We leave tonight!
I'm going to miss this place. Looking back we have done so much! Mountains, jungle, flat lands, rivers, cities... We've seen traditional dances and weddings, we even saw a funeral procession walk by. We've climbed passes where the air was so thin we were gasping, we've swam with elephants! But it's time to come home.
It's getting so hot here, I really don't see why now is tourist season, I'm dripping.
tonight we fly to HK. We're home in 3 days.

Rafting!

8 days of rafting! We had a great time. 2 other people joined our group to make it just us 4. 2 guys in their mid 20s, lots of fun. 2 guides and a junior guide also came. We crammed all the gear and all but one person into the raft. There was a kayak for safety that came a long as well. The rapids were big! huge waves and holes. The water temperature was like a pool and the sun was hot so no one minded getting wet. When we did get too hot and we were in a calm spot in the river we'd jump off the side of the raft and float down. We camped on beaches, which is great minus sand getting everywhere! It was relaxing and a nice change from walking everywhere. Rafting is a fun sport but you aren't in control of anything, you're told when to paddle and when to stop. I like being able to do it myself. We flew back to Ktm. We had the option of taking a 12+ hour night bus with the other guys but i probably would be hurling out the window the whole time or knowing our luck there would a strike. So we settled for the 50 min plane ride. It was probably the best decision we made =)

Pics

Here are some pictures from our trek and Chitwan.

The first couple ones are of mountains and the pass we went over and the last ones are of the one rhino we saw! YAY! and we got to ride and swim elephants! The riding was really rough and bumpy but you got to see the jungle from up high which was sweet. It was so hot there! 30 degrees easily, ugh. But in the evening it really cooled down.

Now we're back in Kathmandu for a day. Tomorrow we leave for rafting.

Pokhara

We have finished our trek. We arrived safely yesterday in Pokhara. After 27 days of walking we are ready for a bit of civilization. Last time we wrote we were in Manang. So after that we spent a couple days ascending to the big pass, Thorung la. the weather got colder and snow started to fall. B got sick in the gut from food so it took us a lot longer then planned but we made it! The altitude didn't bother us because we took the time to acclimatize. But still it's a hard day of gasping for air to get to the other side. We had brilliant weather and got a lovely view from way up there. We were lucky because apparently it snowed knee deep a couple days later forcing some people to turn back. The week that straddled the pass was a cold one. We spent a few nights in pretty drafty stone buildings under dirty quilts. Our standard for comfort is quite low now and by the time we got down to Jomsom which has the first airport we were thrilled at the luxury or sit down toilets and warmish water to wash. We took our time descending. spending time in the beautiful medieval towns along the way. Some hadn't changed at all in the 15years, but some, with the road had completely transformed. Our trek ended at the perfect time because our knees were starting to get pretty sore. Tomorrow we take a bus down to Chitwan National Park where we'll enjoy a few days of nature and luxury!
B&P

Hello from the Annapurna Circuit Trek

We are in a valley north of Mt Annapurna, the 7th highest mtn in the world, halfway thru our trek. we did not write last week because we had to postpone our trip to chitwan park. this was due to a protest by the local inhabitants about a govt caste designation policy. hopefully we can go there after our trek. we have been trekking up a valley for the past week and a half. we have gone over 100 km and 1800 m vertical. we have to ascend another 2000m over the next 3 days!! to get over the big pass, which is 17,500 ft. we are at Manang, which is the last big town before the pass. we have been spending 2 days here to acclimatize to the high altitude, but we are feeling fine so far because we have been taking out time getting up here. the scenery here is fantastic with all of the huge mountains, which are about 22,000 ft tall !!. we will try to post some photos after the pass.
Hope everyone is well.
Bridget & Patrick

Good bye.

I am done volunteering now at the child centre and helping the teen ageers at the community centre with their english. I am emotionally exhausted from it all. But it was an amazing experience and I would do it again. The kids are beautiful and some have so much potential and I really hope they succeed in life. or else they will inherit the selling bananas on the street business. To see their smiling faces everyday and their little accomplishments made it worth while. when they all memorized 'may i go to toilet' and 'good morning miss' (that's what they call all their teachers)it made me so happy! And i wouldn't let then go to the bathroom if they didn't say it, we had a couple tense moments there! =)
I moved out of the Nepali families house and it was a bit of a tearful good bye. They are my Nepali family forever and i had to promise to come back very soon! I really loved living like a local. buying food at the market every morning, having tea all the time! Walking to work and saying 'namaste' to people i see every day. But there is so much more to see in Nepal. So this coming sunday we get on a bus and go to the jungle!
So good bye Kathmandu! Hello Chitwan!

Here is a bit of news from Pat:
I have had a couple of very interesting weeks. Hired a guide who took me bird watching in the hills south of Kathmandu. He was very good and very nice, so we had a great day. He picked me up on his motorcycle in the dark at 6am and we zoomed thru the city and countryside as it woke up - great fun (& freezing!). The day in the hills was very good. We identified over 30 birds; very few of which I had seen on our last trip here. It makes such a difference when you are with an expert! We also had a bonus of a huge view of the Himalayas. Even at such a distance, it was obvious that they were much higher than we were!
Spent a morning with the Tibetan family which runs 'our' hotel. They said I was like part of the family, and I felt very honoured to be invited (I stayed at their hotel for a month on our last trip here, and have been almost a month here this time!) It was Tibetan New Year, which has great religious significance to Tibetan buddhists. The Dalai Lama had asked Tibetans to NOT celebrate this year, in protest of all the Tibetan protesters who were killed last year by the Chinese govt. So it was a quiet affair, just following them around as they prayed in a couple of monasteries, and did the circuit of the 2 huge stupas in Kath. I was blessed by the head Lama of one of the monasteries. We also visited the Dalai Lama's representative in Nepal.
Spent about 4 days so far working with the local consultant which is doing an engineering and rehabilitation plan of the rivers in the Kath valley for the Nepal govt. Most rivers are very badly polluted and there is no planning control on new building along their banks. I have been on 2 field trips: one to a site inside the city which has a Hindu temple and cremation site, and the other to a rural area upstream of all the pollution. The villagers there showed me around and explained how they wanted to divert the river back to its earlier course and then relandscape it. I tried to convince them to leave it in its present alignment because it would cause less damage and take less work, but they were adamant. Their property lines do not move with the river like in Canada, so the land owners want 'their' land back!
B has already described the day we spent with one of her family's relatives, a little girl who went through a coming of age ceremony. The day ended with a party to which only their closest relatives were invited (about 300!!) We were the only foreigners, so again I felt very honoured.
I have also been busy arranging the rest of our trip: a lodge in the middle of Chitwan Park - a dryland jungle, permits for the 4-week trek around Annapurna, and a whitewater rafting & camping trip down the Sun Kosi River.
I am living the life of Riley here: sleeping in, having breakfast on the hotel roof, doing day trips to the valley's 7 world heritage sites (which can be an adventure in itself!), and trying to communicate with the locals with my very rudimentary Nepal!
I hope everyone is well back in Canada.
- Pat