Day 1 (Friday 29th March London Heathrow via Mumbai (8h 45min & 5.5h ahead of GMT) to Amritsar) and the very start of Day 2 (Saturday 30th March) allowing for the time difference
Well it certainly didn’t seem as though it was a year ago that we were last in India but believe you me, it was, doesn’t time fly (no pun intended)?
What with all the negative news, it’s amazing that these flights ever happened. For those of you not in the know, Jet Airways seem presently to be imploding due to being severely ‘strapped for cash’ this has resulted in 3/4 of its flights being grounded/cancelled and, for us at least, a last-minute change in our flight plans. Originally due to fly via Delhi we now found ourselves taking an earlier flight via Mumbai and then on to Amritsar. This alteration in our plans required us to book an additional day in our Amritsar hotel (£51 each) where we arrived at some ungodly early hour of the Indian morning.
As a result of these changes, we had all decided to travel to Heathrow the day before our departure and spend the night in a hotel within easy walking distance of Heathrow Terminal 4. The Premier Inn can be highly recommended for its efficient staff, good facilities and cleanliness, a place we plan to use in the future if and when the need arises.
Our check in and baggage drop completed seamlessly, we had some breakfast in Costa and eventually slowly made our way to Gate 7. After a short time we boarded our Boeing B777-30ER. It was very noticeable that there were many empty seats throughout the cabin so we found our seats in Row 42 (not where we had originally booked) stowed our hand luggage and waited to taxi and take off. If only we’d have known that this flight would have been so empty, we could have saved ourselves the £15 each seat booking charge, oh well, you live and learn.
After a short wait we took off in a westerly direction 35 minutes later than our scheduled time 10:05 am at 10:40am to travel the 4,600 miles to Mumbai.
Our initial route saw us flying over Brussels, Prague and the Black Sea south of Odessa.
After an hour our lunch was served. I have to say it was delicious which I know is very unusual for an in flight meal but if this was a herald of the curries to come, bring ‘em on.
We both decided to ignore the in flight entertainment today, at first glance it wasn’t very inspiring so decided to opt for reading a novel on the Kindle for Maggie and for me watching the BBC1 series Baptiste which I had previously downloaded on my iPad both definitely much more desirable options.
After crossing the Black Sea we made landfall and continue across Armenia, south of the Caucasus to the base of the Caspian Sea and onwards over Tehran.
5 hours into the flight and as expected, another meal was served, a vegetable wrap looking much like a McDonald’s Apple pie at first glance but which after the first sniff and bite proved immediately to be of the Asian curry cuisine, still it all helped to pass the time and keep everyone occupied for a while.
We continued on our way flying south easterly first over the Gulf of Oman then over the Arabian Sea keeping well south of Karachi for very obvious reasons, on to Mumbai and well into the darkness of the eastern night.
With around half an hour to go, the captain announced that passengers return to their seats and put on their seatbelts and that we would begin our descent into Mumbai which was, even at this time of night approximately half past midnight, a very warm 27 degrees.
We landed in Mumbai at 7:23pm GMT or 12:23am India time.
Everything seemed very orderly with airport staff helping/directing us first to e-visa immigration check then to baggage collect, to boarding pass check to departures, to small rucksack/personal security check and then to the Gate where we immediately boarded a coach which took us to our waiting aircraft. Apart from being a little warm we completed all of this with minimum effort.
Our plane for this, the second leg of our journey was a Boeing B737-800 and this time it was full to capacity. Our next stop – Amritsar scheduled flight time 2h 10min
We took off at 2:45am after what seemed an extraordinarily long time speeding along the runway, so there really couldn’t have been much tarmac left. This flight was noisy even before we took off and it got noisier and noisier what with the engine and a/c noise coupled with children crying and people talking loudly. At last it became cool as the air flowed from the nozzles above. We settled back just as the captain had told us to do and ‘enjoyed’ the flight.
After about 1.5hours came some great news, we would be landing half an hour earlier than scheduled. We began our descent at 4:25am and were on the ground at 4:38am, 2 minutes short of 2 hours – excellent. As an added bonus we even noticed the Golden Temple lit up in all its splendours as we flew in low over the city.
After walking from the aircraft into the arrivals lounge and collecting our baggage we made our way through to the exit of the airport where we were met by a man holding a Maggie Bray sign. He directed us to our minibus and introduced us to our driver who would be our driver for the whole time that we were in India. We drove the 30 to 40 minutes to our hotel to the quiet streets of Amritsar it was hot and extremely dusty.
Info:
- We are now in Indian Punjab its old capital Lahore now lying in Pakistani Punjab.
- Srinagar is the modern capital of Indian Punjab.
Our hotel the Ranjit Svaasa was on the mall, one of the larger roads in Amritsar although everywhere was shut and quiet at this time of the morning.
We were met in the lobby, given a glass of water to drink and then completed our registration. We were shown to our rooms in this heritage style Indian hotel a beautifully decorated place with many staircases, balconies, courtyards and individual rooms.
We showered changed and got into bed, we had been travelling for a while and were all extremely tired.
At 10:00am the phone rang telling us that breakfast service was closing and I informed the receptionist at the other end of the line that this morning we wouldn’t be taking breakfast thankyou very much.
We eventually woke up fully at 11:00am had a shower, got changed, had a cup of tea and made our way downstairs where we met Lyn and Sue in one of the courtyards.
We eventually woke up fully at 11:00am had a shower, got changed, had a cup of tea and made our way downstairs where we met Lyn and Sue in one of the courtyards.
Day 2 proper (Saturday 30th March – in Amritsar)
Info:
- Amritsar or the ‘pool of nectar’ referring to the pool of water in which lies the famous Golden Temple.
- Punjab or ‘the land of 5 rivers’ 2 of which now flow in Pakistan and 3 which flow in India.
…….and at 12 noon we decided to go for lunch. We chose grilled sandwiches and soft drinks.
Just as we had been told yesterday by our pick up guide we were collected at 3:00pm and were driven the 30 kms to the Wagha border crossing between India and Pakistan. This was the exact location when recently, only some 4 weeks ago and following a military incident between the 2 countries, an Indian pilot, shot down over Pakistan was, as a peaceful gesture, returned to India. It was here in this rather tense location that we were going to experience the world famous lowering of the flags and closing of the gates ceremony due to begin at 5 o’clock. A ceremony enacted every single day for the last 60 years to commemorate the 1 million who died in what has become known as partition.
As was the case for foreign visitors we made our way to a special set of seats along with relatives and members of the armed services and other dignitaries so we had a particularly spectacular view amongst the 25,000 other visitors. The music, colours, singing, shouting and most of all the master of ceremonies, a border force officer made for an unforgettable event almost impossible to describe, you had to be there to really appreciate it. The whole ceremony was choreographed to the finest detail.
It was like an episode of Strictly gone badly wrong. Pomp and ceremony on behalf of both warring nations to the most extreme, uniforms too colourful to describe, a chance for each side to attempt to intimidate the other through examples of extreme marching (just look at those leg kicks), gestures and facial expressions , all very theatrical and much to the liking of the huge Indian crowd, like cockerels facing off against one another. At one stage I even thought I noticed a bit of break dancing. 2 soldiers even squared up face to face and twirled their moustaches in order to try to outdo each other in the facial hair department.
We could see the much smaller Muslim crowd on the other side of the gate but any sounds they were managing to make were completely drowned out by the very patriotic Indians with their face paint, flag waving, colourful hats, waving of arms, synchronised clapping and singing along to obviously well known songs or either chanting following the cues given by the MC.
My favourites were Hindustan………….. and 2 others which sounded remarkably like Monday and Wednesday, at least that’s what I was shouting. Eventually we came to the grand finale, the lowering of the flags and closing of the gates, both completed again faultlessly and in perfect unison, even if the trumpet blowing sounded a bit Grade 1.
Info:
- Hindustan = Country of the Hindus, the old name for India.
It was truly amazing to experience and something that none of us will ever forget.
After returning to our hotel to freshen up we went by mini bus for our evening meal at the Yellow Chilli, a restaurant recommended by today’s guide Nick (not his real name but more easily pronounced). We ordered a variety of local dishes of which the black lentil dish and local curry were the standout and most favourite amongst us and we washed these down with 2 pitchers of ice cold Kingfisher beer.
Day 3 (Sunday 31st March, In Amritsar)
We are now 4.5h ahead of you.
Today we planned to visit the Golden Temple built in the 1500s by Guru Arjan Dev.
Following breakfast we took the minibus for a short while and then had to get off said bus due to the weight of traffic. Anything goes here but believe you me not a lot was moving today as too many people had had the same idea as us today, to see the Golden Temple hence the stationary queues of vehicles.
After walking along with the weekend crowds
After making our way by foot along with the rest of the crowd it was here we came across the world’s one and only vegetarian McDonalds! , we then strolled past the statue of the warrior leader Maharajah Ranjit Singh (leader who fought against the Mogul invaders) and who first provided the gold with which the temple is gilded.
Eventually we arrived at the shoe depository where after leaving our shoes I donned my orange headscarf (not my best look), a prerequisite for men and certainly not at all flattering, the ladies covered their heads with shawls and we walked through the footbath and under the arch towards the Temple complex. It was superb especially as it glittered in the bright sunshine.
