to be involved in a road accident here in Nepal & go to jail for killing someone it's quite easy to bribe your way out with cash. However, if you kill a cow that's a different story! You're often in jail for up to 12years. Who makes these rules?! I guess that's why the cows roam freely over the roads as if they own the joint.

Hugs from me xoxo

Sunshine, snow & sensational applie pie

Hi everyone!
Kylie & I are back from our 17day trek through the Annapurna Range. It was fantastic!
We actually had a mishap on our first attempt as I got really sick & had to be airlifted out by helicopter back to Kathmandu. It sounds a bit dramatic but walking with diarrhea & a big pack isn't fun. I still don't know what it was from but my infection levels were 3 times as high as they were supposed to be. Although I didn't want to go to hospital & be pumped full of antibiotics I had to follow the travel insurance procedure. On the flip side the flight Kylie & I had through the gorge & over the manicured rice paddies back to Kathmandu was so amazing! Absolutely breathtaking. I now have a new love of helicopters.
I took some time to recover in Kathmandu & then decided that we came to Nepal to get into the mountains so we headed off again for take 2.

The scenery was so contrasting throughout the 17days...we started off with green lush bush and cascading waterfalls then as we moved up in altitude it started to get cooler, the environment harsher & the goats began to appear. The goats over here are so gorgeous. Each of them are so unique - some have spotty ears, others one brown leg or their backside dipped in chocolate. I loved looking at the differences between them.
Before we started the trek we thought we'd be without a shower for the whole time just using fresh water streams where we could, but on our first night we were greeted by a warm shower. This wasn't always the case & at the higher altitudes with freezing cold nights sometimes we weren't so lucky but we at least had the option. The teahouses provided some good food which varied greatly in quality but on the whole was good. We ate plenty of Dal Bhat (the national dish consisting of rice, dahl, pickle, steamed spinach with chilli & potato curry) & also weren't deprived of any goodies such as apple pie. I had some of the best apple pie I have ever had, while on the trek. Marpha, a small town known for its apples produced some damn fine apple pie. My mission is to recreate one when back to Oz.
The night before we climbed the pass (5416m)...we got snow!!!!!! We woke to a winter wonderland. It felt like I was somewhere in Europe. We trekked up to the top of the pass in what felt like every piece of clothing I owned. I didn't suffer from an altitude sickness but was quite breathless towards the top while climbing. We had perfect blue skies & celebrated with warm ginger tea to try & get feeling back in my fingers. 'The band' (a group of us that became good friends during the trek) intended to write 5416m with our bodies in the snow but we were all so cold we wrote it in the snow with a stone instead & snapped a few pics.
The scenery changed dramatically after the pass...it went from white fluffy snow to brown sharp arid looking mountains, known as the Muktinah Valley which leads into another large walking area known as the Mustang Valley. I thought this scenery was stunning. The winds blew through the valley from 11am till 4pm everyday so we would try to do most of our walking in the morning to avoid the dust.
We met some fantastic people, had perfect blue skies for 15days of the trek, covered 220km, learnt OODLES of new card games & drank LOTS of ginger tea.
This feels like such a minute summary but it's a start. I would love to post some pics but will probably do that around xmas time.
Hugs & happiness
Nellieoxo