Another visa-run saw us heading off to Nepal, what a shame :-) This time it was all a bit less stressful, having obtained the official nod from the
NGO Bureau in Dhaka to get a work permit, thanks to a lot of work by the team at
CRP. After scoring a free cab ride into the centre of Kathmandu with a girl who charged it to her company, we quickly set about gorging ourselves again on treats not so easily available in the '
Desh. The 'Du was a bit chillier than the '
Desh, but we soon found ourselves a fire to cosy up to and some nice warm mulled wine.
We decided to take advantage of the opportunity of being in Nepal and headed into the mountains for a short trek. We hopped on the bus to
Pokhara and after a mad last minute dash to get trekking permits set off for the hills. The dash for the permit included a 4KM round trip to an ATM for cash... we were later to find one about 100 metres away from the permit office and our hotel! Following a bumpy ride on the local bus to the start of our trek and swatting away the tout-flies offering us porters etc. we were rewarded with our first clear view of snow-capped peaks (
Machhapuchhre - approx 7000m).
The first couple of days we shared the path with the donkeys/mules who assist with carrying supplies up to the
teahouses. Their lack of awareness of their additional width when loaded up can be unsettling at the best of times.... but when their load is barbed wire, things become even more exciting. Sarah found out about her own loaded pack-width too when she got hooked to said wire by the washing she was drying on the side of her pack.
Not sure if it was because we were up before dawn, if
Poon Hill is quite steep, or if the 4 and a half months of samosas and limited exercise have caught up with us, but we certainly got our heart rates going during the ascent. It was a bit chilly too.
The reward of
panaromic views of the sun rising over snow capped peaks was well worth it.
And, as always, we found time for some
sillyness.
Then we braved the slippery descent where Si executed an award winning
telemarking manoeuvre to narrowly avoid slipping off a steep rocky ledge.
Day 4 of the trek was also the Hindu
Holi Festival which celebrates the beginning of spring with people colouring each others faces. After 2 days of excited face painting, Sarah had to utilise her recently acquired
kung fu skills to ward off a small boy wielding yet more coloured dust. (No children were harmed in the making of this story).
And on our last day a guide finally succeeded in adopting us... He was quite good company for the final stage of the trek but eventually wandered off to find his lady friend.
On our return to Kathmandu, we fronted up to the visa office... and with a small amount of wheeling and dealing, we got our official permission to work in the '
Desh until our planned departure. Then after a bit of shopping and more fine food/drink, we secured a flight back to Dhaka.
We went out past some paddy fields which have been growing steadily throughout our time here and are now showing off their vivid green colour.
The road then continues on winding out through quiet rural areas, and for the most part we got to stroll casually and uninterrupted...
That is until one of the local brightly coloured trucks turned up and offered us a ride towards somewhere that was roughly in the direction that we were walking. We decided to accept the offer, particularly as we were not doing a very good job of finding the loop back to CRP. With intermittent Banglish we explained that we were aiming to get back to Savar but were happy to ride with them for a while.
They offered to drop us in Ashulia where we could get a bus back to Savar, but in the end we got out at a junction between the two towns and, after bidding our new friends goodbye, we continued walking back in the general direction of Savar.
Eventually we recognised where we were and walked out to the highway past some particularly well stacked rickshaw wagons. When we got out to the highway we were offered a ride back to CRP on an empty one of these contraptions and willingly accepted.
To round off our morning of adventure we indulged in the local version of an iced lolly... a carton of frozen fruit cocktail juice.