This temple, one of the holiest places in the Sikh religion sat on an island in the middle of a green rectangular lake with a narrow walkway leading up to it from one side. There were thousands of people waiting to visit the Temple proper with an estimated wait of 5-6 hours or so we were told by Nick. We decided to walk, along with everyone else, a complete circuit of the lake. People were bathing, guards were discouraging people from taking photographs (a rule that would be fully enforced in 2 months time), the devout were prostrating themselves, some were presenting offerings to side temples but everyone was on the move – a human sea. Interestingly enough we were some of the very few ie hardly any Europeans there and because of that, quite a novelty, so much so that we were inundated with Indians asking us for selfies, taking photos of us with their children or simply taking photos of us, of course we obliged at every request. The colours were amazing, men dressed all in blue representing Punjabi warriors of the past, women in patterned Saris of all shades and colours, men in turbans of bright Orange or Black or Red or Blue and children dressed in traditional costume – wow.Eventually we reached the langur or communal dining areas, they feed in the region of 50,000 people a day! The food is free and all the work done here: preparation of food on an industrial scale, serving, cleaning and washing up being done voluntarily.
In a Sikh temple or Gurdwara you can receive FREE food at any time of day or night. Everything here was well organised and the crowds orderly and patient. The noise in the washing up area where the trays are washed 5 times each was deafening, definitely against all advice from the HSE.
Eventually we retraced our steps back under the arch, collected our shoes and were again mobbed by people requesting photographs, hey!
Next we visited Jallianwala Bagh (gardens) a place infamous for its past history and the actions of the British military. On April 13th 1919, General Dyer (more like General diabolical) ordered his troops to open fire without any warning on a crowd of unarmed and peaceful Indians gathered here to celebrate a festival. Rowlatt’s act, a law made by the British in Delhi, prohibited amongst other things the gathering of protesting crowds. After only 10 minutes and when no more ammunition remained, 100’s of innocent and law abiding Indian people lay dead whilst many others lay injured. Undoubtedly one of the darkest moments of the rule of the British in India. This memorial park still shows signs of gunshots in the walls and identifies the large well where many of the crowd perished whilst trying to escape, there were few exits as the British had blocked the narrow alleyways to the gardens. An eternal flame and large monument in the shape of a flame still commemorate this unnecessary slaughter. Once again and quite bizarrely many people wanted their photographs taken with us, it’s amazing how time heals the hatred. As we came out of the gardens we passed a group of people in the open air donating blood, I wondered if they got paid for this?
Finally we made our way to the Partition Museum which helped us to appreciate and understand more about the division of the Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus into independent Pakistan and independent India something not truly understood by today’s modern British population. Some of the exhibits were quite harrowing to view and displayed some of the atrocities which took place during these time, once again, not a period of British History we can be proud of. Over 1 million people died and 80 million people were displaced and dispossessed of their belongings, the greatest mass migration of people ever to take place.
We walked back to the bus and upon arrival at the hotel sat in the courtyard drinking tea. The temperature was pleasant and a refreshing breeze blew. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea, relaxing in the Courtyard and chatting and then went off to the roof terrace to look at the birds flying round about. There were birds of prey, sunbirds, mynahs, parakeets accompanied by some butterflies and squirrels, they were nice to see.
Palm Squirrel, Black Kite, Purple Sunbird, Common Mormon Butterfly
This evening we went, once again by recommendation of Nick, to a more traditional restaurant called Crystal. We decided to opt for fewer dishes than last night and to share what we had ordered. Again, the food was delicious, papad to start with, a cauliflower dish and stuffed potatoes dish accompanied with rice, Naan bread and assorted pickles and chutneys all supported with the eagerly anticipated glasses of Kingfisher.
Day 4 (Monday 1st. April, Amritsar to Dharamsala)
Following breakfast and having settled our bill and been given a steel bangle each (1 of the 5k’s of Sikhism) we left Amritsar around 9:40am. We were soon out of the city and having past numerous schools and colleges etc were driving across very flat land with large wheat fields stretching as far as the eye could see. We noticed a variety of birds flying around, perching on the trees or telephone wires or standing on the banks of the rivers and ditches around. The traffic was surprisingly light so our driver took particular advantage of this by using every piece of road available remaining fairly intolerant of slower drivers (tractors, overladen lorries and tuc tucs) and put the pedal to the metal as far as it would go ie not that fast. We passed through a number of towns where everyone was busying themselves with one thing or another and small dusty shops sold everything from trinkets to spare tyres to fruit and veg. We even made our way onto a motorway first by driving through a sea of plastic, dust and smoke and then against the traffic the wrong way up a slip road onto the motorway.
After a short tea stop we began to see snow-capped mountains in the distance and soon found ourselves, once again, close to the border with Pakistan. Military barracks and personnel were very noticeable by their obvious presence. As we entered the state of Himachal Pradesh the roads became rougher and narrower. We crossed over old narrow bridges, made way for large lorries as we attempted to pass them side by side through narrow village streets and eventually started to ascend. The scenery changed, any fields were much smaller and the air became fresher the greenery became lusher. There were two roads into Dharamshala and we took the wider one thank goodness.
After around 5 hours the town of Dharamsala came into view with buildings clinging to the steep slopes ahead of us.
Info:
- A dharamshala, also written as dharmashala is a Hindu religious resthouse. In Sanskrit, Dharma means religion, and shala means sanctuary.
Dharamshala the adopted home of the exiled Dalai Lama (Dal I Lam(a) not to be confused with Will I Am) sits on 2 levels, upper Dharamshala where the first settlement began when occupied in 1850 by the 1st. Gorkha (not miss-spelled) and lower Dharamshala as the town further developed.
Info:
- Dalai = Ocean of Wisdom, Lama = monk
Just before arriving in the town we picked up our guide who introduced himself, Pass Ang. We chose to drive to town and do some visiting prior to booking into our hotel (Uduchee Huts) which was situated a little way outside the centre.
Info:
- The Dalai Lama is the embodiment of The Buddha’s compassion
We were a little weary after our journey so decided to go and get a drink and a snack form a local restaurant, this proved far mor difficult to achieve as after ordering 3 omelettes and a Tibetan Brown bread cheese sandwich and 4 drinks, first we were told that there was no Tibetan bread, next and after just a short while we were told that the electric was off and that we couldn’t have any omelettes. Instead, and to make life easier, we opted to replace these with peanut butter sandwiches. Our drinks and sandwiches duly arrived then halfway through eating, 2 omelettes arrived, no third one to be seen. We didn’t make a fuss and sat and drank everything. Finally when the bill arrived we saw we had been charged for the third omelette. We asked the waitress to adjust the bill which she did BUT she realised a few minutes later that she had crossed out 2 of the drinks and readjusted accordingly which was, of course incorrect. She altered it again and finally we were presented with the correct bill which we quickly/paid and then made a rapid getaway.
We walked down the Main Street of McLeod Ganj lined with the usual array of tourist stuff for sale some of which was nice but most of which was tat. The quote from our guide regarding the purchase of things for sale was ‘some people have the money but not the time whilst others have the time but not the money,’ a number of beggars lined the streets but were generally ignored by everyone here.
Info:
- Buddha mens enlightened one or all knowing whilst Buddhu means having an empty head or not knowing anything.
We stopped at the Dalai Lama`s temple complex in an area known as McLeodganj after a Scottish viceroy, here we were told much more about what we would see. Although the DL was in residence, needless to say we did not see him although we noticed numerous male and female monks walking and meditating in this area. Of course we went inside the temples to admire the ornaments and decorations but were slightly disappointed in their appearance, they seemed quite bare and a little simplistic in their decoration.
However we thoroughly enjoyed spinning the rows of prayer wheels on the outside of the temple, something Lyn did with gusto and the piece de resistance, spinning the huge prayer wheel to ring the bell for meditation.
After leaving the temple we retraced our steps and got back on the coach which took us upwards and along the narrower road through the town to the area near a waterfall. It was here where a number of people were swimming in an outdoor naturally spring fed pool. We walked on further and after climbing numerous steps along with other visitors, mainly locals, we reached the waterfall. It was a pleasant place and we enjoyed our time here.
Finally we walked back to the coach and completed our journey which saw us end up at our hotel where we would be sleeping for the next 2 nights, Uduchee Huts.
We had 2 large rooms in the same building, 1 above and 1 below both with magnificent views of the snow capped Himalayas.
After just a few minutes I spotted a mongoose and some interesting birds.
It was now at this height of over 6,000ft beginning to get cold which would later require a change of clothes into something warmer.
Our meal this evening was excellent although in the large dining room we seemed to be the only guests. It all cost a measly 1,500 Indian rupees, we couldn’t believe it.
We finished our evening with Maggie reading in front of the heater and me taking photos of the stars, what a complete change from yesterday evening.
Day 5 (Tuesday 2nd April, In and around Dharamshala)
Today’s breakfast, taken sitting outside on on the veranda, in the heat of the sun was our strangest yet. Along with our coffee and fresh fruit 3 of us ordered cheese omelettes and toast but what arrived was a cheese on toast omelette for each of us – um.
The plan for the day was to spend time in Dharamshala visiting some interesting places. First we stopped at the Church of St. John’s in the Wilderness (1860), a church built by the British and looking exactly like a British village church might do.
It was erected by Lord Elgin who is buried in the graveyard there, son of the other Lord Elgin who the marbles are named after. The church was badly damaged in a previous earthquake in 1905 so the bell tower is somewhat diminished.
Info:
- A bell made in the Whitechapel Foundry sits outside the church on the ground as it was too difficult to position it in the bell tower upon its arrival.
It was here too that we saw 20 or 30 small lizards sunning themselves, something I’ve never before seen.
We drove next to the Kangra State Museum where we viewed some lovely paintings, stone carving of deities and some old jewellery, quite interesting but better still when we came outside and had clear views of Moon Peak and the Matterhorn both well over 4,000m high in the Dhauladhar Range.
Next we visited the Norbulingka Institute of Tibetan Art and Culture, a place which preserves handicrafts including wood carving, embroidery, weaving, metal work and fine painting (thanka) on cloth, it also had a rather good doll museum.
