13/10/2004
Good food, decent sit-down toilets, laundry, beer, satellite TV, fast internet... It's all here, and boy have we missed it!

Dhulikel
Our first stop in Nepal was at the Horizon Hotel. A lovely place high in the hills just 30km from Kathmandu. It was very English, like something out of the Raj. We even found a waccy baccy plant in the garden.

Kathmandu
We were not pleased with the accommodation provided by Intrepid, so we checked out and into the Excelsior Hotel when we could. This is much cheaper US$12 compared to US$72, and it is in the heart of Thamel, the main tourist area of Kathmandu.

We have spent the last 5 days eating, drinking, sleeping, doing laundry and shopping. We've been to Durbar Square, Bodhnath stupa and Pashupatinath. The latter is a sacred Hindu area where cremations take place in public by the river. The poor in one area and the rich in another, in a much more elaborate ceremony. We watched the closest relation have his head shaved, and have water from the river that leads to the Ganges poured over him to purify him. Then the body was taken to the funeral pyre of logs and Juniper leaves and set alight. We didn't hang around long after that as it takes 3 hours for the body to burn. The ashes are swept into the river when cremation is complete. There were over 500 monkeys in the area, some of them pretty big and scary, and the cows walk around freely like they own the place.

Goodbyes
We've just said goodbye to all the people from our 'Mountain and Monestaries' Intrepid trip:

• Mick and Kim from Darwin
• Daryl and Robyn from St. Arnud, Victoria
• Virginia and Chris from Melbourne
• Cecilia from Sydney
• Greg from Sydney
• Raiwen from N.Z. (not sure if this spelling is correct!)
• Laura from London
• plus Clare our leader from Melbourne

We had a big night out on Saturday, plenty of beers and spirits all round at Tom & Jerry's Bar and the Buddha Bar. We'd like to say to them all, and wish them all well, as we really enjoyed their company.

Food
It's sooooooo good! We love the German bakeries. Pumpernickel is particularly good, we love the tuna sandwiches with REAL bread. Fire and Ice has fabulous pizzas and the chocolate here is really cheap. For drinks we like lemon Fanta and Everest beer. At 5.25% alcohol it really hits the spot.

People
Tiger balm - no we don't want any! The sellers are very persistent. They claim it cures all ills, and soon they will tell us it will create world peace! Everyone is very friendly and always smiling. You can get some real bargains in the shops. Everyone wants to be your guide - for a price.

Toilets
Back to normal Western standards. Hooray!

Landscape
Welcome return to green and lush scenery. Kathmandu is not as polluted as expected (and as Andrew remembered from his last trip). There are lots of bad smells, but all manageable and people don't squat in the street to go to the toilet like they do in China.

Health Update
Dare we say (touch wood) we are both fine (watch this space...)