After a drink and snack there in the gardens we visited The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Ground, perhaps with its mountainous background the most idyllic cricket ground in the world bar none. There was even a cricket match going on, weren’t we lucky?
We slowly made our way back to our accommodation where after a cool drink we relaxed on our balconies whilst enjoying the peace and solitude provided by this perfect location.
We finished with a meal in the hotel trying some different dishes and guess what……..we weren’t the only ones eating, other guests had arrived.
A lovely, low key, special day.
Day 6 (Wednesday 3rd April, Dharamshala to Mandi)
Dilik is an exceptional driver, of that there is no doubt. Today we left Dharamshala at 8:30am and drove south through the foothills of the Himalayas to Mandi. The roads sometimes became simple stoney rutted tracks which twisted and turned like a plate of freshly served spaghetti, there wasn’t any sort of bend which we did not, in some way, have to negotiate. We crossed one ridge after another making our way up and then down whilst avoiding all other road users and often overtaking at the most inappropriate times possible, usually on a blind bend in the wrong gear with the engine straining, why wouldn’t you? Then across the intervening gorges often on single track bridges many of which were in the process of being replaced. These crossed wide rivers which at this time of year held much less water than they would otherwise be obviously capable of. They were strewn with boulders. We passed through busy towns and villages and military areas whilst continually descending in height making sure that we kept those snow capped peaks on the high ridge line to our left. The scenery changed and the landscape showed us forests, terraced farming and even the odd small tea plantation or two.
This area was all to do with agriculture, there were institutes, schools, study centres etc associated with all matter of things farming related.
During late morning we stopped for tea and coffee and drank this while watching red kites gliding on the thermals level with our eyeline providing great views of their aerial skills.
After a lot more twisting and turning and just as I was running out of music to play over the Bluetooth speaker we arrived in Mandi (no, not the one Barry Manilow sings about).
This place was not on the tourist trail and as we drove through the town centre we soon realised that we were in a minority of 4.
Our Hotel the Rajmahal was a very old building at the end of a very narrow lane only just wide enough to fit the minibus. The decor here was rather colonial and the place was in need of some repair, there wasn’t a level floor or ceiling in the place. Still it was clean and comfortable.
After settling in we decided to take a walk around this bustling town with its central gardens around which on each of its four sides lay 3 tiers of stalls selling everything you could imagine, a real bazaar.
Next we walked up to the river. It was here that we saw, unfortunate for us, a dead dog being thrown into the river, not good. Then we used a footpath and narrow alleys which led to a pedestrian (note the emphasis on pedestrian) footbridge we had spotted from further up. We crossed the bridge, unsurprisingly having to dodge the ever present mopeds and scooters as we did so. At the other end of the bridge there was a temple which we walked down to and spent some time looking at. A squirrel also made a guest appearance.
We also enjoyed watching the donkeys which carried the sand that their master had dug out of the dry riverbed, this was obviously going to be used to make cement, we had already noticed that much of the town was in the process of being repaired or rebuilt and in desperate need of this. Finally we wended our way back to the hotel where we relaxed in the garden. A hot shower and change of clothes left us ready for our evening meal. This turned out to be the best meal yet and the beer wasn’t bad either.
Day 7 (Thursday 4th April, Mandi to Shimla)
The day started with a very peculiar breakfast and, to cap it all, we even had to wait 20 minutes for it (we were on a schedule this morning). My scrambled egg looked more like rice pudding and tasted very cheesy, our tea was chai masala (not nice when it grows a wrinkly skin on the surface) and 2 toasted sandwiches each with a thick slice of butter and covered in jam (I simply ordered toast) – distinctly odd.
We left Mandi at 8:40am, 10 minutes later than planned. Initially the roads were surprisingly fairly wide and fairly smooth and took us through large towns and well cultivated areas of farming and market gardening. However, after a short while the roads unsurprisingly reverted to their usual narrow, poorly surfaced, twisty turny selves. We went up and down steep ridges using narrow tight hairpin bends to negotiate the gradient and at times swung around blind corners only to meet large highly decorated lorries heading straight towards us though somehow we always managed at the last minute to avoid them. We noticed a reservoir with its dam, 3 huge cement works being served by the aforementioned lorries, numerous large modern buildings all seemingly empty which begs the question why?, a group of local men carrying a dead body wrapped in cloth on their shoulders, a zoo where we stopped for a moment to see the bears in their pen and a variety of brightly coloured temple like structures each with their own statues of various Hindu deities.
After 3 hours we stopped by the roadside for a drinks break and then after another 2 hours on the road noticed the buildings of Shimla and the surrounding area come into sight. As the traffic increased we drove amongst it and into Shimla proper. Situated at around 7,000ft and therefore much cooler than Delhi, Shimla was the Summer seat of Government during British Colonial rule and is now the capital of Himachal Pradesh. The Government originally moved from Kolkata (Calcutta) to Delhi and then from Delhi to Shimla but only for the summer, remaining in Delhi during the cooler months.
Info:
- Originally a small village, Shimla was forcibly taken from the local kings when the Ghorkas of the Punjab/Nepal invaded the area (1806) but was taken back by the British army (1815) who then chose to make this their Summer residence.
First we stopped to meet our local guide and then to visit the Viceregal Lodge, now The Institute of Advanced Study on Observatory Hill. This was certainly an imposing building located in a prominent position just outside the main town. The gardens too were impressive. We walked around them until it was our time to go inside and be shown around some of the rooms with their displays of old historic photographs concerning the talks around Partition. By far the most breathtaking was the hallway with its wooden panelling, large and imposing wooden staircase and glass ceiling. It was noticeably much cooler in here rather than outside.
Info:
- The Lodge was built in 1888 in the Scottish Baronial style and was the centre of Government of India under British colonial rule.
- Viceroy Mountbatten was its last British occupant.
- This is where most of the meetings concerning Indian Independence took place.
PARTITION
Unbiased at least he was when he arrived on his mission,
Having never set eyes on the land he was called to partition
Between two peoples fanatically at odds,
With their different diets and incompatible gods.
“Time,” they had briefed him in London, “is short. It’s too late
For mutual reconciliation or rational debate:
The only solution now lies in separation.
The Viceroy thinks, as you will see from his letter,
That the less you are seen in his company the better,
So we’ve arranged to provide you with other accommodation.
We can give you four judges, two Moslem and two Hindu,
To consult with, but the final decision must rest with you.”
Shut up in a lonely mansion, with police night and day
Patrolling the gardens to keep the assassins away,
He got down to work, to the task of settling the fate
Of millions. The maps at his disposal were out of date
And the Census Returns almost certainly incorrect,
But there was no time to check them, no time to inspect
Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot,
And a bout of dysentery kept him constantly on the trot,
But in seven weeks it was done, the frontiers decided,
A continent for better or worse divided.
The next day he sailed for England, where he could quickly forget
The case, as a good lawyer must. Return he would not,
Afraid, as he told his Club, that he might get shot.
WH Auden
After this visit we were driven to our hotel which would be our accommodation for 2 nights, Clarke’s Hotel, the oldest in Shimla. We said our goodbyes to our driver who had proved to be the master of the roads and who thank goodness certainly knew the dimensions of our coach which helped save us on a number of occasions . This hotel was amazing, not only were the staff attentive to every one of our needs, the suites we were given were extremely well equipped, we were very happy.
After a short break we took a guided walking tour of central Shimla around and about the Mall, now a pedestrian precinct.
We visited some of the better known buildings. The Gaiety Theatre (1887), a real old style theatre where we were allowed to go on the stage and sit in the stalls and circle, an amazing place and still to this day performing plays from the early 1900’s.
We then walked past the very British in style Town Hall which had been recently renovated and then to Christ Church built in 1844 again in the British style and which was situated close to the mock Tudor style library. All very strange in a country so far from the U.K.
We eventually strolled back to our hotel for a rest.
We decided to eat at the hotel restaurant tonight and had mixed feelings about the food here, anyway you can’t tell until you’ve tried. Enough said.
Looking forward to a bit of a lie in tomorrow.
Day 8 (Friday 5th April, in Shimla)
Today was a free day for us, a day to explore Shimla at our own pace.
As I mentioned yesterday, we had a lazy start this morning, a later than usual breakfast. The selection at the buffet was excellent but I decided just to opt for a croissant and a pain au chocolat and black tea, delicious.
After breakfast we decided that we would walk to the museum which we cold see atop a hill some distance away. We strolled up the Mall and passed shopkeepers preparing for the day and locals on their way to work as well as local and overseas visitors. I even bought a hat.
This all made for a noisy yet colourful spectacle. A few monkeys were walking around or climbing in the trees so we steered well clear of these. The temperature was very pleasant with bright sunshine and blue skies.
We passed a number of interesting old buildings as we walked up and down the slopes that make up the road system around here. Some buildings in perfect condition, some in need of renovation whilst others appeared past the point of no return.
Eventually we arrived at the bottom of the really steep drive which led up to the museum, a fantastic building in the unmistakable style of an old cafe in a large English park, painted in pastel colours with numerous small windows, it reminded me of my childhood.
After a while spent here we exited but couldn’t find Lyn and Sue. We waited for 15 minutes and agreed that they must have already left. We walked back through the town and stopped for a coke in an upstairs cafe called The Hide Out and one which our guide had recommended yesterday, 99 IR for 2 cokes. The sun was now high in the sky and it was hot.
We arrived at our Hotel and chilled for the rest of the afternoon.
We had decided to go to the bandstand restaurant for a meal this evening but when we arrived there was obviously some function going on so we had a quick change of plan, we retraced our steps right down the Mall to another restaurant we had spotted earlier. I chose not to eat too much or drink any alcohol tonight because I was feeling just a little under the weather .
We eventually got to bed at around 10:15 pm.
Day 9 (Saturday 6th April, Shimla to Kalka to Delhi)
We didn’t get up too early today but unfortunately when we did, Maggie felt unwell so opted to ignore breakfast this morning. When I got to the dining room I also learned that Lyn had been unwell in the night, must’ve been something we ate.
At 9:30am we checked out and paid our bills and were met by today’s guide Sanjay. He would accompany us to Kalka and make sure that we boarded the correct train.
Today was a highlight of the tour and something we had been looking forward to doing since speaking to 2 of our fellow travellers from last year. We had seen this journey on a number of T.V. programmes back home and therefore had an idea of what to expect. We were to board the narrow gauge train due to leave at 10:40am and whilst waiting on the platform walked onto the track to take some photos of various bits of railway furniture and a steam train used only on special occasions.
This train and its carriages were narrow gauge and obviously extremely old.
Info:
- The Kalka to Shimla railway was built in 1903.
- It runs for 97km
- There are 107 tunnels
- There are 969 bridges
At 10:40am precisely the train pulled out of the station. We had the best seats going that were in the second carriage of about 8 or 9 so were extremely comfortable and we had great views. Windows open we were on on our way.
We passed through some stations and stopped at others with our longest stop of 10min at Barog named after the engineer who was responsible for building the tunnel here.
Unfortunately when the tunnel was due for completion they discovered that the 2 ends which were meant to meet in the middle of the mountain were misaligned. Mr Barog was therefore fined 1IR by the British who had employed him. This fine, ignoring the fact that is was only 1IR was a great personal insult to him and his family. As a result he committed suicide. Needless to say he was tasked in building a new tunnel prior to his untimely death. This tunnel now holds the record for being the longest at over 1km.
We passed by towns and villages, people working on the line, alongside roads of varying quality and through areas of woodland, the tree species changing as we got lower.
Two of the more interesting pieces of architecture were the viaducts made of brick and forming 2 or 3 layers of arches
After 5h 27min we arrived at Kalka where we alighted and crossed the platform to eventually board and wait for the departure of the Shatabdi Express Kalka to Delhi train. We were advised to wait on the platform until the A/C in our carriage was switched on which we did. At about 5:00pm we boarded the train and found our very comfortable seats.
At 5:45pm on the dot the train crept away from the station. This leg of our journey would take 4 hours so we just sat back and relaxed. BUT wait – no sooner had we been going only a few minutes when a meal of strange fair was served, tea, juice, nuts (various), a sandwich (unsure as to contents), samosa (yummy), a packet of chana dal, a sweet dry pot of what looked like kapok (weird) and some other sachets and packets of things (couldn’t even guess as to their contents). I ate some of it, kept some for later and didn’t bother with the rest. We passed through a number of stations, Chandigarh being the most notable. We finally arrived in Delhi at 10:15pm but only, wait for it, after being served a soup, another full meal and ice cream on two occasions, we declined where others ate with enthusiasm.
We were met on the platform and even before the train had come to a complete stop by a representative from Cox and Kings, one of the agents that Explore use when in India. As far as we could see Delhi station hadn’t changed from the last time we were here. There was a long walk up and across platforms and then finally down an escalator before we crossed a number of carparks to our coach which was waiting for us. It was a very large and modern coach with a driver and a luggage boy as well as our guide and we were the only four guests in it. We had been told a number of days previously that our hotel had been upgraded we didn’t know the reason why but when we arrived at the Pullman hotel some 45 min drive away from the station in the direction of the airport at a very large, very modern five-star hotel we were mightily impressed. Our room was amazing we had everything that we could need for a good night’s rest, including, would you believe it, a free standing roll top bath.
The end of a long day, bring on tomorrow but not too quickly, it’s now past midnight.
Day 10 (Sunday 7th April, Delhi to Kathmandu)
Kathmandu here we come!
Info:
- Nepal (pronounced Pal not Paul)
- The working and school week begins on a Sunday and is 6 days long. Saturday is a day off.
After a great nigh’s sleep in a comfortable bed with huge soft pillows and in a room at a good temperature for us we were ready for the next part of our journey.
Breakfast was by far the very best yet. There was so much choice it was almost impossible to decide what to take. You could have spent all morning and still not have sampled most of what was on offer. Every diet was fully catered for with the freshest of food and drink available.
After completing our packing we made our way to the lobby where we were greeted by our guide who would see us from the hotel and safely into the airport concourse. There was some slight confusion as I had not downloaded the tickets yesterday evening when checking in online. This was quickly sorted by our guide and we were soon dropping our luggage and passing through security and passport check. We made our way to Gate 18 where it was much cooler for us to sit and wait. At 11:45am we were called to board the Boeing 737-800/900.
We were pushed off the stand at 12:30pm for an estimated flight time of 1h 10min.
We took off just 5min late at 12:45pm. The smoggy pollution over Delhi was grey and thick but we soon climbed out of that through the clouds and into the sunshine. This flight was again very comfortable and the vegetable roll, cake and coke were lovely, as yet I cannot fault the food provided by Jet Air. After staying in a holding pattern over Kathmandu for some time we eventually landed at 2:15 pm India time which because of the 15 minutes difference made it 2:30pm Nepal time.
We disembarked and were driven the short distance to the arrivals hall by coach. It was here where the fun really began, no one seemed to know what they were doing and there were hundreds of people milling around looking for instructions from signs or from airport staff none of which seemed to be forthcoming. Looking around as we did, there were obviously three different sets of very long queues. We knew that we had to fill in an immigration form, this we did and then we joined one of the queues. You guessed it, after 15 minutes we realised this was the wrong set of queues so we moved to another which led to a row of computer terminals at which our personal and passport information had to be entered. Some people took a long time at the terminal others seemed to do it more quickly. At one point we counted the number of people in front of us and we were in number 10 and number 11 spots. Eventually, after about half an hour, it was our turn, we input our personal details and passport number and a photograph taken from a mini cam at the top of the terminal. Much of the information we had input and our photographs seemed not have been fully accepted, however, upon pressing submit we were issued with a printed ticket which showed that the information had been accepted in some form or other. Next we took this ticket with our passport and immigration card to another set of queues, here we lined up for another half an hour. When we eventually reached the desk we had to pay £21 for our entry Visa for a maximum stay of 15 days. We took a receipt and walked across to the other side of the hall where we joined the final set of queues. Slowly we made our way to the desk at the front of our queue and eventually handed over all our pieces of paper even including our boarding pass. Passports duly stamped we made our way through the gate and into Nepal proper. Unfortunately it was here that Lyndsey came a cropper. As she was slowly shuffling forward in her line the official at the desk turned his sign from open to closed and promptly disappeared, the people in the queue were dumbfounded. We made our way to baggage collection but not before having to pass through just one more level of security (bureaucracy or what!). We collected our bags where we waited for Sue and Lyndsey to appear. Sue appeared quite quickly, Lyndsey we waited quite a lot longer for! All present and correct we made our way out side of the arrivals area and into the concourse. We walked through the main doors to the airport and were greeted by our arrivals representative who introduced us to a number of other travellers who we would be spending the next two weeks with. We were six in total at this point. A coach arrived, our luggage was placed in the boot, we climbed aboard and then were driven through the busy streets of Kathmandu to our hotel the Shangri La. It began to rain for the very first time this holiday but only turned out to be just a heavy shower. It was here that we met our tour guide, Kiran and the other two members of our group making 8 in total, 6 women and 2 men.
After checking our passports and insurance Kiran gave us a brief introduction to Kathmandu and Nepal and told us what we would be doing in the next few days. At then end of this introduction we all agreed to meet at 7:00pm in the restaurant.
Our meal this evening was delightful as we sat outside under cover of the heavy rain which now fell and it felt unusual in the fact that the tonight there would not just be four of us sitting and dining we would have another four people to chat with and share our meal with. We felt like hardened travellers whilst they were obviously tired from their long journeys.
Our meal finished we all decided it was time for an early night.
Day 11 (Monday 8th April, in Kathmandu)
What a day today, full on immersion into the Kathmandu way of life or what?
Today began again, as we are getting used to, with a wide selection of breakfast options. In the full dining area and even spilling to outside tables people had a choice fit for a king. I selected cheese omelette (cooked while you waited), croissant and a pain au chocolat with black tea, delicious. Maggie ate more simply, rye toast and black tea, she’s not a breakfast sort of person.
After eating, we met in the lobby at 9:00am. We soon had boarded our coach and were heading for Khatmandu Durbar Square.
Info:
- Durbar = palace
- There are 3 Durbar squares in Kathmandu.
- This one is a World Heritage sight.
Any visitor to Kathmandu will know about Durbar Square and it’s amazing buildings, many of which were damaged in the dreadful earthquake of 2015 but which are now being rebuilt to display their former glory. We entered the square through a street lined with colourful necklace stalls and old buildings some of which were now shored up to stop them collapsing as a result of the earthquake. Everywhere you looked you could see amazing ancient buildings with stone and wooden carvings and statues and shrines so highly decorated they almost took your breath away.
Every colour of the rainbow was on show somewhere amidst this impressive square. It was a photographer’s paradise.
There were crowds of people, locals and tourists busying themselves, shopkeepers and stall holders selling everything from various coloured rock salt to bangles and holy people and beggars sitting around hoping to make a rupee or two.
We even went into one temple area (Kumari- ghar) to see a girl who represented a holy symbol of purity and perfection, the living goddess considered to be the reincarnation of the goddess Taleju and who made a ‘rare’ appearance for us.
After spending some time in the square we returned to the main road and again picked up our coach. We drive for 20 min through heavy traffic to Pashupatinath, the holiest Hindu shrine in Nepal. It was here that we saw cremations taking place on the banks of the river.
Once again, the wall paintings depicting Hindu Gods and the white painted buildings were amazing to walk between and alongside.
Next we drove to Bodnath Stupa, a Buddhist religious site and one of the world’s largest stupas.
Info:
- The stupa is 118ft tall with a diameter of 328ft
After having first had our lunch and a cold drink in a roof top restaurant overlooking this fabulous building we managed to get an even closer look. It was a huge imposing white dome which we first walked around and then climbed onto and walked around again.
There were religious statues, prayer wheels, row upon row of colourful prayer flags and altars with devotees praying at them, certainly an impressive sight. After quite a while we walked back out to the main road and again boarded our coach. We were driven back to the hotel to freshen up, we’d been out for 7 long hours and were hot, tired and thirsty. We decided to have tea and coffee before returning to our rooms to freshen up.
At 6:00pm we were off again. We walked about 3km to a restaurant and along with many other tourists were served a typical Nepali meal with drinks whilst watching traditional dance.
Needless to say the evening ended with us all on the stage joining in, even if we were all 1 second behind the sole female dancer who we were attempting to follow. All good fun.
We retraced our steps and were certainly pleased to see our beds at the end of this long but certainly interesting day.
The Green Eye Of The Little Yellow God
There’s a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu,
There’s a little marble cross below the town;
There’s a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew,
And the Yellow God forever gazes down.He was known as “Mad Carew” by the subs at Khatmandu,
He was hotter than they felt inclined to tell;
But for all his foolish pranks, he was worshipped in the ranks,
And the Colonel’s daughter smiled on him as well.He had loved her all along, with a passion of the strong,
The fact that she loved him was plain to all.
She was nearly twenty-one and arrangements had begun
To celebrate her birthday with a ball.He wrote to ask what present she would like from Mad Carew;
They met next day as he dismissed a squad;
And jestingly she told him then that nothing else would do
But the green eye of the little Yellow God.On the night before the dance, Mad Carew seemed in a trance,
And they chaffed him as they puffed at their cigars:
But for once he failed to smile, and he sat alone awhile,
Then went out into the night beneath the stars.He returned before the dawn, with his shirt and tunic torn,
And a gash across his temple dripping red;
He was patched up right away, and he slept through all the day,
And the Colonel’s daughter watched beside his bed.He woke at last and asked if they could send his tunic through;
She brought it, and he thanked her with a nod;
He bade her search the pocket saying “That’s from Mad Carew,”
And she found the little green eye of the god.She upbraided poor Carew in the way that women do,
Though both her eyes were strangely hot and wet;
But she wouldn’t take the stone and Mad Carew was left alone
With the jewel that he’d chanced his life to get.When the ball was at its height, on that still and tropic night,
She thought of him and hurried to his room;
As she crossed the barrack square she could hear the dreamy air
Of a waltz tune softly stealing thro’ the gloom.His door was open wide, with silver moonlight shining through;
The place was wet and slipp’ry where she trod;
An ugly knife lay buried in the heart of Mad Carew,
‘Twas the “Vengeance of the Little Yellow God.”There’s a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu,
There’s a little marble cross below the town;
There’s a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew,
And the Yellow God forever gazes down.
J. Milton Hayes
We saw plenty of idols and a few candidates as well for Mad Carew.
Day 12 (Tuesday 9th April, Kathmandu to Pokhara)
Today we awoke to a thunderstorm and a grey cloudy sky, thank goodness we visited the sights yesterday.
After having left our bags in the lobby and having an early breakfast which started at 7:00am we eventually left the hotel at 8:15am, a quarter of an hour later than planned. We were all pleased to see that we had a large coach at our disposal this week which meant plenty of space to spread out.
Our journey to Pokhara today, we were told, would take around 7 hours to complete.
As we drove through the busy streets of Kathmandu in order to get out of the city we noticed and experienced just how poor a state they were in, rutted, potholed and with pools and puddles of water, it was still raining quite heavily.
Eventually it stopped raining and we escaped the urban sprawl only to find ourselves on an extremely busy road leading downwards towards the bottom of the Kathmandu Valley whilst lorries, cars and motorbikes approached us as they climbed out of the valley. This certainly was one of the main arteries between 2 of the major cities of Nepal. It was here we caught a good view of Manaslu, the world’s 8th highest mountain. It looked beautiful if rather imposing.
The landscape had changed completely with crops being grown everywhere around mostly upon the terraces made into the steep slopes. Everywhere was fresh and green and that’s when it happened, the imposition of mankind’s destruction of nature. As we followed the bends in the river which ran through the valley, as well as noticing all this agriculture, we also spotted the dreaded, polluting and scenery damaging brick works. Not only did the smoke from the chimneys pollute the air, the residue discoloured the river water whilst the removal of the clay also disfigured the landscape. This was of course a trade off as we learned that during the recent earthquake some of the local villages disappeared completely, ground zero, total destruction. Rebuilding therefore was immediately essential hence the need for bricks and other building materials. As we drove on we saw how rocks, sand and gravel taken from the river also provided the building materials so necessary.
We stopped first for a tea/coffee break in a very nice roadside restaurant and later in another for lunch.
At 5:00pm we arrived in Pokhara, a bustling lakeside tourist town and at our hotel, The Lakeside Retreat, a very pleasant place to spend the night.
It was here that Kiran briefed us on our requirements for the trek and gave us bags, hats and scarves which would be necessary.
After this briefing we all walked into town to familiarise ourselves with the place whilst at the same time catching our first sight of Machhapucchre the fishtail mountain in the Annapurna Range.
On our way back we popped down to the lake shore and to our surprise an unexpected religious ‘performance’ similar to the one we had seen last year in Varanasi was taking place.
Tonight we ate outside in the hotel restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
We said our good nights and went to bed just before 10:00pm.
Day 13 (Wednesday 10th April, Day 1 Trekking)
Having packed our trekking bags with what we needed for the next 4 days and also having packed our day sacks, we left the remainder of our luggage in the hotel for safekeeping.
Breakfast was at 7:00am but because it was raining our departure time was moved back from 8:00am to 8:30am.
Our porters and coach arrived, bags put on the roof rack and we were off. After just a short while we turned off the main ‘road’ towards the hills and ridge line and started to make height using one of the roughest roads I had ever been on. The coach seemed to cope well but there was a lot of rattling and banging coming from the suspension and wheel bearing, no surprise there then.
We passed by some particularly poor dwellings and through vast areas of building work, either the roads or the housing was in the process of repair or being built. There was ironwork, building bricks, tiles, cabling etc. everywhere. It looked like organised chaos on a huge industrial scale with no end in sight and with a lot of rubbish strewn all abouts.
After leaving most of this behind, the road rose abruptly in front of us. We overtook vehicles of all shapes and sizes as they did us and paused whilst huge lorries trundled towards us on the narrowest of winding roads. Our driver drove slowly and carefully in order to protect both his passengers and his precious vehicle.
Eventually we reached our drop off point and the place where we would start our trek, Chandrakot at 1580m.
We daubed on our sunscreen, adjusted our walking poles, donned our hats and set off.
With one guide leading and another taking up the rear we strolled at varying pace through small hamlets, fields and wooded areas along a well defined paths forever descending but with the odd sections of up. For the majority of the way we used rough and irregular rock steps, sometimes quite loose and which must have been laid for many a year.
We stopped at regular intervals for drinks and this kept us well hydrated.
After some 3h 27min and 4.82 miles later we arrived, after crossing a suspension bridge, at our overnight stop, Sanctuary Lodge in Birenthanti at 1,025m.
This place was superb, especially when considering where it was located. Every room had all that would be needed for our short stay and was clean and extremely comfortable. After a quick freshen up, we were all very hot and sweaty from walking, we went to the attractive dining hall for lunch which was served impeccably and tasted divine, we were hungry.
The afternoon was spent relaxing, taking photos, looking at birds (White Capped Laughing Thrush, Red Vented Bulbul) and visiting the river we had crossed earlier. Tea and coffee was then served on the lawn.
Soon after showering it was 6:00pm and time for ‘Happy Hour’ gin and tonic and local beer sufficed whilst we sat and chatted.
Lily & Bee
At 7:00pm dinner was served and was again delicious.
At 8:00pm, yes, 8:00pm we decided it was time for bed, after all, tomorrow was going to be interesting!
Info:
- Of the 14 mountains higher than 8,000m, 8 are in Nepal.
- Machhapuchhre (Fishtail) is considered the 2nd most beautiful.
- Manaslu is the 8th highest mountain in the world.
Day 14 Thursday 11th April (Day 2 Trekking Birenthanti to Ghandruk)
Today is going to be a very hard one to explain and describe because you had to experience it to believe it but I will give it my best shot.
After a very comfortable night in our cosy room we awoke at 5:30am and, as you would expect, I immediately looked out of the window to see if the clouds had parted and were kind enough to give us a view of the high mountains that we had specifically come here to see, they had. In the far distance, Machhupuchhre at 6997m dominated the far skyline, an imposing monster of a perfectly shaped mountain that any child would be quite happy with had they drawn it.
We showered and went for breakfast and a pretty full on affair it was considering where we were. Following breakfast and whilst waiting to leave we spent some time again enjoying the bird life nearby.
We knew that today’s walk was going to be a long hot one with some serious ascending but we were not really ready for what lay before us. We left the lodge at 8:00am and walked (Trudged) forever upwards on a mixture of rough roads and stone steps, most steep but some shallow and thankfully giving a little relief. Yes, we paused and rested frequently, as often as we liked but the unrelenting steps began to take their toll. Our group walked together at times but at others spread out for a short distance. We drank and ate to remain well hydrated and sugar fuelled but soon people began to run low on energy and the chatting became more intermittent. We met other trekkers along the way going both up and down the track, both equally arduous tasks in their own way. It was then Hiunchuli or Snow Peak at 6441m came into view. At various places when we crossed the ‘road’, lorries, coaches and 4wd vehicles passed us but by far the most awkward and possibly most dangerous were encountered on the steps, the groups of mules with their packs, when they came by you moved quickly to the cliff side of the track for your own safety, they came very close. On the other hand, we all let each other know when our 4 porters were passing safely which they did after each stop.
After about 5.5h we passed through the arch which welcomed us to Ghandruk. Unfortunately there were still sufficient sets of steps left to drag the last ounces of energy out of our weary limbs. Sense of humour failure had already been displayed by some of our group so we were pleased when at long last we arrived at tonight’s accommodation, Himalaya Lodge.
We had walked 6.73 miles in 6h 15min and climbed 989m in the process, my maximum heart rate had been recorded as 146 bpm.
Our rooms here were clean and comfortable so we made ourselves at home and had lunch. Maggie felt unwell so decided instead to rest in the room.
It was a cloudy afternoon but warm enough to sit outside. Unfortunately the clouds seriously restricted our views of the mountains.
In the evening, our dining room had 2 fires to keep us warm during ‘Happy Hour’ and I got chatting to 4 South Korean tourists.
Our dinner was perfection and very well received as we were hungry from the efforts of the day.
As 8:00pm approached our beds beckoned for we knew we would need our renewed strength for tomorrow.
Day 15 Friday 12th April (Day 3 Trekking Ghandruk to Majgaun via Landruk)
What a day, the longest and certainly for us the most arduous by far, yesterday’s efforts and steep ups and downs made it so.
Info:
- Jā’ū Jā’ū (sounds like jam jam) = Let’s go
- Bistārī Bistārī (sounds like Pistari Pistari)= Slowly slowly
We were awake early as we’d been to bed at a very early time for us 8:00pm.
I popped my head out the door at 5:00am when I awoke and was disappointed to see fog covering the hills and mountains making them completely invisible but by 6:00am I was outside our door in my pyjamas admiring the view I had of Annapurna South as it glistened in the early morning sunshine.
As the fog and mist made way for white fluffy clouds and blue sky the range became clearer to see and more spectacular as each minute passed. I just hoped the photographs would do it justice.
We sat down for breakfast in awe of the view.
After breakfast we put our bags outside, filled our water bottles, donned our day sacks, extended our poles ready for a long descent and were off.
For what seemed ages we walked downwards using rock steps similar to ones that we had already previously become very familiar with. They twisted and turned down to the river way below and after some 2.5h we arrived at a bridge. From here we could see the bee hives and honeycombs on the cliff face opposite.
After crossing said bridge the inevitable occurred, we began a slow, lung busting ascent to the village of Landruk, the settlement that we had already spotted on our descent.
These steps took their toll on everyone, they were steep and big steps. We paused at every opportunity to catch our breath or take a drink, the heat was unrelenting as was the hot sun, so many people, not only in our group, suffered quite badly. Local people on the other hand carried seemingly impossibly heavy loads down as we slogged up.
After 2h we reached Landruk.
Info:
- Distance covered 3.79 miles
- Time taken 4h 19min
- Ascent 371m
- Descent 738m
- Maximum heart rate 146bpm
Why Is it that our lodges seem always to be the highest ones in the village therefore always requiring even more steps to reach them? Anyway we stopped here for lunch and very good it was too. Landruk was to be our overnight stop if you were to be following our original itinerary but something had changed. Tonight we would not be sleeping at Landruk, we would be going even further which required an additional 4h walking. Some of our group were not keen on this so instead a vehicle was booked to take them on the ‘road’ from Landruk to Majgaun. Four of us decided that we would walk rather than use the 4×4.
We all set off together and after only 3 or 4 minutes split into 2 groups, the walkers (4 guests, our local guide, Kiran and a porter) and the car group (4 guests and 3 porters, 1 on the roof of the car).
Maggie and I were in the walking group of 4. First we walked on well defined local paths through the terraced fields and then on a very newly excavated track suitable only for serious off road vehicles where only 2 passed us the whole time we were using this track. It was rough, undulating and certainly easier than those endless steps, we felt more at home on this terrain.
We crossed a rickety old bamboo bridge, passed by locally cultivated fields and even a group of people who, after recently butchering a water buffalo, were sharing out the meat between the people sat around a dirty tarpaulin. As thunder rumbled around the valley and dark clouds appeared overhead the rain began to fall, slowly at first and then much more heavily. We put rucksack covers on, donned ponchos in an attempt to stay dry and then arrived at the path leading from the track to our accommodation, Gurung Lodge. There were a lot of steep wet steps from this point to the lodge but somehow we managed to negotiate them. We arrived at 5:00pm, about 1 to 1.5h quicker than Kiran had expected us to take, the others had already arrived at 2:30pm but that’s another story. We were soaked through so we quickly got changed into some warm dry clothes but only after a welcome hot shower.
Info:
- Distance covered 6.88 miles
- Time taken 3.5h
Happy hour passed peacefully by, 2 G & T’s for me, before having our evening meal whilst laughing, telling jokes and generally chatting about our adventures of the day.
Bed by 8:00pm – totally knackered.
Day 16 Saturday 13th April (Day 4 Trekking Majgaun to Dhampus via Pothana)
The start of the day followed the same routine as the previous two. Morning tea in our rooms at 6:30am, breakfast at 7:00am and we started our walking at 8:00am.
The day began cloudy and warm. Today’s walk took us around then over a hill and finally down into the more modern village of Dhampus.
We walked along a rough and in places muddy ‘road’ and met 3 different 4×4’s, 1 coach and a number of motorcycles along the way (brave souls). One of these motorbikes was a 3 up, the driver, a pillion passenger and a goat between the 2 of them.
We stopped frequently and got great views of the mountains as butterflies flew nearby in the sunny glades covered in small blue flowers.
We walked steadily uphill for a number of hours and because it was damp we kept a special lookout for leeches, in fact Sue found one in her boot at the end of the walk.
Unfortunately it was here that I discovered that the sole of each of my boots had decided to start coming away, make a note, must get them resoled next time we visit the Lakes.
Eventually we reached the top of the hill and stopped for a refreshing drink in the village of Pothana.
We set off again on the downhill stretch this time on stone steps and some stone paving until finally we arrived in Dhampus. We walked straight through this village and arrived at our hotel, Basanta Lodge (note to self BadSanta)
Info:
- Distance covered 6.97 miles
- Time taken 4h 58min
- Ascent 528m
- Descent 317m
Upon our arrival it started to rain and by the time we’d eaten a ‘ch’ lunch, Chapatti, chips, cheese and chopped cabbage self made into a wrap, it was pouring down, nevertheless we did catch glimpses of Fishtail.
From our balcony we could see an intermittent 180 degrees panorama of the Annapurna Range as the clouds moved slowly from left to right and thunder rumbled around.
We sat around reading, chatting and generally relaxing, feeling now quite smug at having achieved and completed what was for us 4 hard days walking.
Tea was served at 4:30pm and at dusk the clouds parted and Machhapuchhre revealed herself to us glistening as she did so in the last sunlight of the day.
Kiran
Nothing nearby reached quite so high so was unable to cast any sort of shadow upon her. The mountain itself was stunning with cloud above and below. We even saw Manaslu in the distance as this mountain was 1,000m higher than our nearby Machhapuchhre.
Our Nepali New Year’s Eve (2076) was completed with a lovely meal and more information about this magnificent country.
We fell asleep to the sound of rain and thunder.
Day 17 Sunday 14th April (Day 5 Trekking Majgaun to Pokhara)
Last night at our briefing we were told that there would be 2 wake up calls depending upon the amount of cloud cover which would determine how much of the Annapurna Range we would be able to see.
As it was, a wake up call was not needed. I woke at dawn, around 5:00am and when I looked out from the window next to my bed I could already see that the day was going to be fine. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and I could see the range silhouetted perfectly against a lightening sky. The rain last night had done its job and cleared the air perfectly.
I got a quick shower and changed and in the 10 minutes this took the light had started to appear now the sun beginning to shine directly upon the peak of Annapurna South.
The snow sparkled and the sky began to turn from grey to blue. The sun peaked over the horizon to our right with Manaslu next to it. Slowly the other peaks including Machhapuchhre found themselves bathed in sunshine. It was breathtaking and something you could never explain to anyone else and do it justice. A once in a lifetime experience and one never to be forgotten.
What a magnificent way to start the Nepali New Year.
We sat and had breakfast on the lawn whilst simply admiring the wide horizon in front of us where we were now able to identify the peaks of Annapurna 4 and Annapurna 2. In fact, we learned that Hiunchuli was 18 miles away from us and Annapurna South some 22 miles away.
Even though we tried our hardest, our photographs would surely never be able to really show the majesty of this place.
Our Porters
Following breakfast we readied ourselves for our final walk, a 2 hour downhill on the ever present stone steps with some gravel paths thrown in for good measure. Sue’s feet bandaged to try to save 4 toenails (she’s still got 1.2 feet left!), we set off.
As was normal, we paused in several places and as we did so we did a spot of bird watching. Vultures and Kites soared both overhead and at eye level whilst birds like owlets, blue whistling thrushes and great barbets could be spotted round about. I, of course was particularly interested in the butterflies and insects.
After exactly 2 miles we arrived at the road where our coach was waiting for us.
I presented our local guide with his tip and said thanks on behalf of the group and Maggie did the same for the porters. They in turn presented us with silk scarves imprinted with symbols of good luck.
It took about 1 hour to drive back to Pokhara where the first thing we all commented about was the man made noise and how busy everywhere was.
We again checked into the hotel where we heard the sad news about the air crash in Lukla.
After 15 minutes we were on the go again. Boy was it hot here at this lower level, much hotter and humid, than we’d recently been used to. We walked for a good 20 minutes dodging the cars, mopeds and crowds of people to our lunch restaurant where we sat on the 2nd floor balcony overlooking the Lake whilst watching paraponters circling in the air then landing on the lake shore and day visitors strolling and playing beside the lake, remember, today was New Year’s Day.
Lunch was a grand affair and way over the top, we were stuffed, it was free too!
After we had eaten, our coach collected us and then drove us some 5km to a Tibetan (refugee) Camp and the ‘Yes O Yes’ (SOS), Kiran can’t pronounce a single S sound, children’s camp. It was here we bought 2 hand made rugs (£204) and 2 scarves. The heavens opened at this point and when everyone had finished buying from the small stalls dotted around, we ran and boarded the coach. It was still raining when we returned to our rooms and attempted to sort out our luggage. It rained torrentially for an hour and a half so we didn’t venture out, Lyn and Sue did.
As the rain began to ease we went down to the bar and drank a couple of bottles of beer. We had nothing to eat, we were still full from lunch.
Tonight we went to bed late…….9:10pm
We heard overnight that all Jet Airways flights have been cancelled!!!!!!!
Day 18 Monday 15th April (Pokhara to Bharatper in Chitwan)
Kiran gave us our rescheduled return flight information, we are now flying Qatar Airline via Doha and will be arriving home a day later than anticipated, at least we’re going home!
Today we moved from the hot high land to the much lower and even hotter flat lands of Chitwan National Park.
We left at 8:00am, a starting time which we were now well used to. We passed through the hotel gate and were saluted by the guard who jumped quickly to attention and snapped his palm up to his forehead in perfect military style, by my reckoning the best saluter all holiday, then we joined the traffic and mayhem of downtown Pokhara.
Thank goodness it didn’t take too long to get out of this sprawling mass of houses, I use the term loosely, stalls and shops. We were soon thankfully into a more rural landscape where quite snazzy (highly and rather gaudily decorated) housing mixed openly with poor shacks and other run down and dusty dwellings. The condition of the roads also round these parts needs to be seen to be believed. Everything here is on the move, the bigger the item(s) being transported, the more odd they appeared to look. For instance, I was amazed to see a bicycle being carried across a moped between the 2 people on board and the same with a rolled up carpet, both moped drivers blissfully ignoring other road users. Tractors, highly decorated and colourful lorries, mopeds, motorbikes and tuc-tucs covered the roads and came at each other from every conceivable angle. We even saw a group of bikers who Kiran told us had come all the way from Mumbai.
Info:
- The motorbike of choice in Nepal by far – a Royal Enfield.
We drove across bridges, some old and some new where at times we had to give way to oncoming vehicles or simply initiated a move to stop them coming onto the bridge first. In fact we crossed quite a number of bridges, many with dry river beds or just trickles of water below. After a couple of hours we stopped for a comfort break where I sampled Kulfi a traditional Indian ice cream in a sealed pot which we kept as a souvenir. Kiran assured me it was safe to do so even though I told him of Jolyon’s Pokhara ice cream experience.
In one fast flowing muddy coloured river I noticed a man floating down the centre of it, Kiran told me that he was fishing along with some other people – it looked dangerous to me, they must have been pretty desperate for food.
As the fields became greener with maize, and the rice paddys covered the area with their perfectly straight rows of healthy looking spikey plants we began to notice wheat laid out and drying the sun, grains spread out on cloth in front of many of the buildings.
All along the way people were labouring, often with simple hand tools, to improve the roads and buildings. Piles of sand, cement, huge boulders from the river, steel reinforcement rods and anything else building related was scattered randomly on the edges of the road, there seemed to be no master plan just individual pockets of unrelated construction taking place.
As we entered the district of Chitwan we passed through a large town and after about 30 minutes after leaving the town and passing through more farmland arrived at Kadara Resort, an amazing place, like an oasis of Western Style calm and decadence in an area where so many of the local people have such little.
After settling into our rooms, we went for a buffet lunch and then rested in our rooms. I chose this opportunity to look around and photograph some of the things I could find after all we were now in the jungle.
Info:
- Chitwan = Heart of the forest
At 4:00pm we climbed aboard 2 oxcarts and for 25 minutes rode along the uneven track leading away from the hotel through the fields waving at the locals and being introduced to the birds, plants and animals of the area.
We arrived at a local Tharp village where our local guide showed us around an Elephant Grass and mud hut. It was extremely bare and primitive inside and everything smelled strongly of wood smoke. It was then that it began pouring down and although we waited under cover for quite some time in the hope of continuing our village visit we eventually had to call for the coach to come and get us, the rain was now running in streams across the red compacted soil. Thank goodness we’d taken our umbrellas with us.
For some reason our coach and the hotel minibus arrived together. We all climbed on board the minibus which took us back to the rear of the hotel where we only had to walk a few steps to be under cover from the downpour.
After changing and relaxing we went to the bar for ‘Happy Hour,’ not like the free one we had gotten used to in the mountains but a buy BOGOF offer so we had a Gin Fizz each (Crocodile Surprise) so called, swiftly followed by a Ghorka Beer. It was then that the snacks came and the local dance performance followed soon after. It was very entertaining and some of the audience joined in with the final dance.
Dinner was excellent, a sort of Mexico meets Nepal feast with a dessert to die for – carrot and coconut and cashew pudding, spectacular.
After stuffing ourselves we waddled back to our room for a late night 9:00pm.
See you in the morning.
Day 19 Tuesday 16th April ( In Chitwan National Park)
You couldn’t have started the day any better. Even before we had sat down to breakfast we were looking at a large Indian One Horned Rhinoceros. It walked through the forest about 100m away as peacefully and quietly as you could ever imagine whilst ignoring anyone and anything nearby after all it was the largest and one of the most intimidating animals in the area.
Breakfast today provided everything that you could possibly imagine from tea and coffee and fruit juice, cereals, fresh fruit, omelettes, beans, tomatoes, fried eggs, we were spoilt for choice.
Breakfast today provided everything that you could possibly imagine from tea and coffee and fruit juice, cereals, fresh fruit, omelettes, beans, tomatoes, fried eggs, we were spoilt for choice.
At 8:00am we walked out of the hotel got into the coach and were driven to the river where there were two long dugout canoes waiting for us.
Each canoe held eight people had a man with a pole at the front to help direct the canoe and the man at the back to paddle the canoe forward. The river was obviously very shallow because I could easily hear the pole digging into the sand on the riverbed as the man pushed it to the left and to the right.
Water Hyacinths
We started seeing birds on the bank almost immediately. There was a great variety including Pied Kingfisher, Ruddy Shell Ducks, Open Billed Herons, Cormorants, Egrets, Adjutant birds etc.
It was then we saw a Gharial, a fish eating alligator/crocodile type creature with a long snout full of very sharp teeth.
Info:
- Gharial derives its name from ghara, an Indian word for pot because of a bulbous knob (narial excrescence) present at the end of their noses.
This animal is very rare and can only be found in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Burma, In fact there is a locally run Gharial breeding programme in an attempt to swell the numbers in the river. There are only 200 or 300 of these unusual reptiles left in Nepal as they tend to follow the rivers which flow south to India.
It was then we saw a Mugger crocodile, this animal is known to attack people and is responsible for killing 2 or 3 people each year. It lay motionless but nevertheless looked menacing as it did so, an aptly named creature.
After about 25 minutes our boats pulled up to the far shore where we got out and stepped onto the bank. We followed a footpath through the jungle until we came to a rickety old bamboo and log bridge which we walked across and it was here that we were surprised to join 300 or 400 local people who were celebrating at a 10 day festival in the middle of the jungle close to a sacred place.
It was also here that we went in and looked at the Gharials that were being bred to be re-introduced into the river. There were many pens each housing Gharials of different ages and sizes. We were told that the success rate here was quite low.
It was also nearby that animals were being sacrificed by devotees to the gods, not a pleasant site, I walked away but others chose to stay and watch. What I did notice was the amount of plastic and waste and rubbish which was strewn everywhere across this site. We were told that this is cleaned by a group of people all paid for by the visitors to this area, I have my doubts though.
After spending some time in this noisy, messy place we retraced our steps and boarded our boats which crossed back to the other bank where we once again climbed onto the river bank and strolled back to our coach which took us back to our hotel.
We changed very quickly into our shorts, sandals and T shirts and met again in the lobby. 2 green 4x4s drove us to another part of the river where 2 elephants, one 42 and the other 18, were enjoying a bath. Tourist were allowed to join in so Lyn went into the water to well above her waist and started scrubbing away at one of the elephants which was laying down on its side, it was a huge elephant but seemed to be loving the attention. After a while both elephants stood up and the tourists left the water just in time as the younger elephant relieved itself in the river.
The elephants stood on the bank with their masters and let us take photographs alongside them.
We returned to our hotel and at 12:30pm lunch buffet was served. Particularly good was the chocolate brownie dessert.
We then had some down time until 2:30pm when we were again on the move, this time for a Jeep safari.
We all piled into a safari jeep whilst our local guide stood behind the passenger seat and helped us spot various things. This jungle was predominantly Sal trees, a hard wood tree used for wooden carvings like those in Durbar Square. As we drove along well defined but heavily rutted tracks (doubling as fire breaks) we saw spotted deer in different sized groups, a great variety of birds, by far the most impressive being a Male Paradise Fly Catcher with its very very long white tail.
We also spotted a Rhino but in the Elephant Grass it was nigh on impossible to make it out. It was extremely hot and humid and we were just wishing to see a sloth bear or a close up rhino but that didn’t happen. Just as we turned to make for home after having climbed to the top of a wobbly lookout tower from where we spotted some peacocks, it began to get eerily dark even though it was still some time before dusk. As we made our way along the rough tracks drops of rain started to hit the top cover of the jeep. The wind began to pick up and leaves began to be blown off the trees, suddenly there was a bolt of lightning, a crash of thunder, the rain intensified and wow! the heavens opened. We had never seen rain like it, it became very dark and the raindrops grew in size. We began to get quite wet, everybody tried to shelter from the rain but there was no escape we were all soon completely wet through. We were soaked to the skin, the windscreen wipers were not working so the driver had to stick his head out of the side of the jeep just to see where he was going. We’ve never seen rain like it, it was almost impossible to see what was in front of us, how on earth the driver managed it we still don’t know. We realised we had to rush out of the jungle in case any of the kapok trees known for their weak fibrous roots toppled over because of the strong wind. It seemed everybody was making a hasty retreat. As we arrived at the gates we didn’t even stop to check out we took a sharp right and then a sharp left back over the concrete bridge, the rain at this time was coming down horizontally everybody including the driver and both guides was now wringing wet. We made a dash for the hotel overtaking vehicles that were in our way and dodging trees until we came to one junction where three carts were abandoned. We managed to squeeze past these and then arrived at the gates of the hotel where we beeped the horn. The man at the gates opened them more quickly than he had previously done and we drove down the drive to the hotel but there in front of us stood an elephant, a slow walking elephant. It completely blocked our path even though we beeped the horn, flashed the headlights and shouted at it. It ignored us totally and instead stopped to eat the bushes at the side refusing to move. After a minute the owner of said elephant came out under an umbrella, grabbed the elephant by the ear and encouraged it to move to one side. We drove past and stopped at the rear of the hotel and made a quick exit to get some shelter under any sort of cover but it was really too late, the damage had been done, everything we had on was dripping wet, even the contents of our pockets was soaked through.
Thank goodness for a hot shower, we took everything off and after wringing it out hanged our clothes up in the hope that tomorrow they would be on their way to becoming a little drier.
At 6:45pm we visited the bar for ‘Happy Hour’ and then made our way to the Conference Hall where we learned a lot from a slide show presented to us by a local expert.
At 7:30pm we had our evening meal which we thoroughly enjoyed. By 9:00pm I was in bed.
Day 20 Wednesday 17th April (Chitwan to Kathmandu)
We left Chitwan at 7:30am, an unusually early start for us.
A great chunk of today was one of those periods that you’d sooner forget than remember with affection, we spent 7.5 hours on the road amidst slow and at times dangerous traffic. At this time I use the term road loosely as despite one heck of a lot of intermittent roadworks going on along the entire route, the road surface was distinctly lacking in places causing us to frequently slow to a crawl and even at times come to a grinding halt. It seemed that everybody in Nepal was today using this route to or from Kathmandu. I certainly am glad it was neither raining nor dark, I couldn’t imagine how dangerous it would be in anything less than perfect driving conditions and as if to prove it, we saw a coach on its side in the roadside ditch!
At Mugling we turned right towards Kathmandu and almost immediately started to crawl slowly up out of the valley to the ridge high above us in the distance.
At 11:30am we stopped for lunch at the same roadside restaurant we had used on our way from Kathmandu to Pokhara.
At times, along with other road users, we attempted almost suicidal overtaking manoeuvres at speeds so slow as to seem hopeless from the start. We eventually made it to the top of the ridge and in the distance some way below us we could see the huge smoggy polluted city of Kathmandu. As we entered the outskirts of Kathmandu we noticed the very poor quality of the housing. Everything but everything was covered in a thick layer of brown dust which had come from the very dry, dusty, potholed roads. In places the roads had been sprayed with water to keep the dust down to a minimum and this seemed quite effective. In this part of the city the people who were selling the protective facemasks must have done very good business, the air was thick and undoubtedly very unhealthy for those unfortunate to live and/or work here. At times the three lanes of traffic squeezed down into one, it was a bit of a free for all with the scooters and motorbikes passing on both sides of all vehicles. In this place people just pull out of the side roads without any warning whilst others simply do a U-turn in the middle of the highway, however, it all seemed to work pretty well with not a single ‘road rage’ incident being spotted.
We were soon back at The Shangri La and after having checked in online for our homeward flights were relaxing in our room, we were feeling weary from our drive.
I decided to have a soak in the bath whilst Maggie read about Patan where we would be visiting tomorrow.
In the evening we had a G and T from the bar and then went to the restaurant for our last group meal where Ken gave Kiran his tip and said a thankyou on everyone’s behalf.
Days 21 & 22 Thursday 18th & Friday 19th April (In Kathmandu & then to London via Doha)
Today was our last day in Nepal and by the time we had got up and gone down to breakfast Brigitte had already left for home. The rest of us were on a later flight.
Different people had decided to do their own thing today. Maggie, Lucy and I had booked a taxi last night via Kiran to take us to Patan Durbar Square, south east of central Kathmandu. We got there very quickly as the traffic was light. The taxi driver parked up and walked us the last 10 minutes to the square.
This Durbar Square was very attractive with numerous highly decorated temples of varying sizes and, because of the earthquake, in varying states of repair. It was quiet this early in the morning and therefore very peaceful, easy to walk around and take photos. This was where I bought 10 small metal Hindu Gods statuettes for 1,000NR.
We paid our entrance fee of 1,000NR and walked into the square proper.
Maggie led using the map in Sue’s book and we followed and saw virtually everything there was to see ending at The Golden Temple, a small working temple with superb metal statues and sculptures everywhere the eye looked. We even went upstairs where devotees were reciting scriptures. They were very welcoming and we respected their chanting appropriately.
After taking numerous photographs we reckoned we’d seen most of what was on offer.
It was starting to warm up so we went to a rooftop restaurant and each had a cold drink. The view we had of a large part of the square from here was really good.
At 11:30am we began walking back to where we had left the taxi and by 12:30pm we were back in our hotel, the traffic by this time had become much heavier and we had been stuck in jams a number of times on our return.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to the garden and relaxed with tea and iced coffees.
Throughout the afternoon various people in our group used the 2 rooms that we had been given to use by the hotel. At around 3:30pm we all began gathering in the lobby with our bags and at 4:00pm the coach arrived, our luggage was loaded and all of us including Kiran climbed aboard.
It only took a short time to reach the airport and on the way Kiran told us the airport procedure that we should follow. Upon our arrival we said our goodbyes and thankyous to Kiran and entered the airport building. Everything went like clockwork and we were soon waiting in the Departure Lounge to be called to the Gate. After a while we were called to pass final security and then to go to Gate 5. Some time later we walked to the rear of the aircraft an Airbus A330 200 where we found our seats in our favourite place, at the very rear of the cabin.
The plane was full, due in no small part I’m sure to the collapse of Jet Airways.
We took off at 8:01pm and headed south west across India overflying Indore and keeping north of Mumbai. After crossing the coast of India we changed heading and flew west north west across the sea towards Bandar Abbas before changing course again and heading to our final destination for this leg of the journey Doha. After 5h 35min we landed.
Our stopover lasted a rather tedious 5 hours. During this time all the shops, and there were a lot of them, remained open and we visited a few of them just to pass the time.
After what seemed an eternity we were called to Gate A3 where, once again, we waited…….Terminal boredom pervaded the air.
We eventually boarded this huge aircraft, an A380 800 and at 5:16am local time lined up on the runway and took off very smoothly.
We flew up the Persian Gulf and over Basra heading north east dissecting the Tigres and the Euphrates.
After 1 hour we were served a hot snack, juice and tea or coffee all of which was very welcomed.
As time went on we crossed the Black Sea flying over the Danube then above Bucharest. Finally we passed over Germany, the Netherlands and the English Channel in a westerly direction into Heathrow. After circling for some time over Essex and then finally turning to land in an easterly direction we touched down at 12:11pm or 10:11am local time making a total flight time of 6h 55min.
For such a large plane it certainly managed to empty itself of passengers pretty quickly and no sooner were we out of the cabin than it seemed that we were in the e passport queue at passport control. This queue was as far removed from our entering Nepal experience than you could imagine, it went that quick. Our bags were already on the carousel when we had walked up to it. 3 pieces of luggage came through quickly with the exception of Maggie’s bag which we had to wait for. Lyn and Sue said their goodbyes and left us waiting. Eventually Mags’ bag came through and we were off to the underground.
This was where the problems getting home began. Trains on the Bexleyheath and Belvedere line had been cancelled due to engineering works as had the District Line trains travelling east, the direction in which we had wanted to travel. We had to come up with an alternative route and quickly which we did. The plan worked perfectly, to get the Piccadilly Line to Green Park then change and travel on the Jubilee Line to North Greenwich and finally take the 422 bus to home. Perfection!
We arrived home at 1:50pm and when I checked with Lyn they still hadn’t got home.
So that’s it, we’ve come to the end of a most perfect holiday full of unexpected great experiences due in no small part to the organisation of ‘Explore,’ our travel company of choice.
Thanks to everyone who contributed, the Guides, both local and more long term, the drivers and their helpers both in coaches, minibuses, taxis, canoes and bullock carts, the porters on the trek, the hotel staff whether behind a desk, on the door, waiting at tables or tidying our rooms, the cabin crews on trains and planes, the ‘fixers’ both at home and abroad, the strangers we met even if only for a fleeting moment to share a word or two with and last but not least our fellow travellers who chatted, laughed, sometimes swore or even at times had the dreaded sense of humour failure we say THANKS we couldn’t have done it without you.
You never know, we may be back. Here’s hoping.